GUN VIOLENCE. Best-selling author Stephen King decries US gun violence in his latest work. Photo by AFP

WASHINGTON, United States - Best-selling writer Stephen King, known for bloody novels filled with fictional horror and gore, made an impassioned plea Friday, January 25, for an end to real-life violence involving firearms.

In an essay entitled "Guns" and sold by Amazon.com's Kindle Store, the horror writer inveighs against "an America awash in guns," a statement said.

"If this helps provoke constructive debate, I've done my job," said King.

The article was published on a relatively new platform, Kindle Singles by Amazon.com, allowing writers to quickly publish shorter form works that might be too long for a magazine piece but too short for a book.

The essay can be purchased on the Kindle for 99 cents.

King, among the world's most popular novelists, has sold hundreds of millions of books, a number of which have been adapted into successful Hollywood movies. - Rappler.com