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Kingdom of Fear: The World of Stephen King
Essays discuss the writing and selling of horror stories, look at Stephen King's career, and consider the major themes used in his fiction
270 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 3, 2021
This is an interesting book from an historical perspective. It appeared when King had only been around as a novelist for a decade, so it's neat to read about his works when he was the new kid on the block with only a dozen or so titles in print. (One of the editors of the book states that his works probably won't be around for very long!) It also comes from a time before the internet (and outlets like Goodreads here), so people looked for printed volumes of reviews and opinions of other readers. The essayists include Harlan Ellison, Robert Bloch, Ramsey Campbell, William F. Nolan, and other such legends of the genre, not to mention a nice introduction by King himself. Ah, those were the days...
September 16, 2023
This was for a good chunk of it a 5-star read that I enjoyed immensely. More than nostalgia, I felt myself transported to the mid-80’s and the writing is good for most part. It ran out of steam a bit with the longer pieces, certainly the long part about King as a writer for children. Still great pieces, but not 5-star I devoured it material.
After Kings own introduction (written as tips for aspiring writers and basically giving the top and most important advice by a long shot: get yourself published in men’s magazines!) there follows a row of introductory pieces and these are the gold nuggets;
Ramsey Campbell provides a confused story of a scared maid in the fake room 217 at a fantasy convention hotel, including a great takedown of an old adversary: She laughed at herself then, and told herself she’d stay off books that scared her for a while, read Shaun Hutson instead.
Whitley Streiber delivers a good piece as well, as this is before he went nuts - he focuses a lot on Firestarter though, with it’s dark branches of government intelligence agencies and conspiracy theories.
Harlan Ellison spends his time slaughtering the film versions and manages to add in most of the movie industry while he’s at it.
Don Herron takes the part of the ultimate snob critic, just methodically trying to invalidate every aspect of King’s work, style, appearance and more. I’m amazed it stayed in the book and I saw some upset in other reviews. I found it absolutely hilarious and it only succeeded in showing Herron as a pompous arse.
The longer sections focuses on different aspects, characters, psychology, ‘King as a writer for children’, the Bachman years and more. But varied quality and of interest, but all quite enjoyable.
Highly recommend if you are a constant reader, and even more so if you were in early.
After Kings own introduction (written as tips for aspiring writers and basically giving the top and most important advice by a long shot: get yourself published in men’s magazines!) there follows a row of introductory pieces and these are the gold nuggets;
Ramsey Campbell provides a confused story of a scared maid in the fake room 217 at a fantasy convention hotel, including a great takedown of an old adversary: She laughed at herself then, and told herself she’d stay off books that scared her for a while, read Shaun Hutson instead.
Whitley Streiber delivers a good piece as well, as this is before he went nuts - he focuses a lot on Firestarter though, with it’s dark branches of government intelligence agencies and conspiracy theories.
Harlan Ellison spends his time slaughtering the film versions and manages to add in most of the movie industry while he’s at it.
Don Herron takes the part of the ultimate snob critic, just methodically trying to invalidate every aspect of King’s work, style, appearance and more. I’m amazed it stayed in the book and I saw some upset in other reviews. I found it absolutely hilarious and it only succeeded in showing Herron as a pompous arse.
The longer sections focuses on different aspects, characters, psychology, ‘King as a writer for children’, the Bachman years and more. But varied quality and of interest, but all quite enjoyable.
Highly recommend if you are a constant reader, and even more so if you were in early.
July 25, 2015
While the essays are good, what I really enjoyed about this was its time capsule quality. Published in the mid-80s before books such as It and Misery had been published, this provides a wonderful insight into what critics thought of Stephen King when he'd only been publishing for about 10 years. From this standpoint, my absolute favorite is the final essay, which predicts that King is as passing fad and wouldn't be nearly as popular in 20 years. The author, Tim Underwood (who also co-edited the volume), also, quite seriously, predicted that King would eventually be unknown and forgotten in his own lifetime--a brilliant flare that fades quickly. I would love to interview him now and find out what he thinks about King's career now.
June 18, 2024
My appreciation for the essay is fairly recent, maybe ten years or so, and I have been making up for lost time since then. This book has been on my shelf since the late eighties, probably stacked together with my other books by Stephen King, back when the pickings were slim (Dumaguete was bereft of a bookstore for decades) and reading consisted of rereadings upon rereadings, Stephen King being my rerun of choice, and fiction being the only books worth devouring; this book was likely bought by Mama, thinking it was another novel by King, for me. After reading it, I deeply regret not having delved into Kingdom of Fear while I was at that height of my fervor for all things King. (Then again, would too many musings and dissections into the inner workings of the writer's mind only have spoiled my appreciation for the only thing I was after then, which was a good story?)
