Stephen King -- it's a household name. From "Carrie" in 1974 to "From a Buick 8" in 2002, King is heralded the world over as the "king," so to speak, of fictionalized horror. The titles of his books are so familiar at this point that they've moved past their place on bookshelves to become popular iconography. This is "Pet Sematary," "Tommyknockers," "Dolores Claiborne" and "Bag of Bones." Almost nothing could be more frightening than King; even critics of his popularity admit that he's a veritable genius when it comes to recreating horror.
Only that isn't necessarily the entire Stephen King, this version of the famed author that has granted him a household name. Equally important are his works of a less frightening -- if more surreal -- nature.
"The Green Mile," made famous with the help of Tom Hanks and Hollywood, is the story of a death row giant with the extraordinary powers of touch. Although horrifying when it comes to the moment of electrocution, this originally five part series captures what is most beautiful about humanity instead of perhaps what is the ugliest. Similarly, "Hearts in Atlantis"
-- while again quite odd and uncanny in parts -- is much more the story of a young boy and his friend than any of its surreal moments reveal.
So King is, perhaps, undeniably known and recognized for his works of horror. But his past (and his present) grant him a much more complicated story. The second son of a single mother, King earned his B.S. in English at the University of Maine and sold his first story, "The Glass Floor," for the sum of $35. Even "Carrie," his first work from a major printing house, earned him only around $200,000.
Literature, for King, is a business as well as a passion, as is evident from his prolificacy (he's had books coming out just about every year, with sometimes more than one a year). But more than that, even, King is also an actor (he's starred in bit parts in several of his own movies, including roles as the priest in "Pet Sematary" and a border guard in "The Stand") and a musician (as member of The Rockbottom Remainders with Dave Barry and Matt Groening of "The Simpsons").
If nothing else, Stephen King lives far beyond his reputation as a horror writer -- he is a man truly designed to be a popular icon.
-- Christie Harner
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