by Rocky Wood
The Blue Air Compressor (subject of a later chapter) is one of the earliest of King’s published works. It originally appeared in Onan magazine for January 1971; and was republished with relatively minor amendments in Heavy Metal magazine for July 1981. Some of the variations appear to be correction of typesetting errors in Onan. Others are editing and style changes. Two sections were deleted from the Heavy Metal version (one reads, “It is desperately important that the reader be made cognizant of these facts”; the other effectively corrects what King regarded as a minor error).
The Boogeyman was first published in Cavalier for March 1973 and was reprinted in Gent for December 1975. There were extremely minor revisions for its subsequent appearance in Night Shift (1978).
Cain Rose Up was first published in the Spring 1968 edition of the University of Maine literary magazine, Ubris. Considering King was a college student at that time it is not surprising he choose to completely rewrite the story for its appearance in Skeleton Crew 17 years later. One character name was changed and the original text is almost unrecognizable in places. The extra maturity in King’s writing shows between what are clearly versions of the story.
Calla Bryn Sturgis was first released on King’s official website, www.stephenking.com on 21 August 2001. Readers were told it was the Prologue to the upcoming novel, The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla but hints were provided that this would not be its final form in the book. In fact, so as not to give away certain events in the novel, there had been some careful editing and changes. The story was delivered in such substantially different form as the Prologue, Roont when the novel was published in 2003 that there is no doubt the short story is a version of the tale. More detail appears in a later chapter, Stories Swallowed by Monsters.
The Cat’s Eye screenplay (1984) is reviewed in a later chapter. It contains a wrap-around section (published in a radically different form as General in the 1997 anthology Screamplays); as well as versions of The Ledge (originally published in Penthouse for July 1976 and revised for inclusion in 1978’s Night Shift), and Quitter’s, Inc. (an original story for the Night Shift collection), both involving fairly significant changes to the original short stories.
Chattery Teeth has appeared in two distinct versions. The first was published in Cemetery Dance magazine for Fall, 1992; it was significantly revised for Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993).
Three versions of Children of the Corn exist. These are the original short story, published in Penthouse for March 1977; its republication in Night Shift (1978); and an unproduced screenplay written by King (c.1978). The Night Shift version contains a number of changes; many of them are cosmetic but a number are specifically factual, meaning that each form, including the screenplay, are separate versions. The factual changes from the short stories to the screenplay are extensive and these are discussed in a later chapter, dealing with that script.
The Crate also exists in three versions. It was originally published in Gallery magazine for July 1979. King revised the story for inclusion in his Creepshow screenplay (also 1979) and there was further alteration for its appearance in the graphic novel Creepshow (1982). The Crate is described in a later chapter.
King’s screenplay for Creepshow (subject of a later chapter) contains versions of five stories. Each story also appeared in the graphic novel Creepshow, in each case somewhat revised from the original screenplay. The stories are: Father’s Day (the only versions of the story are the screenplay and the graphic novel); The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill (known as Weeds in its text format published in two early men’s magazines); The Crate (as noted, it appeared in the screenplay, the graphic novel and Gallery magazine for July 1979, plus reprints of that version in anthologies); Something to Tide You Over (the only versions of this story are the screenplay and the graphic novel); and They’re Creeping Up on You (again, the only versions of the story are the screenplay and the graphic novel).
Crouch End first appeared in an anthology of Lovecraftian stories, New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos in 1980. It was heavily revised for its later inclusion in Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993). In the earlier version there is mention of a husband who went out for a pack of fags (English slang for cigarettes) and never came back. That is just how King’s father left his family.
King wrote screenplay versions of his novel Cujo and The Dead Zone but neither was produced. The events in both scripts differ radically from the novels. Both screenplays are covered in later chapters. He also wrote a screenplay adaptation of Cycle of the Werewolf, which was produced as Silver Bullet, more of which is below.
Dedication first appeared when King biographer Douglas E. Winter edited an anthology, Night Visions 5, released in a Limited Edition and a trade hardback in 1988. The anthology actually included three King stories, the most ever released in one volume outside one of King’s own collections. They were The Reploids, Dedication and Sneakers. Gollancz of the United Kingdom published the anthology in 1989 under the title, Dark Visions: All Original Stories. Berkley Books finally released the anthology in the US as a mass-market paperback in 1990 under yet another title, The Skin Trade. King completely re-wrote Dedication for its appearance in Nightmares and Dreamscapes. They are clearly two different versions of the same tale.
Another King screenplay is his adaptation of Desperation. Again, the storyline was changed enough to justify calling this script a version. More detail is provided in the later chapter.
Do the Dead Sing? is one of the few King stories for which the title was changed when republished. It originally appeared in Yankee magazine for November 1981. King so substantially revised it for its inclusion in Skeleton Crew, under the title The Reach, that the two are clearly separate versions of the tale. A major change was the use of the term “Do You Love?” in Skeleton Crew.
