Talisman

The protagonist of Talisman, Jack Sawyer, discovers the existence of this other world as his mother dies of cancer, and sets off on a journey across half of the United States to try to save her. He receives help from the mysterious blues player Speedy Parker, who reveals to him that his mother – known in our world as the “Queen of B-movies” – is also, in fact, the real queen in the Territory, also sick and dying, and that by saving one of them, Jack will actually save both of them.

This construction, which in the hands of less gifted authors would have seemed tasteless and generic, under the pens of King and Straub becomes simultaneously a metaphor for growing up, a critique of modern technological society, and a commentary on the difference between a child's world, symbolized by fantastic Territories that are smaller than our world, but also sharper and stronger, and thus its wonders are more beautiful, but its dangers are more terrible than those that can be encountered in the "ordinary" world - and the world of adults, who, with their materialistic and ruthless approach, can destroy everything, and even make the magic of childish fantasy terrifying.

At the same time, a nostalgic dedication to the childhood of the authors themselves - and the novel itself is dedicated to their mothers - this work stands out among other works by Stephen King precisely for the three-dimensionality of the image it brings, both of the world that surrounds us, and of that other, inner world that we all carry within ourselves.