American novelist and short-story writer, whose enormously popular books revived the interest in horror fiction from the 1970s. King's place in the modern horror fiction can be compared to that of J.R.R. Tolkien's who created the modern genre of fantasy. Like Anthony Trollope, Charles Dickens or Balzac in his La Comédie humaine, King has expressed the fundamental concerns of his era, and used the horror genre as his own branch of artistic expression. King has underlined, that even in the world of cynicism, despair, and cruelties, it remains possible for individuals to find love and discover unexpected resources in themselves. His characters often conquer their own problems and malevolent powers that would suppress or destroy them.

"I wish I could get away from horror for a while, and I do—or I think I do, and then suddenly I discover that I'm like the guy in the poem by Auden who runs and runs and finally ends up in a cheap, one-night hotel. He goes down a hallway and opens a door, and there he meets himself sitting under a naked light bulb, writing." ('Stephen King,' in Faces of Fear: Encounters with the Creators of Modern Horror by Douglas E. Winter, London: Pan Books, 1990, p. 292)

Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine. His father, a merchant seaman, deserted the family in 1950. The young Stephen and his brother David were raised in Durham, Maine, by their mother who worked in odd jobs to support her children. At the age of six, he had his eardrum punctured several times – a painful experience which he never forgot. King attended a grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High school, where he started to write short stories and played in an amateur rock band. In 1960 he submitted his first story for publication – it was rejected. He edited the school newspaper, The Drum, and also wrote for the local newspaper, Lisbon Weekly Enterprise. His first story, entitled 'In a Half-World of Terror', came out in a horror fanzine.

In 1970 King graduated from the University of Maine. Next year he married Tabitha Spruce, who has also gained fame as a writer. "My wife is the person in my life who's most likely to say I'm working too hard, it's time to slow down, stay away from that damn PowerBook for a little while, Steve, give it a rest." (in On Writing, 2000) Most of his career King has lived in Bangor, Maine. Many of his books are set in the imaginary town of Castle Rock, Maine, which is totally destroyed by greed in Needful Things (1993). Since the late 2000s, King has spend with his wife winters in Florida, near Sarasota.

From 1971 to 1974 King was an instructor at the Hampden Academy, earning $6,400 a year. His first novel, Carrie (1974), was a tale of a girl with telekinetic powers. King had thrown the first pages of the story in a garbage pail, but his wife rescued them and urged him to finish the work. Carrie had first only a moderate success and sold 13 000 copies in hardcover. However, Signet paid $400,000 for its paperback rights. Carrie's film version was launched in 1976 and after the breakthrough novel Salem's Lot (1976), King established quickly his reputation as a major horror writer. Moreover, he became the Hollywood favorite author.

In the late summer of 1974 King moved with his family to Colorado for an extended holiday. He visited the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, and set there his next novel, The Shining (1975), about a writer named Jack Torrance, who succumbs to insanity and tries to kill his family. Though Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of the book to the screen was praised by reviewers, it did not satisfy the author, and he King himself turned his novel into a television miniseries in 1997. Doctor Sleep, which came out in 2013, is a sequel to The Shining. The protgonist is now Danny Torrance, Jack's son, a middle-aged man haunted by his past and his special gift.

In between The Shining and The Stand, King produced the first 75 pages for a new novel, but abandoned the manuscript. He wrote a second, unpublished version called The Cannibals in 1985 and started again in 2007. The finished work, Under the Dome (2009), told of the residents of a small town who are trapped beneath a giant dome. A sort of psychological laboratory, isolated from the rest of the world, the town becomes the scene of a struggle between the social bond and the unbound drives. Like in many of his other works, the story  looks into the materialization of our own inner demons.

The Dead Zone (1979) and 11.22.63 (2011) tackled the subject of the possibility of altering the course of history. Highly popular and internationally acclaimed author, King's own work has definitely changed the genre of horror fiction. His first paperbacks King wrote under the name of Richard Bachman: he wanted to to create an alter-ego so that he could experiment with new styles and publish more than one book a year. The Talisman (1984) and its sequel, The Black House (2001), were written with Peter Staub. Christine (1983) was censored and banned in many schools for containing explicit sexual thought of teenage boys. Parents of students have also attacked Carrie, Firestarter, The Shining, and The Stand, complaining that they should be removed from the school library. 

