Stephen King has long been one of the world's most popular authors, not to mention one of the most prolific. In his earlier years, he churned out so many stories, the vast majority of them horror books, that some were bound to be weak. And indeed some of his books were sub-par ("Firestarter," "Christine," and "Cujo" come to mind). But don't allow these works, and indeed the genre of these works, to distract from the fact that Stephen King has not only written many excellent books, but many excellent non-horror books. If you were to begin reading Stephen King, I would start with the following three books in order as a beginning, before moving on to the rest of his vast oeuvre:

1) "Different Seasons" - "Different Seasons" is an early collection of four novellas, three of which have already been made into films. These are "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" (filmed as the excellent "Shawshank Redemption"), "The Body" (filmed as "Stand By Me"), "Apt Pupil" (filmed as the same name), and a short piece, "The Breathing Method." While this last story is relatively forgettable, the first three are not. "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" is an excellent tale of friendship told throughout the years in Shawshank prison. "The Body" is an extremely autobiographical story of four boys who go camping in the woods looking for a dead body. If you notice, neither is a horror story. Rather they are very moving dramas, which is precisely why you should read these stories first, in order to "ease" you into the more graphic nature of many of King's works. "Apt Pupil," I believe, is one of King's most unforgettable stories, totally ruined in the film version. The tale of a young boy who befriends an ex-Nazi is truly horrifying without being a typical "horror" story. "Apt Pupil" is an extraordinarily disturbing but important short novel.

2) "Carrie" - You may have seen Brian DePalma's excellent film version of Stephen King's first published novel, but that should not dissuade you from reading the book. This story follows an outcast girl who has telekenetic power, as she is taunted and teased by her classmates in high school. The book leads up to a heartbreaking and horrifying climax at the senior prom. While the novel reflects the fact that it is King's earliest through some choppy and sometimes sloppy writing, it is also a revenge story that probably addresses the way many of us felt about high school. It is a relatively short work and again should serve more as a transition into the rest of King's works. Now you are ready to dive into the meat of his books.

3) "The Stand" - Enough of this "easing you" into King's books. Now it is time to take a bite out of the juiciest novel Stephen King has ever written. "The Stand" is the incredibly epic story of a plague that sweeps through the modern world, killing 99% of the people in it. Of that last 1% left alive in America, the people are split between good and evil, and are drawn towards two different communities: Boulder, CO for the good, and Las Vegas, NV (appropriately) for the bad. And that is just the beginning of this thousand-plus-page book. Do not let the size of the book intimidate you, it moves quickly and every word is important to the story. You will get to know a vast array of very real characters and you will find yourself imagining exactly how you would deal with if such an epidemic were to occur. A fantastic novel for the modern era, "The Stand," along with "Different Seasons" and "Carrie," should show you that Stephen King is an author capable of writing a wide variety of stories, none of which has to be considered "horror."