Favorite Author

Stephen King is my all time favorite author.  I began reading his books when I was a small child (I had some fairly irresponsible parents).  One rainy day, stuck inside the house and driving my mother crazy, she yelled at me to go 'FIND SOMETHING TO DO'.  She told me to go read one of my books, to which I replied, 'I've read them all!' (without any whining at all, I'm sure).  She told me to go get one of HER books, just to shut me up I'm sure.

I went to her bookshelf, full of paperbacks she had read and re-read (my father, who is a brilliant man, is not a reader; I rarely ever saw him read for pleasure) and began scanning the shelves.  One book caught my eye.

She had the paperback of The Shining, colored bright bright yellow.  I was 8 years old.  I came skipping back out of the bedroom, this book triumphantly clutched to my little chest and proudly proclaimed:

'THIS ONE.  I'M GOING TO READ THIS ONE.'

Any good parent would look at their 8 year old child, desperately holding this book, which is just slightly terrifying and full of very adult themes, ruffle the hair on top of their head, chuck them under the chin and marvel at how cute their kid is, then go find them something suitable to read.

Not my mom.

Nope, she simply said, 'If you run into words you don't know, come ask me.'

I.  WAS.  EIGHT.

I read the whole book.  Cover to cover.  It terrified me.  It thrilled me.  It made me feel like a grown up.  I rarely had to stop to ask what something meant or what a word was.  I was a very, very strong reader, having tested at a high school level in 3rd grade.

Good, bad or otherwise, this book began my lifelong obsession with Stephen King.  I've read them all.  The Darktower series is one of the greatest stories told; each book a rich and wonderful story in its own regard, but truly brought to life when read as a series.  I love them all.  The terrifying ones (Pet Semetary is the only book that ever scared me while I was reading it), the subtle horror (The Stand?  The shit could actually happen, yo....that's scary) and the out and out true pulp horror (Werewolves?  Silver Bullet.  Ghosts?  Bag of Bones.  Vampires?  'Salem's Lot).  He's written complete non-fiction (Danse Macabre), he's written pure fantasy (Eyes of the Dragon) and he's written about time travel and the overwhelming need to redeem oneself from a past mistake (or stop another from a horrible event about to happen.  11/22/1963).

I have decided to re-read every single book King has released, in the order they came out in.  I have finished Carrie.  I forgot what a quick, easy read that book is.  It's terrifying in its simplicity.  Loved it!  Next on the list is 'Salem's Lot.  I don't remember this one a lot, so this is like getting a whole new book again.  :)

What author do you love?  Which one out there is one that you can read over and over and will buy every book they put out?