Is there a list of his books and stories in order of writing?

[Gerald]

All lists I can find, like this

StephenKing.com - Comprehensive List - Oldest to Newest

are in order of publication date. But is there a list of the order in which he actually wrote them? For example, Pet Sematary was written much earlier, before The Dead Zone, but he put it in a drawer because he felt it was too dark and only published it much later.

To properly see how he evolved you'd have to see the order in which the books and stories were actually written. This could only be possible of course if he dated his stories or had some sort of system of the order in which he wrote them. (I have to say I doubt he had such a system, as he can't seem to recall even writing Cujo).
But would it be possible to determine what the actual writing order of his books was?

Actually with most writers it seems it's easier to find a list of the order in which books/stories were published than how they were written. The only one who can really know is the writer himself and unless you actually date something, it can really become hard to tell.

 

[Bev Vincent]

If you read through my historical context essays at Stephen King Revisited, you could assemble such a list. All the details are there through Pet Sematary, with more to follow.

 

[mal]

Howdy Gerald, Try the Stephen King site. They are broken down into categories (novel, short story collection, etc.) but you can sort them by date. mal

StephenKing.com - The Library

 

[Gerald]

If you read through my historical context essays at Stephen King Revisited, you could assemble such a list. All the details are there through Pet Sematary, with more to follow.

Thank you! I hadn't discovered your site yet. Lots of new information. But your historical context essays focus mainly on the writing order of the novels and novellas, am I right?
I can't find in the piece on Night Shift the exact writing order of the stories. Have you had access to the original manuscripts? Did he date his short stories? Would it be possible to date all the short stories in order of how they were written?

One thing I always been curious about is if Jerusalem's Lot the short story was indeed written before Salem's Lot the novel. The short story is now seen as a prequel to the novel, but it feels more like a standalone story with only the name of the town in common. In the novel there wasn't a reference to any of what happened in the short story.

One for the Road I imagine was written as a coda to the novel. But was it indeed written after the novel, or could it be for example a deleted part from the novel (similar to how Dracula's Guest was most likely a deleted first chapter of Stoker's book).

 

[Gerald]

Howdy Gerald, Try the Stephen King site. They are broken down into categories (novel, short story collection, etc.) but you can sort them by date. mal

StephenKing.com - The Library

But the date you can sort them by is only the publication date, not when he actually wrote the story - at least I can't find such a search option.

 

[Bev Vincent]

One thing I always been curious about is if Jerusalem's Lot the short story was indeed written before Salem's Lot the novel. The short story is now seen as a prequel to the novel, but it feels more like a standalone story with only the name of the town in common. In the novel there wasn't a reference to any of what happened in the short story.

One for the Road I imagine was written as a coda to the novel. But was it indeed written after the novel, or could it be for example a deleted part from the novel (similar to how Dracula's Guest was most likely a deleted first chapter of Stoker's book).

Doug Winter's excellent book The Art of Darkness gives the writing dates for a lot of the early works. He says that Jerusalem's Lot was "written in 1967, as a course requirement during King's sophomore year in college." He doesn't offer a date for "One for the Road," but implies that it was written after the novel.

I have Skeleton Crew next on my schedule to cover in SK Revisited -- I'll be sure to put the stories into the proper chronology when I do that, and may go back to update my piece on Night Shift with that info at some point.

 

[Gerald]

Doug Winter's excellent book The Art of Darkness gives the writing dates for a lot of the early works. He says that Jerusalem's Lot was "written in 1967, as a course requirement during King's sophomore year in college." He doesn't offer a date for "One for the Road," but implies that it was written after the novel.

I have Skeleton Crew next on my schedule to cover in SK Revisited -- I'll be sure to put the stories into the proper chronology when I do that, and may go back to update my piece on Night Shift with that info at some point.

Thanks. I always suspected Jerusalem's Lot was a much older piece. I guess the course requirement was to write in the style of another writer and he chose Lovecraft?

I've often heard about Winter's book, but never actually saw a copy of it. I searched American Book Center, which is the most likely place in the Netherlands to find it, but they don't have it. I'll keep a look out for it - is it regarded the best book about King, because there are so many about him.

 

[Bev Vincent]

Thanks. I always suspected Jerusalem's Lot was a much older piece. I guess the course requirement was to write in the style of another writer and he chose Lovecraft?

I've often heard about Winter's book, but never actually saw a copy of it. I searched American Book Center, which is the most likely place in the Netherlands to find it, but they don't have it. I'll keep a look out for it - is it regarded the best book about King, because there are so many about him.

It was a course in Gothic literature and students were given the choice of writing a term paper or a piece of short Gothic fiction. King got an A for the story, though he told Winter he didn't think he deserved it because it "wasn't so much Gothic as it was an outrageous Lovecraft pastiche."

Winter's book was the first to examine King's life and work, and he had terrific access to King for interviews. It's one of my primary sources for SK Revisited. Alas, even the updated version is current only through 1986. Is it the best? Hard to say -- I'm kinda fond of my own! But Doug's book is terrific, without any doubt.

