This morning cruising Twitter, I noticed that author Stephen King celebrated his 62nd birthday yesterday. While not exactly a milestone birthday or anything, it did get me to thinking about Stephen King’s impact on the literary world. While he certainly wasn’t the first author of horror and dark fiction, he is (at least in my opinion) the author most responsible for popularizing the genre in the last quarter of the 20th century. He’s done as much for the horror novel as Alfred Hitchcock did for the horror film. Think of all the books he’s written, and how many have then had rights purchased and have been turned into films. Did you know that it’s estimated he’s sold between 300 and 350 million copies of his books worldwide? What a staggering number!

I’ve read very little King, but my father was a big fan of his work while I was growing up, so I vividly remember the covers of the books and how scary they seemed as a child. Even with a busy “reading schedule” of books in my queue this fall, I think it’s about time I caught up with the past and thus I’ve decided I need to sneak a King novel in very soon. Do you have any favorites, any recommendations? Leave a comment below!

On this first day of Fall, I can’t help thinking about the upcoming Halloween holiday and the horror genre fits it so well. So in honor of Mr. King and one of the favorite holidays of my youth (and one that I still love to this day), expect to find a display of some of our favorite horror books, scary stories, books on CD and movies next time you stop by the Techmobile!