As of today, it’s officially Spring. I think most of us will agree that it couldn’t come soon enough. Between steady snowfall, ice storms, and freezing temperatures, the past season was a doozy. Of course, I don’t need to tell you this – folks in our industry know better than most how tough winter can be.
Even Stephen King recently tweeted his appreciation for America’s hardworking long-haul truck drivers. It turns out the famous author of over 54 books, including classics like Carrie, The Shining, The Stand, and Under the Dome, has a soft spot for truckers:
King’s kind tweet struck a chord with his followers -1800 people favorited it, 700 people shared it, and many people responded. While most of them agreed that truckers are the backbone of this country, a few people pointed out that King hadn’t exactly painted a good picture of the industry in his horror stories. Here are some of my favorite responses:
• “Except in Pet Semetery…”
• “Especially since sometimes their trucks come to life.”
• “But you’ve always taught me not to trust truckers. Or clowns. Or dogs. Or new people. Or Kathy Bates…”
They do have a point. Over the years, King has turned many innocent people, animals, and objects (include truckers and their rigs!) into murderous, hardhearted killers. In his short story “Trucks,” semi-trailers come alive and start killing humans. In his novella Big Driver, a novelist accepts help from a trucker driver after her car breaks down, with dire consequences. (It’ll soon be a Lifetime movie, which should tell you something!)
While it might seem cruel to demonize so many perfectly nice people, clowns and vehicles, as far as books go, it works. King has sold over 350 million copies of his novels, making him one of the best-selling authors of all time. Read enough of his books, and who knows-you might start seeing villains in unexpected places, too:
Scared yet? You shouldn’t be. While most Stephen King stories are the stuff of nightmares, King is actually a really nice guy with a great sense of a humor who just happens to have a powerful imagination. Don’t believe me? Check out the following quote:
“People think that I must be a very strange person. This is not correct.
I have the heart of a small boy. It is in a glass jar on my desk.” – Stephen King
Sleep with the lights on this weekend,
~Bob
