Editing Stephen King (section)

==Personal life==
[[Image:Stephenking house.JPG|thumb|300px|King's home in [[Bangor, Maine|Bangor]]]]
After meeting her while studying at the [[University of Maine]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Tremaine |first=Julie |date=September 16, 2023 |title=Stephen King and Tabitha King: All About Their Decades-Long Romance |url=https://people.com/all-about-stephen-king-tabitha-king-relationship-7629516 |access-date=October 26, 2024 |website=[[Peoplemag|People]] |language=en}}</ref> King married [[Tabitha King|Tabitha Spruce]] on January 2, 1971.<ref>{{cite web |last1=King |first1=Stephen |title=Stephen King on Twitter: "A couple of kids got married 48 years ago today. So far it's worked out pretty well. Still in love." |url=https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/1080588109065191426 |website=Twitter |access-date=January 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102232359/https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/1080588109065191426 |archive-date=January 2, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> She is also a novelist and philanthropist. She has been supportive of him throughout his career, even rescuing his early manuscript of ''Carrie'' from the trash when he doubted himself.<ref name=":0" /> They own and divide their time between three houses: one in [[Bangor, Maine]], one in [[Lovell, Maine]], and for the winter a waterfront mansion located off the [[Gulf of Mexico]] in [[Sarasota, Florida]]. King's home in Bangor has been described as an unofficial tourist attraction, and {{as of|2019|lc=yes}}, the couple plan to convert it into a facility housing his archives and a writers' retreat.<ref>{{cite magazine|url = https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/stephen-king-bangor-museum-retreat-896011/|title = Stephen King's House to Become Archive and Writers' Retreat|magazine = [[Rolling Stone]]|date = October 17, 2019|access-date = December 29, 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191220073506/https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/stephen-king-bangor-museum-retreat-896011/|last = Ehrlich|first = Brenna|archive-date = December 20, 2019|url-status = live}}</ref>

[[File:Portrait photograph of Owen and Stephen King by James Leonard, c. 1982.jpg|thumb|upright|Portrait of [[Owen King|Owen]] and Stephen from the first edition of ''[[Different Seasons]]'' (1982)]]
The Kings have three children—two sons and a daughter, Naomi (born June 1, 1970), who is a [[Unitarian Universalism|Unitarian Universalist Church]] minister in [[Plantation, Florida]], with their partner, [[Thandeka (minister)|Thandeka]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.riverofgrass.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=27&Itemid=12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100502063226/http://www.riverofgrass.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=27&Itemid=12 |archive-date=May 2, 2010 |title=River of Grass Ministry |access-date=April 5, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Both of King's sons are also professional authors: [[Owen King]] (born February 21, 1977)<ref name=":0" /> published his first collection of stories, ''We're All in This Together: A Novella and Stories'', in 2005. [[Joe Hill (writer)|Joseph Hillström King]] (born June 4, 1972),<ref name=":0" /> who writes as Joe Hill, published his first collection of short stories, ''[[20th Century Ghosts]]'', in 2005.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i24f58f9705c1a288fbb70a9ce94d51e1 |title=Jordan will build 'Box' for Warners |magazine=Hollywood Reporter |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930223244/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i24f58f9705c1a288fbb70a9ce94d51e1 |archive-date=September 30, 2007}}</ref>
[[File:SA&Mlr (cropped) (2).jpg|thumb|King wearing a [[Boston Red Sox]] jersey at a book signing in November 2004]]

King is a longtime fan of baseball, particularly the [[Boston Red Sox]]. In 1990, King published an essay about Owen's [[Little League Baseball|Little League]] team in ''[[The New Yorker]]''.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=King |first=Stephen |date=April 16, 1990 |title=Head Down |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1990/04/16/head-down}}</ref> King and [[Stewart O'Nan]] coauthored ''[[Faithful (book)|Faithful]]'', a chronicle of their correspondence about the historic [[2004 Boston Red Sox season]] which culminated in the Sox winning the [[2004 World Series]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Red Sox offense woke up minutes after Stephen King tweeted about the team's struggles|url=https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2019/04/30/red-sox-stephen-king-tweet/|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=www.boston.com|language=en-US|archive-date=August 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818230642/https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2019/04/30/red-sox-stephen-king-tweet/|url-status=live}}</ref> The game features in King's novellas ''[[The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon]]'' (1999) and ''[[Blockade Billy]]'' (2010).

