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Riding the Bullet

by Stephen King, Josh Hamilton (Narrator)

3.46 of 5 stars 3.46 · rating details · 5,021 ratings · 104 reviews

A Stephen King ghost story in the grand tradition, Riding the Bullet is the ultimate warning about the dangers of hitchhiking.

A college student's mother is dying in a Maine hospital. When he hitches a ride to see her, the driver is not who he appears to be. Soon the journey veers off into a dark landscape that could only be drawn by Stephen King.

Audio CD, 0 pages

Published May 1st 2002 by Simon & Schuster Audio (first published January 1st 2000)

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Mar 16, 2013 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: holby-tv-reading-challenge-2012, kindle

I saw this book on Amazon and grabbed it as a quick read. It was quite good but a typical ghost story. Boy is picked up hitch-hiking. Driver is not as he seems. Delivers a message or threatens with death. Boy understands message. And is repentant for the rest of his life. etc etc.

Riding the Bullet is a short story taken from the Everything's Eventual anthology. It was okay, full of the usual Stephen King ghosts and goulies. I didn't find it very scary which is slightly disappointing as King usua...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Boss rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: e-book, resources-for-adults-class-reads

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Resources for Adults Non-traditional Format Selection

I read about this novella in one of my class readings, mentioning it as a game changer in the world of electronic books. It was initially published in 2000, and was “world's first mass-market electronic book,” selling hundreds of thousands of copies within the first 24 hours of release (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riding_t...). I’m intrigued that Stephen King, who at this point in his career can do whatever he wants, chose to support the e-bo...more Resources for Adults Non-traditional Format Selection

I read about this novella in one of my class readings, mentioning it as a game changer in the world of electronic books. It was initially published in 2000, and was “world's first mass-market electronic book,” selling hundreds of thousands of copies within the first 24 hours of release (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riding_t...). I’m intrigued that Stephen King, who at this point in his career can do whatever he wants, chose to support the e-book format in a way that proved downloadable books could be accessible, affordable, and profitable. So I downloaded it to my iPad for $3.99, and read it for myself.

I read it in a single sitting--probably the best way to experience it. King has a gift for establishing a feeling, and I think breaking this up into shorter segments would detract from the eerie fog a single reading creates.

It’s the story of Alan Parker, a college student who gets a call that his mother has had a stroke. Alan is close with his mother--growing up “it was just Alan and Jean Parker against the world,” he tells us--so even though she tells him to wait till the weekend, he hurries to be at her side in the hospital. His car is out of commission, however, so he hitchhikes, ending up in a car with an elderly man who smells of urine and grabs constantly at his own crotch. The old man is full of stories of his departed wife, and though he seems genuinely interested in helping Alan get to the hospital, Alan gets out of the car still several miles from his destination. He ends up waiting for his next ride at a graveyard. After exploring a bit, he finds a gravestone marked “George Staub,” who died at the age of 22. The scene is spooky, but doesn’t become truly unnerving until Alan catches his next ride with none other than George Staub, who wears crude line of stitches around the base of his neck revealing the cause of death. After a tense conversation about the “The Bullet,” a roller coaster in a nearby amusement park, George tells Alan that either he or his mother will die, and that George gets to choose which. If he doesn’t choose, both die. George protests, but eventually blurts out his choice: himself. He wants to live. George shoves Alan from the car, and Alan comes to in the graveyard wearing the “I rode The Bullet” button George had been wearing.

Eventually, Alan makes it to the hospital, expecting to hear that his mother has died, but she hasn’t. She’s fine, in fact, and lives several more years with Alan and his guilty conscience. Alan is forever thereafter haunted by the choice he made. He wants the whole experience to have been a dream, but he knows that it wasn’t. When eventually his mother does die, he finds the “I rode The Bullet” button under her bed.

I really enjoyed this book. It reminded me of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” a short story that’s stuck with me since high school. Like Hawthorne, King is adept at creating a mood, and with both stories taking place in cold New England woods, they have a similar feel. Both stories also share the mysterious dream aspect, where the protagonist experiences an otherworldly scare that forever changes his future outlook.

I see this story appealing to fans of Stephen King, of course, but also to readers who might want something scary, but not terrifying. It’s a smaller dose than King’s typical 600 pager, and more eerie than horrifying. (It’s not the kind of book you have to put in the freezer for a while, a la Joey from Friends!) The former English teacher in me would like to see this used alongside Hawthorne in a high school English class. As a shorter work, it’s a great way to introduce people to King as an author, and horror as a genre.(less)

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Mar 27, 2012 Paul Eckert rated it 3 of 5 stars

You're a broke college kid who needs to see his mother in the hospital about an hour and a half away. The transmission in your car is shot. What do you do? Hitchhike, of course!Such is the plot of Riding the Bullet.

