Duncan S. Jackson
Introduction to Humanities
Charles Ellis
10 November 2010
Prospectus for
Stephen King: Master Pontificator or Master Plagiarist
Stephen King has been renowned as the undisputed master of his craft for well over three
decades. When asked from where his ideas originate he jokingly answers, “Ithaca,” (New York).
It is my contention that King’s motivations come not from outside or even ethereal influences
but a land far more sinister in nature: The darkest recesses of his mind, where his inability to
process a series of original thought has exposed him for the pretender he truly is.
Some of the questions this paper will answer are, “When did this begin?” “Can this be said of all
his books?” and, “Why is this blatant disregard for the works of others allowed?” By the end of
my argument it should be easily discerned that opinion and truth are mere stumbling blocks on
the path to fact.
The importance of this project reflects the importance of King himself, who is quite literally
(lauded as) one of the greatest literary talents of the twentieth century. The tools implemented to
prove my argument will be such works as The Gods Hate Kansas (Joseph Millard, 1964),
television programs such as The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, as well as works by and
interviews with King that will inevitably draw the conclusions of which have been bespoken.
Duncan S. Jackson
Mr. Charles Ellis
Humanities
November 26, 2010
Stephen King: Master Pontificator or Master Plagiarist?
Stephen King has been referred to as, “…the undisputed master of horror,” “…the scar-
iest man alive,” “…the greatest literary mind of the twentieth century,” and, “The bestselling
author of all-time,” by every periodical and newscaster of merit. King has published well over
one hundred twenty-five stories and screenplays in his career, and his works have been translated
into thirty-three different languages in over thirty-five separate countries across the world. With
better than three hundred million copies of his books having been published and literary awards
too numerous to mention, one must recognize the fact that Stephen King is indeed doing some-
thing right. Or is he? Evidence exists that suggests the only thing right that Mr. King has accom-
plished in his career is keeping his darkest secrets from the public. Quite simply, Stephen Edwin
King is a thief.
Can we justly accuse Stephen King of plagiarism? Against himself, perhaps, as is evi-
denced in his novels Roadwork (1981) and Desperation (1996). In Roadwork the main character,
George Dawes, states (on page 176), “…had wanted that (.22 single-shot rifle) for three years
and when I finally got it I couldn’t think of anything to do with it so I…shot a blue-jay. It hadn’t
been a clean kill. The jay sat in the snow surrounded by a pink bloodstain, its beak slowly open-
ing and closing.” while in Desperation a supporting character named Audrey Wyler states (pg.
437), “The year I was twelve my old man gave me a .22. The first thing I did was go outside our
house… and shoot a jay. When I went over to it, it was still alive…its beak was opening and
closing very slowly.” This is plagiarism plain and simple, but against one’s own self it is difficult
to point an accusatory finger.
With that being said, does this exonerate King from the charges laid before him? The
answer to that query is a resounding, “No!” as he has made a career of not writing classic stories
but rewriting those already in existence, and therein does his duplicity lie. Stephen King is guilty
of the crime of stealing other novelists’ ideas and passing them off as his own. This paper will
take a journey through the mind and career of Stephen King, Master of Horror, via his works,
and publicly oust him for the charlatan he truly is.
Will this be an all-inclusive dissection of King’s works? Of course not, as certain conces-
sions must be made in order to reach a higher truth. For example, books involving dual person-
alities, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, witches or witchery, curses (Gypsy and otherwise) and the
like will not be reviewed as most horror writers eventually spin their own yarns with characters
such as these. Thus, the following books may be omitted from the list: ‘Salem’s Lot (1975),
Cycle of the Werewolf (1983), The Dark Half (1989), Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993), The
Green Mile (1996), Bag of Bones (1998), Blood and Smoke (1999), and Riding the Bullet (2000);
(and, as Richard Bachman) Thinner (1984).
Also not under review are those stories King crafted where the supernatural is absent
from the plot as it can be argued that the majority of them were taken not from another’s pub-
lished works but the daily news headlines themselves. These works include the four novellas
found within the pages of Different Seasons (1982) which are Rita Hayworth and Shawshank
Redemption, Apt Pupil, The Body and The Breathing Method; Gerald’s Game (1992), Dolores
Claiborne (1993), The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999), Hearts in Atlantis (1999); (and, as
Richard Bachman) Rage (1977) and Roadwork (1981).
