 Good evening and welcome to the Songas Center here at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. It's great to have you here This is part of our speaker series that we're sponsoring here at the University One of the reasons we wanted to have this Songas Center was to make it a student convocation center where we had Events just like this and we are delighted to have Arthur Stephen King here this evening Think about it for 35 years Stephen King has been at the top of his profession What a tremendous career and he's here tonight 50 books 350 million copies printed 50 of his works have become either movies or television programs He is clearly one of the incredible literary giants of our time and we're delighted to have him here an amazing thing about him being here tonight as he has decided and his wife Tabitha have decided to That he is not going to accept any money tonight And he's going to donate a hundred percent of his fee to scholarships for UMass Lowell students So that means a hundred percent of the proceeds for tonight are going to go to scholarships for students in our English Department and I have to tell you We have a fabulous English department at UMass Lowell led by Tony Sushel I don't where is Tony? Right here They're a fabulous department without standing faculty and they have been on a roll this year We celebrated a collaboration with the National Park here in Lowell Dickens in Lowell, which is a celebration of Charles Dickens 200th birthday, but also his visit to the city of Lowell in 1842 It was a great event and then we also collaborated with the Merrimack Repertory Theater because Jack Kerrwack is from Lowell and his His only play full play that he wrote was a collaboration with our English department beat generation And that got real wide attention and that's our English department They are co-sponsors of tonight's event as well and again all the proceeds go to the English Department now These are two very nice cheers. I like to I like to mark it Now Stephen King is going to sign both of these cheers and there's an auction may many of you may have seen it It's $10 a ticket and a hundred percent of the proceeds will go to scholarships for our students who are English mages So I would urge any of you. They're all going to be on sale in the concourse throughout This event so if you haven't bought one or you want to up your chances of winning Feel free to buy a raffle for this I'm going to call actually we're going to we call this a Conversation with I also by the way want to thank our sponsors tonight They have all contributed to make this event a success and thank you to all of the sponsors We call this a conversation with Stephen King and that conversation is going to be held With one of our fabulous fabulous faculty members in the English department Andre DeVuce the third now I Would never call somebody my favorite faculty member. However He is a fabulous author. He's already written of five books Two of them the New York Times bestseller. In fact the book Townie if you haven't read it yet It's on sale tonight, and I didn't ask me to do this, but it's on sale tonight. It's a fabulous book It's a memoir and any of you who have grown up either in the Merrimack Valley or in any urban area anywhere in the world This is a fabulous read, and I would encourage you to read it, but we are so Pleased to have Andre DeVuce the third on our faculty. He grew up in the Merrimack Valley. He identifies with students he's a fabulous faculty member and Andre is going to be sort of having this conversation with Stephen King. Please welcome Andre DeVuce the third and Stephen King I think we ought to stop right here. This is the high point. This is it brother and good night So nice nice to see you all glad you came out try a little soiree. It's scary as shit to see so many people This is this is my first stadium show Yeah So here's what I want to do We're gonna kind of divide the night up into three parts Mr. King and I are gonna shoot the breeze for about half an hour about various subjects And then we have a real special treat He's gonna debut a brand new short story that no one's heard late eyes on or read It's world premiere is right here at the strongest arena Andre thinks it's special because he hasn't read it And so and then after he reads we're going to turn it over to you guys and do some just a conversation q&a with mr. King Let me just jump in for a second on a little Intro about my friend when did I become mr. King to you all right? Well, I'm I Call him Stevie. He calls me Andre Dubas So I'll call we'll do that Look, it's you call me anything you want as long as the check doesn't bounce Did Marty mention that by the way okay, look The truth is this man needs no introduction, but I do want to say just a couple of things about about Steve Never mind the 350 million books sold worldwide By the way You probably don't know that you've outsold Charles Dickens times two It's incredible He didn't have ebooks never mind. Yeah ebooks Never mind the 50 some-odd film adept adaptations Some of which were good Never mind his wicked good american express commercial We'll talk about that You're dating yourself. I am I am dating myself and ray And also steve's won dozens and dozens of prestigious awards including the national book foundations Distinguished honor for american letters contribution to american letters and there's another award that a lot people don't know about that I I think is is really germane here Poets and writers magazine gave him the writers for writers award Because the man is really generous with writers who will never have his readership or even a fraction of it And I just I want to tell a quick story that we're going to start We met 25 years ago. Do you believe that? 25 years ago. I was to He was six If a lot of you may know that my father was the great short story writer andre debuts We were younger and hornier in those days. Yeah, that's right. We were hey speak for yourself by the being We'll be here all week folks really my father My father was run over and crippled in a car accident in 1986 and Steve king john erving eel doctoral about six or seven other real prominent writers um Chipped in their talents to raise money from my father's astronomical medical bills. He couldn't pay And so the first time I met Steve was in 1987 at the charles hotel When he was reading from a story that I still remember about a woman who was cleaning the closet and accidentally shoots herself And doesn't realize it till the end of the day The revelations of becker paulson later became a part of a book called the tommy knockers The tommy knockers So I we're gonna get to it, but uh Truly what I love about this man even more than his profound work and contributions to american letters is He's a good man, and he's a giving man, and he's a generous man, and it shows by Jesus. You made me sound like I died You ain't dead yet So it's generosity now I'm gonna throw out a few softballs, and he's just gonna went he's gonna hit him I need my glasses though. Hold on Steve tell the joker. I'm looking for my glasses Okay, you're looking for your glasses. Yeah, I'm looking for my glasses. All right I'm gonna read a quote from uh, by the way for all of you writers out there If you have not read stevens, uh on writing a memoir of the craft you must it's a beautiful book This is like steve king's greatest hits Oh, wait every bird Light you light your lighters later You know, I don't know what these questions are and if I don't know the answer I'm just gonna say fuck. Yeah, you know Okay in the in the green room. We just told dirty jokes. So here we go You told dirty jokes Yeah, but you laughed I talked about literature All right, I'm gonna get serious now. He says they're gonna be softball questions. So here we go This is a quote from on writing and I love it for very many reasons Primarily because not enough writers talk about it in this way Talk about the the the craft of writing Stories are found relics part of an undiscovered pre-existing world Stephen King says he also says he's against plotting And the spot because plotting and the spontaneity of real creation are not compatible Expouns sir It's like taking the sat's I think myself that You know, I don't start with a story that's I was telling telling a writing class today that the Kind of the scariest thing I ever heard I was doing a writing thing with John Irving Who put that thing together for your dad, by the way, and it's worth mentioning that when Andre's dad was hurt. He had stopped to help another pedestrian and that's how that happened Um But in any case John Irving when he was talking to a bunch of would be writers one time said that the first thing he does with a book Is write the last line of that book and I heard that and I just went You know like that because to me That's kind of like spoiling the fun. I like to start With a little bit of an idea, you know, um, they come from different places Sometimes they stick around and you want to do something sometimes they don't but The idea is to start with something and just Start to go with it, you know And uh, that's the joy of finding things out of having characters to just sort of Walk on and become a big part of