Unpublished and uncollected works by Stephen King

Updated on Oct 12, 2024

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According to books by Tyson Blue (The Unseen King), Stephen J. Spignesi (The Lost Work of Stephen King), and Rocky Wood et al. (Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished), there are numerous unpublished works by Stephen King that have come to light throughout King's career. These allegedly include novels and short stories, most of which remain unfinished. Most are stored among Stephen King's papers in the special collections of the Raymond H. Fogler Library at the University of Maine, some of which are freely accessible to the library's visitors. However, others require King's permission to read. Additionally, there are a number of uncollected short stories, published throughout King's long career in various anthologies and periodicals, that have never been published in a King collection.

Unpublished works

(Partial list)

1959 Charlie (unpublished short story)The manuscript of Charlie is held at the Raymond H. Fogler Library in box 1010 of the special collections. Thus, it is inaccessible without written permission from King himself. The story consists of six pages (3900 words), but ends mid-paragraph. A note states that pages are missing from the manuscript. The story concerns an asteroid miner who discovers a pink cube. A black substance starts to come out of the cube, driving the miner back to his small hut. As the mysterious black substance reaches the hut, it breaches the air locks and proceeds to consume the farmer.

1960 People, Places and Things (unpublished short story collection)People, Places and Things is a self-published, magazine-sized collection of short stories written in 1960 together with King's friend Chris Chesley. The collection was published using King's brother's small printing press. It consists of a mere eighteen hand-bound pages, and King estimates that only ten copies were printed. Copies were sold to school friends for about $0.10 to $0.25 each. The original collection consists of eight short stories by King and nine by Chesley. According to King, the only surviving copy is in his possession.

The Stories

1963 The Aftermath (unpublished novella)

1964 The Star Invaders (unpublished novel)

1970 Sword in the Darkness (unpublished novel)

1974 The House on Value Street (unpublished and unfinished)

1976 Welcome to Clearwater (unpublished and unfinished)

1976 The Corner (unpublished and unfinished)

1977 Wimsey (unpublished and unfinished): In an attempt to write an English novel, King moved to England, but the idea failed. In the small segment that exists, we see Wimsey and his driver going to a party at an estate which seems to be in the middle of nowhere. On their way, they have an accident on a bridge that is seemingly on the verge of collapse. The segment ends here.

1983 The Leprechaun (unpublished and unfinished): This story was written for King's son Owen King. In the story, Owen is playing in a garden when he sees his cat attacking what seems to be a small animal, only to discover that the cat is attacking a tiny man. At that point, the story ends. According to King, the rest of the story was lost from the back of his motorcycle, so there is no chance of the remainder being discovered. The remains of the story are available within the online King community.

1983 The Cannibals (aka Under the Dome) (unpublished and unfinished): This unfinished story eventually developed into Under the Dome, published in 2009.

1984 Keyholes (unpublished and unfinished): In the existing short fragment, King describes a concerned father talking to a psychiatrist about examining his son. The story circulates freely in the Stephen King internet community.

1987 Phil and Sundance (unpublished and unfinished): This eighty-page story, unearthed by a French Stephen King fansite, was written for a boy with muscular dystrophy. The terminally ill child was granted a wish from the Make-a-Wish Foundation and requested to meet Stephen King, who gave him this story. Little is known about the story itself. Phil and Sundance is now owned by Cemetery Dance, and there has been no talk of its publication.

Hatchet Head (date unspecified)

Comb Dump (unpublished and unfinished)

The Doors (unpublished, possibly unfinished)

George D.X. McArdle (unpublished and unfinished)

On the Island (unpublished and unfinished)

Unnamed story (unpublished), written in collaboration with Stephen R. Donaldson and several other writers to raise money for charity at a science fiction and fantasy convention. With no prior discussion, each wrote for 30 to 45 minutes, then folded the sheet so that the next writer had only their final line for context. Donaldson, who had to follow King's final line, called the resulting story "hysterically surreal".

But Only Darkness Loves Me (unpublished, unfinished and date unspecified): Today, only two pages of the typed and handwritten manuscript remain. The first page was typewritten, while the second was handwritten. Both pages can be found in box 1012 in the Raymond H. Fogler Library, and are freely accessible to the public. The first and only part of the story (named "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World) concerns a boy who is talking to a beautiful girl in a bar in Ledge Cove, Maine. She is apparently too beautiful to look any other way but indirectly. She then invites the boy back to her hotel room, but he ends up leaving her in the lobby and not going to her room. This tale was written with King's eldest son Joseph (Joe Hillstrom King).

I Hate Mondays (Unpublished and date unspecified): This is one of ten stories, including with "Only Darkness Loves Me," that were rediscovered by author Rocky Wood. The stories were discovered during a 17-day trip, during which Wood was conducting research for his book, "Stephen King Uncollected, Unpublished." The completed five-page story was written with King's youngest son, Owen, and is held in box 1010 at Raymond H. Folger Library's Special Collections Unit. It is only accessible with King's written permission.

Short stories

(Partial list)

The following works may have been published in magazines, but not in book form:

1965 I Was a Teenage Grave Robber

1965 Code Name: Mouse Trap

1966 The 43rd Dream

1967 The Glass Floor: King's first published story, which he sold for thirty-five dollars. The story concerns a man who goes to meet the grieving husband of his dead sister. The sister's husband explains that the woman died while working on a ladder in a room with a glass floor. Looking down, she became disorientated and fell from her ladder. The door to the room has since been plastered over to prevent more tragic accidents. The woman's brother breaks open the sealed door and walks into the glass-floored room, where he experiences a strange, trance-like vertigo from which he himself must be rescued.

1970 A Possible Fairy Tale

1970 Slade

1971 The Old Dude's Ticker

1974 The Float: original version of The Raft - (revised 2010)

1976 Weeds

1977 Before the Play and After the Play – uncollected original prologue and original epilogue to The Shining

1977 The King Family and the Wicked Witch: In this short story written for the amusement of King's children, a jealous witch has cast a spell on the (then-four) members of the King family. The cursed family rescues an injured woodchuck that reveals itself to be a magical prince who was another of the witch's victims. The prince frees the family of their curse, then gives them enchanted cookies, which they trick the witch into eating. The cookies cause the witch to fart so violently that she blasts herself to the moon, and the family's happiness is restored.

1978 Squad D

1978 Man with a Belly

1978 The Night of the Tiger

1979 The Crate

1971 The Blue Air Compressor (revised 1981)

1985 The Reploids

1986 For the Birds

1994 The Killer a rewrite of "I've Got to Get Away"

1994 Jhonathan and the Witches: An early short story written by a nine-year-old King. A poor cobbler's son named Jhonathan sets off to seek his fortune. On the way to visit the King to seek work, Jhonathan rescues a fairy and is given three magical wishes. The King tasks Jhonathan with destroying three witches, each of whom can only be killed in a certain way. Jhonathan uses his wishes to destroy the witches and is rewarded.

2009 Throttle with Joe Hill

2012 In the Tall Grass with Joe Hill

2012 A Face in the Crowd with Stewart O'Nan

2016 Cookie Jar

2016 The Music Room

Poems

1968 Harrison State Park '68

1969 The Dark Man

1970 Donovan's Brain

1970 She Has Gone To Sleep While

1971 Silence

1971 Woman With Child

1972 In the Key Chords of Dawn

1972 The Hardcase Speaks

1988 Dino

2009 Mostly Old Men

References

Unpublished and uncollected works by Stephen King Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

Contents

Unpublished works

Short stories

Poems

References