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“A fascinating, first-of-its-kind exploration of Stephen King and his most iconic early books, based on groundbreaking research and interviews with King—all conducted by the first scholar to be given extended access to his private archives.”
Essential reading for any fan of Stephen King’s work is Caroline Bicks’ Monsters in the Archives, which “chronicles the year that Bicks spent exploring drafts of five of King’s most iconic early works—The Shining, Carrie, Pet Sematary, ‘Salem’s Lot, and Night Shift—to reveal how he crafted the language, storylines, and characters that still enthrall and terrify so many readers today.”
Now available from Hogarth/Penguin Random House, we have an exclusive excerpt just for Daily Dead readers, where Bicks explores King’s Night Shift!
Caroline Bicks is the University of Maine’s inaugural Stephen E. King Chair in Literature, and the first scholar to be granted extended access by King to his private archives. They hold a treasure trove of manuscripts that document the legendary author’s writing process—most of them never before studied or published. Bicks’ research was guided by a question that millions of readers (including her) have asked: What makes Stephen King’s writing stick in our heads and haunt us long after we’ve closed the book?
Monsters in the Archives chronicles the year that Bicks spent exploring drafts of five of King’s most iconic early works—The Shining, Carrie, Pet Sematary, ‘Salem’s Lot, and Night Shift—to reveal how he crafted the language, storylines, and characters that still enthrall and terrify so many readers today. These were the stories that scared her the most as a kid growing up in the 1970s. While Bicks’ book describes her archival discoveries, it also tells the story of a grown-up English professor facing her childhood fears—and getting to know the man responsible for unleashing them.
While tracking King’s margin notes and editorial changes, Bicks discovered radically different plotlines and endings to some of his most beloved works that have never made it to print—until now. She was fortunate to have numerous conversations and email exchanges with King about these edits and his experiences as a young writer, all of which offer invaluable insight into his creative process. Bicks, a Shakespearean scholar, also examines how King mobilized the sounds and rhythms of words to capture embodied emotions like fear. King’s stories, like Shakespeare’s, endure because of how they are written and how they connect us to our humanity—and each other.
Part literary master class, part biography, part memoir, and part investigation into our deepest anxieties, Monsters in the Archives is a fascinating exploration of Stephen King’s writing process and personal history that offers a long overdue appreciation for King as a master craftsman.
To read the excerpt, click on the cover below or visit:
https://dailydead.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/MONSTERS-Excerpt.pdf
To purchase now on hardcover or as an e-book, visit:
For the latest on Caroline Bicks, including upcoming book tour stops, visit: https://carolinebicks.com/
Excerpt Credit: From the book MONSTERS IN THE ARCHIVES: My Year of Fear with Stephen King by Caroline Bicks. Copyright © 2026 by Caroline Bicks. Published by Hogarth, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
