Part IV of EW’s weeklong birthday tribute to the horror scribe.
I still write REDRUM with backward Rs like Danny Torrance on every steamy hotel bathroom mirror.
My love affair with Kings work didnt stop there.
Courtesy Tananarive Due
I was sick in bed when I readThe Stand, and I felt every symptom of Captain Trips.
I gave my cat the side-eye the whole time I readPet Sematary.
King scared me time after time by creating characters I believed in.
Courtesy Tananarive Due
My classmates seemed a bit taken aback when I mentioned Kings name (acommercialwriter?
), but I felt vindicated years later when he received his Medal of Arts from President Obama.
The lasting value of Kings oeuvre is already apparent.
Courtesy Tananarive Due
I never expected to meet him.
Or to play in a rock band with him.
And it all happened because of my day job.
Courtesy Tananarive Due
I expected that to be the end of it, with a politeThats sweet.
Do you know Jailhouse Rock?
Had I heard right?
Had he just saidI could play with his band?
Id never played in a band.
I rarely played my piano or cheap Yamaha keyboard foranyone.
I didnt know the song.
To prepare, I bought an Elvis songbook and pleather short-shorts to look the part.
I decided to give him my book instead of bugging him to sign mine.
The nightwasa dream come true.
The backstage was a boat docked beside the stage at Miamis Bayside Marketplace.
Everyone was gracious and welcoming, including King, who posed for a photo with me.
He was wearing bats on his T-shirt.
On the stage, I became someone else; someone fearless.
No one laughed at me.
I had a blast.
(This happens to me a lot.)
I considered it a long-shot.
I figured he must get hundreds of blurb requests.
But heywhat the heck?
Id be crazy not to ask.
Only about three lines.
All the signs of a politeSorry.
Steve King
I screamed right there in my car, for any of my neighbors to hear.
King faxed the blurb to my editor the day it was due.
During my book tour, I asked a man waiting for an autograph how hed heard about my book.
He said hed been a stand-in onThe Green Mile, and Stephen King recommended me to him.
For Tanana DueThanks for your letter…and for writing such anutterly cool2nd novel.
Heres some short storieshope you like.
Best wishes from your old rock n roll buddy.
Yes sang the first and last time I sang for an audience.
Happy Birthday, Steve King my old rock and roll buddy.
