wkb (04/21/83)
#N:inmet:11900001:000:1175 inmet!wkb Apr 19 15:16:00 1983 The new Stephen King book is called "Christine". I've heard that it's about a car but I haven't seen the book yet. I also agree that King's books have gone downhill since "The Shining" and yes, parts of "The Dead Zone" were boring. I forget the name of the book but way back he had published a collection of his short stories which were excellent. King has always been able to create such believable characters that one cannot help but identify with the horrors they are going through. Recently though, his books haven't been suspensefull and shocking from beginning to end as they once were. In "Cujo" for example, while I could empathize with the characters, I don't think he fully integrated the two evils from the story: the rabid dog with the evil in the closet. I kept thinking that some concrete link would be revealed but it wasn't. There "were" some trully terrifying scenes such as the one near the end of the book when the father sees the thing in the closet. That scene still is wonderfully chilling whenever I read it. I haven't had a chance to read his last book which had the four short stories in it. How was that in comparison to his other works?
rsu@cbscc.UUCP (Rick Urban) (03/01/84)
!!! Attention --- This is not of general interest, but we're having trouble
with our mail system and I'd like to get this message out to Jerry
Boyajian. Sorry for the intrusion...
Jerry,
"Children of the Corn" opens nationally on Mavch 9th.
"Cat'{ Eye", an original screenplay written by$King, will be filmed
starting today, March 1st, in North Carolina, by Lewis Teague(director of
"Cujo") for Dino DeLaurentiis.
What did you find out about "The Talisman"? And fo you"have access to
King's address? We used to correspond, but i lost touch with him when he moved
to England for a while in 1977.
Please write to me personally in reply so I don't incur any further
wratl from the patient net-users. Thanks in advance.
Rick Urban
rsu@cbscc.UUCP (Rick Urban) (04/04/85)
Well, every so often I feel compelled to keep the net up to date
on the latest Stephen King news, so here goes:
Books:
1) "Skeleton Crew" has a publicaion date of June 21st,
according to the publicity department at Putnam (though with
the unexpected success of "Thinner", there is a possibility that
this date will be set back).
2) This fall, the original, unexpurgated version of "The
Stand" will be released (I assume from Doubleday). The length
will be about 1300 pages.
3) His first new novel (under his own name) since "The
Talisman" will be "It", and is tentatively slated for a 1986
release.
4) "Eyes of the Dragon" is due in late 1987, and a new
science fiction-fantasy novel called "The Tommyknockers" will
be released sometime in 1988. Does anyone know when "The Drawing
of the Four", the second installment in "The Dark Tower" series,
is due?
Movies:
1) "Cat's Eye" will be released on April 12th.
2) "Silver Bullet" is scheduled for release on October 11th.
3) Rob("This Is Spinal Tap", "The Real Thing")Reiner is
scheduled to start shooting "The Body" from the "Different Seasons"
collection for Embassy Pictures in mid-June.
4) "The Talisman" - who knows? After all the hoopla sur-
rounding Speilberg's purchase of the film rights, the project
seems to be in limbo (no shooting date, director, cast have
been announced).
5) "The Stand" is supposed to be filmed in Texas, and "Pet
Sematary" in Maine, but it doesn't look as if either project will
come to fruition soon.
Television:
1) King is supposed to contribute scripts to the new
"Twilight Zone" series to be on the fall 1985 schedule.
And yes, I for one would be interested in hearing some reviews of
his Richard Bachman books (I have "Roadwork", "The Running Man"
and "Thinner", but have not had a chance to read any of them yet).
Whew! I hope some of you found that interesting!
Rick Urban
AT&T Network Systems
Columbus, Ohio
ihnp4!cbosgd!cbscc!rsu
been srsu@cbscc.UUCP (Rick Urban) (04/10/85)
For the sake of clarification, the King book we are talking about is "The DARK Tower", not "The BLACK Tower". As to its availability, I think it originally had 10,000 copies in print. When "Pet Sematary" was published, "The Dark Tower" was included in the list of books by King printed in the front of the book. The demand for the book was so great that an additional printing of 10,000 copies was made. As far as I know, there will be no further reprintings, so good luck in finding a copy (I'm not giving up mine!) I don't mean to get anyone's hopes up, but there was never supposed to be a second printing of the book, but it happened anyway. Also, there was a reprinting of "Cycle of the Werewolf" recently by New American Library, while my understanding was that the edition put out by the Land of Enchant- ment Press was to be the only one. Call it greed or public demand, there have been efforts to make King's less mainstream works available to the public, though I doubt if mass market editions of "The Dark Tower" are on the horizon. Try your local library, or a used/rare bookstore. Rick Urban AT&T Network Systems Columbus, Ohio ihnp4!cbosgd!cbscc!rsu P. S. Some people have asked me where I get my information. Well, let's see: Time, Newsweek, USA Today, The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, The West Coast Review of Books, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Starlog, Fangoria, Cinefantastique, Starburst, Booklist, Viking Books, New American Library, Putnam Publishing Group, Douglas Winter's "Stephen King: The Art of Darkness", Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, Forthcoming Books in Print, Jerry Boyajian, and any other miscellaneous publication or person I come across who can provide me with arcane bits of information, about Stephen King or anything else!
