"The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson" | |
---|---|
Short story by Stephen King | |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre(s) | Horror |
Publication | |
Published in | Rolling Stone (first release), Skeleton Crew (limited edition) |
Publication type | Magazine (first release) |
Media type | Print (magazine and paperback) |
Publication date | 1984 |
"The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson" is a 1984 horror short story by American writer Stephen King.
"The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson" was first published in the July 19 to August 2, 1984 issues of Rolling Stone magazine. [1] It was collected in a limited edition of King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew published by Scream Press. [2] The story was reworked and incorporated as a subplot in King's 1987 book The Tommyknockers . [3] In 1991, "The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson" was collected in the anthology "I Shudder At Your Touch" edited by Michele Slung. [4]
Rebecca "'Becka" Paulson accidentally shoots herself in the head with her husband Joe's target pistol while spring cleaning. The .22 Winchester Rimfire bullet lodges in her brain, and begins to have some strange effects. In a stroke of "luck", the bullet does not kill 'Becka, but her severe brain damage causes her to begin to hallucinate that the 3D picture of Jesus on top of the TV is talking to her. Over the following weeks, Jesus proceeds to tell her the deepest secrets of everyone she comes into contact with.
Jesus tells 'Becka that Joe is having an affair with Nancy Voss, who works at the local post office. Under the instruction of Jesus, 'Becka opens up the Paulson's television set and rewires it to fatally electrocute whoever touches the knob. After Joe's afternoon nap, he walks into the living room and goes to turn on the television, resulting in a gruesome scene where his body starts to burn to a crisp, turning black with his hair starting to smoke. As 'Becka watches Joe burst into flames, and the picture of Jesus explodes, she realizes that everything Jesus had told her was made-up and all in her head, caused by the bullet embedded in her brain. 'Becka, with a sudden change of heart, jumps up to try to save Joe, electrocuting herself in the process, and the two fall dead, the victim of a tragic quirk of fate that was in the end far from lucky.
The story was adapted into a June 1995 episode of the television series The Outer Limits ; Brad Wright wrote the teleplay, and Steven Weber directed. [3] In July 2020, Deadline Hollywood announced that The CW is adapting the story into a one-hour drama series titled Revelations. [5]
Algis Budrys states that "The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson" "goes along just fine until the ending, which is so much less than what we have been built up for". [6]
Skeleton Crew is a collection of short fiction by American writer Stephen King, published by Putnam in June 1985. A limited edition of a thousand copies was published by Scream/Press in October 1985 (ISBN 978-0910489126), illustrated by J. K. Potter, containing an additional short story, "The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson", which had originally appeared in Rolling Stone magazine, and was later incorporated into King's 1987 novel The Tommyknockers. The original title of this book was Night Moves.
The Tommyknockers is a 1987 science fiction novel by Stephen King. While maintaining a horror style, the novel is an excursion into the realm of science fiction for King, as the residents of the Maine town of Haven gradually fall under the influence of a mysterious object buried in the woods. King has since soured on The Tommyknockers, describing it as "an awful book", due to his drug addiction while writing the novel, though acknowledges the story's potential: "There's really a good book in here, underneath all the sort of spurious energy that cocaine provides, and I ought to go back."
Tales from the Darkside is an American anthology horror television series created by George A. Romero. A pilot episode was first broadcast on October 29, 1983. The series was picked up for syndication, and the first season premiered on September 30, 1984. The show would run for a total of four seasons.
Castle Rock is a fictional town appearing in Stephen King's fictional Maine topography, providing the setting for a number of his novels, novellas, and short stories. Castle Rock first appeared in King's 1979 novel The Dead Zone and has since been referred to or used as the primary setting in many other works by King.
The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet is a fantasy novella by American writer Stephen King, first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1984 and collected in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew as well as the 2000 collection Secret Windows. The title is in reference to the narrator's belief that insanity is a sort of "flexible bullet": it will eventually kill, but how long this process takes, and how much damage the bullet does before the victim finally dies, are impossible to predict. Since the publication of this story, King has occasionally used the term "flexible bullet" to describe insanity, in reference to this story.
The Knocker, Knacker, or Tommyknocker (US) is a mythical, subterranean, gnome-like creature in Cornish and Devon folklore. The Welsh counterpart is the coblyn. It is closely related to the Irish leprechaun, Kentish kloker and the English and Scottish brownie. The Cornish described the creature as a little person 2 ft 0 in (0.61 m) tall, with a disproportionately large head, long arms, wrinkled skin, and white whiskers. It wears a tiny version of standard miner's garb and commits random mischief, such as stealing miners' unattended tools and food. Tommyknocker is also a brewery in Idaho Springs, Colorado.
