Here is Jeremiah Swanson's article about King's influence on his own writing. Swanson is author of, And Death Will Seize The Doctor.
I first became aware of King in the mid 80’s, watching his
movies when they came on cable back when having cable was a big deal. I
remember watching his movies while hunched over greasy pizza boxes and grape
sodas, munching away as his newest (to me, anyway) monster or cult or dog or
car or kid with psychic powers caused mayhem behind the safety of my television
screen.
I always loved King. Even before I knew what a genre was, I knew
I loved the kind of stories he told, horror stories. I understood, long before
I could articulate, the truth behind all good horror stories, the truth that is
so present in all of King’s works. That truth is simplicity itself: people want
to live. No matter how dark or scary it gets, people have a drive for life.
That truth is what all good horror is about; awakening and sharpening the
instinct, drive and desire for life. In our daily grinds we can sometimes get
to where we forget we are alive at all; that we are unique beings here but for
a short time and when we’re gone, will be gone forever. But in King’s work-as
in life when we have a near miss on the highway or are sitting in the doctor’s
office waiting nervously for her to come back with the results- we are shocked
into being reminded that we are alive, now, but there is also this thing called
death that always seemed somehow far and mythical but now is suddenly very
close and very real. We are reminded how we so very much want to keep on
living. We are reminded of just how much death will be taking from us, and we
are spurred on to fight it.
Even in a world overflowing with the horrible beasties and
circumstances his amazing imagination can fill them with, there is something
incredibly life affirming about his characters who do not give up, who keep on
fighting, who keep on wanting to live even after it seems they’ve lost
everything worth living for, and indeed, any chance of living at all.
The story that encapsulated that drive the most was Cujo, the tale
(pun?) that did for me with neighborhood dogs what Jaws did for generations of
beach goers. I always thought Cujo was scarier than Jaws, actually. With Cujo,
you couldn’t just get out of the water. In fact, with Cujo, you couldn’t even
get out of your car. Not even if you were broken down in sweltering heat with
your son dying beside you, he wouldn’t let you out. You had to hold on and find
a way, or succumb and die.
The movie was much kinder than the book. (SPOILER ALERT) In the
movie the lead character escapes with her son. In the book, the boy dies. I
must say, I always found the book’s ending more…I don’t want to say satisfying,
but perhaps edifying than the movie’s. I was always more interested in the
consequences of violence and the costs to survivor’s who opt not to be
overwhelmed, who try to live with their guilt, than with the violence itself.
King always does this better than most other writers, and I credit his
portrayal of these circumstances as having a huge influence on my writings,
particularly in my book, And Death Will
Seize the Doctor, Too.
In my story, Christian Thompson has the power to heal with a touch of his hand, but for every person he cures, he must first kill someone else.
His talents grant him entry into a secret organization with other paranormally gifted people who help him try to use his gift for the greater good. His handlers create a situation for him where he can extract the life from death row inmates after staged executions. He hates the idea of killing, but if taking the life of someone who was going to be executed anyway meant the lives of others can be saved, he’ll do it. While killing never gets easy, over time, it does get easier. Tolerable. Until he discovers one of the men he killed was actually innocent of the crime for which he was convicted. He is so overcome with guilt he quits, vowing to never take another life. For years he sticks by that promise, but when a person he loves becomes deathly ill, he has to come back for one last job. And when he does, he is forced by circumstances to commit a murder so horrible, so ghastly that he knows he can never wash himself clean again. But he also knows he can never stop trying. He doesn’t have that right.
That type of impossible situation and relentless drive in the face of hopelessness is one of the hallmarks of Stephen King’s writing. And while I do not pretend at all to have his talent for portraying it, I am eternally grateful for his being able to do it so well that it made me even want to try.
AND DEATH WILL SEIZE THE DOCTOR, TOO is available now at:
AMAZON.COM
His talents grant him entry into a secret organization with other paranormally gifted people who help him try to use his gift for the greater good. His handlers create a situation for him where he can extract the life from death row inmates after staged executions. He hates the idea of killing, but if taking the life of someone who was going to be executed anyway meant the lives of others can be saved, he’ll do it. While killing never gets easy, over time, it does get easier. Tolerable. Until he discovers one of the men he killed was actually innocent of the crime for which he was convicted. He is so overcome with guilt he quits, vowing to never take another life. For years he sticks by that promise, but when a person he loves becomes deathly ill, he has to come back for one last job. And when he does, he is forced by circumstances to commit a murder so horrible, so ghastly that he knows he can never wash himself clean again. But he also knows he can never stop trying. He doesn’t have that right.
That type of impossible situation and relentless drive in the face of hopelessness is one of the hallmarks of Stephen King’s writing. And while I do not pretend at all to have his talent for portraying it, I am eternally grateful for his being able to do it so well that it made me even want to try.
AND DEATH WILL SEIZE THE DOCTOR, TOO is available now at:
AMAZON.COM
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