Here’s a quick association game. What’s the first name you think of when you hear the words “horror writer”?

Right.

No argument there.

Now, here’s another question. What’s the first name you think of when you hear the words “religious allegory”?

Hmmm. Now that one could go a lot of directions.

But it turns out the same name — Stephen King — is the right answer there, too.

In his newest tome, “Desperation,” King takes a dive into the font of spiritual issues and comes up with some very persuasive reasons to put prayer back into the lives of Americans.

After all, you never know when Tak — also known as the ancient one, the complete outsider, the unformed heart — might show up and want to give you a transformative kiss. Transformative in the sense that you won’t be feeling quite yourself anymore. First, you’ll have a little growth spurt and burst all your clothes at the seams.

No big deal.

But eventually, after you’ve killed everyone in town, you’ll be spitting blood and gore and four-letter words that make rap songs sound like love poems. It can get pretty blecky. Better to just say your prayers and to believe that God is love. And just a reminder: Since this is King, we’re talking the Old Testament God, so watch out.

The desert is the backdrop of this 690-page tale about a handful of people who find themselves trapped in the small mining town of Desperation, Nev., where a diseased force has been unleashed from a rotten inner-earth hole deep in the rumble-tumble West. Desperation — the town and the state of being — bring them together in a modern quest for survival and redemption.

The lead players are a spiritually gifted 11-year-old boy on vacation with his family and a best-selling writer taking a cross-country tour on his Harley. (Sound familiar? King did the same thing when he was promoting his other fantastical novel, “Insomnia.”)

The youngster, David, is a “prayerboy” who can multiply a waning supply of sardines and crackers and do other miracles that plunk him squarely into the role of a Christ figure. John Edward Marinville, a recovering alcoholic with three ex-wives, is a literary lion whose fame has played nasty tricks on his voracious ego, and whose education is a central theme of the book.

Along with several other unluckies, they are hauled into Desperation by Collie Entragian, a diseased cop who used to be only a little odd and is now a whole lot demonic. In the book’s opening chapter, which King read at a Bangor Public Library fund-raiser held at the Civic Center last fall, the policeman’s true nature unfolds when he slips the line “I’m going to kill you” between “You have the right to an attorney” and “If you cannot afford an attorney … .” Entragian, who also takes on other forms before the story is over, has a vicious pack of coyotes and battalion of spiders and scorpions and rattlesnakes that intend to kill all of the hostages in one way or another. For the lucky folks, it’s a quick death. For others, it’s a tough day in Desperation.

The book is another installment in the now classic King battle between good and evil — and invokes characters from other King works. There are, however, fewer digressions and a plot that won’t quit (even when you want it to). There’s much to be admired in “Desperation”: a heavy dose of humor, likable characters, tender moments, and that intrepid King literary style that manages to bring the sacred together with the profane. He delights in quoting “The Ancient Mariner” and Mary Chapin Carpenter in the same book — and it’s easy to admire him for doing so. This is a story where you can find philosophy or rock and roll — whichever one you want.

“Desperation” is a handful — literally. Weighing just short of a full pound, the book will help your arms get fit while your stomach turns to goo reading the over-the-top descriptions of blood-soaked ickyness. But count your blessings. It’s not in serial form, and it’s not necessarily lightweight. And if you still can’t get enough, there’s Richard Bachman’s “The Regulators,” which hits book stores today, along with “Desperation.”

Author on TV

Bangor author Stephen King will be making a pair of television appearances this week to promote his two new books, “Desperation” and “The Regulators.”

In a rare late-night visit, King will be sitting down with David Letterman on “The Late Show,” at 11:30 tonight on CBS. Other guests will be comedian Ellen DeGeneres and singer Trisha Yearwood. King will be on second, about 12:15 a.m.

Next up will be “Good Morning America,” at 7-9 a.m. Wednesday. King usually goes on some of the morning shows when his new books are published.