Stephen King Fans discussion

I wondered how people felt about SK's short stories? Do you love them? Or do you feel that they are a bit hit and miss? I find them all following a bit of a theme if I'm honest. Man kills wife only to be haunted by rats or some other vermin scratching at the walls. Inanimate object becomes possessed and kills a bunch of folks.
In saying that, some of his writing is diabolical. Quitters Inc was amazing, as was Thinner, The Boogeyman (EEEK!)and I Am The Doorway.

i like to read a short story inbetween novels, gives me sometime to get the last novel out of my mind before starting a new one, however after reading the gingerbread girl this wasn't the case i still can't stop thinking about it months later

I liked Night Shift the best of his anthologies. The Ledge, Gray Matter, I am the Doorway, and Strawberrry Spring are my favorites.

Truthfully, I like them all, even the ones with a huge "Oh, come on" quotient, because the best horror/sc-fi writer treats irrational subjects in a rational way. And King certainly does that.

Nightmares and Dreamscapes is chock full of great short stories,The Night Flier my personal fave,Dedication (disgustingly good),Umney's Last Case,i like most of them to be honest.

I love the short stories. Sure, some more than others, but if it weren't for growing up reading SK's short stories and novellas, I would not have developed the love of reading all kinds of short stories that I have now :)

The Jaunt and suffer the little children are my favorites, along with almost everything from Everything's Eventual

The boogeyman was by far my favorite short story. I haven't read it in over ten years, but I can still remember it. I also love poppy and the mist (not sure if that qualifies but it was great)

My employer doesn't allow smoking on the property, but I do it anyway. Every time I'm on break or at lunch, I feel as though I'm living Quitter's Inc. lol

I think my first book of SK short stories was Skeleton Crew, and I still have very fond memories of most of them. I loved The Jaunt, and Word Processor of the Gods really made me think about what I'd do with that kind of power.

First book from Stephen King is . The story simply freaks you out. But Fair Extension is suprisingly fun to read.

One of my first SK books when I was around 12-13 was Night Shift. I am re-reading it now and it was my first experience with truly connecting with short stories. I like them for change of pace from novels. Some of his best work are in his shorts IMO. N, Quitter's Inc., and many others are ones I still remember vividly.

I have to say, I love King's short stories. One of the creepiest for me was Survivor Type...shudders. I also liked The Mangler (epic), Big Driver, A Good Marriage, The Gingerbread Girl, and The Moving Finger to name just a few. Sometimes I prefer reading his short stories because I get multiple doses of horror at one time. Great thread by the way!

I really loved Everything's Eventual. "The Man in the Black Suit" is probably my favorite out of that collection, although, "Riding the Bullet", "1408", "Autopsy Room Four" and "Everything's Eventual" itself are another few favorites.

Favorites are The Gingerbread Girl, Lunch At The Gotham Cafe, The Road Virus Heads North, and Children Of The Corn.

Nicole wrote: "I really loved Everything's Eventual. "The Man in the Black Suit" is probably my favorite out of that collection, although, "Riding the Bullet", "1408", "Autopsy Room Four" and "Everything's Eventu..."

The Man in the Black Suit" will always be one of my favorites. But the Body is his best, IMO.

Skeleton Crew is a particularly good selection of short stories, having horror, sci-fi and crime tales. I am surprised no one has yet mentioned "The Ballard of the Flexible Bullet", one his best short stories and one of my favourite pieces of his writing.

Several that come to mind right now are "The last rung on the ladder", "Mrs Todd's shortcut", "The end of the whole mess" (I think that's the title...about this genius kid putting something in the water that is killing everyone) and Survivor Type.

However right now my favorite is "The Ballet of the Flexible Bullet"....a bit dated but great story telling about madness!

I think King writes excellent short stories. Personally, I can only recall a handful of ones I felt were rather sub-par to his usual work (The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands, Beaches, I Am The Doorway come to mind)

However, when he is on fire, he REALLY is on fire! Some of my favorite short stories of his include....

The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet
Nona
Survivor Type
Riding the Bullet
The Last Rung on the Ladder
The Ledge
Gramma (this TERRIFIED me as a youngster)
Grey Matter (the sewer worker's story....shivers)

I love his short stories as well- some of my favourites are "N", "The Mangler", "The Bogeyman", and "Children of the Corn"

"A Good Marriage" from "Full Dark, No Stars" is one of the most chilling and absorbing novellas I have read. I read "IT" because I wanted supernatural (Pennywise), but what I ended up adoring even more was his gorgeous characters. King does au natural, human evil like no other. "..Dreamscapes", "Nightshift", awesome. "Full Dark..", another level.

I liked Last Rung on the Ladder the best. Not supernatural at all but very heartbreaking. I personally consider King to be one of the best shortbstory writers alive.

I agree....I really love short stories. I've read a lot of them, by different authors, mainly sci-fi authors like Philip Dick or Bradbury. But I'd say King to me it's the best of the bunch!

i read 2 short stories La lunga marcia and L'uomo in fuga I liked a lot ... especially L'uomo in fuga

I absolutely adore short stories! Although I devour Kings's the second they are published as a collection I still subscribe to Ellery Queen. I read those little shorts in between each actual, in my hand, novel I read. I haven't missed an issue in about 20 years.

