Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine, on September 21, 1947. He was active on his college campus, where he was a part of the school newspaper and participated in student politics.
After graduating college, he taught high school English for a few years before his novel Carrie made it possible for him to write full-time. He sold his first story in 1967 while in college and has published work ever since. While Stephen King is well-known for his horror novels such as It and The Shining, he has written books of many genres, from non-fiction to fantasy.
My favorite novel of his is It because it is not only a well-written horror novel but a coming-of-age story about a group of friends who battle an evil force both as kids and adults.
Stephen King is coming out with a new novel September 6th, 2022, titled Fairy Tale. It is about a teenage boy named Charlie who enters a world where forces of good and evil are fighting against each other. In the aftermath of an accident that killed his mom, he was forced to grow up at a young age and take care of himself and his alcoholic father.
At the age of seventeen, he meets a man who leads him to the discovery of this other world. Stephen King has also written works of nonfiction, including the novel On Writing. I have only read excerpts of it, but it includes writing tips and his writing methods, such as writing ten pages a day and designating a space to write. This is not his first work of fantasy, as his novels The Stand, The Green Mile, The Talisman, and seven book series, The Dark Tower, belong to this genre.
He has written other works of fantasy, and the majority of his books blend genres. For example, his novel Hearts in Atlantis is set partially during the Vietnam War, making it historical fiction, yet it also belongs to the horror and fantasy genres.
With his ability to blend genres besides the one he is most famous for, Stephen King reaffirms the saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover."
Works Cited
King, Tabitha. “The Author.” Edited by Marsha DeFilippo, Stephen King, 2022,
https://stephenking.com/the-author/.