Blaze - "recently discovered" Bachman novel

[HoopyFrood]

It appears that a new Bachman novel has been 'discovered' and is due for publication quite soon. Apparently King wrote it back in 1970, submitted it at the same time as 'Salem's Lot, but from the two choices only 'Salem's Lot was accepted (as I'm sure we're all aware!) It is called Blaze and it's to be released in June.

It tells the story of a giant, mentally disabled man who steals a child from its rich parents in order to ransom it back to them. The story is divided between his flight through the Maine woods as he tries to escape the police, and flashbacks to his earlier life. The plan to kidnap the child is the idea of his friend, George...but, in typical King style, is George all as he seems?

Interestingly, it is possible to actually read the first two chapters of the novel, which have been released and spread far over the internet for King fans to peruse: http://www.stephenking.com/assets/blaze_chapters_1_and_2.pdf

Here's an article about Richard Bachman, from Wikipedia, which is quite interesting to read, especially the part that says that Misery was originally intended as a Bachman book. Richard Bachman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have to say that I've only ever tried reading Thinner of the Bachman books and I didn't really enjoy that. I'll probably give this one a go when it it is released though, it sounds quite interesting.

Oh, and also, as a final bit of information, here is the cover of the UK version:

 

[tragicardo]

"Long Walk" is well worth a read, as is "The Running Man". Both ahead of their time IMHO.

 

[sanityassassin]

All 4 stories in his Bachman books collection were good reads, the long walk is a tremendous story. I did not like Thinner either but give his other stories a go, as for this new old one it does sound quite interesting

 

[HoopyFrood]

I have "The Long Walk"; it's on my huge -- and ever growing! -- to-read pile.

 

[sanityassassin]

I will also point out that the Running Man is in no way similar to the film except in the loosest premise and if you can get a hold of rage (got took off the shelves after it resembled a school massacre)it is well worth reading

 

[tragicardo]

I keep seeing Rage on e-bay and will make a bid one day. Also I keep seeing Colorado Kid. Any one read this?

 

[HoopyFrood]

Again, another one on my to-read list. I'm not in any rush to read it though (I mean I will read it eventually, otherwise what's the point of buying it? ) as it's a crime novel and I prefer King when he's doing good, old-fashioned horror (not that I've actually read another crime novel by King or anything...guess I shouldn't be -- ha -- judging a book by it's cover (*groan*)).

 

[Wiggum]

Rage is great.

Colorado Kid is quite good for what it is, which is a brief story about an unsolved murder. It really seemed almost more like an exersize in character development for King though. I thought it was worth the little amount of time I had to spend to read it.

 

[Lucien21]

I was disappointed with it.

The story was a bit blah. Large retarded anti-hero (nod to "Of mice and men"), life of petty crime, tried to pull off one big job (Kidnap rich toddler) with predictable results.

Bachman/King writes great characters and the character of Blaze is well written and sympatheticly shown with the flashbacks to his life growing up.

Wasn't really caught up in the story.

Nice that the royalties are going to charity, but felt maybe better left in the trunk. Not one of his better novels.

It contains a short story at the end "Memory" that leads into his next novel "Duma Key".

 

[lou.mor432]

Read this book in ONE day. I couldn't put it down. I had to know how it would end. If they managed to pull off the kidnapping, who or what George really was, and if they would eventually get caught.

 

[Moraven]

this is on my list for sure. I've liked the other Bachman stuff (esp Long walk and Running Man) though some of it was weird. Anyone else read "The Regulators"? I liked it, but man was it strange.

 

[Carpe Diem]

'OF MICE AND MEN' BY JOHN STEINBECK SPOILER WARNING BELOW!

Guys have you read this book called 'Of Mice and Men'?
Its a classic by John Steinbeck (published in 1937), and the two main characters are Lenny, a giant of a man, who is terribly strong but has the mentality of a child (i.e. is mentally disturbed), and his friend George, who has basicaly full control over Lenny, for example if he told Lenny to jump off a cliff, Lenny would. The pair go to work on a ranch in America in the Great Depression.
In the end, the 'authorities' (i.e. the ranch owner's son and his workers) chase after Lenny through the woods after he killed the ranch owner's son's wife, until they find him and George himself kills him.
Just to say, I hope King wasn't influenced by it and the whole similarity is a coincidence, because that would be a shame both to Blaze and King, and as a huge King fan, I would be disappointed

 

[faerietalegoddess]

this is on my list for sure. I've liked the other Bachman stuff (esp Long walk and Running Man) though some of it was weird. Anyone else read "The Regulators"? I liked it, but man was it strange.

"The Regulators" was one of my favorite books for a while. I bought it thinking it was a sequel of some sort to "Desperation", but came to realize that the characters were the only similarities, from what I remembered. I thought it was a great book and that Tak was at his meanest in that one, especially with the way he treated poor Audrey. As for "The Long Walk", it's definitely at the top of my favorites in the Bachman and King works.

As for Blaze, I picked it up and read it completely as soon as I got my hands on it, and I thought that it was pretty good. I especially liked the chapters that went into exploring Blaze's past, but there were definitely some hopes while I was reading it that the story would be spiced up a bit. And Carpe, I thought that Stephen King mentioned influence from "Of Mice and Men" in his introduction, but I can't look since my books are packed up. However, even if he didn't mention it, I would definitely think that some of the influence for "Blaze" came from "Of Mice and Men". There's just way too many similarities, I think.

 

[Carpe Diem]

i havent read it yet, but from the descriptions above, i derived my conclution

 

[Moraven]

"The Regulators" was one of my favorite books for a while. I bought it thinking it was a sequel of some sort to "Desperation", but came to realize that the characters were the only similarities, from what I remembered. I thought it was a great book and that Tak was at his meanest in that one, especially with the way he treated poor Audrey. As for "The Long Walk", it's definitely at the top of my favorites in the Bachman and King works.

As for Blaze, I picked it up and read it completely as soon as I got my hands on it, and I thought that it was pretty good. I especially liked the chapters that went into exploring Blaze's past, but there were definitely some hopes while I was reading it that the story would be spiced up a bit. And Carpe, I thought that Stephen King mentioned influence from "Of Mice and Men" in his introduction, but I can't look since my books are packed up. However, even if he didn't mention it, I would definitely think that some of the influence for "Blaze" came from "Of Mice and Men". There's just way too many similarities, I think.

King says he wrote "Blaze" to be like "Of Mice and Men." That is definitely in the foreward to the book. I don't know if he did that on purpose or just accidentily managed it and then wrote it into the foreward to cover his own ass, but he does mention it at least.