The Complete Stephen King Universe

by Stanley Wiater

  Annie Wilkes, it turns out, is a female Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Her mood swings are abrupt and unpredictable—sweet and solicitous one moment, furious and violent the next. Sheldon later learns her anger found unfortunate outlets. It seems that many of Annie’s charges have died over the years, usually under mysterious circumstances. Somewhat brazenly, Annie has kept a scrapbook detailing these incidents.

  Speaking with Paul, Annie is dismayed to discover that his new novel is not the new chapter in the Misery saga. Possessed of a peculiar temperament that includes a strong revulsion to obscenities, Annie is further shocked when she reads Sheldon’s new mainstream novel. How could her beloved creator of Misery Chastain be the writer of such utter filth? Convinced that he has been delivered to her by the hand of God, Annie demands that he burn the only existing copy of Fast Cars. If he does not, he will suffer the consequences personally.

  But Paul’s suffering does not end even after he reluctantly complies with his captor’s wishes. Annie, who only can afford paperbacks and has thus not yet heard of Misery’s “retirement,” becomes totally enraged when she learns that her beloved heroine dies at the end of Misery’s Child, which she only recently purchased. Threatening further psychological and physical torture, Annie buys Sheldon a used typewriter and several reams of typing paper and instructs him to write a new Misery novel, to be titled Misery’s Return. And the Lord have mercy on Paul Sheldon’s slowly healing legs if he doesn’t deliver a book that meets her expectations.

  Trapped in his room, addicted to the painkillers he must take to bear up to the constant pain, and totally cut off from the rest of the world, Paul employs his creative as well as his physical powers to stay alive.

  Plotting his escape, Paul takes perverse pleasure in devising the best Misery novel ever, as he is literally writing as if his life depends on how the tale pleases his number-one fan.

  Misery fits well into the Stephen King Universe in that it deals with several themes that appear repeatedly in other works, most predominantly the idea of life not being fair and how accidents control our lives—not our will or desires. Although Annie Wilkes is a sadistic monster, she is also a tragic figure who, on one level, realizes that she is ill. Annie has accepted that she is destined to lead a miserable existence filled with loneliness and despair. Although life has treated her poorly, she finds solace in reading the Misery saga. To have her favorite writer kill off her beloved Misery is a blow she can barely stand.

  Paul Sheldon, meanwhile, has found great success in writing in a genre he really doesn’t respect and secretly wishes he could escape. But if he doesn’t create the ultimate Misery novel for his number-one fan, he will never live to write anything else. It’s an ironic situation of having to appease one’s fans before you can be allowed to please yourself as a creative individual. Of course, if his Misery saga hadn’t been commercially successful, then he also might never have had a chance to write something as potentially financially risky as another “serious” mainstream novel.

  It is a situation to which Stephen King surely can relate, as he has been asked by critics repeatedly throughout his career when he was going to abandon the “scary stuff” and write something “serious” and “literary.” To his credit, King has always been proud to be a horror writer—but he has also never wished to be typed as someone who can perform successfully only in that genre.

  Yet it can certainly be argued that the fame, fortune, and acclaim he has received as “the world’s most popular horror writer” has been a double-edged sword. For a time, King must have wondered if the only way he would be accepted by his hundreds of millions of fans would be in the role of literary boogeyman. (This is, of course, part of the reason he created the alter ego of Richard Bachman, so that he could publish novels that were clearly not in the horror genre, with the obvious exception of 1984’s Thinner.) In many ways, King was addressing several issues in Misery that only a celebrated writer would ever have to deal with, in terms of fame, fortune—and the occasional deranged fan.

  Misery is also a gripping psychological study in which former nurse Annie Wilkes is not the only monster Paul Sheldon must combat. The novelist has his share of inner demons and personality quirks. He is not quite “all there” either, at least in the sense that he almost exclusively defines himself by what he does for a living—writing, creating characters out of whole cloth, then living in their imaginary worlds until the story or novel is done.

