58 Fun Facts About Stephen King

What do the children who battle Pennywise in It call their group?

The Losers' Club is the band of seven Derry children—Bill, Ben, Beverly, Richie, Eddie, Mike and Stan—who fight Pennywise in 1958 and again as adults in 1985.

What was Stephen King's debut novel, published in 1974?

Carrie, about a bullied telekinetic teenager, was published by Doubleday in April 1974; Brian De Palma's film followed in 1976.

Who rescued the first pages of King's debut novel from the wastebasket?

His wife Tabitha pulled the crumpled pages of Carrie from the wastebasket and urged him to finish it, saying she wanted to know what happened next.

Where was King living, and what was his day job, when he wrote his debut novel?

King wrote Carrie in a rented trailer in Hermon, Maine, while teaching English at Hampden Academy for about $6,400 a year; Doubleday's Bill Thompson bought the manuscript in 1973.

What was the hardcover print run of King's debut in April 1974?

Doubleday printed 30,000 hardcovers of Carrie in April 1974 and sold about 13,000; the 1975 Signet paperback sold over a million copies in its first year.

Under what pen name did King publish Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, The Running Man and Thinner?

King published five novels as Richard Bachman from 1977 to 1984 because publishers believed readers would buy only one King book a year; the 1996 novel The Regulators also bore the name.

Who exposed King's pseudonym in 1985?

Steve Brown, a Washington, D.C. bookstore clerk, noticed the Bachman books read like King and found a Library of Congress record naming King; King then said Bachman died of 'cancer of the pseudonym'.

Where did King stay before writing The Shining, which became the model for the Overlook?

King and Tabitha spent a night at the nearly empty Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, in late 1974, and the hotel became the model for the Overlook in The Shining.

How did King describe Salem's Lot?

King called 'Salem's Lot 'Peyton Place meets Dracula': the 1975 novel drops a Dracula-style vampire, Kurt Barlow, into the gossiping small town of Jerusalem's Lot, Maine.

In which King novel does a weaponized superflu nicknamed 'Captain Trips' wipe out most of humanity?

The Stand (1978) follows survivors of Captain Trips, a 99.4%-lethal flu leaked from an army lab, as they gather behind Mother Abagail in Boulder or Randall Flagg in Las Vegas.

Which 1979 King novel about a man with second sight was the first set in his fictional town of Castle Rock?

The Dead Zone (1979) follows Johnny Smith, who wakes from a coma after nearly five years with psychic powers and foresees a politician, Greg Stillson, starting a nuclear war.

Which 1981 novel does King say he 'barely remembers writing' because of his addictions?

In On Writing King says he barely remembers writing Cujo (1981), the story of a rabid Saint Bernard that traps a mother and son in a stalled car, because he was drinking heavily and using cocaine.

What make and year of car is Christine?

Christine is a red-and-white 1958 Plymouth Fury that possesses its owner, 17-year-old Arnie Cunningham; John Carpenter filmed the novel in 1983, the year it was published.

What real event inspired Pet Sematary?

Local children had built a pet cemetery; King found the resulting book too disturbing and only published it to fulfil his Doubleday contract.

King described which novel as a 'final exam on horror', putting in all the monsters kids fear?

It (1986) follows seven Derry children terrorised by a shape-shifting entity that feeds on their fears; the novel won the 1987 British Fantasy Award.

What is the name of the 'number-one fan' who holds a writer captive in Misery?

Annie Wilkes, a former nurse who calls herself Paul Sheldon's 'number-one fan', keeps the injured novelist drugged and captive; Kathy Bates won the Best Actress Oscar for the 1990 film.

Which 1982 collection of four novellas produced Stand by Me, The Shawshank Redemption and Apt Pupil?

Different Seasons (1982) collects four novellas, one per season; the fourth, The Breathing Method, won the 1983 British Fantasy Award for short fiction.

How was The Green Mile originally published in 1996?

It held six positions on the New York Times paperback bestseller list at once.

Who is the gunslinger hero of The Dark Tower series?

Roland Deschain, last gunslinger of Gilead, pursues the Man in Black across Mid-World toward the Dark Tower; King modelled him on Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name.

Counting The Wind Through the Keyhole, how many novels make up The Dark Tower series?

Eight: the seven core novels from The Gunslinger (1982) to The Dark Tower (2004) plus The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012), which King set between the fourth and fifth books.

