I have very few authors I can say I am a fan of. This doesn’t mean I don’t read - I don’t read as much as I should, but I read. It just means I’m picky. Due to my bout with ADD, I have a hard time staying focused if the first few paragraphs don’t capture my rapt attention.

I can honestly say I’ve never had this problem while reading a Stephen King novel. He is one of the greatest writers of our time. For a while, he wrote articles for Entertainment Weekly highlighting certain events in pop culture. These certain events also included the works of his fellow writers. He was honest. He was blunt. And I, for one, would not want to be an author who wrote a crappy novel and Stephen King be the one who read and critiqued it. Talk about road kill! But, if your peers can’t be honest with you then you’re kidding yourself.

I am a fan of Mr. King simply because he’s a great storyteller and keeps your mind racing from the opening glance of his first page. Every novel of his I’ve read has not let me down, although I haven’t read ALL of his novels. That prize is reserved for my mother who is more of a fan that I could ever hope to be (seriously — the woman has a sickness; we take donations). If there is a Stephen King/Richard Bachman novel out there which requires intel, the first call I make is to the woman who birthed me. She’s the Wikipedia or King literature.

I hope to be as talented and fortunate in writing as he is.