  Misery was clearly inspired by events in King’s own life—he has been stalked by obsessive fans, and his home has been invaded by someone claiming to have a bomb. In 1980, he reportedly signed one of his books for a stranger who actually did call himself King’s “number-one fan.” That lost soul was Mark Chapman, who would later earn his place in history by shooting John Lennon shortly thereafter.

  Once asked what he thought about being a world-famous writer, King curtly replied, “Being famous sucks.”

  Signing at Betts Bookstore BETH GWINN

  MISERY: PRIMARY SUBJECTS

  PAUL SHELDON: A successful novelist with few friends or acquaintances outside the publishing industry, Paul has reached the top of the best-seller lists by writing a series of historical romances starring the plucky heroine Misery Chastain. Feeling stifled by his genre work, Sheldon decides to free himself of the character by having her die in the latest saga, Misery’s Child. While trapped at Annie Wilkes’s farm near Sidewinder, Colorado, he writes his best Misery novel even while desperately trying to find a means of escape. When his captor purposely cripples—“hobbles” is the old slave term—Sheldon by first mutilating his foot and then one of his hands, the writer realizes it is only a matter of time before she will eventually kill him. Surviving the ordeal by killing the woman in a brutal fight, he suffers the irony of becoming a better writer for enduring the horrible experience by publishing the Misery novel he wrote for Annie Wilkes. Of course, he also finds himself more typecast and potentially vulnerable to the next “number-one fan” he might encounter one day. Paul Sheldon currently resides somewhere in New York City.

  ANNIE WILKES: Large, unattractive, and obese, Annie is also hopelessly insane. In her midforties when she kidnaps Paul Sheldon, her homicidal tendencies have been with her since she was a teenage babysitter, when she apparently set fire to the home of the three children she had been hired to watch. Keeping a scrapbook called Memory Lane, she fills it with various accounts of the people she has known, and the places around the country where she has been employed as a nurse. Unfortunately, almost every account deals with a sudden and violent death—but all of them are dismissed by the local authorities as tragic accidents. The deceased include her own father, a roommate at nursing school, and literally dozens of patients at the various hospitals where she has been employed.

  An avid reader to pass the lonely hours, Annie has read all eight of Paul Sheldon’s novels, but had reread his four Misery titles dozens of times. In her madness, she sees herself as Sheldon’s lover, mentor, and muse. As she swings back and forth between sanity and insanity, she displays a venomous temper that can quickly morph into a murderous rage. When she realizes that Sheldon is trying to escape her rural home, she hobbles him.

  Annie is killed after a desperate battle with Paul Sheldon. But her death was not in vain—without her, Misery Chastain would never have come back from the dead, to the delight of her millions of fans.

  MISERY: ADAPTATIONS

  The 107-minute movie version of Misery was released in 1990, and has the distinction of being the first adaptation of a Stephen King novel to win an Academy Award. The Oscar went to actress Kathy Bates, who did a masterful job of playing the Jekyll/Hyde character of Annie Wilkes. James Caan, best known for his tough-guy roles in such films as The Godfather (1972) and The Killer Elite (1975), turned in an equally strong performance in the role of Paul Sheldon.

  The R-rated picture was directed by Rob Reiner, who had already done a superior job in 1986 with an earlier King story, Stand by Me (based on the n
ovella The Body from 1982’s Different Seasons). The author was reportedly extremely pleased with the way the second screen production with Reiner turned out, as he had been with Stand by Me. (In an article for Entertainment Weekly published in 1999, the author listed the movie as one of his ten personal favorite screen adaptations.)

  What is most interesting is how Academy Award–winning screenwriter William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men) deftly modified the novel to bring it to the big screen. Except for the last few pages, when Sheldon is seen back in New York trying to get a new novel under way, virtually the entire story takes place inside the home of Annie Wilkes. In many ways, the novel is set up like a two-character play on a single claustrophobic set. What Goldman did was to purposely open up the story by creating the characters of Sidewinder’s Sheriff Buster (Richard Farnsworth) and his deputy-wife Virginia (Frances Sternhagen), who spend much of their time searching for the missing novelist. He also opened and closed the story with Sheldon’s meetings with high-powered literary agent Marcia Sindell (Lauren Bacall).

