In 1982 a dystopian thriller novel titled The Running Man was published. It was written by Richard Bachman. He’s better known as Stephen King.

In 2004 a Young Adult novel also called The Running Man was published. It was written by Michael Gerard Bauer. He’s better known as me.

Although they are very different books, because of their shared title, they sometimes get confused. See below.

AMAZON REVIEW
“I bought this book by accident…I had meant to buy Stephen King’s Running Man book. This one came…oops. Guess I should learn to read? Anyway, this is a very good story. It’s a very easy read, yet it is profoundly deep in its message. I would definitely recommend this for anyone.”

I didn’t deliberately choose to give my first ever published novel the same title as Mr King’s.

It came about because a character in my story was based on a real man who lived in my suburb way back when I was a kid in the 1960s. The man was quite wild looking and always in a desperate hurry. I was scared of him (although he never did anything wrong) and in my mind I always thought of him as the running man.

It was only when I was part way through writing my story in the early 2000s that I read (in Stephen King’s wonderful book On Writing) about his early novel of the same name. It was then that I changed my title to In Dream Too Deep which is a line from a poem by Douglas Stewart called The Silkworms. The poem is central to my story.

When I completed my manuscript I submitted my story to publishers using the new title (which I liked) and a little help from Escher. (See my fancy cover sheet below for which my wonderful future publisher Dyan Blacklock would immediately label me as a wanker.)

When Omnibus/Scholastic Australia miraculously wanted to publish my story they suggested changing my In Dream Too Deep title to … wait for it … The Running Man! I promptly informed them that sadly that bugger Stephen King had already stolen that title.

However my publishers said it wasn’t that well known and anyway there was no copyright on titles and we should go with it.

And the rest is publishing history!

But NOW of course The Running Man by Stephen King is about to be so much more well known because of the release of the latest big movie block-buster.

Now obviously it would be a terrible thing if I accidentally sold tens of thousands more of copies of my book and earned a humongous bucket load of royalties just because heaps of people foolishly purchased my book by mistake … … … … … … … …

… ummmmmmm … so … anyway … to help avoid further confusion between the two books I give you this:

10 Clear and Obvious Differences Between Stephen King’s The Running Man and Mine:

1. His book has been made into 2 big Hollywood films. Mine hasn’t.
2. His story is set in a dystopian USA of the future. Mine is set in Ashgrove Brisbane.
3. His Running Man character really, really runs. Mine kind of shuffles.
4. According to his memoir his story was written in a single week. Mine took quite a bit longer.
5. His book is a fast-paced thriller with professional assassins called Hunters. My book has silkworms.
6. His book has ‘edge of your seat’ excitement. Mine has poetry.
7. Some editions of his book feature Arnold Schwarzenegger on the cover. None of mine do.
8. His book has sold more copies and been published in more countries than mine.
9. His book has earned him more money than mine.
   
   And finally …
   
10. His book has won or been shortlisted for these awards:
    
    …………………………………………………………………………….
    
    My book has won or been shortlisted for these awards:

• Winner: 2005 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Older Readers
• Shortlisted: 2005 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards
• Shortlisted: 2005 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards
• Shortlisted: 2005 Courier Mail Book of the Year for Younger Readers
• Winner: 2005 Courier Mail People’s Choice Award
• Shortlisted: 2006 Adelaide Festival Literary Award
• Selected official text for National Literacy Day 2007
• German language edition Winner of the “Katholischer Kinder- und Jugendbuchpreis 2008” (Catholic Children’s Book Prize)
• German language edition nominated for the Youth Jury Prize in the 2008 German Youth Literary Awards
• Finalist in the Premio Cento di Letteratura per Ragazzi (Centro Award for Children’s Literature) middle school category 2009 – Italian Edition
• Selected as a Banks Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of the Year 2009 – USA Edition
• Shortlisted: Prix Farniente Beligium 2014 – Dutch Edition
  

Cheers
Michael