On June 19, 1999, what happened to Stephen King while walking on Route 5 in Lovell, Maine?

Driver Bryan Smith was distracted by an unrestrained dog; King suffered a collapsed lung and multiple leg fractures, and warned his nurses against Misery jokes.

What was the 2000 book On Writing?

The Wall Street Journal called it 'a one-of-a-kind classic'; his other major nonfiction is Danse Macabre (1981).

Which King story became 'the world's first mass e-book' in 2000, with over 500,000 downloads?

Riding the Bullet, a 16,000-word ghost story, was sold online only by Simon & Schuster in March 2000 for $2.50 and drew about 400,000 downloads in its first 24 hours.

Which 2013 novel is a sequel to The Shining?

Doctor Sleep (2013) follows a grown-up Dan Torrance, now a hospice worker, protecting a gifted girl from the True Knot; Mike Flanagan's film version starred Ewan McGregor in 2019.

Which 2014 King crime novel about a retired policeman won the Edgar Award for Best Novel?

Mr. Mercedes (2014), in which retired detective Bill Hodges hunts the driver who ploughed a stolen car into a job-fair crowd, won the 2015 Edgar Award for Best Novel.

Which fellow horror novelist co-wrote The Talisman and Black House with King?

Peter Straub, author of Ghost Story, wrote The Talisman (1984) with King and its sequel Black House (2001), the two trading sections back and forth so readers could not tell who wrote what.

What is bestselling novelist Joe Hill's relationship to Stephen King?

Joe Hill, born Joseph Hillström King in 1972, is King's eldest son (Owen followed in 1977); he wrote Heart-Shaped Box, Horns and NOS4A2 under the pen name to make his own way.

Which film did King direct himself, in 1986?

Maximum Overdrive (1986) adapts King's story 'Trucks', in which machines turn on humans at a truck stop; King later admitted he was 'coked out of my mind' while directing it.

Rob Reiner named his production company after which fictional King town?

Castle Rock Entertainment went on to make Misery and The Shawshank Redemption.

Stand by Me is based on which King novella?

Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O'Connell play four boys hunting for a corpse in 1959.

Why did King dislike Stanley Kubrick's The Shining enough to make his own miniseries in 1997?

King felt Kubrick's 1980 film deviated too far from the novel—a cold film that dropped Jack's slow descent and the hotel's real ghosts—so he wrote the 1997 ABC miniseries himself with Steven Weber as Jack.

Where was Kubrick's The Shining mostly filmed?

The Overlook set was the largest ever built at Elstree, with the Ahwahnee Hotel's lounge as a model.

Which number is Danny warned to stay away from in Kubrick's The Shining?

In the film, Dick Hallorann tells Danny to keep out of Room 237; the novel's room is 217, which the Timberline Lodge asked Kubrick to change so guests would not fear a real room.

Which novella did Frank Darabont adapt into his 1994 prison film?

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, the spring novella in Different Seasons (1982), takes its title from the Hayworth poster Andy hangs over his tunnel; Darabont bought the rights for $5,000.

Although set in Maine, where was The Shawshank Redemption actually filmed?

The Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio, a castle-like prison that closed in 1990, stood in for Shawshank; it was reopened as a museum, with tours of the film's cell blocks.

How many Oscar nominations did The Shawshank Redemption receive, winning none?

The Shawshank Redemption earned seven nominations at the 1995 Oscars—including Best Picture, Best Actor for Morgan Freeman and Best Adapted Screenplay—and lost every one, mostly to Forrest Gump.

Which stars were attracted to the role of Andy Dufresne before Tim Robbins?

Tom Hanks passed to make Forrest Gump, Kevin Costner passed to make Waterworld, and Tom Cruise was Rob Reiner's choice when Reiner offered to buy the script; Tim Robbins got the part.

Where does Andy dream of living after Shawshank?

Andy tells Red he wants to live in Zihuatanejo, a Pacific town in Mexico, fixing up an old boat; the film's final scene reunites them on its beach.

Who plays Pennywise in the 2017 film It?

Tim Curry played the clown in the 1990 miniseries; Skarsgård returned for the HBO prequel Welcome to Derry in 2025.

Roughly how much did the 2017 film It gross at the worldwide box office?

It (2017) took about $700 million worldwide on a $35 million budget, the biggest total for a horror film up to that point, and the 2019 sequel It Chapter Two added roughly $470 million.

