James Arthur Anderson is a professor emeritus at Johnson & Wales University, where he taught writing and literature for more than 35 years. He has published book-length critical studies on H.P. Lovecraft and Ray Bradbury, and received The Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship for Nonfiction from the Horror Writers Association in 2016. He lives in Garfield, Georgia and is a part-time instructor at East Georgia State College.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Why Is Stephen King So Good and So Popular?

1.Carrie: Prom Night

2.'Salem's Lot: New World Vampires

[...]: Getting It on in the Schools

[...] Shining: Iconic Horror

[...] Stand: The Modern Plague

[...] Long Walk: Dystopian Nightmare

[...] Dead Zone: Everyman Is a Hero

8.Firestarter: Don't Play with Fire

9.Roadwork: Mental Meltdown

[...]: He Tried to Be a Good Dog

[...] Running Man: Reality TV on Steroids

[...] Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption: Hope Springs Eternal

[...] Body: The Birth of a Writer

14.Christine: America Loves Its Wheels

[...] Sematary: Sometimes Dead Is Better

[...] of the Dragon: ­­Genre-Bending Fantasy

17.Thinner: The Book That Outed Bachman

[...]: We All Float Down Here

19.Misery: The Price of Fame

[...] Tommyknockers: Mechanized Aliens

[...] Dark Half: Attack of the Pseudonym

22.Needful Things: The Downside of a Consumer Society

23.Gerald's Game: Escape Room

24.Dolores Claiborne: Justice Served

[...] Madder: The Fury of a Woman Scorned

26.Insomnia: Miles to Go Before I Sleep

[...] Green Mile: Rebirth of the Serial Novel

28.Desperation: Even God Has a Price

[...] Regulators: Horror in the Burbs

[...] of Bones: Digging Up the Past

[...] Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon: Gretel Goes It Alone

32.Dreamcatcher: A Winter's Tale

[...] a Buick 8: The ­­One-Way Portal

[...] Colorado Kid: The Unsolved Mystery

[...]: The ­­Techno-Zombie Attack

[...]'s Story: The Literary Best Seller

[...]: Bachman Returns

[...] Key: Art Therapy

[...] the Dome: Ants Under a Magnifying Glass

40.11/22/63: Changing the Past

41.Joyland: Carny from Carny

42.Doctor Sleep: Danny Torrance Grows Up

[...]. Mercedes: Enter, Holly Gibney

44.Revival: Reanimation and Revelation

45.Finders Keepers: The Problem with Buried Treasure

[...] of Watch: To Be or Not to Be

[...] Outsider: The Doppelgänger Effect

48.Elevation: King's ­­Feel-Good Book

[...] Institute: Suffer the Children

[...]: I See Dead People

[...] [...] Moral Assassin

[...] Tale: Once Upon a Time

[...]: A Journal of the ­­Covid-19 Years

Conclusion: The English Professor and Constant Reader

Appendix 1: Theoretical Works Consulted

Appendix 2: Bibliography of Works about Stephen King

Appendix 3: A Chronology of Stephen King's Books

Index