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October 14, 2013
Stephen King, Bestselling Dumb as Dirt Author of Month
Stephen King and the One-Nine-One-One Fully-Automatic Pistol"All respect to you, Mr. Freeman,” Dave said, “but you’re a little old for bodyguard duty, and this is my daughter we’re talking about.” Billy raised his shirttails and revealed an automatic pistol in a battered black holster. “One-nine-one-one Colt,” he said. “Full auto. World War II vintage This is old, too, but it’ll do the job."And the gun literate reader goes right up the wall.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at October 14, 2013 8:12 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
A 1911?
When I need firepower, I whip my AK47 out of my holster.
Posted by: Uncle Jefe at October 14, 2013 9:30 AM
It was an assault rifle pistol. an AK47-style automatic.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at October 14, 2013 11:29 AM
In his writings Mr. King has mentioned "bob wire" when he meant barbed wire.
Posted by: Roy Lofquist at October 14, 2013 12:00 PM
I don't hear it mentioned in reviews much, but King has a very long history of clueless gun details in his fiction. He clearly doesn't consider the subject worth a moment's research, even to the extent of going to a gun shop and asking to look at an example of the gun he's planning to write about.
Maybe it's his way of showing contempt, but I've never understood it given how workmanlike he is in every other sense.
Posted by: Joel at October 14, 2013 1:34 PM
King tends to be sloppy about details of all sorts, not just about guns. I know there are writers who will research even the smallest details of their story, presumably so as not to appear to be an ignoramus. Stephen King is not one of them.
Posted by: Grizzly at October 14, 2013 4:10 PM
Was it belt-fed? Those .45s are crew-served weapons as I recall...
Posted by: Dar at October 14, 2013 4:15 PM
One of the tips established authors keep saying is that your readers will find your stupid mistakes. Avoid them. They happen when you presume, won't research, write too fast, and edit too little. The richer and more established you get as a writer, the greater the temptation to fire it off as is and cut corners.
Its why we get 3 hour movies with crap in them people wish would just get over with like Peter Jackson and Quentin Tarantino produce. Too much success too fast.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at October 14, 2013 6:15 PM
I'd love to see his treatment of gangbangers with "gats"...
"Treyvonius cranked the handle of his gat furiously as the Republican ghost car of death passed through a hail of 50 gauge bullets which plinked off the doors of their lowrider as it bounced its way around the corner...Justice would again be denied this day. God is dead."
Posted by: monkeyfan at October 15, 2013 9:01 AM
Stephen King admits he writes trash, not literature... but sez it's "good trash."
Perhaps it's even great trash - if you go by his book sales and movie adaptations.
Posted by: Expiate at October 16, 2013 6:03 PM