The Kolchak Papers is the original novel by Jeff Rice. The novel was unpublished for many years, and still remains only in small publication.
Which Came First, the Novel or the Telefilm?[]
"I finished The Night Stalker at midnight on October 31st, 1970," says Jeff Rice in a 1974 interview. [1] "I wrote it partially because I'd always wanted to write a vampire story, but more because I wanted to write something that involved Las Vegas."
Unfortunately, no one was interested in the book -- as a book. An agent named Rick Ray read it over Thanksgiving weekend and thought it would sell as a movie faster than as a novel. Various persons at ABC read it, including Richard Matheson, who really wanted to (and did) write the screenplay. After many revisions on the script, filming began in August of 1971. The Night Stalker premiered in January 1972.
Just over a year later The Night Strangler appeared on ABC TV, story and script by Matheson. Ironically, where Matheson adapted Rice's novel for television, now Rice novelized Matheson's screenplay.
"The publication of the books was delayed until the very end of '73 so they could be placed on the top of the publisher's list in the 1 and 2 positions for 1974," reports Rice. [2] Stalker came out in December '73, and Strangler in February '74.
. . .Just in time for me to ride down to the local convenience store on my bike after school and buy them, and wonder if any more adventures of Carl Kolchak would ever appear in the wire racks.
1. Satian, Al, and Heather Johnson, "The Night Stalker Papers," in Monsters of the Movies Vol. 1, No. 1, (June 1974), p. 16.
Ibid., p. 21. [1]