The Long Walk
by Stephen King · first published 1979
10mentions
3recommended by
9HN commenters
2011–2025first – last mentioned
33% recommend67% neutral
The Long Walk is a dystopian horror novel by American writer Stephen King, published in 1979, under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. It was collected in 1985 in the hardcover omnibus The Bachman Books, and has seen several reprints since, as both paperback and hardback. Set in a future dystopian America, ruled by a totalitarian and militaristic dictator, the plot revolves around the contestants of a grueling, annual walking contest. In 2000, the American Library Association listed The Long Walk as one of the 100 best books for teenage readers published between 1966 and 2000.
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
…as Stephen King a hack, or spending the time trying to denigrate him (his awards are purely political, but the awards he hasn't gotten somehow aren't?). Either way I'm out. I think I'll go read The Long Walk again.
on “List of Creepypastas” ↗I really enjoyed Stephen King's The Long Walk in addition to a few others already mentioned.
on “Ask HN: What is your favorite dystopian novel and why?” ↗It also has a completely predictable plot and many deux ex machinas to get our heroine out of a hopeless jam. Its plot is similar to Stephen King's "The Long Walk" which is a far better (and grimmer) book.
on “Forgotten Best Sellers” ↗…because those last six miles are the WORST... at least you know you'll cross the finish line at some point and pass out on the grass. No, startups are like running marathons but in Stephen King's the Long Walk. There's no finish line — you just have to walk farther than those around you, or you die trying.
on “Managing mental health while running a startup” ↗Jesus Christ: Where are you interviewing? This sounds more like Stephen King's The Long Walk, than a job interview! Do they hold a gun to your head while you regurtitate the optimal solution?
on “Ask HN: Is the market bad, or am I having the worst luck job hunting?” ↗…introduced horses to the Americas. A search on "native american" and "ultrarunning" should render some good links for those who are curious. As an aside, as anyone who's ever read Stephen King's "The Long Walk" can attest, sustaining a 4mph walk is quite tough. I mean, who hasn't read that story and tried keeping that pace with GPS in hand?
on “Can Exercise Keep You Young?” ↗And before that there was The Running Man and The Long Walk both by Stephen King (as Richard Bachman) that were about deadly game shows / contests in futuristic dystopias.
on “Before Squid Game, there was Battle Royale” ↗IIRC, Stephen King's "The Running Man" and "The Long Walk" predate both Battle Royale and Hunger Games and deal with similar themes.
on “Before Squid Game, there was Battle Royale” ↗Stephen King's "The Long Walk" was published in 1979 "Every year, on the first day of May, one hundred teenage boys meet for an event known through- out the country as "The Long Walk." Among this year's chosen crop is sixteen-year-old…
on “Before Squid Game, there was Battle Royale” ↗Stephen King's 1979 book "The Long Walk" is the same idea as well.
on “Two Starkly Similar Novels and the Puzzle of Plagiarism” ↗