The Complete Stephen King Universe

by Stanley Wiater

  Charlie and Dave Reed’s present whereabouts are unknown. It seems unlikely that they still live on Poplar Street.

  THE GELLER FAMILY: The residents of 243 Poplar, Frank and Kim Geller have one child, their daughter, Susi. Frank is not there the day the Regulators attack. Kim is killed in the Regulators’ final assault. Frank and Susi’s present whereabouts are unknown.

  PETER and MARY JACKSON: The residents of 244 Poplar, Peter Jackson is a professor at Ohio State University. His wife, Mary, is an accountant. Returning from an adulterous rendezvous, Mary Jackson is rear-ended by a futuristic yellow van at the beginning of the Regulators’ second assault. Leaving her car, she is gunned down by the van’s occupant. Peter Jackson is murdered by Tak, who sucks the life force out of his victim after forcing him to watch Seth’s video of the movie The Regulators.

  CYNTHIA SMITH: A clerk at the E-Z Stop, she is one of a small group of people who survive the Regulators’ bloody assaults.

  STEVE AMES: Driving his rented Ryder truck down Poplar Street, Steve witnesses Cary Ripton’s death at the hands of the Regulators. Acting instinctively, he and Cynthia Smith protect Ellie and Ralph Carver from injury during the Regulators’ first attack.

  COLLIE ENTRAGIAN: The owner of 240 Poplar and an ex-cop, Collie is fired from the Columbus Police Department after a positive drug test for cocaine and heroin. Collie believes that he was framed, since he never took either drug. His police training kicking in, Collie tries to restore order after the Regulators’ first attack. He is later shot and killed by Jim Reed.

  MOTO KOPS 2200: A popular Saturday morning cartoon, MotoKops 2200 chronicles the interstellar adventures of Colonel Henry, Snake Hunter, Bounty, Major Pike, Rooty the Robot, and Cassandra Styles as they battle archenemies No Face and Countess Lili Marsh. Each character pilots a futuristic Power Wagon, essentially vans equipped with fold-up wheels and stubby extendable wings. Colonel Henry’s vehicle is the yellow Justice Wagon, No Face’s is called the Meatwagon, Snake Hunter, Rooty the Robot, and Cassandra Styles the red Tracker Arrow, the silver Rooty-Toot, and the “Mary Kay” pink Dream Floater, respectively.

  THE REGULATORS: Premiering in 1958, this American International Pictures release starred John Payne, Ty Hardin, Karen Steele, and Rory Calhoun, and was directed by Billy Rancourt. The movie, based on a screenplay written by Craig Goodis and Quentin Woolrich, tells the story of a Colorado mining town that is terrorized by vigilantes who first appear to be supernatural beings but turn out to be post–Civil War baddies “of the Capt. Quantrill stripe.” According to reviews, the movie includes some scenes and effects that are “surprisingly gruesome for a late-fifties oat opera.”

  THE REGULATORS: Tak’s kill squad, they represent a strange blend of characters from the 1958 Hollywood movie and the MotoKops 2200 TV cartoon. Also among Tak’s hit squad are characters from classic TV Westerns such as Bonanza and The Rifleman.

  THE REGULATORS: TRIVIA

  • Tak’s use of creatures whose appearance is based upon characters from film and television recalls the same sort of activity by It (from the 1986 novel of the same name). Both beings are revealed as “outsiders” by King, indicating that they are likely of a related breed of extradimensional monster.

  • The novel The Regulators contains a script excerpt from MotoKops 2200 episode entitled “The Force Corridor,” a segment that Seth/Tak is particularly enamored of. The script was penned by Alan Smithee. Movie aficionados know that the name Alan Smithee is a Hollywood in joke. Often, when directors want to disassociate themselves from a film or TV program, they substitute that name for their own.

  • The King-created film The Regulators, which is mentioned in the novel, is also referred to in the author’s 1999 release Hearts in Atlantis.

