Stephen King Mistakes and errors in his books - Page 2
Bloopers 1
Bloopers 3
Bloopers 2
Eyes of the Dragon, The
- In Chapter 55 the letter from Peter starts with "Dear Judge-General Peyna".
Later in Chapter 58, after he sends the letter, it starts with just "Penya",
and appears to have dropped the "Dear Judge-General" bit. It has been pointed
out to me that it is possible that Peter started a new letter, but I dont believe
it is likely.
Firestarter
- On page 24 (the New York/Albany chapter, subchapter 7) Charlie tells Andy
that she didn't empty all the pay phones of money, because
she was afraid that the bag she was carrying would break. But later, on page
81 (the Longmont, Virginia: The Shop chapter, subchapter 7), Orville Jamieson
tells Cap that all of the pay phones have been emptied. And
even later, on page 244 (The Blackout chapter) Andy remembers that incident
and he remembers that Charlie emptied all of the pay phones.
- When they get to the cabin, Andy tucks Charlie in and then goes out on the
porch with a knock of "mule-kick." After he finishes the mule-kick,
he goes to bed. The next section tells the story of how Vicky was killed and
Charlie was kidnapped. At the end of that recollection of Andy's, he is blaming
himself, then thinks, "Oh s*** why are you doing this to yourself?",
stands up, pours the mule-kick over the porch rail, and goes
to bed. But he was already in bed!
- Page 172: it says "Not long after Christmas, Charlie caught a cold and snuffled
and coughed her way through to early April, when it finally cleared up for good.",
but on page 199 it says "On March 27, Andy McGee abruptly decided that they
could stay in Tashmore no longer." The problem is that if this is being
told from Andy's point of view, then they had already been captured before her
cold went away, on March 27, so how would he know that it had cleared up?
- On page 238 (the The Blackout chapter, subchapter 8) Patrick Hockstetter
had Gray eyes, but on page 264 (the Small Fires, Big Brother chapter, subchapter
3) he has blue eyes.
- On page 281 (the Small Fires, Big Brother chapter, subchapter 13) it says
that the alpha waves on Charlie's EEG rose. Then it says that these high spikes
of alpha waves were the hallmark of high concentration and the brain's signature
of imagination. Incorrect as Alpha waves are not the hallmark of high concentration
but more indicative that a person is slightly drowsy.
- Bradford Hyuck tells Patrick Hockstetter about the CAT tests (the Endgame
chapter, subchapter 2) which should measure Charlie's caloric burn. A CAT scanner
is used to show the construction of the brain, it can not be used to measure
a persons caloric burn!
Four Past Midnight
- In The Langoliers, in Four Past Midnight, Stephen
King writes that Brian noticed that Albert took, among other things, a book
of matches out of his pockets. 2 Pages later he writes that Albert set fire
to all of the matches. But later still Bethany lights a cigarette with one of
Albert's matches, the matches that Albert burned on earlier!
- In Secret Window, Secret Garden on page 284,
when Amy tells Mort about the fire, she says her mother's Bible was on the nightstand
and it was the only thing of her mother's that she had, but then later on page
307 when the two of them are
marking the insurance forms, one of the items is "the big puzzle quilt
Amy's mother had given them when they were married" which means the Bible
wasn't the only thing of hers she had.
Green Mile, The
- In The Green Mile in book 6 he describes how Percy (still wearing his straitjacket,
bear in mind!) puts a hand up to his lips to cover them after Paul has removed
the tape that covered his mouth. Stephen King has corrected this error in the
collector edition of The Green Mile.
- In book 3, chapter 10 Paul asks Eduard Delacroix about what kind of priest
he wants. Delacroix answers that if Bitterbuck was satisfied with the priest
he had, then he would be okay for him too. Bitterbuck was executed before Delacroix
arrived, so how should Delacroix be able to know about that priest?
Insomnia
- The catfish in Insomnia is described as having scales. But catfish (both
kind) have skin and not scales like other fish.
It
- Chapter 1, subchapter 3 says that if Georgie had seen Pennywise a year later
(in 1958) he would have thought of Ronald McDonald rather than Bozo. Ronald
McDonald was first released and was seen on TV in around 1963.
- King refers to the new '45rpm sized CD's" in Chapter 3, subchapter 4,
when in fact they are quite different in size - a 45 is 7" in diameter,
while a CD is just under 5" 2 1/4" is quite a different in size in
my opinion.
- Chapter 3, Subchapter 1 says the day of bath when Stan Uris dies is 28th
of May 1985, but later in the same subchapter the date changes to 27th of May
1985, then back to the 28th.
- Chapter 3, subchapter 6 says that Bill knelt before Audra, but later, on
the next page, it says that she rose and went to him. And when she reached him
it says that she put a hand on his shoulder and turned him towards her, as if
he had been turned away from her all the time.
