Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished - Revised & Expanded Edition (42 page)

The Plant (1982, 1983, 1985, 2000) 

The Plant
is perhaps the best known of King stories that have not appeared in a collection. This is due to the incredible publicity that surrounded King’s decision to sell downloadable chapters of the revised version on his website during the dot com boom. Worldwide publicity ensued, including such publications as
Time
magazine, newspapers and TV as well as the then relatively new medium of the Internet. 

There are two versions of
The Plant
. The original was written, published by King’s Philtrum Press as a signed, Limited Edition and provided as a Christmas gift from the Kings in 1982, 1983 and 1985 (in 1984 many received the Limited Edition of
Eyes of the Dragon
).  

During a speech in 1989 King said he stopped work on the tale after seeing the movie,
The Little Shop of Horrors
, ‘between the second and third instalment and realized what I was writing and decided I’d better stop right away.’
⁸⁵
If, as seems likely, King is referring to the remake, starring Rick Moranis, Vincent Gardenia and Steve Martin (and actually titled
Little Shop of Horrors
, no ‘the’) that movie was not released until 19 December 1986. This is, of course,
after
the third instalment was released, and too late to stop even any 1986 segment being written, printed and mailed. In fact, the movie was a remake of Roger Corman’s
The Little Shop of Horrors
, released in 1960 and which King references in
Danse Macabre
, as ‘not even notable for what may have been Jack Nicholson’s screen debut.’
⁸⁶
Danse Macabre
itself was first published in 1981. 

Original copies of each part of this version are very difficult to find and run in the thousands of dollars. In fact, a complete set generally runs over $6000
⁸⁷
. The best sources will be online King booksellers.  

In 2000 King updated the story and released it on the Internet via his official website,
www.stephenking.com
. This followed the phenomenal success of his serial novel
The Green Mile
(at one point it held six places of the top ten on
The
New York Times
bestseller list) and of
Riding the Bullet
. After the latter was released on the Internet on 14 March 2000 it was quickly downloaded more than half a million times! Both these successes prompted King to try
The Plant
as a subscription based offering on the ‘Net. 

After six parts
The Plant
folded its leaves again, with the story still unfinished. The first five parts, issued from July through November 2000, were charged on an ‘honor’ system, where the buyers downloaded the text and were expected to send in their payment. The last part was given away from 4 December by King as a Christmas gift to his readers and, presumably, as a small apology for stopping the story mid-stream, again! King also announced the six instalments had formed the first part of the novel, with that part to be known as
Zenith Rising
. 

Even though all six parts were once available for download for $7.00, they are no longer available from the website. Copies circulate in the King community but readers should note that the material is copyright and copies should not be offered for sale, or purchased. 

The Plant
is probably best described as a novel in progress, although that progress has been halted twice already, and it is possible the leaves of
The Plant
are permanently furled. As of mid 2004 the FAQ section of King’s official website gives the answer, ‘Time will tell’ to the question, ‘Are you going to finish The Plant?’ Like many King novels the early parts can be a little unsatisfactory if read in isolation, as King often takes time to set characters, plot and tone in place (this was
not
the case with
The Green Mile
, which took off from the very first page). Even after six Parts readers may be a little disappointed with the story and we regard ‘novel-in-progress’ as the demon here. 

Both versions are told in epistolary style, using letters, memos, newspaper articles and diary entries to provide the narrative. King also used this style for
Jerusalem’s Lot
and
The End of the Whole Mess
, and
Carrie
delved into a similar style with various quotes from news articles and books. King has used the device of news article quotes throughout his career, as recently as the opening lines of
Dreamcatcher
and
The Dark Tower VI: The Song of Susannah
. Interestingly, King wrote the first three instalments in longhand
⁸⁸
and, at one point, projected the complete novel would be some 400 pages in length. King also told Tyson Blue that
The Plant
was ‘social satire’.  

The Original Version 

In this America Under Siege story a failing publishing house is sent the gift of an ivy. Carlos Detweiller approached Zenith House in New York to publish his manuscript,
True Tales of Demon Infestations
. Zenith House editor John Kenton showed interest in the pitch and Detweiller sent the entire manuscript, including pictures of what appeared to be an actual human sacrifice. 

Disturbed by the photographs Kenton reported Detweiller to the police. Their investigation revealed that the man ‘sacrificed’ in the photos was apparently alive and well and living in the same apartment building as Detweiller. Detweiller vowed revenge on Kenton. Soon after, the mysterious Roberta Solrac (we instantly understand this is “Carlos” in reverse) sent Kenton an ivy named Zenith. He ordered it destroyed but the janitor and internal mailman, Riddley Walker decided instead to keep the plant. 

Next, the insane General Hecksler escaped from a mental asylum, killing three people in the process. Reaching the Shady Rest mortuary he killed owner Hubert Leekstodder and his wife, then faked his own suicide, cremating the body of a bum instead. Hecksler had a grudge against a Zenith House employee and was intent on revenge. In the meantime, John Kenton’s fiancee Ruth Tanaka broke off their engagement by letter from her home in Los Angeles. 

