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Tabitha King

Tabitha "Tabby" Jane King (née Spruce, born March 24, 1949) is an American author.[1][2][3]

Tabitha King
BornTabitha Jane Spruce
(1949-03-24) March 24, 1949 (age 75)
Old Town, Maine, U.S.
OccupationAuthor
Alma materUniversity of Maine
GenreHorror, fantasy, science fiction
Spouse
​
(m. 1971)​
Children3, including Joe and Owen

Early life

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Born in Old Town, Maine, Tabitha King is the third eldest daughter of Sarah Jane Spruce (née White; December 7, 1923 – April 14, 2007)[4] and Raymond George Spruce (December 29, 1923 – May 29, 2014).[5] King attended John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor, Maine[6] before enrolling at the University of Maine, where she met her husband Stephen King through her work-study job in the Raymond H. Fogler Library.

Career

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As of 2006, King had published eight novels and two works of non-fiction.[7][8] She published her first novel, Small World, through Signet Books in 1981,[9] and in 2006, Candles Burning was published through Berkley Books.[10][11] The paperback rights for Small World were bought by New American Library for $165,000.[12][13] Candles Burning was written predominantly by Michael McDowell, who died in 1999, and the McDowell family requested that King finish the work.[14]

In 2023, she was the executive producer of the independent horror film The Sudbury Devil.[15]

Partnership with Stephen King

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Prior to her husband's commercial success, Tabitha worked extra shifts at Dunkin' Donuts so that Stephen could write full-time.[13]As Stephen King recalled the origin of his debut novel, Carrie: "Two unrelated ideas, adolescent cruelty and telekinesis, came together." It began as a short story intended for Cavalier; Stephen tossed the first three pages in the trash but Tabitha recovered them, saying she wanted to know what happened next. He followed her advice and expanded it into a novel.[16] She told him: "You've got something here. I really think you do."[17]

This began a practice that continues today: Tabitha and Stephen review each other's drafts and also those of their children.[13]

Reception

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Reception to King's work has ranged from negative to positive.[18][19][20] Pearl received positive mentions from the Los Angeles Times and the Bangor Daily News,[21][22] while the Chicago Tribune panned Survivor.[23] The Arizona Daily Star criticized One on One, calling King "a hack",[24] whereas Entertainment Weekly, Time, and the Rocky Mountain News gave the novel positive reviews.[25][26][27] Caretakers received positive praise by The New York Times,[28] while Bookreporter.com wrote that some readers might be disappointed by the changes made to McDowell's Candles Burning.[29]

Awards and recognition

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  • Honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters, University of Maine in Orono (May 1987)[30]
  • Dowd Achievement Award (1992)[31]
  • Constance H. Carlson Public Humanities Prize (1998)[32][33]

Social activism

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King has served on several boards and committees in the state of Maine, such as the Bangor Public Library board.[34] She also served on the board of the Maine Public Broadcasting System until 1994.[35] In 1998 she received the inaugural Constance H. Carlson Public Humanities Prize, the Maine Humanities Council's highest award, for her work with literacy for the state of Maine.[32] In 2019, Tabitha and Stephen donated $1.25M to the New England Historic Genealogical Society.[36]

She currently serves as vice president of WZON/WZLO/WKIT radio stations, as well as in the administration of two family philanthropic foundations.[34] The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, chaired by her and her husband, ranks sixth among Maine charities in terms of average annual giving, with over $2.8 million in grants per year, according to The Grantsmanship Center.[37]

Personal life

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Tabitha and Stephen King married on January 2, 1971.[38][39][40][41] They have three children: a daughter Naomi and two sons, Joe Hill and Owen King, who are both writers.[42]

Bibliography

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Novels

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Year Title Publisher ISBN Pages Note
1981 Small World Signet Books 9780451114082 312
1983 Caretakers Scribner's 9780025631502 274 First novel set in King's fictional community of Nodd's Ridge
1986 The Trap 9780451160300 352 Also published as Wolves at the Door; second novel set in King's fictional community of Nodd's Ridge
1988 Pearl Signet Books 9780451162625 368 Third novel set in King's fictional community of Nodd's Ridge
1993 One on One 9780451179814 528 Fourth novel set in King's fictional community of Nodd's Ridge
1994 The Book of Reuben 9780451179999 432 Fifth and last novel set in King's fictional community of Nodd's Ridge
1997 Survivor 9780451190901 496
2006 Candles Burning Berkley Publishing Group 9780425210284 423 with Michael McDowell. King continued her writing after McDowell's death in 1999.[43]

