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Encyclopedia > The Tommyknockers
The Tommyknockers
Author Stephen King
Cover Artist One Plus One Studio
Country USA
Language English
Genre(s) Horror
Publisher Putnam
Released 1987
Pages 558
ISBN ISBN -0399133143

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (400x610, 51 KB) Licensing This image is of a book cover, and the copyright for it is most likely owned either by the artist who created the cover or the publisher of the book. ... For other persons named Stephen King, see Stephen King (disambiguation). ...

The Novel

The Tommyknockers is a 1987 horror novel by Stephen King. While maintaining a horror style, the novel is more of an excursion into the realm of science fiction for King, as the residents of the Maine town of Haven gradually fall under the influence of a mysterious object buried in the woods. Horror fiction is, broadly, fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle or horrify the reader. ... For other persons named Stephen King, see Stephen King (disambiguation). ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ...


In his autobiography, On Writing, King attributes the basic premise to the short story "The Colour out of Space" by H.P. Lovecraft. It also draws fairly obvious parallels with the classic 1956 movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the 1959 novelette The Big Front Yard by Clifford Simak. King wrote the book during a period of acknowledged substance abuse, and has written that he realized later on that the novel was a metaphor for that addiction. On Writing. ... The Colour Out of Space is a short story by American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. ... Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of fantasy, horror and science fiction, noted for combining these three genres within single narratives. ... Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1956 science fiction film. ... Clifford Donald Simak (August 3, 1904 _ April 25, 1988) was an American science fiction author. ... Substance abuse refers to the overindulgence in and dependence on a stimulant, depressant, chemical substance, herb (plant) or fungus leading to effects that are detrimental to the individuals physical health or mental health, or the welfare of others. ...

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The mysterious object turns out to be a long-buried alien spacecraft stumbled upon by Roberta (Bobbi) Anderson, a writer of Wild West-based fiction. Once exposed, the spacecraft begins releasing an invisible, odorless gas into the atmosphere which gradually transforms people into beings similar to the aliens who rode in the spacecraft. It also provides them with a short-sighted form of genius which makes them very inventive, but does not provide any philosophical or ethical insight, instead provoking psychotic violence (on the part of people like 'Becka Paulson, who kills her adulterous husband by fatally rewiring the TV, killing herself in the process) and the disappearance of a young boy (David Brown, whose older brother Hilly accidentally makes him disappear with a customised magic act).


The book's central protagonist, a poet and friend of Bobbi Anderson's named James Eric Gardener, is a man with left-leaning, liberal sensibilities who is apparently immune to the ship's effects because of a steel plate in his head, souvenir of a teenage skiing accident. Unfortunately, Gardener is also an alcoholic. His relationship with Bobbi deteriorates as the novel progresses. She is almost totally overcome by the euphoria of "becoming" one with the spacecraft, but Gardener increasingly sees her health worsen and her sanity disappear. The novel is filled with metaphors for the stranglehold of substance abuse, which King himself was experiencing at the time, as well as for the dangers of nuclear power and radioactive fallout (as evidenced by the physical transformations of the townspeople, which resemble the effects of radiation exposure), of unchecked technological advancement, and of the corrupting influence of power. Government agencies are uniformly portrayed as corrupt and totalitarian throughout the book, and Bobbi and Gard themselves are led into thinking that they can use the ship's "power" as a weapon to overthrow such authority figures.


Seeing the transformation of the townspeople worsen, as the local police constable, a journalist, and an eccentric old man are killed or worse when they pry too deeply into the strange events, Gardener eventually manipulates Bobbi into allowing him into the ship, activates it and launches it into space, resulting in the deaths of most of the changed townspeople (and himself) but preventing the possibly disastrous consequences of the ship's influence being allowed to spread to the outside world.


The book takes its title from an old children's rhyme:

"Late last night and the night before,
Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers, knocking at the door.
I want to go out, don't know if I can,
'Cause I'm so afraid of the Tommyknocker man."

King himself wrote the second verse; he claims to have heard the first verse when he was a child.


The Miniseries

A TV miniseries based on the novel was shown in 1993. The miniseries, starring Jimmy Smits as Jim Gardner and Marg Helgenberger as Bobbi Anderson, differs quite a bit from the novel. A miniseries (sometimes mini-series), in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Jimmy Smits as President Matt Santos on The West Wing. ... Mary Marg Helgenberger (pronounced with a hard G, unlike the name Marge) (born November 16, 1958), is an American film and TV actress. ...

