Stephen King, Cher, Steve Martin, Sir Patrick Stewart: the fight for the title of best septuagenarian on Twitter (and possibly the dream lineup for an actual fight) has been decidedly won by King this week. After the Maine newspaper the Portland Press Herald announced that it would cut its reviews section dedicated to books by local writers, the horror author urged his 5.1m followers to pressure them: “Tell the paper DON’T DO THIS.”
The newspaper promised to keep the section if it got 100 new subscribers; within 48 hours, it had 200 and journalism was saved. Moral of the story: take out that Guardian subscription, guys.
For all the horrors that have emerged from social media – trolling, misogyny etc – King’s tweets are a beacon of hope. “Someone asked me if there are books/movies/TV shows I DON’T like. There are plenty, but I don’t write about them,” he tweeted. “‘Don’t say nuthin’ if you got nuthin’ good to say’ is pretty fair advice.”
His Twitter feed is a joyful celebration of other people’s work: TV shows such as Birdbox(“I was absolutely riveted”), The Man in High Castle (“Just wonderful”) and The Haunting of Hill House(“Close to a work of genius”). He is notoriously generous with new authors and is a prolific blurb-writer. He tweets about them, too: Thomas Perry’s The Bomb Maker and Dry by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman got mentioned recently.
And yet King is also unashamedly crotchety – particularly when it comes to punching up: “My newest horror story: Once upon a time there was a man named Donald Trump, and he ran for president. Some people wanted him to win.” (Zing.) He took on Arron Banks for calling JK Rowling’s writing room “pretentious”: “I have a writing room. Actually, it’s a one-room studio. There’s even a couch. And if you think that’s pretentious, go fuck yourself.”
When Republican senator Ted Cruz called him a “limousine liberal”, this epitome of the American Dream, who went from toiling novelist in a trailer park to become the world’s bestselling author – responded: “Come on up to Maine, Ted, I’ll give you a ride on my Harley. It was made in America before your boy Trump fucked up the company.”
So, all praise Stephen King, who uses his powers for good and not evil. “Thanks to everybody who subscribed to the Portland Press Herald,” he tweeted on Monday. “You saved the day. There are countries where the arts are considered vital. Too bad this isn’t one of them. The paper thanked you guys. Also thanked me. (And misspelled my name.)” Perhaps it’s a plea for more sub-editors?
