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STEPHEN KING TRIVIA

1) What was King's first published novel?


Although Carrie was King's sixth novel, it was his first to be published in 1973.

2) Why was King arrested in college?


A month before his college graduation, after drinking heavily in a local bar, King was arrested for stealing traffic cones.

3) Who was King raised by?


After his dad left the family when King was only two, his mom raised Stephen and his older brother David. She supported them working many jobs and often left them in the care of various relatives.

4) What was King's major in college?


In June 1970, King graduated from the University of Maine with a Bachelor of Science degree in English and a certificate to teach high school.

5) King used his second-hand typewriter so much that he eventually broke off the ______.


In his early days of writing, King would rattle away so furiously on his second-hand typewriter that the letter M eventually broke off and he had to write in the missing letters by hand.

6) What pseudonym has King used?


After King's original pseudonym (Gus Pillsbury--his maternal grandfather's name) was outed, he had to change it "on the spot". King became Richard Bachman--Richard as a tribute to crime author Donald E Westlake's pseudonym Richard Stark and Bachman for Bachman-Turner Overdrive, the band King was listening to at the time his publisher asked him to choose his pseudonym.

7) How many novels did King publish as Richard Bachman?


Prior to his "death" by "cancer of the pseudonym" in 1985, Bachman published five novels. Two further novels were "discovered" and published "posthumously" for a total of seven novels. King's novels written as Richard Bachman are Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, The Running Man, Thinner, The Regulators and Blaze.

8) Because it features a school shooter, which book has King let fall out of print?


Published in 1977, Rage features Charlie Decker, "a disturbed high-school student with authority problems" that kills one of his teachers and takes the rest of his class hostage. Since the plot resembles actual events that have transpired since it's publication, King no longer wanted it to be in print for fear that it might inspire similar occurrences.

9) What is King's longest book?


When The Stand was originally published in 1978, Doubleday warned King that the book's size would make it too expensive for the market to bear. As a result, he cut about 400 pages (around 150,000 words) from the original manuscript. In 1990, an unabridged edition was published, billed as The Complete and Uncut Edition, this became the longest book published by King at 1,152 pages.

10) What Stephen King outbreak is compared to the Covid-19 pandemic?


In The Stand, an extremely contagious and lethal strain of influenza is developed as a biological weapon. This virus, dubbed the "superflu" and "Captain Trips" by journalists, triggers a global pandemic of apocalyptic proportions. In March 2020, King reassured his followers on Twitter "No, coronavirus is NOT like THE STAND. It's not anywhere near as serious. It's eminently survivable. Keep calm and take all reasonable precautions."

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