Stephen King's popularity and success has been exponential since 1987, the year this book went to print. Thus, most of what is revealed in the essays here are no longer groundbreaking to me. As a retrospective reader, and because the stories discussed here were the ones I read ad infinitum as a teenager, beginning with Thinner in the summer of 1988, this brought me back to that long summer when I turned eighteen. So I now so easily recall those scenes and paragraphs which have stayed with me all these years, and identify with the characters and their predicaments, the derailments of normal, mundane lives gone awry. And I'm in complete agreement with the underlying sentiment of the contributors to this book: yes, King's characters are drawn from real life, they are familiar, they are people we have known, people we have stereotyped and identified with--they are real. They could be us. As a reader whose primary approach to fiction will always involve the eager suspension of all disbelief, imagining myself into the protagonist's predicament is what drew me into that rabbit hole of King's world thirty-two years ago. And damn you, Stephen King--I don't think I ever left.
In no particular order except that of memory are some of the stories discussed in the book, which have been branded into my consciousness thanks to the combination of repetition and the impressionability of youth. And let's face it, my good taste in fiction:
1) The Dead Zone - Multiple readings, enough to have the characters and their quirks stay with me.
2) Pet Sematary - Multiple readings, and the most disturbing among King's work.
3) The Stand - Disliked the book, it was too long, and the supernatural angle didn't work for me.
4) Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption from Different Seasons - I delighted in the movie's rendition and success. Always gloat at having read the story long before the movie came out!
5) The Shining - Enjoyed the book, the movie even more (saw the movie before reading the book).
6) Survivor Type - One of the standouts from Skeleton Crew, and a story I loved to retell to people whom I tried to persuade to read Stephen King.
7) Thinner - My first book by King, writing as Richard Bachman shortly before he was unmasked.
8) The Mist from Skeleton Crew - That Mrs Carmody embodies every other annoying aunt on her high horse. What has to be fiction's largest monster figures in the story.
9) The Body in Different Seasons - No retrospection required here--this one made me realize Stephen King writes good fiction, not just good horror fiction.
10) Apt Pupil in Different Seasons- Nothing supernatural to see here, folks (organic evil is more horrifying).
11) The Running Man - King's prescience on reality endurance shows was spot-on.
12) The Jaunt from Skeleton Crew - About a boy fascinated by the early, heady days of teleportation, only to realize "it's eternity in there."
May 2020
Stephen King's popularity and success has been exponential since 1987, the year this book went to print. Thus, most of what is revealed in the essays here are no longer groundbreaking to me. As a retrospective reader, and because the stories discussed here were the ones I read ad infinitum as a teenager, beginning with Thinner in the summer of 1988, this brought me back to that long summer when I turned eighteen. So I now so easily recall those scenes and paragraphs which have stayed with me all these years, and identify with the characters and their predicaments, the derailments of normal, mundane lives gone awry. And I'm in complete agreement with the underlying sentiment of the contributors to this book: yes, King's characters are drawn from real life, they are familiar, they are people we have known, people we have stereotyped and identified with--they are real. They could be us. As a reader whose primary approach to fiction will always involve the eager suspension of all disbelief, imagining myself into the protagonist's predicament is what drew me into that rabbit hole of King's world thirty-two years ago. And damn you, Stephen King--I don't think I ever left.
In no particular order except that of memory are some of the stories discussed in the book, which have been branded into my consciousness thanks to the combination of repetition and the impressionability of youth. And let's face it, my good taste in fiction:
1) The Dead Zone - Multiple readings, enough to have the characters and their quirks stay with me.
2) Pet Sematary - Multiple readings, and the most disturbing among King's work.
3) The Stand - Disliked the book, it was too long, and the supernatural angle didn't work for me.
4) Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption from Different Seasons - I delighted in the movie's rendition and success. Always gloat at having read the story long before the movie came out!
5) The Shining - Enjoyed the book, the movie even more (saw the movie before reading the book).
6) Survivor Type - One of the standouts from Skeleton Crew, and a story I loved to retell to people whom I tried to persuade to read Stephen King.