King has also published non-fiction. In his collection of essays, Danse Macabre (1981), King described the writing process as a kind of "dance" in which the author searches out the private fears of each reader. In the textbook of macabre he goes through the horror genre, from film monsters to books, focusing mostly on the post-war era. "It's not a dance of death at all, not really. There is a third lever here, as well. It is, at bottom, a dance of dreams. It's a way of awakening the child inside, who never dies but only sleeps ever more deeply. If the horror story is rehearsal for death, then its strict moralities make it also a reaffirmation of life and good will and simple imagination—just one more pipeline to the infinite." (Danse Macabre by Stephen King, New York: Berkley Books, 1983, p. 409)

After writing The Pet Sematary King considered he don't need to publish "the most wretched, awful thing" he made, Bag of Bones (1998). The story dealt with the grief process in an uncompromising way. King added to the theme of loss of a family member the classical haunted house idea and familiar elements from his previous works: a small town where people know more than they tell, the collective guilty, and a hero who can't avoid confrontation with the evil powers. Old crimes, sins and secrets, hidden deep, are gradually revealed in an analysis of the conscious and unconscious like on a Freud's sofa. Playing with fire, King plunges into the mind of Mike Noonan, an author who suffers from the writer's block. Noonan's wife has died unexpectedly and he retreats to Sara Laughs, their happy home during summers. There he meets a young mother, Mattie, and her daughter, whom he helps in an custody struggle. Mattie is one of the liveliest characters in King's works. Her sudden death, a logical twist of the plot, comes like electric shock. In the last pages of the novel Noonan/King returns to it and states correctly that 'to think I might have written such a hellishly convenient death in a book, ever, sickens me.'

From the beginning of his career, King has examined the forces of unconsciousness that are hidden behind creative processes. In Misery a monstrous muse forces a writer into a slavery in front of typewriter. He is addicted to his work, but at the same time he is haunted by the demands of his fans. Although King is respected as a major force in popular fiction, his books blend the line between high art and pulp culture. Jack Torrance, a writer and former alcoholic, attacks his own family in The Shining, and in The Dark Half (1998) the protagonist must fight against the demon of his own imagination. This self-conscious way to approach the art of fiction is also seen in King's controlled use of images that are meant to scare the reader. In Hearts in Atlantis (1999) typical horror elements are reduced as a metaphor of lost innocence. King pointedly refers to William Golding's modern classic, Lord of the Flies.

King is not one those writers who claim that they don't have time to read, but Bag of Bones offered a delightful analysis of Herman Melville's story Bartleby, and comments about books and authors. Among them is Thomas Hardy, who abandoned the novel form at the peak of his career and changed into poetry. Hardy supposedly said, that the most brilliantly drawn character in a novel is but a bag of bones.

A number of King's stories have been adapted into screen, including Carrie (1976) by Brian De Palma, The Shining (1980) by Stanley Kubrick, Christine (1983) by John Carpenter, The Dead Zone (1983) by David Cronenberg,  Stand by Me (1986) by Rob Reiner, Misery (1990) by Rob Reiner, The Dark Half (1993) by George A. Romero, Dolores Claiborne (1995) by Taylor Hackford, The Green Mile (1999) by Frank Darabont, and Dreamcatcher (2003) by Lawrence Kasdan. King's novels are richly textured with multitudinous references to films, television, rock music, literature, popular culture, and to the universe and characters of his own books. Several of early his novels explored the agonies of childhood, parental neglect and abuse (Carrie; Firestarter, 1980; Children of the Corn, 1984). In the 1980s his perspective shifted into the various pains of adulthood, the loneliness of older people (It, 1986; Insomnia, 1994; Hearts in Atlantis, 1999). He has also provided fully-realized women characters in such novels as Gerald's Game (1992), Dolores Claiborne (1993), and Rose Madder (1995).

King's Dark Tower series, which started in 1982 with The Gunslinger, has combined Tolkien's sense of wonder with a horror and Sergio-Leone influenced Western. The story, set in a place called Mid-World, was partly based on Robert Browning's narrative poem, 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came'. This world, which might be the future of a world much like out own, has many intertextual relationships with King's other books and maps the boundaries of his imagination or universe. Occasionally characters cross over from one genre to another, from fantasy to realism. The cental characters, Roland, a gunslinger, and his friends, are helped by the Old Fella, Father Callahan from Salem's Lot in their chase of the Man in Black.

