SOURCE: "Stephen King: Making Burgers with the Best," in los Angeles Times Book review, August 29, 1982, p. 7.

Atchity is an American poet, editor, educator, and critic. In the following review, he offers a positive assessment of Different Seasons.

In the afterword to [Different Seasons], Stephen King calls his "stuff " "fairly plain, not very literary, and sometimes (although it hurts like hell to admit it) downright clumsy." He summarizes a career of horror novels as "plain fiction for plain folks, the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and a large fries from McDonald's."

To find the secret of his success, you have to compare King to Twain, Poe—with a generous dash of Philip roth and Will Rogers thrown in for added popular measure. King's stories tap the roots of myth buried in all our minds. No wonder he's popular: He understands people.

King's visionary flights in these four novellas...