running, just climbing a flight of stairs—is easier, and probably safer. I’m sure. But I think the best
reward is that confirmation of self...being able to think of yourself as strong, as one of the good guys.’
The article appeared in the September 15, 1981 issue of the Bangor Daily News, one of many
contributions to this publication. Copies of Bangor Daily News articles may be secured from the
microfiche files at the Fogler Library of the University of Maine at Orono (at no charge, if you
actually visit), from the newspaper direct (at a significant fee), or from visiting the Maine State
Library in Augusta.
My High School Horrors (1982)
Stephen King taught high school English between 1971 and 1973 and opens this humorous piece
telling us of some of the terrors of the high school classroom: ‘I liked teaching a lot and most of my
high school terrors were small ones. If they were filmed, they’d be grade B movies. See if any of
these horrors sound familiar.’ The article then divides into sections, each with a heading and a few
paragraphs explaining specific terrors: The Thing That Wouldn’t Shut Up; The Classroom of the
Living Dead; The Smell from Hell; The Incredible Osculating Creature; The Horror of the Unknown
Noises; and The Monster That Wouldn’t Turn Off Its Radio (all, of course, varying types of annoying
student).
He closes, ‘Those are some high school horrors I remember from my days of labor in the groves
of academe; occasionally there were more serious problems, but these are the ones kids rarely think
about but that regularly put a gotcha! into a teacher’s day. I just thought you should know. Now...what
have I left out?’
This piece was first published in Sourcebook: The Magazine for Seniors, a publication of the
13-30 Corporation, distributed freely to high school seniors in 1982. It was reprinted as High School
Horrors in Castle Rock: The Stephen King Newsletter for February 1986; and under its original title
in the Fall 1993 issue of Georgia Biology, ‘a life science journal prepared by high school students.’
The Castle Rock appearance is the easiest to obtain, as back copies are freely available from the
usual King sources. The other two appearances were journals for high school students and as such are
obscure, appearing for sale on rare occasions. The Sourcebook appearance also contained a short
interview with King, titled rather unimaginatively ‘The King of Terror’.
Peter Straub: An Informal Appreciation (1982)
King begins this appreciation of one of horror’s leading writers with a humorous but spot on
description of some fantasy convention attendees, noting his friend Peter Straub doesn’t fit into this
crowd: ‘Peter Straub always looks out of place at fantasy conventions. Most convention-goers
wander around in a wild variety of t-shirts (my most memorable con t-shirts include BEAT ME,
DADDY, EIGHT TO THE BAR, RUGBY PLAYERS EAT THEIR DEAD, and WILL SOMEBODY
PLEASE BEAM RONALD REAGAN UP?), strange headgear, weird footwear, eccentric jewelry,
and actual costumes—it is not unusual to see a giant tribble drifting softly down a post-midnight
hallway at one of these shindigs, or a gentleman in a silver leisure suit who apparently has antennae
growing not only from his temples but from his nipples and navel as well.’
He relates events from the 1980 World Fantasy Convention in which Straub and others
inadvertently scared two old women by making chainsaw noises in a discussion about The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre: ‘Peter Straub looks like somebody who must be terribly conservative, an
upholder of the system, the status quo, Things As They Have Been as well as Things As They Are.
Hearing chainsaw sounds emanating from a gent of such respectable appearance could indeed
be...well, unsettling.’ This article is more of an appreciation of the man than his writing, although
King argues, ‘Peter Straub’s books smack neither of tired academic ennui or foolish self-indulgence.
Instead there is the clean enthusiasm of the authentic crazy human being—the sort of dudes who
staggered back from the wilderness with the skin around their eyes blasted black by the sun of visions
and a scorpion or two crawling in their hair. And I don’t suppose it matters if the prophet in question
came back from those lonely places where ordinary people are afraid to go in a lice-infested robe or
a suit from Paul Stuart. The look is the same, the intelligence just as mind-popping.’
