| "The Killer" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Short story by Stephen King | |||
| Country | United States | ||
| Language | English | ||
| Genre(s) | Horror short story | ||
| Publication | |||
| Published in | Famous Monsters of Filmland | ||
| Publisher | Warren Publishing | ||
| Media type | |||
| Publication date | 1994 | ||
| Chronology | |||
| |||
"The Killer" is a short story by Stephen King. Written in the early 1960s, it was first published in issue #202 of Famous Monsters of Filmland in spring 1994. [1]
The protagonist of the story awakens in a munitions factory; he is unable to remember his name or anything else. Seizing a gun, he demands that another worker tell him who he is; after the worker ignores him, he clubs him with the gun. After a man on an overhead catwalk flees from the protagonist, he shoots him; the wounded man sounds an alarm. As the protagonist attempts to flee, he is intercepted by men wielding "energy guns"; he shoots one of them before being hit with "energy beams". The story ends with the protagonist being loaded into a truck. A watching man notes that "one of them turns killer every now and then", with another man musing that "they're making these robots too good", revealing that the protagonist was a malfunctioning robot.
King wrote "The Killer" as a young teenager; it is a rewrite of his story "I've Got to Get Away!", which was self-published as part of the collection People, Places and Things in 1960. [2] King submitted "The Killer" (as Steve King) to Forrest J Ackerman for the magazine Spacemen; it was the first story he submitted for publication. [3] [4] While not accepted at the time, the story was later published in issue #202 of Famous Monsters of Filmland in spring 1994 with an introduction by Ackerman. [5] [6] It has never been collected. [1]
Rocky Wood describes "The Killer" as "derivative of pulp fiction" but "fairly well written for a probably 13 or 14 year old". [1] Reflecting on the story, King wrote "I was still in the Ro-Man phase of my development, and this particular tale undoubtedly owed a great deal to the killer ape with the goldfish bowl on his head." [3]
Forrest James Ackerman was an American magazine editor; science fiction writer and literary agent; a founder of science fiction fandom; a leading expert on science fiction, horror, and fantasy films; a prominent advocate of the Esperanto language; and one of the world's most avid collectors of genre books and film memorabilia. He was based in Los Angeles, California.
Stephen Edwin King is an American author. Called the "King of Horror", he has also explored other genres, among them suspense, crime, science-fiction, fantasy and mystery. He has also written approximately 200 short stories, most of which have been published in collections. His debut, Carrie (1974), established him in horror. Different Seasons (1982), a collection of four novellas, was his first major departure from the genre. Among the films adapted from King's fiction are Carrie, Christine, The Shining, The Dead Zone, Stand by Me, Misery, Dolores Claiborne, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and It. He has published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman and has co-written works with other authors, notably his friend Peter Straub and sons Joe Hill and Owen King. He has also written nonfiction, notably On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.
The Trollenberg Terror is a 1958 British science fiction horror film produced by Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman and directed by Quentin Lawrence. The film stars Forrest Tucker, Laurence Payne, Janet Munro and Jennifer Jayne. The special effects are by Les Bowie. The story is based on a 1956 British ITV "Saturday Serial" television programme written by George F. Kerr, Jack Cross and Giles Cooper under the collective pseudonym of "Peter Key". The film was released as The Crawling Eye in the United States on 7 July 1958 by Distributors Corporation of America and as The Trollenberg Terror in the United Kingdom in October 1958 by Eros Films. It played on a double bill with the British science fiction film The Strange World of Planet X, retitled Cosmic Monsters for American audiences.
Bradford Swain Linaweaver was an American science fiction writer, film producer, actor, and magazine publisher. Over a 40-year career, he completed a body of work including novels, short stories, and screenplays.
Famous Monsters of Filmland is an American genre-specific film magazine, started in 1958 by publisher James Warren and editor Forrest J Ackerman.
