Castle Rock, Maine is a fictional town used by Stephen King as the setting for a number of his novels, novellas, and short stories. Built similarly to the prototypical King town Jerusalem's Lot (featured in the novel 'Salem's Lot), it is a typical small New England town but with several dark secrets. It first appeared in the novel The Dead Zone. King eventually decided to stop using it as the setting of his works, and ended its use with the novel Needful Things. However, it has been mentioned in later works but it has not been used as the setting again. The town may be based on King's home town of Durham, Maine and Lisbon Falls, Maine, where he attended high school.

Other 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. It was edited by King's brother in law, Christopher Spruce.

After the success of the film Stand by Me (an adaptation of King's novella The Body), director Rob Reiner decided to name his production company after King's town. This came to be known as Castle Rock Entertainment.

Works in which Castle Rock is the setting

(Note: this is an incomplete list)

• The Dead Zone
• Cujo
• The Body (novella from Different Seasons)
• 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 in which Castle Rock is referenced

• Gerald's Game
• Bag Of Bones
• The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
• "The Man in the Black Suit" (short story which appears in Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales)

See also

• Derry, Maine - King's other major fictional town
• List of fictional cities