The Plant

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The Plant (in German: the plant) is an original three-piece and limited to 226 copies and signed Continued story that the American writer Stephen King about his own small publishing philtrum press in the years 1982, 1983 and "published" 1985th In 2000 King published the story in a revised form as an e-book and continued it. After six parts, however, he stopped publication and left the story parodying the horror genre unfinished.

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The previously unpublished horror writer Carlos Detweiller sends his novel True Tales of Demon Infestations to the Zenith House publishing house, where it falls into the hands of the editor John Kenton. In the book, however, Kenton may discover real photos of actual murder rites and leave the manuscript to the police. The police investigation leads nowhere, however, as the allegedly murdered Norville Keen still works in the greenhouse in which the recordings were made (only later does it become clear that Keen is a zombie). But Detweiller is angry about Kenton's interference. The writer seeks revenge and sends the publisher a strange plant.

This plant has supernatural properties, because with its telepathic powers it ensures that the editors suddenly come up with brilliant book ideas and that they can communicate telepathically with one another within a very short time. What Detweiller did not take into account is that the plant can only develop its demonic powers when it comes to innocent blood. Since John and his colleagues have been forewarned, they pay close attention and meanwhile use the positive forces of the plant to the full.

But threats come from outside. Two would-be writers who had been rejected - Detweiller himself and a psychopathic general - attempt to kill the editor and break into the publishing house. Together with the plant fighting on their side, the editors can eliminate both attackers - after that, nothing seems to stand in the way of the rise of the Zenith House. At this point King breaks off his story.

History of origin

In the years 1982–1985, Stephen King sent 226 limited and signed copies of the sequel The Plant as a Christmas present to friends and family through his own publishing house Philtrum Press . There were no publications on the American book market or in other languages.

After the success of the Internet novel Riding the Bullet , King decided in early 2000 to publish The Plant via the Internet and continue it in a revised form. In July 2000, the writer made the first part of The Plant's sequel story available on his website.

The publication of the second part on his homepage tied King to one condition: only when 75% of the readers (downloaders) paid the fee of one US dollar, the next part would be published. On his website King announced that of 152,132 readers (downloaders), a total of 116,229 readers had transferred the US dollar.

Nonetheless, King later abandoned this condition (in favor of the "honest" readers) and published parts four and five after paying around 50%, which King himself later described as disappointing. However, it is also assumed that the early publications had the purpose of not jeopardizing the regular monthly publications in order to be able to publish the sixth part as a Christmas present.

In the afterword of the fifth part, King pointed out that the sixth and longest part was also the last for the time being, but also made it clear that the sequel story was by no means over. Although the sixth part would have an independent and final climax, it actually only marks the end of the first of three larger parts. The sixth part published King for free on December 18, 2000 as a Christmas present and tied in with the story of The Plant .

King explained the writing break of the project with the intended work on the novel The Black House and the completion of the novel Duddits as well as the continuation of the Dark Tower cycle . He also pointed out that the last break from The Plant lasted nineteen years and could therefore survive a further break of 1 to 2 years (which has since been considerably exceeded). In the meantime, however, King takes a different position: In February 2006, he described the story as an artistic failure on the radio show Voice of America and said he probably would not continue The Plant .

useful information

The character of Richard Ginelli appears for the first time in the novel The Curse , in which he also plays a leading role.

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