The Complete Stephen King Universe

by Stanley Wiater

  DON GAFFNEY: Don takes charge of Craig Toomey after Nick calms his initial outburst (Hopewell grabs Toomey by the nose, threatening to break it if he doesn’t back off). Toomey later kills Don with a letter opener.

  CRAIG TOOMEY: In introducing this character, King references certain fish that live near the ocean floor, thriving despite the tremendous pressure. Bring these fish up to the surface, however, and they explode: “Craig Toomey had been raised in his own dark trench, had lived in his own atmosphere of high pressure.” Raised by a domineering father and castrating mother, Toomey has grown into a paranoid, insecure, Type A adult. An employee of Desert Sun Banking Corporation, the self-destructive Toomey has made a disastrous investment, costing the company millions.

  Waking up on board the nearly empty plane, Toomey begins his final descent into madness. Utterly panicked, he starts bullying his fellow passengers until Nick Hopewell forcibly convinces him to back off. His paranoia reaches epic proportions; he attacks the group at the Bangor Airport. First he shoots Albert point-blank in the chest, an attempt that fails because the bullet, subject to the laws of this reality, is not propelled with enough force to hurt the boy. He later stabs Dinah with a letter opener, giving her the wound that eventually kills her; he uses the same weapon to dispatch Don Gaffney shortly thereafter.

  Toomey then tries to kill Albert but fails, taking a heavy beating in the process. Albert leaves him in the airport, but a dying Dinah rouses Craig telepathically, forcing him to rise and walk out to the airfield. Once there, he is then attacked and devoured by the Langoliers.

  ROBERT JENKINS: Introducing himself to Albert (who eventually comes to play Dr. Watson to Jenkins’s Sherlock Holmes), Jenkins says, “I write mysteries for a living. Deduction is my bread and butter, you might say.” Jenkins is thrilled by the intellectual challenge his predicament provides—his theories are usually right on the money, helping the others to remain calm and to survive in their strange new environs. Jenkins saves the day late in the game when he realizes that he and his fellow passengers must be asleep to safely cross the divide. Jenkins is presumably alive and well, still writing mystery novels.

  BETHANY SIMS: Bethany’s mom is sending her to visit her Aunt Shawna, who would most likely have placed her in a rehab center to dry out. Bethany forms a romantic bond with Albert Klausner, who becomes her knight in shining armor. Bethany is presumably alive and well, perhaps pursuing a romantic relationship with Albert.

  RUDY WARWICK: A.k.a. “the bald man,” Rudy’s main preoccupation is eating. At the Bangor Airport, he finds to his horror that the food is tasteless and all but inedible. One of the six people who survive the trauma of the journey to the land of the Langoliers, Rudy is presumed to be alive and well.

  THE LANGOLIERS: ADAPTATIONS

  Stephen King’s The Langoliers was made into a four-hour TV miniseries in 1995. Directed by Tom Holland (who also helmed the lackluster feature version of Thinner a year later), this ABC production is faithful to its source material, but comes off as an overly long episode of The Twilight Zone. The acting is competent, but surprisingly wooden for the most part. There are bright spots, however: David Morse and Dean Stockwell turn in convincing performances as Captain Engle and Bob Jenkins, and Bronson Pinchot is downright brilliant as Toomey. Like the 1990 television miniseries version of It, however, The Langoliers is diminished by cheap special effects—all the carefully wrought tension evaporates when the Langoliers, strange hybrids of Pac Men and Tasmanian Devils, appear.

  Look closely for Stephen King’s cameo as Tom Holby, senior vice president of Desert Sun Banking; the author appears in a fantasy sequence which occurs near the end of the show.

  SECTION SIX

  Other Prime Reality Tales

  The Prime Reality can be seen as the backbone of the Universe, or perhaps the main stage on which most of King’s fictional dramas are played out. Items in Other Prime Reality Tales end up there because they cannot be clearly classified as part of any of the other sections of the Prime Reality we’ve discussed. That is why, for instance, we have chosen to discuss the bulk of King’s shorter fiction in this section.