Music, particularly  rock, plays a role in much of King's work. On the [[BBC]] program ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'', King's number one choice was [[Bob Dylan]]'s "[[Desolation Row]]".<ref>{{Cite news |date=2005|title= BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Stephen King|work=[[BBC]] |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0093ttz}}</ref> On another BBC program, ''Paperback Writers'', he made new selections, among them [[AC/DC]]'s [[Stiff Upper Lip (AC/DC song)|"Stiff Upper Lip"]], [[Danny & the Juniors]]'s "[[At the Hop]]" and [[Creedence Clearwater Revival]]'s "[[It Came Out of the Sky]]".<ref>{{Cite news |date=2020|title= BBC Radio 6 Music - Paperback Writers, Stephen King|work=[[BBC]] |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06kvlgx}}</ref> He played guitar for the [[Rock Bottom Remainders]], a [[charity supergroup]] whose members included [[Amy Tan]], [[Barbara Kingsolver]], [[Dave Barry]], [[Scott Turow]], [[James McBride (writer)|James McBride]], [[Mitch Albom]], [[Roy Blount, Jr.]], [[Matt Groening]], [[Greg Iles]], [[Kathi Kamen Goldmark]] and other authors. They released an album, ''[[Stranger than Fiction (compilation album)|Stranger Than Fiction]]'' (1998), under Goldmark's label, Don't Quit Your Day Job Records.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Douglas |date=March 30, 2012 |title=Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Writers' Catalyst, Dies at 63 |work=[[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/books/kathi-kamen-goldmark-writers-catalyst-dies-at-63.html}}</ref> King and his band-mates coauthored ''Midlife Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America With Three Chords and an Attitude'' (1994) and the e-book ''Hard Listening: The Greatest Rock Band Ever (of Authors) Tells All'' (2013).<ref>{{cite web|last=Domonoske|first=Camila|url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/06/17/191288040/digital-scrapbook-collects-rock-star-authors-memories|publisher=NPR|date=June 17, 2013|access-date=October 20, 2013|title=Digital Scrapbook Collects Rock-Star Authors' Memories|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020163723/http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/06/17/191288040/digital-scrapbook-collects-rock-star-authors-memories|archive-date=October 20, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> King's favorite books about music are [[Greil Marcus]]'s ''[[Mystery Train (book)|Mystery Train]]'' and ''[[Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century|Lipstick Traces]]'' and Chris Willman's ''Rednecks and Bluenecks''.<ref name=":ByTheBook"/>

