The Year of King

Justin and Kayla catch up to King’s latest novel, Billy Summers. King takes on the hitman’s “one last job” genre with his usual flair for characters and suspense. First half of this episode is spoiler-free!

Justin and Kayla loop in Stephen King’s latest novel … Later. This is his third novel published with Hard Case Crimes, and in our opinion, the best one so far. Since this is King’s most recent novel, we tried to keep it spoiler-free, but you should read the book!

Justin and Kayla discuss the last Bachman book, Blaze. This book was based on one of King’s earliest writings, and the release was teased over several decades until it was finally released in 2007. The book follows a tragic man named Blaze as he plans and executes a plot to kidnap a baby.

Justin and Kayla tackles Richard Bachman’s partner novel to Desperation. We discuss the brilliance of the idea and the novel’s successes and failures. If anything else, this book is WILD.

Justin and Kayla talk about Thinner, a Bachman book that revealed to the world that Bachman = King! The book is full of bad men, gypsy curses, and nasty punishments! Perfect for a book of its time! How does it hold up?

We’re on our way through the Bachman books, and we stumble across our favorite so far! We discuss the dystopian setting and themes of this book, how the book is nothing like the movie (which we also love), and Justin’s idea for a Games Network made for our era.

Justin and Kayla make it to the third Bachman book, 1981’s Roadwork. The book follows a man as he blows up his own life literally and figuratively. Does King succeed in plumbing the depths of human pain?

Justin and Kayla take on the second Bachman book, the bleak The Long Walk.

The Year of King continues with Phase 2, the Bachman books. King wrote several books under this pseudonym over the years, including the controversial Rage. Rage is the only King book that is out of print, per the author himself. Find out why in this episode!

We’re done with Phase One, the novels! We take some time to wrap up with some fun questions and reflection on our year-ish of reading all of King’s novels. We’ll also let you know what we’re up to next!