Stephen King's popularity lies in his ability to reinterpret the standard Gothic tale in new and exciting ways. Through his eyes, the conventional becomes unconventional and wonderful in a way no other author has done. King thus creates his own Gothic world and then interprets it for us.

This book analyzes King's interpretations, and his mastery of popular literature. He successfully combines different genres (in The Dead Zone he intertwines politics with the supernatural). His extraordinary use of allegory and metaphor, and his knowledge of how to make the macabre popular are outstanding. Some of the works discussed are Firestarter, The Dead Zone, The Stand, It, The Mist, Rage, The Dark Tower, and Carrie. The essays, by some of the leading King scholars in the United States, discuss adolescent revolt, the artist as survivor, a decade of bestsellers and the vampire in popular literature, as well as other subjects found in and around King's novels. They demonstrate why King is popularly perceived as the master of contemporary horror fiction.