Castle Rock (Stephen King)

Castle Rock, Maine is part of Stephen King’s fictional Maine topography and provides the setting for a number of his novels, novellas, and short stories. Built similarly to the fictional Maine towns of Jerusalem's Lot (featured in the novel 'Salem's Lot) and Derry (featured in the novels It, Insomnia, Dreamcatcher, and 11/22/63), Castle Rock is a typical small New England town with many dark secrets.

Castle Rock first appeared in the novel The Dead Zone, and has been used in several other King works since (see list below).

The name is derived from the fictional mountain fort in William Golding's earlier 1963 novel Lord of the Flies.

Fictional history

Novels set in Castle Rock depict events affecting the town, some of which have a lasting impact and influence the plotline of later works.

In The Dead Zone, which is set in the 1970s, Castle Rock is introduced as a town gripped in fear by a serial killer targeting young girls. In 1980, the town is again put on alert when a local dog, Cujo, contracts rabies and kills several residents.

Geographical location

Population of Castle Rock was 1,280 by 1959 and around 1,500 as of its final chronological appearance in Needful Things. In Creepshow (1982), there is a sign at the end of "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" that puts Portland at 37 miles, and Boston at 188 miles (it should be noted, though, that "Weeds," the short story on which "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" was based, was actually set in New Hampshire). Geographically, this puts Castle Rock in the northern hemisphere of a 37-mile radius from Portland, Maine. This could include places such as Durham, Danville, Auburn, Lewiston, Bridgton and maybe even Sabattus. A map on King's official website places Castle Rock in Oxford County, in the vicinity of Woodstock. Yet the works in which Castle Rock appears place the town in the fictional "Castle County," which also includes such towns as Castle Lake, Castle View.

Works set in Castle Rock

• The Dead Zone
• Cujo
• "The Body" (novella from Different Seasons). As written, the story is set in Castle Rock, Maine. In Stand By Me (film based on the novella), the town is in Oregon.
• "Uncle Otto's Truck" (short story which appears in Skeleton Crew)
• "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut" (short story which appears in Skeleton Crew)
• The Dark Half
• "The Sun Dog" (novella from Four Past Midnight)
• Needful Things
• "It Grows on You" (short story which appears in Nightmares & Dreamscapes)

Works referring to Castle Rock

• "Graveyard Shift" (short story which appears in Night Shift)
• Creepshow
• "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" (the narrator was a resident before his incarceration at Shawshank)
• Pet Sematary (refers to the events of Cujo which take place in Castle Rock)
• "Gramma" (short story appearing in Skeleton Crew)
• "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut" (short story appearing in Skeleton Crew)
• "Nona" (short story appearing in Skeleton Crew)
• It
• Gerald's Game
• Sleepwalkers (Sheriff calls for backup from Castle Rock)
• The Stand
• Bag of Bones (significant portions of this story are set in Castle Rock, along with Derry, Maine and on TR90 at Dark Score Lake, Maine)
• The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
• Riding the Bullet
• Dreamcatcher (refers to the Castle Rock radio station)
• "The Man in the Black Suit" (short story which appears in Everything's Eventual)
• Kingdom Hospital (Television series)
• Lisey's Story
• "N." (short story appearing in Just After Sunset)
• Under the Dome
• "Premium Harmony" (short story published in the November 2009 issue of The New Yorker)
• 11/22/63

The first film adaptation of a Stephen King story to make reference to Castle Rock was Stand by Me, an adaptation of King's novella "The Body", although that film's Castle Rock was moved to the state of Oregon. Rob Reiner, the film's director, later named his production company Castle Rock Entertainment, which subsequently produced several adaptations of King's works.

In the film adaptation of The Mist, David Drayton reads a newspaper called The Castle Rock Times.

Real Castle Rocks

The name of King's town would eventually become famous enough that it was used for a few other products other than King's writings. A monthly newsletter about Stephen King called Castle Rock was published from January 1985 through December 1989. For most of this period it was edited by King's brother-in-law, Christopher Spruce, and later by his sister-in-law, Stephanie Leonard.^{[citation needed]}

There are several real Castle Rocks in the United States, notably in southwest Washington and in Colorado, just south of Denver.

Other references

In Koushun Takami's novel Battle Royale, the town from which the ill-fated students hail is called Shiroiwa, which translates as "Castle Rock".

Castle Rock is mentioned in One on One, a 1993 novel by King's wife, Tabitha King. In an afterword, she thanks "another novelist who was kind enough to allow me" to borrow the name.

In the Game of Thrones series of novels and television programs, the stronghold of Casterly Rock may be be a reference to this.

External links

• Map of Maine from Stephen King's official website