7) Thinner - My first book by King, writing as Richard Bachman shortly before he was unmasked.
8) The Mist from Skeleton Crew - That Mrs Carmody embodies every other annoying aunt on her high horse. What has to be fiction's largest monster figures in the story.
9) The Body in Different Seasons - No retrospection required here--this one made me realize Stephen King writes good fiction, not just good horror fiction.
10) Apt Pupil in Different Seasons- Nothing supernatural to see here, folks (organic evil is more horrifying).
11) The Running Man - King's prescience on reality endurance shows was spot-on.
12) The Jaunt from Skeleton Crew - About a boy fascinated by the early, heady days of teleportation, only to realize "it's eternity in there."
May 2020
June 2, 2022
I bought this to be able to read the essay by Stephen Brown on investigating the Bachman/King connection. After rereading the Dark Half for the umpteenth time, that got me interested in rereading the Bachman Book intros. I read both the original "Why I Was Bachman" and the later update, "The Importance of Being Bachman." That reminded me I'd always wanted to read the essay written by Stephen Brown, and this book includes the uncensored version. I think it was only published in the UK, but I was able to track down a used copy online.
I must say, while the Bachman essay was cool, I was pleasantly surprised by the contributing author list and the thoughtful analysis presented. Some all-timers are on the list, including Michael McDowell, Clive Barker, and Robert Bloch. Whitley Strieber's may have been my favorite, and Harlan Ellison's essay was as Harlan Ellison as it gets. Definitely recommend this for folks interested in delving into King's work. There's some clunkers, but the nuggets are worth sifting for.
I must say, while the Bachman essay was cool, I was pleasantly surprised by the contributing author list and the thoughtful analysis presented. Some all-timers are on the list, including Michael McDowell, Clive Barker, and Robert Bloch. Whitley Strieber's may have been my favorite, and Harlan Ellison's essay was as Harlan Ellison as it gets. Definitely recommend this for folks interested in delving into King's work. There's some clunkers, but the nuggets are worth sifting for.
November 5, 2025
Pretty interesting collection of an evaluation or analysis of Stephen King's oeuvre. This one was done at the time when he was just a decade into writing. Essays range from amateurish to academic with a special focus on how horror works as a genre.
Interesting if you are a Stephen King fan ( I am one).
Interesting if you are a Stephen King fan ( I am one).
February 6, 2017
I was super excited to find this book at work and it did not disappoint! I love reading books like these as they're very inspiring to me as a writer. This is a great mixture of literary criticism, fanboy King worship, and inspirational rants about the awesomeness of Horror and "being true" to the art form. All the essays are enjoyable and any Stephen King fan or fan of Horror should get into them.
October 27, 2009
A series of essays based around the world of King - books, films, etc - some are better than others but all are informative.
January 27, 2026
Stephen King's first book, Carrie, was published over 50 years ago in 1974, and I first started reading King in 1993. Despite reading King for three decades, there are many of his books I haven't read, and the past couple of years I have been focussing on reading his older books I had never read, such as The Shining, 'Salem's Lot, Firestarter, and Tommyknockers, to name but a few. I also read his memoir, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft last year.
Kingdom of Fear: The World of Stephen King is a book about Stephen King, comprised of 17 essays by authors, publishers, filmmakers, and so on. It was published in 1986, just over ten years into King's career, before one of his most famous books, IT, was published. In Harlan Ellison's essay, Ellison writes "I've been told [King] is fast approaching (if he hasn't already reached it) the point of being the best selling American author of all time."
Chuck Miller writes "[King] deals with what he knows: small towns full of regular Americans, going about their everyday business -- until something unusual, often dreadful, changes the world around them." The perfect example of this is in my favourite King novel (and one of my favourite novels by any author), Needful Things, which was published in 1991. I love King's "town building" novels.
Miller also writes, "There's not likely to be an end any day soon to movies based upon the works of Stephen King, since a number of published works, unpublished novels, and original screenplays are available for cinematic adaptations." How true; this essay was published in 1986, before the adaptations of IT, Misery, Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and so many more. (Stand By Me, based on King's novella The Body, was being filmed at the time.)
Tim Underwood, author and editor, writes, "These days [King's] books are everywhere. But there's a downside to this ubiquity: because King is so contemporary and fashionable in his concerns, his work probably won't last. He may still be read in twenty years, but not with the enthusiasm that he is today." Well, not everyone can be right all the time.
While I found some of the essays a bit dull, overall it was an interesting read, particularly just having read On Writing (which was published in 2000).
