Bev Vincent is one of the few people that I go to when I have a question about Stephen King. I have been doing that for the last 20+ years and still there has never been a question he hasn’t been able to answer for me. He’s written books about King and his stories. He’s written reviews and news olumns about him and is active on social media. He’s a huge source of knowledge when it comes to Stephen King. Now, in time for King’s 75 th birthday, he’s released a book with the exciting (but long) title The Stephen King Ultimate Companion: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences.

In the book Vincent goes through every King book. Some very thorough and others a bit lighter but they are all there up to the recently released Fairy Tale. Mixed in with all these books are also tidbits on other interesting King things. Things like King’s pseudonym Richard Bachman, The Rock Bottom Remainders, King’s accident and his fictional cities Derry and Castle Rock, just to name a few.


This is a great reference book that the casual reader of King’s books will learn a lot from and in which, even we King nerds that read everything he has written still find new things. The book itself is very nice looking and a joy to read and Vincent has gotten access to a lot of unseen photos from King’s private archives that are interesting to see here for the first time. It’s a great summary of King’s life and 48-year long career. Easy to digest but still full of information and photos, known and unknown.

I really enjoyed this book and I’m sure I’m not the only one who will use it for references in the future and well as just look through it from time to time for the pure joy of it.