Posted on October 6, 2020 at 9:40 AM by Maggie Witte
Halloween has become an extremely popular holiday, known for its abundance of sugary treats handed out to children each year as they go trick-or-treating. It has also become the month of horror, with scary movies and books trending during the month, full of creatures from legends and terrifying stories of carnage and mayhem.
So this October, we’ll recognize some of the best writers in the horror genre in a blog post each week until Halloween. These authors are shining stars in the genre. Check back each Monday for a new author, then gear up and get ready for a month of fright.
For the first week, he really needs no introduction, having become one of the most well-known names in horror: Stephen King. For many people, Stephen King is the iconic horror author, with many based on his novels.
Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine. Aside from a few brief periods, he as lived in Maine most of life. He met his wife, Tabitha, while attending the University of Maine at Orono. Before his first published novel, Carrie, in 1974, he worked as a laborer and a teacher. With that publication, he was able to quite teaching and pursue writing full-time. King and his wife continue to live in Maine for most of the year, except when wintering in Florida.
They spend their time writing, providing scholarships to local high school students, and contributing to various charities. (from author's website)
Try some of the following Stephen King books:
Jack and Wendy Torrance come face-to-face with terror when they become caretakers of a haunted old hotel in the snowy mountains of Colorado. Their five-year-old son Danny, who appears to have psychic powers, is the first to sense the evil in the building. Violence and strong language. Bestseller. 1977.
DB 13973 The dead zone
Following a four-year-long coma induced by a accident, a young New England school teacher awakens to find that he can see the future. His second sight proves to be more of a horror than a blessing, especially when it brings him face-to-face with an ambitious politician who will plunge the world into an unspeakable future if he is elected. Some strong language. Bestseller.
DB 18670 Christine
Chilling, macabre love tragedy set in 1978 in Pittsburgh centers on teenage misfit Arnie Cunningham and his devotion to and ultimate possession by his '58 Plymouth Fury, 'Christine.' Eerie things happen from the day that Arnie buys it for $250 from creepy old Roland D. LeBay. Strong language and some descriptions of sex. Bestseller 1983.
DB 35672 Night shift
Mutating body parts, menacing rats, spooky children, and monstrous presences pepper this collection of stories by the bestselling author of horror. For the most part, very ordinary, late-twentieth-century people blunder into extremely strange situations. A man slowly turns to slime after drinking a bad can of beer, and a closet-lurking boogeyman kills a couple's children one by one. Strong language and violence.
DB 35892 Dolores Claiborne
Sixty-five-year-old Dolores Claiborne of Little Tall Island goes to the local police to set the record straight regarding both the recent death of her employer, wealthy Vera Donovan, and the death of Dolores's husband Joe thirty years earlier. A dozen stenographer's tapes later, the story of Vera and her housekeeper Dolores, two self-described bitches, is told. Strong language, some explicit descriptions of sex, and some violence. Bestseller.
DB 44564 The green mile
Death-row supervisor Paul Edgecombe thinks back to 1932 when John Coffey is brought to the penitentiary and placed on the "Green Mile." Coffey is accused of the rape and murder of twin nine-year-old girls. But Coffey seems to be an unusual kind of human being. Strong language and violence. Bestseller.
DB 56081 The stand
An experimental virus called superflu hits the world--rapidly wiping out the whole of civilization except for the few who are immune. Expansion of novel originally published in 1978. Strong language, some explicit descriptions of sex, and some violence. 1990.
DB 76799 Joyland
1973. Heartbroken New Hampshire college student Devin takes a summer job at a North Carolina amusement park. He is intrigued by tales of the ghost of a murdered girl and by a young neighbor and her ill son. Violence, strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 2013.
DB 88221 Gwendy’s button box
In 1974, twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson is climbing the so-called suicide stairs that lead to Castle Rock when a strange man calls to her. He offers her a button-covered wooden box, saying it can solve all her problems, but she must keep it safe. Some violence and some strong language. Bestseller. 2017.
Find more Stephen King novels at our online catalog.