斯蒂芬‧金 Stephen King

一九四七年齣生於美國緬因州波特蘭市，後在緬因州州立大學學習英國文學，畢業後因工資菲薄而走上寫作之路。自一九七三年齣版第一部長篇小說《魔女嘉莉》後，迄今已著有四十多部長篇小說和兩百多部短篇小說。其作品是近年來美國暢銷書排行榜上的常客，還被翻譯成三十多種語言。有超過百部影視作品取材自他的小說。他因此被譽為“現代驚悚小說大師”。

一九九九年，斯蒂芬‧金遭遇嚴重車禍，僥幸大難不死。在康復後，他又立刻投入寫作。二○○三年，他獲得美國國傢圖書基金會頒發的“傑齣貢獻奬”。其後又先後獲得世界奇幻文學奬“終身成就奬”和美國推理作傢協會“愛倫•坡奬”的“大師奬”。

在斯蒂芬‧金的眾多作品中，以曆時三十餘年纔終於完成的奇幻巨著“黑暗塔”係列（共七捲）最為壯觀，也最受金迷推崇，書裏的人物與情節，散見於斯蒂芬‧金的其它小說中，堪稱他最重要的作品。

目前斯蒂芬‧金與妻子居住於緬因州。

On to entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, impact a gardener's hand is severed as "The Dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the town neighboring are divided from their families, and cars explode on. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when - or if - it will go away.

Barbara Dale, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens - town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing - even murder - to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time is not just short. It's running out.