  As pointed out in the Introduction to the Dark Tower section, King himself only recently came to understand that Roland’s world did indeed contain all the others of his making. What remains to be seen, however, is just HOW all the worlds are connected. Some connections are obvious, while others are not, and only King himself can create the connective tissue that pulls all his works together into a cohesive whole. To venture forth, however, it seems reasonable to connect all of the material in this section to the rest of the Prime Reality. In doing so, we can then logically presume, based on other examples, that they are likewise connected beyond the Prime to the Realities of The Dark Tower, The Stand, and Richard Bachman.

  That said, we can examine some of the works within this section in a little more detail, and mention briefly how they fit in. Some connections are explicit, some are a little more tenuous, but valid nonetheless. Some are not readily apparent, but someday might be made clear.

  The first entry deals with The Shining, a book about a boy with a wild talent. It certainly must be evident to most at this point that King’s Universe contains numerous examples of people with similar talents, described in such novels as Carrie, The Dead Zone, Firestarter, and another book described in this section, The Green Mile. A more explicit connection lies in one of the book’s main characters, Dick Hallorann, who briefly lived in Derry during his military service in World War II.

  Dick, of course, is instrumental in helping Danny Torrance defeat the evil that permeates the Overlook Hotel, an evil very reminiscent of that which saturates another famous King edifice, ’Salem’s Lot’s Marsten House. Dick and Danny’s battle could very well be another, although lesser, skirmish in the eternal war between good and evil, which, as we know, is the overarching theme and plot in the Stephen King Universe. This case could also be made for the events detailed in The Green Mile, which features the miracle worker John Coffey, surely a soldier for good in the never-ending war between the Random and the Purpose.

  Rose Madder is another example of the connections. As you will read, the title character of that novel visits a world within a painting, a world that, because of references a resident of that world makes to the City of Lud, we strongly suspect is Roland’s. This is not the first or the last time that realities have spilled over into one another, as demonstrated by Randall Flagg’s reality-hopping, or by Roland’s brief foray into the world of The Stand, chronicled in The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass.

  Further connections within the Prime Reality itself spring from Paul Sheldon, bestselling author and protagonist of the novel Misery. Sheldon’s books are mentioned in both Rose Madder and Desperation. Thus, since Rose Madder is connected to the Reality of the Dark Tower, then by virtue of the Paul Sheldon connection, so is Misery. A similar argument can be made to connect the Prime Reality to the Reality of King’s pseudonymous Richard Bachman novels. The Prime Reality’s Desperation chronicled events that parallel similar goings-on in the Bachman Reality novel The Regulators. There is also an explicit connection between Paul Sheldon and Eddie Kaspbrak from It, mentioned in Misery.

  As mentioned above, this reality also contains most of King’s shorter work, which tends to be more eclectic and quirky than his novels. Thus, we consider King’s numerous short story collections in this section (though some stories have been removed and reassigned to their proper Realities, where possible). Night Shift, for instance, features two stories, “Jerusalem’s Lot” and “One for the Road,” that can be taken respectively as prologue and epilogue to the novel ’Salem’s Lot. Nightmares & Dreamscapes also features “The Night Flier,” a story starring Richard Dees, who figured prominently in The Dead Zone.

  King playing with the Rock Bottom Remainders SUSANNE MOSS

  Six Stories also contains “Blind Willie,” a precursor to a story that appeared in Hearts in Atlantis, linking that volume to the Reality o
f The Dark Tower via Hearts’ novella Low Men in Yellow Coats. Four Past Midnight contains references to The Shop (a casual comment from one of the passengers in The Langoliers), Castle Rock (The Sun Dog is set there), and Derry (the unfortunate soul at the center of “Secret Window, Secret Garden” used to live there before his divorce). There is also a link between Four Past Midnight and Needful Things, as readers are informed at the end of the latter that Leland Gaunt has set up shop in the Junction City, Iowa, building that once housed Sam Peebles’s (from “The Library Policeman”) insurance office.

