Stephen King is regarded as one of the best horror writers of our time, if not in the history of literature -- and rightfully so. The King of Horror has written 57 novels and around 200 short stories or novellas. Even at 68, he continues to be one of the most prolific authors, typically publishing two to three books per year.
Some of his most popular books have been turned into hugely successful movie productions such as "The Shawshank Redemption" (based on the novella "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption") or "The Green Mile," but readers who are more or less addicted to King's writing typically focus on much more.
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1. Clowns? Umm...
While many people, including many constant readers, were probably traumatized for life by the one and only Pennywise The Dancing Clown, for those of us who loved "It" clowns are a reminder of much more than evil monsters in the drains. They take us back to moments of hardship and happiness in "The Barrens," remind us of the Losers we lost and the unforgettable time we spent reading all 1,138 pages.
2. Going to the Stephen King section at every bookstore and sighing with memories to every book.
3. Casually reorganizing and flipping through your own collection.
These are pictures of my own collection, minus a couple of books that are away with me at uni. There's a wonderful kind of thrill to taking all of them out of my bookshelf and remembering how/where I bought or read each one of them.
4. Derry? Castle Rock? Chester's Mill? New Canaan?
5. Vampires are just not scary enough once you've read "Salem's Lot"
6. "The Shining"? A cinematic masterpiece?
"[It's] cold, I’m not a cold guy. I think one of the things people relate to in my books is this warmth, there’s a reaching out and saying to the reader, ‘I want you to be a part of this.’ With Kubrick’s The Shining I felt that it was very cold, very ‘We’re looking at these people, but they’re like ants in an anthill, aren’t they doing interesting things, these little insects.’" -- King says in an interview for BBC around the publishing of "Doctor Sleep."
We all know his frustrations with Kubrick too.
7. Geeking out to all the connections in the King universe.
8. Having trouble sleeping a couple of nights in a row? I wonder when I'll start seeing auras.
9. When there's a detailed description of a mighty storm or other kinds of dreadful weather, and you just know the culmination is about to go down.
10. Little towns in the middle of nowhere aren't quaint; they hide the darkest secrets you can imagine.
11. All of the amazing cover-art.
12. A 900 page books isn't long.
13. Why is "The Dark Tower" not one of the most famous fantasy sagas of all times?
14. You know that you can encounter almost all tropes there are in Stephen King's books: from werewolves through fingers sticking out of the drain and little boys hitchhiking across the U.S. and across universes, to time-travel and aliens -- Uncle Steve's got it all!