King confesses in On Writing that he had problems with alcohol as early as in 1975, when he wrote The Shining, and he also developed in the 1980s a drung addiction. However, it did not interfere with either the quality of quantity of his output; he still poured out thousands of words nearly every day. In June 1999 King was struck by a van and seriously injured. Soon after the accident, in July, King began publishing a serial novel, entitled The Plant, at his website, stephenking.com. In the story a supernatural vine starts to grow in a paperback publishing house. It brings success and riches and all it wants in return is a little drop of blood, a little flesh. King also announced that he will not continue with the story if payments for downloading the work fall off. "What made The Plant such a hilarious Internet natural (at least to my admittedly twisted mind) was that publishers and media people seem to see exactly this sort of monster whenever they contemplate the Net in general and e-lit in particular: a troublesome strangler fig that just might have a bit o' the old profit in it. If, that is, it's handled with gloves." (King in Time, January 8, 2001)

While convalescing from the accident, King took a look at his struggling early career in On Writing (2000). Most of all, the book gives down-to-earth advises for aspiring writers. "Write what you like, then imbue it with life and make it unique by blending in your own personal knowledge of life, friendship, relationships, sex and work. Especially work. People love to read about work. God knows why, but they do." King said in February 2002 to the Los Angeles Times that he has decided to stop publishing at year's end after finishing the last three novels in his "Dark Tower" series, and some other works. In 2003 King received the National Book Award. Its previous recipients include John Updike, Arthur Miller, Philip Roth and Toni Morrison. In 2011 King joined a liberal protest rally against Florida's Republican governor. Though King himself in an unapologetic gun-owner, he had criticized gun-rights advocates, and said in an essay entitled 'Guns' (Kindle Single, January 25, 2013), that "Plenty of gun advocates cling to their semi-automatics the way Amy Winehouse and Michael Jackson clung to the shit that was killing them."

From the mid 2000s onwards, King's stories seems to have taken a new turn, in which the horror is not only a genre manifestation but the feelings of angst and fear are a definition of the whole human existence. Duma Key (2008), his first novel set in Florida, follows Lisey's Story (2006), about a writer's widow. Mr. Mercedes (2014) began a trilogy focusing on Detective Bill Hodges (Finders Keepers, 2015; End of Watch, 2016). The first wolume won in 2015 the Edgar Award for Best Novel. Revival (2014) is a modern-day Frankenstein story, which even has the line "She's alive," referring to the phrase "It's alive!" from James Whale's film Frankenstein (1931) and its sequels. (It comes not from Mary Shelley's book.).

Mr. Mercedes took up many familiar themes and motifs from King's earlier oeuvre, such as the effect of the past on the present, the illusory nature of our world, the role of faith in life, and scientific operations and experiments that go horribly wrong. At the end the narrator has a vision of life after death. There will be no paradise beyond death's door. What awaits us is a Dantean  hell, a barren landscape beneath howling stars, where an endless column of naked human beings are herded by antlike creatures towards horizon.

King has no plans to retire. With his son Owen he published in 2017 the novel Sleeping Beauties. The idea, what if  all the woman fell asleep, was prompted by Owen. One of the characters has developed an asshole standard and would ask herself,  is so-and-so a bigger asshole than Truman, a  meth cook and pimp. "Few could compare– in fact, so far, officially, there was only Donald Trump and cannibals."

For further reading: Stephen King: The Fist Decade by Jospeh Reino (1988); The Stephen King Companion, ed. George W. Beahm (1989); Stephen King: Man and Artits by Carroll F. Terrell (1990); The Shape Under the Sheet: The Complete Stephen King Encyclopedia (1991); Stephen King: The Second Decade by Tony Magistrale (1992); The Films of Stephen King by Ann Lloyd (1993); Stephen King's America by Jonathan P. Davis (1994); The Work of Stephen King: An Annotated Bibliography and Guide by Michael R. Collings (1996); Stephen King: A Critical Companion by Sharon A. Russell (1996); Speaking of Murder, ed. Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg (1998); The Complete Stephen King Universe: A Guide to the Worlds of Stephen King by Stanley Wiater, Christopher Golden and Hank Wagner (2006); Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King by Lisa Rogak (2009); Stephen King: A Literary Companion by Rocky Wood (2011); Stephen King's Contemporary Classics: Reflections on the Modern Master of Horror, edited by Philip L. Simpson and Patrick McAleer (2015); Stephen King and Philosophy, edited by Jacob M. Held (2016); The Linguistics of Stephen King: Layered Language and Meaning in the Fiction by James Arthur Anderson (2017); The Stephen King Ultimate Companion: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences by Bev Vincent (2022). What is horror: "The main criterion is that it should be both frightening and repulsive, with elements of horror, fantasy and the supernatural" (in Now Read On... by Mandy Hicken and Ray Prytherch, 1994). See also: Clive Barker's A-Z of Horror (1997); The Penquin Encyclopædie of Horror and the Supernatural (1986). Suomennoksia: Kingiltä on käännetty säännönmukaisesti uudet romaanit, samoin kuin novelleja. Vuonna 1996 ilmestyi Päätalo-instituutin kustantamana nuorten kirjoittajien novellikokoelma Vanhoja luita ja muita epätodellisia tarinoita (toim. Petri Liukkonen ja Tanja Keskisimonen), joka oli omistettu Stephen Kingille.

