Bachman blazes on One more novel from the attic of an old friend

“BLAZE,” by Richard Bachman, Scribner, New York, 2007, hardcover, 285 pages, $25.

Every now and then, news breaks of a lost manuscript by a famous author being found and published.

This isn’t really one of those stories. Even Stephen King would admit to that.

You see, as King admits in the “Blaze” foreword, he and Richard Bachman have a long, complicated relationship. In the years 1966 to 1973, while King was selling horror stories to “men’s magazines” early in this career, he also wrote a series of novels as Bachman.

Then along came “Carrie,” and the Bangor resident’s career as the, well, king of horror was under way.

As for Bachman’s career, well, not so much. “Rage” (later pulled from print by King), “The Running Man,” “The Long Walk” and “Roadwork” were published as paperback originals. King was outed as Bachman after the publication of “Thinner” in 1984.

According to the author’s note on the “Blaze” book flap, Bachman died of “cancer of the pseudonym” in 1985. His one previous posthumous work was 1995’s “The Regulators,” which had more than a passing resemblance to King’s “Desperation,” published around the same time.

As King points out in the foreword, “Blaze” is a trunk novel, written by Bachman, then set aside for 30 years. It somehow landed in a box of papers that King donated to the University of Maine’s Fogler Library, where King’s assistant Marsha discovered it.

As a favor to his old friend, King edited that old manuscript and cajoled his publisher, Scribner, into publishing “Blaze.”

On to the story itself. “Blaze” is about the life and inevitable death of Clayton Blaisdell Jr. (nicknamed “Blaze”).

Blaze had a hard life. He was a bright child until his abusive father pushed him down the stairs and he landed on his head. Then his dad did it again for good measure.

Blaze matured to a hulking size with a childlike mentality. As he matured, he continued to be abused by those around him, whether it be foster parents or the stern headmaster at his boys’ school.

Then he met his soul mate, petty criminal George Rackey. Together they made ends meet by pulling con jobs over a series of years.

Then George died and Blaze was left to his own devices again. He decided to tackle George’s plan for one last job, a kidnapping of the infant son of one of Maine’s most prominent families, even though he was ill-equipped to pull it off, even aided by George’s ghost.

Flashing back and forth between the past and present, “Blaze” tells of Blaze’s history and his last caper. In part a character study and in part a twisted homage to “Of Mice and Men,” “Blaze” succeeds in making its protagonist a character with whom we can sympathize, despite the bad choices he has made during his life. Blaze deserves better, and, more’s the pity, he’s not going to get it.

R.I.P., Richard Bachman. Your legacy is assured.