King and his wife own the Zone Corporation, a radio station group established in 1983 to acquire WACZ in Bangor, which was renamed [[WZON]].<ref name="bdn-zonestart">{{cite news |last1=Grosswiler |first1=Paul |title=Stephen King has no diabolical plan for radio station |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DCw0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=P-EIAAAAIBAJ&pg=2732%2C2764772 |access-date=December 29, 2024 |work=[[Bangor Daily News]] |date=July 23–24, 1983 |page=ME 3}}</ref><ref>McCrea, Nick. (August 23, 2001), [http://bangordailynews.com/2011/08/23/news/bangor/author-stephen-king-offers-left-leaning-talk-show/ "Stephen King announces new radio show, hopes it will 'burn some feet'"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005230856/http://bangordailynews.com/2011/08/23/news/bangor/author-stephen-king-offers-left-leaning-talk-show/ |date=October 5, 2011}}. ''Bangor Daily News''</ref> Two additional stations, [[WKIT-FM]] and [[WNSW (Maine)|WNSW]] in [[Brewer, Maine|Brewer]], were added in 1995;<ref name="bdn-wkitwnswbuy">{{cite news |title=Stephen King buys 2 more radio stations |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dbhJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ww4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=6027%2C348313 |access-date=December 10, 2024 |work=[[Bangor Daily News]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=June 17–18, 1995 |page=A5}}</ref> WNSW was quickly closed down.<ref name="bdn-wnswclosure">{{cite news |last1=Kessell |first1=Doug |title=Bangor AM radio station signs off |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CahJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Ig4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=5280%2C2509895 |access-date=December 10, 2024 |work=[[Bangor Daily News]] |date=October 25, 1995 |page=A5}}</ref> A third station, WDME-FM in [[Dover-Foxcroft, Maine|Dover-Foxcroft]] (later renamed [[WZLO]]), was acquired in 2001.<ref name="bdn-saletozone">{{cite news |last1=Neff |first1=Andrew |title=WDME will air local sports |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=86RJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ng0NAAAAIBAJ&pg=6423%2C858252 |access-date=December 29, 2024 |work=[[Bangor Daily News]] |date=April 5, 2001 |pages=C7, D1}}</ref> In December 2024, King announced that the stations would shut down at the end of the year. He cited his advancing age and financial losses from the stations as reasons for the closure.<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/arts/stephen-king-maine-radio-stations.html|title = Stephen King to Close His Maine Radio Stations|last = Taylor|first = Derrick Bryson|date = December 6, 2024|accessdate = December 7, 2024|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|page = C9|url-access = limited}}</ref> Ahead of the planned closure, King reached a deal to sell WKIT to two Bangor businessmen; WZON and WZLO remain slated for closure.<ref name="wabi-wkitsale">{{cite news |last1=Wagner |first1=Will |title=WKIT no longer leaving the air after last minute sale |url=https://www.wabi.tv/2024/12/24/wkit-no-longer-leaving-air-after-last-minute-sale/ |access-date=December 29, 2024 |work=[[WABI-TV]] |date=December 24, 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

King remains a voracious reader. In [[John Peder Zane|J. Peder Zane]]'s ''The Top Ten: Authors Pick Their Favorite Books'', King chose ''[[The Golden Argosy (book)|The Golden Argosy]]'', ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'', ''[[The Satanic Verses]]'', ''[[McTeague]]'', ''[[Lord of the Flies]]'', ''[[Bleak House]]'', ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', ''[[The Raj Quartet]]'', ''[[Light in August]]'' and ''[[Blood Meridian]]''. In 2022, he provided another list of ten favorite books; ''Lord of the Flies'', ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' and ''Blood Meridian'' remained, and he added [[Ship of Fools (Porter novel)|''Ship of Fools'']], ''[[The Orphan Master's Son]]'', ''[[Invisible Man]]'', ''[[Watership Down]]'', ''[[The Hair of Harold Roux]]'', ''[[American Pastoral]]'' and ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. He added, "Although [[Anthony Powell]]'s novels should probably be on here, especially the sublimely titled ''[[Casanova's Chinese Restaurant]]'' and ''[[Books Do Furnish a Room]]''. And [[Paul Scott (novelist)|Paul Scott]]'s Raj Quartet. And at least six novels by [[Patricia Highsmith]]. And what about [[Patrick O'Brian]]? See how hard this is to do?"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thomas-Mason |first=Lee |date=July 1, 2022 |title=Stephen King names his 10 favorite novels of all time |work=[[Far Out (website)|Far Out]] |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/stephen-king-10-favourite-novels/}}</ref> 