Straub was, of course, King’s co-author in the ‘The Territories’ novels— The Talisman and
Black House, both published after this piece. At some point we can expect these two leading
exponents of dark fiction to complete the chronicles of Jack Sawyer’s life with one final installment.
This article appeared in World Fantasy Convention ’82, edited by Kennedy Poyser, a trade
paperback that formed the program book for The Eighth World Fantasy Convention held in New
Haven, Connecticut. The booklet appears at King resellers but only rarely.
A Novelist’s Perspective on Bangor (March 1983)
King opens: ‘Since my wife and family and I came to Bangor in 1979, I have been asked time
and time again why I want to live here. I live in Maine because I was born in Maine and it’s my home
place. The reasons for living in Bangor are not so simple.’ They are, according to the author: his
house, a neighborhood school, the ‘graceful Victorian homes’ on West Broadway, and so on. ‘Those
are personal things, and I promised you a novelist’s perspective,’ King writes. ‘You may be
disappointed, because that may not actually exist—it may be more sell than substance. Nevertheless,
it was as much the novelist as the man who wanted to come to Bangor. I had a very long book in
mind, a book which I hoped would deal with the way myths and dreams and stories—stories, most of
all—become a part of the everyday life of a small American city. I had done something like this
before, but with the sort of small rural town in which I had grown up. That book was Salem’s Lot.
The novel about the small city—a city named Derry which any native of this city will recognize
almost at once as Bangor—is now written, in first draft, at least, and will be the basis of any coherent
remarks I have to offer today (and when I run out of such remarks, I can always read from the novel
itself—which may or may not be more coherent than any extempore remarks I am able to muster). I’m
fairly happy with it—as happy as one can be with a first draft, I suppose—because the stories are
there.’ The novel King refers to is the classic, It, which appropriately enough was originally titled
Derry, and would not be published for a further three years.
Still, the question of why Bangor was the Kings’ small city of choice remained and King notes,
‘The real answer is that no, not any small American city would have done. Portland certainly
wouldn’t have done. And no, I don’t know why. Maybe the book itself will answer the question (but
if it does, I suspect the answer will lie in the narrow white spaces between the lines). If there really
is such a “novelist’s perspective” (or, more properly, “a Steve King novelist’s perspective,” because
I suppose each novelist must have a different way of looking at things), then it is a matter of heart and
instinct.’ The King family’s main home remains in Bangor to this day, although they also own a lake
house in Western Maine and a home in Florida. Their time now tends to be split between the three.
The piece only appeared in a paperback booklet called Black Magic and Music, issued by The
Bangor Historical Society to accompany a benefit held on March 27, 1983. It was later reprinted in a
version that omits the advertisements contained in the first printing. Copies of either edition are very
difficult to secure and will most likely appear at specialist King resellers, if anywhere.
Stephen King’s 10 Favorite Horror Books or Short Stories (1983)
This piece contains no explanatory text by King, simply a list of his ten favorite horror
books/short stories. They are: Ghost Story, by Peter Straub; Dracula, by Bram Stoker; The Haunting
(sic), by Shirley Jackson; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by R. L. Stevenson; Burnt Offerings, by Robert
Marasco; Casting the Runes, by M. R. James; Two Bottles of Relish, by Lord Dunsany; The Great
God Pan, by Arthur Machen; The Color Out of Space, by H. P. Lovecraft and The Upper Berth by F.
Marion Crawford.
The list exclusively in Stephen King’s 10 Favorite Horror Books or Short Stories was
published in The Book of Lists #3, compiled by Amy Wallace, David Wallechinsky, and Irving
Wallace in a hardcover released by William Morrow in 1983, and a book club edition the same year.
Elm Tree Books published it in the United Kingdom in 1983; a Bantam mass-market paperback
edition was released that December.
