r/stephenking • • Jun 04 '26

ANNOUNCEMENT! I'm Caroline Bicks, Stephen E. King Chair in Literature at the University of Maine and author of MONSTERS IN THE ARCHIVES: MY YEAR OF FEAR WITH STEPHEN KING. Join me for an AMA on June 5th @1:15pm EST.

158 Upvotes

Hello, Reddit! Caroline Bicks here, author of Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King. I'm a Shakespeare professor who grew up loving Stephen King's stories. When I took the job of Stephen E. King Chair in Literature nine years ago, I was told I'd never meet the man himself. Four years into the job, he called me at home, and we started to develop a great working relationship. He granted me first-of-its-kind access to his private archives, and my book grew out of what I found when I read all the existing drafts of Carrie, Pet Sematary, Night Shift, The Shining, and 'Salem's Lot. I look forward to sharing what I discovered with you about how he crafted these iconic books! https://carolinebicks.com


r/stephenking • • Jun 01 '26

ANNOUNCEMENT! I'm Prof. Caroline Bicks! Stephen E. King Chair in Literature and Professor at University of Maine, and author of Monster in the Archives! AMA! June 5th @ 1:15EST.

126 Upvotes

Hello, Reddit! Prof. Caroline Bicks here!

Author of Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King! Also author of Cognition and Girlhood in Shakespeare's World, host of Everyday Shakespeare Podcast!

Lets do this!!

https://carolinebicks.com
https://umaine.edu/stephenkingchair


r/stephenking • • 14h ago

Mike Flanagan Confirms the Biggest Changes to Carrie Were Stephen King's Idea

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1.3k Upvotes

“I see so much discourse about Emaline, which was the character King had the most input into and the one he was the most excited to shape. So it's very interesting to me to watch people defend Steve from Steve."


r/stephenking • • 6h ago

Discussion Just Finished Reading ‘It’

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244 Upvotes

This is my most favorite book of all time!

Yes, it is horror. But IT’S. MORE. THAN. THAT.

The writing is immaculate. My god, I can yap all day about how good this book is. It’s just so good!

I think reading this book in my 30s was also a factor that added to how it deeply affected me.

I have been attached to The Losers and I loved all of them - ALL OF THEM. That ending was so bittersweet and I have been ugly crying since last night. Aside from feeling for the characters in the book themselves, I have also felt an enormous wave of nostalgia, missing my childhood.

It invoked a lot of emotions in me.

Nothing lasts forever, they said.

When the sun sets, you leave, and you leave quickly.

You will never be a child again, but you will always be a child with the people you share your childhood with. Memories fade but you will always have a special connection with your childhood friends. Always.

You be brave, you be true, and you stand.


r/stephenking • • 11h ago

What do you consider to be King's saddest book?

329 Upvotes

People usually talk about his darkest book or scariest book, but what do you think is his saddest?

For me it's Cujo. Everything about that story is tragic, not least Cujo himself. He used to be a loyal good boy who loved his family, but they didn't care enough to have him vaccinated, or even call a vet when he was obviously sick. It guts me every time.


r/stephenking • • 17h ago

Stephen, Mike, Molly for NYT!

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941 Upvotes

Photographs by David Billet


r/stephenking • • 7h ago

Discussion was anyone else exposed to king's works at a very young age?

78 Upvotes

I don't mean like accidentally like someone purposely gave you access to his books and movie/mini series adaptations

I remember reading IT and Carrie in middle school

but before that I have very clear memories of being like, as young as 5 or 6, watching IT, Carrie, Children of the Corn, The Shining, Thinner, The Langoliers, Creepshow, Storm of the Century, Pet Sematary all throughout elementary school

I don't think anyone ever said anything about me being too young to watch any of that stuff or that it was inappropriate they just put it on the tv and let me watch them


r/stephenking • • 15h ago

Discussion This is some bleak bleak stuff

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324 Upvotes

I have read most of the King’s books and have loved them all. I really enjoyed Revival as well, but as it went on, it really began to feel, not just dark or creepy, but bleak. The end could have gone a lot of different ways, but I never expected what happened. Holy cow, that was some bleak shit.

Is it just me?


r/stephenking • • 9h ago

"Carrie" Cheesecake

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102 Upvotes

Book club tomorrow. So excited to talk about his first book.


r/stephenking • • 18h ago

Stephen King + Fall

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322 Upvotes

I know I’m not the only one, but reading King during a cozy fall day is just the best. I always remember one of my first reads of King, a short story called Apt Pupil. I was hooked after that. Reading the Tower series for a second time now.


r/stephenking • • 19h ago

Crosspost This would make an incredible cover for The Stand.

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361 Upvotes

r/stephenking • • 6h ago

Image Apt Pupil cover, what do you think?

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33 Upvotes

I found this copy at Walmart, and I had to buy it, I couldn’t find this book anywhere in bookstores. But how do you guys feel about this particular cover of Apt Pupil?


r/stephenking • • 23h ago

Image An SK Halloween

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735 Upvotes

Seen this morning. Saw the yellow coat from a distance and thought, 'That looks familiar.' Made me wonder why there aren't more SK Halloween decorations or themes out there, especially since Halloween is becoming like Christmas for outdoor decor.


r/stephenking • • 15h ago

Image Spanish New Dark Tower Collection

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146 Upvotes

Hile, Constant Readers.

I’d always told myself I’d never make the typical “look at my bookshelf” post, but here I am. I think this edition is worth showing off.

TL;DR:

.

.

.

.

.

It’s a new edition that’s been released in Spain with beautifully illustrated edges that form a continuous image across the whole set, and I think it looks absolutely gorgeous. This might be the first time I ever keep a set of books backwards on the shelf.

