Miscellaneous
Interview with Stephen King
Stephen King is the unabashed king of the terror tale. For the last 10 years, his stories have consistantly appeared on every best seller list. On many occasions, he has even had two books simultaniously on the prestigious New York Times best seller list. His stories range from the ghastly and the unworldly, to the realm of near truth and the terrifyingly possible.
He has scared the wits out of millions and has firmly established himself in modern American literature. Some of his writings include: Carrie, Salem's Lot, Night shift (a collection of short stories), The Stand, The Shining, Firestarter, Cujo, Dead Zone, Creep Show, Christine and Pet Sematary. Many of his novels have become major motion pictures, with Dead Zone, Christine and Carrie being three of his more popular cinematic offerings.
King lives in Maine with his wife and children. He enjoys the "life of the back woods," as he calls it. King writes about what he knows, consequently, many of his stories are set in his "own neck of the woods."
King is very frank and open, and displays a corny sense of humor. (We share this sense of humor) He enjoys his work and takes a great deal of pride in it. When asked if he was a storyteller, he said he didn't think he could keep an audience spellbound just by telling them a story. But, in his description of the facts behind one of his short stories, The Mangler, as told below, you will see how well endowed he is with the ability to raise the hackles on your neck with only a brief narration.
I understand you don't like to be asked why you write the kind of stories you do. Is this correct?
I have always felt a little bit uncomfortable with that question. It's not a question that you would ask a guy that writes detective stories or the guy that writes mystery stories, or westerns, or whatever. But it is asked of the writer of horror stories because it seems that there...
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