I'm always fascinated by hitchhiking, as it seems to be a relic of a bygone era when it didn't seem dangerous to help out a complete stranger by giving them a ride. Not only does it seem to speak to the better part of humanity, but it also seems like a unique opportunity to connect w...more

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Jun 08, 2011 Stephanie from Books Paradise rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-read, horror, short-stories

"Diese Geschichte habe ich noch nie erzählt und auch nicht gedacht, dass ich es je tun würde... weil sie meine Geschichte ist."
Alan Parker studiert an der University of Maine. Seine Mutter wohnt in Lewiston, rund 120 Meilen von ihm entfernt. Als Alan einen Anruf erhält, dass seine Mutter eine Schlaganfall erlitten habe, macht er sich sofort per Anhalter auf den Weg nach Lewiston. Er bereut schnell seinen voreiligen Entschluss das Angebot seiner ersten Mitfahrgelegenheit, seine Verabredung suasen...more "Diese Geschichte habe ich noch nie erzählt und auch nicht gedacht, dass ich es je tun würde... weil sie meine Geschichte ist."
Alan Parker studiert an der University of Maine. Seine Mutter wohnt in Lewiston, rund 120 Meilen von ihm entfernt. Als Alan einen Anruf erhält, dass seine Mutter eine Schlaganfall erlitten habe, macht er sich sofort per Anhalter auf den Weg nach Lewiston. Er bereut schnell seinen voreiligen Entschluss das Angebot seiner ersten Mitfahrgelegenheit, seine Verabredung suasen zulassen und Alan doch bis zum Krankenhaus zu bringen, ausgeschlagen zu haben. Irgendetwas stimmt mit dem Fahrer des Ford Mustangs nicht und dann ist da auch noch der seltsame Geruch. Als sich Alans Verdacht erhärtet beginnt eine pechschwarzer Alptraum...
"Aus und Vorbei."
Stephen King wurde 1947 in Portland, Maine geboren. Das Schreiben begleitete ihn von seiner Kindeheit an. 1974 veröffentlichte er seinen Debütroman Carrie. Seitdem hat er mehr als dreißig Romane geschrieben. Nach seinen ersten Weltbestsellern begann er Storys unter dem Pseudonym Richard Bachmann zu veröffentlichen. Er wollte wissen, ob die Leute seine Bücher kaufen weil er Stephen King ist oder weil das Buch gut ist - letzteres war seine Erkenntnis.

Die Geschichte erinnert eigentlich nicht an ein King-Buch, dafür ist sie auf ihre eigene Art zu "normal". Horror ist nicht immer Horror, denn es gibt einen Unterschied und dieser liegt in der Wahrheit. Wie viel wahres steckt also nun in dieser Geschichte? Natürlich kann ich es nicht beschwören, aber sie ist wahr. Jedes Wort. Und das macht sie zu einem wahren Alptraum. Ein Button wird Alans neuer Begleiter:
"Ich bin in Thrill Village, Laconia, mit dem BULLET gefahren. Er war jetzt mein Button - Glücksbringer oder Unheilbringer -, er gehörte mir."
Dieser Button spielte eine ganz wichtige Rolle in seinem Leben, ob es nun Aberglaube sein mag - nein, das glaube ich nicht! Kings Schreibstil ist hier leicht und flüssig, die 96 Seiten sind im Nu gelesen. Als King Fan sollte man Diese - seine Geschichte - gelesen haben. Es handelt sich hierbei um keine blutrünstige Geschichte, wie man sie vielleicht von King kennt und erwartet, sie beschäftigt einen lediglich: Das Jenseits und das Diesseits - der Übergang ist vielleicht doch nicht immer so klar, wie wir meinen...(less)

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Jan 30, 2011 Alex Telander rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2002

Originally only available in e-book, the short story “Riding the Bullet” was published this year in Stephen King’s latest collection of short stories, Everything’s Eventual. It has now been released for the first time in audiobook.

It is the story of a college boy in Maine who discovers that his mother has had a stroke and is ill in the hospital up north. Without hesitation he leaves school and starts making his way north in the only way he knows how, since he doesn’t have a car: hitchhiking. He’...more

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May 27, 2010 Bren rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-books

One of Stephen King's notably shorter single works (more of a novella than anything else), Riding the Bullet provides the same manner of psychological torment as found in many of his short stories (such as in a handful of the latter tales within Hearts in Atlantis , for instance, or The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon).

