Blaze (novel)

2007 novel by Stephen King

Blaze

First edition cover

Author| Stephen King (as Richard Bachman)
Language| English
Genre| Crime novel, ghost story
Publisher| Scribner

Publication date

| June 12, 2007
Publication place| United States
Media type| Print (hardcover)
Pages| 304
ISBN| 978-1-4165-5484-4

Blaze is a novel by American writer Stephen King, published under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. King announced on his website that he "found it" in an attic. As stated in the afterword of Different Seasons, it was written before Carrie. King offered the original draft of the novel to his Doubleday publishers at the same time as 'Salem's Lot; the latter was chosen to be his second novel and Blaze became a "trunk novel." King rewrote the manuscript, editing out much of what he perceived as over-sentimentality in the original text, and offered the book for publication in 2007. The book also has an annex containing "Memory", a short story that was first published in 2006 and which King has since worked into Duma Key.

## Plot summary

[edit]

The story concerns Clayton Blaisdell Jr. (known as "Blaze" for short, thus the title), a mentally disabled small-time con artist who kidnaps a wealthy gentleman's baby son, in the hopes of fulfilling the dreams of George Thomas Rackley, Blaze's deceased best friend and partner in crime and who continues to help him.

## King's comments on the book

[edit]

On King's website, the following was posted in the "Future Works" section on November 28, 2006:

> Many of you have been asking for more information about publication of Blaze following Steve's mention of it on his recent Lisey's Story book tour. This is another Bachman novel which he recently rediscovered. The original manuscript of Blaze was 173 pages long and was written in 1973. He has rewritten the first 100 pages. A lot of it needed editing to make it more timely since the 1973 references no longer worked. He's hoping to get it done by the end of the year. No publication deal has been signed, but he's sure there will be one.[1]

In an interview with Lilja of Lilja's Library (posted January 16, 2007), King said:

> I have been thinking about [Blaze] off and on for a while and every time I would think about it... you know I did the early books as Richard Bachman books and this is going to be a Bachman because it came from the same time. It was written right before Carrie and finally I thought to myself... the reason I've never done it was because, in my memory at least, it was a tearjerker of a book, you know it was kind of sentimental and just kind of... every now and then I think of what Oscar Wilde said about The Little Match Girl. He said that it's impossible to read about the little match girl without weeping tears of laughter and... you know something that is so sad it's actually funny.[2]

(Wilde's actual quote was about Charles Dickens's novel The Old Curiosity Shop: "One must have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without laughing."[3])

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Official Stephen King website". StephenKing.com. Archived from the original on August 24, 2017.
2. ^ "Interview". Lilja's Library. January 16, 2007. Archived from the original on March 25, 2007.
3. ^ Leverson, Ada (1930). Letters to the Sphinx from Oscar Wilde. London: Duckworth.

## External links

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* Website for Blaze launch, interactive game/film trailer/comps created by The Precinct
* Interview with King about Blaze, fan sites and The Haven Foundation at Lilja's Library (a fan site)
* The first two chapters at King's website

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Stephen King

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Novels|

* Carrie (1974)
* 'Salem's Lot (1975)
* The Shining (1977)
* The Stand (1978)
* The Dead Zone (1979)
* Firestarter (1980)
* Cujo (1981)
* Christine (1983)
* Pet Sematary (1983)
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* It (1986)
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* Bag of Bones (1998)
* The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999)
* The Plant (2000; unfinished)
* Dreamcatcher (2001)
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* From a Buick 8 (2002)
* The Colorado Kid (2005)
* Cell (2006)
* Lisey's Story (2006)
* Duma Key (2008)
* Under the Dome (2009)
* 11/22/63 (2011)
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| The Dark Tower series|

* The Gunslinger (1982)
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* Wizard and Glass (1997)
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Richard Bachman novels|

* Rage (1977)
* The Long Walk (1979)
* Roadwork (1981)
* The Running Man (1982)
* Thinner (1984)
* The Bachman Books (1985)
* The Regulators (1996)
* Blaze (2007)

Short fiction
collections|

* Night Shift (1978)
* Different Seasons (1982)
* Skeleton Crew (1985)
* Four Past Midnight (1990)
* Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993)
* Hearts in Atlantis (1999)
* Everything's Eventual (2002)
* Just After Sunset (2008)
* Full Dark, No Stars (2010)
* The Bazaar of Bad Dreams (2015)
* If It Bleeds (2020)
* You Like It Darker (2024)

Nonfiction|

* Danse Macabre (1981)
* Nightmares in the Sky (1988)
* On Writing (2000)
* Secret Windows (2000)
* Faithful (2004)
* "Guns" (2013)

Screenplays|

* Creepshow (1982)
* Cat's Eye (1985)
* Silver Bullet (1985)
* Maximum Overdrive (1986; also director)
* Pet Sematary (1989)
* Sleepwalkers (1992)
* A Good Marriage (2014)
* Cell (2016)

Teleplays|

* "Sorry, Right Number" (1987)
* Golden Years (1991)
* The Stand (1994)
* The Shining (1997)
* "Chinga" (1998)
* Storm of the Century (1999)
* Rose Red (2002)
* Kingdom Hospital (2004)
* Desperation (2006)
* "Heads Will Roll" (2014)
* The Stand (2020–21)
* Lisey's Story (2021)

Comics|

* Heroes for Hope (1985)
* American Vampire (2010)

Musical
collaborations|

* Michael Jackson's Ghosts (1997)
* Black Ribbons (2010)
* Ghost Brothers of Darkland County (2012)

Anthologies
edited|

* The Best American Short Stories 2007 (2007)
* Six Scary Stories (2016)
* Flight or Fright (2018)

In-universe
concepts|

| Characters|

* Carrie White
* Margaret White
* Sue Snell
* Rita Desjardin
* Kurt Barlow
* Richard Straker
* Father Callahan
* Jack Torrance
* Danny Torrance
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* It
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* Gage Creed
* Johnny Smith
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* Tanya Robertson
* Holly Gibney

|

Locations|

* Castle Rock
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* Shawshank State Prison
* All-World

Family|

* Tabitha King (wife)
* Joe Hill (son)
* Owen King (son)

Related|

* List of adaptations
* Dollar Baby
* Bibliography of works on Stephen King
* Raymond H. Fogler Library archives
* Rock Bottom Remainders
* People, Places and Things
* Philtrum Press
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* Stephen King Goes to the Movies
* Charlie the Choo-Choo
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* The Secretary of Dreams
* King on Screen

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