Richard Bachman
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Richard Bachman is a pen name for Stephen King, considered by many to be the master of the horror genre. After publishing a few novels under his own name, King wanted to know if a few of his early works (those written before Carrie) would sell without having his name on them. He also worried that many of the non-horror novels he wanted to write would clash with the expectations of his fans. So he convinced his publisher, Signet Books, to print these novels under the pseudonym. But when King began working obscure references to his own identity into all of Bachman's books and when the two authors' literary styles became too similar horror fans and retailers questioned King. King vehemently denied any connection to Bachman. But when an industrious bookstore clerk located publisher's records at the Library Of Congress referring to King as the author of one of Bachman's novels the link became well established. The original editions of the early Bachman books are among the most sought after original paperbacks, with resale prices in the thousands of dollars.
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.
In the mid-1990s, The Regulators came out, with the publishers claiming it was found among Bachman's leftover papers by his widow. It is obvious from the book that it was really written by King. There is a picture of a young King on the inside back cover. King has said that there may be another Bachman novel left to be "found".
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.
But King has since taken full ownership of the Bachman name on numerous occasions, such as in the introduction to The Bachman Books: Four Early Novels By Stephen King entitled "Why I Was Bachman."
Bibliography
- Rage (originally Getting It On; 1977)
- The Long Walk (1979)
- Roadwork (1981)
- The Running Man (1982)
- Thinner (1984)
- The Regulators (1996)
The first four of these were republished as The Bachman Books in 1985. Bachman slowly built up a readership despite being published in original paperbacks. Thinner was published in hardback and sold 28 000 copies before it became widely known that the author was really Stephen King and sales went up tenfold.
After the Columbine High School massacre, King announced that he would allow Rage to go out of print, fearing that it may inspire similar tragedies.
See also
List of Stephen King films - for information on film versions of Bachman (and King) titles.ja:リチャード・バックマン