Stephen King "The Running Man" Softcover First Edition, First Printing 1982 (writing as Richard Bachman)

The last book by Stephen King under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. 1982 First Edition, First Printing.

Signet Classics, May 1982. "The Running Man" Stephen King writing as Richard Bachman. First Edition. First Printing. Softcover. Full number line on the copyright page '1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ' with "First Printing, May, 1982". A rare softcover book not commonly found in this great original condition. Near Fine with tight binding. Appears unread. 

The Running Man was basis for the 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, María Conchita Alonso, and Richard Dawson.

The Running Man

The Running Man is a dystopian thriller novel by American writer Stephen King, first published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman in 1982 as a paperback original. It was collected in 1985 in the omnibus The Bachman Books. The novel is set in a dystopian United States during the year 2025, in which the nation's economy is in ruins and world violence is rising. The story follows protagonist Ben Richards as he participates in the reality show The Running Man, in which contestants win money by evading a team of hitmen sent to kill them.

The Running Man is the last of four books written by King under the name Richard Bachman before the author's real identity was leaked to the media. These are Rage (1977), The Long Walk (1979), Roadwork (1981), and The Running Man. The four novels were reissued in one volume as The Bachman Books (1985).

King created "Richard Bachman" to be his long-term alias, not just a temporary writing identity, but shortly after the publication of the fifth Bachman novel, Thinner (1984), King was outed. Although Bachman is now known to be King, he used the pen name for two further novels: The Regulators (1996) and Blaze (2007). He also based The Dark Half, a horror novel published in 1989, on Bachman's outing.

Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Called the "King of Horror", he has also explored other genres, among them suspense, crime, science-fiction, fantasy and mystery. He has also written approximately 200 short stories, most of which have been published in collections. His debut, Carrie (1974), established him in horror. Different Seasons (1982), a collection of four novellas, was his first major departure from the genre. Among the films adapted from King's fiction are Carrie, Christine, The Shining, The Dead Zone, Stand by Me, Misery, Dolores Claiborne, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and It. He has published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman and has co-written works with other authors, notably his friend Peter Straub and sons Joe Hill and Owen King. He has also written nonfiction, notably On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.

Several of King's works have won the Bram Stoker and August Derleth Awards. He has also won awards for his overall contributions to literature, including the 2003 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2007 Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and the 2014 National Medal of Arts. Joyce Carol Oates called King "a brilliantly rooted, psychologically 'realistic' writer, for whom the American scene has been a continuous source of inspiration, and American popular culture a vast cornucopia of possibilities."