#CarrieAt40: The Endings You Deserve by SARAH LOTZ

SARAH LOTZ On the web: sarahlotz.com On Twitter: @SarahLotz1 Along with Pet Sematary, My dad gave me Carrie to read when I was eleven years old. He doesn’t remember this – just like he doesn’t remember giving me The Wasp Factory a year later – and I’ll be eternally grateful to him for never censoring […]

#CarrieAt40: Constant Reader by NNEDI OKORAFOR

NNEDI OKORAFOR On the web: http://www.nnedi.com On Twitter: @Nnedi At the end of Nnedi Okorafor’s latest novel, Lagoon, there is a deleted scene that references a room 217. Because I was in the middle of planning #CarrieAt40 when I read it, and my mind was filled with all things Stephen King, I wondered if there […]

#CarrieAt40: Carrie Goes to the Movies by MASON CROSS

MASON CROSS On the web: carterblake.net On Twitter: @MasonCrossBooks Carrie, the first of Stephen King’s novels to find a publisher, hit the shelves in 1974. Forty years later, King has produced over fifty books and numerous short stories, and is probably the world’s bestselling author. It’s strange to think it all began with this slender […]

#CarrieAt40: Blood Sports & Other Hobbies by V.M. GIAMBANCO

V.M. GIAMBANCO On the web: vmgiambanco.com On Twitter: @vm_giambanco I have a terrible confession to make, and I’d better come right out with it: I do not remember reading Carrie, I have absolutely no memory of the first time I read Stephen King’s words. But I do not remember a time when I didn’t know […]

#CarrieAt40: Crash and Carrie by SIMON CLARK

SIMON CLARK On the web: http://www.nailedbytheheart.com On Twitter: @hotelmidnight He confessed to me: ‘Carrie didn’t sell at all well, you know. Not, that is, until the film came out, then sales of the book went through the roof.’ The man making this confession was Bob Tanner who ran New English Library in the 1970s and […]

#CarrieAt40: Cracking the Mirror by STEVE CAVANAGH

STEVE CAVANAGH On the web: stevecavanaghwriter.blogspot.co.uk On Twitter: @SSCav Like a lot of people of my generation, I first learned about Stephen King through the world of film. When I was eight years old my parents rented a video recorder. They were just too damn expensive to buy in the early eighties and even then, […]

#CarrieAt40: Horror in the Everyday by LLOYD SHEPHERD

LLOYD SHEPHERD On the web: http://www.lloydshepherd.com On Twitter: @lloydshep I’m looking at the copy of Carrie that I bought in 1981. It’s the New English Library paperback edition. On the front is a picture of a girl with blood running down her face, in front of a bolt of lightning. On the back are three […]

#CarrieAt40: My Thoughts on Carrie by MARK WEST

MARK WEST On the web: http://www.markwest.org.uk On Twitter: @MarkEWest As a kid of the ‘70s and ‘80s, I grew up with Stephen King and was aware of him – and a certain book – before I really knew who he was or what he did. During the ‘70s, my Dad was a fan of paperback […]

#CarrieAt40: So High School by SARAH LANGAN

SARAH LANGAN On the web: sarahlangan.com On Twitter: @SarahVCLangan I first read Carrie in high school, which, given my personality and social status, worked about right. What surprised me was the humanity allotted to the characters– Carrie White is sympathetic and tragic. Sue Snell and her Tommy are good kids. The bad kids, well, they’re […]

#CarrieAt40: Carrie White at 57 by BEV VINCENT

BEV VINCENT On the web: http://www.bevvincent.com On Twitter: @BevVincent On Facebook: bev.vincent A lot of people think of Carrie as Stephen King’s first novel, but it wasn’t—not by a long shot. It was his first published novel, but by the time it came out he had already written over a half dozen books, most (but […]