by Rocky Wood
As an aside, while most experts regard The Body as a novella, King described it in his Entertainment Weekly column for 22/29 August 2003 as “my short novel.”
In this Maine Street Horror tale a fat boy plots a spectacular revenge on his tormentors. David “Lardass” Hogan had a glandular problem and was picked on for his size by children and adults alike. Ace Carmody, Eyeball Chambers and Billy Norcross chased him down and forced him to enter the annual pie-eating contest in Gates Falls. But Hogan developed a plan.
On the day of the contest he climbed the stage after drinking three-quarters of a bottle of castor oil. Pitted against the previous year’s champion, Bill Travis and three other contestants, Hogan ate like a madman. On his third pie he intentionally began to tell himself he was not actually eating pie but in fact other, disgusting, things.
During his fifth pie, he raised his head and vomited on Bill Travis, causing a chain reaction of vomiting from the contestants and spectators. This, of course, had been his plan all along.
Among the changes King made for The Body was the conversion of the character “Ace” Carmody into the infamous John “Ace” Merrill (played by Kiefer Sutherland in the movie). Ace would later appear in the Skeleton Crew version of Nona and The Sun Dog before meeting an inglorious end in Needful Things. The origin of Ace’s nickname is revealed by this change. We know from King’s fiction that pretty much the whole Merrill clan were trouble. Ace’s uncle Reginald (“Pop”), a moneylender and a conman, died as a result of his greed in The Sun Dog; Royce Merrill was one of the old farts who ganged up on Mike Noonan and Mattie Devore in Bag of Bones; and Roy Merrill was turned out by a town meeting from his job as Road Commissioner in The Huffman Story, an unpublished partial manuscript. Roy had employed his wife as secretary and three brothers, four nephews and two cousins on the road crew!
One of Ace Carmody’s friends in the short story, Billy Norcross becomes Billy Tessio, Vern’s brother in the novella. This version of the story is set in late August of 1960. When Gordie Lachance tells the story as his own in The Body he does not give it a particular timeline.
In The Body Gordie Lachance set the contest in the “fictional” town of Gretna, Maine rather than Gates Mills. King also cut out characters for the novella, including the entire balance of the Hogan family. In the short story Lardass’ parents, Robert and Sheila and his sister Bobbi all threw up. There were also references to the mass murderer with whom King had a fascination in his youth, Charles Starkweather and that killer’s girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate (David Hogan was infatuated with her) but these also disappeared from the novella. Considering King’s interest in Starkweather his appearance in this story is an important historical footnote to King’s body of work.
The principal of David Hogan’s school has a number of different incarnations. In the original short story he appears as Hubert Hansen, principal of Gates Falls High School. In the novella Gordie Lachance names the principal as Hubert Gretna III in the oral version but by the time Gordie had the story “published” he was now John Wiggins, principal of Gretna Elementary School!
We are told in the novella that Gordon Lachance’s story, The Revenge of Lard Ass Hogan (note the subtle difference from Lardass in King’s version to Lard Ass in Lachance’s) was published in Cavalier magazine for March 1975. This is another little in-joke from King, who published many stories in the 1970s in Cavalier, a men’s magazine. The Revenge of Lard Ass Hogan by Stephen King was published in 1975, but as mentioned earlier, in Maine Review – perhaps Cavalier rejected it? It is also something of a shame that there was no actual story by Stephen King in the March 1975 edition of Cavalier!
Even at this early date in King’s publishing history the story linked to other King fiction through its setting in the town of Gates Falls, Maine. The town had already appeared in Graveyard Shift (first published in Cavalier for October 1970); It Grows on You (first published in Marshroots for Fall, 1973) and that same year was mentioned in ‘Salem’s Lot. It would go on to appear in The Body, The Dark Half, The Dead Zone, Gramma, Hearts in Atlantis, Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut, Needful Things, The Plant (but only the electronic version), Rage, Riding the Bullet and also appeared in the unpublished works Blaze, Movie Show and Sword in the Darkness.
The Revenge of Lard Ass Hogan is one of the more difficult King stories to find. The particular edition of Maine Review rarely appears for sale and then almost exclusively through specialist online King booksellers. However, for serious King fans the search is well worth the effort. This is a tremendously entertaining story in King’s gross-out mode and will remain a signpost for those who wish to study the development of King’s career.
Stud City (1969)
In addition to The Revenge of Lard Ass Hogan King converted another short story from earlier in his career to a Gordie Lachance story appearing in The Body. Stud City was one of King’s earliest published stories, appearing in the University of Maine literary magazine Ubris for Fall, 1969. King (or perhaps it was actually Lachance?) heavily revised it for its appearance in The Body. In that novella we are told that the story was first published in a college literary magazine (sound familiar?), Greenspun Quarterly.
In this Maine Street Horror tale a boy begins his journey toward manhood. Edward “Chico” May made love to his 16 year old girlfriend Jane for the first time and then drove her home to Auburn. Later, he infuriated his father Sam by telling him he intended to join the Marines. Chico then told Sam of the intense dislike he had for his stepmother, Virginia, whom he believed had “broken” his father’s spirit.