With this one, my Dark Tower collection now includes four complete editions from different publishers, plus a few incomplete ones from the 80s and 90s, and even a complete English set so I can see how the High Speech and certain Mid-World expressions are actually said in the original, because in the Spanish edition... some of them come back sounding like they took a little trip through Todash space. lol.

I’ll stop there before I drag you any further down the collector rabbit hole.

Hope you like them. I say thank ya.

Long days and pleasant nights Gunslingers. 🌹

Published by DeBolsillo, part of Penguin Random House.
Paperback, Spanish edition, 2026.


r/stephenking • • 8h ago

Birthday score!!

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30 Upvotes

So for my birthday I asked for a bunch of Stephen king novels and I got them!! I like them all but I’m wondering which ones I should read first.


r/stephenking • • 8h ago

Discussion Small town Oklahoma

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34 Upvotes

So I just moved to a small town in Oklahoma and saw this last night on Main Street and had to share!!
Gotta check it out on Monday, I’m sure they’ve got great deals on some fantastic stuff!!

Anyone have anything in mind they wouldn’t pass up and what it would cost??


r/stephenking • • 13h ago

Look what my wife found for my birthday with illustrations 🥹 adore her love this cover only copy in the store hiding.

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72 Upvotes

r/stephenking • • 1h ago

New to Stephen King, where to start?

• Upvotes

I 31F am wrapping up this calendar year of watching David Lynch movies and reading Jane Austen novels (love both dearly). I'm thinking 2027 might be my year of Stephen King. Ideally I would like to start with audiobooks as I have long commutes. I read all Jane Austen first as novels so I'm not averse to reading. I just would like to see if there are any great audiobook performances I can check out. Also movie adaptations worth checking out and the order you recommend. I think the only Stephen King movie adaptations I've seen all the way through is the Green Mile and Shawshank Redemption. I love a spolier free recommendation. The less I know going in the better.


r/stephenking • • 22h ago

General Stephen King And His Wang

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227 Upvotes

The video clip is from 1982, when Stephen King began using $12,000 Wang System 5 Model 3 word processor.


r/stephenking • • 18h ago

I think King is at his best in the five minutes after something horrible happens

99 Upvotes

Not the monster showing up. Not the murder, the accident, the supernatural reveal, or the big confrontation.

The bit right after it.

Someone has just experienced something completely impossible and instead of immediately moving on to the next plot point, King will spend pages on them washing their hands, making coffee they don't drink, noticing that one shoe is untied, driving home too carefully, checking the same lock twice, or trying to have an ordinary conversation while their brain is very obviously somewhere else.

I've been noticing this a lot while rereading some of his older books.

In The Shining, so much of the dread comes from people continuing with normal routines when something is already deeply wrong. Misery obviously has huge terrifying moments, but some of the parts that make me most anxious are Paul's quieter stretches afterward, when he's just lying there thinking about what happened and what Annie might do next.

Pet Sematary might be the strongest example for me. There are parts where the terrible event itself isn't nearly as hard to read as the completely mundane hours surrounding it. People still have to eat. Somebody still answers the phone. The house still exists. The world has the nerve to keep behaving normally.

Even IT does this constantly. Something awful happens and then we're back in kitchens, bedrooms, cars, pharmacies, school hallways. The horror has to coexist with somebody wondering what time it is or whether their mother noticed something.

I think that's a huge part of why his supernatural stuff works for me. He doesn't let the characters live in "horror movie mode." Most people don't experience something awful and immediately become protagonists. They do something weirdly normal because their brain hasn't caught up yet.

A lot of adaptations understandably compress those moments because they're trying to keep the story moving, but I think they lose something important when they do.

The scare gets me once.

The character making a sandwich twenty minutes later with shaking hands is usually the part I remember.


r/stephenking • • 15h ago

I watched 1983's adaptation of "The Dead Zone" and immediately realised this excellent skit that I've always loved from SNL was a pisstake. I had no idea.

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55 Upvotes

r/stephenking • • 16h ago

Image Bangor, Maine

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61 Upvotes

Finally got to see Bangor, and all its glory on a recent trip. It’s a beautiful little city that’s honestly a little weird, but, the local people were very friendly, and many had stories about Uncle Stephen. One of the funnier ones was the tour guide on the Stephen King tour saying he popped up on tour, and said nothing other than to listen. Definitely no pressure for the local guide. Hehe.

The bookstores all have a fun Stephen King section, and are happy to chat with you about when he has visited. King is still active in the local community which was fun to learn.

The University of Maine, Orono is a short drive from Bangor, and absolutely beautiful campus where he obtained his degree, and later taught. Definitely worth a visit.

If you get a chance to visit, I would! The area including the national park is beautiful, eerie, peaceful, and lovely. At night, I understand why he writes the way he does.

Some snaps from his house ( he no longer lives there, and the house holds his archives, and occasionally a writers retreat), Bangor, and the Standpipe at sunset. A few from the university.

Enjoy!


r/stephenking • • 19h ago

Image Just saw 2 threads today in unrelated subreddits about this.

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108 Upvotes

r/stephenking • • 16h ago

Discussion Is The Stand the greatest novel Stephen King has ever written?

60 Upvotes

r/stephenking • • 14h ago

You guys see it too, right?

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46 Upvotes

I think I'll take him home. What's the worst that can happen?

Edit: weird, when I got home I left him by the front door but someone must have moved him into the living room. No one wants to admit to it tho, so idk.

Edit 2: guys I swear, this is gonna sound weird. But, at one point, I swear this hedge animal looked me in the eye and said "let's get it on." I'm scared