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Encyclopedia > Richard Bachman
Richard Bachman's author photo. Photo credit: Claudia Inez Bachman (Fictional, real photographer unknown)
Richard Bachman's author photo. Photo credit: Claudia Inez Bachman (Fictional, real photographer unknown)

Richard Bachman is a pseudonym used by horror fiction author Stephen King. Image File history File links RichardBachman. ... Image File history File links RichardBachman. ... “Horror story” redirects here. ... Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of over 200 stories including over 50 bestselling horror novels. ...

Contents

Origin

At the beginning of Stephen King's career, the general view among publishers was such that an author was limited to a book every year at the utmost; any more, it was felt, was not acceptable to the public. King therefore wanted to write under another name in order to double his production. He convinced his publisher, Signet Books, to print these novels under a pseudonym. The originally selected pseudonym was Gus Pillsbury (King's maternal grandfather); but at the last moment King changed it to "Richard Bachman" in tribute to crime author Donald E. Westlake's long-running pseudonym Richard Stark. The name Stark was used in King's novel The Dark Half, a novel about an author with a pseudonym. The surname was in honour of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, a rock and roll band King was listening to at the time.[1] New American Library (aka NAL) began publishing paperbacks in the 1940s. ... A pseudonym (Greek: , pseudo + -onym: false name) is an artificial, fictitious name, also known as an alias, used by an individual as an alternative to a persons legal name. ... Donald Edwin Westlake (born July 12th, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York), is a prolific American writer, with over a hundred books, specializing in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional bit of science fiction. ... Donald Edwin Westlake (born July 12th, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York), is a prolific American writer, with over a hundred books, specializing in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional bit of science fiction. ... --58. ... Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) is a Canadian rock group from Winnipeg, Manitoba that enjoyed a string of hit albums and singles in the 1970s. ...


Identification

King dedicated Bachman's early books — Rage (1977), The Long Walk (1979), Road Work (1981), and The Running Man (1982) — to people close to him, and worked in obscure references to his own identity. These clues, not to mention the similarity between the two authors' literary styles, aroused the suspicions of horror fans and retailers. King steadfastly denied any connection to Bachman and, to throw fans off the trail, dedicated Bachman's 1984 novel Thinner to "Claudia Inez Bachman", supposedly Bachman's wife. There was also a phony author photo of Bachman on the dustjacket, credited to Claudia. He also has one of the characters describe how the strange happenings are like a "Stephen King" novel in the book. For the film sequel to Carrie, see The Rage: Carrie 2 Rage (originally titled Getting It On) is the first novel by Stephen King published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. ... For the forced relocation of Native Americans to eastern New Mexico, see Long Walk of the Navajo. ... Road Work is a novel by Richard Bachman, also known as Stephen King. ... The Running Man (1982) is a science fiction novel by Stephen King, written under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. ... Thinner is a 1984 novel by Stephen King, published under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman. ...


Thinner was Bachman's first title to be published in hardback. It sold 28,000 copies before it became widely known that the author was really Stephen King, whereupon sales went up tenfold. The link became undeniable when a persistent bookstore clerk couldn't believe that Bachman and King were not one and the same, and eventually located publisher's records at the Library of Congress naming King as the author of one of Bachman's novels. This led to a press release heralding Bachman's "death" — supposedly from "cancer of the pseudonym, a rare form of schizonomia". At the time of the announcement in 1985, King was working on Misery, which he had planned to release as a Bachman book. Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888 to May 15, 1894. ... Misery is a horror novel by Stephen King, published in 1987. ...


Post-outing

The Bachman story didn't end with Thinner. In 1996, Bachman's The Regulators came out, with the publishers claiming the book's manuscript was found among Bachman's leftover papers by his widow. Still, it was obvious from the book's packaging and marketing campaign that it was really written by King. There was a picture of a young King on the inside back cover, and the "also by this author" page listed not only works Bachman was credited with writing, but also works he wrote "as Stephen King". The Regulators was released the same day as the King novel Desperation, and the two novels featured many of the same characters; the two book covers were designed to be placed together to form a single picture. Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... The Regulators is a novel by Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. ... Desperation. ...


Around the time of The Regulators' release, King said that there may be another Bachman novel left to be "found". Recently, King has stated that another Bachman book had been found, with the announcement soon afterwards that his unpublished novel Blaze was being rewritten, edited, and updated for a possible release. In February 2007 he confirmed that Scribner would be publishing this book in June 2007. Blaze is a novel written by Stephen King under the name Richard Bachman. ...


King has taken full ownership of the Bachman name on numerous occasions, as with the republication of the first four Bachman titles as The Bachman Books: Four Early Novels by Stephen King in 1985. The introduction, titled "Why I Was Bachman", details the whole Bachman/King story. The Bachman Books is a collection of novels by Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. ... This article is about the year. ...


King used the "relationship" between him and Bachman as a concept in his 1989 book The Dark Half, a story in which a writer's darker pseudonym takes on a life of its own. King dedicated The Dark Half to "the deceased Richard Bachman". Originally there were plans to make the book a collaboration between the two, although this was later scrapped. --58. ...


Richard Bachman appeared in King's Dark Tower series, albeit indirectly. In the fifth book, Wolves of the Calla, the sinister children's book Charlie the Choo Choo is revealed to be written by "Claudia y Inez Bachman". The spelling discrepancy of the added 'y' was later explained as a deus ex machina on the part of "The White" (a force of good throughout King's Tower series) to bring the total number of letters in her name to nineteen, a number prominent in King's series. Wolves of the Calla is the fifth book in Stephen Kings The Dark Tower series. ... For other uses, see Deus ex machina (disambiguation). ...


The original editions of the first four Bachman books are now among the world's most sought after original paperback novels, with resale prices in the hundreds of dollars. “USD” redirects here. ...


