Richard Bachman: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Richard Bachman is a pen name for Stephen King, considered by many to be the master of the horror genre. After publishing a few novels under his own name, Stephen King wanted to know if a few of his early works (written before Carrie) would sell without having his name on them. He came up with the pen name "Richard Bachman" and convinced his publisher to try them.

Bibliography

• 1977 Rage (originally Getting It On)
• 1979 The Long Walk
• 1981 Roadwork
• 1982 The Running Man
• 1984 Thinner
• 1996 The Regulators

The first four of these were republished as The Bachman Books in 1985. Bachman slowly built up a readership despite being published in original paperbacks. Thinner was published in hardback and sold 28000 copies before it became known that the author was really Stephen King and sales went up tenfold.

The original editions of the early Bachman books are among the most sought after original paperbacks in existence, costing at least a couple of thousand dollars.

By the time of Bachman's death (supposedly from "cancer of the pseudonym"), King was working on Misery and planned to release it as a Bachman book.

In the mid-1990s, The Regulators came out, claiming to have been found among Bachman's leftover papers by his widow, but it is obvious from the book that it's really by Stephen King (there's a picture on the back flap of a young Stephen King). King has said that there may be another Bachman novel left to be "found".

However, oddly enough, there has been a numerous amount of separate biographies on the life of the "late Richard Bachman" containing a whole different life. So, is "Richard Bachman" the pen name of Stephen King...or not?

After the Columbine High School massacre, King announced that he was going to allow Rage to go out of print, fearing that it may inspire similar tragedies.

See also: Stephen King Films for information on film versions of Bachman titles.