Dolan’s Cadillac was first published serially in the Castle Rock newsletter over five issues from February to June 1985. King substantially revised it for publication as a Limited Edition from Lord John Press (1989) and included that version in Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993). He also began a screenplay, which is the subject of a later chapter.
The End of the Whole Mess first appeared in Omni magazine for October 1986. King substantially rewrote it for Nightmares and Dreamscapes. As well as significant text changes, a number of facts, characters and even timelines changed in the new version.
Everything’s Eventual was initially published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction for October 1997. Uniquely, it reappeared in text form as part of the computer game, F1330 in January 1999 and then in the Everything’s Eventual collection of fourteen King stories released in 2002. There are a number of variations between the different forms of publication but not enough to represent anything more than variations within the one tale. There are some variations in characters and of one date (William Unger was asked to run for the US Senate four years later in the collected story).
The story Father’s Day appears only in the graphic novel, Creepshow (1982) and the 1979 screenplay for the movie of the same name (reviewed in a later chapter). As a result of the publishing format there are differences between the two versions.
The Fifth Quarter is another story that exists in three distinct versions, one of those not published under King’s name. The crime tale was first published in Cavalier magazine for April 1972, under the pseudonym John Swithen. Other than Richard Bachman, Swithen is the only other pseudonym for King; and The Fifth Quarter is the only story for which the Swithen pseudonym was used. Interestingly, according to Bachman’s “death notice” in the Castle Rock newsletter for May 1985, Swithen was Bachman’s half-brother! The Fifth Quarter was republished in a new version and under King’s name in The Twilight Zone Magazine for February 1986 and in a yet another version in Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993). In the latter versions John Swithen is mentioned, as a folksinger and writer.
The screenplays of General and the wrap-around parts of the Cat’s Eye script generally represent the same story but with significa
nt enough textual differences for them to be declared as separate versions of the one story. The only form of publication of General was in a 1997 anthology of horror scripts, Screamplays, edited by Richard Chizmar.
The Glass Floor was King’s first professional sale but has never been included in one of his collections. The subject of a later chapter, it first appeared in Startling Mystery Stories magazine for Fall 1967. King allowed it to be reprinted in the Fall 1990 issue of Weird Tales. As to the revision for Weird Tales, King says in a foreword to the story:
Darrell Schweitzer, the editor of Weird Tales®, invited me to make changes if I wanted to, but I decided that would probably be a bad idea. Except for two or three word-changes and the addition of a paragraph break (which was probably a typographical error in the first place), I’ve left the tale just as it was. If I really did start making changes, the result would be an entirely new story.
Gramma was originally published in Weirdbook magazine for Spring 1984; and was substantially revised for its publication in Skeleton Crew the following year. King corrected an error in that second version. On Page 6 of Weirdbook we read, “…after Gramma and Granpa had gotten married, way back in 1914 …” However, according to the implied timeline (the story is set in October 1980, Gramma was 83 and Granpa was three to four years younger than her) this means Granpa was born in 1900 or 1901 and would be 13 or 14 when he married, which is most unlikely. King deleted the reference to the marriage date in Skeleton Crew.
Here There Be Tygers was one of the first stories King published, appearing in Ubris magazine for Spring 1968. It was marginally revised for its inclusion in Skeleton Crew in 1985. There were some minor changes in character details and a small, new section was added to the later publication but these are not significant enough for the two forms to be regarded as anything other than variations.
Home Delivery, a zombie tale, was first published in an anthology, The Book of the Dead in 1989. King substantially rewrote the story for Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993). These two forms therefore represent different versions.
I Know What You Need was first published in Cosmopolitan magazine for September 1976. It was republished with minor changes and the correction of an error in Night Shift (1978). In the Cosmopolitan version Ed Hamner reappears in Liz Rogan’s life no earlier than the October following Tony Lombard’s death, “A week passed, then two, then it was October.” On page 274 Alice says, “He even knew the right psychological moment to step back into your life last September.” This error was corrected in the Night Shift version with Alice referring to October. The changes in total are minor. King also adapted this story for his unproduced Night Shift screenplay, covered in a later chapter.
I Was a Teenage Grave Robber first appeared in partial form in the mimeographed “fanzine,” Comics Review over three issues in 1965 (the fourth and final part never appeared but subscribers were sent printed pages of the concluding material). It was republished with considerable textual differences (but little change to the story-line) in another fanzine, Stories of Suspense the following year with a new title, In a Half-World of Terror. The tale is reviewed in a later chapter.
I’ve Got to Get Away was a story in People, Places and Things, a collection of eighteen short stories self-published by Stephen King and his friend Chris Chesley as the “Triad Publishing Company” in 1960, and reprinted in 1963. The Killer, published in Famous Monsters of Filmland, #202 for Spring 1994, is an apparent re-write of I’ve Got to Get Away. Both stories are subject of later chapters.
