King, Stephen Books

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Stephen King

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 820 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Short and snappy as it is, Stephen King's On Writing really contains two books: a fondly sardonic autobiography and a tough-love lesson for aspiring novelists. The memoir is terrific stuff, a vivid description of how a writer grew out of a misbehaving kid. You're right there with the young author as he's tormented by poison ivy, gas-passing babysitters, uptight schoolmarms, and a laundry job nastier than Jack London's. It's a ripping yarn that casts a sharp light on his fiction. This was a child who dug Yvette Vickers from Attack of the Giant Leeches, not Sandra Dee. "I wanted monsters that ate whole cities, radioactive corpses that came out of the ocean and ate surfers, and girls in black bras who looked like trailer trash." But massive reading on all literary levels was a craving just as crucial, and soon King was the published author of "I Was a Teen-Age Graverobber." As a young adult raising a family in a trailer, King started a story inspired by his stint as a janitor cleaning a high-school girls locker room. He crumpled it up, but his writer wife retrieved it from the trash, and using her advice about the girl milieu and his own memories of two reviled teenage classmates who died young, he came up with Carrie. King gives us lots of revelations about his life and work. The kidnapper character in Misery, the mind-possessing monsters in The Tommyknockers, and the haunting of the blocked writer in The Shining symbolized his cocaine and booze addiction (overcome thanks to his wife's intervention, which he describes). "There's one novel, Cujo, that I barely remember writing."

King also evokes his college days and his recovery from the van crash that nearly killed him, but the focus is always on what it all means to the craft. He gives you a whole writer's "tool kit": a reading list, writing assignments, a corrected story, and nuts-and-bolts advice on dollars and cents, plot and character, the basic building block of the paragraph, and literary models. He shows what you can learn from H.P. Lovecraft's arcane vocabulary, Hemingway's leanness, Grisham's authenticity, Richard Dooling's artful obscenity, Jonathan Kellerman's sentence fragments. He explains why Hart's War is a great story marred by a tin ear for dialogue, and how Elmore Leonard's Be Cool could be the antidote.

King isn't just a writer, he's a true teacher. --Tim Appelo

Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King

Lisa Rogak

Amazon Price: $17.13 List Price: $25.95 Not yet published By: Thomas Dunne Books

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Dark Dreams: The Story of Stephen King (World Writers)

Nancy Whitelaw

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Love that King 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Since I am in love with Stephen King and all his works I purchased this book just to see if I could find out anymore about him than I already do. I read the book at one sitting. I was very pleased with its content. Well worth the price

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Stephen King

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Bare Bones: Conversations on Terror With Stephen King

Stephen King, Tim Underwood

List Price: $16.95 By: Mcgraw-Hill Amazon Marketplace: 134 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

So Good I Bought The TP, TC, & Limited Numbered Copies 5 out of 5 stars.
37 of 39 people found this review helpful.

In this collection of essays, both new Stephen King fans, and SK'ers alike can enjoy a unique, indepth and personal view into the mind of the world's greatest horror writer. In Bare Bones King does just that -- he Bares his Bones, showing us the reader what really goes on inside his head. You are taken down into a dark cavern that few men have traveled into and survived. (Well, at least literarily -- not literally). As stated above, I was so impressed and intrigued by these works that I bought all three copies available: the 1st edition paperback, the first edition hardcover, and number 588 of 1152 limited handnumbered copies. Truly a "missing link" in any King collection. If nothing else, Bare Bones is a "must-read".

For King-Fans a must 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful.

This is maybe the most interesting book about Stephen King available. If you want to know something about him, you have to read it, because you won't learn more anywhere else. Not even in his own 'On Writing' by the way.

Maybe it would be interesting too to read more actual interviews, but these one help a lot. Okay, it's not always that interesting, like in the conversation about his radio station and sometimes weird, like in the one about 'Maximum Overdrive' if you have seen it. And of course a lot of things are repeated.

But it's really a must for King-fans.

Editorial Review:

In this revealing and varied collection of interviews, Stephen King talks about his life, family, films and in particular about his macabre novels of the unknown that have made him so well known.

Secret Windows: Essays and Fiction on the Craft of Writing

Stephen King

By: Book-of-the Month Club Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $9.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

neat, hard-to-find book 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a good addition to the Stephen King collection, but probably only for fans. As I would read anything by Stephen King, including grocery lists and completed crossword puzzles, I enjoyed this collections of essays.

Stephen King: King of Thrillers and Horror (People to Know)

Suzan Wilson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A FAN OF THE MAN 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Although I have never been a fan of the writing of Stephen King, Wilson's book has made me a fan of the man. With fascinating anecdotes and sharp, clean writing, Wilson draws the reader into King's life and makes clear the connections between his life and his work. The downside is that I now want to see those connections for myself, so find myself with a ton of reading to catch up on. My only hope is that King will give me a chance to catch up by not being as prolific in the future as he has been in the past. However, I do hope to see more books by Wilson in the near future. She is proof that biographies written for younger readers can be as interesting to adults as to their intended audience.

Editorial Review:

Traces the life of a popular novelist, from his childhood as an avid reader to his current success as a creator of horror fiction.

Stephen King (Pop Culture Legends)

Amy Keyishian, Marj Kayishian

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Editorial Review:

A profile of Stephen King summarizes his significant contributions as a writer of horror fiction while examining the many autobiographical aspects of such works as Carrie, Pet Sematary, and The Stand.

Stephen King: Author (Ferguson Career Biographies)

James Robert Parish

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Editorial Review:

Stephen King: Author profiles the life and career of one of America's most prolific and best-selling authors. Stephen King was awarded the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters at the 2003 National Book Awards ceremony. His books have sold millions of copies, been translated into 33 languages, and been adapted into many film and television features. Having committed himself to a writing life at a young age, King was relentless in his efforts to become a published author. Throughout his long and productive career, he has dealt with writer's block, substance abuse, and a near-fatal accident, all of which he overcame and used as inspirations for some of his memorable works.

Kingdom of Fear: The World of Stephen King

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Hail to the King 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

KINGDOM OF FEAR is a collection of essays on the fiction of Stephen King. It contains writings from his contemporaries in the genre, other horror novelists, editors and critics.
This book made me an even bigger fan of the author. Reading his peers' critiques provided me with an insight, and vaster appreciation for what King has done in the field. One critic even hailed him as the best horror writer of all time. I agree with that assessment although it is debatable even in this collection, he is definitely the best-selling horror writer and as the essays detail there is good reason for that.
Some may be put off by a few of the obviously gushing tributes paid to King by those in the industry, but I feel him worthy of the high praise.
And lest anyone come across this tome and get the impression it is a schmooze fest there are some very critical and uncomplimentary comments included.
King has achieved such high acclaim that my one complaint is there hasn't been a follow-up publication released essaying his more recent works and how he has evolved from a schlock/horror writer into an author that chronicles an era with poignency and insight.