Blaze!

[elfs]

At the grocery store last night I passed by a display of books, one of which is Blaze, by Richard Bachman. The author's name is in a big size, probably 48 point, and at the bottom it reads "With an introduction by Stephen King," and King's name is somewhere around 42 point, nearly as big.

I laughed. Does anyone out there not know that Richard Bachman is Stephen King? That the book Different Season was basically an "outing" of King as Bachman? I have trouble understanding why they're trying to sell this book as anything other than a Stephen King novel. I'm not even a King fan and I know this whole relationship. (Then again, I seemed to know that A.N. Roquelare was Anne Rice almost five years before the Beauty series was republished under Rice's name; Rice had admitted it in an obscure erotica writer's magazine about the time Lestat was hitting the shelves but the mainstream press seems to have missed it.)

From the Stephen King FAQ: Why did you write books as Richard Bachman?

Comments

[jenk]

It may be an attempt not to have too many King books out at the same time, same as Robert Heinlein also publishing as Anson MacDonald. Or it may be marketing, with the idea being that Bachman books are in some way different than King books. It's been known for years that JD Robb (futuristic thrillers) is Nora Roberts (contemporary romance), and Amanda Quick (historical romance) is Jayne Ann Krentz (contemporary romance), yet the names Robb and Quick are still used.

Amazon sheds some light

[ideaphile.livejournal.com]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/141655484X

Looks like Blaze is a 1973 novel; having been issued under the Bachman name, I suppose there may be reasons not to re-release it with a different name.

The cover of the version for sale on Amazon at that URL actually has "KING" in much larger type than "BACHMAN."

The Amazon reviews suggest that King's introduction admits it's his book, but I dunno.

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[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I've seen something like "Nore Roberts writing as JD. Robb" on a UK edition. There's marketing value in retaining the name for a long-running series, and they're compentent books.

But I've seen Blazes and that labelling looks like rip-off marketing--Stephen King landing his name to hack writing. It doesn't make a bad book--Diane Duane has done fome wonderful writing for the Net Force brand--but the marketing approach makes me wonder why they aren't setting the book.

[srmalloy.livejournal.com]

John W. Campbell, editor of _Astounding Science Fiction_, created the pseudonym Anson MacDonald to publish Heinlein's stories that were not part of his 'Future History' collection, as a tool to keep from appearing to be buying Heinlein's work to the exclusion of other authors'. 'Lyle Monroe' was a pseudonym created by Heinlein for his lesser-grade short stories, those rejected by Campbell and sold to second-rate pulps such as Astonishing Stories and Future. He originally kept the name a close secret, with a separate mailing address, to keep the Monroe stories from polluting his image. 'Caleb Saunders' was the only other pseudonym to appear in Astounding, on the short story "Elsewhen" (published as "Elsewhere"). 'John Riverside' was used for the fantasy/horror novella "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathon Hoag" in Unknown. 'Simon York' is the only pseudonym to be used after World War II, for the pulp detective story "They Do It with Mirrors".

So Heinlein did use pseudonyms to distinguish his writing by content, but 'Anson MacDonald' was a tool to make Astounding appear to be the 'Robert Heinlein and Occasional Other Authors Magazine'.