The Bachman Books with Jeff Wadlow
Episode 221, Mar 06, 09:00 AM
Director Jeff Wadlow (Imaginary, Fantasy Island, Cry Wolf) joins Wampler and Vespe to dig into the notorious Bachman Books. Conversation turns from all of our real life imaginary friends to the bleak stories contained in The Bachman Books, including Rage, which King has never put back into printing after a slew of copycat crimes that were allegedly inspired by the actions the lead character takes in that story. Will The Long Walk ever be adapted? Why does King think Roadwork might be the best of his Bachman output? Does the author have the right to pull their own work after release? All these questions and more are answered in today's episode.
Stephen King's alter ego, Richard Bachman, wrote a bunch of dark, cynical, and strangely prescient short novels before it was revealed that King was behind the pen name. At that point, King released them all in a collection called The Bachman Books, which featured the stories Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, and The Running Man. They're all fascinating looks into the darker corners of King's psyche and one of them was even allowed to fall out of circulation.