Stephen King is sorry that it feels we are living in his novel

Stephen King has responded to people’s fears that we are living in his novel.

It has been discussed previously that King’s 1978 novel The Stand has some similarities to our current situation, as the novel centres around a viral pandemic that decimates the world’s population. Stephen addressed the comparison on Twitter by stating: “No, coronavirus is NOT like THE STAND. It’s not anywhere near as serious. It’s eminently survivable. Keep calm and take all reasonable precautions.”

This week King has apologised to everyone who now feels like they are living in one of his novels. And it’s about time too. The universe is clearly looking to our horror and dystopia writers for inspiration.

“I keep having people say, ‘Gee, it’s like we’re living in a Stephen King story,’ ” said King.

“And my only response to that is, ‘I’m sorry.'”

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The If It Bleeds author went on to say that a pandemic like COVID-19 was “bound to happen.”

“There was never any question that in our society, where travel is a staple of daily life, that sooner or later, there was going to be a virus that was going to communicate to the public at large.”

Despite most of his popularity coming from horror writing, King says he’s most interested in exploring the “intrusion of the unexpected and the strange” in lives of ordinary folk.

The short story collection, If it Bleeds, follows private investigator Holly Gibney, who has some kind of supernatural ability. The character is featured in several other his novels, including The Outsider.

King explained: “There are people who have those special-type powers. People can call me a horror writer if they want to, and that’s fine — as long as the checks don’t bounce, I’m happy with that. But I think that I do a lot more, and I’m interested in the mystery of what we are and what we’re capable of doing.”

For King it isn’t a horror story we are living in, it is more an unsettling novel about confronting the human condition with “the strange and unexpected”.

“It’s a kind of gnawing anxiety where you say to yourself, I shouldn’t go out. If I do go out, I might catch this thing or I might give it to somebody else.”