If you’ve ever seen a clown at a party and got scared out of your wits, then you probably have Stephen King’s books to thank for the trauma. Stephen King has been scaring people’s socks off since 1974 — that’s half a century’s worth of incredible horror stories. Everything from a tale about humiliating a girl during prom to turning the friendliest dog species into a town’s nightmare, the man has given us a lot of trauma. Since his first publication, he has proven himself to be a master at storytelling. Later, he was crowned as the “King of Horror” and has lived up to the reputation with nearly all of his works. His books have simple concepts that he expands upon with well-thought-out plots, rightly placed horror elements, and multi-dimensional characters. Like he always likes to say, he puts ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.