Dear Walden People (August 1983)
The novellas that make up King’s collection Different Seasons contain some of his finest writing
and, for the most part, are not traditional horror tales. In fact, two of King’s best and most successful
film adaptations (The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me) are based on stories from this
collection. It is unsurprising that the issue of tales outside his branding as ‘The King of Horror’ came
up around the time of the book’s publication. ‘I’ve been asked if Different Seasons, my book of four
short novels, means that I’ve reached the end of my interest in such uplifting and mentally edifying
subjects as ghouls, ghosts, vampires, and unspeakable things lurking in the closets of little kids. After
all, these questioners point out, three of the four novellas deal with nonhorror themes—prison escape,
little boys whose curiosity is perhaps too big for their own good, more little boys on an unlikely—but
all too possible—quest. My response is to point out that the fourth story in Different Seasons (which
my youngest son, Owen, persists in calling Different Sneezes) is pretty gruesome. It concerns a
doctor, a rather peculiar men’s club, and an unwed mother who is extremely determined to give birth
to her baby,’ King related, referring to The Breathing Method.
Closing in traditional style, he confesses: ‘I had fun with ’em, and that’s usually a pretty good
sign that the reader will have some fun too. I hope so, anyway. That’s enough for now, I guess, so let
me close with just a cordial word of warning: remember that when you turn out the light this evening
and climb into your bed, anything could be under it—anything at all.’
This piece, published to coincide with the Signet mass-market paperback edition of Different
Seasons, originally appeared in the August 1983 edition of Waldenbooks Book Notes, a free
newsletter distributed at the chain bookstore’s locations. Original copies appear rarely at specialist
King resellers. In 1988 it was reprinted as With Waldenbooks in Bare Bones: Conversations on
Terror with Stephen King, edited by Tim Underwood and Chuck Miller (that book went through
many printings in both the United States and the United Kingdom); and finally under the original title
in The Stephen King Companion by George Beahm, which also went through numerous printings in
both countries. The latter appearances are readily available through online and traditional
secondhand book dealers.
A Profile of Robert Bloch (October 1983)
This appreciation of Robert Bloch (King also dedicated Danse Macabre to this author, among
others) is written in the humorous style we see quite often in King’s non-fiction, that is—tongue
planted firmly in cheek. Early and by way of an explanatory note regarding the style in which the
article is written, King says: ‘I had intended to do a warm and lovely appreciation of Bob Bloch—
about fifty pages of uplifting phrases and inspiring subordinate clauses—but I suddenly realized last
night that the dreaded deadline had almost arrived. I therefore called the proper people this morning
(collect—you always called collect) and explained about how my mother had rabies and my dog had
been run over by a city bus: I sounded sincere as hell to myself but I must not have been too
convincing, because I was not given six weeks of grace but only three days.’
The piece is divided into a lot of very short sections: Birth; Early Schooling; University
Training; Graduate Studies; A Letter Bloch Probably Regrets; A Flowery Debut; He Hasn’t Been to
Cleveland Since; Early Fiction; Something about Hair; A Novel Appraisal; The Fix May Have Been
In; The Director’s Name Slips My Mind; Bob is Just Grateful No One Has Told the National
Enquirer Yet; and Final Appraisal. King concludes his subject ‘is witty, personable, and gently (sic)
—as a writer he is the pro’s pro, as a conversationalist he is the sort of person you always hope you
will run into in a bar (and to whom you so seldom do), as a friend he is nonpareil.’
This piece appears only in World Fantasy Convention 1983, edited by Robert Weinberg, a
trade paperback program booklet printed by Weird Tales Ltd for the Ninth World Fantasy
Convention, held in October 1983. Copies of this booklet are difficult to find and are best sourced
from the usual King resellers or online secondhand sources.
Stephen King (December 1983)
This very short autobiographical piece is written in the third person. King speaks briefly of his
birth, high school, and university careers and his marriage and children. The last paragraph reads:
‘Mr. King has written several novels and short stories and many of his novels have been made into
movies. He has an excellent imagination and writes about things which are sometimes scary.’
This rare item appears only in a trade paperback book, A Gift From Maine. It was written by
‘Maine’s Foremost Artists and Writers and James Plummer’s Sixth Grade Class’ and published by
Portland, Maine-based Guy Gannet Publishing Co. It appears irregularly at King resellers, on eBay
and such sources as abebooks.com.
