In my last article, we covered the first novel written by Richard Bachman.  Richard Bachman was essentially a pen name used by King in his early days.

The Bachman Books opens with several pages, written by King himself, that make an attempt to explain why he decided to use a pen name.

Evidently, the idea just hit him to try and publish one of his manuscripts under a different name, one of those whimsical hunches that hit us all from time to time.  King also says that he wanted to try and write in a voice other than his own.  As it turns out, he liked it.  Moreso, publishers were worried that King was getting books written too quickly, so coming up with an alter-ego was a way to keep both parties happy.

King went all out with it.  Bachman had a photo (actually his agent) for the book jacket, a wife named Claudia Inez, and a full bio. 

Bachman was born in New York and spent time in the Coast Guard before settling in New Hampshire to become a reclusive novelist.  He had a son, who died at the age of six after drowning in a well.  Bachman later developed a brain tumor, which was able to be removed safely.  Bachman died in 1985 (due to cancer of the pseudonym).

King writes that he used Bachman as a way to get a better sense of himself as well as his career.  He notes that Thinner only sold 28,000 copies, but ten times that many once it was revealed that Bachman was in fact, Stephen King. 

In total, Richard Bachman got five books published in his lifetime.  The four that appear in The Bachman Books (Rage, Long Walk, Running Man, and Roadwork) as well as Thinner, which was the only Bachman novel that fell into the horror category.  Two novels would be published post-mortem after King "discovered" them.  These are The Regulators (a twin novel linked to Stephen King's Desperation) as well as Blaze.

Whether or not more novels will be pulled from Bachman's "Trunk", only time will tell.