the story when I wrote the green mile. I had no idea where it was Yeah Thank you. Thank you. I had no idea where that was going. I started with an idea About a guy who was in prison and he was the snack guy who went around He was a trustee and he went around with a snack wagon and he had a little tame mouse That uh wrote on the on the cart and of course The mouse made it into the story, but the rest of it didn't but little by little it just sort of Built itself up in the way that the pieces came together at the end was terrific. I like that But how did the guy in pushing the cart down the prison? hallway comes you it just came and That was where it started and those are the sort of the mysterious parts of it sometimes there's no way to say Where things come from I know that Back around 1976 or 1977 I had a Honda 500 motorcycle and it started to miss and Jerk and and I didn't really know how to fix it. I messed around with a little bit and this guy said Well, there's a fellow about seven miles up out in the woods who's really good with small engines And he's got this unique way of doing business He says what a thing is going to cost and that that's what it ends up costing you So I thought that was a good idea So I got on my motorcycle and I drove out there to this guy's farm and it really was out in east jpep So I got out there and there was a little tiny farmhouse and there was this big barn And I could hear him inside working with stuff I got into the door yard and the motorcycle died on me And out of this barn Came the biggest goddamn Saint Bernard dog you ever saw in your life And he started to walk toward me and I hear And you know, their eyes are sort of pussy. Have you ever noticed that about Saint Bernard's particularly when it's warm They kind of get this luck coming out of him And the guy who ran the place came out. He was wearing overalls and he had a he had an adjustable Socket wrench on a you know on a ball thing And he said, oh, that's buster. He does that to everyone, but he loves people. He won't hurt you So I reached down which you should never do to a dog to buster to show him what a good guy I was And buster just went down on his haunches. I mean, this was dog was 150 160 pounds He just went down and he started to come up And that guy brought that socket wrench down on him It was like a rug beater heating a rug And the dog just shrank down and there wasn't a word of apology. He just said buster must not like your looks And I'm like Well, I don't like his looks very much either But that kind of stuck in my mind and I thought to myself, well I was on my motorcycle and unprotected but what if because it's always a what if that's kind of like the magic thing What if the guy hadn't been here and what if I was in a little car that stopped and it was hot? And that was sort of the genesis for kujo, you know, um, yeah And actually John Irving I think is is unusual in in I don't think a lot of novice outline their stories He's very smart and good at it. But uh, so you begin with a situation first and character second The characters come as you're exploring the situation that's fueled by the question. What if yeah, I mean I could say About kujo Okay, we're talking about a woman finally. I decided it was going to be a woman Who wants to protect her son and then little by little that character starts to develop like an old-fashioned film plate In developing fluid so you say to yourself. Well, okay. This is how old she is This is what her background is. This is what she does. She's cheating on her husband. That's another fact and a lot of the things just sort of Come together work together And you let them that's the thing you don't try to manage these people or push them around you just sort of Let them be what they're going to be. It's good It's a great job. This is wonderful, you know I mean I make all these things up and you know people who do that like Go to psychiatrist And they pay like 70 bucks an hour and it's not a phone hour. It's like 50 minutes I make all this shit up and people pay me It's great, you know, thank you All right, so you guys put my kids through college and I scared the shit out of you while I was doing it It's terrific It's a win-win All right, Pete speaking of people paying you so I told Steve I did I did give him a little hand about what I might be doing So I'm going to ask a few craft questions and I'm going to ask a few glitzy fame and fortune business questions And I'm going to ask the big one upfront About the fact is it is really rare for a writer to be as recognizable as this man is Maybe since him in ways days him you was a really recognizable writer But I have to give you a quick story from a few years ago about how famous this guy is So we did this remember that thing we did the four or six club At finway park right and it was about baseball writing and uptack was there and Doris Kern It's a good wooden. It was a lovely night. Anyway The next day this big thunder storm you remember there was a big wasn't there a big thunderstorm that night? Yeah, it was raining. Yeah, and um Why are you asking I just Making conversation Yeah, see there was raining wicked hats so what? So anyways the next big thunderstorm it was scary. It was like the end of the world The next day the poor man's just walking across the street to get a cup of coffee The Verizon a Verizon truck drives by and the driver of the Verizon truck yells yo, stevie That's boston. I mean that that kind of thing does happen from time to time in boston, you know, it's really All right, so look everybody. Oh dark coffee. You rock But that does not happen to any other writer maybe jk rally now, but they wouldn't be that They wouldn't say yo jk. Love you, baby Won't happen my my favorite story is like uh Probably maybe 25 years ago when my hair was actually dark and I had a I had a black beard I had a big black beard And uh, I was not I was a writer. I mean, we're supposed to be the secret agents of the arts Okay, we cruise around and see what you guys are doing and end up putting it in books So this is a strange situation for me. So about 25 years ago when I really was kind of a secret agent I'd published maybe six or seven books, but you know, it wasn't a big deal And I went in nathans the hot dog place in new york And I got up to the counter. I sat down on the stool and I ordered a a foot long, you know, and You know one of those uh orange drinks or something I'm sipping my drink and I'm waiting for my hot dog And I look through the pass through into the kitchen and the cooks looking at me and he sees me looking at him He's right away. He's cooking again cooking again. So I go back. I'm reading my book I read just about everywhere and I'm reading my book and I look up Oh, he's done So finally he comes out And I'm thinking of myself now remember I had the big beard and I hit on the dark 70s type glasses. It's embarrassing now, but that's the way we rolled back then. That's always to us So he walks out and I think to myself This guy Recognize me. He knows who I am He walks up to me. He goes Are you somebody famous? And I say Well A little bit He says, you know, like you do something artistic, right? I go, well Not all critics agree, but I like to think so he says you're francis ford coppola, aren't you? And I said yes, I am Because everybody who does this you me everybody else who does this we're fucking liars You know, how do you know we're lying our mouths are moving So he asked me for an autograph and I gave him one And did I regret that? The hell I did I thought it was great, but the other thing is people do this cross Check thing in their brains and they'll come up to me and say steven spielberg And I'll say Yes, but I gotta tell you I gotta tell you one story and then we'll get back to this because because I love this I Knew a guy named Dave marsh because he used to be in the critics corps in this group called a rock bottom remainder sir. I play a little rhythm guitar And one day this goes back Quite a ways, you know, like 20 years and he says to me Bruce springsteen would like to meet you would you like to have dinner with bruce springsteen? and I said Ah, yes, that would be nice So we did we we went to this little cafe down in the village and it was you know a bar in front and tables in the back And we were sitting and he's a really nice guy and and we were having uh You know corned beef and cabbage sandwiches or whatever and beer because I was still drinking in those days and so This party came in there was a husband and a wife and their daughter who was about 16 years old and all you had to do was to look at her and know it was a special day for her Probably your birthday. Maybe your parents were taking her out for that But she had on this white blouse and a necklace a gold necklace in this nice skirt There was multicolored and she was wearing her best Shoes and everything and her hair was done And they're sitting in there eating and all this other stuff and then she looks over like that And she just like flipped, you know, I mean it wasn't like she screamed or anything like that But she got up And she walked to our table and it was like her feet didn't touch the floor She was like a sleepwalker dreamwalker something this beautiful 16 year old girl And I could see bruce getting his pen out of his pocket She never fucking looked at it She said are you steven king? I've read almost all your books. I died for your autograph And that that was the apex of it, you know what? What's so great about that story is I think I think so many writers won't be rock and roll stars man So that's so sweet. All right. Well, I gotta and look if it's too personal and tell me to shut up I know you will But there's got to be a downside to not be able to walk across the street without the horizon truck guy yelling at you The first time that I ever gave an autograph You know, you do this thing where and some of you heard this story before but I I never get tired of telling it because it's like a trauma It's like one of those Basic traumas of your life. I'm going to make it real short. I did a tour It was the first book tour it was for the shining and I did it with kitty kelly Who wrote at that time? She had a book about frank sinatra My mother used to call him frankie the snot, but that's beside the point And and jersey kuzinski was with us too. So we did this tour and we ended up in a lot of cities And the last one was pittsburgh and in those days You did this thing where you did all the media that you could and the local paper put on a dinner at night And there's pictures and all that other stuff And this thing was way up in this fancy restaurant on what they call the incline In in pittsburgh and I got sick. I mean I really got sick. It was montezuma's revenge and I don't want to get all Clinical about it, but I'll just say that I rushed to the bathroom when the bathroom was babelonian I mean it was this huge thing and everything and there was an attendant and the only thing was the stalls didn't have doors You just but I was beyond caring about that, you know I went in there and everything came out that could possibly come out This is just between us now Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I'm getting to the point. So I mean this wave of depression came over me because I wasn't used to being away I missed my wife. I missed my kids The whole thing about the morning tv and everything I just wanted to get home and I'm thinking of myself things can't get any worse And I see the bathroom attendant 116 years old advancing on me with a pad and a pen And he says I think I saw you on am pittsburgh. Can I have your autograph? And it's the only one I ever gave in the shithouse So that's the downside That is a downside. Yeah All right, I'm gonna go back to a substantial craft question You've spoken a lot about Your novels come together through two previously Unrelated ideas that come together and they make something new under the sun You want to say your job isn't to find these ideas but recognize them when they show up And I was wondering if you might want to give a concrete example Maybe with your first novel You mean you we're talking about karry here the two of it. Well Yeah Yeah, you too Isn't this an amazing crowd give yourselves a hand while I think about that Uh As a student I knew a couple of girls Who were at the very bottom of the social pecking order, you know high school is probably the most savage Social caste system that america has you know, it's very divided in popularity becomes very important and it's very difficult For adolescents because they're not emotionally grounded yet and these girls were the absolute bottom and One of them later committed suicide, but I had a chance to watch that ostrich You know that ostracism in in progress And then later as a teacher. I saw the same thing from the other side of the desk And uh, those two things came together for me along with a number of articles that I'd seen about The possibility that psychokinetic phenomena if it existed Probably existed in teenagers and probably existed in disturbed Teenage girls and I thought this would make a terrific book. So I wrote it I threw it away and my wife picked it out of the trash Um, thank god And she's never let me forget it All right, look man this you got to tell the story about If you have not read uh on writing what it's really a really wonderful book in many ways, but the first half's a little memoir uh of Stevens start in the world and like a lot of people he started out with nothing Single mom a brother and him living in real real real deep first world poverty And one of the things I love about your book is it's also a lovely homage to you and your wife and 40 years together that's not It's no small thing but We got we actually have to pretty soon move move to your reading which is going to be great I just would you mind telling them that great story of when you got the call from your paperback editor And in the in the place you were living and how you were living and where you were working It's a great story. They tore our apartment down last year And I got a picture of the empty lawn and it was it was really sort of great because that place was a real shithole It was awesome It was 22 sandford street in bangor made and we were at the bottom. We had a couple of kids We had absolutely no money whatsoever and We didn't have a Really anything To speak of the cupboards were pretty well empty and and uh my wife had taken our Old car that needed a new transmission that day. It was a sunday and she got up to old town to see her parents and uh, I got a call From bill thompson who edited my first books and coincidentally he was also the guy who discovered john grisham with a book called a time to kill so Bill called me on the phone. I was in the house by myself the apartment and uh I was standing in the doorway between our crappy kitchen our even crappier dining room and he said He said we sold the paperback rights to carry. I'd gotten an advance, but it was for $2,500 and they're gone to fix the car And and to buy diapers and things like that And I said, oh my god, you sold the paperback. How much did you sell it for? And he said $250,000 No No, that wasn't it because it was a 50 50 split. He said we sold it for $400,000 I got 200 and I I couldn't believe it and I said Bill, did you say $40,000? And he said no, we sold your Paperback for $400,000 and i'm in this Crappy little apartment in bango amain with two pairs of jeans and really not much else And all the strength went out of my legs and I just sort of accordion down until I was Sitting on the floor and we talked about it for a while and I finally got it through my head and The thought that came to my mind was I must buy a present for my wife who fished this book out of the trash And I have to get her something and I went out and It was Sunday and this was you have to realize that this was in the old days when malls were largely like Not there. It was just downtown bangor and the only place that was open Was the rexall station The rexall drugstore, so I bought her a hairdryer So look we're going to get to uh this world debut of this new story But I'm going to read if you don't mind I'm going to read you two paragraphs from your book, steven You wrote it and I'm going to read it to you hit me And I'm actually reading this to you all because I think it says something beautiful about This man and his view of what he does that has enriched us all and will will last for hundreds and hundreds of years You may know or may not know that Steven was in a horrible car accident not car accident some idiot ran him over in 1999 and he almost died And he can tell you that story if you want but you have to have the context because in this brief passage I want to read to you before he reads us the new story He's coming back from Real painful convalescence from this horrible accident On some days that writing is a pretty grim slog On others More and more of them as my leg begins to heal and my mind re-accustums itself to its old routine I feel that buzz of happiness that sense of having found the right words and put them in a line It's like lifting off in an airplane You're on the ground on the ground on the ground and then you're up Riding on a magical cushion of air and prints of all you survey That makes me happy because it's what I was made to do Writing isn't about making money getting famous getting dates getting laid or making friends In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your work and enriching your own life as well It's about getting up getting well and getting over Getting happy. Okay getting happy Writing is magic As much the water of life as any other creative art The water is free So drink Drink and be filled up Oh, thank you. Yeah, man. Do you want to hear a story? Yeah This is uh Brand new so I don't know if it's any good or not, but it's called It has a very steven king title. It's called afterlife William Andrews an investment banker with goldman sacks dies on the afternoon of september 23rd 2012 It is an expected death. His wife and adult children are at his bedside That evening when she finally allows herself some time alone away from the steady stream of family and condolence visitors Lynn Andrews calls her oldest friend who still lives in milwaukee It was sally freeman who introduced her to bill And if anyone deserves to know about the last 60 seconds of their marriage, it's sally He was out of it for most of the last week the drugs but conscious at the end His eyes were open and he saw me. He smiled I took his hand and he squeezed it a little I bent over and kissed his cheek when I straightened up again. He was gone She has been waiting for hours to say this and with it said she bursts into tears Her assumption that the smile was for her is natural enough but mistaken As he is looking up at his wife and three grown children They seem impossibly tall creatures of angelic good health inhabiting a world. He is now departing Bill feels the pain he has lived with for the past 18 months leave his body It pours out like slop from a bucket. So he smiles With the pain gone there's little left His body feels as light as a fluff of milkweed His wife takes his hand reaching down from her tall and healthy world He has reserved a little bit of strength which he now expends by squeezing her fingers. She bends down She is going to kiss him Before her lips can touch his skin a hole appears in the center of his vision It's not a black hole, but a white one It spreads obliterating the only world he's known since 1956 When he was born in the small Hemingford county hospital in Nebraska During the last year bill has read a great deal about the passage from life to death On his computer always careful to obliterate the history so as not to upset Lynn Who is constantly and unrealistically upbeat? And while most of it struck him as bullshit the so-called white light phenomenon seemed quite plausible For one thing it has been reported in all cultures For another it has a smidgen of scientific credibility One theory he's read suggests the white light comes as a result of the sudden cessation of blood flow to the brain Another more elegant Posits that the brain is performing a final global scan in an effort to find an experience comparable to dying Or it may just be a final firework Whatever the cause bill andres is now experiencing it the white light obliterates his family And the airy room from which the mortuary assistants will soon remove his sheeted breathless body In his researches, he became familiar with the acronym NDE standing for near-death experience In many of these experiences The white light becomes a tunnel at the end of which stand beckoning family members who have already died or friends Or angels or jesus or some other beneficent deity Bill expects no welcoming committee what he expects is for the final firework to fade to the blackness of oblivion But that doesn't happen When the brilliance dims, he's not in heaven or hell. He's in a hallway He supposes it could be purgatory a hallway painted industrial green and floored and scuffed and dirty tile Could very well serve as purgatory But only if it went on forever This one ends 20 feet down at a door with a sign on it reading isak harris manager bill stands Bill stands where he is for a few moments inventorying himself He's wearing the pajamas. He died in least he assumes he died And he's barefooted, but there's no sign of the cancer that first tasted his body Then gobbled it But down to nothing but skin and skeleton He looks to be back at about 190 which was his fighting weight slightly soft belly granted before the cancer struck He feels his buttocks and the small of his back the bedsores are gone Nice He takes a deep breath and exhales without coughing even nicer He walks a little way down the hall On his left is a fire extinguisher with a peculiar graffito above it better late than never On his right is a bulletin board on this a number of photographs have been pinned the old-fashioned kind with decal edges Above them is a hand printed banner reading company picnic 1956. What fun we had Bill examines the photographs which show executives Secretaries office personnel and a gaggle of romping kids There's a there are guys tending a barbecue one wearing the obligatory joke toke Guys and gals tossing horseshoes Guys and gals playing volleyball Guys and gals swimming in a lake The guys are wearing bathing suits that look almost obscenely short and tight to his 21st century eye But very few are carrying big guts. They have 50s physiques bill thinks The gals are wearing those old-fashioned ester williams tank suits The kind that make women look as if not as if they have buttocks But only a kind of cleftless bulge above the backs of their thighs Hot dogs are being consumed Beer is being drunk everyone appears to be having a wail of a good time In one of the pictures he sees richie blankmore's father handing and marie winkler a toasted marshmallow This is ridiculous because richie's dad was a truck driver and never went to a company picnic in his life Ann marie was a girl he dated in college In another photo he sees bobby tisdale a college classmate from the early 70s bobby who referred to himself as tis the wiz died of a heart attack while still in his 30s He was probably on earth in 1956, but would have been in kindergarten or the first grade Not drinking beer on the shore of lake whatever In this picture the wiz looks about 20 which would have been his age when bill knew him In a third picture eddie scar pony's mom is baffing a volleyball Eddie was bill's best friend when the family moved from nebraska to paramus new jersey And jena scar pony once glimpsed sunning herself on the patio in filmy white panties and nothing else Was one of bill's favorite fantasies when he was still on his masturbation learners permit The guy in the joke toke is ronald reagan bill looks closely his nose almost pressing against the black and white photo and there can be no doubt The 40th president of the united states is flipping burgers at a company picnic What company though where exactly is he His euphoria at being whole again and pain free is fading What replaces it as a growing sense of dislocation and unease Seeing these familiar people in photographs doesn't make sense And the fact that he doesn't know the majority of them offers marginal comfort at best He looks behind him and sees stairs leading up to another door printed on this one in large block red letters is locked That leaves only mr. Harris's office bill walks down there hesitates Knox it's open bill walks in Beside a cluttered desk stands a fellow in baggy high-waisted suit pants held up by suspenders His brown hair is plastered to his skull and parted in the middle He wears rimless glasses The walls are covered with invoices and corning leg art cheesecake picks That make bill think of the trucking company richie blankmore's dad worked for He went there a few times with richie and the dispatch office looked like this According to the calendar on one wall. It's march of 1911, which makes no more sense than 1956 To bill's right as he enters there's a door to his left is another There are no windows, but a glass tube comes out of the ceiling and dangles over a dan ducks laundry basket The basket is filled with a heap of yellow sheets that look like more like invoices Or maybe they're memos Files are piled two feet high on the chair in front of the desk Bill Anderson isn't it the man goes behind the desk and sits down. There's no offer to shake hands Andrews right And i'm harris Here you are again andrews Given all bill's research on dying this comment actually makes sense And it's a relief as long as he doesn't have to come back as a dung beetle or something So it's reincarnation. Is that the deal? Isaac harris sighs You always ask the same thing and I always give the same answer Not really I'm dead aren't I do you feel dead? No, but I saw the white light. Ah, yes The famous white light There you were and here you are Wait a minute just hold the phone Harris breezes through the papers on his desk doesn't find what he wants and starts opening drawers From one of them. He takes a few more folders and selects one. He opens it flips a page or two and nods Just refreshing myself a bit investment banker, aren't you? Yes wife three kids two sons one daughter correct Apologies, I have hundreds of pilgrims and it's hard to keep them straight I keep meaning to put these folders in some sort of order, but that's really a secretarial job Since they've never provided me with one who is they? No idea all communications come via the tube He taps it the tube sways then stills runs on compressed air latest thing Bill picks up the folders on the client's chair and looks at the man behind the desk eyebrows raised Just put them on the floor. Harris says that I'll do for now one of these days. I really am going to get organized If there are days Probably are nights too, but who can say for sure no windows in here as you will have noticed also no clocks Bill sits down. Why call me a pilgrim if it's not reincarnation Harris leans back and laces his hands behind his neck He looks up at the pneumatic tube, which probably was the latest thing at some time or other say around 1911 Although bill supposes such things might still have been in use around 1956 Harris shakes his head and chuckles although not in an amused way If you only knew how weary some you guys become According to the files, this is our 15th visit I've never been here in my life bill says he considers this except it's Not my life. Is it it's my afterlife actually It's mine You're