Kingdom of Fear: The World of Stephen King is a book about Stephen King, comprised of 17 essays by authors, publishers, filmmakers, and so on. It was published in 1986, just over ten years into King's career, before one of his most famous books, IT, was published. In Harlan Ellison's essay, Ellison writes "I've been told [King] is fast approaching (if he hasn't already reached it) the point of being the best selling American author of all time."
Chuck Miller writes "[King] deals with what he knows: small towns full of regular Americans, going about their everyday business -- until something unusual, often dreadful, changes the world around them." The perfect example of this is in my favourite King novel (and one of my favourite novels by any author), Needful Things, which was published in 1991. I love King's "town building" novels.
Miller also writes, "There's not likely to be an end any day soon to movies based upon the works of Stephen King, since a number of published works, unpublished novels, and original screenplays are available for cinematic adaptations." How true; this essay was published in 1986, before the adaptations of IT, Misery, Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and so many more. (Stand By Me, based on King's novella The Body, was being filmed at the time.)
Tim Underwood, author and editor, writes, "These days [King's] books are everywhere. But there's a downside to this ubiquity: because King is so contemporary and fashionable in his concerns, his work probably won't last. He may still be read in twenty years, but not with the enthusiasm that he is today." Well, not everyone can be right all the time.
While I found some of the essays a bit dull, overall it was an interesting read, particularly just having read On Writing (which was published in 2000).
May 13, 2023
In this collection of essays numerous other authors (e.g. Bloch, Strieber or Barker, to name but a few) try to give reasons why King became the book selling phenomenon he is. Has reading his stories have healing powers? Soon you'll know more about his drive and passion in telling eerie tales, his visions, his compulsion to write (horror writers are born not made), the topic of death and disfigurement. There is also put focus on Bachman, his doppelganger. In this volume all his books and stories are discussed up to 1986 and the movies are also talked about. Is there a magic mirror in his fiction? With this exceptionally well collected anthology of essays you'll uncover the motivation of one of the world's most popular authors ever. Highly recommended!
September 12, 2019
A rare gem, a time capsule and a joy to read from start to finish. Written and compiled by authors in 1986 critiquing King's work. Written before Stand by Me and IT had been released. It reads as a prophecy of Stephen King when we only know his early works. Outstanding. I found this in a house clearance.
May 14, 2023
An excellent, in-depth look at King's early work, published just as he was the reigning King of Horror, circa 1986. I greatly enjoyed these 17 essays, which are interspersed with telling quotes from King interviews.
A must for King fans.
A must for King fans.
July 29, 2012
As a Stephen King fan, I am currently obsessed with reading as much non-fiction as I can on the author including essays, interviews, etc. KINGDOM OF FEAR, which is a collection of essays written by authors, critics and filmmakers was my first book completed in the area of non-fiction written about Stephen King and I did find it at times lacking. There are 17 essyay in the book and I did not realize until after I finished it that it is a follow-up to an initial series of essays on Mr. King called FEAR ITSELF (which I will be reading very soon). The essays I found ran from the tedious to the very engrossing - assuming you are a fan of Stephen King and critical opinion by those in the field of writing, critiquing and filmmaking. There are arguments as to how King makes his characters real to the reader which may be why he has become such a popular author and has so much success. There is an argument that maybe the horror and supernatural aspect of his writing is not the reason for his success as many people of literary foundations (with upturned noses) seem to accuse him of. I especially enjoyed the essays written by Thomas Monteleone and Bernadette Lynn Bosky, the latter essayist delves not only into the importance of characterization in King's novels but how the psychological aspect of these characters helps the reader to identify with them, how their circumstances may be out of their control but the decisions they make on how they will react to their circumstances defines who they become. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to delve deeper into the characters and King's talents as a writer. Those wanting to stay focused on his fiction will probably have no interest in King as a man and author - and therefore have no interest in the differing opinions from several individuals as to what makes Stephen King so popular in our reading culture. Recommended to all Stephen King enthusiasts only - if you have no interest in discovering different opinions on King's work critically - this is not the book for you. I gave this book 4 stars because I did find it intriguing but some essays did seem hard to muddle through which may be more because of this reader than the essay itself. If you love Stephen King, at least give this book a try. One of several books on King edited by Tim Underwood and Chuck Miller by the way. One last note, the first selection is a piece written by King himself entitled "The Horror Writer and the Ten Bears".
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