About the Author
Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine, on September 21, 1947, to
Donald and Nellie Ruth King. King wrote his first short story
before he was seven years old. As a teenager, he played on the
football team and joined a rock band, but also had two of his short
stories published. After graduating with a Bachelor's degree in
English from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970, he married
Tabitha Spruce, also a writer, in 1971, and began a career as a
teacher. His spare time was spent in writing novels that were
consistently rejected by publishers. King's first novel would never
have been published if not for his wife. She removed the first few
chapters from the garbage after King had thrown them away in
frustration. Three months later, he received a $2,500 advance from
Doubleday Publishing for the book that went on to sell a modest
13,000 hardcover copies. That book, Carrie, was about a girl with
telekinetic powers who is tormented by bullies at school. She uses
her power, in turn, to torment and eventually destroy her
mean-spirited classmates. When United Artists released the film
version in 1976, it was a critical and commercial success. The
paperback version of the book, released after the movie, went on to
sell more than two-and-a-half million copies. Many of King's other
horror novels have been adapted into movies, including The Shining,
Firestarter, Pet Semetary, Cujo, Misery, The Stand, and The
Tommyknockers. Under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, King has
written the books The Running Man, The Regulators, Thinner, The
Long Walk, Roadwork, and Rage. Today, Stephen King is one of the
world's most successful writers, with more than 100 million copies
of his works in print. Many of his books have been translated into
foreign languages, and he writes new books at a rate of about one
per year. King and his wife have three children and live in the
small town of Bangor, Maine, where many of his stories are
set.
George Guidall George Guidall is one of the most prolific narrator
of audiobooks in the world. He has recorded nearly 650 unabridged
novels, everything from "Crime and Punishment" and "The Iliad" to
"Snow Falling on Cedars." He began his career as an actor,
appearing on Broadway and touring Europe with Helen Hayes in the
"Glass Menagerie,"" Miracle Worker" and "The Skin of Our Teeth." He
received an Obie Award for Best Performance Off-Broadway, and has
continued his performances in theater for over 40 years. Guidall
has also appeared on television, with roles on the soap "One Life
to Live" and "Law and Order," and in movies such as "Malcolm X" and
"Tales from the Darkside." His first job reading audiobooks was for
the Library of Congress' American Foundation for the Blinds'
Talking Books. Since then he has won the most prestigious Audiobook
Award, the Audie Award, for Best Unabridged Narration of a novel
for his recording of John Irving's "A Widow for One Year." He won
the Audie again in 2000 for Wally Lamb's "I Know This Much is
True."