the pilgrim not me you and the other bozos who parade in and out of here You'll use one of the doors and go I stay There's no bathroom here because I no longer have to perform toilet functions There's no bedroom because I no longer have to sleep All I do is sit around and visit with you traveling bozos You come in you ask the same questions and I give the same answers. That's my afterlife Sound exciting Bill who has encountered all the theological ins and outs during his final research project decides he had the right idea While he was still in the hall You're talking about purgatory Oh, no doubt the only question I have is how long I'll be staying I'd like to tell you I'll eventually go mad if I can't move on But I don't think I can do that anymore than I can take a shitter at app I know my name means nothing to you But we've discussed this before not every time you show up but on several occasions He waves an arm with enough force to cause some of the invoices tacked on the wall to flutter this is Or was I'm not sure which is actually correct my earthly office In 1911 just so I'd ask you if you know what a shirt waist is bill But since I know you don't I'll tell you a woman's blouse At the turn of the century I and my partner max blank owned a business called the triangle shirt waist company Profitable business, but the women who worked there were a large pain in the hindering All was sneaking out to smoke and this was worse Stealing stuff which they would put in their purses or tuck up under their skirts So We locked the doors to keep them in during their shifts and searched them on their way out Long story short the damn place caught on fire one day Max and I escaped by going up to the roof and down the fire escape Many of the women were not so lucky Although let's be honest and admit It was a lot of blame to go around Smoking was strictly verboten, but plenty of them did it anyway, and it was a cigarette that started the blaze Fire marshal said so max and I were tried for manslaughter and acquitted Bill recalls the fire extinguisher in the hall with better late than never printed above it He thinks you were found guilty in the retrial mr. Harris, or you wouldn't be here How many women died? 146 Harris says and I regret everyone mr. Anderson Bill doesn't bother correcting him on the name 20 minutes ago. He was dying in his bed Now he is fascinated by this old story, which he has never heard before that he remembers anyway Not long after max and I got down the fire escape the women crammed onto it the damn thing couldn't take the weight It collapsed and spilled two dozen of them a hundred feet to the cobblestones. They all died 40 more jumped from the ninth and tenth floor windows. Some were on fire. They all died too The fire brigade got there with life nets, but the women tore right through them and exploded on the pavement like bags filled with blood A terrible sight mr. Anderson terrible others jumped down the elevator shafts, but most just burned Like 9 11 with fewer casualties, so you always say and you're here Yes, indeedy I sometimes wonder how many men are sitting in offices just like this women too. I'm sure there are women I've always been forward-looking and see no reason why women can't fill low-level executive positions and admirably All of us answering the same questions and sending on the same pilgrims You'd think that the load would lighten a little each time one of you decides to use the right hand door Instead of that one. He points to the left, but no No A fresh canister comes down the tube Zoop and I get two new bozos to replace the one old one sometimes three He leans forward and speaks with great emphasis this Is a shitty job mr. Anderson? It's andrews bill says and look I'm sorry you feel that way, but jesus take a little responsibility for your actions, man 146 women and you did lock the doors Harris hammers his desk. They were stealing us blind He picks up the folder and shakes it at bill. You should talk ha pot calling the kettle black Goldman Sachs security fraud Prophets in the billions taxes in the millions the low millions does the phrase housing bubble ring a bell How many clients trust did you abuse? How many people lost their life savings? Thanks to your greed and short-sightedness Uh bill knows what harris is talking about, but all that chicanery Well, most of it went on far above his pay grade. He was as surprised as anyone when the excrement hit the cooling device The proof of his essential innocence. It seems to him is that he is the pilgrim and harris is stuck in this office He's tempted to say there's a big difference between being beggared and burned alive, but why rub salt into the wound Let's drop it. He says if you have information. I need why not give it to me fill me in on the deal And I'll get out of your hair I wasn't the one smoking harris says it on low and brooding tone. I wasn't the one dropped the match Mr. Harris bill can feel the walls closing in If I had to be here forever, I'd shoot myself. He thinks Only if what mr. Harris is saying is true, he wouldn't want to anymore than he would want to go to the toilet Okay, all right harris makes a lip-flapping sound not quite a raspberry So the deal is this Leave through the left door and you get to live your life over again A to z start to finish take the right one and you wink out poof candle in the wind type of thing At first bill says nothing to this He's incapable of speech and not sure he can trust his ears It's too good to be true His mind turns to his brother mike and the accident that happened when mike was eight Next to the stupid shoplifting thing when bill was 17 Just a lark, but it could have been a hole in his college plans if his father hadn't stepped in and talked to the Right person The thing with ann marie and the fraternity house that still haunts him at odd moments even after all these years and of course the big one Harris is smiling and the smile isn't a bit pleasant Okay, so his ears did deceive him Or maybe harris was just getting back at him for suggesting that harris deserved to be here in this limbo of bureaucracy I know what you're thinking because i've heard it all from you before About how you and your brother were playing flashlight tag Where you were when you were kids and you slammed the bedroom door to keep him out and accidentally cut off the tip of his pinky finger The impulse shoplifting thing the watch and how your dad pulls strings to get you out of it That's right. No record except with him. He never let me forget it and then There's the girl in the frat house Harris lifts the file her names in here somewhere I imagine I do my best to keep the files current when I can find them But why don't you refresh me? Ann marie winkler bill can feel his cheeks heating up It wasn't date rape. So don't get that idea She put her legs around me when I got on top of her and if that doesn't say consent I don't know what does Did she also put her legs around the two fellows who came next? No bill was tempted to say but at least we didn't light her on fire smartass But still He'd be teeing off on the seventh or working in his wood shop or talking to his daughter Now a college student herself about her senior thesis And he would wonder where ann marie is now what she's doing What she remembers about that night Harris's job widens to a locker room smirk. It may be a shitty job, but it's clear. There are parts of it. He enjoys I can see that's a question. You don't want to answer. So why don't we move along? You're thinking of all the things you'll change during your next ride on the cosmic carousel This time you won't slam the door on your kid brother's finger or try to shoplift or watch at the paramus mall It was the mall of new jersey. I'm sure it's in your file somewhere Harris gives bill of bill's folder a getaway fly flap and continues Next time you'll decline to fuck your semi-comatose date as she lies on the sofa in the basement of your fraternity house and Big one You'll actually make that appointment for the colonoscopy Instead of putting it off having now decided correct me if you're wrong that the indignity of having a camera Shoved up your ass is better than dying of colon cancer bill says Several times i've come close to telling lin about that frat house thing. I've never had the courage But given the chance you'd fix it Of course given the chance wouldn't you unlock those factory doors? Indeed i would but there are no second chances Sorry to disappoint you. He doesn't look sorry. Harris looks tired. Harris looks bored Harris also looks meanly triumphant. He points to the door on bill's left Use that one as you have on every other occasion And you begin all over again as a five pound baby boy sliding from your mother's womb into the doctor's hands You'll be taken home wrapped in bunting to a farm in central nebraska When your father sells the farm in 1964 you'll move to new jersey There you will cut off the tip of your brother's little finger while playing tag You'll go to the same high school. You'll take the same courses. You'll make exactly the same grades You'll go to boston college and you'll commit the same act of semi-rape in the same fraternity house basement You'll watch as the same