An Entourage of One: On the Road with Stephen King

Earlier this summer, Stephen King undertook a hectic multi-city tour of America in support of his latest book, End of Watch. But rather than hit the standard, book-tour metropoles, King chose to visit smaller cities offering, in some small way, tribute to the places and characters that make up his impressive oeuvre. Traveling along with King was Scribner’s Katie Monaghan, an “entourage of one,” who offers here her reports from the road, as sent to the mothership in New York.

DAY 2: SEWICKLEY, PA
From: Monaghan, Katherine
Sent: Wed 6/8/2016 9:46 PM
Subject: Steve’s event tonight

Hi all,

Steve’s event tonight was great! There were 600+people—a sold out crowd. The bookstore (Penguin Books of Sewickley, PA) kicked off the evening with a slide show of the day their tickets went on sale (shots of fans holding their tickets and people camping out to get tickets.) Steve tailored his talk to the location, telling a funny story about how Pittsburgh was the place he got his first taste of fame (someone asking for an autograph at a very inconvenient time) and stories about filming Creepshow in nearby Monroeville, PA. He also read an unpublished story called “The Music Room” (soon to be published in an anthology of short stories inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper called In Sunshine or in Shadow.) The audience loved it and him and gave him a standing ovation.

Next stop: Dayton! More from me tomorrow.

Katie

DAY 3: DAYTON, OH
From: Monaghan, Katherine
Sent: Thu 6/9/2016 8:52 PM
Subject: Hello from Dayton

Hi all, greetings from Dayton. It was a beautiful, sunny day here and Steve did another terrific event. He pronounced the audience of 1,100 people (all of whom bought a book to attend) “exuberant.” It’s true: they were delighted to be there. Steve’s very funny talk included a few Ohio specific details and anecdotes, including the fact that the Hodges trilogy is set in Ohio (a town like Cleveland), and that what he’s writing now may include a Dayton cameo (the crowd LOVED that!) He also told the story about how he briefly became a Cleveland Indians season ticket holder but in the end his heart wasn’t in it and he had to return to the Red Sox. He ended with a hilarious story about a man in Florida who didn’t know who he was and paid him $15 to change his tire. The crowd adored him and gave him a standing ovation. And the whole team from Books & Co and Books A Million did a great job!

West Virginia tomorrow!

My best,

Katie

DAY 4: CHARLESTON, WV
From: Monaghan, Katherine
Sent: Sat 6/11/2016 8:33 AM
Subject: Last Night

Hi all, greetings from beautiful Charleston, WV. We flew into the tiny airport that is literally on top of a mountain, which provided Steve with one of his great lines from last night’s event: “You don’t need to read a Stephen King novel to scare the living shit out of you. You just need to fly into the Charleston airport.” As soon as we landed, Steve asked the driver if we could stop at the public library. To the obvious shock and delight of the library staff and patrons, that is exactly what we did. Steve needed to look at the epigraph of a book by a local West Virginia writer, Davis Grubb. Thank goodness the library had the book (if they did not, Steve said, they might as well shut down.) But he found the book, which to his delight was signed (a beautiful copperplate, he said.) And last night, he quoted the epigraph at his event: “When I get to heaven I will tell the Lord God Almighty all about West Virginia. –Mother Jones.”

I think that’s right. As we left the library Steve took photos with some cute little kids on their way to the library who happened to spot him. The event itself was great. Steve told the audience why he wanted to come to WV—this state has been a mythical landscape to him since he was a child, partially because of the work of the aforementioned Davis Grubb, whose “Where the Woodbine Twineth” was adapted for “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.” Plus, his new book with Owen, Sleeping Beauties, is set here! The crowd (of 1100) adored this and the whole talk and gave him a standing ovation.

Off to Nashville, where we will head to the historic Ryman theater tonight!

Katie

DAY 5: NASHVILLE, TN
From: Monaghan, Katherine
Sent: Sat 6/12/2016 9:13 AM
Subject: Nashville

Hello and greetings from Nashville! It is hot and the city is hopping—a big difference from sleepy Charleston, WV. The city is packed with people here to attend the CMAs and Bonnaroo. And 2400 of them are here for Steve! While it is true that most people recognize Stephen King, some do not, and that includes our waiter at lunch yesterday. When he asked what brought us to town, Steve told him he was hoping to score a big record deal. Later, while driving to the event, Steve commented on all the country/Nashville finery we were seeing: cowboy boots, cowboy hats, and denim skirts. Our driver said, dismissively, “tourists.” Ah, said Steve, “all hat and no cattle.”

