What was your first exposure to King? (NOT necessarily first book read)

[btobey]

I know that there is an old thread asking about the first Stephen King book you ever read, but for many of us, that wasn't actually our first exposure to King, especially with all of the movies and other materials out there.

My first exposure was through a book, but it wasn't one that I read myself. When I was in the sixth grade (this would be 1979-1980, so feel free to calculate my age if you want! ), our social studies teacher read us two stories from Night Shift: "The Lawnmower Man" and "The Boogeyman" (actually, he may have read us "The Mangler" as well). I'm sure this was highly inappropriate, but it was the 80s. Anyway, sometime after that, I purchased Night Shift, so that was my first King book as well (my first King novel, I believe, was Firestarter).

So, what was YOUR first exposure to King?

[KJ Norrbotten]

When I was in high school in the early 90's, SK books and movies based on his novels were really hip in my country. During that time, I didn't read any of his books nor see any movie adaptations, but I was a huge fan of the Ramones, and thus the song Pet Sematary was my first exposure to Stephen King.

Because of Pet Sematary, (I hadn't read it back then), I made an embarrasing mistake in my English test. I had no idea, that "sematary" isn't really spelled that way.

[GNTLGNT]

So, what was YOUR first exposure to King?

[Damaris]

The first I really remember hearing of Uncle Steve was when some of the movies based on his books were on TV in the 1980's. I probably wouldn't have noticed then but the previews didn't sit well with my parents (particularly for IT) and he was banned from the house (a rule enforced until about 1993). I'm not entirely sure what my first full exposure was, but I know it came at a friend's house. (Thank you, JB!)

[jacobtlong]

The first time I heard Stephen King's name, I believe, was from an Alice Cooper interview. Alice Cooper described the band The Misfits as "something out of a Stephen King novel." That really piqued my interest. Being a metal kid I thought reading books was nerdy so I wanted to read something that wasn't nerdy. I loved The Misfits and Alice Cooper and if Alice knew about Stephen King than I figured it would be worth checking out. Kubrick's The Shining was also one of my favorite films and when I read the credits and I saw Stephen King's name attached I thought that The Shining would be as good a place as any to start.

[Ragan]

The earliest that I can remember is seeing Cat's Eye, but I'm sure I had seen other Stephen King movies before that. I didn't start reading his books until high school, but I had seen several of the movies growing up.

BTW, that ICQ logo takes me back a decade or so...the question takes me back even longer...

[DebA913]

My first exposure to SK was when I was maybe 10 years old. My cousins were watching 'Carrie' on HBO or something. I was really enjoying it until my mother caught me watching and decided I was too young. I waited a long time to be able to see the whole movie!

[guardianofthebeam]

My first exposure was through a book, but it wasn't one that I read myself. When I was in the sixth grade (this would be 1979-1980, so feel free to calculate my age if you want! ), our social studies teacher read us two stories from Night Shift: "The Lawnmower Man" and "The Boogeyman" (actually, he may have read us "The Mangler" as well). I'm sure this was highly inappropriate, but it was the 80s.

I wish I'd had a teacher like that

[malcolm.s.holmes@maine.ed]

Apart from growing up in Maine, I helped a kid from school by writing an essay for the book he picked out. It was The Stand. I did it because his mom had just died and he wasn't really focused on school. I got an A- on his.. and a C+ on my own essay. My friend's dad says he almost beat Stephen King up at some high school party once. He's crazy though and says a lot of odd things.. like Al-Qaeda is based in Eastport, Maine.

[J.T. Adams]

The Green Mile is the first one I can remember and at the end I weeped like a baby.

Like Jake Epping i'm not ordinarily a crying man.