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THE DARKNESS

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Find your way through the darkness with seven new thrilling short stories by bestselling Amazon author Stephen R. King. Do not let the lack of light stop you from discovering more adventures and stories that will keep you up at night and ignite the imagination. There is no place to hide in, THE DARKNESS!

290 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 6, 2019

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About the author

Stephen King

2,285 books893k followers
Stephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of them. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.

Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.

He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.

Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.

In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.

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5 stars
250 (43%)
4 stars
143 (24%)
3 stars
113 (19%)
2 stars
48 (8%)
1 star
25 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
2 reviews
November 9, 2022
NOT STEPHEN KING

This man tries making his books seem like their written by Stephen King by using his cover style and covertly adding the R but he’s so far from it. Alright author but horrible in comparison which he’s obviously trying to profit off of.
Profile Image for Beth.
12 reviews1 follower
January 16, 2026
Welll, like many others I seemed to have not paid attention enough to notice this was Stephen R King. Thankfully downloaded for free from KU. I mostly always go into a book blind so I was hooked at the beginning, thinking this is going to be a great read, but then soon realised it's a collection of short stories 🙃 which were ok I guess.
37 reviews
February 24, 2022
Rubbish

Within a few words you can see that this is not written by the author we all know STEPHEN KING the author of the shining and many many great books could not be mistaken for such trash.
168 reviews1 follower
March 25, 2023
Very Interesting.....

Good group of Short Stories. The story The Darkness was my favorite within this set of stories. Very Recommended set of Short Stories! Stephen R. King writes very good stories ! RECOMMENDED !!!!!
1 review
June 2, 2019
Awful

Stephen King he is NOT. This was bad from beginning to end. Do not buy this, it is a huge waste of money and time. 😡
Profile Image for Robb Fedak.
10 reviews
May 30, 2020
This was a good book!

I think this was a good book. The stories flew by. Each one was an interesting experience that real!g made a person think. Good read!
Profile Image for Stephen.
13 reviews
May 17, 2023
The very first story in this book was the best one. The others were only OK. I guess because I expected the whole book to be one long story like most books are; not 7 distinct, unrelated stories.
Profile Image for Leonard Milligan.
18 reviews
June 11, 2024
Disappointing

Why were physisit working on a drug and not chemist's, disjointed uninteresting struggled to complete,not one of his better works
720 reviews3 followers
August 27, 2024
OK...in my humble opinion, these are King's best short stories.
10 reviews
April 12, 2026
Early work ?.

If Koontz could write badly, "Birth of Evil" one of the stories within this collection, is surely an example. Still a fan.
Profile Image for Luigi.
Author 2 books17 followers
December 4, 2021
Good to read something a bit more reminiscent of the tales King used to tell. Some of the grammar wasn't great, which made me wonder if it was really his work.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews