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Stephen King collector bouncing back after devastating flood

BANGOR, Maine — Gerald Winters knows a thing or two about killer clowns, silver bullets and apocalyptic plagues.

But he wasn’t prepared for a flood.

“It was a bad day,” Winters said.

The pipe that burst in his Bangor store’s basement Jan. 17 destroyed around a thousand rare Stephen King books and collectibles, including the original manuscript for the short story “Trucks,” featured in King’s 1978 collection “Night Shift.”

“My heart dropped,” Winters said. “I opened the basement door, looked down and the water was already near the top of the stairs.”

King’s office contacted Winters when the author heard about the flood.

“They said if I needed any help to let them know whatever I needed to get rebuilt, which was great,” he said.

“It was unbelievable the amount of material he lost that just can’t be replaced,” Stu Tinker said. Tinker owns SK Tours of Maine, a Bangor-based tour for King fans. “He has shown a great determination to build the business back up, but it is very hard to recover from something like that,” he said.

The basement beneath “Gerald Winters & Son” on Main Street is now cleaned up and rebuilt. Winters continues to replenish the collection he started nearly twenty years ago. He became a King disciple in 1998 after a friend gave him a copy of “The Stand.”

“It changed my life,” Winters said.

He soon began reading—and collecting—everything with King’s name on it. The 43-year-old relocated to King’s hometown and opened his specialty store in 2016. He has one of the most expansive King collections in New England.

“I get [King fans] coming from Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, telling me they follow me on Facebook or Instagram and they just had to come to my shop,” Winters said.

Winters and Tinker are benefiting from the recent resurgence in King’s work, thanks to the box office success of “It” last year and a slew of new television adaptations, like Hulu’s “Castle Rock” and Netflix’s “1922.”

“What I really love about it is the young people, 11 or 12-years-old who are now discovering Stephen King,” Tinker said.

Winters will host an auction July 2 to benefit the Matthew Morrell and Natalie Sanchez Pediatric Cancer Research Fund. One item up for bid is the original, signed 1,566-page manuscript of his 1986 novel “It.”

Winters showed Boston 25 News his five favorite pieces from his Stephen King collection.

1. "The Stand”—original 1978 Doubleday proof with brown wrapper

“Not many copies of this exist,” Winters said. “I have a couple of them. It’s what the salesman would have taken around to try to sell to bookstores. There may be five or six copies in existence today.”

2. The Bachman Books signed by King 

King discreetly wrote five books under the pseudonym “Richard Bachman,” before he was outed in 1985. One of the most controversial is 1977’s “Rage,” about a disturbed teen who shoots his teacher and holds his class hostage.

“Rage has been out of print due to Steve’s personal request,” Winters said. “He did not want book in print anymore for many reasons. Rage is extremely hard to find signed.”

3.  “Sleeping Beauties” –Italian edition signed by Owen King

A month after the flood ravaged his collection, Winters received a signed Italian edition of the 2017 book King wrote with his youngest son, Owen. 
"To Gerald and Blue (Gerald's son)," the inscription reads. "Now you have to learn to read Italian. Cordiali Saluti (best regards), Owen King."

4.  “Firestarter”—1980 Asbestos Edition

Only 26 copies of this edition exist, Winters said. "The [cover] boards are asbestos, before it was known asbestos was a carcinogen." 
The edition plays homage to Ray Bradbury's "Farenheit 451" which was also bound in asbestos cover, he said.

5. Second Coming—2006 illustrated edition

“Second Coming” was the original title for 1975’s “Salem’s Lot” before King made heavy revisions. There are only four copies of this 2006 edition in the world.

“This was a prototype produced with the hopes of getting [the original manuscript] published,” Winters said. “If you want to read ‘Salem’s Lot’ the way Steve wrote it originally, this is the only way to do it.”