Later, Virginia confronted Chico and asked if he’d had his girlfriend around while they were out. He told her he had and that the sheets on his bed needed changing. He then left the house and drove off, remembering his real mother and the birth of his brother Billy, which had taken her life. He also recalled having once had sex with Virginia! Chico drove on toward his friend Danny Carter’s home, where he would stay for the night. He would decide his future in the morning.
This story, not at all in the classic King horror mold of much of his early published stories, is in fact more in line with The New Yorker stories of his later career. This piece goes to prove that King had the ability to write powerful mainstream fiction from an early age (he was only 22 when it was published).
When rewriting the story for The Body King made numerous changes. For instance, in the short story Chico’s older brother Johnny had joined the Marines but in the novella he had been killed when a runaway car hit him while he was changing a tire at the Oxford Plains Speedway. He could have worked at the Gates Mills, but chose the speedway so he wouldn’t have to be at home with his stepmother while his father was at work! In other changes the sexual encounter between Chico and his stepmother, Virginia is deleted; and Chico’s natural mother Cathy is no longer mentioned, nor is her death in childbirth.
Another character deleted from the novella is Duane Conant, a friend of Chico’s who was killed when his Mustang hit a pole on Stackpole Road (no town name is given). There are a number of Stackpole Roads in King’s fiction, including the one in Blainesville, Maine where Nona lead “the prisoner” to a cemetery in the Shadows version of Nona; the same road in Castle Rock in the Skeleton Crew version of Nona; in The Dark Half, where the Castle Rock cemetery is named as the Stackpole Cemetery on the road of the same name; another in Harlow, Maine in Rage and three of the four versions of It Grows on You (the Newall house is on it); and in Ludlow, Maine in Pet Sematary. The “real” Stackpole Road is in Durham, Maine. Even today anyone visiting the location will see how King, growing up in this isolated rural township, would have found the Stackpole Road, close to the real Runaround Pond, so capable of tragedy.
Copies of Ubris are almost impossible to find, although the story can be photocopied from an original copy of the magazine held at the Fogler Library of the University of Maine at Orono. For those seeking an original copy of their own we can only recommend the normal online King booksellers but one should expect a long
wait and a hefty price tag!
The Tale of Gray Dick (2003)
The Tale of Gray Dick is a version of the chapter of the same name in The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla, published in November 2003. The stand-alone short story was first published in the magazine, Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #10 on 25 February 2003; and in anthology, McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, published by Vintage Books in a large paperback format the following month. King fiction would again appear in a McSweeney’s anthology, with Lisey and the Madman, in McSweeney’s Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories, released in November 2004.
There are revisions, including both the deletion and addition of material for its appearance in The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla. These changes were clearly made to avoid giving away plotlines in the novel ahead of its publication. The short story is more of a variation to, than a version of, the tale.
In this Dark Tower story a woman takes revenge on her father’s killer while using an innovative weapon. Roland Deschain and Jake Chambers talked to Vaughn Eisenhart and his wife Margaret at their Lazy B ranch near Calla Bryn Sturgis. Roland examined Vaughn’s three guns, finding that only one rifle was of any value.
In the ensuing discussion Roland was told the story of Lady Oriza and her weapon. Gray Dick, an outlaw prince, had killed Lady Oriza’s father Lord Grenfall and she sought revenge. Expertly learning how to throw a sharpened plate she took dinner with Gray Dick, who was suspicious of her motives but could not resist the offer to dine with her naked. During the meal she threw one of her plates, decapitating her victim.
Roland was also told that the plates were still made in a town far to the north, Calla Sen Chre. Most of the women in Calla Bryn Sturgis could throw the plates and Margaret Eisenhart reluctantly demonstrated her amazing accuracy with the weapon for Roland’s benefit.
Copies of McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales are available at second-hand bookshops, specialist King booksellers and such sources as eBay. An unabridged version of this story is also available as a Random House Audible download as part of McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, read by Kevin Gray.
131 The Road to the Dark Tower, Bev Vincent, p.332
132 He later appeared as Clark Rivingham (in the You Know They Got a Hell of a Band episode of Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King); and Steve Ames in Desperation
Stories Swallowed by Monsters
Throughout his career King has published short stories that later appeared in rewritten form in a novel or novella. One could argue the hidden monsters of the future had swallowed up these minnows.
This chapter reviews the eleven stories that appeared in substantially different form in later novels or novellas.
There appear to a variety of reasons as to why these stories appeared later in revised form. The Bear, Calla Bryn Sturgis and The Tale of Gray Dick were virtual teasers for upcoming Dark Tower novels and the changes appear to be a combination of editing and intentionally avoiding giving away important plot points of the novels.
The Bird and the Album was an early version of an incident later used in It, while The Monster in the Closet was a true excerpt from Cujo but had been edited for its particular publication. The Revelations of ‘Becka Paulson, The Revenge of Lardass Hogan and Stud City were all genuine stand-alone short stories that King later rewrote for inclusion in The Tommyknockers and The Body, the latter two under the pseudonym of Gordon Lachance.
