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"My
friends, we have a chance to become big publishing's worst nightmare,"
says Stephen King on the Official Stephen King Web Presence website. Reflecting
major contacts of Uranus to his natal chart, the King of Fright has managed
to rock the publishing industry's world with the July release of his Internet-only, dollar-a-download installment novella, The Plant.
It isn't
surprising that King is a bit of a rebel, shown by the fact that when
he was born, the Sun was forming an electric and unpredictable
square with the planet Uranus. The urge to cut down existing power structures
and reform the status quo is central to the nature of such people, and
King, true to form, has rocked big publishing's world.
Lightning
Strikes
Stephen King has been busy indeed, since the June, 1999 car accident that
nearly cost him his life and showed us just how tough a combination
Pluto and Saturn can be (see What
Really Scares the King of Fright). Although King says he
doesn't write as much as he used to, the industrious Virgo has nevertheless
completed several projects since his brush with death and the long recovery
from his injuries, including the first massively distributed ebook, Riding
The Bullet, which was well received but plagued with issues of
Internet copyright theft.
But it is
his latest work, The Plant, a novella about an evil plant
that takes over a publishing house, which is said to be both gruesome
and funny, that has the publishing industry buzzing. Truly ground breaking
and quintessentially Uranian, The Plant is also an electronic
book, but unlike Riding The Bullet, it is not encrypted,
and will only be released by direct download in installments, paid for
by the reader on the honor system.
"No
stealing from the blind newsboy!" says King at his website, and he
means it. The first two 5000–7000 word installments were guaranteed, but
King made it clear that if downloaders didn't pay the buck a pop, there
would be no third installment. Not surprisingly, considering King's massive
popularity, his fans have responded with enthusiasm; so far they have
paid the blind newsboy, making a succes of King's effort and insuring
future releases.
Though cynics
and nervous publishing moguls have said that only someone as well-known
as King could pull this off, the fact remains that King has very effectively
cut the middle man—the publishing houses—out of the game and left the
door open for anyone who might want to come along and do the same. King
said recently that he loves his publishers, has had a long and happy relationship
with them and has no plans to abandon them; so whatever possessed him
to do such a thing?
Uranus, the
great reformer and notorious upsetter of the status quo, has been traveling
in the sign of Aquarius, representing society and community.
Transiting Uranus is often the harbinger of social revolution and completely new
ideas, and as this unpredictable, rebellious planet moved directly opposite
King’s First House Pluto (big business, power) and Saturn (existing structures,
established authorities) earlier this year, it is no surprise that he
felt compelled to strike at the heart of the publishing industry.
Noblesse
Oblige
King, without
a doubt one of the richest and most powerful men in publishing today,
has the royal sign of Leo and the powerful combination of Pluto and Saturn
in his First House. (Editor’s note: King’s Ascendant is 29 degrees Cancer,
so the majority of his First House is Leo.) This infuses his personality
with a dignity and raw magnetism that is unmistakable and remarkable,
and indicates his tremendous creative potential.
The midheaven,
or MC, at the very top of a natal chart, represents status and career,
and at the top of King’s chart we find the sign of Aries, associated with
leaders and pioneers. King has been a true leader in his field, rescuing
the languishing horror genre with his phenomenal popularity and opening
up the gates for many fiction writers at a time when they couldn’t sell
their manuscripts as fish wrappers. No other writer of horror fiction
has ever reached such heights of popularity, and King, appropriately,
rules his world from the throne of terror.
Still, he
has never forgotten his humble roots, and has said that, by offering The
Plant for direct download, he hopes to give a leg up to new writers
struggling to navigate the complicated and often murky waters of the publishing
industry, as well as connect to his readers in a more personal way. With
three planets in his Third House, King thrives on neighbors and community,
and this extends to both his readers and fellow writers. Before he became
too busy to do so, he used to personally answer every letter he received,
often sending signed copies of his books back in the mail, and he has
written numerous essays on the craft of writing for beginners. He’s active
in his local Little League organization, owns a local rock radio station
in Maine and retains a sense of community and connection to “regular people”
in spite of his wealth and power. As befits royalty, King's intent regarding
The Plant is to expand the horizons of his realm and give
back some of what he's been given by his loyal subjects.
The signifigance
of The Plant is being downplayed by the powers-that-be as
something that won’t work for most writers, but Pluto's (transformation)
position in Sagittarius opposite Jupiter (publishing) in Gemini says otherwise,
hinting that sweeping, long-term changes will continue to affect the way
we give and receive information. King has seriously challenged the established
order, sided with the “little guy” and pioneered a whole new option for
both readers and writers. The publishing business will never be quite
the same thanks to the very talented and irrepressible King of Fright.
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