Selected works:

• Carrie, 1974
  - Carrie (suom. Tuula Saarikoski, 1987)
  - Films: 1976, prod. Redbank Films, screenplay Lawrence D. Cohen, dir. Brian De Palma, starring Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving; TV movie 2002, teleplay Bryan Fuller, dir. David Carson, starring Angela Bettis, Patricia Clarkson and Rena Sofer
• Salem's Lot, 1975 (see also Nathaniel Hawthorne, who grew up in Salem and in Raymond, Maine, and whose tale Young Goodman Brown from 1835 is among the greatest witchcraft stories)
  - Painajainen (suom. Heikki Karjalainen, 1990)
  - Tv miniseries in 1979, prod. Warner Bros. Television, screenplay Paul Monash, dir. Tobe Hooper, starring David Soul, James Mason and Lance Kerwin; TV movie 2004, teleplay Peter Filardi, dir. Mikael Salomon, starring Rob Lowe, Andre Braugher, Donald Sutherland
• The Shinig, 1975
  - Hohto (suom. Pentti Isomursu, 1985)
  - Films: 1980, prod. Warner Bros. Pictures, Hawk Films, Peregrine, screenplay Stanley Kubrick, Diane Johnson, dir. Stanley Kubrick, starring Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd, Shelley Duvall. "While the novel depicts Jack and Wendy as victims of dysfunctional family situation, Kubrick satirically views them as part of a culture of grotesque comic-strip banality. Far from achieving his dream of becoming the Great American Writer of his era (rather than the playwright of the original novel), Jack becomes a dehumanized "Big Bad Wolf" or Roadrunner (with axe rather that roque mallet), pursuing Danny as Wile E. Coyote and attempting to break down the family bathroom door while voicing banalities from American television - "Here's Johnny"!" (in Novels into Film by John C. Tibbetts and James M. Welsh, 1997); Stephen King's The Shining, television film 1997, teleplay Stephen King, dir. Mick Garris, starring Rebecca De Mornay, Steven Weber and Courtland Mead
• Rage, 1977 (as Richard Bachman)
  - Raivo (suom. Leevi Lehto, 1992)
• The Stand, 1978
  - Tukikohta (suom. Kari Nenonen, 1990)
  - Stephen King's The Stand, television mini series 1994, prod. Greengrass Productions, Laurel Entertainment Inc., starring Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald and Jamey Sheridan
• Night Shift, 1978
  - Yön äänet (suom. Reijo Kalvas, 1989)
  - Films: Children of the Corn, 1984, screenplay George Goldsmith, dir. Fritz Kiersch, starring Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton and R.G. Armstrong; Maximum Overdrive, 1986, dir. Stephen King, starring Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle and Laura Harrington; Graveyard Shift, 1991, dir. Ralph S. Singleton, starring David Andrews, Kelly Wolf and Stephen Macht; Sometimes They Come Back, TV movie 1991, teleplay Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal, dir. Tom McLoughlin, starring Tim Matheson, Brooke Adams and Robert Rusler; The Lawnmower Man, 1992, screenplay by Brett Leonard and Gimel Everett, dir. Brett Leonard, starring Jeff Fahey, Pierce Brosnan and Jenny Wright; The Mangler, 1995, dir. Tobe Hooper, starring Robert Englund, Ted Levine and Daniel Matmor; Trucks, 2000, dir. Chris Thomson, starring Timothy Busfield, Brenda Bakke and Aidan Devine; Children of the Corn, TV movie 2009, dir. Donald P. Borchers, starring David Anders, Kandyse McClure and Daniel Newman
• Another Quarter Mile, 1979
• The Long Walk, 1979 (as Richard Bachman)
  - Raivo & Pitkä marssi (suom. Leevi Lehto, 1992)
• The Dead Zone, 1979
  - Kosketus (Heikki Karjalainen, 1989)
  - Film 1983, prod. Dino De Laurentiis Company, Lorimar Film Entertainment, screenplay Jeffrey Boam, dir. David Cronenberg , starring Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt
• The Firestarter, 1980
  - Tulisilmä (suom. Aarne T. K. Lahtinen, 1982)
  - Film 1984, prod. Dino De Laurentiis Company, Universal Pictures, screenplay Stanley Mann, dir. Mark L. Lester, starring David Keith, Drew Barrymore, Freddie Jones, Heather Locklear
• The Monkey, 1980
• Cujo, 1981
  - Cujo (suom. Virpi Kosonen, 1987; Reijo Kalvas, 1999)
  - Film 1983, prod. Dino De Laurentiis Company, Universal Pictures, screenplay Stanley Mann, dir. Lewis Teague, starring Drew Barrymore, David Keith and Freddie Jones
• Roadwork, 1981 (as Richard Bachman)
  - Vimma & Juokse tai kuole (suom. Leevi Lehto, 1993)
• Dance Macabre, 1981
• The Plant, 1982-1985 (part I, 1982; part II, 1983; part III, 1985)
• Stephen King's Creepshow, 1982 (comic-strip adaptations)
• The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger, 1982
  - Musta torni (suom. Kari Salminen, 1992)
  - Film 2017 (based on the novels), dir. Nikolaj Arcel, starring Idris Elba (as Roland Deschain / The Gunslinger),  Matthew McConaughey,  Tom Taylor, Katheryn Winnick,  Abbey Lee 
  
