He could have done his researches quietly, mailing off polite letters, perhaps even arranging some interviews in the spring…and then laughed up his sleeve at Ullman’s rage when the book came out and he was safely away—The Masked Author Strikes Again. Instead he had made that damned senseless call, lost his temper, antagonized Ullman, and brought out all of the hotel manager’s little Caesar tendencies. Why? If it wasn’t an effort to get himself thrown out of the good job Al had snagged for him, then what was it?
Stephen King eventually did write that quiet-research story
