Tabitha King

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Tabitha "Tabby" Jane King (Template:Née Spruce, born March 24, 1949) is an American author.[1][2][3]

Early life

Born in Old Town, Maine, Tabitha King is the third eldest daughter of Sarah Jane née White (December 7, 1923 – April 14, 2007)[4] and Raymond George Spruce (December 29, 1923 – May 29, 2014).[5] She attended John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor, Maine[6] before enrolling at the University of Maine in Orono where she met her husband Stephen King through her work-study job in the Raymond H. Fogler Library.

Career

As of 2006, King had published eight novels and two works of non-fiction.[7][8] She published her first novel, Small World, through Signet Books in 1981[9] and in 2006, Candles Burning was published by Berkley Books.[10][11] The paperback rights for Small World were bought by New American Library for $165,000.[12][13] Candles Burning was written predominantly by Michael McDowell, who died in 1999, and the McDowell family requested that King finish the work.[14]

In 2023, she was the executive producer of the independent horror film The Sudbury Devil.[15]

Partnership with Stephen King

Prior to her husband's commercial success, Tabitha worked extra shifts at Dunkin' Donuts so that Stephen could write full-time.[13] As Stephen King recalled the origin of his debut novel, Carrie: "Two unrelated ideas, adolescent cruelty and telekinesis, came together." It began as a short story intended for Cavalier; Stephen tossed the first three pages in the trash but Tabitha recovered them, saying she wanted to know what happened next. He followed her advice and expanded it into a novel.[16] She told him: "You've got something here. I really think you do."[17]

That began a practice that continues today: Tabitha and Stephen review each other's drafts and also those of their two sons.[13]

Reception

Reception to King's work has ranged from negative to positive.[18][19][20] Pearl received positive mentions from the Los Angeles Times and the Bangor Daily News,[21][22] while the Chicago Tribune panned Survivor.[23] The Arizona Daily Star criticized One on One, calling King "a hack",[24] whereas Entertainment Weekly, Time, and the Rocky Mountain News gave the novel positive reviews.[25][26][27] Caretakers was lauded by The New York Times for its characterization of its protagonists.[28] In 2006, King completed and published Michael McDowell's final novel, Candles Burning, to mixed reviews. Bookreporter.com wrote that some readers might be disappointed by the changes King made to McDowell's original.[29]

Awards and recognition

Social activism

King has served on several boards and committees in the state of Maine including the Bangor Public Library board.[34] She also served on the board of the Maine Public Broadcasting System until 1994.[35] In 1998 she received the inaugural Constance H. Carlson Public Humanities Prize, the Maine Humanities Council's highest award, for her work with literacy for the state of Maine.[32] In 2019, Tabitha and Stephen King donated $1.25 million to the New England Historic Genealogical Society.[36]

She serves as vice president of WZON/WZLO/WKIT radio stations, as well as in the administration of two family philanthropic foundations.[34] The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, chaired by her and her husband, ranks sixth among Maine charities in terms of average annual giving, with over $2.8 million in grants per year, according to The Grantsmanship Center.[37]

Personal life

Tabitha and Stephen King married on January 2, 1971.[38][39][40][41] They have three children: a daughter Naomi and two sons, Joe Hill (Joseph Hillström King) and Owen King, who are both writers.[42]

Bibliography

Novels

Year Title Publisher ISBN Pages Note
1981 Small World Signet Books Template:ISBN 312
1983 Caretakers Scribner's Template:ISBN 274 First novel set in King's fictional community of Nodd's Ridge
1986 The Trap Template:ISBN 352 Also published as Wolves at the Door; second novel set in Nodd's Ridge
1988 Pearl Signet Books Template:ISBN 368 Third novel set in Nodd's Ridge
1993 One on One Template:ISBN 528 Fourth novel set in Nodd's Ridge
1994 The Book of Reuben Template:ISBN 432 Fifth and last novel set in King's fictional community of Nodd's Ridge
1997 Survivor Template:ISBN 496
2006 Candles Burning Berkley Publishing Group Template:ISBN 423 With Michael McDowell, King continued her writing after McDowell's death in 1999[43]

Nonfiction

Year Title Publisher ISBN Pages Note
1994 Playing Like a Girl; Cindy Blodgett and the Lawrence Bulldogs Season of 93-94 Dendrite Corporation N/A 42 The work is about basketball player Cindy Blodgett during her time at Lawrence High School.[44]
Mid-life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude Berkley Publishing Group Template:ISBN 222 Written by all of the Rock Bottom Remainders with photos by Tabitha King[45]

Short stories

  • The Blue Chair (1981)
  • The Demonstration (1985)
  • Road Kill (1986)
  • Djinn and Tonic (1998)
  • The Women's Room (2002)
  • Archie Smith, Boy Wonder (2011)

Poetry

  • A Gradual Canticle for Augustine[46] (1967)
  • Elegy for Ike[47] (1967)
  • Note 1 from Herodotus[47] (1968)
  • Nonsong[47] (1970)
  • The Last Vampire: A Baroque Fugue[48] (1971)

Teleplay

Contributions and compilations

  • Murderess Ink: The Better Half of the Mystery, Dilys Winn, ed., Bell, 1979
  • Shadows, Volume 4, C. L. Grant, ed., Doubleday, 1981
  • Midlife Confidential, ed. David Marsh et al., photographs by Tabitha King, Viking Penguin, 1994

Notes

Template:Notelist

References

Template:Reflist

Further reading

  • Mcaleer, Patrick; The Writing Family of Stephen King: A Critical Study of the Fiction of Tabitha King, Joe Hill and Owen King; McFarland & Company, 2011

External links

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  1. Dooley, Jeff (June 2, 1985). "Terror Mistress Tabitha King Spins A Thriller". Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
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