The Making of Lord Caterpillar Underworld: Chapter One

Chapter One of Book Five (actually book four, sorry!) was a logical continuation of Book Three's conclusion with Mary handcuffing herself to the gangster boy Brady and throwing them in the chemical vat. I always admired the opening of Misery and how King seemed to be willing the book to wake up as well as Paul with all the cries of "breathe! goddamnit! breathe!" If you haven't realized right now, I love personification. So, I reached for that same urgency with Brady hauling Mary down to the sewers. He's really talking to the reader: "we're going down to the sewers whether you like it or not, this is going to be a gnarly and dirty book". Lord Caterpillar Underworld turned out to be more of an adventurous romp than Torn Pages Underworld, but the Brady character was harsh and stupid and abusive. I can't say I really have any affection for him.