Horror King Stephen King

Horror King Stephen King Known as the Horror King, Stephen King has earned that title with his award winning novels such as Carrie, The Dead Zone, and The Shining. Stephen King has written more than two hundred works of literature including his novels, short stories, and poems, one hundred and seventy eight of which were turned into works of film. Born on September 21, 1947 in Portland, Maine, Stephen King was raised by a mostly single parent. Stephen’s father “left the house to buy a pack of cigarettes…but never returned. Stephen King hasn’t seen his father since” (Biography of Stephen King). As a child King witnessed a friend being struck by a train, but having no memory of it being in shock later finding out about the child’s death. Later in life King discovered a paperback collection of short stories by H.P. Lovecraft, King described finding this book "I knew that I'd found home when I read that book." Throughout his writing career King has been awarded for many of his works including ‘Cujo’ winner of the British Fantasy Award in 1982, ‘Misery’ winner of the Bram Stoker Award in 1987, the short story ‘Danse Macabre’ winner of the Hugo award in 1982, and over fifty more novels, short stories, and poems have been nominated for and won many other awards. It is these award winning stories that captivated other great authors and inspired them to write some of their own great works of literature. Such authors would include Bret Easton Ellis with his novel ‘Lunar Park’ which he has said is a homage to King’s ‘Salem’s Lot’, and many more such as J.K. Rowling, Scott Sigler, and an author who has been considered the new Stephen King, Clive Barker. King’s importance in literacy can be seen through many of his books, such as his first published novel ‘Carrie’ which not only launched his career as a writer, but also helped bring the horror literacy genre back to life. Before Stephen King few horror genre books were read unless they were written by Poe, Stoker, or