Which prestigious 2003 award did King receive, to the annoyance of some literary critics?

The National Book Foundation gave King its Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in November 2003; earlier recipients included Philip Roth, Arthur Miller and Toni Morrison.

Which novel did a bookmobile librarian hand young King, who wanted 'stories about how kids really are'?

King, then about 12, got Lord of the Flies from a Bookmobile librarian after asking for stories about how kids really are; in a 2011 introduction he called it 'the first book with hands'.

What was King's first professionally sold short story, bought by Startling Mystery Stories in 1967?

'The Glass Floor', a story about a haunted room, earned King $35 from Startling Mystery Stories in 1967, his first paid sale, made while he was a college student.

King plays guitar in which charity band made up of authors?

The Rock Bottom Remainders, formed in 1992 by publicist Kathi Kamen Goldmark, put King on rhythm guitar beside Amy Tan, Dave Barry, Scott Turow and Mitch Albom to raise money for literacy charities.

Which 1998 novel about a widowed novelist was King's first with Scribner and won a Bram Stoker Award?

Bag of Bones (1998), King's first novel for Scribner after leaving Viking, follows widowed novelist Mike Noonan at his lakeside house Sara Laughs; it won the 1998 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel.

Besides Bangor and Lovell in Maine, where do the Kings winter?

The Kings own a Gulf-front house on Casey Key, a barrier island south of Sarasota, Florida, where they spend the winter months away from the Maine snow.

In which Maine city was Stephen King born on September 21, 1947?

King was born at Maine General Hospital in Portland on 21 September 1947; the family later lived in Durham, Maine, where he grew up from age 11.

What was King's father's original surname before he changed it to King as an adult?

Donald Edwin King was born Donald Pollock in Peru, Indiana, in 1914 and took the name King as a young man; he walked out on the family when Stephen was two.

Which magazine published many of King's early short stories, and was the intended home of Carrie?

Cavalier, a men's magazine, bought early King stories such as 'Graveyard Shift' (1970) and 'The Mangler' (1972); Carrie began as a short story he meant to sell there.

Under what one-off pseudonym did King publish 'The Fifth Quarter' in 1972?

The name belongs to a character in Carrie; Bachman came later and was exposed in 1985.

Which 2009 King novel traps the town of Chester's Mill inside an invisible barrier?

Under the Dome (2009) cuts Chester's Mill, Maine, off from the world when a transparent dome drops over it, and follows the power struggle led by town selectman Big Jim Rennie; CBS adapted it in 2013.

Which 1987 novel, full of addiction metaphors, prompted King's wife to stage an intervention?

The Tommyknockers (1987), about townsfolk transformed by a buried alien ship, was written on cocaine and beer; soon after, Tabitha dumped his drugs and pills on the rug in front of family and friends.

Which high-fantasy novel did King originally write for his daughter Naomi?

The Eyes of the Dragon, a fairy-tale fantasy first issued in a 1984 limited edition and widely in 1987, was written for Naomi, who disliked his horror; its villain Flagg also stalks The Stand and The Dark Tower.

Which two 1992 novels about women are loosely linked by a solar eclipse?

Gerald's Game and Dolores Claiborne, both published in 1992, share the total solar eclipse of 20 July 1963, during which Jessie Burlingame and Dolores each glimpse the other's ordeal.

Which 2008 King novel follows a one-armed artist recovering on a Gulf Coast island?

Duma Key (2008), King's first novel set in Florida, follows Edgar Freemantle, who lost an arm in a crane accident and discovers that his paintings on the island can change reality.

Which novel did King co-write with his son Owen, set in a West Virginia women's prison?

Sleeping Beauties (2017), written with Owen King, imagines a sleeping sickness that cocoons every woman on Earth except Evie Black, an inmate at Dooling Correctional in West Virginia.

Which George A. Romero film marked King's screenwriting debut in 1982?

Creepshow (1982), five comic-book-style tales scripted by King and directed by George A. Romero, pays tribute to the EC horror comics of the 1950s; King himself acts in 'The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill'.

Which critic attacked King's 2003 literary honour as 'dumbing down our cultural life'?

Harold Bloom, the Yale critic, wrote in the Boston Globe that honouring King was 'another low in the shocking process of dumbing down our cultural life', calling him 'an immensely inadequate writer'.