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  RELATED TALES

  Although King has never stated that all his crime stories were composed while in a “Richard Bachman frame of mind,” several seem to have been written in that mode. While perhaps not exhaustive of every non-supernatural tale King has composed, the following stories certainly feel like Bachman stories, even if King hasn’t explicitly identified them as such. Also, none of them are specifically connected to the Prime Reality. Thus, we have taken the liberty of assigning them to the World of Richard Bachman. One read-through of the tales below reveals why each was deemed more appropriate for this section.

  “The Fifth Quarter” (from 1993’s Nightmares & Dreamscapes)

  Reminiscent of Donald E. Westlake’s pseudonymous “Richard Stark” novels featuring professional criminal Parker, this hard-boiled crime story was first published in Cavalier magazine in 1972 under the byline “John Swithen” (the sole time to date the author has used this particular pseudonym). King himself states in his Notes to Nightmares & Dreamscapes that this story was written in his Richard Bachman mode.

  “THE FIFTH QUARTER”: PRIMARY SUBJECTS

  JERRY TARKANIAN: An ex-con (he spent time in Shawshank Prison) out to revenge the death of a comrade known only as Barney, Tarkanian accosts Barney’s double-crossing partners, Sarge, Jagger, and Keenan. He is seeking their pieces to the map showing where their loot has been stashed.

  “The Ledge” (from 1978’s Night Shift)

  A tennis pro who has fallen in love with a mobster’s wife is forced by the man to take a bet: walk around the windswept, five-inch-wide ledge of his building and receive a pile of money and the freedom to leave with the criminal’s wife, or go to prison, framed on drug charges. The story originally appeared in Penthouse magazine in 1976, and was later part of 1985’s motion picture anthology scripted by King, Cat’s Eye.

  “THE LEDGE”: PRIMARY SUBJECTS

  STAN NORRIS: A tennis pro and an ex-con, Stan meets and falls in love with Marcia Cressner. Much to his misfortune, Marcia is already married to a man tied to the mob. Forced to accept Cressner’s wager, Norris manages to make it around the building on the dangerous ledge, only to discover that Cressner has had Marcia murdered. In revenge, he makes Cressner walk the ledge. When last we see him, Stan is waiting for Cressner to fall or finish the walk, but intends to kill him in any case. The final outcome of this situation has yet to be revealed.

  CRESSNER: An organized crime figure who loses his wife to Stan Norris, then has her killed. When last seen, he was out on the ledge. His eventual fate is as yet unknown.

  MARCIA CRESSNER: After she has an affair with Stan Norris, her husband orders a killer in his employ to take her life.

  “Quitters, Inc.” (from 1978’s Night Shift)

  A man wants to quit smoking and inquires about a new program, only to discover that their methods are far more than drastic—they are violent and ultimately for keeps. “Quitters, Inc.” was also part of the anthology film Cat’s Eye, with James Woods effectively portraying Dick Morrison.

  “QUITTERS, INC.”: PRIMARY SUBJECTS

  DICK MORRISON: When Dick visits Quitters, Inc., he is unaware that he is going to be forced to quit by threats against his own well-being, as well as the safety of his wife and his mentally challenged son. He does, however, give up his cigarette habit.

  VICTOR DONATTI: An employee of Quitters, Inc., Donatti is in charge of Morrison’s treatment. He torments Dick and tortures Mrs. Morrison, but he does gets results.

  JIMMY McCANN: An old friend of Morrison’s, it is McCann who first recommends that Dick try Quitters, Inc. with the words, “They’ll cure you. Guaranteed.”

  “Man with a Belly” (1978)

  Published in 1978 in Cavalier and never reprinted by King in any of his short story collections, this is a bleak crime tale dealing with unpleasant gangster figures and a twisted sense of revenge.

