Stephen King appeared to be in capital good humor the day of our interview, inquiring jokingly at the outset, "Can I get you anything? Soda, water--beer, heroin?"

"Let's see how the interview goes," I reply.

With the proverbial ice broken, we proceed on that note. He needs little prompting; we're discussing his chosen craft and it is with a craftsman's unassuming pride and enthusiasm that he speaks of his work.

"I remember something that Kurt Vonnegut said one time when he turned fifty," says King. "He'd published some book and he said he felt like a guy who's climbed a roof and has thrown his leg over the top so that he's sitting with one leg on one side and one leg on the other side. I could really sort of relate to that. I like to think that I'm not at the half way point because that would presuppose the idea that at fifty eight I'd be all done, you know, being forty two now. But it's long enough so that I had a chance to think back."

"I've been very lucky with reviews over the years with the exception of Christine which was just roasted! I must have been totally wrong about that book. . . It's like one of those dreams where you're in a public place and you suddenly realize you don't have any clothes on. That's what that experience was like. And I still don't understand what's wrong with that book, if anything is. . . but I review pretty well and that's been kind of a relief to me and it's made the years go by faster, but of them all Different Seasons by far . (reviewed the best). And that's why I'm putting this book out, "Four Past Midnight", with some real trepidation, because I don't think it's going to review well compared to Different Seasons if that's what people decide they're going to do. There's no story like "The Body". There'll just never be another story like that."

"The Body", later made into the sucessful film Stand By Me is one of many stories in King which captures the essense of Maine.

"It's not Carolyn Chute, but that's ok," King shrugs. "Carolyn Chute does her thing and I do mine. We see the same places."

With such a large body of work behind him, I ask, is it still as much fun to get published? He surprises me with a flat no.

"That wore off probably by the end of the Doubleday years with The Stand. Publishing, that part of it now, is no fun at all. The fun part is when you write the stuff down, you know, when it belongs to you and there's nobody to come in to say 'Change this, change that.' Once you give it over to people you don't own it the way that you did before. . . I can remember getting the first finished copy of Carrie and sitting down and reading it all again, and Salem's Lot , too, and really enjoying it. But I can't see myself doing that now. Too many people are looking over your shoulder."

And just how much editorial control, I inquire, is Stephen King subject to these days? This elicits a somewhat rueful smile.

"At this point, nobody can make me change anything. It's like where does a 10,000 pound gorilla sit? The answer is anyplace he wants. That's why it becomes more and more important that I listen very carefully to what people say, and if what they say seems to make sense, I have to make those changes even if I don't want to. Because it's too easy to hang yourself. You get all this freedom-- it can lead to self-indulgence. I've been down that road, probably most notably with The Tommyknockers. But with a book like Misery, where I did listen, the results were good."

King claims Misery as his best work to date and speaks of Annie Wilkes, arguably one of his most terrifying and memorable creations, with undisguised delight.

"Isn't she nasty? I let myself go with that one. You know, I'm sitting at the word processor and I can remember so clearly. thinking, 'OK, you set this up and sure she's nasty and she's unpleasant but she must have a good side because everybody has a good side.' And then this voice rose up inside me and said, 'Why' does she have to have a good side? If she's crazy go ahead, make her a monster! She's a human being but let her be a monster if that's what she wants to be,' and it was such a relief!"

If anyone knows how to use monsters, be they supernatural or human, to best effect it's Stephen King, as he demonstrates admirably in Four Past Midnight.

"If you use monsters in stories . .it's like shining a light on somebody's face, a light isn't a tangible thing and there aren't any real monsters, but nevertheless, a strong light will bring out planes and shadows in someone's face and when you use a monster or something make believe on people's characters it always brings the character out. It's a low trick but it's a good one. It's one that I know and I've used it a lot."

With Four Past Midnight relinquished into the hands of the publishers, Stephen King is merrily forging ahead on two new works, one of which, Needful Things, brings the inhabitants of Castle Rock, Maine, back for one final bow. This book, he thinks, may surpass Misery as his best book ever.

"I'm anxious for people to see Needful Things," he says proudly, a sentiment his Constant Readers undoubtedly share.