Stephen King has been scaring the hell out of us for 40 years.
His debut novel, the epistolary classic Carrie , came out in 1974.
Now King, 67, will receive the National Medal of Arts from Barack Obama on Thursday at 3 p.m., presumably for being the number one exporter of nightmares in America.
This year's other winners include Oscar-winning actress Sally Field, renowned author Tobias Wolff, visual artist John Baldessari, and The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Expect King's novel on an evil medal that kills best-selling writers to hit book shelves next summer.