• Creepshow, 1982
  - Film 1982, from the short stories 'Father's Day,' 'Weeds,' 'The Crate, 'They're Creeping Up on You', 'The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill', dir. George A. Romero, starring Hal Holbrook, Leslie Nielsen and Adrienne Barbeau; Creepshow 2, dir. Michael Gornick, starring George Kennedy, Lois Chiles and Domenick John
• Different Seasons, 1982
  - Kauhun vuodenajat 1 & 2 (suom. Tapio Tamminen, 1992); Rita Hayworth - avain pakoon (suom. Tapio Tamminen, 1995); Mallioppilas (suom. Tapio Tamminen, 1998)
  - Films: Stand by Me, 1984, based on 'The Body', screenplay Raymond Gideon and Bruce A. Evans, dir. Bob Reiner, starring Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix and Corey Feldman; The Shawshank Redemption, 1994, screenplay Frank Darabont, dir. Frank Darabont, starring Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton; Apt Pupil, 1999, based on the novella with the same title, screenplay Brandon Boyce, dir. Bryan Singer, starring Ian MvKellen, Brad Renfro, Joshua Jackson
• The Running Man, 1982 (as Richard Bachman)
  - Juokse tai kuole (suom. Leevi Lehto, 1993)
  - Film 1987, prod. Braveworld Productions, Home Box Office (HBO), J&M Entertainment, screenplay Steven E. de Souza, dir. Paul Michael Glaser, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso and Yaphet Kotto
• Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redepmtion: A Story from 'Different Seasons,' 1983
  - Rita Hayworth - avain pakoon (1. laitos 1992 nimellä Kauhun vuodenajat; suom. Tapio Tamminen, 1995)
• Christine, 1983
  - Christine, tappajauto (suom. Pentti Isomursu, 1984)
  - Film 1983, prod. Columbia Pictures Corporation, Delphi Premier Productions, Polar Films, creenplay Bill Phillips, dir. John Carpenter, starring Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul
• Black Magic and Music: A Novelist's Perspective on Bangor, 1983
• Pet Semetary, 1983
  - Uinu, uinu lemmikkini (suom. Pirkko Talvio-Jaatinen, 1986)
  - Film 1989, prod. Laurel Productions, Paramount Pictures, screenplay Stephen King, dir. Mary Lambert, starring Dale Midkiff, Fred Gwynne
• Cycle of the Werewolf, 1983
  - Ihmissuden vuosi (suom. Annika Eräpuro, 1990)
  - Film: Silver Bullet, 1985, prod. Dino De Laurentiis Company, Famous Films, dir. Daniel Attias, starring Corey Haim, Gary Busey, Everett McGill, Megan Follows
• The Talisman, 1984 (with Peter Straub)
  - Talismaani (suom. Kari Salminen, 1991)
• The Thinner, 1984 (as Richard Bachman)
  - Kirous (suom. Hannu Antila, 1997)
  - Film Stephen King's Thinner, 1996, prod. Paramount Pictures, screenplay Michael McDowell, Tom Holland, dir. Tom Holland, starring Robert Burke, Joe Mantegna, Lucinda Jenney
• Silver Bullet, 1985 (ombibus)
• Stephen King's Year of Fear 1986 Calendar, 1985
• Skeleton Crew, 1985
  - Jälkeen keskiyön (suom. Tapio Tamminen, 1991); Ennen aamunkoitoa (suom. Tapio Tamminen, 1991)
  - Film: The Mist, 2007, prod. Dimension Films, Darkwoods Productions, The Weinstein Company, screenplay Frank Darabont, dir. Frank Darabont, starring Marcia Gay Harden, Thomas Jane, Laurie Holden
• The Eyes of the Dragon, 1985
  - Lohikäärmeen silmät (suom. Tapio Tamminen, 1993)
• The Bachman Books: Four Early Novels, 1986 (contains Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, The Running Man)