A short poem about ‘what scares me most’ by Chris Bradbury (aged 11) is included on the same
page as King’s piece as both illustration and direction for the reader to ‘write a poem of what scares
you most.’
Bernie Wrightson: An Appreciation (1983)
King begins here echoing a similar sentiment to that expressed in his appreciation of J. K.
Potter’s work (see On J. K. Potter: The Art of the Morph in our Introducing the Work of Others
chapter). ‘Writing about pictures—from the highest art to the lowliest caricature—makes me
uncomfortable. As a writer, I see pictures in my head and am able to translate what I see tolerably
well to the page190...but in words. What my readers see they see between the lines. As a maker of
actual images, I am able to produce stick-men, stick-women, and stick-animals that even my six-year-
old looks at with barely concealed contempt. As a result, I would no more try to critique Bernie
Wrightson’s work than I would try to obtain a grant from The National Endowment Committee for the
Arts on the basis of my doodles (mostly what I doodle are eyes). I cannot critique because I cannot
do: my abysmal unpreparedness for such a task is compounded by the fact that I have never studied.’
As King fans know, Wrightson is one of the author’s favorites. He is responsible for the artwork
i n Creepshow, Cycle of the Werewolf, The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition, the limited
edition of From A Buick 8 and The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla. Cycle of the Werewolf
started off as a project for a calendar where King would write the text for each month and Wrightson
would do the artwork. It quickly outgrew that form but the two remained collaborators on the project.
King was very pleased with the outcome: ‘The results of this partnership of story and image have
been greatly gratifying to me...and I hope they have been to you, as well. Thanks, Bernie. I ain’t no
monkey, but I know what I like.’
This very rare piece only appears in TheCycle of the Werewolf Portfolio, published by The
Land of Enchantment in 1983, in a limited edition of 350 numbered copies signed by both King and
Wrightson. These portfolios were given away with the deluxe limited edition of Cycle of the
Werewolf, also published by The Land of Enchantment in 1983. They almost never appear on the
market and even then at high prices. Readers wishing to secure a copy should contact dedicated King
resellers.
The Limits of Violence (1983)
This is King’s short contribution to a collection of authors’ views regarding the limits of
violence. He eloquently makes his point, especially with regard to scenes of violence in his own
work: ‘In other words, violence directed toward some point is perfectly acceptable. But I don’t think
I would be in this business if I didn’t sort of gravitate toward violence for its own sake. All the things
about violence that we remark as questionable—to be titillated by violence, to be excited by violence
—have got to play a part as well. I just try to keep it under control; because if I weren’t that way, I’d
be writing Barbara Cartland romances....’
This piece first appeared in Shadowings: The Reader’s Guide to Horror Fiction, 1981-82,
edited by Douglas E. Winter, released in both hardcover and trade paperback by Starmont House. It
was reprinted as Horror and the Limits of Violence in the Fall 1986 issue of American Fantasy
magazine. The book is generally available from the specialist King resellers; and the magazine can be
secured, with some difficulty, from the same sources and used magazine outlets.
The Irish King (March 16, 1984)
King opens, ‘I just tell people it’s because I’m Irish. That I’m prolific, I mean. Just lately I keep
getting rapped with that word—as in “the tiresomely prolific Stephen King,” or “the endlessly
prolific Mr. King,” or...supply your own adverb. I even had one exasperated critic wish a case of
terminal dyslexia on my poor head.’ This article quickly becomes one of King’s humorous pieces: ‘If
my endless spate of words ended with my own work, that would be one thing. Unfortunately, it does
not end there. I keep having these meddlesome Irish ideas about how to improve—or at least warp—
the work of others. I herewith offer a few of these freely and with no strings attached; I’m sure the
authors mentioned have plenty ideas of their own, but one never knows—after all, they might not be
Irish.’
