Science Fiction: The Short Stuff discussion

"The Jaunt" is a horror short story by Stephen King, first published in The Twilight Zone Magazine in 1981, and collected in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew. The story takes place early in the 24th century and involves teleportation technology. It has potential for a chilling film adaptation with a disturbing ending. We can begin discussing this in October 2025.

I ordered Skeleton Crew last week, used, for about $5 including tax and shipping. Then I realized, how silly of me. I could no doubt have requested it be sent me by my local library and I would have had a copy sooner and cheaper. Oh well, looking forward to having a jaunt in a week or so.

Dan wrote: "I ordered Skeleton Crew last week, used, for about $5 including tax and shipping. Then I realized, how silly of me. I could no doubt have requested it be sent me by my local library an..."

I should have my library copy within two weeks. I'm looking forward to reading this.

It's longer than you think, Dad! It's longer than you think!

I finished an audiobook telling of The Jaunt last night and surprisingly thought the story was quite good. 4 stars from me. I'm a little surprised that this story didn't win any major awards.

The middle part got bogged down a bit as King set up the framed story, which I think could have been just as effective with half the detail that was provided. All was forgiven when I got to the absolutely chilling twist ending (actually, a double twist in my mind) that will remain in my mind for a long time . Classic sci-fi fused with existential horror.

Nice explicit shout-out to Alfred Bester and implicit shout-out to Ray Bradbury.

I think this could have been easily expanded into a full-length novel.

My copy of Skeleton Crew arrived today. It was a hardback, which surprised me. No dustcover of course, not for the low price I paid. Looking forward to starting it soon.

I read this over a week ago and was not that impressed. I wanted to give it another more careful read, but so far can't bring myself to do it. Based on the one reading, I give the story a generous three stars.

It's about teleportation of human beings. My introduction to the concept was of course Star Trek Original Series. This teleportation is a little more primitive and more involved.

The reason I didn't care for the story is because I believe it's exceptionally poorly written. Much of the dialogue between the characters has the flimsiest of motivations and seems to be there to inform the reader. Much of the story happens in flashback. Other bits of it simply have explanations provided by one character to another. There's very little action, no characterization, and real antagonist. It's quite a weak story for a writer of King's stature to have composed.

He informs us after the end that the story was rejected by Omni because of its "wonky science." I actually don't have a problem granting King his starting scientific premises. I suspect the Omni editor rejected the story for the reasons I mention, but rather than tall King his writing sucked, thus messing up a relationship, gave him an excuse he thought King could better accept.

The closing plot twist, no doubt King's entire reason for writing the story in the first place, is cute, but not enough to justify the rest of the story and the way it was mistold. The plot itself is okay; it just required better presentation.