two fraternity brothers then have sex with anmarie winkler And although you'll think you should call the halt to what's going on You'll never quite muster up the mortal the moral fortitude to do so Three years later you'll meet linda salvo and two years after that you'll be married You'll follow the same career path. You'll have the same friends You'll have the same deep disquiet about some of your firm's business practices And you'll keep the same silence The same doctor will urge you to get a colonoscopy when you turn 50 And you will promise as you always do that you will take care of that little matter You won't and as a result you'll die of the same cancer Harris's smile as he drops the folder back on his cluttered desk is now so wide It almost creases the lobes of his ears Then you'll come here and we'll have the same discussion My advice would be to use the other door and have done with it, but of course that is your decision Bill has listened to this sermon at with increasing dismay I'll remember nothing Nothing Not quite nothing Harris says You may have noticed some photos in the hall the company picnic Yes Every client who visits me sees pictures from the year of his or her birth And recognizes a few familiar faces among all the strange ones When you live your life over again, mr. Anders presuming you decide to You will have a sense of deja vu when you first see these people A sense that you have lived it all before which of course you have You will have a fleeting sense almost assurating that there is more Shall we say more depth to your life and to existence in general than you previously believed But then it will pass If it's all the same with no possibility of improvement Why are we even here? Harris makes the fists and knocks with the end on the end of the pneumatic tube Hanging above the laundry basket making it swing client wants to know why we're here wants to know what it's all about Alfie He waits nothing happens. He folds his hand on his desk When jove wanted to know that mr. Anders god asked if jove was there when he god made the universe I guess you don't even rate that much of a reply. So let's consider the matter close. What do you want to do? pick a door Bill is thinking about the cancer the pain of the cancer To go through all that again Except he wouldn't remember he'd gone through it already. There's that Assuming Isaac Harris is telling the truth No memories at all No changes at all Are you sure? How can you be? Because it's always the same conversation mr. Anderson each time and with all of you It's andrews. He bellows it surprising both of them in a lower voice. He says if I try If I really really try I'm sure I can hold on to something even if it's only what happened to mike's little finger and one change might be enough to I don't know To take Anne-Marie to a movie instead of to that fucking kegger. How about that? Harris says There's a folk tale that before birth Every human soul knows all the secrets of life and death in the universe But then just before birth An angel leans down and puts his fingers to the new baby's lips and whispers Harris touches his filth room According to the story. This is the mark left by the angel's finger every human being has one Have you ever seen an angel mr. Harris? No But I once saw a camel. It was in the bronx zoo Choose a door As he considers As he considers bill remembers a story they had read in junior high the lady or the tiger This decision is nowhere near as difficult I must hold on to just one thing he tells himself as he opens the door that leads back into life Just one thing Then the white light envelops him The doctor who will bolt the republican party and vote for ally stevenson in the fall something his wife must never know bends forward from the waist like a waiter presenting a tray and comes up holding a naked baby by the heels He gives it a sharp smack and the squalling begins You have a healthy baby boy mrs. Andrews. He says congratulations She takes the baby She kisses his damp cheeks and brow They will name him william after her paternal grandfather When the 21st century comes he'll still be in his 40s The idea is dizzying in her arms. She holds not just a new life, but a universe of possibilities Nothing she thinks could be more wonderful Thanks Thank you. Oh god, that's great. Thank you. Okay, I will read it again Great man Thanks, we're gonna take some questions. Yeah, yes You got some time. So you guys we have two mics. Where are they? Yes, see the see the men in yellow So we only have time for So I'm just making the devil ears. I'm doing shit, man freaking when steven king does it. It's kind of scary So we have time for like a half an hour of conversation with the man So go up to the mic ask a question, but we only have time for probably seven eight nine questions So probably no more than about 45 of these should go up. No five six seven eight nine of you go up there Go ahead I'll try to keep the answer short and then maybe we'll get a few more ask him only yes and no questions I stole that from you. You did Good evening, steven. How are you? I'm fine. I'm to your right I'm adamant. It's a pleasure to meet you a little a little closer. Is that your glasses? Maybe Wave jump up and down or something. Okay. I got you. I got you man. Go ahead So In all these page turners, there's still a lot of poetry How do you find? Thank you Thank you How do you find the balance and how can you tell when the the vocabulary is getting a little too onanistic? He did meaning uh onan being the fellow who was cursed for spilling a seed on the ground But I spilled mine on paper so i'm okay No, I don't I don't that would make for a very messy book Let's not go there anymore. Look the only thing you can do is you use your best judgment, you know And I want to tell stories, but I love the language. I always have I I fell in love with with books With novels when I was a young guy and uh, I fell in love with poetry when I was in college people like Richard Wilbur heart crane Ezra pound ts alien all these guys um The the quality of the language being like something that you could Eat with a spoon and I don't aspire to be lyrical. I don't want to do that But I want to write as well as I possibly can I don't want to get diarrhea of the mouth. I want to keep the story Rolling, but I want to do it as elegantly as I can I think that readers sort of expect that so And then when the thing is done You give it to people and particularly an editor and one of the things I'm asked sometimes about editing The more successful that you get the more important it is to listen to an editor who won't let you hang yourself in Times Square So I try to do that and I remember what Hemingway said you must kill your darlings Well, that seems a little bit harsh. I'm not able to kill all my darlings, but I do some Next Hi Honey, I'm talking to Stephen King Told you How old are you? I'm 11 years old. Yeah, baby. It's good You go with your bad self. What's your question? um, what was one of your like best writing moments when you had your Best idea and it just came to you And what a great question that is There have been a lot of times, you know the thing is I'm so lucky to be able to do this because you know the thing is like There are certain people in life Where everybody else says we have to grow up you stay a kid and play in the playground You'll be our designated playground person and you go play and will enjoy What it is that you do the the best idea In some ways this is terrible to say but I was in uh boulder, Colorado And uh, I was driving on the the the boulder denver cutoff route 36 And I was listening to a radio station in our vada. It was one of these bible shutters. I love those guys No, I do seriously love those guys. I love the cadence of them, you know, the sort it's a beautiful thing And this guy was talking about some old testament book and he's saying once in every generation the plague shall fall among them And we were living near uh, you know a chemical warfare dump in that area And there was a lot of talk about it and I thought what if there was a plague and it killed just about everybody And or only a few people left and I thought to myself I'm gonna write that and that was just such a blast and it turned into the stand That was good Such chutzpah. How what's your name? Vaughn supple. Here's to vaughn supple Let's do that mic. Yes. Hi. My name is eileen and I came in from chicago to see you today. Nice. I think you're awesome Um, my question is I know home of barack obama. That's correct Um, yeah, well, it's also home in chicago because I Admire your creativity and everything that you write and I was wondering if you'd ever consider expanding That creativity into something um useful Taking more of an event like a halloween event We were at universal studios horror nights this year And we always ask them how come you ever get steven king to come here and do something Create something There and they said well, we've tried and I said if I ever get the chance. I'll ask them. Why won't he do it? They wouldn't want to ride I created Because there would be no repeat customer Yeah, my name is ben bulger and I appreciate you coming to umass lull to speak today I was wondering