A lot of people make a lot of assumptions about Stephen King: he writes about writers too much; he sets all his stories in Maine; he writes horror. Now I’m giving you the tools you need to argue with anyone about any of these propositions. I read every single book published by Stephen King under his own name, so I leave out three of the Bachman books, books that are collaborations (no Talisman, no Sleeping Beauties, no Black House, no Gwendy’s Button Box), and I leave out the Dark Tower books (all eight of them). Also, I didn’t read Eyes of the Dragon because I forgot. So that means I didn’t read sixteen of his books.
Nevertheless, all told, I read 38 novels, 15 novellas, 111 short stories, and 5 poems by Stephen King. And here’s how they break down by the numbers.
Books with female main characters: 10 / 38
- Carrie
- Firestarter
- Cujo
- Misery
- Gerald’s Game
- Dolores Claiborne
- Rose Madder
- The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
- The Colorado Kid
- Lisey’s Story
Books named after women: 5 / 38
- Carrie
- Misery
- Dolores Claiborne
- Rose Madder
- Lisey’s Story
Books written in first person: 7 / 38
- Dolores Claiborne
- Bag of Bones
- The Green Mile
- Duma Key
- Joyland
- 11/22/63
- Revival
(NOTE: Christine is not entirely first person, and From a Buick 8 has multiple first person narrators, so neither were included.)
Main characters who are writers: 12 / 38
- ‘Salem’s Lot
- The Shining
- It
- Misery
- The Tommyknockers
- The Dark Half
- Desperation
- Bag of Bones
- The Colorado Kid
- Cell
- Lisey’s Story
- Joyland
Main characters who are teachers: 9 / 38
- Carrie
- ‘Salem’s Lot
- The Shining
- The Stand
- The Dead Zone
- Desperation
- Dreamcatcher
- Cell
- 11/22/63
Books set in Maine: 19 / 38
- Carrie
- ‘Salem’s Lot
- The Dead Zone
- Cujo
- Pet Sematary
- It
- The Tommyknockers
- The Dark Half
- Needful Things
- Gerald’s Game
- Dolores Claiborne
- Insomnia
- Bag of Bones
- The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
- Dreamcatcher
- From a Buick 8
- The Colorado Kid
- Lisey’s Story
- Under the Dome
(NOTE: Cell, 11/22/63, and Revival take place partially in Maine but also elsewhere, so they weren’t counted here.)
Books not set in Maine: 19 / 38
- The Shining – Colorado
- The Stand – Colorado
- Firestarter – New York, Ohio, Virginia
- Christine – Pennsylvania
- Thinner – Connecticut
- Misery – Colorado
- Rose Madder – unidentified city
- The Green Mile – Louisiana
- Desperation – Nevada
- The Regulators – Ohio
- Cell – Massachusetts, Maine
- Duma Key – Florida
- 11/22/63 – Maine, Texas, Florida
- Joyland – North Carolina
- Doctor Sleep – New Hampshire
- Revival – Maine, Hawaii
- The Bill Hodges Trilogy – unnamed city
Books featuring characters with psychic powers: 14 / 38
- Carrie
- The Shining
- The Stand
- The Dead Zone
- Firestarter
- The Green Mile
- Desperation
- Regulators
- Dreamcatcher
- Lisey’s Story
- Duma Key
- Joyland
- Doctor Sleep
- End of Watch
Books where aliens did it: 3 / 38
- The Tommyknockers
- Dreamcatcher
- Under the Dome
Books where extradimensional creatures are to blame: 7 / 38
- It
- Insomnia
- Rose Madder
- Desperation
- The Regulators
- From a Buick 8
- Lisey’s Story
(NOTE: “The Mist”, “The Langoliers”, “Hearts in Atlantis” are novellas involving extradimensional creatures.)
Books where the bad guys are not supernatural or aliens: 9 / 38
- The Stand (virus)
- Cujo (rabies)
- Misery (number one fan)
- Gerald’s Game (husband)
- Dolores Claiborne (patriarchy)
- The Green Mile (racism)
- The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (nature)
- The Colorado Kid (???)
- Joyland (serial killer)
Books where kids central to the plot are killed: 10 / 38
- ‘Salem’s Lot
- Cujo
- Pet Sematary
- Thinner
- It
- Desperation
- The Regulators
- Cell
- Duma Key
- Revival
I’ll be updating this with new statistics and more information, and hopefully including stats on the short stories, as time goes by, so check back every few months. And if you can think of categories where you want to see the stats, sing out in the comments. I aim to please!
Grady Hendrix is the author of Paperbacks from Hell, a history of the horror paperback boom of the Seventies and Eighties, as well as My Best Friend’s Exorcism, and Horrorstör.
How about a category for books/stories where the main character is a writer who gets run over by a van?
Books where air conditioning is central to the plot? (I’ve only read The Stand and Cujo.)
Wondering why you didn’t include the Dark Tower series? He not only has a writer, in Main, in the series but that writer is himself AND gets run over by a van.
These are interesting statistics. I’m a “constant reader”; given King’s steady output I’m always many years behind but that’s OK for me. His novels are a treat for me – that’s why I don’t eat all of them at once!
I would’ve expected a bigger share of novels to be set in Maine, guess my gut feeling was deceptive!
One suggestion: you might want to think about moving some of these stats into a spoiler section. For example the “books where aliens did it”.
It’s been awhile since I’ve read Christine, but didn’t it take place in Pennsylvania, not Maine? Somewhere Pittsburgh-ish?