Another story with a very interesting publishing history is In the Deathroom. Its first two appearances were not in traditional mass-market books. The story was first released in the audiobook, Blood and Smoke (1999) and did not see print until its inclusion in a Book of the Month Club only publication, Secret Windows: Essays and Fiction of the Craft of Writing in 2000. Its first mass-market publication was in Everything’s Eventual (2002). There were minor variations with each form of publication but not enough for any of the forms to be regarded as a separate version.
It Grows on You exists in three versions, one of those including further variations. The first publication of the story was in Marshroots for Fall, 1973. That version was republished in Weird Tales for Summer, 1991 with minor variations (it is interesting that King amended the first version of the tale after the second version had been published). There was a significant revision of the story for its publication in Whispers #17/18 for July 1982 and this represents the second version. A very major revision for its inclusion in Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993) represents the third version. Importantly, in that last version It Grows on You becomes a Castle Rock story, earlier versions having been set in Harlow. An error was also corrected in this version. King has this to say about the revisions, prior to Nightmares and Dreamscapes, writing in 1982:31
“It Grows on You” was originally written in 1973, rewritten in 1975 for publication in a small-circulation literature magazine called Marshroots. I’ve rewritten it for a third time for its real debut, here in Whispers. It’s one of the few stories from that period that I really love …
The science fiction tale The Jaunt was originally published in The Twilight Zone Magazine for June 1981. In the Notes to Skeleton Crew King says, “This was originally for Omni, which quite rightly rejected it because the science was so wonky. It was Ben Bova’s idea to have the colonists in the story mining for water, and I have incorporated that in this version.” The Skeleton Crew version was published in 1985. As King himself noted, these two forms of publication are different versions.
Jumper was originally published in a neighborhood newspaper put out by King’s older brother David, over three parts in the winter of 1959-60, technically making it and Rush Call the earliest published of King’s works. It was republished in Secret Windows: Essays and Fiction on the Craft of Writing in 2000. According to the editors, “The stories are transcribed without the benefit of copyediting. Only the spelling has been corrected.”
L.T.’s Theory of Pets was first published in the Limited Edition collection, Six Stories in 1997. It was republished in Everything’s Eventual (2002) with what appear to be two corrections of typographical errors but no other changes.
The Lawnmower Man appears in two versions, with one of those versions varying from one publication to the other. It was first published in Cavalier magazine for May 1975 and was republished in Night Shift (1978) with minor variations. A separate version appeared as a comic in Marvel Magazine Group’s Bizarre Adventures, Volume 1, Number 29 for October 1981.
Penthouse magazine for July 1976 carried the first appearance of The Ledge. There were six very minor updates for its inclusion in Night Shift (1978). King also adapted the story in the Cat’s Eye screenplay.
A chapter of the Lisey’s Story was first published in an anthology, McSweeney’s Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories, edited by Michael Chabon and released in November 2004, as Lisey and the Madman. This section was heavily revised for the final novel (see also the note about revision of the novel above).
The only true stand alone Dark Tower short fiction piece is The Little Sisters of Eluria. It was originally published in an anthology, Legends: Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy in 1998. For inclusion in the 2002 collection Everything’s Eventual there were very minor revisions. Many of these were of style but there were a few of substance.
The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill is the title used in the graphic novel Creepshow for the story originally published as Weeds in Cavalier magazine for May 1976 and reprinted in Nugget magazine for April 1979. There are effectively three versions of this tale, when the screenplay for the Creepshow movie is taken into account.
Low Men in Yellow Coats is the Dark Tower related story that begins the collection Hearts in Atlantis. An excerpt from the story was published in Family Circle for 3 August 1999. There are three very minor wording variations between the two publications.
An intriguing little tale, The Luckey Quarte
r appears in two distinct versions. It was first published in a national newspaper, USA Weekend for 30 June to 2 July 1995. King then significantly revised the story for its publication in the Limited Six Stories (1997). That version was reprinted in the mass-market collection, Everything’s Eventual in 2002.
The darkly amusing story, Lunch at the Gotham Café, also has an interesting publishing history. It first appeared in an anthology, Dark Love in 1995 and won the Long Fiction Bram Stoker Award for 1995 from the Horror Writers Association. King then significantly revised the tale for its appearance in the Limited Edition, Six Stories in 1997. The first time the tale was practically available in mass-market form was as part of the audio book, Blood and Smoke, released in 1999, using the Six Stories version. The first mass-market text release was in the Everything’s Eventual collection in 2002. That publication included minor variations to the Six Stories version.
King won the 1996 O. Henry Award for Best American Short Story and the 1994 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction for The Man in the Black Suit. It was originally published in The New Yorker magazine for 31 October 1994 and republished with numerous minor revisions in Six Stories (1997). It was collected in Everything’s Eventual in 2002 and for that publication King made further minor revisions. As the revisions are indeed minor (for instance, there is a change of the year in which Gary wrote his story down in his diary) each form is nothing more than a variation.