When asked about his reading habits, King replied, "I'm sort of an omnivore, apt to go from the latest [[John Sandford (novelist)|John Sandford]] to [[D. H. Lawrence]] to [[Cormac McCarthy]]." When asked what books we'd be surprised to find on his shelves, he answered "Poetry, maybe? I love [[Anne Sexton]], [[Richard Wilbur]], [[W. B. Yeats]]. The poetry I come back to again and again are the narrative poems of [[Stephen Dobyns]]." When asked which novel he comes back to, he named [[Thomas Williams (writer)|Thomas Williams]]'s ''The Hair of Harold Roux.'' When asked who his favorite novelist is, he said "Probably [[Don Robertson (author)|Don Robertson]], author of ''Paradise Falls'', ''The Ideal, Genuine Man'' and the marvelously titled ''Miss Margaret Ridpath and the Dismantling of the Universe.'' What I appreciate most in novels and novelists is generosity, a complete baring of the heart and mind, and Robertson always did that. He also wrote the best single line I've ever read in a novel: Of a funeral he wrote, 'There were that day, o Lord, squadrons of birds.'"<ref name=":ByTheBook"/>
=== {{anchor|Car_accident_and_thoughts_of_retirement}}Car accident and aftermath ===
On June 19, 1999, at about 4:30&nbsp;pm, King was walking on the shoulder of [[Maine State Route 5]], in [[Lovell, Maine]]. Driver Bryan Edwin Smith, distracted by an unrestrained dog moving in the back of his minivan, struck King, who landed in a depression in the ground about 14 feet (four meters) from the pavement of Route 5.<ref name="UKOnWriting">{{cite book |last1=King |first1=Stephen |title=On Writing: A Memoir |publisher=[[Hodder & Stoughton]] |year=2000 |isbn=0-340-76996-3 |location=London |author-link1=Stephen King}}</ref>{{rp|206}} Early reports at the time from Oxford County Sheriff deputy Matt Baker claimed King was hit from behind, and some witnesses said the driver was not speeding, reckless, or drinking.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.liljas-library.com/accident.html|title=King's accident|publisher=Lijia's Library|access-date=December 3, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050307182428/http://www.liljas-library.com/accident.html|archive-date=March 7, 2005}}</ref> 

However, Smith was later arrested and charged with [[Reckless driving#Maine|driving to endanger]] and aggravated assault. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of driving to endanger and was sentenced to six months in county jail (suspended) and had his driving license suspended for a year.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/oct/01/stephenking.fiction1 | title=The writer, the accident, and a lonely end | work=The Guardian | date=October 1, 2002 | access-date=March 11, 2020 | archive-date=October 18, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201018165249/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/oct/01/stephenking.fiction1 | url-status=live }}</ref> In his book ''On Writing'', King states he was heading north, walking against the traffic. Shortly before the accident took place, a woman in a car, also northbound, passed King first followed by a light blue [[Dodge Ram van|Dodge van]]. The van was looping from one side of the road to the other, and the woman told her passenger she hoped "that guy in the van doesn't hit him".<ref name="UKOnWriting" />{{rp|206}}

King was conscious enough to give the deputy phone numbers to contact his family but was in considerable pain. He was transported to Northern Cumberland Hospital in Bridgton and then flown by air ambulance to [[Central Maine Medical Center]] (CMMC) in [[Lewiston, Maine|Lewiston]]. His injuries—a collapsed right lung, multiple fractures of his right leg, scalp laceration and a broken hip—kept him at CMMC until July&nbsp;9. His leg bones were so shattered that doctors initially considered amputating his leg but stabilized the bones in the leg with an [[external fixator]].<ref>Rogak, Lisa. [https://books.google.com/books?id=c8EIvHkg4EYC&pg=PA204 ''Haunted heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326102742/https://books.google.com/books?id=c8EIvHkg4EYC&pg=PA204 |date=March 26, 2018}} at [[Google Books]]. Retrieved September 27, 2010.</ref> After five operations in 10 days and [[physical therapy]], King resumed work on ''On Writing'' in July, though his hip was still shattered and he could sit for only about 40 minutes before the pain became unbearable.<ref name="UKOnWriting" />{{rp|216}}

