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.
798 works Add another?
Most Editions | First Published | Most Recent
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Eljego De Gerald: Gerald's Game
1 edition - first published in 1995 -
Rabia
3 editions - first published in 1995 -
Abgrund. Nightmares and Dreamscapes
1 edition - first published in 1995 -
CA3
1 edition - first published in 1995 -
CA1
1 edition - first published in 1995 -
Verano de Corrupcion
1 edition - first published in 1995 -
Shawshank
1 edition - first published in 1995 -
DOS Despues De LA Medianoche: Ventana Secreta, Jardin Secreto
1 edition - first published in 1995 -
Juego de Gerald, El
3 editions - first published in 1995 -
Los Langoliers
3 editions - first published in 1995 -
Horror 2, Los Relatos De Twilight Zone
1 edition - first published in 1995 -
Alpträume. Nightmares and Dreamscapes
1 edition - first published in 1995 -
Mitad Siniestra, La
1 edition - first published in 1995 -
Dolores. Der Roman zum Film
1 edition - first published in 1995 -
Horror 3
2 editions - first published in 1995 -
Insomnia
1 edition - first published in 1995 -
Los Ojos del Dragon/Eyes of the Dragon
1 edition - first published in 1995 -
Space Movies
1 edition - first published in 1995 -
CICLO DEL HOMBRE LOBO, EL
1 edition - first published in 1995 -
Umney's last case
1 edition - first published in 1995 Borrow -
Tres Despues De la Medianoche / Three Past Midnight: Policvia De LA Biblioteca / The Library Policeman
1 edition - first published in 1995 -
Rose Madder
14 editions - first published in 1995 Borrow -
Insomnia 10-copy
1 edition - first published in 1994 -
Nightmares and Dreamscapes (Vol 3)
1 edition - first published in 1994 -
Salem
1 edition - first published in 1994 -
Cuatro Despues de La Medianoche
1 edition - first published in 1994 -
The Shawshank Redemption
2 editions - first published in 1994 -
The Body
3 editions - first published in 1994 -
Two Past Midnight
1 edition - first published in 1994 -
Niebla, La
1 edition - first published in 1994 -
Carrie and The Tommyknockers
1 edition - first published in 1994 -
Economic Rationalism: Dead End or Way Forward?
1 edition - first published in 1994 -
El Gran Libro del Terror
1 edition - first published in 1994 -
Minuit 2/Four Past Midnight
1 edition - first published in 1994 -
Pesadillas y Alucinaciones
1 edition - first published in 1994 -
Dolores
1 edition - first published in 1994 -
Carrie
1 edition - first published in 1994 -
Brume
1 edition - first published in 1994 -
Mid-life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude
3 editions - first published in 1994 -
Rêves et cauchemars
2 editions - first published in 1994 -
LA Part Des Tenebres/the Dark Half
1 edition - first published in 1994 -
Minuit 4
2 editions - first published in 1994 Borrow -
Insomnia: A novel
14 editions - first published in 1994 Checked out -
De vervloeking
1 edition - first published in 1993 -
Display screen equipment: a user's guide
1 edition - first published in 1993 -
La Tienda de Los Deseos Malignos
1 edition - first published in 1993 -
Gray Matter
1 edition - first published in 1993 -
In einer kleinen Stadt. Needful Things. Roman
2 editions - first published in 1993 -
Dolores Claiborne (Unknown-Desc)
1 edition - first published in 1993 -
Tommyknockers (Nevedomoe, Neobiasnimoe, Neveroitnoe)
1 edition - first published in 1993 -
Der Werwolf von Tarker Mills. Kalendergeschichten
2 editions - first published in 1993 -
Gray Matter and Nightshift
2 editions - first published in 1993 -
Dolores Claiborne - SPANISH VERSION
1 edition - first published in 1993 -
Cujo
1 edition - first published in 1993 -
Nightmares and Dreamscapes
14 editions - first published in 1993 Checked out -
The Dark Tower, Books 1-3: The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three, and The Waste Lands
3 editions - first published in 1992 -
Selected from Carrie (Writers Voices Ser)
1 edition - first published in 1992 -
La tour sombre. 3, Terres perdues
2 editions - first published in 1992 -
Ici et maintenant
2 editions - first published in 1992 -
Selected from Carrie
1 edition - first published in 1992 -
Cuerpo, El
2 editions - first published in 1992 -
The dark tower III: The waste lands
1 edition - first published in 1992 -
Frühling, Sommer, Herbst und Tod. Vier Kurzromane
1 edition - first published in 1992 -
Jessie
3 editions - first published in 1992 -
Gerald's Game 6-copy
1 edition - first published in 1992 -
El Resplandor
2 editions - first published in 1992 -
Expedicion, La
2 editions - first published in 1992 -
Gerald's game
16 editions - first published in 1992 Checked out -
The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower, Book 3)
9 editions - first published in 1992 Checked out -
Dolores Claiborne
18 editions - first published in 1992 Checked out -
One Past Midnight: The Langoliers (Four Past Midnight)
1 edition - first published in 1991 -
Needful Things 4-copy
1 edition - first published in 1991 -
Secret Window, Secret Garden: Two Past Midnight (Four Past Midnight)
2 editions - first published in 1991 -
EL UMBRAL DE LA NOCHE
3 editions - first published in 1991 -
La tour sombre. 2, Les trois cartes
2 editions - first published in 1991 -
Chantier
2 editions - first published in 1991 -
The Sun Dog: Four Past Midnight
1 edition - first published in 1991 -
The Stand: Expanded Edition: For the First Time Complete and Uncut (Signet)
1 edition - first published in 1991 -
Lord John Signatures
1 edition - first published in 1991 -
La Tour sombre, tome 1: Le pistolero
2 editions - first published in 1991 -
Secret Window
1 edition - first published in 1991 -
Nightshift Stephen King
1 edition - first published in 1991 -
Weird Tales 301 Summer 1991
1 edition - first published in 1991 -
Christine. Roman
1 edition - first published in 1991 -
Geschichten aus der Schatten- Welt. Das Buch zum Film
1 edition - first published in 1991 -
Stephen Kings Collection
1 edition - first published in 1991 -
Stephen King 8: Stand, Dark Half
1 edition - first published in 1991 -
Masters of Darkness III (Masters of Darkness)
1 edition - first published in 1991 -
The Library Policeman: Three Past Midnight (Four Past Midnight)
1 edition - first published in 1991 -
Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse
15 editions - first published in 1991 Checked out -
Needful Things
20 editions - first published in 1991 Borrow -
Drei roman: Deutsche erstausgabe.
1 edition - first published in 1990 -
Das Monstrum. Tommyknockers. Roman
1 edition - first published in 1990 -
Skin Trade (Night Visions, 5)
1 edition - first published in 1990 -
Feuerkind / Cujo. Zwei King- Klassiker in einem Band
1 edition - first published in 1990 -
Orrore a Crouch End: romanzi e racconti
1 edition - first published in 1990 -
The Stand
1 edition - first published in 1990 -
Weird Tales 298 Fall 1990
1 edition - first published in 1990 -
Skeleton crew
1 edition - first published in 1990 -
The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, Book 2)
7 editions - first published in 1990 Borrow
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History Created April 1, 2008 · 15 revisions
| March 9, 2013 | Edited by Lynne Gee | Added new photo |
| May 28, 2012 | Edited by 50.53.15.51 | Added new photo |
| March 10, 2012 | Edited by 198.241.2.1 | Update photos |
| January 3, 2012 | Edited by 70.74.171.141 | Edited without comment. |
| April 1, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | initial import |