Blaze (novel)

Blaze

First edition cover
Author	Richard Bachman
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Crime novel, ghost story
Publisher	Scribner
Publication date	June 12, 2007
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	304
ISBN

Blaze is a novel by Stephen King, published under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. King announced on his website that he "found it" in an attic. In fact it was written before Carrie and King offered the original draft of the novel to his Doubleday publishers at the same time as 'Salem's Lot. They chose the latter to be his second novel and Blaze became a "trunk novel." King rewrote the manuscript, editing out much of what he perceived as over-sentimentality in the original text, and offered the book for publication in 2007. The book also contains "Memory," a short story that was first published in 2006 and which King has since worked into Duma Key.

The story concerns Clayton Blaisdell, Jr. (known as "Blaze" for short, thus the title), a mentally handicapped small-time con artist who kidnaps a wealthy gentleman's baby son, in the hopes of fulfilling the dreams of George Thomas Rackley, Blaze's deceased best friend and partner in crime. The chapters alternate between Blaze's past — which covers his childhood (including how he came to be brain damaged) and his entry into a life of crime despite an otherwise sweet demeanor — and his current caper, in which he imagines that he is still constantly advised by his friend George. Despite the helpfulness of (the imaginary) George's advice, Blaze's world begins to crumble during his kidnapping venture, especially as he bonds with baby Joey. In the end, Blaze runs from his inevitable destiny back to the horrors of his old orphanage, the Hetton House. After the cops storm it, he rushes to a cave, where Joey is nearly killed, and Blaze ends up killing a state policeman and an FBI agent. He is killed by an FBI agent, and is buried only a few miles away from Hetton House and where his father lived.

On King's website, the following was posted in the "Future Works" section on November 28, 2006:

Many of you have been asking for more information about publication of Blaze following Steve's mention of it on his recent Lisey's Story book tour. This is another Bachman novel which he recently rediscovered. The original manuscript of Blaze was 173 pages long and was written in 1973. He has rewritten the first 100 pages. A lot of it needed editing to make it more timely since the 1973 references no longer worked. He's hoping to get it done by the end of the year. No publication deal has been signed, but he's sure there will be one.