The House On Maple Street (CD)

Stephen King''s unparalleled imagination is in full force in this collection of four unabridged short stories originally found in the classic, "Nightmares & Dreamscapes." Stephen King and an all-star cast of readers bring to life these timeless stories from the darkest places.

Mysterious machinery begins to take over "The House on Maple Street." A private detective finds out that he is merely the character in crime novel in "Umney''s Last Case." In the non-fiction piece "Head Down," King chronicles the 1989 season of his son Owen''s little league baseball team and their journey to the Maine State Championships. And as a companion to "Head Down," "Brooklyn August" takes a nostalgic look back on the glory days of professional baseball.

Stephen King, Tabitha King, Robert Parker, and Stephen J. Gould lend their voices to this haunting collection of classic stories that no Stephen King fan should be without.
 
 

Born in 1947, Stephen King has become a household name all over the world. His mother raised him and his brother after their father deserted the family in 1950. In high school, King began to write short stories, his first published work appearing in 1968. He attended the University of Maine, graduating with a B.S. in 1970. Up until his first novel appeared, King had worked in an industrial laundry, as a janitor, as well as an English teacher. CARRIE, his debut, was met by a largely indifferent public in 1974. It wasn't until two years later, after King's second novel 'SALEM'S LOT and the filmed version of CARRIE, that King became a major player in the horror field. THE SHINING, his 1977 haunted hotel novel, began a litany of bestsellers, including THE STAND, THE DEAD ZONE, PET SEMETARY, DOLORES CLAIBORNE, and many others. King's work is regarded as instrumental in bringing about a resurgence of interest in horror fiction in the 1970s and '80s. An extremely high percentage of King's voluminous literary output has been filmed, with varying degrees of success, but all serving to carry the name of Stephen King far and wide. He has written nonfiction, given lectures, acted in films, and continues to produce huge novels nearly every year, all of which become instant bestsellers. As an bizarre sidenote, during the summer of 1999 while walking along a back road in Maine, King was struck and seriously injured by a minivan whose driver apparently lost control of the vehicle while being distracted by his dog--thus creating exactly the kind of news item that might have inspired several of King's own novels.