Feast of Fear: Conversations with Stephen King [Paperback]

Tim Underwood (Author), Chuck Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1993

Tasty revelations from the world's celebrated fright master. In interviews culled from a wide range of publications from 1973 to 1989, Stephen King invites readers into his own private world. Includes King's thoughts on his books and movies, his opinion of other writers, insight on why he does what he does, and more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 282 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; Warner Books ed edition (October 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446395056
• ISBN-13: 978-0446395052
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,431,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #26 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( K ) > King, Stephen

More About the Author

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are the Dark Tower novels, Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was also a bestseller. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars And Now for the Main Course, November 17, 2003

By 

paul mason "dedarkone" (Barrie On) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Feast of Fear: Conversations with Stephen King (Paperback)

Feast Of Fear: Conversations with Stephen King's main con is that it was published in 1989, and the modern master of horror, by my guesstimate has published at least between 20 - 25 works between then and now.
This volume is a series of interviews with Mr. King from 1974 to 1989 largely by people in the field. It is often set up in informal conversations with peers and other writers giving a sense of intimacy to the reader. Reading it I gained a whole new level of respect for King. Sure there were redundancies and repetitions in places where questions were subtly changed, but with the same general point, but King's answer's showed a level of class and sophistication that may take some non-fans by surprise. There was even some interviews which included George Romero giving the reader a bonus treat of hearing wit and wisdom from two people at the top of their mediums.
This book lets people know the man behind the author, and for me made me want to read/reread more King as stated it just lit up my respect for him like a Christmas tree.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Look at the First Half of King's Career, December 23, 2003

By 

C. T. Mikesell (near Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Feast of Fear: Conversations With Stephen King (Paperback)

This collection of interviews with and articles about Stephen King give a very detailed look at his early career. The latest interview was published in early 1989, while King was still working on The Dark Half.

There's a lot of ground covered here, but not all coverage is even. For instance, Stanley Kubrick's film version of The Shining is discussed frequently, first with King discussing how excited he is about the project (pre-release) and then how disappointed he was after the movie came out. King's own directorial project, Maximum Overdrive, gets similar coverage, as does his work as screenwriter for Creepshow. Some of King's work is strangely missing, though: The film Firestarter is discussed much more than the novel; The Dark Tower books (The Gunslinger and The Drawing of the Three) and The Talisman are mentioned only in passing. An article in Time Magazine where King is referred to as "the master of post-literate prose" is mentioned several times, but the article itself is absent.

The interviews are divided up into nine chapters (plus epilogue), covering his start, early years, "Going Hollywood," recent (late '80s) years, etc. Copyright details for each piece appear at the beginning of the book, but I think it would have been more helpful if they had appeared prior to each interview along with a brief bio of the interviewer (as many interject their own opinions and memories into the interviews and it would be nice to know who these people are).

King is portrayed in fairly glowing terms throughout Feast of Fear; a much franker version of this period of his life - including alcoholism and drug addiction - appears in King's autobiographical memoir, On Writing. Is King entirely truthful in his interview responses? No, but he is insightful - King admits in On Writing that he made up his stock response of writing everyday except for Christmas, the Fourth of July and his birthday, because you have to say *something* and it should at least be half clever. Nevertheless, even if Stephen King the brand-name-and-legend isn't the real deal, the man reflected in these pages is still a heck of an interesting guy with a lot to say about the creative process and celebrity.