  Finally, Everything’s Eventual contains both the title story, featuring Dinky Earnshaw (who would later show up in the Dark Tower series), and the Dark Tower novella Little Sisters of Eluria. “Autopsy Room Four” takes place in Derry.

  With all the connections that exist between the books, and King’s own declaration that his works are connected, it seems evident that the cosmic war for the fate of the multiverse, the battle between the Random and the Purpose, will go on. We can hypothesize, then, that though certain stories will seem distantly removed from that cosmic struggle, all of the works are connected. The battle goes on, and nowhere on a more individual level than the Prime Reality of the Stephen King Universe, in Castle Rock, Derry, and King’s Maine as a whole, all around the world in this parallel dimension where the author has spent the lion’s share of his time and energy.

  Here, then, are Other Prime Reality Tales.

  38

  THE SHINING

  (1977)

  If ’Salem’s Lot (1975) can be rightly judged as one of the finest contemporary treatments of the vampire legend ever written, Stephen King once again hit the bull’s-eye only two years later with The Shining, which many critics regard as one of the greatest contemporary ghost stories in the history of the genre. Yet even if the supernatural element were completely removed—and this is where King’s often overlooked strengths as a mainstream writer quickly become evident—the story would be no less powerful or tragic … and no less terrifying.

  The Shining, on the surface, concerns the old Overlook Hotel, situated high in the Colorado Rockies. In spite of its national ranking, the massive resort has had a violent history and is rumored to be haunted by a sinister presence. Because of the severe winters cutting off the only access road to the summit, it is closed for several months of the year. A caretaker is hired annually to maintain the facility until it reopens in the spring. The caretaker’s family is required to stay with that person, as the solitude in the high mountains can sometimes make a person go a little bit off the deep end with an extreme case of “cabin fever.”

  The new family hired for this winter are the Torrances: Jack, his wife, Wendy, and their son, five-year-old Danny. Jack, currently in between careers, is appointed by a sympathetic friend to oversee the Overlook Hotel with his family. None of them have any interest in legends of the supernatural or ghosts. Unfortunately, this small family is already haunted by various emotional and psychological problems that make them perfect potential victims for whatever diabolism is hovering about the Overlook.

  Jack Torrance is a former (i.e., fired) teacher at the Stovington Preparatory Academy who believes that the months of isolation will only aid him to write a Pulitzer Prize–winning play. But an always supportive Wendy is well aware that privately her husband is deeply troubled. He has such monumental doubts about himself as a man, a husband, and a father that he tends to drink to excess. And when he does so, he tends to lose control of his inner rages and become both verbally and physically abusive toward his wife and son. But since there is no alcohol kept in the Overlook during the winter off-season, Wendy has convinced herself that Jack can find the peace of mind to both write and become close once again to her and their troubled youngster.

  Little Danny has his own nearly overwhelming concerns. He has disturbing visions, which cannot be rationally explained. In fact, the child has an amazing psychic gift, which, he is told by the Overlook’s friendly cook, Dick Hallorann, is called “the shining.” The elderly Hallorann admits he has never seen anyone have such a powerful grasp of the power at such a young age. But it’s a dark gift, even though it allows Danny to see glimpses of the future. However, the grisly sights he witnesses often deal with episodes of the utmost violence and horror.

  On top of everything, there is a powerful, evil presence waiting patiently for those who overstay their welcome at the Overlook. It craves young Danny most of all, hoping to harness his tremendous psychic powers. Yet the presence realizes that because the boy’s father is so weak at heart, it is easier to possess Jack first to more swiftly destroy this already highly fragile family unit.

  For it’s the accelerating destruction of the family that is of the greatest concern to King in The Shining. Indeed, in much of the Stephen King Universe, families are often shown as being broken or dysfunctional in some manner. In Carrie (1974) and ’Salem’s Lot (1975), for example, young people are often portrayed as growing up without caring parents, or if they have a mother or a father, they are perhaps better off without them. Monsters can come in many forms and guises—they can sometimes be the people we are supposed to love.

