but yes, there is a kid orgy somewhere near the end of It. It has to do with defeating Pennywise–for some reason, the six boys have to all take turns fucking the girl. Which somehow defeats Pennywise.

The most likely answer for why this is in the book is because of Stephen King’s various drug addictions. He wrote the book between 1981 and 1985, it was published in 1986, and King’s wife staged his intervention in 1987, when she apparently took all of his pills and dope and put them in a big trash bag and threw it on the floor in front of him. (She also fished Carrie out of the trash can of the trailer they were living in the early 1970s, which was the first King book to be published, in 1974.) I don’t know what particular stories King has to offer about It and drug usage, but he has stated that he can read his manuscript for Cujo and not remember writing it, but what he does remember is that he wrote the book over the course of about three days while miserably strung out on cocaine, with kleenex stuffed into his nose while blood dripped out onto the pages he was typing. And that book is certainly full of ridiculous shit.

If it weren’t for the kid orgy, the part with the giant space turtle would be the goofiest, most head-scratchingly weird part of the book.

The Stand is also full of bizarre, often poorly-written moments (“HEY BOBBY TERRY, YOU SCROOOOOOOOOWED UP!”–before Flagg turns into a giant crow and attacks somebody), which I once catalogued and re-posted here, to wonderful effect. As I would later do with It.