When Stephen King tells you to have a guest on your podcast – you listen! That’s how I came to meet Caroline Bicks, the inaugural Stephen E. King Chair at the University of Maine, and author of the Monsters in the Archive – the first full-length study of the King literary collection. It’s part memoir, part literary biography, part granular exploration of King’s editorial process – but ALL fun. I’m a nerd on this subject, and I found out plenty that I didn’t know. As well as discussing our own relationship with King’s early work, we also talk about the stuff that never made it to print. The exploding vampire babies, the Kaiju-sized Carrie and the original ending of The Shining that is so much darker than you could bear. Enjoy! Other books mentioned: Carrie (1974), by Stephen King ‘Salem’s Lot (1975), by Stephen King The Shining (1977), by Stephen King Night Shift (1978), by Stephen King Pet Semetary (1983), by Stephen King On Writing (2000), by Stephen King North Woods (2023), by Daniel Mason Ulverton (1992), by Adam Thorpe Support Talking Scared on Patreon Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.