Richard Bachmann - this name is often misleading to horror fans who are new to Stephen King's biography. But what unites these two writers? We will talk about this and much more in this article.
Who is Richard Bachmann?
In the late 70s of the XX century, the books of a certain Richard Bachmann began to be published. According to the official biography of this character, he was sick with "cancer" and died after the publication of the first books. However, his works continued to publish his widow - Claudia Innes Bachmann.
In fact, Richard Bachmann is the pseudonym of the famous horror master Stephen King. There are two reasons why the writer decided to use a different name. According to the first version, King decided to check whether his books could gain popularity and success for the second time, and whether his fame was just an accident. The second version is much more prosaic - in those years, the author was allowed to publish only one novel per year, while the pseudonym allowed to be published twice.
Exposure
Despite the fact that Stephen King was actively involved in the creation and maintenance of the illusory existence of Richard Bachmann, his cunning was exposed. This was done by a bookstore employee Steve Brown. He was a big fan of Brahman, but once he suspected something was amiss. Then Brown went to the Library of Congress, where he found a book in which King was co-authored by Bachmann. The book detective sent a copy of the found document to King, accompanying it with a letter. After some time, King himself phoned Brown and offered to take a revealing interview from him. The resulting article was published in the Washington Post.
Best books
Nevertheless, Stephen King, whose books are very popular with horror fans and translated into many languages, is most famous under his real name. And now we will present the best of his works, according to critics and readers. These will be the very books that made his writer famous and become cult. Moreover, despite the fact that these works were written in the last century, they are in great demand today.
“Rita Hayworth and Rescue from the Shawshank”
So, the relay race called “King's best books” begins the story “Rita Hayworth and Salvation from the Shawshank”. This work is known to many as “The Shawshank Redemption,” although it was only called the adaptation of the story.
The book was written in the genre of psychological realism and was first published in 1982. A similar genre is completely unusual for King; nevertheless, the book is recognized as the best work of the writer. In 1994, the story was filmed, and in 2009 it began to be put on theatrical stages.
The work tells the story of former vice president Andy Dufresn, who is accused of killing his wife and her lover. Despite the fact that the hero is innocent, he is tried and sent to prison, where violence and corruption reign.
"Green Mile"
If we are going to list King's best books, then we can not do without mentioning this work. The novel "The Green Mile" was written in 1996, and in 1999 a film of the same name was shot based on the book, which was awarded many awards and nominations.
The story begins with the reader getting to know Paul Edgecomb, who was once a prison overseer and who was at the Georgia Pines retirement home when the novel began. Here the hero tells one of the local inhabitants the story that happened to him back in 1932. Then Paul was a senior overseer in the prison block "E", which contained those sentenced to death by electric chair. Also, the duties of the hero included the enforcement of the sentence. About those strange events that happened next, and tells the novel.
Misery
Stephen King, whose books we are considering, is the author of another beautiful novel published in 1987. Misery was written in the genre of psychological thriller, one of King's favorite genres. For this work, the writer won the Bram Stoker Prize and was nominated for the World Fantasy Award. The title of the work translates as “Suffering”. The novel was also filmed in 1990. Critics note that the author was great at describing a celebrity’s relationship with his fans.
The plot was based on the story of the relationship between two main characters: the famous writer Paul Sheldon and his fan Annie Wilkes, who suffers from mental disorders. The plot begins at the moment when Paul gets into a car accident. Annie, a former nurse, takes an insensitive writer to her home and begins his treatment. However, the hero soon realizes that he was a prisoner who is forced to fulfill any whims of his jailer.
Top books published under a pseudonym
Now let's talk about those works that were published under the name Richard Bachmann. The books of this writer, as noted above, were no less popular than those published under the name of King himself. Not to mention the fact that the very manner of creation and the choice of topics did not differ dramatically from those that the author chose to write under a real surname. Nevertheless, let us single out the works written specifically by Richard Bachmann.
"Running Man"
Richard Bachmann wrote this novel in 1982. The idea for the plot of the work was borrowed from Robert Sheckley's novel “Risk Award”.
The novel takes the reader to the future, where America is in a state of strong social inequality and degradation. Here, even the money differs by "old and new bucks." The main entertainment of the inhabitants of this new America is television games, which are constantly broadcast on free channels. The main participants in these entertainments are slum dwellers. And one of these poor people is the main character of the novel Ben Richards. He needs money to treat his little daughter. To do this, he decides to take part in the most popular television show - “Running Man”. To get a super prize and stay alive, Richards will have to hide from hired killers for a month.
"Men at work"
A 1981 novel also published under the name Richard Bachmann.
The main character is Barton J. Dawes, who lives in a small American town. He feels himself gradually starting to go crazy when the construction of the freeway begins in the city. First, they demolish the laundry where he worked. But Daws does not want to look for a new place for the institution, as he is sure that it will be destroyed. Then his wife leaves him because he does not want to buy a new house, and the old one will soon be demolished due to the construction of the same ill-fated freeway. All these days, the hero drives on the freeway, thereby expressing protest, and even somehow sets fire to the equipment of the builders. Gradually, his hatred is growing, and nothing can reconcile him with life.
"Losing weight"
This work, authored by Stephen King, was published in 1984. A novel written in the mystic genre. It was after the publication of this book in the media that a discussion began about how similar in style the novels of Bachmann and King were, and then Stephen Brown revealed the secret of this similarity. After it became known that the novel “Losing Weight” was written by King, book sales increased several times.
The plot of the book begins with the fact that Billy Halleck, a successful lawyer, accidentally knocks down a gypsy who crosses the road. A woman dies instantly. Thanks to connections, Billy manages to avoid judicial investigation and punishment. But the father of the deceased is not ready to forgive Billy for the death of her daughter, so he puts a spell on the culprit of the tragedy, which gradually takes away his weight. King at the time of writing the book was obese, and the idea of ​​the plot of the novel came to his mind after another visit to the doctor.
Fury
The horrors of Stephen King, as time has shown, can have a very unexpected effect on people. It happened with this novel, published in 1977. A few weeks after the start of sales, the book "Fury" was withdrawn from store shelves. This was due to the fact that many teenagers began to take weapons to school. And one boy, who took his classmates hostage, had this King’s novel with him. Later, in the years 80-90, the attacks repeated, which led to the repeated withdrawal of the book from sale.
From the foregoing, it is easy to guess about the plot of the book. One day, Charlie Decker, an ordinary American schoolboy, brought a revolver to the classroom and took his classmates hostage, killing two teachers before that. All the time that the children were captured, they discussed teenage problems and even took Charlie's side in this situation.
"A long walk"
The horrors of Stephen King, under whatever pseudonym they were published, are primarily based on psychologism. The 1966 novel, which tells the story of Maine R. Garrity, was no exception. The hero goes on a walk organized by the American channel. Here he has to find new friends and lose them, understand a lot, but rethink even more. However, for Maine, this campaign will end in madness.
King movies
As can be seen from all of the above, King is one of the most filmed writers of the 20th century. Most of the films exactly followed the original book plot, such as “The Green Mile”, “Losing Weight”, “Misery”, “Escape from the Shawshank” and many others. But there are a number of paintings that can be called films based on the works of King. This, for example, "Running Man" in 1987, where the main role was played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Many critics call it not so much an adaptation of King 's book as a remake of Yves Boisset's painting The Price of Risk based on a work by R. Sheckley.
Nevertheless, films on King have always enjoyed no less fame than the books of the writer. This is mainly due to the fact that the author has always managed to create a story that would be attractive in any form, whether it be a novel or a film.