Gary K Bibliophile’s Reviews > Night Shift > Status Update

The Lawnmower Man - I remember seeing this movie and thinking “WTF is this?” I had heard SK strongly disapproved. Having finally read the short story I can see why. The movie bears little resemblance to its origin focusing more on a Flowers for Algernon type approach and trying to incorporate 3D rendering (new at the time) into the story. This was more about ghosts in the machines (recurring theme in book)

The Ledge - I really like this one. Nothing supernatural this time, but twisted nonetheless. I guess this was added as part of the movie Cat’s Eye, which I guess I have to get around to watching too.

Strawberry Spring - at only 10 pages long this one was still pretty good, but just when it was getting interesting it came to an abrupt end. I liked it though - beware Springheel Jack

Sometimes They Come Back - aka “Malefic Spirits and How to Call Them.” At 30 pages this one was a little longer so you could get into the story a little more. Looking into this one further, I didn’t realize that this was made into a movie. It doesn’t review very well, but I’ll probably check it out anyway.

Trucks – from the title alone I thought it might be a precursor to the short story Throttle cowritten by SK and son Joe Hill. It didn’t take long to figure out that this is not the case at all this is quite a different story. Like many in this collection it is too short to get into much character development or explain what’s really going on. Interesting though.

Battleground – based on the title alone, I could have tried to guess what this was about and not come across the right answer for several years. I bet SK had a lot of fun writing this. It was a lot of fun to read. 🥜

Gray Matter - another interesting short story. It reminded me a bit of Jordy Verrill. I watched a YouTube video about someone connecting this into the 'IT' universe... well... maybe. That was a dozen years later, but SK likes to interconnect his stories in fun ways (things for the 'Calvins' to find 😀)

The Boogeyman - this one was really good and also felt like a Twilight Zone episode. There is a fun connection that I’m not sure a lot of people caught. SK mentions a story from Tales from the Crypt… about someone who drowned their husband and they came back.

The same idea that SK revisited in Creepshow in 1982. The story with Ted Danson. 🧟. When I googled this I saw no mentions on the internets - haha

The Mangler-
“blood of a virgin, graveyard dirt, hand of glory, bat's blood, night moss, horse's hoof, eye of toad..

Based on the title I did not know what to expect for this one. Kind of a ghost in the machine story. I was hesitant to google… the hand of glory… but when I did I was like “Oh that’s that thing from Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire” Pretty interesting short story.

I am the Doorway - this one was very short, but interesting. Felt like an episode of The Twilight Zone. Early sci-fi from SK - written in 1971. Sadly he was off in his optimistic prediction that we would land on Mars in 1979. 🚀 I do now understand the 1979 paperback cover I see a lot online - very cool 👁️👁️👁️