During one week in January 1986, King had five titles simultaneously on the national lists: the hardcover editions of
Skeleton Crew and
The Bachman Books and the mass-market and trade paperback editions of
The Talisman, The Bachman Books, and
Thinner. Since then, instance of two, three, and four titles appearing simultaneously are frequent enough not to occasion much more than passing notice: the exceptional has become the norm—for Stephen King, at least.
At the same time, King has used his facility with the conventions of horror fiction to achieve more than base titillation and terror. From the beginning, his books have been constructed not only on strong narratives and intriguing characters but also on insights into contemporary American society in the closing quarter of the twentieth century. More than any other single author in the field, King speaks for the experiences, expectations, achievements, and disappointments of the "Baby Boomer" generation, often coupling his cosmic horrors and monsters with references to the minutiae of daily life: Gypsy curses share the pages with Ding Dongs, and apocalyptic plagues with Payday bars (reformulated in a chocolate variety to bring the candy bar into line with King's description of one in The Stand).
