King, Stephen

Stephen King (1947 – ), a long time Bangor resident, was born in Portland in 1947, spent much of his childhood living between Fort Wayne, Indiana, (where his father’s family lived) and Massachusetts and Maine with his mother and her family. Eventually he and his brother settled with their mother in Durham, where the boys attended school. They were raised mainly by their mother, their father having left home one day for a package of cigarettes and never returning.

King attended the grammar school in Durham and then Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. He then attended the University of Maine at Orono earning a degree in English. From his sophomore year he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, The Maine Campus. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional.

In college King met his wife, Tabitha Spruce, while they were both working at the Fogler Library. In 1970 King graduated, and a year later they married. King, unable to find work teaching, lived off of his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and Tabitha’s student loans and savings.

Occasionally, after many rejection letters, he would sell one of his short stories, which brought in some money. His first published story was “I Was a Teenage Grave Robber” in Comics Review in 1967. Hard work and persistent writing paid off eventually. King published stories more frequently, in men’s magazines mainly, and many of these stories were later compiled into the Night Shift collection.

While teaching high school, beginning in 1971 at Hampden Academy, he wrote on weekends and evenings, still managing to produce short stories and novels. None of the novels were accepted for publication until the spring of 1973 when Carrie was published, after Tabitha fished it out of the garbage where he had thrown it during an exceptionally disheartened mood. Carrie brought financial relief, and freedom in that it enabled King to leave teaching and concentrate solely on his writing. Carrie was a huge success, and following it came a long list of novels that soon made Stephen King a household name.

He put some of his college dramatic society experience to use when he did a bit part in a George Romero picture, Knightriders, and Creepshow, a film he scripted. Stephen King wrote and directed the movie Maximum Overdrive in 1985. Creepshow II was released in 1987. Many of his works have been adapted for the screen including Carrie, The Dead Zone, The Shining, Christine, Salem’s Lot, Firestarter, Cujo, Pet Sematary (for which King wrote the screenplay and had a bit part as a minister), and Misery, as well as several others. The popular movie, Stand By Me, was adapted from his novella, “The Body” from the Different Seasons collection. In 1992, Sleepwalkers was produced from an original screenplay by King.

In 2003 King received the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He was inducted as a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America.

The Kings have a home in Bangor and a summer residence in Center Lovell. Their house is consciously “spooky” and the object of many tourists’ photographs.  They also have a foundation, which has supported cultural organizations, especially libraries.

Stephen King’s novel 11/22/63 begins with many references to locations in Lisbon Falls and Durham.  At the outset the protagonist is teaching at Lisbon High School when a crack in time appears in the diner near the Worumbo Mill.   He visits the Kennebec Fruit Company (of Moxie fame), does some research at the library, and uses the Friends Meetinghouse as a landmark in a trip to Durham.

A great, fast-paced  read! The locations:

Additional resources

Readings on Stephen King. Karin Coddon, book editor. San Diego, Calif. Greenhaven Press. 2004.

Robertson, Don. The Ideal, Genuine Man. Bangor, Me. Philtrum Press. New York, NY Distributed by the Putnam Publishing Group. 1987.

Rogak, Lisa. Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King. New York. Thomas Dunne Books. 2009.

Whitelaw, Nancy. Dark Dreams: The Story of Stephen King. Greensboro, N.C. Morgan Reynolds Pub. c2006.