Did Stephen King expose himself?

Whenever someone is asked what they like to read and they say that they like Stephen King books I always kind of chuckle inside. Its not that I am a book snob that looks down on people that read Stephen King books - or that I have a particularly low opinion of Stephen King - its just that saying that you like to read Stephen King books is such a lame thing to say in my opinion. I also think that many people claiming that Stephen King is their favourite author have probably never read a book in their lives - its just that Stephen King is the only author they can think of off the top of their heads and they have probably seen a movie or two that was based on one of his books.

Even though I do not have a particularly low opinion of Stephen King I dont have a particularly high one of him either - for example I always thought that movies based on Stephen King books were stupid and boring when I was a kid ( Still do for most part ). I remember renting the original It when I was a kid because the front cover of the video looked cool but it was the most boring thing I had ever seen in my entire life. I turned it off. I was shocked when they made the remake a few years ago and people seemed to like it. God I hate people. You like stupid clowns do you? Ok. It had to be every bit as boring as the original right? Ha. Stephen King fandom. Its so ridiculous. So lame and pathetic. As a kid I did enjoy Stand by Me and I loved The Running Man but I didnt even know they were based on Stephen King stories. So yeah as a kid I never got excited about a movie with Stephen Kings name attached to it because it was either weird and crap 70s trash like Carrie or Christine - or some boring crap like It.

I didnt even watch Pet Sematary even though it was super popular when it came out and to this day I have never seen it which is something that Im kind of proud of for some reason. Im actually a huge fan of the unloved Pet Sematary 2. Pet Sematary 2 is %$%$ing awesome. When I was a teenager I was home alone while my parents where on holiday so one night I invited two of my best friends over and we drunk some alcohol and smoked some cigarettes while we watched a rented copy of Pet Sematary 2 and we loved it. All the idiots - who are generally Stephen King fans and lovers the original that crap on Pet Sematary 2 - fail to understand that the target audience for the film are young teenagers that recently watched Terminator 2 and think it would be cool to see the John Conner kid in a horror movie. Its for young teenagers. That dont give a %$%$ about alleged plot holes. Why did Sheriff Clancy dig up Edward Furlongs dead mother? "Because I wanted to %$%$ her." HA! That the best line in the history of film. Come on. And how about when Sheriff Clancy murders the kid from Overboard with the dirt bike wheel? That was %$%$ing awesome. Plus - John Conner ffs. In a horror movie. How could anyone dislike Pet Sematary 2 - but especially the target audience who were 13/14 year old teenage boys. God I hate Stephen King fanboys. Sheriff Clancy. Come on.

Anyway I have a friend that says that his favourite author is Stephen King - and he told me that he read It when he was a kid. He said it was really good but the ending was very stupid. Apparently it involves a big spider or something. I wouldnt know because I turned the movie off. Because it was so boring. So this guy that is a Stephen King fan told me once that Stephen King wrote a bunch of books under a different name - the Bachman books - and he said that they sold really well ( because he is such a great author and all... ). And I thought that was pretty interesting but I never looked into it or anything. But I was watching a youtube video from my suggestions the other night that was about the Bachman book 'Rage' and it made me slightly interested in the Bachman books thing.

Apparently Stephen King decided to publish these books under a different name because his publisher didnt want to flood the market with too many Stephen King books and also because Stephen King wanted to know if his books were so popular because he is a good writer or because of the name recognition that he had achieved - I think the question he asked was talent or luck? Stephen King claims that the he was outed too early to know the answer. See - apparently some bookstore clerk noticed similarities between the Bachman books and Stephen King books then found proof that Bachman was in fact Stephen king then he called Kings publisher to tell him that he knew... And asked them what to do... ? Then two weeks later Stephen King calls this bookstore clerk and told the guy to write an article about his discovery and he allowed himself to be interviewed by this guy for the story. And this article outing King as Bachman was published in The Washington Post. When I read this little tale I thought to myself - you gotta be %$%$ing me.

These Bachman books sold ok apparently. The Bachman book Thinner sold 28,000 copies which is more books than I have ever sold - but the sales were %$%$ all compared to books with Stephen Kings name on them. So it seems logical to me that King and his publisher manufactured this outing themselves because they were sitting on five Stephen King books that would sell a lot of copies if they didnt have Richard Bachmans name on them. Stephen King wouldnt lie? He made up a fake identity with a photo and some nonsense story about a son that drowned in a well and some nonsense about having a brain tumour that was removed...., to fool us into thinking he was someone called Richard Bachman. Is it a stretch to suggest that he and his publisher might have manufactured this story about the Sherlock Holmes bookstore clerk that uncovered their lies and then called them to ask what he should do? He writes some article about it for The Washington Post? Pretty perfect.... For Stephen King and his publisher.. After King was outed his Bachman book Thinner sold ten times as many copies. They sold a %$%$load of the other Bachman books too once people found out they were written by Stephen King.

