The Stephen King Companion

Four Decades of Fear from the Master of Horror

By: George Beahm

Narrated by: Fleet Cooper, Claire Christie

Length: 24 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

The Stephen King Companion is an authoritative look at horror author King's personal life and professional career, from Carrie to The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.

King expert George Beahm, who has published extensively about Maine's main author, is your seasoned guide to the imaginative world of Stephen King, covering his varied and prodigious output: juvenalia, short fiction, limited edition books, best-selling novels, and film adaptations.

Supplemented with interviews with friends, colleagues, and mentors who knew King well, this book looks at his formative years in Durham, when he began writing fiction as a young teen; his college years in the turbulent '60s; his struggles with early poverty; working full time as an English teacher while writing part time; the long road to the publication of his first novel, Carrie; and the dozens of best-selling books and major screen adaptations that followed.

For fans old and new, The Stephen King Companion is a comprehensive look at America's best-loved bogeyman.

©2015 George Beahm (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Definitive Non-Fiction King Book

I highly recommend this to casual or obsessive SK fans alike. If you've only seen SK movies this is a great guide to his written works and avoids major spoilers. The narrator does a FANTASTIC job. Full Stars!

Undoubtedly Everything You Need To Know

I was most fascinated by the coverage of SK’s humble beginnings. This book is an absolute must for SK fans.

Excellent Book and Reading!!

Would you consider the audio edition of The Stephen King Companion to be better than the print version?

I will always prefer paper books, but being read to is the next best thing!

Any additional comments?

my only complaint--it's pronounced libRary, not Liberry. Seriously. Look it up.

A Kingopedia: Books, Movies, Bio and Art

If you want to know about Stephen King's enormous output, whether book, film, radio adaptation, collaborations with artists, etc, this is the book for you. And though it took me a bit to get into the flow, once I did I was hooked.

This isn't a straightforward biography.

What Beahm has crafted is a King encyclopedia, generally organized by chronology but often making tangents to explore a subject more thoroughly. For example, he'll talk about a King book then leap forward in time to talk about a film adaptation. You do get a brief King bio at the beginning of this lengthy audiobook, but a lot of the bio is sprinkled throughout the discussion of the work.

And that's what's so fabulous about The Stephen King Companion. It really delves into the enormous breadth and scope of King as writer, creative artist and collaborator. Beahm seems to leave no stone unturned. He starts with the early unpublished stories and goes from there, from Carrie to the Bill Hodges trilogy and The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.

Some books obviously get more attention than others--The Stand, The Shining--but they all get touched on. The short stories collections get their due and notable stories are singled out. Critics weigh in on favorite King books and stories to check out. The movies and TV series get nearly as much attention.

There's also a good amount on King's publishers (and why he moved publishing houses a few times) and his work with cover artists and illustrators like Michael Whelan and Bernie Wrightson. There's some fanboy/fangirl stuff too, like where to go online to get an authentic signed copy of a certain book and which books are most collectible.

If you're looking for more on Stephen King as writer, you might want to check out King's book On Writing, which is bio and writer's guide, and his book Danse Macabre, which is King's exploration of the horror genre in film, TV, radio and book.

The Ultimate Stephen King Reference

Would you listen to The Stephen King Companion again? Why?

I imagine I will over the years. It was so filled with information I can see myself going back to it in the future. I loved hearing the background information about some of my favorite books.

What did you like best about this story?

Having a retrospective of his body of work, what critics opinions were and the different inspirations he had for the stories.

Have you listened to any of Fleet Cooper and Claire Christie ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

NA

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Not really. Just happy to hear the details about one of my favorite authors and some of my favorite books

Any additional comments?

I reread Gerald's Game because of this and I am glad I did.

Are you kidding me???

Someone should do a study & see how much of "On Writing" is word for word transcribed in this book under the guise of reference. It's a hack job rehash of On Writing. Clinical. Boring. Unnecessary.