  Throughout this work, King depicts young Danny as being in as much danger from his own mentally unbalanced father as he would be from his recurring supernatural visions. It is by making the mundane horrors of child abuse, alcoholism, mental illness, and spousal abuse so terribly plausible that the author is effectively able to take us one step further over the edge to where the reader will readily accept that anything can happen to the Torrances. And if bad things can befall good people like them, why couldn’t they occur to any one of us?

  Just on a level of inducing palpable fear into the reader, The Shining may be considered King’s masterpiece of horror to date. Many critics feel it is truly one of the most frightening novels ever published. Simply stated, anyone who reads of Danny’s awful encounter with the dead woman in Room 217 will never forget it. As King has stated in interviews, “I create people you care about—and then I turn the monsters loose.”

  From a geographical viewpoint, The Shining is unusual in its placement in the Stephen King Universe primarily because it is not set in Maine. (Though if King had not chosen to base the Overlook on a real hotel in Colorado that he once visited, it most certainly could have been situated somewhere in rural northern New England.) Yet, because so much of the action takes place within a single isolated setting, for once it does not really matter in which state the novel is set. Even so, it would be unusual in future works for King to stray very far afield from the geographical locations in Maine that he knew so well.

  On the other hand, this would not be the last time that King’s protagonist would be a writer. (Ben Mears of ’Salem’s Lot was a moderately successful author.) In such future works as Misery (1987), The Dark Half (1987), and Bag of Bones (1998), the main character would also be an author, although each would be a far more successful wordsmith than the doomed Jack Torrance is here. Again, the unique trials and tribulations of a working writer are all part of an occupation that King is highly qualified to explore.

  THE SHINING: PRIMARY SUBJECTS

  DANNY TORRANCE: A shy five-year-old boy who is gifted—or cursed—with the precognitive power called “the shining.” Like his parents, he is trapped for the winter in the Overlook Hotel with an unseen evil presence. When the hotel blows up, killing his possessed father in the process, Danny escapes with his mother and the hotel cook. He is last seen recovering from the terrifying experience at a lodge in western Maine.

  TONY: Danny’s imaginary friend, Tony warns Danny when something bad is about to happen. In times of stress, he often murmurs the dire word “redrum.” (Spell it backward.) It should be noted that Danny Torrance’s middle name is Anthony.

  JACK TORRANCE: A failed teacher, a recovering drunk, an unsuccessful writer, a desperate husband, and an occasionally abusive father, Jack views coming to the Overlook as his last chance to straighten out his life and prove
his worth to himself, his wife, and their son. Regrettably, the loathsome presence of the Overlook knows all too well that Jack will make a perfect vessel through which to obtain the raw psychic power that exists within his son. Jack tries to fight off the demons within him and around him, but ultimately is taken over by the horrific presence. After trying to kill Wendy and Danny—and Dick Hallorann—Jack dies in the explosion that destroys the hotel.

  WENDY TORRANCE: Jack’s submissive wife and Danny’s overly protective mothers, she must do battle against the growing madness of her husband and the horrors of the Overlook. In the end she survives with her son, but loses her husband to the demons who had possessed him and the Overlook.

  DICK HALLORANN: The head cook of the Overlook, he also has “the shining” and instructs Danny on how to use the power and what its limitations are. A tall, middle-aged African-American, he rescues Danny and his mother, Wendy, at the Overlook resort when the boy “calls” to him, using his psychic powers. Hallorann survives the attack by a possessed Jack Torrance and the destruction of the cursed hotel. Later, he settles in as a cook at the Red Arrow Lodge in Maine.

  DELBERT GRADY: A previous caretaker of the Overlook. The spectres in the hotel eventually drove him mad, and he murdered his two young daughters with an ax and did in his wife with a shotgun. After blowing his brains out with the same weapon, he becomes a ghost himself—a permanent guest—at the Overlook.