I first read Stephen King when I was fourteen. The book was Pet Sematary, and I found it disturbing and terrifying and, maybe more than anything else, realistic. Not that I expected to see our deceased pets crawling back into the dooryard, but the characters and their language were genuine and authentic and made me empathize with them in a way I did not expect. From then on, I was hooked, to the point that my parents bought me “The Stephen King Companion” for my next birthday.
I already knew a fair amount about Mr. King. I grew up in Bucksport, Maine, a half hour outside of Bangor where King has lived much of his life. He was a staple at the old Bangor Auditorium during the annual high school basketball tournaments. My father’s roofing company had done extensive work at his residence, and it was not uncommon to see him bopping around town or stopping by the deli at the Fairmount Market like a regular dude – not one of the most famous writers in the world.
Most people immediately think horror when they think of Stephen King. I do not. I think of fascinating characters and great dialogue and rich storytelling that has always made me want to come back for more. I have much admiration for many other writers – Graham Greene and William Faulkner first come to mind – but Stephen King has been the single biggest influence on my reading and writing life.
Here are five of my favorite Stephen King books.
Broken up into five loosely connected stories, this book is a reflection on the legacy of the Vietnam war. Set primarily in Connecticut and Maine, the stories begin in 1960 and end just before the turn of the century. The first (and longest) story, “Low Men in Yellow Coats”, is about a boy who befriends an older man with psychic abilities and who is perpetually paranoid. The title story follows a freshman student at the University of Maine with a deferred draft status, who becomes addicted to playing hearts in the dorm as his studies – and his budding relationship with a female student activist – suffer. In “Blind Willy”, a war veteran pretends to be blind while panhandling on the streets of NYC before returning to his suburban home in Connecticut every evening. The book is best devoured chronologically, but each of the five novellas and short stories can stand firmly on their own as powerful ruminations on a post-war era.
King might be known for his lengthy novels, but his short stories can hit just as hard. Several of the shorts from this collection were made into movies, including the classic “Children of the Corn”. “Graveyard Shift” and “The Lawnmower Man” are wonderfully eerie and chilling – I still remember my older brother raving about these stories when we were young. And “Trucks” – the story about machines that suddenly have a mind of their own – may have more relevance today than ever.
My favorite King novel, this is about a famous writer who crashes his car in a Colorado blizzard and is saved by his ‘number one fan’, Annie Wilkes. But she turns out to be a crazy ex-nurse who plans to keep him in captivity at her rural farmhouse. It is the most nerve-racking novel I’ve ever read, as you are rooting hard for a very likeable and humorous protagonist desperately trying to break free from an absolutely terrifying and obsessive fan. Interesting to note that King considered this novel a metaphor for his own struggle with addiction.
This short mystery novel is different from most of his other work. Told mostly through dialogue, it’s about a young woman interning at a tiny island weekly newspaper run by two older men, who tell her the strange and unsolved story of a young man found dead on the island years ago. The story unfolds with slow deliberation like a napkin and as a reader, I always felt like I was the fourth person at the table, on the edge of my chair.
The best book on writing I’ve read. Part memoir, part Elements of Style nuts and bolts, part motivational gut-punch, this is the blueprint for finding success as a writer. And that’s if you’re lucky – because luck, that trusty combo of preparation and opportunity, always plays a role. But I find myself going back to passages in this book often. It’s full of his humor and brutal honesty and vast knowledge on the publishing game, and I find new inspiration every time I crack the book open. Write every day. The story is the boss. And the one and only mantra I have written above my own writing desk (paraphrasing King): Keep the story moving.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ryan Lowell‘s fiction has appeared in Portland Monthly Magazine, Worker’s Write Journal and other publications. His story “Things Fall Apart” was a Glimmer Train short story award contest finalist. Freight is his first novel. He lives in South Portland, Maine, with his wife and two sons.