if you could reflect on when you were a student at the university of main And what you learned both in your classes and what you learned from writing for the student newspaper And how that shaped the development of you as a writer Well If you if you want to be a writer You really only have to do two things you have to read a lot and you have to write a lot and you have to continue to get buzzed By what you're doing, you know, you have to continue to feel good about it Uh, yeah, well most writers do get buzzed, but I'm talking about a natural buzz Hey, listen, I didn't say it you did But the thing is You have to really like what you're doing and You know, I remember when my son oan who has his first novel coming out next year is terrific I'm very fortunate I have three kids My daughter is a minister and both my sons are novelists and they both have Novels coming out next spring Um My son my son joe Has a book called nas feratu He writes his joe hill And oan has a book called double feature, which is so funny that it's just illegal But in any case when oan was when oan was a little guy He was this little round guy and he was bigger than his age group and everything and He felt kind of stupid and the person that he fixated on was clarence clements from the east street band because Yeah, because because clarence was the big man, you know and and he he blew the sax and he was cool and And oan wanted to be like clarence and he said can I learn the sax? And we were delighted because our other kids, you know had the musical abilities of bookends So we were glad when oan wanted to learn the sax and oan was very good and he practiced the sax and everything But it was clear after a year or so that he just wasn't getting a buzz out of it. And so He stopped and he found something that he did get a buzz out of and that was writing that was kind of like The family business so you have to like it the thing about college and college writing classes I mean they can fuck you up as bad as they can Make things for you, you know Okay Because because it's all subjective and sometimes you get bad advice On good work and sometimes you get you know good feedback on bad work But the thing is man the good thing about it and the thing that makes it worthwhile Is that people take this job? Seriously and so often when you get out there in life people say you want to be a writer There's no money in that jesus unless you want to write green cards that might work So I think that college is an important place because it gives you a chance to grow And people take seriously what you want to do college is great because You know, maybe there's a tuition cost, but the dreams are free and that's a good day Nice. Yeah First off, mr. King. I would like to say thank you to you for all The pleasure you have given me over these years. Oh my goodness All I can say is I'm glad it was good for you because It was great for me But I had racked my brains for months because this is a gift for my kids for my birthday for the question I was going to ask you And it didn't come to me until tonight when you were telling the story Of when you sold your rights To carry and you fell on the floor knowing that you had that car that needed the repair My question is Did you repair the car or did you buy a new one? We bought a Ford pinto But you know what hey listen, we love that fucking car it was brand new It was brand new it had that smell, you know that new car smell And we've been driving all this junk, you know Listen one of the first times that I ever dated my wife back in the old All those years ago I'm driving around in this station wagon that I got from my brother and we went over a bump and the goddamn gas tank fell off Right off in the middle of the street And uh, there were some guys playing legion baseball and they they were just totally, you know drunk on their asses But they came over and they wired up my gas station Give it Yeah Because that's how we rolled but that car was so that's like the best car Birthday mama. What's your name? Happy birthday. Happy birthday My name's diane Yep, three of my favorite things are reading the red socks and one of the best authors I've ever had the pleasure and privilege of reading steven king I happen to have a picture here of all three Which is a very young steven king leaning against the wall of a vomitorium in fenway park Reading a book I'm wondering if you remember What book you were reading in this picture? Hand it down here hand it down here We're gonna see that you get it back. Okay That's a great picture. I think it's friends of eddie coil The friends of eddie coil by jorge v. Yegas a wicked smile. Well, that's really weird because my name's diane too, so Weird, um, obviously your writing is amazing and I think it's awesome And I brainstormed a million questions. I could ask you about your writing But I can't stand here and not ask you a question about the red socks So if you were the manager or the general manager of the red socks, would you have resigned david orteez? poppy Not resigned poppy you'd be insane not to resign poppy No, no, no Trade poppy and keep john lackey, right? No, of course keep poppy and if I can just be serious for a minute about the red socks I think the smartest thing a lot of people have asked me just lately like I know anything, you know What I think about the moves that the red socks have made and I really think that from a The standpoint of the management and the ownership saying I want to make amends to the fans for the really terrible season last year Resigning david orteez was the smartest thing they could have done because he's a goodwill ambassador You know, not just to the baseball world, but to red socks nation So I first have to say, um, thank you to my brother. He wanted me to say a good hello to steven king He's covering my shift tonight, so that I was able to be here uh with with with my pregnant fiance who uh Now and you also want to thank your cinematographer everybody else Cue the music and get me off the mic right now. I just shit on you man. Don't worry about it. Thank you literary buzz as the theme has kind of been tonight. Um, my question is We've been writing pretty hard for the last few months and had a lot of odd things happen. Um, I know you've spoken about Writing is magic and had a lot of malevolent almost forces trying to Stop you from completing certain certain things So I'm just wondering if there's anything you can share here with us that's happened While collaborating either with someone uh, or on your own almost I can't think of the right word There might I just have to make one up, but like a hallucinogenic almost like seeing red for um Something like that like a dick like experience fill up dick Anything like that's happened to you No, nothing I mean, I'm not putting you down or anything, but No, how do you follow that? Uh, I'm up from pennsylvania nine-hour trip on the road today I'm sorry. I missed the first 35 minutes of the talk um My power went out for three days when we had that huge hurricane a couple of weeks ago And I read 11 22 63 By candlelight For three days and it took me away from everything that we were suffering from to 1958 to 1963 I thought that the female teacher Sadie baby Sadie baby That's how love is you forget her name right away. I loved her so much as a creation of yours She was just the most incredible female fictional character that I Gosh, don't stop. Okay My question is did you set out do you set out at the beginning of the book saying I'm going to write an awesome female character in this book or I'm going to Make the best child Paranormal child that I've ever No, I never do anything like that I set out to tell a story and to try to make the characters as believable as I can and With a you know, it's a with a case of jake and Sadie I tried to write a love story that would be kind of like the way that People got together in the 50s with their feelings that complicated feelings about sex and And I just wanted to pour as much love into that relationship as I possibly could Without again, you know, this goes back to the first question about the language that you use and You know, I didn't want it to turn into a romance novel I wanted to write something as true as I could about love and it's such a Line to walk between what's true and in your heart And the sentimental and the mockish and that sort of thing and I just wanted to make it as real as I could and what I wanted What you always want is for reader identification so that So that the people the guys who read that book will say I would love to have a girlfriend like that I would love to be in love that way and have the women say I'd love to meet a man like that and if you succeed on that level I think that it's it's really good because I'm as much of a sucker for a love story Particularly if it's a little bit of a star-cross love story as anybody else. Um, I got this reputation as a Horror writer and everything, but I've really got a marshmallow for a heart So Hi, Steven. My name is Maeve. I'm yo, how you doing? I grew up way out in Wyoming and I actually moved out here to go to to go to graduate school in Boston It was a big move for me But I actually felt comfortable moving to new england