As for the event itself, I can’t say enough great things about Parnassus Books and the whole staff at the Ryman. The Ryman was thrilled (truly!) to have him. And Steve said it was a huge deal for him to be on the Ryman’s stage. When we arrived, the matinee show, The Gatlin Brothers, were still playing and I think Steve wished he could skip the signing part of the evening and watch the band instead. He got the Hank Williams dressing room and posed for a photo with Hank Williams’s picture in honor of Scott Landon from Lisey’s Story. Donna Tartt was in town to introduce him and she and Ann Patchett kept him company while he signed backstage. I think he and Donna especially enjoyed talking books (from John Darnielle to Somerset Maugham.) And Donna’s introduction: brilliant, wildly eloquent, and generous. Donna talked about how she thought they stopped writing books like Stephen King’s books (big, layered, richly plotted books, sometimes with plagues) back in the 19th century. She talked about the thrill she felt when she discovered The Dead Zone as a teenager. She said that the Hodges trilogy is “some of his finest work” and that King is “our other DeLillo,” and “an entrancer, a spellbinder, and a national treasure.” The audience had a great time—a ton of laughter, a ton of applause. Some of his fans seem genuinely surprised that he is so funny! Steve’s remarks were music themed, appropriate considering the venue. He talked about how he first started listening to country music—on a cross country drive back in 1992, his options on the radio were Rush Limbaugh or country music, so he really had no choice. He also talked about playing with the Rock Bottom Remainders and, to the crowd’s delight, he talked about some of the older books: Carrie, The Stand, It, Salem’s Lot, “The Body,” and Gerald’s Game. The audience was thrilled and had a ton of fun.

We are off to Louisville. More from me tonight or tomorrow. Hope you all have a lovely Sunday!

Katie

DAY 6: LOUISVILLE, KY
From: Monaghan, Katherine
Sent: Sat 6/13/2016 2:58 PM
Subject: Louisville

Hi all,

Louisville was great. It was rough for Steve to have to do a big event after the horrific news from Orlando, but despite all this, it was a great night for the bookstore and the fans. When we got to Louisville, Steve asked the driver to stop on our way to the hotel so we could have lunch at McDonald’s, and by the time we left quite a crowd had gathered to try to get pictures and autographs, which Steve graciously agreed to. The event was hosted by Carmichael’s Books, and in her introduction store owner Carol Besse said this event was the biggest in the store’s 48 year history. (2400 people attended.) The Mayor of Louisville introduced Steve. Steve said he liked the introduction, which included a moment of silence for the victims in Orlando.  The Mayor’s Senior Advisor gave me her card and said I should be in touch if there was anything at all the Mayor’s office could do for us while we were in town. I can’t tell you how much I wish I could have come up with some way to take her up on this offer! Steve opened his talk by mentioning Orlando, too. He talked about the importance of tolerance. In short: “be good to each other,” he told the audience. The event took place in an open air amphitheater and it started raining about 5 minutes before the event started, which means that a big chunk of the attendees got wet. When Steve said, are you guys all getting wet, one of the fans yelled back “worth it!” Facebook agrees. Comments about last night include: “the best night of my life,” and “still wearing wet shoes but totally worth it.”

Now we are in beautiful, sunny, laid back Iowa City. More from me tomorrow!

Katie

DAY 7: IOWA CITY, IA
From: Monaghan, Katherine
Sent: Sat 6/14/2016 3:54 PM
Subject: Iowa City

Hi all, we had a fun day in Iowa City. As we were driving through the corn fields from Cedar Rapids to Iowa City, Steve told me about a book by an Iowa writer called The Stones of Summer. He said it was a very strange book, and kind of like an American Ulysses. Anyway, the story with this book is that the author, Dow Mossman, attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and wrote The Stones of Summer and then disappeared from the public eye until a 2002 documentary revived interest in him and his work.

Steve liked Iowa City—he likes being in college towns, and we were staying right downtown so he was able to go for a few walks. We had lunch at an Irish pub that sold orders of french fries by the POUND. Steve’s reading was at the beautiful, 100+ year old Englert Theater, just a few blocks from Prairie Lights. At his talk he said he was thrilled to be in Iowa City because it’s a mythic place for writers, with both Prairie Lights and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in town. And he also feels a connection with the countryside and the farms and farm roads because of where he grew up.