  - Raivo & Pitkä marssi (suom. Leevi Lehto, 1992)
  - Vimma & Juokse tai kuole (suom. Leevi Lehto, 1993)
• It, 1986
  - Se (suom. Ilkka ja Päivi Rekiaro, 1988)
  - Films: TV movie 1990, prod. Green/Epstein Productions, Konigsberg/Sanitsky Company, Lorimar Television, dir. Tommy Lee Wallace, starring Richard Thomas, Tim Reid and Annette O'Toole; 2017, dir. Andy Muschietti, screenplay by Chase Palmer, Cary  Fukunaga, starring Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard; It: Chapter Two (2019), dir. by Andy Muschietti, starring  James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Bill Skarsgård
• Misery, 1987
  - Piina (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 1989)
  - Film 1990, prod. Castle Rock Entertainment, Nelson Entertainment, screenplay William Goldman, dir. Rob Reiner, starring James Caan, Cathry Bates
• The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three, 1987
  - Musta torni 2: Kolme korttia pakasta (suom. Kari Salminen, 1993)
• Sorry, Right Number, 1987 (television play)
  - Prod. JayGee Productions, Laurel Entertainment Inc., dir. John Harrison, starring Deborah Harmon, Arthur Taxier and Rhonda Dotson
• The Tommyknockers, 1987
  - Kolkuttajat (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 1990)
  - Television miniseries, 1993, prod. Konigsberg/Sanitsky Company, teleplay Lawrence D. Cohen, dir. John Power, starring Jimmy Smits, Marg Helgenberger and John Ashton
• My Pretty Pony, 1988
• Nightmares in the Sky, 1988 (photographs by F-Stop FitzGerald)
• Dolan's Cadillac, 1989
  - Film 2009, prod. Minds Eye Entertainment, Footprint Investments, Prescience, screenplay Richard Dooling, dir. Jeff Beesley, starring Christian Slater, Emmanuelle Vaugier and Wes Bentley
• The Dark Half, 1989
  - Pimeä puoli (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 1991)
  - Film 1991, screenplay George A. Romero, dir. George A. Romero, starring Timothy Hutton, Amy Madigan and Michael Rooker
• Four Past Midnight, 1990
  - Sydänyö (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 1991)
  - Film: Secret Window, 2004, prod. Grand Slam Productions, Columbia Pictures Corporation, Pariah Entertainment Group, screenplay David Koepp, dir. David Koepp, starring Johnny Depp, Maria Bello and John Turturro
• Stephen King's Golden Years, 1991 (television play)
• Needful Things, 1991
  - Tarpeellista tavaraa (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 1992)
  - Film 1993, prod. Castle Rock Entertainment, New Line Cinema, screenplay W.D. Richter, dir. Fraser Clarke Heston, starring Max von Sydow, Ed Harris and Bonnie Bedelia
• The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands, 1991
  - Musta torni 3: Joutomaa (suom. Kari Salminen, 1993)
• Dolores Claiborne, 1993
  - Doloreksen tunnustus (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 1992)
  - Film 1995, prod. Castle Rock Entertainment, Columbia Pictures Corporation, screenplay Tony Gilroy, dir. Taylor Hackford, starring Kathy Bates, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Christopher Plummer
• Gerald's Game, 1993
  - Julma leikki (suom. Heikki Karjalainen, 1993)
  - Film 2017, dir. Mike Flanagan, starring Bruce Greenwood, Carla Gugino,  Carel Struycken,  Henry Thomas   
  