King's wife got in touch with his lawyer to purchase Smith's van, reportedly to prevent it from appearing on [[eBay]]. He recalls: "When I was in the hospital, mostly unconscious; my wife got a lawyer who's just a friend of the family...And she got in touch with him and said, buy it so that somebody else doesn't buy it and decide to break it up and sell it on eBay, on the Internet. And so he did. And for about six months, I did have these, sort of, fantasies of smashing the van up. But my wife – I don't always listen to her the first time, but sooner or later, she usually gets through. And what she says makes more sense than what I had planned. And her thought was that the best thing to do would be to very quietly remove it from this plane of existence, which is what we did."<ref name=":Craft"/>

=== Other media appearances ===
In ''[[The Princess Bride (novel)|The Princess Bride]]'', [[William Goldman]] writes that Stephen King is "doing the abridgment" of the fictional book ''Buttercup's Baby.''<ref>''The Princess Bride'': ''S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure''. [[William Goldman]].</ref> King explains this is an inside joke from Goldman, "who's an old friend. He's done the screen adaptations for a number of my novels. He did [[Misery (film)|''Misery'']], ''[[Dreamcatcher (2003 film)|Dreamcatcher]]'' and he also did [[Hearts in Atlantis (film)|''Hearts in Atlantis'']], and although he's not credited, he worked on [[Dolores Claiborne (film)|''Dolores Claiborne'']] as well, so Bill and I go back a long way. I admired his books before I ever met him and as a kind of return tip of the cap, he put me in that book ''The Princess Bride''."<ref name="OfficialFAQ" />

In 1988, the band [[Blue Öyster Cult]] recorded an updated version of its 1974 song [[Astronomy (song)|"Astronomy"]]; the single released for radio play featured a narrative intro spoken by King.<ref name="BOC">{{cite web |last=Gregmar |first=Bolle |title=Complete Blue Öyster Cult Discography |url=http://www.blueoystercult.com/Studio/BOC_Discography.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128155309/http://www.blueoystercult.com/Studio/BOC_Discography.pdf |archive-date=November 28, 2007 |access-date=July 14, 2008 |publisher=Blue Öyster Cult}}</ref> In 2012, King provided the narration for [[Shooter Jennings]]'s album ''[[Black Ribbons]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lewis |first=Randy |date=February 27, 2010 |title=Shooter Jennings and Stephen King team for 'Black Ribbons' |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-feb-27-la-et-shooter-jennings27-2010feb27-story.html |url-status=live |access-date=June 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013134646/http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/27/entertainment/la-et-shooter-jennings27-2010feb27 |archive-date=October 13, 2012}}</ref> King was a contestant on ''[[Celebrity jeopardy]]!'' in 1995 and 1998.<ref>{{Cite web |title=J! Archive - Stephen King |url=https://j-archive.com/showplayer.php?player_id=645 |access-date=October 26, 2023 |website=j-archive.com}}</ref> He's made cameos in adaptations of his work, and appeared as the character Bachman on ''[[Sons of Anarchy]]''; the name is a nod to his pseudonym [[Richard Bachman]].<ref>{{cite news| last=Flood| first=Alison| title=Stephen King rides in to Sons of Anarchy TV cameo| date=September 21, 2011| work=The Guardian| url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/sep/21/stephen-king-sons-of-anarchy-cameo}}</ref> He voiced himself in ''[[The Simpsons]]'' episode "[[Insane Clown Poppy]]", where he appears with fellow authors Amy Tan, [[John Updike]] and [[Tom Wolfe]] at a book fair. King tells [[Marge Simpson|Marge]] he is taking a break from horror to write a biography of [[Benjamin Franklin]].<ref>{{cite web| title=Insane Clown Poppy| work=Simpsons Archive| url=http://www.simpsonsarchive.com/episodes/BABF17.txt}}</ref>