Tabitha King

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Tabitha King
BornTabitha Jane Spruce
(1949-03-24) March 24, 1949 (age 72)
Old Town, Maine, U.S.
OccupationAuthor
GenreHorror, fantasy, science fiction
Spouse
​
(m. 1971)​
ChildrenNaomi King
Joe Hill
Owen King

Tabitha Jane King (née Spruce, born March 24, 1949) is an American author.[1][2][3][4]

Personal life[]

Tabitha King is the third eldest daughter of Sarah Jane Spruce (née White; December 7, 1923 – April 14, 2007) [5] and Raymond George Spruce (December 29, 1923 – May 29, 2014).[6] King attended college at the University of Maine, where she met her husband Stephen King through her work-study job in the Raymond H. Fogler Library. The two married on January 7, 1971.[7] King had her first child, Naomi Rachel King, in 1970. She gave birth to Joseph Hillström King in 1972 and Owen Phillip King in 1977.[8]

As of 2006, King had published eight novels and two works of non-fiction.[9][10] She published her first novel, Small World, through Signet Books in 1981,[11] and in 2006, Candles Burning was published through Berkley Books.[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]

Social activism[]

King has served on several boards and committees in the state of Maine, such as the Bangor Public Library board.[15] She also served on the board of the Maine Public Broadcasting System until 1994.[16] 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.[17]

She currently serves as vice president of WZON/WZLO/WKIT radio stations as well as in the administration of two family philanthropic foundations.[15]

Reception[]

Reception to King's work has been mixed 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[]

  • 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)[17][32]

Bibliography[]

Library resources about
Tabitha King
By Tabitha King

Novels[]

  • (1981) Small World
  • (1983) Caretakers *
  • (1985) The Trap (also published as Wolves at the Door) *
  • (1988) Pearl *
  • (1993) One on One *
  • (1994) The Book of Reuben *
  • (1997) Survivor
  • (2006) Candles Burning (with Michael McDowell)

Entries marked with an asterisk are set in King's fictional community of Nodd's Ridge.

Nonfiction[]

  • (1994) Playing Like a Girl; Cindy Blodgett and the Lawrence Bulldogs Season of 93-94
  • (1994) Mid-life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude

Short stories[]

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

Poetry[]

  • (1967) A Gradual Canticle for Augustine[33]
  • (1967) Elegy for Ike[34]
  • (1968) Note 1 from Herodotus[34]
  • (1970) Nonsong[34]
  • (1971) The Last Vampire: A Baroque Fugue[35]

Teleplay[]

Contributions and compilations[]

  • 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

References[]

  1. ^ Dooley, Jeff (Jun 2, 1985). "Terror Mistress Tabitha King Spins A Thriller". Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved 11 August 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 11 August 2012.
  3. ^ Dumas, Alan (October 12, 1994). "THAT OTHER KING YES, HUSBAND STEPHEN IS A HOUSEHOLD NAME, BUT TABITHA'S BOOKS SELL QUITE WELL, THANK YOU". ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  4. ^ Keyes, Bob (June 4, 2006). "Tabitha King's passion burns brightly". Maine Sunday Telegram. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  5. ^ "Sarah Jane Spruce".
  6. ^ "Raymond George Spruce". 29 May 2014.
  7. ^ "For Years, Stephen King's Firestarter Was Wife Tabitha, Now She Burns to Write, Too".
  8. ^ Vincent, Bev. "Onyx interviews: Tabitha King". Onyx. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  9. ^ Ketner, Lisa (Oct 17, 1994). "Tabitha King Fans Meet Author". Sun Journal.
  10. ^ Anstead, Alicia (Mar 16, 1993). "Tabitha King in the Limelight". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  11. ^ Donovan, Mark. "For Years, Stephen King's Firestarter Was Wife Tabitha; Now She Burns to Write, Too". People. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  12. ^ Sullivan, James (June 4, 2006). "Drama Queen". Boston Globe. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  13. ^ Copeland, Blythe (June 2007). "Stepping Out of a Big Shadow". Writer's Digest. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  14. ^ Drew, Bernard A. (2009). Literary Afterlife: The Posthumous Continuations of 325 Authors' Fictional Characters. McFarland & Company. p. 169. ISBN 978-0786441792.
  15. ^ Jump up to: 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 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2008-09-30.
  16. ^ Garland, Nancy (December 3, 1994). "Tabitha King quits as trustee MPBC controversy grows since program". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  17. ^ Jump up to: 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.
  18. ^ Robinson, Evalyne (November 27, 1994). "LOST SLEEP, LOST LIFE PROPEL PENS OF KINGS THE BOOK OF REUBEN". Daily Press. Newport News, VA. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  19. ^ Slater, Joyce (February 28, 1993). "Teenage basketball, teenage sex, and a tenor who ought to be stopped". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  20. ^ Hall-Balduf, Susan (March 21, 1993). "Books". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  21. ^ Simon, Linda (March 19, 1989). "Hester's Liberated Daughter PEARL by Tabitha King". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  22. ^ Beaulieu, Janet (November 8, 1988). "'Pearl' gleams as both a character and novel". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  23. ^ Fallik, Dawn (May 8, 1997). "TABITHA KING'S 'SURVIVOR' FAILS TO RING TRUE". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  24. ^ "Tabitha King's 'One' is the work of a hack". Arizona Daily Star. May 2, 1993. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  25. ^ Hajari, Nisid. "Review: One on One". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  26. ^ Skow, John (February 22, 1993). "Home Games". Time. Archived from the original on October 28, 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  27. ^ Graham, Mark (April 4, 1993). "THE 'OTHER' KING COMES INTO HER OWN". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  28. ^ Bass, Judy (October 23, 1983). "Fiction in Brief". New York Times. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  29. ^ Hartlaub, Joe. "Candles Burning". Bookreporter.com. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  30. ^ "Tabitha King". Bangorpedia. Archived from the original on 2014-06-15.
  31. ^ "Tabitha And Stephen King To Receive Chamber's 1992 Award ". Bangor Daily News. Nov 13, 1991. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  32. ^ Anstead, Alicia (Oct 16, 1998). "Tabitha King wins Carlson award Author lauded for literacy efforts". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  33. ^ On Writing
  34. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Book Details".
  35. ^ "Stephen & Tabitha King Poems, Contraband #2, Rare '71 | #176356658".

Further reading[]

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

External links[]

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