  “MAN WITH A BELLY”: PRIMARY SUBJECTS

  JOHN BRACKEN: A ruthless hit man for the Mafia, Bracken is summoned by crime lord Don Correzente to perform a most unusual service. He is to rape the Don’s wife, who has a serious gambling habit and is humiliating him because of it. This will be her unique punishment.

  DON CORREZENTE: The elder
ly crime lord who holds his honor above all. He is a “man with a belly,” that is, someone who has an iron will. Although Bracken does the job as instructed, the Don will ultimately be the one who is the biggest loser.

  NORMA CORREZENTE: Don Correzente’s beautiful trophy wife, she accepts being raped by Bracken. But to get her revenge, she in turn hires the hit man to have sex with her repeatedly until she can become pregnant—with his child, not the Don’s.

  “The Wedding Gig” (from 1985’s Skeleton Crew)

  This decidedly hard-boiled crime story—and a period piece on top of that—first appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine in 1980.

  “THE WEDDING GIG”: PRIMARY SUBJECTS

  THE NARRATOR: The nameless narrator, a musician, tells of a jazz band that is invited to play at the wedding of Maureen, mob boss Mike Scollay’s sister. Extremely overweight and homely, she is an easy target for unflattering jokes and comments. A loving brother, Mike wants her wedding to be perfect. Things don’t quite go according to plan, however. One of Mike’s rivals, the Greek, sends a lackey to the wedding to deliver an insulting message to the bride. An enraged Mike storms out of the wedding reception, straight into a deadly ambush.

  MAUREEN SCOLLAY ROMANO: Mike Scollay’s sister, she is the wife of Rico Romano. After her brother’s murder, she seizes the reins of his operation and builds it into “a prohibition empire that rivaled Capone’s.” Rumors abound that Maureen later took revenge on the Greek by sticking a piece of piano wire through his eye into his brain, killing him even as he begs for mercy.

  “My Pretty Pony” (from 1993’s Nightmares & Dreamscapes)

  According to King’s Note in Nightmares & Dreamscapes, this is a section of an unfinished Richard Bachman novel about a hit man named Clive Banning. “My Pretty Pony” represents a flashback in that novel: the memorable day in 1961 when Clive’s grandfather instructs him on the “plastic” nature of time. The story originally appeared in 1989 as a separate limited edition from the Whitney Museum of Art. It retailed for $2,200 each for the 150 copies available to the public, making it the most expensive limited edition King book ever.

  “MY PRETTY PONY”: PRIMARY SUBJECTS

  GEORGE BANNING: The seventy-two-year-old grandfather of Clive Banning, he instructs (George never gives advice, he instructs) his grandson on the importance of time and what it means in a person’s life. He dies in his sleep a month after the lesson.

  CLIVE BANNING: A young boy who lives in the rural town of Troy, New York. He learns a great deal from his grandfather on the importance of time in a person’s life, and that it is time that owns a person—none of us own time.

  “Dolan’s Cadillac” (from 1993’s Nightmares & Dreamscapes)

  This vivid tale of revenge in the Nevada desert is an update of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic 1846 tale, “The Cask of Amontillado.” For this story, King received technical advice on burying a Cadillac from his big brother, David King, “a child prodigy with a tested IQ of 150.” “Dolan’s Cadillac” originally appeared in issues #2 through #6 of Castle Rock, a subscriptiononly monthly newspaper that featured news on the author and his works in all mediums. The short-lived newspaper was the only effort of this type ever authorized by King. A revised version of this story was published as a limited edition by Lord John Press in 1989.

  Dave King (Stephen’s brother) DAVID LOWELL

  “DOLAN’S CADILLAC”: PRIMARY SUBJECTS

  DOLAN: A mobster, he has Robinson’s wife, Elizabeth, killed to keep her from testifying against him. Dolan falls victim to Robinson’s revenge; he is buried alive inside his Cadillac beneath a section of Interstate 71 in Nevada.

  ROBINSON: A widower, Robinson blames Dolan for his wife’s murder. After years of meticulous planning and preparation, Robinson traps Dolan’s Cadillac in a car-sized hole and thus buries him alive.

