Bev Vincent

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: A thrilling visual companion curated for young adults voraciously reading their way through Stephen King’s colossal corpus of creepy books.

For many young readers, when the last page of Goosebumps is turned, the first chapter of Pet Sematary begins, and a world of terror crafted by Stephen King is revealed. His novels are as fascinating as his life, and in this ultimate illustrated guidebook, young readers explore the cultural phenomenon and legacy of show more the King of Horror.

From scare-seeking child to impoverished university student to struggling schoolteacher to one of the best-selling—and most recognizable—authors of all time, this engrossing book reveals the evolution and influences of Stephen King’s body of work over his nearly 50-year career, and how the themes of his writing reflect the changing times and events within his life.

With tons of photos, approachable bite-size sections, and gripping details to captivate young readers, the book offers an extensive look into Stephen King’s books, short stories, writings, movies, series, and other adaptations ideal for the young reader to review. Exclusive memorabilia from Stephen King, including personal and professional correspondences, handwritten manuscript pages, book covers, movie stills, and a never-before-seen excerpts from his poems. Personal insights and observations such as real-life settings that inspired King’s writing, the editor who discovered him, his life as a Boston Red Sox fan, and the many awards and honors he has received. Motivating quotes from King from interviews over the decades.

“My childhood was pretty ordinary, except from a very early age I wanted to be scared…there was a radio program at the time called Dimension X, and my mother didn’t want me to listen to that because she felt it was too scary for me, so I would creep out of bed and go to the bedroom door and crack it open. And she loved it, so apparently, I got it from her, but I would listen at the door and then when the program was over, I’d go back to bed and quake.” —Stephen King

Young adults will covet this comprehensive yet accessible reference to their favorite horror author.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Author Vincent's a King superfan, and believe you me, it shows. This compendium of anecdotes and overviews of his career, and the stories he's offered us, is exactly what a young fan will love.

Plenty of not-so-young fans too, I'll wager.

I'm not a Constant Reader, as he addresses his immense and well-earned audience online, more of a dibble-dabbler. I enjoy many of his massive tomes—my own favorite being 11/22/63—because I'm very old and that date means so very much to me. (Rob asked me once why that date was important...ouch.) The manner in which Author Vincent hits the life and career high points will make this a deeply welcome gift to your King-stan teen or tween. (Officially. We won't discuss what you do with it before wrapping it up.)

The design and visuals are very much up to the job, as one would expect from a Quarto Group imprint.


Clear, concise, not too busy to fail in its primary duty of informing as well as keeping one's interest.


I enjoyed the glimpse into King's early methods and processes.


It's safe to say we do not share a taste in companion animals. *shudder*


The stuff of literal nightmares for decades now!


...speaking of which...Tim Curry does Pennywise the best, in my never-remotely humble opinion. Skarsgard's got a different take, not worse not better...but give me Curry every time.

Here are a couple text-only spreads to round out your visual impression of the book. I'll stress that, even on my tablet, the design's readable and very appealing.


Solid design, appealing to a recipient fan, very intentionally a gift book. It's a terrific value at this price! show less

Stephen King, horror writer extraordinaire, hates flying. So naturally, he decided that he and Bev Vincent should put together a collection of stories exploring all the terrible things that can happen when you’re in flight. There are stories from a variety of time periods, in a variety of formats, and a couple were written expressly for the collection. Each story is introduced by Stephen King, and Bev Vincent writes an afterword explaining how the collection was put together.

As an aviation show more enthusiast, I couldn’t help but be intrigued by the concept, while not sure whether to expect schlock horror or genuine chills. I’d classify most of these stories as thrillers rather than actual horror, although there were some genuinely creepy ones in the batch (e.g., “The Horror of the Heights”) and some breathtaking ones (“Two Minutes Forty-Five Seconds”).

My favourite story of the whole collection was Joe Hill’s story, “You Are Released,” both for its technical details and for its utter realism. I found it the scariest story in the collection because it felt so plausible. I also liked “The Horror of the Heights,” written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of all people—that one ended up being genuinely creepy. And while I’m not usually one for zombies, I did like Bev Vincent’s “Zombies on a Plane,” possibly because it was set in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

A few of the stories were set in wartime on various bombers, and they felt a bit similar, but they were all pretty good. The only story I really wasn’t crazy about was Peter Tremayne’s, which had stiff dialogue and was slow enough that I skipped to the end to find out whodunnit. I did also find the James Dickey poem challenging, but I always find free verse poetry to be challenging so that wasn’t really as much of an issue.

I’d recommend this collection if you like to read stories about air travel and if you’re not easily scared. Reading it ON a plane would be the ultimate immersive experience. show less

Stephen King is an interesting guy. His writing is so much more than horror, but it's his dance with darkness that draws the majority of his fans. I think with every book about Stephen that is put out into the world, the world is made aware that Stephen was born to be a writer not to be pigeonholed. Constant Readers just can't get enough of him and whether we hear an anecdote for the first time, or for the umpteenth time, we never grow tired of hearing about his path.

Numerous books have show more focused on the life and career of Stephen King--some fun and interesting; others, not that user-friendly--but every single one is a fascinating look at the most popular writer alive today. This book, however, tops them all as we actually get to see a glimpse of the growth of an author hands-on. Pockets inside the book contain copies of a variety of career-making writings. From childhood to struggling scribbler to best-selling author, we are given a gift we have never been privy to before.

Personal photographs that I had never seen in print grace the book, and Bev Vincent skillfully walks us along the time-line of a life with old stories and new.

The layout and quality of this book and the items it contains is first rate and so worth every dime--which in my opinion was nothing. They could have charged double and I would have gladly paid the cost. A definite must-have collector item, I would recommend this book. show less

Having read the basic [[[Dark Tower]]] series multiple times now, this was a nice infusion of Ka into my reading life without taking up all the books. It's my second time reading the book, this time in preparation for a more expanded reading of the series with all the related works, of which there are many.

Vincent gives us tower junkies everything we could ever ask of him. First, there is a good bit of background on the early goings in seeing the initial story written and the series show more launched. All the back story information is so illuminating. Then, he gives us a chapter synopsis on each of the goings-on in each book, which is a nice way to revisit the story and the world. Next, he folds in tons of information about all the related works and why/how they're related. I might be more expansive on my choices, but his choices here are impeccable and well documented for their place in the series. Finally, he has a brief discussion on the importance of the total work to King's legacy, and offers some great appendices.

Short of Robin Furth's extensive concordance, this is the best way to get in the weeds in all things [[[Dark Tower]]].

5 bones!!!!!
Highly recommended!!!!! show less