In 1987, Bachman's The Running Man inspired the Arnold Schwarzenegger film of the same name. The Running Man (1982) is a science fiction novel by Stephen King, written under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. ... Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (German pronunciation (IPA): ) (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, and politician, currently serving as the 38th Governor of the U.S. state of California. ...


Regrading The Running Man being strikingly similar to "The Prize of Peril" by Robert Sheckley,written so much earlier, Martin Olson says: "Bob Sheckley told me he was surprised at Running Man because it was so close to The Prize of Peril. Sheckley said King was apparently a fan of his, so I asked Bob how he handled it. He said he wrote out a list of all the similarities between the two stories and then called King on the phone. He said King was surprised and said he didn't remember reading The Prize of Peril. Sheckley really had nowhere to go after that and the conversation was over. Sheckley didn't characterize King as a thief or as not as nice guy, but he told me King probably read it and forgot about it, and then was too embarrassed because he'd accidentally stolen from Sheckley, a writer he liked... But regardless of whether King read The Prize of Peril and forgot or whatever, Sheckley wasn't resentful of King and just shrugged it off. Too bad King didn't have the good will to write him a check!" The Running Man (1982) is a science fiction novel by Stephen King, written under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. ... Robert Sheckley (July 16, 1928 – December 9, 2005) was an American author. ...


After the Columbine High School massacre, King announced that he would allow Rage to go out of print, fearing that it might inspire similar tragedies. Bachman's other novels are now available in separate volumes, although Rage is available in The Bachman Books, which is still in print in the United Kingdom. The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in unincorporated Jefferson County, Colorado (the CDP of Columbine) near Denver and Littleton. ... The Bachman Books is a collection of novels by Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. ...


Other pseudonyms

King wrote a short story, "The Fifth Quarter", under the pseudonym John Swithen; it was reprinted in King's collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes in 1993 under his own name. Nightmares & Dreamscapes is a short story collection by Stephen King published in 1993. ...


References

  1. ^ King, Stephen. Stephen King FAQ: "Why did you write books as Richard Bachman?". StephenKing.com. Retrieved on December 13, 2006.
v • d • e
Stephen King bibliography
Novels Carrie (1974) • ’Salem's Lot (1975) • The Shining (1977) • The Stand (1978) • The Dead Zone (1979) • Firestarter (1980) • Cujo (1981) • Christine (1983) • Pet Sematary (1983) • Cycle of the Werewolf (1983) • The Talisman (1984; with Peter Straub) • It (1986) • The Eyes of the Dragon (1987) • Misery (1987) • The Tommyknockers (1987) • The Dark Half (1989) • Needful Things (1991) • Gerald's Game (1992) • Dolores Claiborne (1993) • Insomnia (1994) • Rose Madder (1995) • The Green Mile (1996) • Desperation (1996) • Bag of Bones (1998) • The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999) • Dreamcatcher (2001) • Black House (2001; with Peter Straub) • From a Buick 8 (2002) • The Colorado Kid (2005) • Cell (2006) • Lisey's Story (2006) • Duma Key (2008)
The Dark Tower
series		 I: The Gunslinger (1982) • II: The Drawing of the Three (1987) • III: The Waste Lands (1991) • IV: Wizard and Glass (1997) • V: Wolves of the Calla (2003) • VI: Song of Susannah (2004) • VII: The Dark Tower (2004)
The Bachman Books Rage (1977) • The Long Walk (1979) • Roadwork (1981) • The Running Man (1982) • Thinner (1984) • The Regulators (1996) • Blaze (2007)
Short fiction
collections		 Night Shift (1978) • Different Seasons (1982) • Skeleton Crew (1985) • Four Past Midnight (1990) • Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) • Hearts in Atlantis (1999) • Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales (2002)
Non-fiction Danse Macabre (1981) • Nightmares in the Sky (1988) • On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000) • Secret Windows (2000) • Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season (2005; with Stewart O'Nan)
e-books Riding the Bullet (1999) • The Plant (2000; unfinished)
Screenplays Creepshow (1982) • Cat's Eye (1985) • Silver Bullet (1985) • Maximum Overdrive (1986; also director) • Pet Sematary (1989) • Sleepwalkers (1992) • The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer (2003)
Teleplays Sorry, Right Number (1988) • Golden Years (1991) • The Stand (1994) • The Shining (1997) • Storm of the Century (1999) • Rose Red (2002) • Desperation (2006)
Stage play Ghost Brothers of Darkland County (2007; with John Mellencamp)
Miscellaneous Kingdom Hospital (2004) • The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born‎ (2007)
Related articles Richard Bachman • Tabitha King • Joe Hill • Owen King • Bryan Smith • Peter Straub • Rock Bottom Remainders • Cultural references to King • Dollar Baby • Media based on Stephen King works • Books with introduction by King • Castle Rock, Maine • Derry, Maine

  Results from FactBites:
 
Reference.com/Encyclopedia/Richard Bachman (459 words)
Richard Bachman is a pen name for Stephen King, considered by many to be the master of the horror genre.
By the time of Bachman's "death" (supposedly from "cancer of the pseudonym"), King was working on Misery which he had planned to release as a Bachman book.
There have been numerous biographies of the "late Richard Bachman" telling of a complete life separate to that of King, leading some at the time to believe that the name was not a pseudonym for King.
Stephen King Writing as Richard Bachman (706 words)
The name Richard Bachman was his creation and he used someone else's picture at the back of the book.
Bachman and his wife, Claudia Inez Bachman, had one child, a boy, who died in an unfortunate, Stephen King - ish type accident at the age of six.
Bachman however, didn't long long after that, dying suddenly in late 1985 of cancer of the pseudonym, a rare form of schizonomia.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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