That is to say, the creeps and chills are of a less visceral sort. This serves not only to make the book more accessible to the more squeamish amongst us, but to - in a sense - turn off...more

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Jul 24, 2011 NJMetal rated it 3 of 5 stars

This offering from Stephen King is sold as a stand alone short story (it is part of a short story collection, but the name escapes me, Everything's Eventual perhaps.) The plot is sort of a straight foreward ghost story. But, in classic Stephen King style, he makes it anything but straight foreward.

Over the course of a mere 35 pages (eBook version anyway), the story takes more twists and hairpin turns then you could imagine could fit into such a short story. In the end King leaves you even questi...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Papillon DiMarzio rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A young man named Alan is in college in Maine when he finds out his mom had a stroke. He then hitchhikes with multiple people having these hallucinations about his mother dying. He gets picked up by an unusual man and is told to answer a life or death question. What is in for Alan? Will his mother make it?

I recommend this book because there is a lot of foreshadowing. Alan comes up to multiple situations while his hitchhiking to unusual people and second guesses himself about a lot of things. T...more

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Oct 11, 2012 Carol rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This shortish ghost story revolves around Alan, a young university student who receives a call - his mother has had a stroke. Alan's father died when he was young, it's been just his mother and himself for as long as he can remember. So Alan heads home. Unfortunately, his car isn't drivable at that moment so he hitchhikes. The rides he gets are less than ideal and he soon discovers a part of himself that does not make him proud.

The dead guy and Alan's choice are pure Stephen King but the parts o...more

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Apr 01, 2011 Nnedi rated it 3 of 5 stars

I love Stephen King. This one was...meh. He often cuts stories from the same cloth and if you read him a lot you can see that. He's written about hitchhikers before. He's written about this kind of ghost (I'm thinking of Sometimes They Come Back). He's written about the kid raised by a single mother (The Talisman). I don't mind that he draws from the same well sometimes but this one was just not memorable for me. Plus it was so vague and the consequences were unclear. Also, there was little conn...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Sam Quixote rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A young university student finds out his mother has had a stroke and so rushes home to see her, hitch-hiking as his car is in the shop (no mention of possible buses or trains he could alternately use), and he is picked up... by a dead man.

This is standard Stephen King fare with his interest in all manner of ghosties and ghoulies, and the encounter with the dead guy isn't that great but what saves the story is the man's reminiscences of his mum. He looks back at his childhood, his mum's sacrifice...more

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Dec 26, 2012 A.J. rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Montando la bala (Riding the Bullet) es un relato de terror del escritor estadounidense Stephen King, que fue publicada por primera vez en 2000 en Internet, siendo uno de los primeros en utilizar la red para difundir la literatura, y luego la una antología de relatos de terror Todo es eventual: 14 relatos oscuros (Everything is eventual: 14 Dark Tales)

Ahora, si bien la historia es corta, al punto que puede ser considerado una novellete, tiene sus pros y sus contras. Primero, empecemos con lo pos...more

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Aug 15, 2012 Larry Chambers rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

[I wrote this review for amazon.com in early 2002, shortly after reading “Riding the Bullet” for the first time.]

Reading the Bulletin

With rare exceptions, I’ve always preferred Stephen King’s full-length works to his short stories. It’s not that the quality of his shorts is lacking; it’s the fact that King is an endurance runner rather than a sprinter. He’s in his element only when pounding out a tome of 500 or more pages. He starts slowly but self-assuredly, finds his pace in a leisurely manner...more [I wrote this review for amazon.com in early 2002, shortly after reading “Riding the Bullet” for the first time.]

Reading the Bulletin

With rare exceptions, I’ve always preferred Stephen King’s full-length works to his short stories. It’s not that the quality of his shorts is lacking; it’s the fact that King is an endurance runner rather than a sprinter. He’s in his element only when pounding out a tome of 500 or more pages. He starts slowly but self-assuredly, finds his pace in a leisurely manner, then gets you striding alongside him as he leads you through the tale. He keeps you going with his wit and imagination, and especially with his eye for truth. All his stories, long and short, have truth in them, even the most bizarre of them. Be the events as bizarre and other-worldly as they may, King’s characters are realistic and react to these happenings in the most believable manner. In the last 100 or so pages, as the finish line becomes visible up ahead, you almost want to slow down and savor the run. But you find yourself perversely picking up the pace and racing the author to break the tape. And when it’s all over, you are surprised to find yourself not tired but stimulated by the run, and breathless from exhilaration rather than exertion.