It is interesting how many of King’s novels have extraterrestrial bad guys. I’m curious about monster stats. How many of the antagonists were ghosts versus zombies versus a plague, and so forth.
I’m not even sure how you would classify the antagonist of something like Pet Sematary—would it be the Wendigo? Or bad dirt? Or the failings of human nature? (Maybe “human nature” should be its own category of monster, come to think of it.)
Gotta add Dark Half to the writers list.
How about a count of titles which (arguably) contain no supernatural/science fiction content?
I’d love a count of how many of the 38 novels climaxed in flames. I seem to remember a lot of King’s book where he burns everything down by the end.
Grady, just wanted to say again how much I’ve enjoyed the reread and I’m sad to see it end. I kind of want King to write another 10 books in the next five years just so you can recap them all for us. You’ve made me want to read books I didn’t think I had any interest in (Tommyknockers, Cujo, Duma Key, Under the Dome, Cell) and reread a few I didn’t think I’d ever go back to (‘Salem’s Lot). Maybe one day you’ll come back for the Dark Tower (doubtful) or the books King co-authored? Regardless, thanks for the rereads. They’ve been enlightening, and something I looked forward to.
Question: for the characters with psychic powers — is it protagonists, or just characters? I feel like the kid in Joyland had some kind of psychic power, and I thought someone in Bag of Bones did — maybe Jo?
Isn’t the bad guy in The Stand arguably whatsisname, The Walking Man, and isn’t he arguably supernatural? I haven’t read it for a long time, but I think he qualifies on both counts.
I think From a Buick 8 takes place in PA
Are Franny and Mother Abigail in The Stand not considered Main Characters?
Number of books where Randall Flagg (or one of his many alter-egos) shows up or has a cameo?
Christine is a book named after a woman… wouldnt you say?
Grady,
Discovered this a couple months ago and became obsessed. Thanks for helping me relive some of my best reading experiences. Wanted to ask, would you consider doing Eyes of the Dragon? Its one of my favorites and I think one of Kong’s most underrated, so it’s absence was definitely felt on my end. Either way, thanks for doing this, I’m sure it wasn’t always (or ever) easy. Loved it!
How about:
-books & stories with juvenile delinquent characters
-books & stories with magical black characters
books & stories that end with pages of detailed destruction
Hi,
This is pretty interesting stuff, but I have to disagree with your last stat of the kids who are central to the plot and die. Shouldn’t Needful Things be included since you listed it as kids who die and suicide is a way to die? The kid (I forget his name) basically sets everything in motion then kills himself from the guilt.
Or how about books that are tied into the Dark Tower series. ……LOTS
Mr. Mercedes didn’t have a villain that was supernatural anything like that… Why isn’t it in that category?
Surely “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon” and “Firestarter” are also named after women, even if the titles don’t include their actual names?
And “It”, it turns out, is a female…
If you include the novellas written as Richard Bachman, the character Gordon in “The Body” is also a writer.
Great compilation!
Great stuff, thanks! Looking forward to reading your book this fall as well!
Would be interested to know if there was a way to search the entire text somehow, for things like characters tooling along a highway with a bottle against their crotch, or knives cutting a glittering arc through the air, or lists of things happening to otherwise unmentioned townsfolk in stormy times (meteorological or otherwise) that include a decapitation
I second the “whole place goes up in flameS” category. ‘Salem’s Lot, It, Needful Things, Carrie… I’ve missed some, I’m sure.
I suppose one could argue for the The Stand fitting into this also because NUCLEAR WARHEAD.
There is no analysis here. Just a bunch of lists.
I would think Firestarter belongs in the “bad guys are not supernatural or aliens” category. I don’t recall anything in that book being attributed to the supernatural.
From a Buick 8 definitely took place in Pennsylvania, not Maine.
Eyes of the Dragon and the Dark Tower books are my favorites by Mr. King. Maybe there’s a “type” of King reader? “Those who love the Dark Tower” and “why would anyone look for a Dark Tower”? “Those who like Fantasy” and “Those who do not”?
likewise, are there pro-Bachman readers and anti-Bachman readers?
I wonder.
(Also, I wandered a little in this post. Sorry. :-D )
Having lived in Maine for a couple of years, I know a piece of S K trivia not many know: his character names – not descriptions, just the names (especially easy to discern when it’s first and last, or a colorful nickname) – are based on actual persons he knows or knew. In Maine, it is a place of pride (elsewhere, it would be a place of libel ;) ) to point your thumb at your chest and say, “Yep! That new creep – Henry Noyes, that’s me!” ;)
Did you forget Cycle of the Werewolf? One of my favorites.
Books that contain the phrase,”felt his gorge rise” whenever someones going to puke.
How about a list of books that King wrote while on alcohol and cocaine? Most likely everything from ‘Salem’s Lot to Cujo.
How about books where an antagonist stares at someone related to a protagonist’s tits? Books with four or more lines of a Bob Dylan song included? Books that mention the Boston Redsox?
An excellent guided tour of the man’s works, and I feel inspired to go and reread some of the earlier work that first hooked me in the early 80s. Heck, I may even give “Insomnia” another shot (first King book I essentially bounced off of).
You should definitely include the Bachman books. They’re some of my favourites, (especially The Long Walk!)
You should, if you have the time, eventually come back to this list and finish it off with the new stories. I can’t find any reviews of his books that are this quality, so it would be awesome.