The Howling is a 1981 American horror film directed and edited by Joe Dante. Written by John Sayles and Terence H. Winkless, based on the novel of the same name by Gary Brandner, the film follows a news anchor who, following a traumatic encounter with a serial killer, visits a resort secretly inhabited by werewolves. The cast includes Dee Wallace, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan, Christopher Stone, Belinda Balaski, Kevin McCarthy, John Carradine, Slim Pickens, and Elisabeth Brooks.
Mad Monster Party? is a 1967 stop-motion animated musical comedy film produced by Rankin/Bass Productions for Embassy Pictures. The film stars the voices of Boris Karloff, Allen Swift, Gale Garnett, and Phyllis Diller. It tells the story of a mad scientist who achieves the secret of total destruction as he summons all the monsters to his island home to show it off while planning to retire as the head of the "Worldwide Organization of Monsters".
"The Blue Air Compressor" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in January 1971 in Onan.
Donald F. Glut is an American writer, motion picture film director, and screenwriter. He is best known for writing the novelization of the second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back.
James Warren is a magazine publisher and founder of Warren Publishing. Magazines published by Warren include Famous Monsters of Filmland, the horror-comics magazines Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella, the war anthology Blazing Combat, and the science-fiction anthology 1984, among others. Contributors to Warren’s magazines included such significant artists as Neal Adams, Richard Corben, Bernie Wrightson, Johnny Craig, Reed Crandall, Steve Ditko, Frank Frazetta, Russ Heath, Esteban Maroto, Alex Niño, Sanjulián, John Severin, Tom Sutton, Angelo Torres, Al Williamson, and Wally Wood, and writers/editors including Archie Goodwin, Louise Jones, Don McGregor, and Doug Moench. He appointed Billy Graham as the first known African-American art director in mainstream, nationally distributed comic books/comics magazines.
According to books by Tyson Blue, Stephen J. Spignesi, and Rocky Wood et al., there are numerous unpublished works by Stephen King that have come to light throughout King's career. These allegedly include novels and short stories, most of which remain unfinished. Most are stored among Stephen King's papers in the special collections of the Raymond H. Fogler Library at the University of Maine, some of which are freely accessible to the library's visitors. However, others require King's permission to read. Additionally, there are a number of uncollected short stories, published throughout King's long career in various anthologies and periodicals, that have never been published in a King collection.
Bob Burns is an American actor, consultant, producer, archivist and historian of props, costumes, and other paraphernalia from science fiction, fantasy, and horror motion pictures. He is best known for his work with and collection of movie props, particularly from horror and science-fiction movies. He has also had numerous smaller acting roles in movies, including Tracy the Gorilla in the 1975 television show The Ghost Busters.
Paul Blaisdell was an American painter, sculptor and visual effects creator, best remembered for his work in science fiction and horror B movies of the 1950s.
One Glorious Day is a lost 1922 American silent fantasy comedy film directed by James Cruze and written by Barry Barringer and Walter Woods. The film stars Will Rogers, Lila Lee, Alan Hale, Sr., Johnny Fox, George Nichols, and Emily Rait. It was released on January 29, 1922, by Paramount Pictures. Working titles included Ek, A Fighting Soul and Souls Before Birth. Forrest J. Ackerman, the publisher of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, credited this film as being the one that "created his lifelong interest in science fiction and horror".
"Man With a Belly" is a short story by Stephen King. It was published in Cavalier in December 1978.
"The Night of the Tiger" is a short story by Stephen King. Originally written in the 1960s, it was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in February 1978.
"I Was a Teenage Grave Robber" is a short story by Stephen King. It was first published in the fanzine Comics Review in 1965; a rewritten version was published in 1966 under the title "In a Half-World of Terror". It was King's first independently published story.
People, Places and Things is a short story collection by Chris Chesley and Stephen King, self-published in 1960.
"The Hotel at the End of the Road" is a short story by Stephen King. It was self-published by King in 1960 as part of the collection People, Places and Things.
"Jumper" is a short story by Stephen King. Originally serialized in the self-published newspaper Dave's Rag in 1959–1960, it was later collected in the 2000 work Secret Windows. It was King's first piece of fiction to be published.