With a Stephen King short story, however, you begin in the same unhurried way, prancing, high-stepping, and swinging your arms to warm up for the run ahead. Then you and King ease into your pace … and you suddenly stumble. You bounce up to continue the run, only to look behind you and see the broken tape on the ground. What you tripped over was the string marking the finish line. The story is done. Don’t bother looking around for the author; he’s already off to the next track, pencil or keyboard in hand.

As I said, this is the way I feel about King’s works in general, with rare exceptions. “Riding the Bullet” is no exception. It’s 64 pages long, a tithe (to his muse, no doubt) of one of his novels. In it, King has a lot to say about life and death (which are, after all, two sides of the same coin). But in only 64 pages, there’s a distinct limit to the amount of time he can spend on each topic. To his credit, he gets it all in without breaking stride or making the ideas seem like unrhyming Burma Shave signs (One generation dies so the next may live / None of us asks to be born / The living feel guilt about their survival in the presence of the dead, etc.). Still, to quote an epitaph featured in the tale, “Well begun, too soon done”. I was left wanting more … and yet am forced to acknowledge that there is nothing left for King to say without beating the proverbial dead horse. Or to quote the main character’s mother, “Fun is fun and done is done”. The title, an allusion to a roller coaster called The Bullet, is an apt analogy for the story itself. Like an amusement park ride, you waits in line, you pays your money, and the ride is over far too soon. But it’s a good ride, well worth the price of admission. And you’re gonna wanna go on it again.

My main complaint with “Riding the Bullet” is with its format. This was my first time reading an e-book, and I was disappointed to discover that this one is encrypted to make electronic copying and even printing impossible. Call me a fossil, but for me reading a book is a sensual experience. Holding the paper in my hands and turning the pages cannot satisfactorily be replaced by staring at a glowing 17-inch screen and clicking a mouse button. I understand the desire for encryption, and I support the author’s right to earn money from his hard work. But I resent being treated like a criminal. After all, if I really wanted to plagiarize or pirate this story, encryption is no obstacle: I could simply type it into my word processing program.
(less)

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Jun 06, 2011 Tim rated it 2 of 5 stars

Got this as a little something to listen to while I waited for "Seven Up," the lat4est Plum novel on my list, to become available from the Library. Two CDs, novella, well read but what a disappointment! College kid hitchhikes home to see his sick mom (all in Maine, of course) and gets picked up by a series of ghoulish folks who know more about him than he does. Some fun passages, but overall this feels like Mr. King wrote it in High School and brushed it up for more recent publication. Sorry, Mr...more

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Aug 16, 2009 Lin rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dutch, owned

Good grief I hate reading things in the Dutch translation. This was a gift, and I read it because hey, it's short, but the Dutch translation butchered the crap out of it. And it wasn't too good a story to begin with, people - this is the kind of non-scary scary story you expect to find in a children's book, maybe, for kids who haven't been beaten to death by all the clichés yet.

But okay. I have a thing against English books that are translated into Dutch. Because Dutch translations? Are usually...more

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Dec 24, 2010 Sandino rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Това всъщност е разказ, или новелета може би, който навремето Стивън Кинг беше пуснал само в електронен формат. Сега гледам, че са го издали в някакво колекционерско хардкопи за 46 долара. Ха-ха-ха. Както и да е, реших да забърша прахта от киндъла и да си го взема. Класическа история с призраци, от типа които младежите си разказват около лагерния огън по американските филми. Ако беше писана от кой да е, сигурно щеше да е зле, но стилът на Кинг си е уникален и супер четивен, така че определено не...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Narcissa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Stephen King does short stories the way Frank Sinatra sings. To the point, brilliantly, and effervescently executed. "Riding The Bullet" flew through my eyes and mind like a shot and I still look for those buttons. I refuse to spoil anything by revealing exactly what kind of buttons, exactly. Where Stephen King kicks one in the gut is dialogue and atmosphere, and boy does he do it here. Give it a go. It's short, it's sweet, and you won't regret riding the bullet.

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Mar 21, 2011 Marissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Definitely not my favorite King book. it didn't have the same pizazz, or character development it usually does. i finished it in one day in between breaks at work, so what like maybe an hour a little over. Not the best book to start off if you have never read King before. And definitely try to get it at a resale book store or borrow it if someone actually owns it. Sad to say, sorry Steve you disappointed me finally.

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Apr 10, 2011 Jeff rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

hmm. It was ok. Even King reminded me it was supposed to be a ghost story you would have told around a campfire. Shades of Christine and Sometimes they Come back as well. If i'd realized it was from 2000 I would have skipped it--but it was a pretty cheap kindle version--and I have one more to go--which I thought was 400 pages or so. An entertaining read this was over cereal in the morning--very quick story.