Sarah Catharine Paulson is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony Award. In 2017, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
The Great God Pan is an 1894 horror and fantasy novella by Welsh writer Arthur Machen. Machen was inspired to write The Great God Pan by his experiences at the ruins of a pagan temple in Wales. What would become the first chapter of the novella was published in the magazine The Whirlwind in 1890. Machen later extended The Great God Pan and it was published as a book alongside another story, "The Inmost Light", in 1894. The novella begins with an experiment to allow a woman named Mary to see the supernatural world. This is followed by an account of a series of mysterious happenings and deaths over many years surrounding a woman named Helen Vaughan. At the end, the heroes confront Helen and force her to kill herself. She undergoes a series of unearthly transformations before dying and she is revealed to be a supernatural entity.
Fear is a psychological thriller-horror novella by American writer L. Ron Hubbard, which first appeared in the magazine Unknown Fantasy Fiction in July 1940.
Rogue Moon is a short science fiction novel by Lithuanian-American writer Algis Budrys, published in 1960. It was a 1961 Hugo Award nominee. A substantially shortened version of the novel was originally published in F&SF; this novella-length story was included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two, edited by Ben Bova. It was adapted into a radio drama by Yuri Rasovsky in 1979.
The Tommyknockers is a 1993 television miniseries based on the 1987 novel of the same name by Stephen King. Broadcast on ABC, it was directed by John Power, adapted by Lawrence D. Cohen and starred Marg Helgenberger and Jimmy Smits.
American Horror Story (AHS) is an American horror anthology television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the cable network FX. The first installment in the American Story media franchise, seasons of AHS are mostly conceived as self-contained miniseries, following a different set of characters in a new setting within the same fictional universe, and a storyline with its own "beginning, middle, and end." Some plot elements of each season are loosely inspired by true events. Many actors appear in more than one season, usually playing a new character though sometimes as a returning character, and often playing multiple characters in a season. Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, and Lily Rabe have returned most frequently, with each having appeared in nine seasons, followed by Frances Conroy and Denis O'Hare who both appear in eight; Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, and Leslie Grossman appear in six, while other notable actors including Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Adina Porter, Finn Wittrock, and Jamie Brewer appear in five of the seasons.
We Who Are About To... is a feminist science fiction novella by Joanna Russ. It first appeared in magazine form in the January 1976 and February 1976 issues of Galaxy Science Fiction and was first published in book form by Dell Publishing in July 1977.
Jerusalem's Lot, Maine is a fictional town and a part of writer Stephen King's fictional Maine topography. 'Salem's Lot has served as the setting for a number of his novels, novellas, and short stories. It first appeared in King's 1975 novel 'Salem's Lot, and has reappeared as late as his 2019 novel The Institute. The town is described as being located in Cumberland County, between the towns of Falmouth, Windham, and Cumberland, near the southern part of the state about 10 miles north of Portland. A map on King's official website, though, places 'Salem's Lot considerably further north, approximately in Northwest Piscataquis.
The Haunting of Hill House is an American supernatural horror drama television miniseries created and directed by Mike Flanagan, produced by Amblin Television and Paramount Television, for Netflix, and serves as the first entry in The Haunting anthology series. It is loosely based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Shirley Jackson. The plot alternates between two timelines, following five adult siblings whose paranormal experiences at Hill House continue to haunt them in the present day, and flashbacks depicting events leading up to the eventful night in 1992 when the family fled from the mansion. The ensemble cast features Michiel Huisman, Elizabeth Reaser, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Kate Siegel, and Victoria Pedretti as the siblings in adulthood, with Carla Gugino and Henry Thomas as parents Olivia and Hugh Crain, and Timothy Hutton appearing as an older version of Hugh.
Creepshow is an American horror anthology television series that was released on Shudder in 2019. The series serves as a continuation of the 1982 film of the same name and features twenty five episodes with two horror stories per episode. The series premiered on September 26, 2019.
The Boulet Brothers are drag artists, television personalities, writers, producers and modern day horror hosts. They were featured on the cover of Fangoria as "Horror's New Icons" in 2022. Their projects have included horror themed television shows, live nightlife productions, books, movies, and comic books. Since 2016 the Boulet Brothers have produced and starred in the reality competition series The Boulet Brothers' Dragula, which features contestants showcasing dark, horror-themed drag looks.
Children of the Corn is a 2020 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Kurt Wimmer. It stars Elena Kampouris, Kate Moyer, Callan Mulvey and Bruce Spence. The film is the third adaptation of Stephen King's short story "Children of the Corn" (1977) and the eleventh installment in the Children of the Corn series. It is the first film based on King's story to be theatrically released since Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1992).