He then suggests ridiculous book ideas for Stephen Donaldson, Rosemary Rogers, Robert
Ludlum, Dorris Lessing, V. S. Naipaul, Dick Francis and James Michener. For instance, ‘The Muppet
Repository, by Robert Ludlum’: ‘A retired CIA agent with a tireless libido and a penchant for
malapropisms discovers the final secret of Darkest Africa—not the fabled Elephant Graveyard but a
Muppet Graveyard in which the prehistoric forebears of Kermit, Miss Piggy, Yoda, and Gonzo the
Great lie desiccated but marvelously preserved by the arid climate. The hero’s problems are
complicated by his love for a Muppet Archaeologist who may (or may not) work for the NKVD.’ He
also has a suggestion for himself: ‘Well, what about “The Molting”? This would be a sequel to—hold
the phone, Hollywood!—end all sequels. Danny Torrance, the precognitive kid from “The Shining,”
meets Charlie McGee, the pyrotechnic kid from “Firestarter.” They marry and have a kid who knows
when he’s going to light fires!! Gosh, being Irish is great, and being prolific is even better. Now,
let’s see...Harold Robbins....’
This piece was originally titled Some Irish Ideas; the three-page manuscript under this title is
held in Box 2702 of The Stephen Edwin King Collection in the Special Collections unit of the
Raymond H. Fogler Library at the University of Maine at Orono.
In published form The Irish King only appeared in the March 16, 1984 edition of The New York
Daily News. The easiest ways to secure a photocopy of this piece are through an interlibrary article
request, or by attending one of the New York libraries that archive this publication.
1984: A Bad Year If You Fear Friday the 13th(April 12, 1984)
In another humorous piece we discover: ‘A Triskaidekaphobe is one who fears the number 13,
and this it not a good year for the triskies, of which I am one. Living through a year with such a
reputation as George Orwell has given this one is bad enough, but consider this added fillip—for
only the 27th time since the year 1800, we are living a year with three Friday the 13ths, the maximum
possible. One fell in January, one falls in April (note, that’s tomorrow) and the third occurs in July.’
King goes on to list terrible and unlucky events in history that happened on Friday the 13th.
He ends with a warning or two: ‘So if you know a triskie and you find that he or she has adopted
a bomb-shelter mentality this year, be kind—after all, there won’t be another until 1987, and that’s
three phobia-free years. And spare a sympathetic thought for your faithful correspondent, who is
doing the best he can under circumstances that would give even the hardest triskie fits: not only is it a
triple-whammy year, but I have been married 13 years this year, have a daughter 13 years old and
have published 13 books. Even so, the year I’m really dreading is 1998. In that triple-whammy year
I’ll be 49. 191 Can you add 4 and 9? As Mr. Rogers says, “I knew you could.” That’s the year I may
really spend in a bomb shelter.’
This article first appeared in the April 12, 1984 edition of The New York Times and is relatively
easy to obtain, as major libraries archive that publication. It was reprinted as The Triple Whammy in
the November 1987 (that year, as mentioned, being the next with a triple Friday 13th) issue of Castle
Rock: The Stephen King Newsletter. Back issues of this newsletter are easily obtained from the usual
King resources.
Dr. Seuss and the Two Faces of Fantasy (June 1984)
This essay represents a guest of honor address given to the International Conference on the
Fantastic in the Arts, on March 24, 1984 in Boca Raton, Florida. It is not a transcription of the speech
King gave, but another version he had previously written. For the transcription of the actual speech
see Title unknown in our King’s Unpublished Non-Fiction chapter.
King sets guidelines early and explains why he works within specialized genres. Then, ‘I
decided that what remained was to talk briefly about the influences—literary and otherwise—that
called out to me as a child and helped to form me as a writer. Such a topic has a rather conceited
undertone, I realize—it suggests that people must care enough about my present work to also care
about what I read or saw at the movies when I was a kid. But I think such a discussion has its useful
side, even if you are impatient with my work, as many critics are. The usefulness comes from the
certainty—mine and that of most of the other writers I know who make fantasies—that the urge to
write fantasy is not something the writer creates. One of the questions I’m most frequently asked is,
“Why do you write that stuff?” My response, first in an essay called “On Becoming a Brand Name”
and later incorporated in Danse Macabre, my barroom rant masquerading as scholarship, was:
“What makes you think I have any choice?”’
