Books
Stephen King books in order
Master thriller writer Stephen King has penned over 50 novels, selling 350 million copies in a career that spans over 40 years.
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
Stephen King
Famous for his terrifying prose, King writes horror, supernatural, science fiction, fantasy and, more recently, crime novels. When asked why he writes, King responds: “The answer to that is fairly simple — there was nothing else I was made to do. I was made to write stories and I love to write stories. That’s why I do it. I really can’t imagine doing anything else and I can’t imagine not doing what I do.”
Having penned over 200 short stories – many set in his home town of Maine and the most famous arguably being his novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, the basis for the movie The Shawshank Redemption – it was no surprise when he was awarded a National Medal of Arts from the United States National Endowment for the Arts for his contributions to literature in 2015.
Did you know…
1. King credits The Lurker of the Threshold, a short story collection by HP Lovecraft as the catalyst to him becoming a writer.
2. More Stephen King books have been adapted into films than any other living author.
3. Stephen King also writes under two pen names: Richard Bachman and John Swithen.
4. Carrie was originally planned as a short story but King threw out the first draft. It was rescued by his wife Tabitha.
5. Mr Mercedes, King’s first ‘hard-boiled detective book’, was first published in 2014 and featured retired detective Bill Hodges. It won an Edgar Award and, as the first in a trilogy, was followed by Finders and Keepers and End of Watch.
Read on for a list of Stephen King books in order – or find out how his writing has inspired other writers here.
Stephen King bibliography:
| By date | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. Carrie (1974) | 2. ‘Salem’s Lot (1975) | 3. The Shining (1977) |
| 4. Rage (1977) | 5. The Stand (1978) | 6. The Long Walk (1979) |
| 7. The Dead Zone (1979) | 8. Firestarter (1980) | 9. Roadwork (1981) |
| 10. Cujo (1981) | 11. The Running Man (1982) | 12. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982) |
| 13. Christine (1983) | 14. Pet Sematary (1983) | 15. Cycle of the Werewolf (1983) |
| 16. The Talisman (1984) | 17. Thinner (1984) | 18. It (1986) |
| 19. The Eyes of the Dragon (1987) | 20. The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987) | 21. Misery (1987) |
| 22. The Tommyknockers (1987) | 23. The Dark Half (1989) | 24. The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991) |
| 25. Needful Things (1991) | 26. Gerald’s Game (1992) | 27. Dolores Claiborne (1992) |
| 28. Insomnia (1994) | 29. Rose Madder (1995) | 30. The Green Mile (1996) |
| 31. Desperation (1996) | 32. The Regulators (1996) | 33. The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997) |
| 34. Bag of Bones (1998) | 35. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999) | 36. Dreamcatcher (2001) |
| 37. Black House (2001) | 38. From a Buick 8 (2002) | 39. The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003) |
| 40. The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004) | 41. The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004) | 42. The Colorado Kid (2005) |
| 43. Cell (2006) | 44. Lisey’s Story (2006) | 45. Blaze (2007) |
| 46. Duma Key (2008) | 47. Under the Dome (2009) | 48. 11/22/63 (2011) |
| 49. The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012) | 50. Joyland (2013) | 51. Doctor Sleep (2013) |
| 52. Mr. Mercedes (2014) | 53. Revival (2014) | 54. Finders Keepers (2015) |
| 55. End of Watch (2016) | 56. Gwendy’s Button Box (2017) | 57. Sleeping Beauties (2017) |
| 58. The Outsider (2018) | 59. Elevation (2018) | 60. The Institute (2019) |
| 61. Later (2021) | 62. Billy Summers (2021) | 63. Fairy Tale (2022) |
| 64. Holly (2023) |
I starter with Salem Lot and have been hooked for years. The Dark Tower Series was the best series of books I’ve ever read. I hate to complain about Mr Kings later books..I thought that the rushed feel of them was not fair to his long time fans.
My first King book, like many others, was Carrie and then continued on until it hit some repetition. It is very difficult to come up with all those different angles, different characters, different plots and not reference on some other places, peoples, or things in plots or subplots. The Stand is, by far, my favorite, and I went on reading up until Geralds Game, including his novella books. There are many great authors, and without any doubts, King is among them.
In my opinion some of his stuff like salem’s lot the shining IT the stand liseys story revival and duma key just aren’t very good or interesting enough to read all the way through, but the vast majority of his books are well worth reading. For me the complete eight book series of the dark tower is the greatest work of fiction there ever will be, only being surpassed by the complete works of Shakespeare and the original version of the pilgrim’s progress. Other stories of his that I absolutely adore are Carrie the dead zone firestarter cujo creepshow cycle of the werewolf needful things insomnia rose madder hearts in Atlantis everything’s eventual four past midnight if it bleeds elevation the institute misery the eyes of the dragon different seasons and the vastly underrated ghost brothers of darkland county. All in all Stephen King is easily my favorite author besides Shakespeare and God himself.
I love stephen king. My first read was pet sematary and have been a fan ever since. I’ve got over half of all his books and I’m working on getting the rest of the collection. There will never be another writer like him.
I adore Stephen King’s novels. Started as a teenager with Carrie and continued reading his books until I got to Desperation. That book scared me so bad I vowed never to read another King book again – and I didn’t for years. But you can’t keep great writing from pulling at one’s heart strings and so I finally started reading King novels again. I read other types of books as well. But reading King books is like eating dessert. When I want sheer pleasure I picked one up and let the story touch my palette in a way no other writer can. My personal favorites (for their unique writing format and intricacy of story structure) are Lisey’s Story and Song Of Susannah. But just about everything he’s written has blown me away.