After Stephen King published “Carrie” in 1973, The eponymous adaptation of Brian de Palma gave it life to a striking and painful effect. Although King has already accelerated a sequel, De Palma’s film has undoubtedly contributed to the growing popularity of the novel (and the author). After four regular years of writing convincing stories, King struck gold with “The Shining”, which is still one of the most popular stories associated with the master of horror. Infused by personal elements of King’s life, “The Shining” is attacking the Cabin fever trope with a tender mastery on suspense and rhythm, where psychological and supernatural encounter to form a fascinating history.

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A year later, King again appreciated success with “IT”, which can be considered as a stage entry into the genre of horror of the pulp that we have for acquired today. It is also the junction when King almost stopped writing more horrorAs he was in the grip of self -doubt and considered himself “not many writer” but “a hell of an elaborator” (via TIME). These feelings do not reflect the objective truth, of course, but each creation has to divide its talent at some point, King is no exception. This spell of doubt (fortunately) did not last long, but King wanted to prove that he always had the juice. What better way to assess the authentic reactions of people to your job than to write under a pseudonym?

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Richard Bachman was the name King chose to write, of which he used many stories, including the very controversial “rage” and the dystopian thriller “The Running Man” (who obtained a loose video game adaptation For Commodore 64, for any reason). However, King’s link with Bachman was released in 1985 by a Steve Brown, a bookstore clerk who timed the similarities between the writing styles of King and Bachman. There is much more in this pseudonym story, so let’s take a look at the details.

After King was released as Bachman, the author confirmed that he indeed used this false identity and clarified certain details On its official website. King explained that the publishing industry at the time had a tacit rule to publish a book per year, operating by assuming that the general public would not be open to two or more versions of the same author. King recognizes that he is not strictly true, citing traditional genre writers like Danielle Steel, who “generally publishes[d] Two pounds per year. “However, to get around this perceived problem, King chose the pseudonym Bachman on a whim during a telephone call. This is what he had to say on this subject:

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“I adopted Richard Bachman and that’s what allowed me to make two books in a year […] The name Richard Bachman actually came when they [the publishers] called me and said to me, “We are ready to go to press with this novel, what name should we put in it?” […] There was a novel by Richard Stark on my desk, so I used the name of Richard and it’s a bit funny because Richard Stark is in itself a pen name for Donald Westlake, and what played on the Disk was “ You were not seen something else with Richard Bachman. “”

Before King was identified as Bachman, he juggled these two identities to write more books: “The Long Walk” came after “The Stand”, “Roadwork” was written after “Firetarter” and so on. For Bachman’s books to appear distinct, King has prepared biographical details on the author, which apparently served in the Coast Guard and the merchant navy for years, finally settling in New Hampshire as a dairy producer. Tiny details have been added to make this person real, such as the accidental death of Bachman’s child (!) And the health complications that the author knew. Once King and Bachman turned out to be one and the same, a final fact was added to the latter’s biography: Bachman’s death due to “pseudonym cancer”.

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Although the passage of King’s Bachman was relatively short -lived, he is an integral part of King’s author trip because he allowed him to write without the additional pressure of the expectations of the public. In case you want Read something fun on the King-Bachman connectionI recommend reading “The Dark Half” by King, which adopts a fictitious approach to this identity division and locates it in a premise of horror. Good things.