- In Chapter 4, subchapter 8, Ben says that a haiku poem must consist of seventeen
syllables. That is true, but what Ben forgets to mention is that these seventeen
syllables must be divided, so that the three line long poem contains 5, 7 and
5 syllables. It is clear that he didn't know this, because if you count how
many syllables there are in those three lines, you will see that there are 6,
6 and 5.
- Chapter 6, Subchapter 5 describes the time when Mike Hanlon and his father
get their truck going. They get to the end of their road, and the Rhulan farm
is one way and the Bowers in the other way. This means that the Hanlon farm
is in the middle.
In Chapter 8, subchapter 1, when Richard Tozier enters Derry, he remembers Rhulan
Farms, then Bowers farm, then Hanlon Place. Now the Bowers place is in the middle!
- In Chapter 7, subchapter 2 Ben says that he doesn't know who Stan Uris is.
Eddie tells him that Stan is their age but he started school a year later than
them, because he was sick a lot the year he should have started. But in subchapter
5 Ben recognises Stan as the kid who was in his class, when he was in second
grade. He should have been in First grade when Ben was in Second grade.
- Chapter 8, Subchapter 12 mentions Zac Denbrough's Walther PK gun. They never
made a PK, but did make a PP and a PPK. One other thing is that they mention
that the gun did not have a safety, but all Walther's had safeties (The P38,
made in 1938 had a problem with the safeties that sometimes allowed the gun
to discharge when you APPLIED the safety!)
- In chapter 10, subchapter 5 Mike shows the others some scars that he has
on his chest. These scars should ostensibly have been made by the werewolf they
met in the house on Niebolt Street. But in Chapter 18, subchapter 9 the werewolf
doesn't touch Mike. The only one it touches, more gravely, is Ben, whom it slashes.
- Chapter 6, subchapter 3 states that Beverly's 'father' was in fact her stepfather,
but later on in Chapter 11, subchapter 3 we find that he is her real father
when she speaks about his DNA giving her some traits.
- Chapter 11, subchapter 1 finds the librarian Carole Danner calling Ben by
name without being introduced. It is possible that she recognised him, but later,
in Chapter 11, subchapter 5, Mike tells Bill that Carole had told him that a
man had been at the library. Mike says that he had made her describe him, but
why, when she knew his name?
- In the beginning of Chapter 16 Eddie felt pain race up his left arm, caused
by the break to that arm as a child. But later on in that chapter he writes
that Henry broke Eddie's right arm.
- Chapter 17, subchapter 3 says that there were two bedrooms in the house Henry
and his father lived in. But on Chapter 19, subchapter 8 it says that Henry
and his father slept in the same bedroom.
- In Part 5 of the book Mike remembers that Henry and his gang chased them
down into the sewer on the 14th of August. But later, when they are trying to
get out of the maze like sewer it says that it was the 10th of August.
- In Chapter 8, subchapter 3 it says that Richie was a Methodist, but on page
919 it says that he was a Catholic.
- In Derry: The Second Interlude Mike Hanlon's father says that Mike has told
him that Henry Bowers is the biggest bully at Mike's school. Interesting when
Mike went to the Neibolt Street Church School, while Henry Bowers went to the
Derry Elementary School. Mike Hanlon writes that he went to the Derry Elementary
in the beginning of the book (Derry: the first Interlude), but Mike went to
Neibolt Street Church School
- On page 780 (Chapter 17, subchapter 3) it says that Rena Davenport had been
courting Butch Bowers with baked beans for 8 years. When we learn of this, in
1958, Henry is 12 (Chapter 4, subchapter 2). A bit before that, (Chapter 13,
subchapter 3), we learn that Henry's mother left Butch and Henry when he was
11. Then that would mean that Rena had been courting Butch, even while his wife
was around.
- According to the information given on page 611 (Derry: The Third Interlude)
Aloysius Nell should live in a nursing home. But later on page 1026 (Chapter
22, subchapter 6), it says that he died at home.
- Derry: The Third Interlude says, in March 1985, that Norbert Keene is 85
years old. But Chapter 21, subchapter 8 says, at the top of the page, that Norbert
Keene is in his nineties, this time it is May 1985. Later, on the middle of
the same page, Norbert thinks that he'll turn 96 next time.
- Chapter 21, subchapter 6 sees Stan scaring away the attacking bird by saying
that he believes in the scarlet tanager and he continues by saying that he hasn't
seen one. But earlier in Chapter 9, subchapter 10 he sees such a bird by the
birdbath at Memorial Park.