• Insomnia, 1994
  - Uneton yö (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 1994)
• Stephen King's The Stand, 1994 (television play)
• Nightmares and Dreamscapes, 1994
  - Painajaisia ja unikuvia 1: Yksinäinen sormi (suom. Heikki Kaskimies, Heikki Karjalainen, 1999); Painajaisia ja unikuvia 2: Anteeksi, oikea numero (suom. Heikki Karjalainen, 2000)
  - Films: The Langoliers, TV movie 1995, prod. Laurel Entertainment Inc., Spelling Films International, Worldvision, dir. Tom Holland, starring Patricia Wettig, Dean Stockwell and David Morse; The Night Flier, 1997, dir. Mark Pavia, starring Miguel Ferrer, Julie Entwisle and Dan Monahan; TV mini-series 2006, prod. Coote Hayes Productions, 8 episodes: Battleground, Crouch End, The End of the Whole Mess, Umney's Last Case, The Road Virus Heads North, The Fifth Quarter, You Know They Got a Hell of a Band, Autopsy Room Four
• Rose Madder, 1995
  - Naisen raivo (suom. Heikki Karjalainen, 1995)
• The Regulators, 1996 (as Richard Bachman)
  - Teloittajat (suom. Heikki Karjalainen, 1996)
• Desperation, 1996
  - Epätoivon kaupunki (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 1996)
  - TV movie, 2006, prod. Touchstone Television, Buena Vista Television, Sennet-Gernstein Entertainment, teleplay Stephen King, dir. Mick Garris, starring Tom Skerritt, Steven Weber and Annabeth Gish
• The Green Mile, 1997 (in six parts: The Two Dead Girls, The Mouse on the Mile, Coffey's Hands, The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix, Night Journey, Coffey on the Mile)
  - Kuoleman käytävä (osat: Kaksi pientä tyttöä, Hiiri käytävällä, Coffeyn kädet, Delacroixin kurja loppu, Öinen matka, Kuoleman käytävä; suom. Heikki Kaskimies, 1997)
  - Film 1999, prod. Castle Rock Entertainment, Darkwoods Productions, Warner Bros. Pictures, screenplay Frank Darabont, dir. Frank Darabont, starring Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan and David Morse
• The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, 1997
  - Musta torni IV: Velho (suom. Kari Salminen, 1998)
• Bag of Bones, 1998
  - Kalpea aavistus (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 1998)
  - TV series 2011, prod. Sennet Entertainment, dir. Mick Garris, screenplay Matt Venne, starring  Melissa George, Pierce Brosnan and Matt Frewer
• The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, 1999
  - Eksyneiden jumala (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 1999)
• Hearts in Atlantis, 1999
  - Pedon sydän (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 2000)
  - Film 2001, prod. Castle Rock Entertainment, Village Roadshow Pictures, NPV Entertainment, screenplay William Goldman, dir. Scott Hicks, starring Anthony Hopkins, Hope Davis, Hope Davis
• Storm of the Century, 1999 (screenplay)
  - TV mini-series 1999, prod. Greengrass Productions, Mark Carliner Productions, Rainfall Productions, starring Carson Manning, Tim Daly and Colm Feore
• F13, 2000 (CD-Rom, includes an unpublished novella, Everything's Eventual)
• Riding the Bullet, 2000 (published on the Internet, www.simonsays.com)
  - Film 2004: Stephen King's Riding the Bullet, 2004, screenplay Mick Garris, dir. Mick Garris, starring Jonathan Jackson, David Arquette and Barbara Hershey
• Blood & Smoke, 2000 (audiocassette & CD format, written & read by Stephen King)
• The Plant, 2000 (published in the Internet, www.stephenking.com)
• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, 2000
  - Kirjoittamisesta (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 2000)
• Dreamcatcher, 2001
  - Unensieppaaja (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 2001)
  - Film 2002, prod. Castle Rock Entertainment, Village Roadshow Pictures, NPV Entertainment, screenplay William Goldman, Lawrence Kasdan, dir. Lawrence Kasdan, starring Morgan Freeman, Tom Sizemore, Thomas Jane, Jason Lee
• Black House, 2001 (with Peter Straub)
  - Pimeyden talo (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 2002)
• Everything's Eventual, 2002
  - Maantievirus matkalla pohjoiseen (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 2003)
• From a Buick Eight, 2002
  - Buick 8 (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 2004)
• Stephen King's Rose Red, 2002 (television play)
• The Dark Tower Volves of the Calla, 2003
  - Musta torni V: Callan sudet (suom. Kari Salminen, 2005)
• The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah, 2004
  - Musta torni VI: Susannan laulu (suom. Kari Salminen, 2006)
• Faithful, 2004 (with Stewart O´Nan)
• The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, 2004
  - Musta torni VII: Musta torni (suom. Kari Salminen, 2006)
• The Colorado Kid, 2005
  - TVseries: Haven, 2010, prod. E1 Entertainment, Big Motion Pictures, Piller/Segan/Shepherd, starring Emily Rose, Lucas Bryant and Nicholas Campbell
• Lisey's Story, 2006
  - Liseyn tarina (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 2008)
• Cell, 2006
  - Kuulolla (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 2007)
• Blaze, 2007 (under the name Richard Bachman)
• Duma Key, 2008
  - Tapahtumapaikkana Duma Key (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2009)
• Just After Sunset, 2008
  - Auringonlaskun jälkeen (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2010)
• Under the Dome, 2009
  - Kuvun alla (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2011)
• Blockade Billy, 2010 (novella)
• Full Dark, No Stars, 2010
  - Pimeä yö, tähdetön taivas  (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2012)
• 11.22.63, 2011
  - 11.22.63 (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 2013)
  - TV mini-series (8 episodes), starring James Franco,  Sarah Gadon,  George MacKay
  