Stephen King has so many short stories I love that I could write about 5000 words. Suffice it to say, he is the best "palate cleanser" in the world, IMHO, which is what I feel short stories are for.

I do enjoy short stories. I have read a lot of them but I think my favorites are ones by King.

His short stories are hit and miss agreed. However when he's on he's dead on! Full Dark, No Stars was one of the best novels I have read of Kings and all the short stories that were totally engrossing.
I have a few key short stories I really loved 'N' from Just After Sunset. The Little Sisters of Eluria and Everything's Eventual from Everything's Eventual. The Langoliers from Four Past Midnight ( butchered on tv ugh ). Dolan's Cadillac from Nightmares and Dreamscape's ( never entertained the movie and won't )

I've just read Full Dark No Stars.

Just amazing. 4 truly terrifying novellas, especially the first, 1922..

I think our beloved King found his mojo back :)

Jerusalem's Lot is brilliant. I felt he captured the protagonist's voice perfectly. The first few pages were difficult to get used to, but once I was in, I was hooked.

I'm also a big fan of Strawberry Spring, Children of the Corn, and Graveyard Shift.

As you can surmise, the only short story collection I own (so far) is Night Shift. The Different Seasons novellas are some of his best work.

Rest Stop in Just After Sunset gets me every single time.

I love King's short stories, but Nightmares And Dreamscapes seemed to be the weakest compilation for me. Still better than almost any other author's work, but weak for King.

I think Skeleton Crew is a bit overrated, but The Mist is amazing. I've only read Night Shift, Just After Sunset, and Skeleton Crew and JAS is my favorite. JAS is probably in my top ten King books. I love Stationary Bike, N., Gingerbread Girl, and Mute.

Dolan's Cadillac is probably my favorite King short story

I found Night Shift in hardback at my Hospice thrift shop and left it there because I only had 2 dollars and wanted something else. It was supposed to be there when I came back the next day!!

Dan wrote: "The Jaunt and suffer the little children are my favorites, along with almost everything from Everything's Eventual"

The Jaunt was fantastic, probably unknown to most SK fans. Christopher Nolan should make a movie adaption of the Jaunt.

Nicole wrote: "I really loved Everything's Eventual. "The Man in the Black Suit" is probably my favorite out of that collection, although, "Riding the Bullet", "1408", "Autopsy Room Four" and "Everything's Eventu..."

1408 is also one of my favorites. The movie was excellent as well.

I loved The Jaunt as well. The image of that kid at the end was just haunting. It reminded me so much of a Twilight Zone episode and I think the black and white low budget would have actually added to it.

In 'Just After Sunset'- I really enjoyed the stories...

Gingerbread Girl- A girl running along the beach gets abducted by a serial killer/rapist (Crossed between 'Misery' and short story 'Big Driver'- from 'Full Dark No Stars'.

The Cat From Hell- Basically about a killer cat- as funny as it sounds...

Todd wrote: "The Cat From Hell- Basically about a killer cat- as funny as it sounds..."

Yeah I remember it was featured in that anthology movie in the 1990s.

Elder Prince *writing my next novella* wrote: "Todd wrote: "The Cat From Hell- Basically about a killer cat- as funny as it sounds..."

Yeah I remember it was featured in that anthology movie in the 1990s."

That was a different cat story. The Cat from Hell was first published in Playboy, or Cavalier...some gentleman's magazine. ;-)

Cool!

Kandice wrote: "That was a different cat story. The Cat from Hell was first published in Playboy, or Cavalier...some gentleman's magazine. ;-) "

Really? Oh, I thought it was the same story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_fr...

Elder Prince *writing my next novella* wrote: "Kandice wrote: "That was a different cat story. The Cat from Hell was first published in Playboy, or Cavalier...some gentleman's magazine. ;-) "

Really? Oh, I thought it was the same story: http:/..."

I thought they were referring to the Cat Story element of Cat's Eye: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088889/?...

Sorry!

Oh, I vaguely remember about Cat's Eye. I saw it when I was a teenager more than twenty years ago. It featured some of the best Night Shift short stories.

In "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie", they didn't pick the best story from Stephen King, though. I was mostly fascinated by the third story 'Lover's Vow' which ended with a creepy and sorrowful twist.

Michael McDowell wrote a lot of the Tales movie. He is a creepy author. Check out his stuff

Thanks a lot for the suggestion, Tom. I will definitely read some of his works. Which ones are his best?

Cold Moon Over Babylon is awesome 80's horror. The Blackwater series is great as well. I have all of his on my TBR

292 pages, I can afford this read on my busy schedule. Synopsis sounds very interesting.

Oh don't worry, quick fun reads.

The first short story I ever read by Stephen King that stuck with me and I loved was Dolan's Cadillac. Of course King has written better ones since but, that was the one that still scarred my mind in the short story category. Years later it would be 'N'. Then progressed to Big Driver.

Glen wrote: "Years later it would be 'N'"

Hey Glen, I think the novella I published recently might be up your alley. It's called Project Dechentreiter and is told via letters in a very similar fashion to 'N'. Let me know if you want a free copy.

The same for you Tom. Or anyone else following this thread. Simply PM me. I won't harass anyone for reviews, just let me know if you liked it and it will make me happy.

Here's the Goodread page: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...