What we are left with is still a sizeable amount of literature from King (and his alter ego,
Bachman), be it in the format of stand-alone novelization or the serialized Dark Tower novels.
Just understand that at some point in his writing career King did begin to serialize all his works,
synthesizing them into a broad expanse of literature that somehow flowed into and out from his
Dark Tower series. “Everything must serve the beam,” King would say time and time again, and
if not with his own voice then with that of his characters’.
In Michael Collins 1985 book The Many Facets of Stephen King, Mr. Collins references
an interview King was engaged in concerning his 1964 novella The Star Invaders. In this inter-
view (pg. 2) King admitted he had modeled his story after the 1956 film “Earth vs. The Flying
Saucers.”
With Carrie (1974) King states in a 1998 interview with George Beahm that this novel
was a possible future of “Rosemary’s Baby” (Ira Levin, 1967). Changing the sex of the child
from male to female, transforming the mother into a religious zealot due to her traumatic exper-
iences, but perhaps most compelling comes not from the book but the film adaptation in which
we see at the end scene Carrie (in dream sequence) rising from the bowels of Hell to claim her
next victim just as Rosemary’s baby was to rule at Satan’s side before ascending to rule over the
earth.
Excerpt from The Shining (pg. 129, 1977): “The hotel has a personality in its own right,
and acts as a psychic lens: it manipulates the living and the dead for its own purposes, and mag-
nifies the psychic powers of any living people who reside there and makes them more sensitive
to their urgings.” “Ten years prior King had read (Ray) Bradbury’s The Veldt (originally
published as The World the Children Made, September 20, 1950 issue of Saturday Evening Post)
and was inspired to someday write a story about a person whose dreams would become real.”
Stephen King: The Art of Darkness Winter, Douglas E. (1984). Of The Veldt (pg. 2): “…and as
they stand in the center of the room, the nursery’s previously blank walls come to life. The
machine works through telepathy. It reads a person’s thoughts and projects them onto the walls
to create an environment.”
The Stand (1978) may well be considered one of King’s greatest literary achievements,
but even here it is evident that “The Master” once again took “his” idea from pre-existing text,
this particular piece belonging to Richard Matheson in the form of I Am Legend (1954).
When The Dead Zone (1979) was first released it was thought by many to be a privately
acknowledged tribute to renowned psychic Peter Hurkos, whom King both admired and believed
in strongly. This was later substantiated by King on his website StephenKing.com. The “feats”
that The Dead Zone’s lead character Johnny Smith executed in the film are to mirror those
purportedly performed by Hurkos.
The release of Firestarter (1980) gave birth to new terminology within the Stephen King
universe that was soon to spill over and become accepted by horror, fantasy, and science fiction
enthusiasts alike. The word was “Pyrokenesis,” which in layman’s terms is defined as the power
to create and/or control fire. The terminology was new, yes, but too bad the idea wasn’t. On the
May 5, 1959 edition of “Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond” (Season one, Episode 16: “The
Burning Girl”) the program, which, through re-enactments, portrayed documented cases of the
mysterious and unexplained, reviewed a case in which a young lady psychically produced fires
where none should issue forth. This is yet another example of King crafting a story around a pre-
existing piece of work.
Have you ever asked yourself, “What if Travis Coates had waited a few more days before
killing Old Yeller?” Stephen King asked that very question, which ultimately led to the publica-
tion of his novel Cujo (1981). The comparison is too strongly drawn for this to not be a blatant
disregard for Fred Gipson’s 1956 classic.
The 1977 release of Elliot Silverstein’s film “The Car” filled many a person’s heart with
fear over the possibility that an inanimate object such as a vehicle could not just become pos-
sessed but actually hunt down and kill someone. This story was written with several accounts of
haunted ships and even James Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder being cursed or possessed in mind.
That would prove to be all the inspiration King would need to craft Christine (1983). Whether
the car is haunted or possessed, killing of its own will or through the psychic will of its owner,
Christine (and through her Stephen King) owes the success of this story to her forbears. And for
those who may think lightning cannot strike twice King treats us to yet another story of vehicular
horrors with From a Buick 8 (2002). For the most part the premise is the same but King has
added a new element to the mix…he is content on tying every single piece of work with his
name on it to his Dark Tower series, which will be covered later.