These stories deserve review, as it is certain they will never be published in these original forms in a King collection as they already appear in an amended form in the novels.
The Bear (1990)
The Bear forms part of the 1991 novel The Dark Tower III: The Wastelands but was originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction for December 1990 (a “Special Stephen King issue”). That magazine also included the first appearance of King’s short story The Moving Finger, a King bibliography by his assistant Marsha De Filippo, and a criticism of King’s works by Algis Budrys.
Despite King’s author’s note in the magazine stating, “What follows is the first section of The Dark Tower III: The Wastelands …” the version of The Bear included in The Wastelands is significantly different from the magazine version. Those wishing to read the short story, particularly Dark Tower completists and fans, will be able to purchase a copy from King online booksellers or specialist magazine traders, as The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction is collectable in its own right.
It is interesting to note that Eddie (Edward) Dean’s middle name is given as Alan in The Bear and as Cantor in The Wastelands.
In this Dark Tower tale Roland and Susannah Dean are out shooting with live ammunition for only the third time. Roland was upset and taunted Susannah to get her in the right mind to fire accurately at small target rocks. She hit five of the six and nicked the last. As they talked after the practice they heard a huge roar and the sound of trees falling in the forest near where they had left Eddie Dean, and ran to investigate.
A 70-foot tall bear, known by those who once lived in the area as Mir, had sensed the humans and was intent on destroying them. Eddie had been carving a slingshot from a piece of wood when Mir approached and he’d climbed the tallest tree to seek refuge. Safe from the bear’s reach he waited for help and watched as it sneezed diseased, worm-filled snot from its nose and mouth.
As the bear was trying to break the tree and kill Eddie, Roland and Susannah arrived. Susannah shot the bear to get its attention and, as it charged, shot the radar dish on the top of its head, killing the creature (of course, the shooting or disabling of radar dishes would play a highly significant role in The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla). The three looked at the corpse of the fallen bear and discovered it was actually a robot named Shardik.
The Bird and the Album (1981)
This story was published in A Fantasy Reader: The Seventh World Fantasy Convention Program Book on 30 October 1981. Thanks to the editor’s introduction some sources state this tale is an “excerpt” from Chapter 13 of the magnificent novel It. The story was actually published five years before the novel (the editor described it as “…from the opening of chapter 13 of a work in progress, a novel the author calls IT”) but King substantially rewrote the piece for its appearance in the novel, where it actually appears as the beginning of Chapter 14. Among the changes is that from past to present tense.
In this Maine Street Horror tale friends meet in Derry after twenty-five years apart. Eddie Kaspbrak, Beverly, Richie, Ben Hanscom, Mike Hanlon and Bill Denbrough discuss the things they were starting to remember from their childhood. One of the former friends, “a guy named Stan Uris … couldn’t make it.” (Note: Beverly and Richie’s surnames are not given).
Among the childhood incidents they could remember was Mike bringing his father’s photograph album to the clubhouse where the pictures performed the “…same trick as in Georgie’s room. Only that time we all saw it.” Ben remembered that they had turned a silver dollar into silver bullet.
When Mike left the room to get a beer from the lounge refrigerator he “… felt the shock sink into him, bone deep and ice-white, the way February cold sank into you when February was here and it seemed that April never would be. Blue and orange balloons drifted out in a flood, dozens of them …” and then he saw what:
…It had popped into the refrigerator … Stan Uris’s head was … there in the refrigerator beside Mike’s sixpack of Bud, the head of a ten year old boy. The mouth was open in a soundless scream but Mike could see neither teeth nor tongue because the mouth had been stuffed full of feathers.
Mike was in no doubt that these huge, brown feathers were from “the Bird” he had seen in May 1958 and the whole group had seen that August. Mike remembered his dying father telling him he had also “…seen something like it once, too, during the fire at the Black Spot.” The head’s eyes opened “and they were the silver-bright eyes of Pennywise the Clown” and the mo
uth tried to speak around the feathers.
Something was trying to scare Mike and his friends out of town and away from their plan, even hurling racial epithets at Mike. The head popped out of existence but Mike could still see the balloons, some reading, “DERRY NIGGERS GET THE BIRD” and others, “THE LOSERS ARE STILL LOSING, BUT STANLEY URIS IS AHEAD.” Mike then remembered going down to the Barrens “two days after he had seen Pennywise the Clown in person for the first time,” the day the group began planning to kill It. He called the whole group into the lounge, as he continued to remember the warm welcome his future friends had given him that first day. The story ends at this point.
Just one example of the changes and deletions should serve to whet the reader’s appetite to seek out the original version of the story. Early in section one of Chapter 14 of It (The Album), we find this line:
They all look at Bill then, as they had in the gravel-pit, and Mike thinks: They look at Bill when they need a leader, at Eddie when they need a navigator. Get down to business, what a hell of a phrase that is. Do I tell them that the bodies of the children that were found back then and now weren’t sexually molested, not even precisely mutilated, but partially eaten?