Stephen King needs no introduction for this rare public appearance. The former high school English teacher turned horror-master is a phenomenon in the publishing world. With 100 million copies of 30 titles, his books are instant bestsellers, and his international appeal has been likened to the Beatles.
The fact is, Stephen King sells because Stephen King can write. Credited with revivifying the macabre in fiction and film, King has been called a "uniquely sensitive author" writing in the Gothic literary tradition of Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry James. Acknowledging his extraordinary talents as a storyteller, a Village Voice critic begrudgingly penned, "There's unmistakable genius in Stephen King...(He writes) with such fierce conviction, such blind and brutal power, that no matter how hard you fight--and needless to say, I fought--he's irresistible."
Writing four to five hours a day, seven days a week, the prolific novelist and screenwriter has produced many contemporary horror classics, including Carrie, The Shining, Cujo, Pet Sematary and Misery. "The Shawshank Redemption," the 1994 Oscar-nominated film, was based on a short work by King.
