Now that I live in the same state as Stephen King, can you Dopers recommend any tales/stories/novellas/huge books, etc. written by him that are specifically set in Maine?
I usedta be a big SK fan – but back in the old days of “The Stand” – a loooong time ago.
And, FWIW, I am a HUGE H. P. Lovecraft fan! Wotta mix!
Find me some good stuff to read, OK? Thanks 
Insomnia
Salem’s Lot
Rage
Long Walk
Cujo
Christine
It
Dark Half
Tommyknockers
Needful Things
Gerald’s Game
Deloris Claiborne
Bag of Bones
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Dreamcatcher
Cell
Lisey’s Story
Under the Dome
That’s just right off the top of my head. I’m sure I’ve missed some in his short stories.
The ones bolded were written under the name Richard Bachman.
Yeah, pick a King book at random and there’s a 50% chance it’s set in Maine.
11/22/63 starts off in Maine, and some of the first act delves into Derry, even.
Also, Misery, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, and The Mist (first story in The Skeleton Crew anthology).
Don’t pass up The Long Walk, if you haven’t already read it!
But yeh, more times than not his stories are set in Maine.
Well, I deliberately left off the short stories, and the books where the setting moves out of Maine.
But thanks for including those.
I was going to say pretty much all of them, because that’s the way it seems. I know there are several set in other locales, like the Dark Tower series and The Stand, but I can’t think of any others.
I’m not a huge King fan, but I can’t recommend* The Long Walk *highly enough. Fantastic novella.
Thirded! My favorite King novella (which is high praise as he’s written quite a few).
The Shining is at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. Soon to have a sequel, Doctor Sleep, coming out next year.
Probably one of the best pieces of fiction of the 20th century, IMHO.
It’s got to be way more than 50%. I’d be shocked if someone was anal enough to go through all of his stories and found out that more that 25% of them are set outside of Maine.
Yep, see my edit line.
Though I’m no literature expert by any stretch, and not an avid reader, and while I’m not prone to hyperbole, I can honestly say I agree with this.
Anyone who hasn’t read The Long Walk should do so. What’s even more incredible is that it was the first thing he ever wrote! Not published, but first he wrote. And he was so young too.
And again, not a King fan (not that I hate him, I’ve only read a few things by him ever), so it’s not just nostalgia or whatever talking. I just read The Long Walk a few months ago, so, there you go!
Christine is not set in Maine, but in a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA.
Even *The Dark Tower *has sections set in Maine or to do with Maine (though I personally like to pretend they don’t exist).
I wonder how many Hunger Games devotees realize it’s pretty much “The Long Walk” redux. (And yes, I realize it’s also *Battle Royale *with some brutality removed. And also, that’s not to put it down - I thought especially the first book was excellent.)
It’s set here, but King did not display any great knowledge of the local geography or highway system. I, personally, prefer to think of it being set on a floor in The Tower where there is another Pittsburgh that is only slightly like this one.
Wasn’t The Dead Zone set in Maine? As in, that was the home of the protagonist? Coulda sworn he solved a murder for the sheriff who got eaten in Cujo.
I agree. If Christine was set in Pittsburgh, why were all the characters Phillies fans? They would have seemed like oddities to all of the Pirates rooters.
Yeah, the fictional town of Castle Rock. Needful Things takes place there, too.
I’m currently listening to this, and I loved the part set in Maine. The reader does a great accent (“Downeast”?). It’s the longest book I’ve ever listened to (28 CDs!), but I really don’t want it to end.
I finally made it up to Maine last summer, and it felt like coming home thanks to all the King books I’ve listened to. I even got to try Moxie, and hated it, just like a number of his characters (including the protagonist in 11/22/63).