Stephen King Country: The Illustrated Guide to the Sites and Sights That Inspired the Modern Master of Horror [Hardcover]

George W. Beahm (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1999

What lurks inside the head of Stephen King? Discover the real-life sites and sights behind his horror classics, including the Stanley Hotel of Estes Park, Colorado (site of The Shining's eerie Overlook Hotel), King's home town of Durham, Maine (the inspiration for Salem's Lot), and more. This pictorial souvenir features more than 30 previously unseen black-and-white photographs and authoritative text by the foremost King aficionado.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Running Pr; First Edition edition (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762404566
• ISBN-13: 978-0762404568
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #548,919 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a full-time writer specializing in non-fiction, mostly pop culture topics. On the side, I run a small company that handles producing art prints and also handle the sales of collectibles online through eBay. I live in southeast Virginia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stephen King Country -- Terror Incognita, April 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Stephen King Country: The Illustrated Guide to the Sites and Sights That Inspired the Modern Master of Horror (Hardcover)

Stephen King has long been known for his portrayals of small town life gone horribly wrong. Near the start of his career, with 1976's 'Salem's Lot, King worked with the idea of an isolated Maine town infiltrated by evil outsiders. Throughout his long career, he has revisited this basic plot many tames, putting a new spin on each. Derry, Maine became prey to shape-shifting creatures in both It and Insomnia. The Tommyknockers' reclusive Haven turned into ground-zero for radioactive alien ghosts. Desperation, Nevada turned into the ghostly battleground between God and the devil. And poor Castle Rock, Maine was doomed from the start.

King has often been asked "Where do you get your ideas?" All the answer Add an "s" are here, in George Beahm's newest, Stephen King Country. A different sort of book about King, this photo-essay guide takes the reader on a visual journey of the real (and sometimes unreal) world of Stephen King. Beginning with a brief overview of King's career through 1998's Bag of Bones, Beahm shifts gears and delves into the geography of King's real Maine. Interweaving biography and history, Country takes us through the towns of Durham, Orrington, Hermon, and more (perhaps "more" should be "others"), giving the reader some insight as to where King's fictional towns originated. Chapter Two, focusing principally on King's hometown of Bangor (the real-world counterpart of Derry) is a fascinating look at where Stephen King lives and writes, complete with a stunning aerial photograph of King's immense house. Touching on Stephen and his wife Tabitha King's philanthropy, Beahm then drives us down the dark path into King's fictional towns.

In this section, we are finally able to see the "real" Marsten House of 'Salem's Lot (actually the Shiloh Church in Durham, Maine), the train tracks the boys traveled in "The Body," the Standpipe and the Barrens, major landmarks in the novel It, and the hotel in Colorado that inspired The Shining. This inspired blending of fact and fiction is at once surreal and fascinating - it's like looking through the words of a Stephen King novel and finding a dark reality in the foreground of the man's imagination. In the dedication to It, King calls fiction "the truth inside the lie." In Stephen King Country, you can find that truth, the reality inside the story, and journey through the real and unreal worlds of Stephen King's country without ever leaving your house. Enjoy the trip!

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars All in all, a nice book., May 7, 2000

By 

Dr. Big Balls (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stephen King Country: The Illustrated Guide to the Sites and Sights That Inspired the Modern Master of Horror (Hardcover)

We read all these Stephen King books that seem to flock the bestseller lists with their monsters, and gore, and goo, and we ask ourselves: Where is this guy coming from? In this book, we could literally know where he's coming from.

Anyone who has read at least one book by King knows that he's from Maine, for it always says it on the inside of the back cover; but do we know, for instance, that he once spent a vacation on a hotel hidden deep inside the mountains of Colorado which later inspired him to write his classic, The Shining? Do we know anything of how his college was like? This book is not a biography, but tells of the places in which he has lived all his life - which are all mostly scattered throughout Maine.

There is one little flaw that this book has, though, and that is that it gives the ending to some of his novels and short stories. So, if you haven't read every single novel and story King has ever written, you might not want to read this book just yet.