Pet Semetary (1983) served a monumental purpose when first released: It reminded us
that the truly acknowledged masters of their (literary) craft relied more on the unspoken truths
the premise of artistic license allows us than the blatantly obvious, etched over and again in our
minds by those whose skills are lacking. My case in point is W. W. Jacobs’ 1902 classic short
story The Monkey’s Paw. We have here a story of one being careful of wishing for that which
they desire most, for the repercussions of selfishness, regardless how noble the intention,
leave us with considerably less than we initially began. That pretty much sums up Pet Semetary,
right down to bringing the son back to life.
The Talisman (1984) and its sequel, Black House (2001) are both reminiscent of such
classical literary pieces as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll, 1865) and
Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis, 1949, itself a pilfered idea) in that they tell the story of a child
(initially, with The Talisman and later with Black House as an adult) who slips into a magical,
new world unlike any he has ever experienced. He has no “Queen of Hearts” shouting, “Off with
his head!” at every turn but there is an evil mage, Morgan of Orris, who wishes for nothing more
than to rid both worlds of Jack, the main character.
With It (1986) Stephen King borrowed elements from previous personal novelizations
The Body, (1982) as well as that of Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962)
in a sort of homage that serves little else but to lend yet more credence to the charges against
him.
The Eyes of the Dragon (1987) holds the same plotline from Alexandre Dumas’ The Man
in the Iron Mask (c. 1840) in that it involves the unseating of an established king that his evil
brother may take his place. Though set in a time earlier than that of Dumas’ classic (one must
assume it is King’s feeble attempt to lend credibility to the pre-dating of the tale) he falls short in
delivering to us that which flowed freely from Dumas’ pen.
With Misery (1987) King once again presents to us yet another manic writer dealing with
familial difficulties and unresolved issues stemming from one dysfunction or another. This
seems to be an ongoing theme of his when his stories center on a lead character who happens to
be an author. Can it be that King, through his words, is reaching out to us or perhaps even
inviting us to take a closer look at his (current) psychosis? That is definitely worth musing over
as we draw the similarity between this story and that of “My Ellen,” the season four, episode
three contribution from “Little House on the Prairie” (Original air date September 26, 1977).
With The Tommyknockers (preface, 1988) the only original thought King could hope to
associate himself with is the second stanza to the children’s rhyme, “The Tommyknockers.” “Late
last night and the night before, Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers knocking at the door. (From
King…) I want to go out, don’t know if I can ’Cause I’m so afraid of the Tommyknocker man.”
From there the novel is one stolen thought after another in which King has very literally
rewritten the Joseph Millard 1964 classic The Gods Hate Kansas, right down to the “hero” who
is unaffected by the alien E.S.P. by virtue of the steel plate in his head. Other critics have drawn
the parallel from The Tommyknockers to such works as The Colour Out of Space by H.P.
Lovecraft (1927), The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein (1951) and The Big Front Yard by
Richard Simak (1959). Writer and critic Kim Newman states that “…King more or less rewrote
(Quartermass and the Pit), a 1950’s BBC television science-fiction serial involving the
excavation of a long-buried alien spacecraft, and the growing influence of the dormant machine
on surrounding human beings.” The Times, British newspaper at time of critique on King’s
newly-released The Tommyknockers (18 Jan. 2006).
Needful Things (1991) was billed by King as, “The last Castle Rock story.” It was, how-
ever, not King’s last foray into the thievery and rewriting of the works of great authors before
him. In this particular book King borrows all the key elements that made the German writer
Wolfgang Goethe’s Faust (c. 1587) a masterpiece of literature and updated it to reflect a more
modern vision. If King’s idea is to push his “Constant Readers” to embrace the classics upon
which so many of his novels are based then he has given them plenty of motivation.
Rose Madder (1995) pulls its plotline from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass
(1871) but more importantly we find that even the legends of mythology are not safe as lead
character Rosie must navigate a labyrinth and rescue a baby from the wretched clutches of a
Minotaur a la Thesius. This is not the first time King has used mythological beings in his novels.
In Insomnia (1995) King has enlisted the aid of Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos—The Three
Fates—in the peddling of his wares.