- Chapter 10, subchapter 1 says that Richard's Alley had become some strange
hybrid called a "mini-mall". But Chapter 23, subchapter 3 says that
Richard's Alley was filled up with yellow bricks as the Brian X Dowd Professional
Building came crashing down.
- On page 457 ( Ch. 10, subch. 1 ) Bill notices that The Shoeboat and Bailley's
Lunch wasn't there anymore. Nevertheless Harold Gardener watches on page 1050
( Ch. 23, subch. 3 ) those two buildings collapse.
- On page 479 (Chapter 10, subchapter 4) Mike says that there were seven members
in The Bradley Gang, but on page 614 (Derry: The Third Interlude) it says that
there were eight members in The Bradley Gang.
- Chapter 21, subchapter 10 says that at 6.19 a.m. the Kissing Bridge was struck
by lightning and was blown to pieces. But Chapter 23, subchapter 3 says that
after the Paul Bunyan statue was blown up at 10 a.m. the large head of the plastic
axe went through the roof of the Kissing Bridge!
Long Walk, The
- Garraty is number 47, but in chapter 2 it says that Ewing is number 9. So
if Ewing is number 9 and Garraty is number 47, there must be about 38 people,
whose surnames starts with F. I find that highly unlikely, don't you?
- On page 150 (Chapter 1) it says that Garraty's father took him to a Long
Walk, when he was 10. But later, on page 220 (Chapter 7), it says that the Squads
came and took his father 11 years ago, and he hasn't seen him since, he says.
Garraty is 16 when the story takes place, so if his father had been taken away
11 years ago, how was it then possible for Garraty's father to take Garraty
to a Long Walk, when Garraty was 10, when he himself had been missing, since
Garraty was five?
- On page 207 (Chapter 6), it says that Jan had long blonde hair, but on page
178-179 (Chapter 4), she has long dark hair.
Misery
- In Part 1 chapter 22. From the words: " Because of his research"
and until the word "psychosis" this is what is wrong: The neurosis
conception was introduced by Sigmund Freud, as an important part of the theory
about the psychosexual development. Since then this theory and also the neurosis
conception has been subject to dissociation and is therefore not being used
any more.
- In Part 1 chapter 22. From the words: "Although a borderline" and
until "aggressive cheerfulness", this is what is wrong: Abnormal variations
in a persons mood is not seen as a symptom for borderline disorder. This variation
in a persons mood, from depression to "aggressive" cheerfulness, can
be found with people suffering from bipolar manic-depression.
- In Part 1 chapter 22. From: "The puffed and" and the rest of the
paragraph, this is what is wrong: This part can quite possibly be a correct
reference to the borderline disorder, as it was set forth by psychoanalysts
like Kohut and Ainsworth. As mentioned above this psychoanalyzation was later
rejected. If not anything else then Stephen King can at least be accused of
being anachronistic.
- In the end of Part 1 chapter 23 Annie places the Royal on the board that
she has made for the wheelchair. But 2 pages later it says that it stood on
the bureau.
- When Annie places Paul in front of the window he is glad that he has the
possibility of looking at something new instead of the room. And when he thinks
of the things in the room that he has been looking at for weeks he recalls the
rooms blue wallpaper in Part 1, chapter 28 . But earlier in Part 1, chapter
10, when Annie comes into the room, to clean up the soup in the corner of the
room it says that she scrubbed on the plaster to make the stain disappear. Although
it can be deducted that Stephen King meant to have the rooms walls covered with
wallpaper, because later in Part 3, subchapter 43, when Paul burns his fake
book he notices that some of the burning paper has set the wallpaper on fire.
- In Part 2, chapter 2 Paul pretends that he is coughing but is actually smiling,
and Annie hits him on the back. On the next page it says that Annie sat on the
bed, while Paul sat in his wheelchair in other end of the room. But Annie placed
the pages on the night table besides Paul. So he either had to be lying in bed
or he'd have to be parked besides the night table, NOT at the other end of the
room.
- Paul is in error in Part 2, chapter 18 when he said that it had been a year
before Annie and Ralph had bought the house. In fact they had married on the
2nd January 1979, and bought the house in March 1979 - only 2 months later.
- Annie tells Paul that the drug Novril that she is using for his pain relief
is Codeine based, and that she has not stolen any morphine based drugs from
the Hospital (Part 2, chapter 21). Codeine is made from Opium and has the same
properties as Morphine, but is weaker. Since Morphine is also made from Opium,
it can be concluded that Codeine is 'sort of' Morphine Based.
- Annie's character is said to be deeply depressed. If this was her only problem
then she would NOT have harmed herself.
- In Part 1, chapter 23 Annie comes in with the Royal typewriter. The typewriter
is described as having glass panels set into its sides. But in Part 3, chapter
42 it says that the typewriter had gray sides.