Fairy Tale, Stephen King
Fairy Tale, Stephen King
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Fairy Tale

Bestseller

Author: Stephen King

Narrator: Seth Numrich, Stephen King

Unabridged: 24 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/06/2022

Synopsis

Winner of the 2023 Audie Award for Best Male Narrator

Master storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this #1 New York Times bestselling and spellbinding novel about a young man who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for that world or ours.

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a horrific accident when he was seven, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from that shed.

Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.

About Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King was born in 1947 in the city of Portland, Maine. He attended the University of Maine, where he received a B.A. degree in English in 1970. He married his present wife, Tabitha, in 1971, and they have three children. King is an American author of contemporary horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy. His novels have sold more than 350 million copies. Many have been made into films, television movies, and comics. He has published 54 novels using a pen name (Richard Bachman) for a few of them. Many of his stories take place in his home state of Maine.

He has won about every possible literary award beginning with his 1980 novella, The Way Station. His most notable literary award was in 2007 for the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America.King has had the common human weaknesses including alcoholism and drug addiction. His health during that period was so bad that he barely remembered writing the novel, Cujo. The first novel written after he quit all dependent drugs and alcohol was Needful Things.Stephen King's wife, Tabitha, has published nine of her own novels along with both sons being published writers. His daughter is a Unitarian Universalism Church minister with her same sex partner.

A life altering happening beset King in June of 1999. King was walking on the shoulder of Route 5, in Lovell, Maine, when a driver, who was distracted by an unrestrained dog, struck him from behind. His severe injuries kept him in the hospital until July 9. His lawyer purchased the van that hit him to prevent it from being sold on eBay. It was crushed at a junkyard. King thought that he would not write again, but did resume writing with this caveat, "I'm writing, but I'm writing at a slower pace".

His most notable novels are: Carrie, The Shining, The Stand, Misery, It, The Dark Tower, Under the Dome, and The Shawshank Redemption.

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Quotes

"High-schooler Charlie Reade, son of a widowed recovering alcoholic, is walking by the town’s rundown “psycho house" when he hears a distressed barking. Entering the backyard, Charlie finds the house's owner, Mr. Bowditch, laying on the ground—with a broken leg—guarded by his faithful old dog, Radar. Charlie becomes caretaker for Mr. Bowditch and forms a strong bond with ailing Radar. Soon Charlie finds a mysterious shed in the backyard that serves an entrance to a different world where it may be possible to reverse the dog's aging. Numrich’s narration of Charlie’s quest is everything a reader appreciates. He uses unique voices for all of the characters, both human and inhuman, drawing readers completely into the parallel universe, and sounds convincing as a teenager. The narration undoubtedly drives the story and will keep listeners entranced. This gateway fantasy is ideal for anyone looking for a world-building journey similar to Frodo’s quest in The Hobbit. Charlie is highly likable and his devotion to Radar only adds to the appeal. Fans of all things Stephen King may also enjoy the parallels between his narration of Bowditch’s recorded messages to Charlie and his cameos in the film adaptations of his novels."

"Seth Numrich’s narration of 17-year-old Charlie Reade’s story is moving and frightening in equal measure. Charlie befriends a reclusive curmudgeon, Howard Bowditch, and his aging dog, and inherits Howard’s house and dog when he dies. Howard also leaves Charlie a cassette recording — voiced remarkably by Stephen King. On it, Howard recounts a story within the story, involving a locked shed, a portal to a dying world, and Charlie’s part in a plan for salvation. Numrich creates a distinctive voice for each character, complete with growls and guttural snarls for evildoers. He even makes a hum sound threatening. Listeners will be drawn into this audiobook by the intimate tone of Numrich’s narration, which is like hearing Charlie himself."

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