  ELIZABETH ROBINSON: Robinson’s wife, she was there “at the wrong place and the wrong time” to accidentally observe Dolan engaging in some criminal act. “She went to the police, and the police sent her to the FBI, and she said yes, she would testify.” Although promised protection, Elizabeth is killed by a car bomb.

  “The Death of Jack Hamilton” (from 2002’s Everything’s Eventual)

  A tale narrated by Homer Van Meter, one of John Dillinger’s gunmen, it tells the story of the lingering death of Jack “Red” Hamilton, and how Dillinger got the scar he bore on his upper lip.

  “THE DEATH OF JACK HAMILTON”: PRIMARY SUBJECTS

  JACK (RED) HAMILTON: As the story opens, Red is wounded by police who are pursuing him, Dillinger, and Homer Van Meter after they pull off a job in Little Bohemia, Wisconsin. Although he initially shrugs off the wound, it eventually proves his undoing. Beyond pain, delirious, he dies while hiding out from the Feds in Aurora, Illinois.

  JOHN DILLINGER: In this tale, readers see the softer side of the infamous Depression-era outlaw as he endeavors to save the life of one of his gang. Dillinger survives this incident, only to be gunned down later outside the Biograph Theatre in Chicago.

  HOMER VAN METER: While doing time in Pendleton Reformatory, Van Meter taught himself how to rope flies. He uses this talent to distract Red Hamilton in the dying man’s final hours.

  “In the Death Room” (from 2002’s Everything’s Eventual)

  Originally included in the audio book Blood and Smoke, a 1999 collection of three stories (the other two are “Lunch at the Gotham Café” and “1408”) in which the act of smoking cigarettes is a central element, “In the Death Room” finds King dealing with horror of the most realistic sort.

  Fletcher, an American reporter suspected of conspiring with a revolutionary group of insurgents to overthrow the current fascist regime of an unnamed South American country, finds himself held captive in a basement room of the Ministry of Information after being kidnapped off the streets in broad daylight. There are four other people in the room: a guard, Ramon; Escabar, the chief Minister of Information, who also just happens to be an experienced torturer; an unnamed older woman whose hairstyle reminds the reporter of the title character in the classic horror film the Bride of Frankenstein; and a small bespectacled man named Hinds. Although he looks harmless, Hinds is in charge of a electrical device specially designed to inflict incredible pain upon anyone he touches with the tip of its specially designed steel rod.

  Fletcher figures he has “one or two chances in thirty” of surviving the interrogation if he says what he believes his captors want to hear. He soon realizes it doesn’t matter whether he lies or tells the truth, he probably will not leave the aptly named Death Room alive. His only chance for escape lies in accepting a Marlboro cigarette offered to him by Escabar.

  Against incredible odds, Fletcher not only kills all his captors, but also manages to escape the country all together. When he finally gets back to New York months later, looking like the survivor of a concentration camp, the first thing he does is treat himself to a single cigarette he purchases on Forty-third Street.

  “IN THE DEATH ROOM”: PRIMARY SUBJECTS

  FLETCHER: A reporter for the New York Times, he realizes his only chance of escaping the torture room is by somehow employing the cigarette he is offered by his captors. After first being subjected to intense pain by a specially designed torture machine, he realizes he has to kill his captors before they kill him. When he is offered a lit cigarette, he plunges its burning tip into the eye of the guard, Ramon. Taking the guard’s gun away, he shoots Ramon, Escabar, and the “Bride of Frankenstein.” Believing that the punishment should fit the crime, he forces the chief torturer, Hinds, to subject himself to the pain of his own machine. Fletcher eventually escapes from the violent, fascist country but still suffers from his experience there.

  ESCABAR: A fat, greasy man, Escabar is not only the Minister of Information in this small nation, he also acts as one of its chief torturers. He dies when Fletcher shoots him during a scuffle in the Death Room.