  In addition, Goldman toned down some of the extreme physical tortures that Annie Wilkes puts Sheldon through, most notably in the scene where she breaks his ankles with a sledgehammer so he can’t walk again. (In the novel, she practically shears off a foot with an axe and then cauterizes the gaping wound with a blowtorch.)

  Goldman also has Paul Sheldon destroying his only copy of Misery’s Return in his climactic fight with Annie Wilkes. Therefore, when he returns to New York to recuperate, he spends his time writing the mainstream literary novel he had always been hoping he would write again someday. Finally he is freed of the “curse” of Misery and can realize his career goal of being a serious novelist. In King’s novel, however, Paul Sheldon had not destroyed the only copy of the manuscript, and so when it is published, it makes him only richer and more famous than ever before as the creator of Misery.

  In an odd way, one could justifiably say that bestselling author William Goldman had chosen a more plausible fate for bestselling author Paul Sheldon than even Stephen King may have thought possible.

  MISERY: TRIVIA

  • On the original paperback edition, a second, interior cover is actually a lavishly rendered version of Misery’s Return, in which the intrepid suitor is cradling Misery lovingly in his arms. The distinctive face on that dashing hero belongs to none other than Stephen King!

  • A Mrs. Kaspbrak was a neighbor of Sheldon’s family when he was a child. This may mean that Sheldon may have known Eddie Kaspbrak, a character who appears in It (1986).

  • Due to its realistic themes and dark ending, Stephen King originally intended Misery to be published as a Richard Bachman novel.

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  FOUR PAST MIDNIGHT

  (1990)

  It’s inevitable that Four Past Midnight be compared to Different Seasons (1982). The comparison is not very apt, however. It’s true that, like the prior collection, Four Past Midnight gathers four of Stephen King’s longer, novella-length works together. But unlike Different Seasons, which contained three more or less mainstream stories, Four Past Midnight features four terrifying journeys into the fantastic, and the truly horrific.

  [NOTE: Secret Window, Secret Garden is discussed in the Jerusalem’s Lot and King’s Maine section, The Sun Dog is discussed in the Castle Rock section, and The Langoliers is discussed in the Tales of The Shop section.]

  The Library Policeman

  In his Note preceding The Library Policeman, King reveals that this entry had its genesis in an exchange he had one morning with his son Owen. The boy needed a book for school; his father quite naturally suggested a visit to the library. Owen was reluctant to do so, because he feared the Library Police, maniacal enforcers who actually come to patrons’ houses if they fail to return their loaned-out books on time. This story delighted King, who had heard similar tales in his youth. Starting to craft a story around the idea, the author realized that the Library Police were mere stand-ins for other, darker fears; thus, The Library Policeman developed into a tale about childhood trauma and secret shame.

  Like The Sun Dog, the novella The Library Policeman is about growing up. In The Sun Dog, Kevin becomes an adult in a moment of stress and terror. Sam Peebles differs from Kevin, however, in that his moment of stress and terror actually retards his growth into a mature adult, keeping him from trusting those around him. Like Secret Window, Secret Garden, however, it’s also a tale about repressed memory. This was a hotly debated topic at the beginning of the 1990s—when real-life horror stories about unspeakable memories began resurfacing decades after the alleged incident, producing a psychiatric cottage industry in uncovering so-called “repressed” memories. In this story, at least, King seems to be saying we should extend to these children the benefit of the doubt.

  The Rock Bottom Remainders relaxing SUSANNE MOSS

  THE LIBRARY POLICEMAN: PRIMARY SUBJECTS

  SAM PEEBLES: Everything, Sam Peebles decides later, is the fault of “the god damned acrobat.” The acrobat, who is scheduled to perform at a Rotary Club meeting, breaks his neck, leaving a hole in the schedule. Strong-armed by a friend, realtor Sam Peebles agrees to substitute as a guest speaker. Finishing a draft, he shows it to his secretary, Naomi Higgins, who, suggesting he punch it up with quotes, sends him to the library. There he meets an odd librarian, Ardelia Lortz, who recommends Best Loved Poems of the American People and The Speakers Companion. A grateful Sam checks those books out. As he leaves, Miss Lortz admonishes him to return the books on time—after all, she wouldn’t want to be forced to send the Library Policeman after him.

