Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.
Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and then Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.
He and Tabitha Spruce married in January of 1971. He met Tabitha in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University of Maine at Orono, where they both worked as students. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.
Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many of these were later gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.
In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.
854 works Add another?
Most Editions | First Published | Most Recent
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The Shining
42 editions - first published in 1977 Borrow -
Carrie
41 editions - first published in 1974 Borrow -
The green mile
40 editions - first published in 1996 Checked out -
Misery
34 editions - first published in 1987 Borrow -
Cujo
32 editions - first published in 1981 Borrow -
The Stand
28 editions - first published in 1978 Checked out -
It
27 editions - first published in 1986 Checked out -
The dead zone
25 editions - first published in 1979 Checked out -
Firestarter
24 editions - first published in 1980 Borrow -
Pet sematary
22 editions - first published in 1983 Borrow -
The Dark Tower
22 editions - first published in 1982 Checked out -
Four Past Midnight
21 editions - first published in 1990 Checked out -
Danse macabre
20 editions - first published in 1980 Borrow -
The Talisman
20 editions - first published in 1984 Borrow -
Needful Things
20 editions - first published in 1991 Borrow -
'Salem's Lot
19 editions - first published in 1975 Borrow -
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
18 editions - first published in 2000 DAISY -
The girl who loved Tom Gordon
18 editions - first published in 1999 DAISY -
The dark half
18 editions - first published in 1989 Borrow -
Dolores Claiborne
18 editions - first published in 1992 Borrow -
Dreamcatcher
17 editions - first published in 2001 DAISY -
The eyes of the dragon: a story
17 editions - first published in 1987 Borrow -
Different seasons
17 editions - first published in 1982 Borrow -
Gerald's game
16 editions - first published in 1992 Borrow -
The gunslinger
16 editions - first published in 1982 -
Black House: a novel
16 editions - first published in 2001 Borrow -
Cell: A Novel
15 editions - first published in 1986 DAISY -
Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse
15 editions - first published in 1991 Borrow -
Skeleton crew
15 editions - first published in 1985 Borrow -
Christine
15 editions - first published in 1983 Borrow -
Nightmares and Dreamscapes
14 editions - first published in 1993 Borrow -
Rose Madder
14 editions - first published in 1995 Borrow -
Insomnia: A novel
14 editions - first published in 1994 Borrow -
Night shift
14 editions - first published in 1978 Borrow -
The Tommyknockers
13 editions - first published in 1987 Borrow -
Lisey's Story: a novel
12 editions - first published in 2006 DAISY -
Hearts in Atlantis
12 editions - first published in 1999 DAISY -
Thinner
11 editions - first published in 1985 Borrow -
Everything's Eventual: 14 dark tales
11 editions - first published in 2002 DAISY -
Bag of bones
11 editions - first published in 1998 Borrow -
Desperation
11 editions - first published in 1996 Checked out -
The drawing of the three
11 editions - first published in 1987 Borrow -
From a Buick 8: a novel
10 editions - first published in 2002 DAISY -
Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, Book 4)
9 editions - first published in 1997 -
The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower, Book 3)
9 editions - first published in 1992 Checked out -
The Running Man
8 editions - first published in 1982 Borrow -
Wizard and glass
8 editions - first published in 1997 -
The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, Book 1)
8 editions - first published in 1976 Borrow -
Wolves of the Calla
7 editions - first published in 2003 DAISY -
Cycle of the Werewolf
7 editions - first published in 1983 -
The Breathing Method
7 editions - first published in 1984 -
Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season
7 editions - first published in 2004 DAISY -
Under the dome: a novel
7 editions - first published in 2009 DAISY -
The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, Book 2)
7 editions - first published in 1990 Checked out -
The Long Walk
6 editions - first published in 1979 Borrow -
Duma Key: A Novel
6 editions - first published in 2008 DAISY -
Just after sunset: stories
6 editions - first published in 2008 DAISY -
The Bachman books
6 editions - first published in 1985 Borrow -
Historias Fantasticas
5 editions - first published in 1998 -
UN Saco De Huesos
5 editions - first published in 1998 -
Buick 8, Un Coche Perverso
5 editions - first published in 2002 -
Roadwork
5 editions - first published in 1981 Borrow -
Storm of the century: An Original Screenplay
4 editions - first published in 1999 -
The Colorado kid
4 editions - first published in 2005 -
Dark Visions
4 editions - first published in 1989 -
Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, Book 5)
4 editions - first published in 2003 -
Bare bones: conversations on terror with Stephen King
4 editions - first published in 1988 DAISY -
Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, Book 6)
4 editions - first published in 2004 -
The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7)
4 editions - first published in 2004 -
Coffey on the Mile
3 editions - first published in 1996 Borrow -
The Dark Tower, Books 1-3: The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three, and The Waste Lands
3 editions - first published in 1992 -
EL UMBRAL DE LA NOCHE
3 editions - first published in 1991 -
Blockade Billy
3 editions - first published in 2010 Borrow -
The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix
3 editions - first published in 1997 Borrow -
Corazones En La Atlantida / Hearts in Atlantis
3 editions - first published in 2000 -
The Stephen King Collection: Stories from Night Shift
3 editions - first published in 2005 -
The Mouse on the Mile
3 editions - first published in 1996 Borrow -
Los Langoliers
3 editions - first published in 1995 -
Feast of fear: conversations with Stephen King
3 editions - first published in 1989 -
Ojos De Fuego / Firestarter
3 editions - first published in 1996 -
The Mist: In 3-D Sound
3 editions - first published in 1986 Borrow -
Carretera Maldita
3 editions - first published in 1995 -
Stephen King Mixed Prepack
3 editions - first published in 2002 -
Stephen King: The Art of Darkness
3 editions - first published in 1986 -
Los Ojos Del Dragon / the Eyes of the Dragon
3 editions - first published in 1989 -
LT's Theory of Pets
3 editions - first published in 2001 -
Mid-life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude
3 editions - first published in 1994 -
LA Milla Verde / the Green Mile: (el pasillo de la muerte) / (The death passage)
3 editions - first published in 2000 -
Langoliers
3 editions - first published in 1995 -
Rabia
3 editions - first published in 1995 -
Juego de Gerald, El
3 editions - first published in 1995 -
Jessie
3 editions - first published in 1992 -
Graveyard Shift: And Other Stories From Night Shift
3 editions - first published in 1991 -
La niebla
3 editions - first published in 1987 -
Kudzho
3 editions - first published in 1997 -
Dolan's Cadillac
3 editions - first published in 1989 -
El Misterio De Salem's Lot/Salem's Lot
3 editions - first published in 1985 -
The Body
3 editions - first published in 1994 -
El Resplandor/the Shining
3 editions - first published in 1982 -
Quitters, Inc
3 editions - first published in 1996
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History Created April 1, 2008 · 13 revisions
| March 10, 2012 | Edited by 198.241.2.1 | Update photos |
| January 3, 2012 | Edited by 70.74.171.141 | Edited without comment. |
| January 3, 2012 | Edited by 70.74.171.141 | Date Of Death |
| August 5, 2011 | Edited by 76.90.101.83 | Added new photo |
| April 1, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | initial import |