Stephen King is like your eccentric but endlessly entertaining uncle who can turn even the most mundane trip to the grocery store into a spine-tingling horror saga. His novels have a special knack for making you terrified of everyday things—cars, clowns, hotels, even your own dog. With over 60 novels to his name, it seems he’s either tapped into some dark, supernatural well of storytelling or has just accepted that his brain is wired for creepy, whether he likes it or not. Somehow, this master of horror also manages to look like the world’s friendliest librarian. You just know he’d be the guy at a family barbecue spinning a ghost story by the grill, saying, “Don’t worry, it’s fiction”—but you’re still sleeping with the lights on that night.