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Apr 03, 2011 SweetPea rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, novella-low-pg-count

Likeable enough story. As with other King short novels, it isn't high on the scary meter but does explore an idea in an interesting manner. The basic premise is about hitchhiking but the real question is whether someone would be altruistic if they had to choose between saving their own life by sacrificing another who they cared for - and arguably should have been willing to sacrifice their own life for.

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Aug 18, 2010 Ronal rated it 3 of 5 stars

A good story about self discovery....after reading dis story i just questioned myself,wot would be my answer if i been ever questioned like dat....its a ghost story introducing you to the highest juggling paradoxes of life....i liked it coz it made me see dark secrets that are stored in my heart..could we really like any1 more than our own self??...........d answer is bitter bt it is the truth.."NO"

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Feb 12, 2012 Tim rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Not a big Stephen King fan. Tried to read 'Salems Lot' and 'Pet Cemetary' a few years ago but found them quite boring and stopped reading before the end of both. This short story i fear is no better, age old idea with no new twists. A new author could have come up with a better story, but a 'seasoned' author like King, come on. The King of horror needs to put horror into his stories.

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Apr 01, 2013 Trisha rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, 2008-read

Inhoud:
Op een middag krijgt student Alan Parker te horen dat zijn moeder een hartaanval heeft gehad. Hij lift door Maine naar het ziekenhuis waarin ze is opgenomen. Onderweg wordt Alan opgepikt door een afschuwelijke oude man en dan door een veel gruwelijker wezen: een dode jongeman die hem dwingt tot een verschrikkelijke keuze.

Dit korte verhaal (95 pagina's) maakt ook deel uit van de verhalenbundel Alles is eventueel.

Waardering:
Een boek dat je na laat denken over keuzes. Welke keuze zou jij ma...more

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Mar 31, 2012 Teddle rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kurz -> Novelle halt.

Aehm. Die Geschichte liest sich leichtgaengig und ist leichte Kost.

Auf 96 Seiten schafft es Herr King ein paar gute Ueberraschungen unterzubringen aber:

Enttaeuschend fand ich eher die 0815 Moral die dieses Buch versucht zu vermitteln ...

War halt mal was fuer "zwischendurch"

dieses Buch bekommt 2,5 Sterne

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Aug 10, 2011 Lena Hillbrand rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of King shorts

Shelves: stephen-king, audiobooks

This was one Stephen King shorts that I really enjoyed. It was nicely creepy. I also liked the younger voice. Usually King's protagonist's are older, but this college boy had a good college type voice. One thing that annoys me about older established writers deciding they want to write for a younger audience is that they usually butcher slang. But this one had hardly any slang, so that helped. It had a bit of creepiness, but it was also one of the more touching books I've read. The boy's relatio...more

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Jan 01, 2009 Candace rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio

The first time I listened to this, I was on my way to my sister who was living in Alabama at the time. I left to go to her place at 2 in the morning. I wanted something to keep me awake. Well when it scared me enough that I had to get off the highway to a gas station and drive at times with the interior lights on. It was good.

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Aug 02, 2011 Luis Diego Camacho Mora rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

El primer libro que se vendió por internet... ya publicado me costó 95 colones, o sea, más barato que un chocolate... así que ha comprarlo y leerlo. Además es de Stephen king. Un libro corto que demostrando por Stephen King es el rey del terror.

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Aug 03, 2011 Jessie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Thouroughly enjoyed this! It had some scary twists and turns. Stephen King has a talent for describing a scene so well you will feel the fog on your arms and smell the urine in the old mans car. I just love reading anything he writes.

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Aug 24, 2012 David Przybylinski rated it 4 of 5 stars

Riding the Bullet was originally release in parts which I did read long ago but forgot about. I just listened to it on cd and really enjoyed it. Makes you wonder what's going to happen next. Fun read/listen.

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Mar 24, 2013 Justin Jones rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, mystery

The book was really creepy, I read it all in 1 night. And I felt like something was staring at ,e from the doorway, the whole time. Stephen King proves yet again, his good writing, and his creepiness in his books! I am a 100% King fan! :

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About Stephen King

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family...more Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.

Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and then Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.

He and Tabitha Spruce married in January of 1971. He met Tabitha in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University of Maine at Orono, where they both worked as students. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.

Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many of these were later gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.

In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.(less)

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BBCode	[url=http://gr-assets.com/book/show/11605.Riding_the_Bullet?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348419476l/11605.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://gr-assets.com/book/show/11605.Riding_the_Bullet?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Riding the Bullet by Stephen King[/url]

Riding the Bullet

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