Riding the Bullet
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Riding the Bullet (2000) is a novella by Stephen King. This work marks King's debut on the Internet. It was first published exclusively as an electronic book available for download. As a publicity stunt, the download was free of charge for the first week or so. As a result, the load on the web servers hosting the story was so high as to render them totally inaccessible.
In 2002 the story was published as part of the collection Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales.
A movie adaptation of the story, starring Jonathan Jackson and David Arquette, was released in 2004. See Riding the Bullet (movie)
[edit] Plot
The story concerns a man named Alan Parker, who is a college student trying to find out what he wants to do with his life. He gets a call informing him of his mother's recent stroke, which is terrible news since his mom has always been the person closest to his heart in life (his father died when he was young so it was him and his mom against the world). Left without a car, he has to hitchhike to the hospital to see her.
At first, he is picked up by a bizarre old man with a stench that drives Alan to walking. This brings him to a graveyard, where he finds a headstone for a man named George Staub ("Well Begun, Too Soon Done," the headstone reads). And as fate would happen to have it, the man who gives Alan his next ride is George Staub himself.
During the ride, George reminds Alan of the amusement park ride he was always too scared to try as a kid: The Bullet in Thrill Village, Laconia. He then tells Alan that he has to make the toughest decision of his life: George is taking either Alan or Alan's mother to "the other side" with him, and before George reaches his destination, Alan must pick who goes with him. In a moment of fright, Alan saves himself and lets George take his mom.
George shoves Alan out of the car, where he reappears alone at the graveyard. All he has left of George is a pin-button ("I Rode the Bullet at Thrill Village, Laconia," it reads), but when Alan reaches the hospital, he finds that she is still alive. She does not pass away for several more years, but when she finally does, he still feels guilty. "Fun is fun and done is done," Alan concludes at the end of the story. "Take your button and get out of here."
[edit] Trivia
Staub is named after a variation of Peter Straub, co-author of The Talisman (1983) and its sequel Black House (2001).
| Stephen King |
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| Bibliography |
| Novels: Carrie (1974) • ’Salem's Lot (1975) • Rage (as Richard Bachman) (1977) • The Shining (1977) • Night Shift (stories) (1978) • The Stand (1978) • The Dead Zone (1979) • The Long Walk (as Richard Bachman) (1979) • Firestarter (1980) • Cujo (1981) • Roadwork (as Richard Bachman) (1981) • The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (1982) • Different Seasons (novellas) (1982) • The Running Man (as Richard Bachman) (1982) • Christine (1983) • Pet Sematary (1983) • Cycle of the Werewolf (1983) • The Talisman (written with Peter Straub) (1984) • Thinner (as Richard Bachman) (1984) • Skeleton Crew (stories) (1985) • The Bachman Books (novel collection) (1985) • It (1986) • The Eyes of the Dragon (1987) • Misery (1987) • The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987) • The Tommyknockers (1988) • Dark Visions (cowritten with George R. R. Martin and Dan Simmons) (1988) • The Dark Half (1989) • Dolan's Cadillac (1989) • My Pretty Pony (1989) • The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition (1990) • Four Past Midnight (stories) (1990) • Needful Things (1990) • The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991) • Gerald's Game (1992) • Dolores Claiborne (1993) • Nightmares & Dreamscapes (stories) (1993) • Insomnia (1994) • Rose Madder (1995) • Umney's Last Case (1995) • The Green Mile (1996) • Desperation (1996) • The Regulators (as Richard Bachman) (1996) • Six Stories (stories) (1997) • The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997) • Bag of Bones (1998) • The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999) • The New Lieutenant's Rap (1999) • Hearts in Atlantis (1999) • Dreamcatcher (2001) • Black House (sequel to The Talisman; written with Peter Straub) (2001) • From a Buick 8 (2002) • Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales (stories) (2002) • The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (revised edition) (2003) • The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003) • The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004) • The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004) • The Colorado Kid (2005) Cell (2006) • Lisey's Story (2006) |
| Non-fiction: • Danse Macabre (1981) • 1988 Nightmares in the Sky (1988) • 2000 On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000) • 2005 Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season (cowritten with Stewart O'Nan) (2005) |
| Original ebooks: Riding the Bullet (2000) • The Plant: Book 1-Zenith Rising (2000) |
| Audio Recordings |
| Audiobooks: L.T.'s Theory of Pets • Blood and Smoke (2000) • Stationary Bike (2006) |
