Camilla Jessen
One of Stephen King’s earliest books is now off-limits.
Stephen King, one of the world’s most famous authors, has a lesser-known novel that will never appear in bookstores again.
King’s Recent Headlines
Stephen King recently made headlines after posting a tweet about conservative activist Charlie Kirk following Kirk’s fatal shooting at Utah Valley University.
Responding to a Fox News host who labeled Kirk a “PATRIOT,” King wrote:
“[Kirk] advocated stoning gays to death. Just sayin.”
The backlash was swift, and while the author later apologized and removed the post, it drew renewed attention to King’s outspoken presence on social media.
The Book That Crossed a Line
Before Stephen King was the household name behind The Shining and It, he wrote a novel titled Rage.
The story, penned in the late 1960s and published in 1977 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, centers on Charlie Decker, a disturbed high school student who brings a gun to school, kills a teacher, and holds his classmates hostage.
Originally released as part of The Bachman Books, Rage slowly gained notoriety for its disturbing parallels to real-life school shootings.
Real-World Tragedies Prompt Action
Over the years, Rage became infamous, linked to multiple school shootings between 1988 and 1997. In some cases, the shooters had read the book, and at least one student wrote an essay on it.
The tragedy that forced King to act occurred on December 1, 1997, when 14-year-old Michael Carneal opened fire at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky, killing three students and injuring five.
A copy of Rage was found in Carneal’s locker.
Pulling the Book from Print
Deeply shaken, King made the decision to withdraw Rage from print in the U.S.
“The Carneal incident was enough for me. I asked my publisher to take the damned thing out of print. They concurred,” King stated in 1999, as cited by Newsner.
Collector’s Items
While the novel remained available for a time in the United Kingdom and in The Bachman Books collection, it has since become unavailable, turning existing copies into highly sought-after collector’s items.
King Reflects on His Early Work
Looking back, King admitted that Rage drew on his teenage frustrations and personal turmoil.
In an Entertainment Weekly article discussing the writings of Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho, King reflected:
“Certainly in this sensitized day and age, my own college writing — including a short story called ‘Cain Rose Up’ and the novel Rage — would have raised red flags, and I’m certain someone would have tabbed me as mentally ill because of them…”
Advocacy Against Gun Violence
In 2013, following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, King released the essay Guns, which speaks out against gun violence.
All proceeds from the essay are donated to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
This article is made and published by Camilla Jessen, which may have used AI in the preparation
