Tabitha King

Tabitha 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
Old Town, Maine, U.S.
OccupationAuthor
GenreHorror, fantasy, science fiction
Spouse
​
(m. 1971)​
Children3; including Joe and Owen

Early life

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 college at the University of Maine, where she met her husband Stephen King through her work-study job in the Raymond H. Fogler Library.

Career

As of 2006, King had published eight novels and two works of non-fiction.[6][7] She published her first novel, Small World, through Signet Books in 1981,[8] and in 2006, Candles Burning was published through Berkley Books.[9][10] Candles Burning was written predominantly by Michael McDowell, who died in 1999, and the McDowell family requested that King finish the work.[11]

Social activism

King has served on several boards and committees in the state of Maine, such as the Bangor Public Library board.[12] She also served on the board of the Maine Public Broadcasting System until 1994.[13] 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.[14]

She currently serves as vice president of WZON/WZLO/WKIT radio stations as well as in the administration of two family philanthropic foundations.[12]

Reception

Reception to King's work has ranged from negative to positive.[15][16][17] Pearl received positive mentions from the Los Angeles Times and the Bangor Daily News,[18][19] while the Chicago Tribune panned Survivor.[20] The Arizona Daily Star criticized One on One, calling King "a hack",[21] whereas Entertainment Weekly, Time, and the Rocky Mountain News gave the novel positive reviews.[22][23][24] Caretakers received positive praise by The New York Times,[25] while Bookreporter.com wrote that some readers might be disappointed by the changes made to McDowell's Candles Burning.[26]

Awards and recognition
  • Honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters, University of Maine in Orono (May 1987)[27]
  • Dowd Achievement Award (1992)[28]
  • Constance H. Carlson Public Humanities Prize (1998)[14][29]

Personal life

She and Stephen King married on January 7, 1971.[30] King had her first child, Naomi Rachel King, in 1970. She gave birth to writer Joseph King in 1972 and Owen King in 1977.[31]

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[32]
  • (1967) Elegy for Ike[33]
  • (1968) Note 1 from Herodotus[33]
  • (1970) Nonsong[33]
  • (1971) The Last Vampire: A Baroque Fugue[34]

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 (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".
  5. "Raymond George Spruce". May 29, 2014.
  6. Ketner, Lisa (October 17, 1994). "Tabitha King Fans Meet Author". Sun Journal.
  7. Anstead, Alicia (March 16, 1993). "Tabitha King in the Limelight". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  8. Donovan, Mark. "For Years, Stephen King's Firestarter Was Wife Tabitha; Now She Burns to Write, Too". People. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  9. Sullivan, James (June 4, 2006). "Drama Queen". Boston Globe. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  10. 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.
  11. Drew, Bernard A. (2009). Literary Afterlife: The Posthumous Continuations of 325 Authors' Fictional Characters. McFarland & Company. p. 169. ISBN 978-0-7864-4179-2.
  12. "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.
  13. Garland, Nancy (December 3, 1994). "Tabitha King quits as trustee MPBC controversy grows since program". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  14. Rogers, Lisa (January 1, 1999). "Maine awards new prize to novelist Tabitha King". Humanities: The Magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
  15. Robinson, Evalyne (November 27, 1994). "LOST SLEEP, LOST LIFE PROPEL PENS OF KINGS THE BOOK OF REUBEN". Daily Press. Newport News, VA. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  16. Slater, Joyce (February 28, 1993). "Teenage basketball, teenage sex, and a tenor who ought to be stopped". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  17. Hall-Balduf, Susan (March 21, 1993). "Books". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  18. Simon, Linda (March 19, 1989). "Hester's Liberated Daughter PEARL by Tabitha King". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  19. Beaulieu, Janet (November 8, 1988). "'Pearl' gleams as both a character and novel". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  20. Fallik, Dawn (May 8, 1997). "TABITHA KING'S 'SURVIVOR' FAILS TO RING TRUE". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  21. "Tabitha King's 'One' is the work of a hack". Arizona Daily Star. May 2, 1993. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  22. Hajari, Nisid. "Review: One on One". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  23. Skow, John (February 22, 1993). "Home Games". Time. Archived from the original on October 28, 2010. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  24. Graham, Mark (April 4, 1993). "THE 'OTHER' KING COMES INTO HER OWN". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  25. Bass, Judy (October 23, 1983). "Fiction in Brief". New York Times. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  26. Hartlaub, Joe. "Candles Burning". Bookreporter.com. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  27. "Tabitha King". Bangorpedia. Archived from the original on June 15, 2014.
  28. "Tabitha And Stephen King To Receive Chamber's 1992 Award ". Bangor Daily News. November 13, 1991. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  29. Anstead, Alicia (October 16, 1998). "Tabitha King wins Carlson award Author lauded for literacy efforts". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  30. "For Years, Stephen King's Firestarter Was Wife Tabitha, Now She Burns to Write, Too".
  31. Vincent, Bev. "Onyx interviews: Tabitha King". Onyx. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  32. On Writing
  33. "Book Details".
  34. "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.
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