King also writes of the beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss, specifically dealing with two
works: The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins and McElligot’s Pool. He goes on to discuss the dark
elements of these fantasies and closes by tying the darker themes in Seuss’ work to his own: ‘I am not
about to conclude by saying something really sappy—a plea for world unification through horror
movies, for instance—but I want to suggest that both Bartholomew and the boy by the pool,
representatives of dark fantasy and its brighter counterpart, bear the stupefied expressions of people
touching the unknown. For me I think it’s always been that, more than anything else, to which the
interior compass needle responded.’
An important essay for those who wish to understand King and his work, its only appearance is
the June 1984 issue of Fantasy Review magazine. Copies of this edition can be obtained from
specialist used magazine dealers and King resellers, although it is fairly rare.
My First Car (July 1984)
This is King’s part of a larger article under the umbrella title My First Car. Other contributors
include Roy Blount, Jr. and Johnny Carson. He says, ‘It was a 1964 Galaxie. Sharp. I was about 17. I
bought it from my brother for $250; he had gotten it as junk.’ Though this piece is only a few
paragraphs King gets his point across: ‘It was a beautiful car. It had a bright red vinyl interior.
Although, I’m thinking, you know, this car would probably look like shit to me now. It’s just in my
memory that it seems great.’
The article appeared in the July 1984 issue of Gentlemen’s Quarterly. Copies of this magazine
are often archived in libraries and that may be the best source for obtaining a copy of the piece. As
the magazine is collectable used magazine dealers and King resellers will also make copies available
from time to time.
Theodore Sturgeon—1918-1985 (May 26, 1985)
Author Theodore Sturgeon died on May 8, 1985; several days later, King wrote this touching
eulogy, which opens with the place Sturgeon occupied in literature: ‘Not many newspapers have
Sunday book sections these days; a couple of brief reviews courtesy of the wire services is usually
the extent of it. Not many of those that do have such sections will have anything to say about the work
of Theodore Sturgeon, who died of lung disease last week. Sturgeon, after all, was only a science-
fiction writer. In the pantheon of modern fiction, where distinctions of subject have hardened into a
critical mindset almost as arbitrary and complete as the Hindu caste system, that means Sturgeon
occupied a place on the literary ladder one rung above the writers of westerns and one rung below
the writers of mysteries.’
Of his subject King mourns, ‘Perhaps the best comment on how quietly such a fine writer can
pass from us—like an intelligent and witty guest who slips from a party where many less interesting
folk are claiming greater attention by virtue of greater volume—is this: Book World okayed a piece
by Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison or me. By someone better known than Ted himself. A noisy party
guest.’
He closes with a heartfelt wish for future generations to enjoy Sturgeon’s work: ‘Considering the
fact that he was only a science-fiction writer, Theodore Sturgeon left exceedingly fine work behind
him. Who knows? That work may be read and enjoyed long after the category itself has ceased to
guarantee instant dismissal. That would be very fine.’
This piece first appeared in the May 26, 1985 edition of TheWashington Post Book World.
Copies can easily be obtained from major libraries that archive this important newspaper. It was
reprinted in the Summer 1985 issue of SFWA Bulletin; and finally as Viewpoint: Theodore Sturgeon
—1918-1985 in the January 1986 edition of Isaac Asimov’s science-fiction Magazine. Copies of the
former magazine are difficult to secure, although used magazine dealers, particularly those
specializing in science-fiction will generally have the Asimov magazine in stock.
Famous First Words: Well Begun is Half Done (June 2, 1985)
The New York Times Book Review asked several writers: ‘What is your favorite passage in a
work of literature and why?’ King’s answer formed part of this article. Other authors featured include
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