because I'd read all of your books and I knew that it was okay in new england I figured if steven king lives out here and everyone likes it out here that it was okay to move this way It's literally why I felt okay moving to boston to come to school So I did it and I still live here. Yeah, I'm a new england ambassador come up and get sucked by vampires exactly Go ahead I do have a question. I um, I first read my first book of yours when I was 11. I read it and Great book Scared the hell out of me scared the hell out of my little brother I terrified my family that I was reading it and then I read the rest of your stuff And but I felt a real connection to your young characters And I noticed in all of your books that um, there's often a young character. That's a protagonist That's a 11 12 13 year old kid that takes charge and and leads through the book And is the one that that solves the solves the mystery or takes charge and you know Finds the talisman and brings it back and solves the saves the day I've just uh, I've always wondered what it is About kids that you write so well and what is it draws you to writing them as your protagonist in your stories? Well with it my kids were about that age when I wrote that book and again, you know, they're the best Subjects for observation that you can possibly have, you know, I I watched them. I saw how they operated in the world I checked out their friends Never in an intrusive way. I hope But to try to be you know, sort of supportive and To listen to the talk that to me that's like one of the most important things is to listen to how People talk and the other thing is that I had noticed as a reader that while there were books that were written for the so-called y a audience young adult audience and there were books written for kids and those books were about kids There were damn few books that were written for grown-ups about kids, but why not? I mean, that's a valid part of our life. It's the launching pad for everything else And what I really wanted to do with it was to write about how kids have a wider Bandwidth when it comes to perception and belief and and the ability to accept Things and how when we become grown-ups That field of vision Starts to change and and close down a little bit And so what I really wanted to do and it was to try to create a bridge fictional and and make believe and scary But childhood is a scary time and I wanted to give adult readers a chance to Relive those years as as much as possible. So that's what I did and I'm fascinated by kids by children I think that it's a fantastic time of life and I'm starting to sound like michael jackson. So I better shut up Two more your work is is this universal quality you always see compassion for For kids and people who are hurting Old people people no one else pays attention to or looks at and I really love that about steven's work His compassion for people that no one else pays attention to Oh, thank you I mean it brother This your turn we're gonna do two more. I want it from you and whoever fights for the mic over there. I'm kidding. Don't fight. Don't fight Hello, my name is jeffrey, and I'm a huge fan and I can't believe I'm talking to you Oh, man And I was wondering if you've ever been writing and you just like terrified yourself If I've terrified myself Yes, and where all your characters go when you try to fall asleep at night You know what? I don't really have like bad dreams or anything because I pass all that shit on to you guys It's great And I love that but yes, I have scared myself I wrote a book called pet cemetery and I got pretty scared toward the end of that book kind of you know Oh boy, just some of the things it was very black And when I finished the book I actually put it in a drawer because I didn't think anybody would want to read anything like that, but they did so Fuck them I don't mean that I have the I have the greatest respect in the world for my fans But the time that I scared myself the most I was writing the shining and And and I had I it's like being it's like being fucking Leonard Skinner, you know play free bird That's totally elliptical, but never mind What I started to say is I was living in a house or rather I I had rented a room in a house that was away from the kids And I could go there for three hours a day and I worked and it was peaceful It was in the flat irons and I would work for three hours and go home and then I realized that The young kid Danny Torrance was going to go up to this room 217 and that there was a dead woman in the bathtub. It wasn't really dead and I was working away happy as a lock and then one day I thought five days to room 217 And then it was three days And then it was one day and then it was I was in the room and that was a very very Brilliant scene in terms of what was going on in my head and I was very scared when I wrote that scene I think that comes across Now we have one more question Make it a good one What oh god, I don't know No Do you have a question? Do you have a question? I do have a question after her question and I'm going to walk you down All right Question wow Um, there's so many um, good evening Hi um Where do I begin? Do you carry a cell phone? I carry a what? I know you No, actually when i'm on a trip like this, I have one but I I left it behind tonight And I don't know my cell phone number or anything like that So you do because I I've listened to you speak before and you said you'd never carry a cell phone and that was the cell And you swore That it was evil Well, I don't I don't think they're evil, but I do think that there's something Uh creepy when you walk down the street We talked about this and you see 10 people and seven of them are like this You know something little and think about it think about it Think about how they lower your IQ. What's the first thing anybody says? When they pick up the cell phone? Hey Where are you? You don't think that's funny man. I think But then maybe it's just sort of lost on me because I don't have a cell phone Listen, you guys have been great to me and I really appreciate it It's like wonderful. Thank you Thank you Thank you I'm gonna do about the poster We're gonna sign chairs right now. Are you gonna start this off? Oh, we got something that we gotta do. We gotta sign the chairs Yeah, that's right. Well before we do that I know it's colder up in Main than it is in Lowell's so we wanted to present you with a token of our Oh man, wait a minute the price tags on it 55 And a UMass little riverhawks hat Nice Stephen because of your generosity We have raised over a hundred thousand dollars for scholarships for English students for UMass fall Thank you. Thank you so much. That's for you appreciate it Thank you and And to Andre debuts if I know there are a lot of young people here Who are thinking who love reading who love writing they're thinking about where to go to ecology university Andre debuts the third is an example of the high quality that we have in our english department Consider UMass Lowell. Andre. Thank you for bringing Stephen here. Appreciate it. He made this happen Can I can I just say one thing too? We're gonna get a hold on hold on hold on hold on hold on. We'll get it marty. Me and this is his kickoff Event and is and is the marty me and chancellor speaker series and this is his brain child And uh, I just want to give a toast to marty mean and all he's doing. This is great. Thank you. Thank you Hey I got to tell you one thing before we go The american insurance association says That you know any kind of a public gathering like this 7% of the people who arrive in automobiles forget to lock their cars And i'm not the one who wanted to say or would say that there's a maniac out there but We know that such people do exist and I'm just suggesting that you check Your back seat because you wouldn't want to look in your rear view mirror now Stephen is going to sign the chairs, but we have the winning numbers But I can't read them. So I have them enlarged here, but I better sign the chair first and yeah, you gotta sign the chair I got it right here here You want this one hold that I signed a lot of shit, but this is my first chair So mr. King if you will put your john handcock right here That's our plan This is fun. Oh man. This is gonna look like somebody with a bad brain tumor My are we both signing both? Yeah, we're signing both. Let's go, baby Look out. You'll get a rupture. I'm gonna get a rupture God, this is exciting to watch me sign a chair So we don't know how you're gonna get these home You got a truck good The winning number for the first chair is number one three three one five six That's my number three three one five six the second chair is one three three Four seven nine Who do we got? The winner should go to the raffle ticket location near the sales Conqueror's right up there two winners I'll read them one more time One three three one five six One three three four seven nine by the way we made five thousand dollars on the raffle for Thank you very much. It's good Last the last message is that the low bank pavilion is going to be open if you want to have something to eat or a drink We're going to be open up here for a while. Thanks very much Stephen. Thanks again. Thank you