King can claim that he was working on Misery which he planned to publish under the Bachman name at the time he was outed - and he can claim that he wanted his Bachman experiment to continue so he could answer the question about whether he was talented or lucky - but I call bs. King published his first Bachman book in 1978 and he was outed in 1985. Thats seven/eight %$%$ing years. His experiment clearly failed. King could only have concluded that he was not talented - he was lucky. Or talented at writing prolefeed... He is sitting on five stories that he knows he can make a fortune on if he is outed... And he is sitting at his desk writing Misery under the Bachman name? %$%$ off.

So I have googled 'Stephen King outed himself' variants and I didnt find anyone that was suspicious of Stephen King and his outing that seemed to work out perfectly for him and his publisher. Do any of you guys agree with me that it is highly possible that King and his publisher manufactured the whole getting outed by a super sleuth bookstore clerk for financial gain? Sure King and publisher could have just wrote up a press release and confessed that he had written some stories in another name but it wouldnt have been nearly as exciting that way or have generated as much interest right?



Postscript - You wall of text joke guys are hilarious. Keep up the good work fellas.

This is better.



a reply to: thelastman

The story by King's pen name Richard Bachman titled 'The Long walk' was good, kinda like a early version of The Hunger Games. I heard somewhere awhile back that is was going to be made into a miniseries or possibly a movie, but that was a few years ago.

I would probably get banned for stating how I feel about the turd.

I might have missed it; what did Steve King out himself over?

So what if they did? Who cares if King and his publisher found a completely legal hustle, plenty of authors have written under a pseudonym for various reasons. It's not illegal

visual.ly...

The Bachman Books and the movie rights to them are a small fraction of his earnings on the rest of his portfolio.

As of June 2022, Stephen King’s net worth is estimated to be roughly $500 million, making him one of the richest authors in the world.

Stephen Edwin King is an American author of fantasy, horror, suspense, and science fiction.

King was born in Portland. His books have sold more than 350 million copies worldwide, of which many have also been adapted into feature films, miniseries, and comic books.

I was once a massive King fan. Back from when he was Bachman onwards. I am a horror fanatic and of course I read all of them from Laymon, Koonz and Lumley to many others. Thousands of books.
Then King got hit by a lorry and started to write about god. Then I realised what a lefty, virtue signaller and idiot he really is. I owned all his books and still try to read new ones but they are full of his political views. I actually despise him now.

Yeah, not much of a big deal to me.

You're condescending though to those that do enjoy his books. I read at least one book a week usually if not more. I sacrifice sleep to read that's how much I enjoy it. I've read all sorts of books,all types, genres, classics, books in old English, all of Shakespeare , The Oddessy, Huxley, Orwell,etc. Guess what? If you asked me who my favorite author is, it would be a tie between him and Dean Koontz. Totally enjoyable characters and good stories, although endings are usually a let down. The Stand I re-read at least once every two years, along with The Talisman he wrote with Peter Straub.

Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile are considered excellent movies adapted from his stories.


I also enjoy Lee Child's Reacher books too. Nothing wrong with some entertainment.
Either way, the dude is popular and has enough money to last a couple of lifetimes I'm sure.

originally posted by: Hecate666
I was once a massive King fan. Back from when he was Bachman onwards. I am a horror fanatic and of course I read all of them from Laymon, Koonz and Lumley to many others. Thousands of books.
Then King got hit by a lorry and started to write about god. Then I realised what a lefty, virtue signaller and idiot he really is. I owned all his books and still try to read new ones but they are full of his political views. I actually despise him now.

I despise his politics definitely, it's as much Tabitha as it is him, IIRC she was the one that was the impetus behind their foundation which does supposedly do some decent charity work, but it's their money they can do whatever they want.

I used to buy every book as soon as I could but after Cell, I wait for a while and wait for it in paperback if I get it at all. Hell, he could stop writing now and even though Ive easily read a 1/3 of his books, Id never read them all before I die.

I read loads of books but Horror/Fantasy is definitely a guilty pleasure, but even a bad King book is still a decent read.

a reply to: thelastman

Your post turned out interesting in the end, at first I thought it's just a rant on SK. Not read a single one of his books but from hearsay and your post, the evidence is hardening that he is overrated.