With the release of Storm of the Century (1999) we find the actual screenplay King used
for the hit made-for-television movie of the same name. King uses the daemonic entity from
Biblical times Legion as the story’s antithesis but credits him as well in reference to The Lost
Colony of Roanoke which was founded in 1587 and discovered missing in 1590. Croatoan.
The Plant (2000) is a not-as-yet completed story by King that seems to have all the ele-
ments of the 1960 motion picture Little Shop of Horrors. Until this project has been completed
little else can be said..
Dreamcatcher (2000) derives its main driving force from the H. G. Wells classic War of
the Worlds (1898). It can also be associated with any alien/science fiction stories to come before
it because by this time there is nothing else original in that particular genre.
As Richard Bachman, King wrote seven books, three of which did not make the review
list as the criteria for inclusion was lacking. Of the four remaining novels, The Long Walk (1979)
and The Running Man (1982) both fit into the category of “Game: Hunting: Human Life.” These
concepts were neither new nor original when King composed his stories around them. The Most
Dangerous Game (also published as The Hounds of Zaroff), Gavin Lyall (1924) and Seventh
Victim by Robert Sheckley (1953) predate the earliest of Bachman’s novels by fifty-five years
and twenty-six years respectively. Moving next to The Regulators (1995) we find not originally a
novel but a screenplay that King had discussed with the late Sam Peckinpah. King rewrote the
screenplay but Peckinpah died before reading it so King rewrote the original as a novel, rewrote
the treatment as Desperation (1995) and explained that the stories were “…of similar events
transpiring in mirrored universes (StephenKing.com).” And of the final Bachman book we have
Blaze (2007). This story has all the elements one could expect from a John Steinbeck novel
because underneath the ghostly apparitions and overly-clichéd “falling in love with the victim”
sub-plot this is a John Steinbeck novel; Of Mice and Men (1937) to be more precise.
The Dark Tower series (1982-2004) is a single story told through the course of seven
connected novels over a twenty-two year period. It has been substantiated by King himself that
the reason it took such a great expanse of time to complete his Magnus Opus is he was
compelled to write other stories first, and on the surface the reason is legitimized through the
connections he has made with those other novels to his Dark Tower series. To what degree, one
might ask? To the degree of twenty-two of his novels having some direct or indirect link to The
Dark Tower, those being: ‘Salem’s Lot, The Stand, The Talisman, Crouch End, The Mist, It, The
Eyes of the Dragon, Insomnia, Rose Madder, Desperation, The Regulators, Bag of Bones, Hearts
in Atlantis, Black House, Everything’s Eventual, From a Buick 8, UR, The House on Value
Street, Cell, The Dead Zone, The Shining and Pet Sematary. But let this not be the criteria upon
which King is judged, for there are far more sinister plots at work here.
For instance, King freely admits within the foreword of the first of the Dark Tower
books, The Gunslinger that the idea for the story originally came from Robert Browning’s 1855
epic poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came. One familiar with Book One is immediately
impressed upon by the ravaging of the poem by King to fill a few paltry pages within the book,
but more so by King’s continued confessions. The lead character, Roland Deschain, is the
archetypal gunslinger having been modeled after Clint Eastwood’s “Man with no name” persona
from his stint under Sergio Leone and the “spaghetti western.” There is also the appearance of
the story’s main antagonist, Randall Flagg, whom King has positioned in his novels as a
recurring character throughout time. His legacy spans from the earliest days of King’s worlds as
is depicted in Eyes of the Dragon and continues through such future events as portrayed in The
Stand. Flagg will assume different identities from time to time but his mere presence
substantiates the meshing of king’s works into a single entity.
The series is chock-full of every type of villain imaginable, ranging from vampires, both
physical and psychological, to mutants, zombies, sorcerers and large insects just to name a few,
but what is perhaps most prevalent is the use by King of his “creation” of the Taheen, a race of
creatures that appear to carry both animal and human DNA much like the Humanimals from H.
G. Wells’ 1896 classic The Island of Dr. Moreau.
As if that was not enough, King injects himself into his own story portraying…himself. It
is his job, at the behest of the lead characters, to continue writing the adventures the gunslingers
are living. To make matters worse King uses the accident that nearly killed him on June 20, 1999
to kill off one of the story’s lead characters. It should not be too difficult to see that a person who
has no talent must resort to stealing the works of others to enable themselves of their promised
fifteen minutes of fame but King has taken it to a whole other level; by writing himself into his
novel he has acknowledged of himself to the public that his talent is nonexistent.
