Fall for the Book - Stephen King

Last Friday night, I had the privilege of watching acclaimed author Stephen King accept the Mason Award for his “extraordinary contributions to bringing literature to a wide reading public.” When King walked out on stage, you wouldn’t expect to see a man of his caliber accepting an award. He appeared in jeans and red polo, looking more like a man who was testing the sound system than the bestselling author. He started talking about when he first realized his fame had caught up to him, and he lightened the mood by cracking jokes and one-liners. He also discussed his reputation as the “master of horror”, which he jokingly attributes to the timely deaths of Alfred Hitchcock and Rod Serling. King frequently raised a question his mother had asked him: “What is the worst thing you can think of?” King cited this as the primary influence on his work. My favorite moment of the evening was when King read a passage from a novel he is in the midst of writing. It is meant to serve as a sequel to The Shining, made memorable by the 1980 film adaptation starring Jack Nicholson and directed by Stanley Kubrick. King explained that he had always played around with the idea of how Danny moved on from his traumatic experience in The Shining. I found it to be quite a treat, and I am looking forward to its release. Although I must admit that I have never read any of King’s works, I do intend to do so sometime in the future. Stephen King is one of the greatest authors of our generation, and it was a pleasure to watch him in person.