Ever since Stephen King announced the "death" of his pseudonym, Richard Bachman, in 1985 he's been troubled by his decision. In his 1989 novel, The Dark Half, King contemplated a world in which the imaginary pseudonym would claim to be more real than the true author, and even fight to the death to prove it. Timothy Hutton plays both writers in the film version: Quiet family man Thaddeus Beaumont, and psychopathic "high-toned sumbitch" George Stark. The pair eventually grow so alike it becomes hard to tell them apart.

Right after that, King (or was it Bachman?) cooked up the novella Secret Window, Secret Garden. Published in 1990, right after The Dark Half, it too presented an author running up against his murderous, territorial alter-ego. (And because life is funny like that, Timothy Hutton was called in once more when the 2004 film Secret Window was made, meeting a bitter end as the new husband of Johnny Depp's ex-wife.)

Lest you fear for King's sanity (or his family's physical safety), he seems to have made peace with the specter of Richard Bachman since these two books. In 1996, King and Bachman books were jointly released: Desperation and The Regulators. The books are parallel universe versions of each other, featuring nearly identical characters and villains, but are otherwise as different as night and day -- it's as if King only allowed himself to write his own version of the story as long as Bachman's vision was achieved as well. Glad to see the two boys are playing nice!

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