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Differences

  • For instance, in the book the aliens are seen, albeit dead - it is the residents of Haven who begin to turn into aliens. In the miniseries, in addition to the Havenites(residents of Haven) turning into the aliens, there are real aliens found inside the ship. These aliens appeared to be dead... at first.
  • In the novel, the Becka Paulsen character is also killed when she murders her husband by rewiring the TV. In the miniseries, Becka kills her husband, but ends up in an insane asylum.

A psychiatric hospital (also called a mental hospital or asylum) is a hospital specializing in the treatment of persons with mental illness. ...

Editions


A Prebound book is a book that was previously bound and has been rebound with a library quality hardcover binding. ... Categories: Stub | Books ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

Stephen King
Bibliography
Novels: Carrie (1974) • ’Salem’s Lot (1975) • Rage (as Richard Bachman) (1977) • The Shining (1977) • Night Shift (stories) (1978) • The Stand (1978) • The Dead Zone (1979) • The Long Walk (as Richard Bachman) (1979) • Firestarter (1980) • Cujo (1981) • Road Work (as Richard Bachman) (1981) • The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (1982) • Different Seasons (novellas) (1982) • The Running Man (as Richard Bachman) (1982) • Christine (1983) • Pet Sematary (1983) • Cycle of the Werewolf (1983) • The Talisman (written with Peter Straub) (1984) • Thinner (as Richard Bachman) (1984) • Skeleton Crew (stories) (1985) • The Bachman Books (novel collection) (1985) • It (1986) • The Eyes of the Dragon (1987) • Misery (1987) • The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987) • The Tommyknockers (1988) • Dark Visions (cowritten with George R. R. Martin and Dan Simmons) (1988) • The Dark Half (1989) • Dolan's Cadillac (1989) • My Pretty Pony (1989) • The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition (1990) • Four Past Midnight (stories) (1990) • Needful Things (1990) • The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991) • Gerald's Game (1992) • Dolores Claiborne (1993) • Nightmares & Dreamscapes (stories) (1993) • Insomnia (1994) • Rose Madder (1995) • Umney's Last Case (1995) • The Green Mile (1996) • Desperation (1996) • The Regulators (as Richard Bachman) (1996) • Six Stories (stories) (1997) • The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997) • Bag of Bones (1998) • The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999) • The New Lieutenant's Rap (1999) • Hearts in Atlantis (1999) • Dreamcatcher (2001) • Black House (sequel to The Talisman; written with Peter Straub) (2001) • From a Buick 8 (2002) • Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales (stories) (2002) • The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (revised edition) (2003) • The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003) • The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004) • The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004) • The Colorado Kid (2005)
Cell (2006) • Lisey's Story (2006)
Non-fiction: • Danse Macabre (1981) • 1988 Nightmares in the Sky (1988) • 2000 On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000) • 2005 Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season (cowritten with Stewart O'Nan) (2005)
Original ebooks: Riding the Bullet (2000) • The Plant: Book 1-Zenith Rising (2000)
Audio Recordings
Audiobooks: JT's Theory of Pets • Blood and Smoke (2000) • Stationary Bike (2006)
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  Results from FactBites:
 
Kev's Stephen King House of The Tommyknockers (636 words)
In an effort to figure out what the thing is, Bobbi begins to scoop out the dirt around it, and in doing so, seals her fate.
Ultimately, The Tommyknockers remains readable and interesting, but unfortunately stands as a bloated shadow to what it could have been.
The Tommyknockers IS too long, and too weighed down by pages of dense exposition that isn't integral to the plot.
Michael Jackson's Beer Hunter - Fool's Gold and other Colorado pleasures (1278 words)
If a miner believed in such manifestations, the Tommyknockers would do nothing worse than blow out his lamp, and might even lead him to the mother lode.
Tommyknocker's founders are Tim Lenahan, formerly of the Breckenridge brewery, and Charlie Sturdavant.
Tommyknocker's beers, include a crisp Kšlsch called Fool's Gold; a lemony-tasting wheat ale, Jack Whacker; the malty, Oktoberfest-like, Red Eye Lager, a toffeeish Maple Nut Brown; the pithily hoppy Pick Axe Pale Ale; the eight-percent Butthead Bock, as warming and flavoursome as raspberries in brandy; and the smoky Black Powder Stout.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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