The initial inclination was to include all of King’s stories that have seen publication in
this paper but in the end there are just too many to categorize and cross-reference, especially
when it comes to his books of collected works, of which there are in excess of ten. That being
said, the sample provided has served its purpose well; Stephen Edwin King has made a living out
of mocking the very classics from which true appreciation of literature can be derived.
Can his actions be explained away by a plea of ignorance? I think not. King is an intelli-
gent man with extensive training in the classics, as his literary degree most assuredly attests. Will
the citation that his actions were an homage to the respective authors suffice insomuch as finally
giving due credit for his success? No such public offering has been made as of this writing, so it
must be ascertained that he is either unwilling or there is the off chance that he was given
permission by the author before embarking on his journey to craft the particular story. In either
case King has diminished not only himself and his work but the works of the other writers as
well by not giving public recognition. And finally, why have King’s actions been allowed to
continue for as long as they have? The answer to that query is simple: Money. Every editor,
director, producer, moviegoer and “Constant Reader” has at one time or other seen similarities
between a Stephen King piece and those of another writer, but so engrossed in the feeling of
“now” have they become that they could not care what repercussions might follow. The public
created a monster by not stopping King when it had the opportunity, and now the inmate is
running the asylum. How King will feel when in the not-too-distant future a writer comes along
and shows the same disregard for his (King’s) works that he has shown others’ is anyone’s
guess, but I am of the mind that he will not be as free in giving as he has been in taking.
Works Cited
Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond: The Burning Girl Season 1, Episode 16 (May 5, 1959)
Bachman, Richard The Long Walk (1979), The Running Man (1982), The Regulators (1996),
Blaze (2007)
Bradbury, Ray Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962), The World the Children Made
(The Veldt): Saturday Evening Post (September 20, 1950)
Browning, Robert Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came (1855)
Carroll, Lewis Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) Through the Looking Glass
(1871)
Collins, Michael The Many Facets of Stephen King (1985)
Dumas, Alexandre The Man in the Iron Mask (c. 1840)
Gipson, Fred Old Yeller (1965)
Goethe, Wolfgang Faust (c. 1587)
Griffith, Charles B. Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
Heinlein, Robert The Puppet Masters (1951)
Jacobs, W. W. The Monkey’s Paw (1902)
King, Stephen E. The Star Invaders (1964), Carrie (1974), The Shining (1977), The Stand
(1978), The Dead Zone (1979), Firestarter (1980), Cujo (1981), The Dark
Tower: Book I: The Gunslinger, Christine (1983), Pet Sematary (1983), The
Talisman (1984), It (1986), The Eyes of the Dragon (1987), The Dark Tower:
Book II: The Drawing of the Three (1987), Misery (1987), The Tommy-
knockers (1988), Needful Things (1991), The Dark Tower: Book III: The
Wastelands (1991), Insomnia (1995), Rose Madder (1995), Desperation
(1996), The Dark Tower: Book IV: Wizard and Glass (1997), Storm of the
Century (1999), The Plant (2000), Dreamcatcher (2000), Black House (2001),
From A Buick 8 (2002), The Dark Tower: Book V: Wolves of the Calla
(2003), The Dark Tower: Book VI: Song of Susannah ((2004), The Dark
Tower: Book VII: The Dark Tower (2004)
Kneale, Nigel “Quartermass and the Pit” BBC television series (1958)
Levin, Ira “Rosemary’s Baby” (1967)
Lewis, C.S. Chronicles of Narnia (1949)
Lovecraft, H.P. The Colour Out of Space (1927)
Lyall, Gavin The Hounds of Zaroff (The Most Dangerous Game) (1924)
Matheson, Richard I am Legend (1954)
Millard, Joseph The Gods Hate Kansas (1964)
Newman, Kim The Times (BBC book critic) (1988)
Sheckley, Robert Seventh Victim (1953)
Silverstein, Elliot “The Car” (1977)
Simak, Richard The Big Front Yard (1959)
Steinbeck, John Of Mice and Men (1937)
Wells, H. G. The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), War of the Worlds (1898)
Wilder, Laura Ingalls “Little House on the Prairie” Season 4, Episode 3 “My Ellen”
Winter, Douglas E. Stephen King: The Art of Darkness (1984)
