Stephen King Gets Political for MoveOn
Posted on October 24, 2006
Bestselling author Stephen King has decided to get political for the upcoming midterm elections. Editor and Publisher reports that just hours after his new book, Lisey's Story got a rave review in The New York Times that King emailed an election year pitch on behalf of liberal advocacy group, MoveOn.org.
King says, "If I know anything, I know scary. And giving this president and this out-of-control Congress two more years to screw up our future is downright terrifying. Thankfully, this national nightmare is one we can end with-literally-a wake up call."
He also says, "My friends at MoveOn.org Political Action are organizing pre-Halloween phone parties this weekend, Oct. 28th & 29th....And since it's almost Halloween, we'll celebrate with an optional costume contest, some pumpkin carving (I'll be making a Jack-Abramoff-O'-Lantern) and-of course-plenty of candy."
It's interesting to us that big-name authors are increasingly wearing their politics on their sleeves. Micheael Crichton infuriated environmentalists and liberal voters with State of Fear (a favorite of Rush Limbaugh). Of course Crichton and King are so big that it's unlikely that their politics will turn off enough readers to hurt sales. Still, it's a risky move to get political when your audience consists of people of all political persuasions.
