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Stephen King has authored better than 30 books which hit No.1. This novel topped the charts in 1987

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11 Jan 2022
5 min read
Question: this top-selling book from 1987 was about a maine town overtaken by aliens...

Quick: Name a famous living American author?

If the first name that comes to mind is Stephen King, the answer is understandably common and apt.

Few writers in the history of modern literature have been as prolific, prodigious and successful as the Maine-born King, who’s ridiculous C.V. includes 63 novels (including works under the pseudonym, Richard Bachman), hundreds of short stories, a handful of non-fiction books and all manner of screenplay and production credits.  It’s crazy to consider that the cumulative pages have come in less than five decades’ time, starting with Carrie, published in 1974 (though it was King’s fourth finished novel).

Since his debut, King has never stopped being in-demand; however, his run in the 1980’s may well be looked upon as his hottest page-turning time.

Consider that between 1980-89, King published 16 novels (not to mention a pair of non-fiction works and six screenplays in the same window).  Choosing the most popular books or film adaptations of said works is 6-to-5/Pick ‘em, though titles such as “Firestarter,” “Cujo,” “The Running Man,” “Christine,” “Pet Cemetery,” “It,” “Misery,” or “The Dark Tower” series could all be considered worthy frontrunners.

One title perhaps not as recognized is King’s 1987 novel, “The Tommyknockers,” which proved the best-selling book that year, following the author’s same claim in ’86, with “It.”

The year was a dominating one for King book sales, as he led The New York Times list of fiction best-sellers with four different books across six different months; “The Tommyknockers” closed out ’87 leading the list for six consecutive weeks, before entering ’88 holding the same claim for two more weeks.

Set (of course) in the Maine town of Haven, “The Tommyknockers” is a King sweet-spot blend of horror and a science fiction, as a tale unfolds of locals discovering a curious, metal object in the woods, which soon finds Haven overtaken by an alien powers.

In his own reflection, however, King told Rolling Stone in 2014 that the book – written during a period of substance abuse – wasn’t among his personal favorites.

"The Tommyknockers is an awful book,” King told the magazine. “That was the last one I wrote before I cleaned up my act."

A TV, miniseries adaptation of the novel appeared in ’93 starring Jimmy Smits, though King seemingly didn’t much like that either, being quoted as saying he didn’t “at all” care for the show.



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