Yes I believe that could have been happening, that Bachman books did not sell okay and they had to blow the cover maybe for better sales under his main name.

But one thing, I saw some parallels to music hipsters. I am still not sure if a hipster is someone that is joining a trend and then being military about it or whatever. However, I do like music a lot. And it's like reading some ones post that says like:

"Metallica? You say you like metal and that's the first example you come up with? You never heard real metal music or music at all (....). That's kind of the taste of your post.

Live and let live, tastes are different. Sure you know that and just forgot about it being carried away with the theory

a reply to: thelastman

I preferred Dean Koontz or Clive Barker books to be honest.

Interesting thread all the same.

a reply to: thelastman

Question,
Did you watch the new IT?
Skarsgard fricken owned it. He did a phenomenal job as Pennywise the dancing clown.
He even did this thing with his eyes to make them go cross, but it was only one. that’s not CGI.
That’s Dude owning the part.

The original IT was a made for TV, 2 part series.

The reboot… was Not made for TV and is very much what the first should had been.
But that’s just my personal opinion.

Btw my fav author… well perhaps not my favourite, but the author I’ve read the most books from hands
down is R.A Salvatore.
Easily put away 20 of his books. Probably more.

there was a joke going around after her was run over. lol.
i forget what it was.

but i agree about his writing.
a low rent robin masters.
one thing stood out till this day was in cujo,

when the mailman was farting and he wondered if it was colon cancer or the cucumbers he ate.

that was a decent book. the walking dude was pretty cool in the stand.

originally posted by: Macenroe82
a reply to: thelastman

Question,
Did you watch the new IT?
Skarsgard fricken owned it. He did a phenomenal job as Pennywise the dancing clown.
He even did this thing with his eyes to make them go cross, but it was only one. that’s not CGI.
That’s Dude owning the part.

The original IT was a made for TV, 2 part series.

The reboot… was Not made for TV and is very much what the first should had been.
But that’s just my personal opinion.

Btw my fav author… well perhaps not my favourite, but the author I’ve read the most books from hands
down is R.A Salvatore.
Easily put away 20 of his books. Probably more.

Ive read more of King's books just because he is so damn prolific no other author I read pumps them out.


I bet he has a healthier subreddit than any other author in his category. I joined to talk about his stories and etc, and all it is people showing how many of his books they have in their collection.

I like most of the movies based on his stories. I don't have time to read books, or I'm just lazy, whichever. I will admit however, that the ending sucks in practically every one of the movies based on his books. I've always assumed that the ending in the books was probably better than how it turns out in the movies.

Stephen King = mostly unreadable books that get made into fairly watchable movies.

originally posted by: BrokenCircles
I like most of the movies based on his stories. I don't have time to read books, or I'm just lazy, whichever. I will admit however, that the ending sucks in practically every one of the movies based on his books. I've always assumed that the ending in the books was probably better than how it turns out in the movies.

It's weird for me I like King's stuff as an escape, I read loads of history, military history, current events, etc. King's books grab on to you and keep me turning pages and yes most time the journey is better than the end. Well atleast his earlier works Ive got behind on some of his new reads

originally posted by: ketsuko
Stephen King = mostly unreadable books that get made into fairly watchable movies.

I think King did Bachman because he didn't want to be pigeonholed as a horror writer, FWIW lots of movies and good movies are made from unreadable books.

King definitely isn't for everybody, my ex-wife and I would read to each other in bed at night fairly often, but haven't found another woman since that enjoys that. It's not a male or female thing either hell my sister is the one that got me reading him in the 70s. One of my daughters loves his stuff the other could care less, SK definitely has female fans.

I still haven't read the Dark Tower series completely it just never held my interest but for most of his fans, it's his finest work.

I think King did Bachman because he didn't want to be pigeonholed as a horror writer, FWIW Ive tried to read the books from easily a half dozen other authors, sometimes it just works on screen and doesn't om the page.

Ken Follett wrote some great novels but really only the Eye Of the Needle was a superb movie too IIRC

I've read every King novel published and loved most of them.
The Dark Tower series was excellent.
I've also read a ton of Dean Koontz, John Grisham, and others that I have enjoyed a lot.
My point being, Stephen King is possibly my favorite author and I have read extensively, so I reject your original assumption based on personal accomplishment.

a reply to: thelastman

So your problem with King is basically about him using his name, but if you think about it, you're kindof a hypocrite because you admitted yourself that you liked a couple of his movies before you knew his name was attached to them.

It's basically the same thing.... but opposite.