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Fact: Stephen King is the undisputed Master of Horror, and at 71 years of age, he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
The man behind such horror classics as The Shining, Carrie, Pet Sematary, Misery, and countless others just keeps publishing hair-raising stories that the public consumes like rabid dogs.
Here are 10 facts about the man, the myth, the legend: Stephen King.
1. Maine forever
Photo Credit: Facebook,Stephen King
King was born in Maine, grew up there, and still calls the state home. If you’re a fan of his, you already know a lot of his creepy books are set in his home state.
2. $$$$$$$
King is reportedly worth $400 million. He has his own private jet, a waterfront home in Florida, and is a fan of luxury cars.
3. Second chance
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
King’s wife Tabitha pulled the manuscript for this first book, Carrie, out of the trash after Mr. King had tossed it out of frustration. Good thing she did so, or we might’ve never been blessed with his incredible talents – it was his first published novel and a breakaway hit.
4. Keep moving forward
King started submitting his stories when he was only 16 and every time he got a rejection letter, he nailed it to his wall. He got his first story published when he was 19 years old and received $35 for it.
5. Humble beginnings
King was raised by a single mother and grew up very poor. He cleaned laundry and worked as an English teacher before he became a full-time writer.
6. Pen name
Photo Credit: Amazon
King published several books under the pen name “Richard Bachman.”
7. The hard stuff
King is a fan of hard music and two of his favorite bands are AC/DC and The Ramones.
8. Big fan
King is a die-hard fan of the Boston Red Sox.
9. Giving back
Photo Credit: Facebook,Stephen King
The author donated money to Bangor, Maine, to build a baseball stadium for the town.
10. Advice from the master
King said to aspiring writers, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”
11. Too Traumatic For The Movies
The movie It horrified audiences, but most people don’t realize that one scene from the original book was too disturbing for the movie. In the book, a group of kids—the Loser’s Club have an orgy. The scene was always controversial when the book was released. It was taken out of both the 1990 and 2017 movie adaptations. Stephen even commented on this and said, “I wasn’t really thinking of the sexual aspect of it. The book dealt with childhood and adulthood –1958 and Grown Ups. The grown-ups don’t remember their childhood. None of us remember what we did as children–we think we do, but we don’t remember it as it really happened. Intuitively, the Losers knew they had to be together again. The sexual act connected childhood and adulthood. It’s another version of the glass tunnel that connects the children’s library and the adult library. Times have changed since I wrote that scene and there is now more sensitivity to those issues.”
Check out the trailer for the remake of Pet Sematary that comes out April 5.
Spooky!
