The Complete Stephen King Universe

by Stanley Wiater

  In 1977, King asked his editor at New American Library, Elaine Koster, if she would consider publishing Rage as a paperback original. More importantly, he asked if she would agree to publish it under a pseudonym. Koster agreed, and Rage was published in 1977 with King’s secret closely guarded.

  According to Douglas E. Winter’s Stephen King: The Art of Darkness (1984), King’s first choice for a pen name was that of his maternal grandfather, Guy Pillsbury. But NAL, fearing that someone might trace the family lineage, called the author and requested another pseudonym. Reportedly King was listening to the rock ’n’ roll band Bachman-Turner Overdrive at the time of the publisher’s call. On his desk at that moment was a novel by “Richard Stark” (a pseudonym for novelist Donald E. Westlake). Seizing on these disparate elements for inspiration, King opted to use the name “Richard Bachman.”

  Not surprisingly, each of the Bachman novels provided clues to their readers as to the true identity of its author (for people in the know, the dedications alone were a dead giveaway). So with the publication of each Bachman title, King had to repeatedly deny rumors that surfaced in the horror community that he was, in fact, Richard Bachman. Although he was able to successfully deny the speculations with the first four titles (all of which were published as mass-market paperback originals with little or no fanfare or acclaim), his denials became less and less plausible with the 1984 release of Thinner.

  For not only was this novel clearly a tale of the supernatural, it was written precisely in the style that the bestselling author’s millions of fans could readily recognize as being “brand-name Stephen King.” The book’s in jokes at his expense (as when one of the characters notes “You were starting to sound a little like a Stephen King novel …”) further indicated that the author himself was sooner rather than later going to let the proverbial cat out of the bag. It did not help the deception any that NAL, for the first time, brought out this latest Richard Bachman novel in a hardcover edition and heavily promoted it (advance copies were given away to hundreds of readers and reviewers at the American Booksellers Association convention that year). Again, anyone who was familiar with King’s writing style would have had very little trouble recognizing the new work of Bachman as being by one and the same author.

  For some time, specialty book dealers such as Robert Weinberg and L. W. Currey had been stating in their catalogs that the Richard Bachman entries could only have been written by King, openly selling these titles to their customers as “Stephen King writing as Richard Bachman.” Despite this, the general public was not yet aware just how many “unknown” King novels were actually in print, if they only knew where to look.

  The truth was finally publicly revealed in the spring of 1985 when a Washington, D.C., bookstore clerk named Steve Brown went to the Library of Congress to examine the copyright forms that had been issued for the Bachman novels. Unfortunately for King, someone at NAL had inadvertently identified him as the author of Rage on those documents, rather than the registered pseudonym of Richard Bachman. (As the publisher filed these forms, it’s highly unlikely King ever saw them to insure there were no such revelations.) In short order, it was revealed to the world that, yes, King and Bachman were one and the same.

  Even though Bachman was now for all intents and purposes dead—the author would state in later interviews how “Dickie” had died early of “cancer of the pseudonym”—that wasn’t to be the case for long. In the Stephen King Universe, just because you kill someone, that doesn’t always mean they stay dead.

  The idea of writing under a pseudonym obviously appealed to King, as demonstrated by his comments in various forums. His bitterness at Bachman’s apparent demise was evident, likely inspiring his fictional treatment of the subject in The Dark Half (1989). Indeed, as is so aptly stated in the Author’s Note at the beginning of that novel: “I’m indebted to the late Richard Bachman for his help and inspiration. This novel could not have been written without him.”

  As King explained in his introduction to the second edition (1996) of The Bachman Books, he had learned that Donald E. Westlake had written his exceedingly grim and violent “Richard Stark” novels on what he termed his “rainy days.” On “sunny days” he authored books as Westlake. This was how King felt as Bachman: “Bachman—a fictional creation who became more real with each published book which bore his byline—was a rainyday sort of guy if there ever was one.”

  So when it came time to write The Regulators (1996), King decided it was also the right time to bring Bachman back from the dead. At that time, King revealed that Bachman had conveniently “left” a stack of unpublished manuscripts in his home that had been unearthed by his widow, Claudia Inez Eschelman. This information, related in the second edition of the omnibus collection The Bachman Books, published as a trade paperback in 1996 to coincide with the publication of the new Bachman novel The Regulators, strongly suggests that The Regulators is only the first of many “unpublished” works of Richard Bachman. As King states, “I have to wonder if there are any other good manuscripts, at or near completion, in that box found by the former Mrs. Bachman in the cellar of their New Hampshire farmhouse. Sometimes I wonder about that a lot.”

  Other indications of how King has come to perceive Bachman can be found in the subtle differences between the various omnibus collections of Bachman’s novels. The first, published in 1985, was called The Bachman Books: Four Early Novels by Stephen King. The title of the original introduction, “Why I Was Bachman,” is openly confessional. The latest edition, first released in 1996, was called The Bachman Books: Four Early Novels by Richard Bachman. Note that it says by Bachman—not King. And as for the new introduction, the only place King is mentioned in the book? Well, King called it “The Importance of Being Bachman.” At one point, Bachman “was” clearly part of Stephen King. And now, with the publication of The Regulators, Bachman clearly still “is” a vital part of the imagination of Stephen King.

