Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King by Lisa Rogak

Author:Lisa Rogak [Rogak, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Literary
ISBN: 9780312377328
Google: c8EIvHkg4EYC
Amazon: 0312603509
Barnesnoble: 0312603509
Goodreads: 3587176
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Published: 2009-01-06T05:00:00+00:00

In October 1985, King broke his previous record by having four books hit the New York Times bestseller list at the same time: Skeleton Crew in hardcover, and Thinner, The Talisman, and The Bachman Books in paperback.

His literary agent, Kirby McCauley, also made headlines when he negotiated a $10 million, two-book contract with New American Library—with a twist. Instead of the standard deal, assigning rights to a publisher for the life of the copyright, King decided to license books to a publisher for fifteen years. If he was happy with how the publisher marketed and promoted the books at the end of that time, he’d renew the deal for another fifteen years. If not, he’d look for another publisher.

“We’re not selling the books anymore, we’re renting them,” said Steve.

This was a novel arrangement even among bestselling authors, and many publishers were not happy since they expected that other internationally famous writers would insist on the same kind of deal in the future.

With all the money, however, Steve’s wealth still felt surreal. “Basically, I’d like to be like Scrooge McDuck and put all of my money in Shop ’n Save bags and keep it in a vault to play around with,” he said. “Then it might seem real.”

He also spoke about retiring from writing: “I want to clear everything off, get this stuff out of the way, and not take on any more commitments. Then I’m just going to sit around.” He described his perfect day: “When I get up in the morning, I’ll just grab hold of a book and go somewhere and sit in the corner and read all day long—except I’ll take a walk in the morning, and I’ll break at lunch for some hamburgers at McDonald’s, and take another walk in the afternoon.”

But he knew it was just a pipe dream. “I’d be bored shitless. I would be real unhappy if I were doing that. But that is the sort of goal that I always have in mind.”

In fact, in 1986, he moved his office out of the house and into a former National Guard barracks on Florida Avenue in Bangor, out near the airport behind a General Electric plant and next to a tuna-processing plant. To his friend Tony Magistrale, his choice of location was entirely appropriate: “That’s the heart of Bangor, which is perfect for Steve, who came from poverty and has strong blue-collar roots.” When Magistrale visited King in Bangor, he wanted to meet him at his office, not his house, because he felt it provided a clearer picture of the real Stephen King.

“There are two Stephen Kings,” Magistrate explained. “There’s the Stephen King who’s the Horatio Alger story of America, and the other Stephen King, the working-class hero who can create salt-of-the-earth characters like Stu Redman and Dolores Claiborne.”

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