 

[champ1966]

Picking up a copy of your book, on my trip to New York, Bev, was the cherry on the top of the cake for me. A must read Gerald.

 

[Gerald]

It was a course in Gothic literature and students were given the choice of writing a term paper or a piece of short Gothic fiction. King got an A for the story, though he told Winter he didn't think he deserved it because it "wasn't so much Gothic as it was an outrageous Lovecraft pastiche."

Winter's book was the first to examine King's life and work, and he had terrific access to King for interviews. It's one of my primary sources for SK Revisited. Alas, even the updated version is current only through 1986. Is it the best? Hard to say -- I'm kinda fond of my own! But Doug's book is terrific, without any doubt.

I know that quote about it being an 'outrageous Lovecraft pastiche'. I probably read (parts of) the interviews between Winter and King here and there.
So it examines his works until 1986? But the book itself is probably out of print?

The only book I have ABOUT King is Kingdom of Fear, which consists of eighteen essays, a lot of them by fellow authors. That's always been a real fun book to me. It's also one of the earlier books about him.

But when you see how many there are now, it's hard to know where to begin:

Books about Stephen King - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Gerald]

A must read Gerald.View attachment 15622

IF you can find it.

Books like that are probably easier to find in the US than Europe. Although now with internet in general it's become easier to get a hold of rare books or books that weren't printed in large quantities.
Although there are always limited and collector's editions of anything that will always remain hard to find.

 

[champ1966]

IF you can find it.

Books like that are probably easier to find in the US than Europe. Although now with internet in general it's become easier to get a hold of rare books or books that weren't printed in large quantities.
Although there are always limited and collector's editions of anything that will always remain hard to find.

I live in the UK, the Winter's book I picked up over here, but saying that, it was in the 90's.

 

[Bev Vincent]

So it examines his works until 1986? But the book itself is probably out of print?

When the first edition came out in 1984, the Richard Bachman pseudonym was still in place, although Winter clearly knew about it at that time -- there are a couple of references to the Bachman books in the text. So the major update in the 1986 edition was the addition of coverage of those five (at the time) Bachman books.

Alas, it does appear to be out of print, so you'd only find it on the secondary market.

 

[champ1966]

The only book I have ABOUT King is Kingdom of Fear, which consists of eighteen essays, a lot of them by fellow authors. That's always been a real fun book to me. It's also one of the earlier books about him.

]

Picked these up in the 90's too. [

 

[champ1966]

I'll keep my eye out for a copy of Art of Darkness for you.

 

[champ1966]

I've just looked on ebay, there's loads there, starting at £2.50.

 

[Gerald]

Bare Bones looks interesting too. These are purely interviews with King, right?

Does Art of Darkness take the form of a long interview with King, because that's usually the type of book I like (like Hitchcock/Truffaut for example). Or is it a combination of interviews and parts written just by Winter?
It's too bad he stopped updating it if it's considered such a good book, but maybe he had less access to interview Stephen later on?

I've never bought anything on ebay. I always find it hard to tell how safe it is. But I'll look in second hand stores and there also is a Dutch Stephen King fanclub (or at least there always was), perhaps they know the best way to get books like this.

What I like so much about Kingdom of Fear is that you get these thoughts of quite a lot of his peers about him, which I always enjoy a lot.

 

[Gerald]

There are quite a lot of editions of Art of Darkness on ebay:

douglas winter art of darkness | eBay

But even the updated and expanded version comes in different edtions:

This:

Stephen King The Art of Darkness by Douglas E Winter Life Fiction Revised 0452258049 | eBay

or this:

Douglas E Winter Stephen King The Art of Darkness US P Back Book EX Cond | eBay

Which is the best one to get?

Also is ebay always international? Would an American bookseller deliver to Europe for example?

 

[Bev Vincent]

Bare Bones looks interesting too. These are purely interviews with King, right?

Both Bare Bones and the subsequent Feast of Fear reprint interviews with King.

Does Art of Darkness take the form of a long interview with King, because that's usually the type of book I like (like Hitchcock/Truffaut for example). Or is it a combination of interviews and parts written just by Winter?
It's too bad he stopped updating it if it's considered such a good book, but maybe he had less access to interview Stephen later on?

Most of The Art of Darkness is text by Winter, discussing King's life in part, but mostly looking at the significance of each work. The interviews with King are interspersed throughout the text to expand on a point Winter is making. In general, they consist of single sentences or paragraphs, though at times the quotes are longer, amounting to nearly a page at a time. It seems clear that Winter spent a significant amount of time with King discussing his works.

 

[Bev Vincent]

There are quite a lot of editions of Art of Darkness on ebay:

Which is the best one to get?

Also is ebay always international? Would an American bookseller deliver to Europe for example?

As long as it says "Revised" or, more precisely, "expanded and updated," you should have the most current edition. The solid black covers with silver text and no graphics are the original edition from 1984.

eBay is not always international. It is up to individual sellers to decide whether or not to ship to Europe. Read the auction details carefully to see whether they will ship and how much they'll charge. Shipping to Europe from the US, even for a simple book, can be fairly expensive.