  But to what end in the overall Stephen King Universe? Clearly the “early Bachman” titles (Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, The Running Man) were never meant to be identified as books by Stephen King. They do, however, contain certain elements that link them to the Universe. Most of these elements are subtle—for instance, Rage and The Long Walk are set in Maine, and Roadwork mentions the Blue Ribbon Laundry chain, which is also mentioned in King’s short story “The Mangler” (a supporting character in that novel is clearly identified as hailing from Portland, Maine, as well) and in his first published novel, Carrie.

  Perhaps most intriguingly—particularly since the town in question would not become a significant part of the Prime Reality of the Stephen King Universe for some years—a large part of the action of The Running Man takes place at a regional airport located in a small Maine town called Derry. This may indicate a nightmare future for the Derry of Bachman’s mirror-image reality.

  Although Bangor, Maine, features prominently in Thinner, and King was also mentioned by name, the major connections to the Stephen King Universe in that book lie in the use of “trademark” characters and themes, most notably in the fact that it is clearly a horror novel, rather than one of science fiction or suspense. However, it is clear that those connections may have indeed become more explicit, in that King has stated that Misery, with its numerous ties to the Universe, was originally slated to be the next “Bachman” book.

  It was only with the publication of the “mirrored” volumes of Desperation (by King) and The Regulators, both released in 1996 after his pseudonym had become almost as well known as his own name, that the author consciously chose to incorporate the Bachman books into the Stephen King Universe. Here we do indeed have heroes and villains fighting a cosmic battle of good versus evil. The references are infrequent (such as Ellen Carver in Desperation being a fan of Paul Sheldon’s “Misery” novels) and the connecting characters minor (Cynthia Smith from Rose Madder appears in Desperation), but King is at last consciously allowing the world of Richard Bachman to interact with his other
parallel realities.

  It seems clear that as far as King is concerned, Richard Bachman is indeed alive and well, lurking in the darkest recesses of the author’s imagination, just waiting for the next rainy day.

  As far as the relationship between the world of Richard Bachman and the rest of the Stephen King Universe is concerned, there are parallels to be drawn other than the coincidences noted above. However, in order to do so, one must examine the King novel Desperation and its mirror image in the Bachman novel The Regulators. Both books feature a powerful being from beyond our familiar reality known as Tak. Tak is described as being an “outsider,” a word used to describe the evil force in King’s Bag of Bones, and indeed the two creatures—along with It from the novel of that name—seem to have a great deal in common.

  In both of these mirror-image books, King has returned to the cosmic battle between chaos and order, or the Random and the Purpose, though on a microcosmic level. Clearly, though, the connection between the Bachman corner of the Universe and its other facets is strongest and clearest there.

  55

  RAGE

  (1977)

  Although technically the third novel King published, Rage was the first issued by the author using the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. More to the point, it has since been learned that Rage was in fact the very first novel-length work ever completed by King. Begun in 1966 while still in high school, King would not complete the work until 1971, when he was in college. Prior to the book’s initial publication, King updated the story by inserting mentions of bestselling books and popular movies of the mid-1970s.

  Regardless of when it was originally written, Rage remains to this day one of King’s darkest, most pessimistic, and, unfortunately, most chillingly plausible works. But as to where this extremely early novel fits within the Stephen King Universe, it’s crucial to realize that by the time he had first reached the hardcover bestseller lists with The Shining in 1977, King was already firmly established in the public’s mind as a writer of supernatural horror. Of course, this was to be expected, given the clearly “horrific” content of novels such as Carrie, ’Salem’s Lot, and The Shining, not to mention the numerous short stories he had penned with supernatural themes. It would not be much longer before reviewers would brand him as “the King of Modern Horror” or “King of the Boogeymen” as he quickly attained brand-name status in the literary field.

  But King knew—even if his readers would not for several years—that he was capable of writing vital and important works of suspense outside the genre as well. He also knew that due to his incredible success with his current novels, he had enough leverage to rescue his earliest works from the traditional writer’s “trunk” where they had been languishing and publish them, albeit under a pen name and only as mass market paperback originals.

  By creating Richard Bachman, the author believed he could best serve his desire to see all of his early fiction published and, even more liberatingly, break free of readers’ expectations. Not only would King get to see his early novels in print, but he also gave himself the freedom to create new works on any topic, and in any style, he cared to experiment with—and no one but Bachman fans would be impressed or upset with the published results.

  “The morning I got it on was nice,” is how this quiet time bomb of a novel begins. The young man planning to “get it on” (a popular phrase of the 1970s meaning to get something accomplished—no matter what the consequences) is Charlie Decker. An average student, Charlie outwardly appears no different from the others in his class, except for the fact that he’s taken to carrying a handgun to school with him. Before this “nice,” sunny day is over, people will be terrorized and humiliated. Some will be shot. Some will die.

