In what must be a nightmare for any author, Stephen King has called out the accuracy of a new book based on the towns that inspired the settings of his most famous books.
Titled Stephen King’s Maine: A History & Guide, the book was written by Sharon Kitchens and released on May 20, 2024. Throughout the book, Kitchens offers a guide to King’s hometown of Western Maine, identifying the locations that serve as the basis for some of the fictional towns depicted in King’s oeuvre.
Kitchens drew on historical materials and interviews with locals and those who know King to compile the guide, and is said to have identified the real-life areas that inspired fictional towns like Castle Rock (which appeared in The Dead Zone), Jerusalem’s Lot (which appeared in Salem’s Lot) and Derry (which appeared in It). The synopsis of Stephen King’s Maine also mentions the Maine towns that inspired settings in King’s books Carrie, Cujo and 11/22/63.
Taking to Twitter/X, King shared an image of himself holding Kitchens’ book, writing that “not all of it is right.” While that might be enough to send Kitchens into a spiral of fact-checking, King thankfully added that “most of” the information in Stephen King’s Maine is correct, and described the book as a whole as “really interesting.”
Those who’ve kept up with King’s book, movie and TV recommendations will know that this is ultimately a complimentary take since we’ve seen his less-than-flattering opinions over the years.
While he has remained mostly tight-lipped about the real-life inspirations of some of his fictional towns, King confirmed to his biographer, Tony Magistrale, that Derry is based on the town of Bangor, which is located a couple of hours up the interstate from Portland. Derry is mentioned in many of King’s books, including Insomnia, 11/22/63, and Bag of Bones, but it featured most prominently as the central setting of It.
In any case, King has been vocal in the past about avoiding being too specific about the settings he creates, saying in 2023 that the term ‘world-building’ should be retired. “Not only is it sloppy and lazy, it has become trite,” the author wrote on X — his long-running and preferred medium for hot takes.
While Kitchens might not have gotten every detail right about King’s fictional towns, her book certainly makes one thing clear: if you ever find yourself in Bangor, do not go frolicking along the sewers.