Nonfiction

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Year Title Publisher ISBN Pages Note
1994 Playing Like a Girl; Cindy Blodgett and the Lawrence Bulldogs Season of 93-94 Dendrite Corporation N/A 42 The work is about basketball player Cindy Blodgett during her time at Lawrence High School.[44]
Mid-life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude Berkley Publishing Group 9780452274594 222 Written by all of the Rock Bottom Remainders with photos by Tabitha King.[45]

Short stories

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  • The Blue Chair (1981)
  • The Demonstration (1985)
  • Road Kill (1986)
  • Djinn and Tonic (1998)
  • The Women's Room (2002)
  • Archie Smith, Boy Wonder (2011)

Poetry

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  • A Gradual Canticle for Augustine[46] (1967)
  • Elegy for Ike[47] (1967)
  • Note 1 from Herodotus[47] (1968)
  • Nonsong[47] (1970)
  • The Last Vampire: A Baroque Fugue[48] (1971)

Teleplay

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  • "The Passion of Reverend Jimmy"[a] (2004)

Contributions and compilations

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  • Murderess Ink: The Better Half of the Mystery, Dilys Winn, ed., Bell, 1979
  • Shadows, Volume 4, C. L. Grant, ed., Doubleday, 1981
  • Midlife Confidential, ed. David Marsh et al., photographs by Tabitha King, Viking Penguin, 1994

Notes

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  1. ^ episode of Kingdom Hospital, co-written with Stephen King