  Charlie is a classic “troubled youth,” a teenager who has big problems with authority, problems that manifested themselves a few months earlier when he attacked a teacher with a wrench. Shortly after a troubling encounter with his overbearing father, something inside Charlie snaps, as he first sets fire to his school locker, then proceeds to shoot two teachers. Holding his classmates hostage, Charlie forces his terrified peers to examine where each of them belongs in this world, trying to decide who is worthy to live through this ordeal and who is not.

  Although Charlie is portrayed at all times as an unrepentant killer, King manages to evoke sympathy for the teenager, such that the reader often finds himself thinking, “You know, I might have done the same thing if I had walked a mile in his shoes.” Even as he’s taken away into custody, we’re left with the unsettling impression that there are a lot more young people like him just waiting for something to set them off. Something will someday—for no apparent reason—trigger a murderous urge to “get it on.” And as recent tragic events in schools across the country have shown, there are troubled students who have in fact forsaken everything to unleash their murderous rage against their teachers and peers.

  Not too surprisingly, this novel bears a number of striking similarities to Carrie, another novel about a troubled high school student (it must be remembered that although not published until 1977, Rage was written several years before Carrie). Like Carrie White, Charlie Decker is someone who doesn’t fit in with any established clique or group. Similar to Carrie, he finds the only way he can resolve his personal conflicts is to lash out against others in a violent and deadly manner. Both novels deal with young individuals trying to survive in what for them is a very harsh and brutal environment—contemporary public high school.

  The major difference between the two works is that Carrie is basically “science fiction,” featuring a young woman with a so-called “wild talent.” Rage’s premise, however, is all too believable, although in one sense, it, too, almost falls into the category of “science fiction” in that the novel predicted—decades before it would occur in reality—the scenario of young, fresh-faced killers stalking the classroom.

  In terms of its place in the Stephen King Universe, if we use the term broadly, Rage is indeed a contemporary horror novel; it’s a tale that deals with strictly plausible horrors, such as the author would later explore in such works of suspense as Cujo (1981), Gerald’s Game (1992), Misery (1987), and Apt Pupil. (Apt Pupil, a brilliant novella originally published in the 1982 collection Different Seasons, is especially significant, as King again explores the idea that sometimes the best place for true evil to fester and grow is within a high school student.)

  From the very beginning of his career, King reminded readers that perhaps the greatest horror in life is that sometimes good people die unexpectedly. And just as unfairly, sometimes very bad and evil people go on living. He is also telling us, of course, that the scariest monsters in this world are not vampires or zombies, but the one we may encounter one day staring back at us from a mirror.

  Due to the unfortunate circumstance of young people claiming to have been inspired by Rage to carry out their own violent acts in school, King has decided to allow the book to go out of print. He details his concerns in the second edition of The Bachman Books (1996), in the new introduction “The Importance of Being Bachman.” There King relates the many sleepless nights he has spent wrestling with the idea that something he has written, however remotely, may have been part of what he terms “a triggering mechanism” to later acts of violence.

  The author himself does not know the answer. He does realize that Rage is a book about the consequences of extreme anger, and it shows on every page that someone who was also inwardly frustrated and resentful at the world composed it. King can barely recall what kind of person he was at the time he wrote Rage, which may be another reason why he is reluctantly but willingly letting it go.

  King in campus protest YEARBOOK PHOTO

  RAGE: PRIMARY SUBJECTS

  CHARLIE DECKER: A lonely misfit, Charlie Decker is a young man who resents most adults and authority figures, especially his brutish father. After various altercations with his father, his teachers, and the school principal, Charlie can no longer contain his growing feeling
s of resentment and rage. Shortly after he is expelled from Placerville High School, Charlie retrieves a gun from his locker and proceeds to shoot two teachers, taking a class of his peers hostage in the process. After he is captured, Charlie is judged unfit to stand trial by reason of insanity and sent to the Augusta State Hospital in Augusta, Maine.

  TED JONES: One of the most popular boys in school, Ted Jones is one of the students Charlie holds hostage for the day. Publicly humiliated during the course of a violent “encounter session” instigated by Charlie, Ted has a nervous breakdown. He is eventually committed to a mental institution, where it is presumed he still resides.

  CAPTAIN FRANK PHILBRICK: The man in charge of the Maine

  State Police unit who responds to the hostage crisis, it is his task to try and talk Charlie Decker into surrendering to the authorities without further violence. He is also responsible for giving the order to a sharpshooter to try and kill Charlie.

  DANIEL MALVERN: A member of the Maine State Police, he is considered the state’s best sharpshooter. He fires one shot at Charlie using a Mauser rifle with a telescopic lens. The bullet hits Charlie directly in the area of the heart, but the young man is spared a fatal injury when the bullet is deflected by a padlock he had placed in his shirt pocket earlier in the day.