Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman) "The Bachman Books" Signed Book Club Edition

Personally inscribed by Stephen King as both himself and his pseudonyum.

The name on the covers was Bachman. But the imagination could only belong to one man.

New American Library (NAL) 1985. Stephen King "The Bachman Books: Four Early Novels by Stephen King". Book Club Edition as stated. Hardcover book with original dust-jacket. Rare book for the discerning collector. Fine/Near Fine.

Inscribed directly onto the FFEP (First Free End Paper):

"To Danell Mecks, Good luck, and have a great summer. "Richard Bachman" (Stephen King) "

The book contains an introduction by the author, "Why I Was Bachman".

The name on the covers was Bachman. But the imagination could only belong to one man. A compelling collection of four spellbinding stories of future shock and suspense - "Rage", "The Long Walk", "Roadwork" and "The Running Man" - in which Stephen King also explains 'Why I was Richard Bachman'.

The Bachman Books is a collection of short novels by Stephen King published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman between 1977 and 1982. It made The New York Times Best Seller list upon its release in 1985.

History

The book was released in 1985 after the publication of the first hardcover Bachman novel Thinner in order to introduce Bachman to fans who did not know about King's work under this pseudonym (little of which was still in circulation at the time). This omnibus also collected these early novels in hardcover for the first time, as they were all originally published in paperback. It opens with an introduction by King called "Why I Was Bachman", explaining how and why he took on the persona of Richard Bachman, as well as how it was found out by the public. Another version with a new introduction "The Importance of Being Bachman" was published in 1996 to coincide with the release of a new Bachman novel The Regulators.

Editions

The US editions of this collection and the novel Rage were allowed to go out of print by the author and publisher because of the 1997 Heath High School shooting. The remaining three novels are still in print and are published as separate books.

The Bachman Books is still in print in the United Kingdom although it no longer contains Rage. In a footnote to the preface of the more recent Bachman novel Blaze (dated 30 January 2007), King wrote of Rage: "Now out of print, and a good thing."

The Long Walk

On the first day of May, 100 teenage boys meet for a race known as "The Long Walk". If you break the rules, you get three warnings. If you exceed your limit, what happens is absolutely terrifying...

The Long Walk is a dystopian novel by Stephen King published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman in 1979 as a paperback original. It was collected in 1985 in the hardcover omnibus The Bachman Books, and has seen several reprints since, as both paperback and hardback. Set in a dystopian present, the plot revolves around the contestants of a grueling walking contest, held annually by a totalitarian version of the United States of America. In 2000 the American Library Association listed The Long Walk as one of the 100 best books for teenage readers published between 1966 and 2000. Stephen King has revealed that it is the first novel he ever wrote, begun eight years before Carrie was published in 1974, when he was a freshman at the University of Maine in 1966-67.

“I give my congratulations to the winner among your number, and my acknowledgements of valor to the losers.”

Against the wishes of his mother, sixteen-year-old Ray Garraty is about to compete in the annual grueling match of stamina and wits known as The Long Walk. One hundred boys must keep a steady pace of four miles per hour without ever stopping...with the winner being awarded “The Prize”—anything he wants for the rest of his life. But, as part of this national tournament that sweeps through a dystopian America year after year, there are some harsh rules that Garraty and ninety-nine others must adhere to in order to beat out the rest. There is no finish line—the winner is the last man standing. Contestants cannot receive any outside aid whatsoever. Slow down under the speed limit and you’re given a warning. Three warnings and you’re out of the game—permanently....

Stephen King

Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, and Doctor Sleep are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.