Literary Figures: Novelists

Part II of our interview with "Mr. Horror," writer Stpehen King. He'll talk with Terry about his greatest fear, his first writing efforts and his childhood.

Part I of a two-part interview with "Mr. Horror," writer Stephen King. To date, he's written 24 novels, 19 feature films, two mini-series, and one TV movie. He ushered in a whole new era of horror with his first novel, "Carrie," published in 1974. He's got a new novel, "Gerald's Game," which deals with sadomasochism.

Straley just published his crime novel "The Woman Who Married a Bear," about a hard-drinking private eye in Sitka, Alaska who writes haiku, has a failed career, and a wife who has left him. Straley is himself a criminal investigator for the state of Alaska.

Writer Alice Walker. Her new book, "Possessing The Secret of Joy," is about Tashi, an African woman who lives most of her life in North America, and yet submits to the tribal custom of female circumcision. Walker's other books include "The Color Purple," which was made into a film starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, and "The Temple of My Familiar." The character Tashi has made peripheral appearances in those books. ("Possessing The Secret of Joy" is published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.)

Writer Francisco Goldman. He was born in Guatemala, and was raised outside of Boston. His family often returned to Guatemala for visits. After college, he returned to Guatemala to live and write, and was awakened to the brutal political reality there. He then began a career in political journalism, writing for Harper's, The New York Times Sunday Magazine and Playboy.

Nahid Rachlin. ("na-HEED ROCK-lin") She was born in Iran, but came to the United States to go to school. She decided to stay, and today lives and writes in New York. She's just published her 3rd book; her novels and stories weave together the lives of two kinds of Iranians: those who stay in their country, and those who come to America. Her first two novels, "Foreigner," and "Married To a Stranger," are both critically acclaimed. Her latest book, a collection of short stories, is called "Veils." (City Lights Books)

Novelist and screenwriter Richard Price. His screenwriting credits include "The Color of Money," "Sea of Love," and Martin Scorsese's section of "New York Stories." He's returned to novel writing with "Clockers," a murder mystery set in the world of a crack dealer in New Jersey. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt of The New York Times writes "the signal achievement of "Clockers' is to make us feel the enormous power of these giants that are drugs, alcoholism, poverty." (published by Houghton Mifflin).

Writer Terry McMillan. Her new novel, "Waiting to Exhale," (Viking) is about four strong, urban black women in their thirties, their successful careers, and their sometimes volatile relationships with black men. She says women -- both black and white -- are frustrated because they can't find a man who's willing to commit, and won't lie and cheat. Her previous novels are "Mama" and "Disappearing Acts."

Novelist Randall Kenan. He was raised in the rural, North Carolina, a part of the country in which he says "it's hard to distinguish between the myths and reality." His new book, "Let the Dead Bury Their Dead," is a collection of stories, about a five-year old who can hear the dead speak, an Asian man who falls from the sky and encounters mindless violence and racism, and a conventional widow who copes with the revelation that her grandson is a homosexual, and others.

Benjamin Cheever is the son of the late John Cheever. Ben is also a writer, and he grew up in the shadow of his father's fame. He's just written his first novel, for which he says he finally found his own voice, separate from his father's. "The Plagiarist" (Atheneum) is loosely based on Ben's life, and the time he spent working at "Reader's Digest" magazine. Ben was also the editor of "The Letters of John Cheever," published in 1988.