• Throttle, 2012 (with Joe Hill)
• The Wind Through the Keyhole, 2012
• The Dark Man: An Illustrated Poem, 2013 (illustrated by Glenn Chadbourne)
  
• Doctor Sleep, 2013
  - Tohtori Uni (suom. Ilkka Rekiaro, 2014)
  
• Mr. Mercedes: A Novel, 2014 (The Bill Hodges Trilogy)
  - Mersumies (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2016)
  - TV series 2017, created by David E. Kelley, starring Kelly Lynch,  Ed Anderson,  Rob Niter
  
• Revival, 2014
  - Herääminen (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2015)
  
• Finders Keepers, 2015 (The Bill Hodges Trilogy)
  - Etsivä löytää (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2015)
• The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, 2015
  
• End of Watch: A Novel, 2016 (The Bill Hodges Trilogy)
  - Viimeinen vartio (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2018)
• Gwendy's Button Box, 2017 (with Richard Chizmar)
  - 'Gwendyn lipas,' teoksessa Gwendy (suomentanut Einari Aaltonen, 2023)
  
• Sleeping Beauties: A Novel, 2017 (with Owen King)
  - Ruususen uni (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2018)
• The Outsider, 2018
  - Ulkopuolinen (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2019)
• Elevation, 2018
  
• - Keveys (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2020)
• Gwendy's Magic Feather, 2019 (written by Richard Chizmar, foreword by Stephen King)
  - 'Gwendyn lumottu sulka,' teoksessa Gwendy (suomentanut Einari Aaltonen, 2023)
• The Institute, 2019
  
• - Laitos (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2020)
• If It Bleeds, 2020
  - Mitä enemmän verta (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2021)
• Later, 2021
  - Myöhemmin (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2022)
• Billy Summers, 2021
  - Billy Summers (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2022)
• Gwendy's Final Task, 2022 (with Richard Chizmar)
  - 'Gwendyn viimeinen tehtävä,' teoksessa Gwendy (suomentanut Einari Aaltonen, 2023)
• The Gwendy Trilogy: Gwendy's Button Box, Gwendy's Magic Feather, Gwendy's Final Task, 2022  (Stephen King and Richard Chizmar)
  - Gwendy (suomentanut Einari Aaltonen, 2023)
• Fairy Tale, 2022
  - Satumaa (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2023)
• Holly, 2023
  - Holly (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2024)
• You Like It Darker: Stories, 2024
  - Pimeällä puolella (suomentanut Ilkka Rekiaro, 2025)
• Never Flinch: A Novel , 2025