Picked up the Road Rage audio book from my local library this weekend. Richard Matheson's "Duel" was wonderful, as good as the movie, which is saying something.

I also really enjoyed "Throttle", King's collaboration with his son Joe Hill (getting off-topic here, but if you haven't yet checked out Heart-Shaped Box, please do so). Excellent story, but I was wondering where his use of the name Laughlin in the story comes from.

In the story Laughlin is either the hero or the villian depending on which way you look at it. His nemesis is a motorcycle gang, including a member who murdered his daughter .

Go back to 1967 and take a look at the film The Born Losers. The film introduced the character Billy Jack, the basis for three more films, but in this one his nemesis is a motorcycle gang who has raped several teenage girls within the community. The star-writer-director-producer of the Billy Jack films was...Tom Laughlin.

We all know about King's references to famous westerns in the Dark Tower books. Is this a similar case?