Letters written by J.R.R. Tolkien, signed copies of George R. R. Martin and J.K. Rowling first editions, and his most important collection of all: a ton of Stephen King manuscripts, signed editions, letters, and memorabilia – such as old fan newsletters, posters, periodicals and rags with some of the writer’s earliest published stories, and even a rare King action figure based on his appearance on The Simpsons. If you’re as big of a King fan as I am – or a Constant Reader, as Uncle Stevie likes to call us – Winters’ shop is your heaven. “I’m horrified,” King told the Bangor Daily News a day after the accident. I was horrified, too, to think that seven major pieces of our literary history had been washed away by the most unstoppable monster of all: fate. Among the manuscripts thought to have been destroyed were drafts of Black House, “Dolan’s Cadillac,” “The Plant,” the script for Creepshow, and two drafts of The Eyes of the Dragon. While most King fans back in the late ’80s apparently hated The Eyes of the Dragon because it felt like too much of a departure from the writer’s more well-known works, such as Carrie and The Shining, this book meant the world to a kid in the 8th grade trying to escape the growing YA space being carved out for him by the publishing world. I loved the Harry Potter books but not much else meant for kids trying to figure their shit out. To me, The Eyes of the Dragon, with its racy moments of sex and betrayal, was the next logical step for a Harry Potter fan. It remains, all these years later, one of my favorite literary experiences and is in no small part the reason I write today. Imagine my relief then when Winters reported to the Boston Globe on the Friday after the flood that six of the seven manuscripts thought destroyed were recovered with little to no damage. Winters had kept the typed pages in special boxes that were airtight and watertight, and thus these precious pieces of literary history were saved. Many letters and signed books were also recovered. To hear that at least six important pieces of King’s tremendous oeuvre have been recovered is a true relief, especially when it comes to The Eyes of the Dragon, a novel I’ve wondered about for years. While not his deepest (or best) novel, it is a book that has shaped some part of my life, the part that decided to be a writer (for better or worse). To have those two manuscripts, to be able to see how the story changed from one draft to the next, as King figured out how to best relate the monsters in his head to his children, is an invaluable window into the writer’s mind. Losing any original piece of King’s work is losing a piece of our modern literary tradition and history. Perhaps no other writer has captured the nightmares and fears of working class Americans like King. His are terrors of suburbia, of the very real darkness within ourselves. King relishes the destruction of small town comforts – ones we’ve continually called into question, whether justified or deeply misguided, in the ever changing landscape of our country. In many ways, including those involving killer clowns, King is a chronicler of the ugly things waiting to seep out of the darkest sewers of our minds. That he makes those ugly things concrete in the shape of monsters – a quality that compels some members of high literary culture to deem his work unworthy of serious examination – makes King no less important when discussing the things that have shaped American culture for the past fifty years. Perhaps he’s even one of the most important shapers of that culture for the simple fact that he speaks to a more general populace and not just an academic or artsy one. Whether he knows it or not (King is an unbelievably humble guy), these manuscripts allow us to see the process of our culture being shaped and that makes them unbelievably important – even the bad ones that sometimes result in beloved cult movies, such as Maximum Overdrive, or a personal favorite, Dreamcatcher. At the very least, The Eyes of the Dragon helped shape me. (Scott Snyder, one of the great comic book writers working today, tells a fantastic story about how The Eyes of the Dragon made him fall in love with storytelling while having a tough time at an all-boys sports camp.) I visited Bangor and Gerald Winters and Son for the first time in August 2017 as part of a press tour leading up to the release of The Dark Tower and was amazed by the rows, stacks, and racks of deep-seated love for King’s work. It’s a small shop with glass-encased hardcover editions, cardboard cutouts, movie posters, and even a sign that proudly asks you to “Vote Pennywise.” I spoke to Winters for no more than a few seconds to ask him about the different gift items in the glass case next to the register. What I remember is that he was nice and I wish I’d asked him to show me The Eyes of the Dragon manuscripts, if only briefly. He was understandably busy with the rest of the reporters in my group, though. John Saavedra is an associate editor at Den of Geek US. Find more of his work on his website. Or just follow him on Twitter.