  His speech is a rousing success. Basking in the glow, Sam forgets all about the library books. After receiving threatening calls from Ardelia, he searches for the books, and, to his dismay, determines that they must have accidentally been tossed out with the recycling. Traveling to the library to make amends, Sam is surprised when he enters—it’s the same place, but with a more modern feel. Inquiring after Ardelia, Sam is informed that nobody by that name is employed there.

  Doing some research, Sam realizes he has had an encounter with a ghost, the spirit of a vicious woman who committed a handful of murders several years before. Ardelia also has a powerful ally; she sends the Library Policeman to terrorize Sam.

  Ardelia is actually a creature who feeds on fear. Sam discovers that the only way to combat her is by confronting his fear. This realization allows him to battle, and eventually defeat, Ardelia.

  NAOMI HIGGINS: Sam’s part-time secretary, she sets the events of The Library Policeman in motion by suggesting Sam visit the library. Naomi later provides Sam with much-needed background information on Ardelia Lortz, data that allows Sam to eventually uncover the truth.

  ARDELIA LORTZ: The Junction City librarian who, sensing Sam’s vulnerability, appears to him many years after she supposedly died. Ardelia is a shape-shifter; like a cicada, she emerges every few years to gorge herself on human fear. Although she could appear as a human being, her real form is disgustingly horrific—her most prominent feature being a huge funnelshaped proboscis that can suck the fear out of a person through the tear ducts. Ardelia manufactured fear by telling horrid versions of classic fairy tales to her children’s story hour group. Mesmerizing the children, she would then feed on their traumatized emotions.

  Ardelia is nearly slain after Sam, in a symbolic rejection of his childhood fears, sticks a wad of red licorice in her snout. She survives the encounter, however, then attaches herself in embryonic form to Naomi’s neck. Fortunately, Sam realizes what has happened, and finally destroys the parasite for good. Ardelia Lortz is quite durable, however, and may yet haunt the Stephen King Universe.

  “DIRTY” DAVE DUNCAN: Ardelia’s lover and accomplice in the 1950s, Dave turned to drink after she “killed” herself. Dave is homeless, and makes a living off of other people’s recyclables. Perhaps still under the influence of his old girlfriend, Dave accidentally takes Sam’s library books to t
he recycling center along with his old newspapers, providing Ardelia with an excuse to terrorize the realtor. Dave at least gives Sam insight into Ardelia’s true nature. Even so, he still dies at the hands of the loathsome “Ardelia thing.”

  “THE LIBRARY POLICEMAN”: The name by which Sam knew the child molester who traumatized him. Also, the imaginary character featured in a sinister wall poster created for Ardelia Lortz by Dave Duncan. Using Sam’s fear to power her minion, Ardelia gives the Library Policeman life and sends him after Sam.

  JUNCTION CITY, IOWA: The small Iowa town where realtor Sam Peebles meets Ardelia Lortz and the Library Policeman. According to the epilogue of Needful Things (1991), Sam and Naomi Higgins marry and leave Junction City soon after the events recorded in The Library Policeman. Readers also learn that Leland Gaunt has come to occupy Sam’s old office.

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  SLEEPWALKERS

  (1992)

  While not by any means the first Stephen King screenplay to be produced as a motion picture (Creepshow, Cat’s Eye, Silver Bullet, Maximum Overdrive, and Pet Sematary all preceded it), only 1992’s Sleepwalkers could claim the distinction of being his first truly original screenplay, that is, one that was not based on a previously published short story or novel. It was also the first feature film in which the bestselling author would work with a talented young director named Mick Garris, who would later be selected by King to direct television miniseries adaptations of The Stand (1994) and The Shining (1997).