stenger@gitpyr.UUCP (John Stenger) (04/18/85)
I remember reading somewhere that Stephen King has been writing more books than his agent thinks will sell, and has been publishing some books under a pseudonym. Does anyone know this alias? Thanks in advance.
irene@phoenix.UUCP (Irene A. Schwartz) (04/19/85)
I believe that he is using the name Richard
Bachman. I have noticed that the book "Thinner"
bares the name R.B. but was actually written by
King, I know there have been others but I
can't remember thier names.
I.S. spector@acf4.UUCP (David HM Spector) (04/22/85)
I have heard the same, but Who on EARTH is the man pictured as Bachman on the cover of THINNER??? Dave Spector NYU/acf Systems Group
boyajian@akov68.DEC (04/24/85)
> From: cbscc!rsu (Rick Urban) > ...there was a reprinting of "Cycle of the Werewolf" recently by > New American Library, while my understanding was that the edition > put out by the Land of Enchantment Press was to be the only one. > Call it greed or public demand, there have been efforts to make > King's less mainstream works available to the public, though I > doubt if mass market editions of "The Dark Tower" are on the horizon. I got the impression that the NAL edition of CYCLE was done to be a tie-in to the movie SILVER BULLET, which is adapted from that story. Why it was published so far in advance of the movie, I don't know, unless the movie was pushed back from a Spring to a Fall release. As for THE DARK TOWER, no doubt you've noticed that it *wasn't* listed in THE TALISMAN. > P. S. Some people have asked me where I get my information. > Well, let's see: > Time, Newsweek, USA Today, The New York Times, Publishers > Weekly, Library Journal, The West Coast Review of Books, Variety, > The Hollywood Reporter, Starlog, Fangoria, Cinefantastique, > Starburst, Booklist, Viking Books, New American Library, Putnam > Publishing Group, Douglas Winter's "Stephen King: The Art of > Darkness", Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, Forthcoming Books > in Print, Jerry Boyajian... Wow. I'm in heady company indeed! I'm flattered. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA
boyajian@akov68.DEC (04/24/85)
> From: gitpyr!stenger > I remember reading somewhere that Stephen King has been writing > more books than his agent thinks will sell, and has been publishing > some books under a pseudonym. Does anyone know this alias? You've got the story slightly wrong. King used his pseudonym because he didn't want to glut the market with "Stephen King" novels. As it is, he's all booked up (if you'll excuse the expression) till 1988 or so. Like Isaac Asimov, he's a compulsive writer, and cranks them out faster than his publishers can publish them. Secondly, all but the last book were very early novels, written before or just after he wrote CARRIE. As such, they are not primo King novels. The recently-written novel was done under the pseudonym supposedly as an experiment to see if the book could sell without King's name on it. It sold reasonably well, but not overwhelmingly. Of course, once it was found out that King wrote it, it hit the bestseller list. But enough beating around the bush. The pseudonym is "Richard Bachman". He wrote five novels under this name: (1) RAGE [1977], (2) THE LONG WALK [1979], (3) ROADWORK [1981], (4) THE RUNNING MAN [1982], and (5) THINNER [1984]. Only THINNER is horror-fantasy. THE LONG WALK and THE RUNNING MAN are science fiction, and the other two are suspense. All but THINNER were paperback originals from New American Library, and they are damn difficult to find. But take heart, because NAL is going to reissue all four in a trade paperback omnibus edition sometime soon. As for THINNER, it's still in print in hardcover. Two things you should note: (1) Up until early February, King vehemently denied that he was Bachman; and (2) the author photo on the THINNER dust jacket is *not* of King. It's of a friend of King's agent. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA
boyajian@akov68.DEC (05/21/85)
[Sorry to take so long answering this; I'm trying to catch up...] > From: acf4!spector (Dave Spector) > I have heard the same, but Who on EARTH is the man pictured as Bachman on the > cover of THINNER??? The first I heard, it was a friend of Kirby McCauley (King's agent) from Minnesota, whose name really is Richard Bachman. But in the May 1985 issue of LOCUS (a news magazine of the sf field), it reports that his name is really Richard A. Manuel, a real estate broker. He is from Minnesota, though, and he is a friend of McCauley's. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA