Stephen, King of England of their castles in England. This threat was backed up by the arrest of the bishops, with the exception of Nigel who had taken refuge in Devizes Castle; the bishop only surrendered after Stephen besieged the castle and threatened to execute Roger le Poer. The remaining castles were then surrendered to the King. Stephen's brother, Henry of Blois, was alarmed by this, both as a matter of principle, since Stephen had previously agreed in 1135 to respect the freedoms of the church, and more pragmatically because he himself had recently built six castles and had no desire to be treated
Stephen King called Richard Matheson "the author who influenced me most as a writer." In a current edition of Matheson's "The Shrinking Man", King is quoted: "A horror story if there ever was one...a great adventure story—it is certainly one of that select handful that I have given to people, envying them the experience of the first reading." Ray Bradbury is another influence, with King himself stating "without Ray Bradbury, there is no Stephen King". King refers to H. P. Lovecraft several times in "Danse Macabre". "Gramma", a short story made into a film in the 1980s anthology horror show "The New