The timeline of this version runs from 4 January 1981, when Carlos Detweiller wrote to Zenith House, offering
True Tales of Demon Infestations
, through to 29 March that year, when Hecksler recorded his faked suicide after the successful “Operation Hot Foot.” 

The Revised (or “Electronic”) Version 

The summary of the story to the end of Part 3 is practically the same for both versions. The storyline continues in the revised version with Hecksler staking out the Zenith House office disguised as a female bum. Detweiller arranged the death of his employer, Tina Barfield, in a plane crash and also began stalking the Zenith office.  

The team at the publisher, under pressure from their corporate owners, began to work on new concepts for best-selling books. They found one obvious best-seller sitting unread in the mailroom, and came up with ideas for more. It seems the ivy might have had some positive influence over their creative processes. 

Detweiller and Hecksler both broke into the Zenith House offices on the same day, and killed each other. Hecksler’s body was “eaten” by Zenith the ivy and the employees disposed of Detweiller’s body at a local waste disposal site. 

The timeline in this version of the story had been extended to the body disposal on 5 April 1981, the day after the two maniacs killed each other.  

Among the revisions King made between the versions are certain dates. For instance, in the original, Zenith arrived at Zenith House on 27 February 1981, but in the revision this has changed to 23 February. 

Of course, readers are left mid-story by King’s decision to halt the tale at this point. Part 6, the last to date, took the very surprising turn of eliminating two characters that most would have expected to continue to play a threatening role. The only obvious danger now is Zenith, the ivy. In
The Complete Guide to the Works of Stephen King
Zenith is described as:  

The plant sent to John Kenton by Roberta Solrac. The name “Zenith” was on a small plastic tag on the plant. It is supposed to be “common ivy” but there is no such plant and it is actually a rare Tibetan Kendath Ivy. It has magical powers, was imported from “another place” and appears to be able to think and recognize people! People who are not part of the Zenith House editorial staff only see it as a small, rather sick plant but the Zenith staff see it as a fast-growing plant that has spread into corridors and other rooms. It has small blue flowers and grows faster if fed blood. 

The central character of the story continues to be John Kenton, to whom Detweiller sent the ivy. Aged 26, he was an associate editor at Zenith House, which he joined in October 1979. Ruth Tanaka was his fiancee until she left him for Toby Anderson in March 1981. He was writing a novel,
Maymonth
, which he later trashed. He rejected Detweiller’s manuscript and contacted the police about the photographs it contained. This set Detweiller against him. 

Carlos Detweiller was born on March 24, 1958. A would be writer, he was trying to get his
True Tales of Demon Infestations
book published and sent the manuscript to Zenith House. Because it contained photos that appeared to be of a human sacrifice he was arrested but was released when the apparent victim was found ‘alive’. He then began to write to Zenith House as Roberta Solrac and sent them a strange plant, Zenith the ivy. Employed at the Central Falls House of Flowers in Rhode Island, he killed his employer, Tina Barfield, her husband and his own mother, and turned Norville Keen, the apparent “sacrifice victim” into a Zombie. He was attacked and killed at Zenith House by Anthony Hecksler on 4 April 1981, while he was waiting to attack the publisher’s employees. 

Hecksler, a complete lunatic, was born in 1909. A retired Major General, he served in Europe, leading partisans and commandos across France. The Germans briefly captured him in November 1944 and during interrogation they extracted two of his teeth. President Dwight Eisenhower personally decorated him in 1954. He was in Vietnam in 1970, where he was mostly uninjured by a bomb set off in Haiphong Charlies but as a result was left sensitive to loud noises. He wrote a manuscript titled
Twenty Psychic Garden Flowers
that Herb Porter of Zenith had rejected. After he stabbed a bus driver he was committed to Oak Cove Asylum in December 1978. He escaped, killing three asylum workers on 3 March 1981 and faked his death at the Shady Rest Mortuary Crematorium. He then stalked Zenith House while dressed as a female bum, entered their offices on 4 April 1981 and killed Carlos Detweiller. Zenith the ivy then killed him and ate the body! 

Roger Wade, perhaps the least interesting of the major characters, was 45 in 1981. He attended Reading High School and Brown, graduating in 1968. He was Editor in Chief at Zenith House in early 1981. He had been a teacher for six years and married and divorced three times. He was trying to keep Zenith House afloat for as long as possible but was told that, unless they got some best selling books, the corporate owner, Apex Corporation would close them down. He authorized work on
The Devil’s General
, a sick joke book,
Alien Investing
and organized the hardcover/paperback release of
The Last Survivor
. 

Riddley Walker seems destined to have a greater role in the story should it ever be revived. Aged 26, he lived in Dobbs Ferry, New York and had attended Cornell. An African American, despite his high level of intelligence, he delivered the mail and worked as a janitor at Zenith House. He was told to incinerate the ivy when it arrived but did not. He was having an affair with one of the female editors, Sandra Jackson and was
also
writing a book. He originally spoke with an accent but when he returned to Zenith House from his mother’s funeral he dropped it and began to speak normally. On his return he was offered a full editor’s job with Zenith.