He also joked that we (his publisher) thought he was crazy to go on tour and do events in a lot of smaller cities but he wanted to get out and see the country and say thanks to the people who put food on his table and his kids through college. The sold-out crowd loved this, and him.

Will report back in tomorrow!

Katie

DAY 8: OMAHA, NE
From: Monaghan, Katherine
Sent: Sat 6/15/2016 4:44 PM
Subject: Omaha

Hi all, Omaha was HOT and our hotel was a little creepy, featuring endless long empty hallways that Steve called “the hallways of doom.” Everyone in town was gearing up to host the College World Series which begins, I think, on Thursday. Steve has been before, back when he was coaching Little League, and he got a roar of approval from the audience when he said he’d come back and attend again when they move it back to the old stadium, the Rosenblatt. Our very nice driver picked up a Nevada Huskers T shirt for Steve to wear on stage, which of course the crowd loved. I never knew, until I attended last night’s event, how large Nebraska loomed in Stephen King’s imagination and fiction. As he said when he got on stage, “I hate to sound like a politician but I mean it sincerely: I am glad to be in Nebraska. I love Nebraska and I like Omaha.” His fascination with the state began back in 1957 when he was 10 years old and he read about Charles Starkweather in the newspaper. To his mother’s dismay, he started keeping the clippings about Starkweather. He sensed that there was something about Starkweather that was beyond his comprehension, and he wanted to figure that out, if he could. He also always felt the emptiness of Nebraska calling to him, and first encountered it when he and Tabby and the kids drove to Boulder. He quoted a short story writer whose name I missed as saying that “in Nebraska, reality is thinner.” As he told the audience, Mother Abagail from The Stand is from Nebraska (the fictional town of Hemingford Home.) “1922” is set in a hotel in Nebraska. And of course, Children of the Corn is set in Nebraska. Steve joked that after a certain number of sequels (too many), he wanted to say “leave those poor Children of the Corn alone.”

We are both doing great! Will report back in about Tulsa tomorrow.

Katie

DAY 9: TULSA, OK
From: Monaghan, Katherine
Sent: Sat 6/16/2016 3:53 PM
Subject: Tulsa

Tulsa was fabulous. It was hot, hot, hot—so hot there were no people on the streets, but it is a very cool town. The event was at Cain’s ballroom, an historic old music venue where Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys played back in the 50s. More recent acts include Wilco and Jack White. Steve and I agree that the crowds in the music venues tend to be a lot of fun—they come for a good time and they are, according to Steve, looser! During sound check, since we were in Oklahoma, Steve sang “Okie from Muskogee.” Hilarious. After sound check, the venue arranged for us to have some delicious Oklahoma BBQ. We think we know how to do BBQ in the Northeast but it really is outrageously good in Tulsa. A whole other level. After we ate, Steve met backstage with about 20 shy and polite high school students who read Different Seasons. Their number one question for Steve: did that thing with the leeches really happen to you? The answer—yes! Their number two question: did you do a senior prank, like in Carrie? The answer—I am not telling you that. While all this was happening, 1000+ wildly enthusiastic fans were packing into Cain’s Ballroom.

Steve’s event was, once again, fabulous. He talked about how there is a scene in Revival set at the Tulsa State Fair—he said he couldn’t explain why but it just felt like the right place—he could see it, he could smell it, and he knew what it looked like. He also told the audience he had a secret reason for wanting to come to Tulsa: he’s working on a new book set in Tulsa! And if it gets done, he’ll get the geography and the feel of Tulsa right because of this trip. The crowd loved it! On our way back to the hotel we stopped for cupcakes at Pinkitzel, a spot pointed out by our driver. A sweet ending.

More from me tomorrow.

Katie

DAY 10: ALBUQUERQUE
From: Monaghan, Katherine
Sent: Sat 6/18/2016 10:13 AM
Subject: Albuquerque

Hi all! We had a fun day in Albuquerque. Our driver was, according to Steve, a Walter White look-alike, appropriate since Breaking Bad is set in Albuquerque. The driver said he could get us some of Walter White’s product and I am not 100% convinced he was joking. Once we checked in at the hotel, we took a walk to Gizmo’s, an army navy shop where Steve bought a new camo hoodie to replace the jacket he lost somewhere between Dayton and Tulsa. The event itself was a little different—Steve was in conversation with George RR Martin. Backstage was George and his entourage (much larger than Steve’s, which of course consists only of me, something that surprises almost everyone on this tour), the Mayor of Albuquerque, who stopped by to thank George and Steve for visiting, and of course Chris Lotts. George and Steve talked books, writers (especially Pat Conroy), dealing with fame and fans, and Teslas. We all ate Stephen King donuts a local bakery sent over. (For the record, Steve had the one that said “REDRUM.”) Onstage, Steve and George had a terrific rapport. Steve opened with a lovely story about how the “Game of Thrones” series got him through a rough patch when he had sciatica and he couldn’t sleep. He wasn’t sure he would like the books  but he gave them a shot and “they just carried me away, which is what books are supposed to do. They saved my life, man, so thank you.” Steve and George told the crowd they’ve known each other for years—they used to play poker together at Sci Fi conventions in the 70s and 80s. Later, George asked Steve how he is able to be so prolific and of course this is the exchange that had been reported on, since George has been famously slow to write his next book. Steve’s advice? Try to do six pages a day. I am sure George’s fans hope he takes this advice. The crowd loved them.

Will report back in about SLC when I have a moment. For now, we are off to Reno, then home!!!

Katie

DAYS 11 and 12: SALT LAKE CITY AND RENO
From: Monaghan, Katherine
Sent: Sat 6/20/2016 12:05 PM
Subject: Salt Lake City and Reno

Hi all, the last two days of the End of Watch tour flew by. Salt Lake City was fun! It is incredibly beautiful there, surrounded by mountains. Our driver in Albuquerque told us SLC was a very “clean” city and I was suspicious…did he mean morally, or, even worse, ethnically? Turns out he meant it literally: “every rest stop I ever visited in Salt Lake was spotless,” he told us.  And he was right. I saw a manager at our hotel quietly berate several employees because a poolside table was a little dusty. Steve’s event was terrific! The King’s English invited YA author James Dashner (The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials) to be a bookseller for a day and help out backstage while Steve was signing, and he and Steve enjoyed talking television and movies. The event was held in an auditorium at the Juan Diego School, which is a Catholic high school. (“Sorry about my language,” Steve said during his talk.) He was, as always, very funny and engaging. He talked about how he spent some time in Salt Lake City when they were shooting the mini-series based on The Stand. This was the first time, Steve said, that he heard the town of Wendover, Nevada called “Bendover.” When he asked why, someone told him “ask the special effects crew—that’s where all their paychecks go.” It’s a place of sin and degradation, Steve said, so I made sure to go as soon as I could. (The story, as I am sure you all know, is that Utah has very strict laws regarding gambling, alcohol, etc. etc. Nevada, not so much.) Steve also had a funny story about driving a pickup truck filled with six dozen styrofoam dead bodies (again, for The Stand) through downtown SLC. It was a great night for the 1350 fans who attended.

We left first thing in the morning for our flight to Reno. We got there at about 9:15 and we didn’t really need to be at the B&N until around 11, so Steve asked our driver to take us to a casino. The slot machines were confounding / inscrutable. We left with 29 cents of the six dollars we played. After that, two security guards approached us and started to walk everywhere with us. Did they think we were trying to cheat? No, Steve said: they had clocked us as high rollers and were therefore giving us special treatment. If that is true, they were certainly disappointed by the amount of money we spent in the casino. We went to the Purple Parrot for breakfast and we talked about what a contrast there is between SLC, with its strict alcohol laws, and Reno, where people were gambling and drinking at 9:15 AM. I told Steve that when we checked in to the hotel in Salt Lake City, the hotel manager recommended that I go to the pool because “they have cocktails”—stated like this was a very special, unusual thing. “And they serve until 9:00 PM!” We both thought this was pretty funny and Steve told the story at his event later that day. It did not get a big laugh and Steve said to me, kindly, they just didn’t think it was as funny as we did. On our way out Steve played blackjack and came out $7.00 ahead. He later tipped our driver partially with these “ill-gotten gains.” At the event, he told the audience about his book set in Nevada, Desperation, and how it was inspired by his motorcycle trip to Ely, Nevada, on Highway 50, the loneliest highway in America. This was when he was on his book tour for Insomnia (which was also the last time he went on a full-fledged book tour, he said.) Steve loved this event—I think he felt a real connection with the fans—and it was great to end the tour on such a high note. The bookstore employees did a terrific job and were really, really thrilled with the event. They walked us to the car with tears in their eyes and Steve hugged them all. Then we hustled back to the airport to go to Maine (and in my case, NY.)

Passing on to all of you huge gratitude from all of the bookstores and fans. What a wonderful two weeks!

Katie