Q&A with Hans-Åke Lilja, author of Stephen King: Not Just Horror

Q&A with Hans-Åke Lilja, author of Stephen King: Not Just Horror

Why did you write Stephen King: Not Just Horror?


- My Swedish publisher wanted me to write a book about Stephen King and I agreed but at first I couldn’t find a good topic. There are a ton of books about King and I didn’t just want to write about something that had already been written about but then I remembered that when I give lectures about King the biggest reaction I get is when I tell people that he is the author that has written the books that the movies The Green Mile, Stand By Me and Shawshank Redemption is based on and then it hit me. No one has written about that focus on the stuff that King has done that is not horror and that gave me the angle that I needed for the book.



You mention Sweden, that is where you live right?

Yes. I live with my family in Sweden and even though Sweden is a good country in many ways it would have been so much easier to be a King fan in the US than in Sweden. Don’t get me started.



This is not your first book about Stephen King right?

No, it’s actually my 4th. The first one is called Lilja’s Library – The World of Stephen King : The book (2010) and is a collection of interviews and reviews from my site, the second The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Trivia Book (2013) I did with Brian Freeman and Kevin Quigley. Then I did the anthology Shining in the Dark (2020) with King’s story The Blue Air Compressor. That one has been released in 17 languages around the world.



Speaking about Lilja’s Library – The World of Stephen King. Tell me about that site.

I have been running the site since 1996 so in 2024 it’ll be 28 years. I report on everything that has to do with King and his works. I try to keep the site as updated as possible and hope that my readers know that they can come there to find the latest about King and everything he do.



Did you ever think you would run the site for so long?

No, I didn’t even think about it when I started the site. I started it because I didn’t find the King site I wanted at the moment. But it’s been fun, and I’ll keep running it as long as it keeps being fun.



Back to Stephen King: Not Just Horror. Who should read it?

I think King nerds (I use nerds in a positive way) like me will enjoy it and learn something new, but I also think that people who are curious about Stephen King or just want to learn a bit more about him will also enjoy it. It’s an easy read and I think that will make it appealing for most people who like to read.



It’s a pretty thin book?

It is. I felt that I had covered what I wanted to cover, and I didn’t want to just put stuff in there that didn’t follow the thread (non-scary stuff) that I had for the book. Otherwise I could have merged it with my next book but I wanted to keep the focus of the book clear and clean.



Did you ever consider writing a book that covered all of King’s books?

I have and I did but that is an exhausting thought. The man has written 88 books and number 89 is coming in 2024. Imagine how much time it would take to go through all those books and find interesting stuff to write about each of them. It would be a fun project, but it would take (me at least) years to get it done with a result that I would feel comfortable with releasing. More competent writers than me have tried and failed.



The book has a preface by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist. How did that happen?

I know John and he read an early draft of the book and liked it. I said that if he wanted to write a preface I’d love to include it and he did.



You mentioned that you have another book on the way?

Yes! In 2024 I’m releasing a book called Stephen King: Stories from Five Decades of Storytelling. It’s the same style as Stephen King: Not Just Horror but focus on the five decades that King has been a published author.