![Horror author Stephen King has also written several science fiction novels. [Image Thomas Budach/Pixabay]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2019/3/22/660x290/b_502x220x82/horror-author-stephen-king-has-also-written-several-science-fiction-novels-image-thomas-budachpixabay_2232823.jpg "Horror author Stephen King has also written several science fiction novels. [Image Thomas Budach/Pixabay]")
Stephen King is a popular horror author who has written many books, either under his own name, a pen name or together with other popular authors, including his son Joe Hill and author Peter Straub.
Most of King's work is a combination of horror and fantasy and many of his novels and short stories have been adapted for film or TV series. Every now and then, however, King dabbles in pure science fiction, probably as a change from his normal writing. Here are five examples of sci-fi books written by Stephen King.
‘The Tommyknockers’ (1987)
This novel is a science fiction/horror story about a mysterious object found in the woods. After a resident of the Maine town trips over something metal on her land, she begins digging it up. The result is that the whole town of Haven gradually falls under the influence of the alien spacecraft, building mysterious and wonderful gadgets that eventually cause harm to those not affected. Goodreads members give the novel 3.5/5.
‘Dreamcatcher’ (2001)
Goodreads gave this one 3.6/5, but not all of King’s readers enjoyed it. The novel is a science fiction/horror story set in Derry, Maine which includes alien invasion and psychic people. King himself doesn’t like the book much and said he wrote the book under the influence of Oxycontin after he was badly injured in a car accident. It was going to be called “Cancer” but his wife Tabitha King persuaded him to change the title.
‘From a Buick 8’ (2002)
As can be told from the title, this science fiction/horror novel features a car and is told from the viewpoint of officers at a state police barracks in Pennsylvania. The story begins after the car is left at a petrol station by a mysterious driver and is stored at the barracks. However it is not really a car. Nothing in the vehicle works and anything placed in the car disappears. Also mysterious and alien creatures and things come through from another world. Goodreads gave it 3.4/5.
‘Under the Dome’ (2009)
This sci-fi novel features a small Maine town that was suddenly cut off from the outside world by an invisible barrier, or dome, that drops out of the sky. As it happened, a plane crashed and a cow was cut neatly in two halves. Trapped within its limits, the novel explores how the community continues to function, or fails. The book was made into a TV series, which did well. However, due to its popularity, they decided to carry on from where the book ended, and failed. Goodreads gives it 3.9/5.
’11.22.63’ (2011)
The story is about a history teacher who visits a friend in his diner. The friend shows him that there is a portal to the past in the storeroom and asks him to go back in time to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on 22 November 1963. Jake Epping travels to the past and tries to change other events with great difficulty. Each time he returns to the diner, the past resets. Goodreads rates it 4.31/5.
