Stephen King Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine, on September 21,1947, at the Maine General Hospital. Stephen, his mother Nellie, and his adopted brother David were left to fend for themselves when Stephen’s father Donald, a Merchant Marine captain, left one day, to go the store to buy a pack of cigarettes, and never returned. His fathers leaving had a big indirect impact on King’s life. While young Stephen and his family …showed first 75 words of 660 total…

…showed last 75 words of 660 total…never stops emphasizing his essential liking for people. He lapses into bogeyman mode when inspiration wanes. Characters bring out the realism and excitement in King books. "Of King’s imaginary characters, boys, generally twelve years old, are among the most carefully developed and consistently explored. Because pre-teen and pre-puberty youngsters could hardly have done enough to deserve death, terror, or destruction, King rather insistently concentrates upon them, especially in the early novels.(Beetz, p.720-4)