PORTLAND, Maine — About 20 years ago, Sharon Kitchens moved from Los Angeles to Maine and began exploring. "Along the way I started hiking," she writes. "During early morning drives to trailheads, I got to see a lot of the state that has inspired Stephen King."
On those trips, her imagination ran free.
"As a longtime reader of his work," she recalls, "I could envision a secluded wooded area on the edge of town with the remains of old cars rusting away as something he would chew on."
Now, Kitchens has written a book called "Stephen King’s Maine," which is, as the subtitle explains, a history and a guide. It covers a lot of ground, from Portland (where King was born) to Durham (where he lived during most of his teenage years) to Bangor (home for much of his adulthood) and beyond, taking the reader to spooky-looking buildings, local landmarks, theaters where King watched movies, and much more.
The book also tries to steer readers to the places that likely inspired King’s fictional towns of Castle Rock and Jerusalem's Lot, and it introduces them to people who live in these places.
Dana Levasseur, for instance, has a unique take because he has served sausage sandwiches to King from his food truck at the Fryeburg Fair. Levasseur is quoted in the book saying, "People come up to the counter and ask, ‘Is Stephen still here?’ We reply with, ‘Yeah, we hobbled him, he’s in the prep room peeling onions for us.’”