References

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  1. ^ Dooley, Jeff (June 2, 1985). "Terror Mistress Tabitha King Spins A Thriller". Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  2. ^ Forsberg, Helen (March 28, 1993). "ONE ON ONE WITH TABITHA KING HORROR WRITER'S WIFE CARVES LITERARY NICHE". THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  3. ^ Keyes, Bob (June 4, 2006). "Tabitha King's passion burns brightly". Maine Sunday Telegram. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  4. ^ "Sarah Jane Spruce". December 7, 1923.
  5. ^ "Raymond George Spruce". May 29, 2014.
  6. ^ Beahm, George (September 1998). Stephen King from A to Z: An Encyclopedia of His Life and Work. Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8362-6914-7.
  7. ^ Ketner, Lisa (October 17, 1994). "Tabitha King Fans Meet Author". Sun Journal.
  8. ^ Anstead, Alicia (March 16, 1993). "Tabitha King in the Limelight". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  9. ^ Donovan, Mark. "For Years, Stephen King's Firestarter Was Wife Tabitha; Now She Burns to Write, Too". People. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  10. ^ Sullivan, James (June 4, 2006). "Drama Queen". Boston Globe. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  11. ^ Copeland, Blythe (June 2007). "Stepping Out of a Big Shadow". Writer's Digest. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  12. ^ Guckenberger, Katherine (May 10, 1981). "Tabitha King novel fails to shine". Journal and Courier. p. 56. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  13. ^ a b c "Stephen King and Tabitha King: All About Their Decades-Long Romance". People.com. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  14. ^ Drew, Bernard A. (2009). Literary Afterlife: The Posthumous Continuations of 325 Authors' Fictional Characters. McFarland & Company. p. 169. ISBN 978-0-7864-4179-2.
  15. ^ Hubbard, El Rob (December 21, 2023). "366 UNDERGROUND: THE SUDBURY DEVIL (2023)". 366 Weird Movies. Retrieved July 19, 2024.
  16. ^ King, Tabitha, Introduction to Carrie (Collector's Edition) Plume 1991
  17. ^ King, Stephen (2000). On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. pp. 75–77.
  18. ^ Robinson, Evalyne (November 27, 1994). "LOST SLEEP, LOST LIFE PROPEL PENS OF KINGS THE BOOK OF REUBEN". Daily Press. Newport News, VA. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  19. ^ Slater, Joyce (February 28, 1993). "Teenage basketball, teenage sex, and a tenor who ought to be stopped". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  20. ^ Hall-Balduf, Susan (March 21, 1993). "Books". Detroit Free Press. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  21. ^ Simon, Linda (March 19, 1989). "Hester's Liberated Daughter PEARL by Tabitha King". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 11, 2012.[dead link‍]
  22. ^ Beaulieu, Janet (November 8, 1988). "'Pearl' gleams as both a character and novel". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  23. ^ Fallik, Dawn (May 8, 1997). "TABITHA KING'S 'SURVIVOR' FAILS TO RING TRUE". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 11, 2012.[dead link‍]
  24. ^ "Tabitha King's 'One' is the work of a hack". Arizona Daily Star. May 2, 1993. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  25. ^ Hajari, Nisid. "Review: One on One". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  26. ^ Skow, John (February 22, 1993). "Home Games". Time. Archived from the original on October 28, 2010. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  27. ^ Graham, Mark (April 4, 1993). "THE 'OTHER' KING COMES INTO HER OWN". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  28. ^ Bass, Judy (October 23, 1983). "Fiction in Brief". New York Times. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  29. ^ Hartlaub, Joe. "Candles Burning". Bookreporter.com. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  30. ^ "Tabitha King". Bangorpedia. Archived from the original on June 15, 2014.
  31. ^ "Tabitha And Stephen King To Receive Chamber's 1992 Award ". Bangor Daily News. November 13, 1991. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  32. ^ a b Rogers, Lisa (January 1, 1999). "Maine awards new prize to novelist Tabitha King". Humanities: The Magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
  33. ^ Anstead, Alicia (October 16, 1998). "Tabitha King wins Carlson award Author lauded for literacy efforts". Bangor Daily News. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  34. ^ a b "122nd Legislature celebrates National Women's History Month March 2005: Tabitha King (b. 1949)". Maine Senate. March 2005. Archived from the original on December 4, 2008. Retrieved September 30, 2008.
  35. ^ Garland, Nancy (December 3, 1994). "Tabitha King quits as trustee MPBC controversy grows since program". Bangor Daily News. Archived from the original on February 2, 2013. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  36. ^ Reporter, Dory Jackson Culture (February 28, 2019). "Who is Tabitha King, Stephen King's Author Wife?". Newsweek. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  37. ^ "Top Giving Foundations: ME". The Grantsmanship Center. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  38. ^ King, Stephen. "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."". Twitter. Archived from the original on January 2, 2019. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
  39. ^ Beahm, George (October 6, 2015). The Stephen King Companion: Four Decades of Fear from the Master of Horror. Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-250-08131-5. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  40. ^ Donovan, Mark (May 18, 1981). "For Years, Stephen King's Firestarter Was Wife Tabitha; Now She Burns to Write, Too". People. Vol. 15, no. 19. Archived from the original on June 4, 2009. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  41. ^ Forsberg, Helen (March 28, 1993). "One on one with Tabitha King". The Salt Lake Tribune. p. 53. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  42. ^ Vincent, Bev. "Onyx interviews: Tabitha King". Onyx. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  43. ^ Keyes, Bob (June 4, 2006). "Tabitha King's Passion Burns Brightly". Portland Press Herald. p. 37. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  44. ^ Rimer, Sara (March 11, 1995). "Orono Journal; In Maine, Being 'Good' Is Praise Enough for a Star". The New York Times. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  45. ^ Marsh, Dave (1994). Mid-life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude. Viking. ISBN 9780670852345. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  46. ^ King, Stephen (2012). On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Hodder. ISBN 978-1-4447-2325-0. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  47. ^ a b c "Book Details".
  48. ^ "Stephen & Tabitha King Poems, Contraband #2, Rare '71 | #176356658".

Further reading

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  • Mcaleer, Patrick. The Writing Family of Stephen King: A Critical Study of the Fiction of Tabitha King, Joe Hill and Owen King. McFarland. 2011.
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Library resources about
Tabitha King
By Tabitha King
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