Stephen King’s first collection of short stories showcases the darkest depths of his brilliant imagination and will “chill the cockles of many a heart” (Chicago Tribune). Featuring “Jerusalem’s Lot,” the basis for the upcoming tv series Chapelwaite.Here we see mutated rats gone bad (“Graveyard Shift”); a cataclysmic virus that threatens humanity (“Night Surf,” the basis for The Stand); a … humanity (“Night Surf,” the basis for The Stand); a possessed, evil lawnmower (“The Lawnmower Man”); unsettling children from the heartland (“Children of the Corn”); a smoker who will try anything to stop (“Quitters, Inc.”); a reclusive alcoholic who begins a gruesome transformation (“Gray Matter”); and many more shadows and visions that will haunt you long after the last page is turned.
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I re-read this collection recently and had a marvelous time doing it. The book was first released in 1978, so this counts as officially old-school Stephen King.
These stories are fabulous, and the table of contents reads like a list of early Stephen King movies… The stories range from well-crafted, expected, Stephen King stories, to well-crafted, poignant pieces about loss, stalking, and other issues. I also loved the prequel to The Stand, where idea of Captain Trips is trotted out and shown off.
If you’ve read this, isn’t it time to dust off your copy and read it again?
If you’ve never read this, you should.
I loved this book when i was a teenager. It was my first real introduction to Steven and his ability to create quirky characters and stories. I think it is great to read around Halloween.
In the early 1980s (fourth grade), I stumbled upon Stephen King. This was the first book I read by him and I was quickly obsessed. His short stories are thrilling snapshots that drive the reader’s imagination over the edge. “Night Shift” inspired a love of short stories I’ve never lost. That you can pack so much in so few words…it’s a gift.
Night Shift by Stephen King opens a Pandora’s Box full of unearthly nightmares. Stories of miniature army men coming to life, a bandaged hand that has a mind of its own, a terrifying wager taking place on a five inch apartment building ledge many stories up and a monster worm that dwells in darkness beneath a church.
Many of these works of art harkens back to the Tales From The Crypt days of old. This classic formula of grabbing the reader instantly and not letting go, is achieved by successfully claiming their undivided attention by applying an unordinary reading experience leading to an unforeseen twist ending. With his dark imaginative twists on life and conceiving things that go bump in the night that are cleverly hidden in the darkness of a bedroom closet, Stephen King may be at his best using the short fiction format. There have been an abundance of screen adaptations of these twenty tales of terror, it seems this collection resembles a gruesome greatest hits album. King indeed has a writing capability that is guaranteed many sleepless nights and will permanently stain your mind with the macabre.
Readers, grab a copy of Night Shift, pull up your favorite nice comfy chair and your beloved giant flabby warm legless rat and enjoy what King has to offer…times twenty.
What can I say but Stephan King always takes you to the edge, let’s you slip off and there the darkness you can never guess!
Some very good short stories.
Page turner (as allways)! Keeps you up, wanting to read more.
Night Shift is not the first book I ever read by Stephen King, but it’s his first short story collection I’ve ever read, and even after 2 of his other short story collections, Skeleton Crew and The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, it remains the best and scariest collection of Stephen King’s short stories! I don’t know which of those two words I’m happiest about using, either. You see, I love a good story, period, which is why I’m glad I’ve read not only horror books by King. The first four books in the Dark Tower series, the Different Seasons and Hearts in Atlantis novella collections, and The Green Mile are all excellent books I’ve read by King that, to me, have little or nothing to do with horror. So, that’s one reason I like Night Shift: there are a few stories that are either not scary at all, or only feature a few of the twists and turns that ordinarily characterize horror stories. On the other hand, I am a gigantic horror fan, which is what got me into Stephen King to begin with decades ago, when my first introduction to his fiction as a reader was the book Pet Sematary. It’s one book that perfectly demonstrates exactly the kind of King novels I like reading most, along with The Shining, Misery, and Christine. Which is exactly the best, the coolest thing about Night Shift! There are a few stories in here for readers who want something besides scary stories. But most of the stories are horror stories. And that’s what I truly love about this book; not only are almost ALL of its 20 stories horror tales, but my opinion is that the stories in this collection are among King’s most terrifying short stories. The ones that movie fans who love the movie adaptations of his work will instantly recognize are the stories about a demonic laundry press machine, hideous mutant rats that terrorize people in a small town who are working the Graveyard Shift, ghosts from a small town teacher’s past who literally come back to haunt him, and murderous, corn-worshipping children. But watch out, folks! There are plenty of other ghouls and fiends haunting these pages. They include serial murderers, lethal maniacs, vampires, and even a man whose nicotine habit causes him to literally transform into a slimy, horrifying creature. When I think about what others have said about this book in reviews they wrote for Amazon and other sites, I’m reminded that some described the book as a collection of stories that explore the darker side of human nature. An apt description if ever there was one, a perfectly accurate assessment of what makes these stories so scary when you think about it. Still, I like the book because it’s an amazing collection of truly nightmarish horror stories. For horror fans who are looking for a great book to read, and are looking for a great collection of scary stories in particular, that’s all you need in a book. If it’s a collection of really creepy, hair-raising stories, then as a horror fan, you’ve found exactly what you’re looking for! Some stories in this book are better than others, which is not unusual for any horror collection, but here are some stories that I think are real chillers: Jerusalem’s Lot, the first story in the book, could be one of the creepiest vampire stories you’ll ever read. For me, it certainly was! I Am The Doorway: Anyone who has never had a career as an astronaut will be truly VERY thankful after reading this story. Strawberry Spring is about a killer stalking a college campus. Grim, chilling, and suspenseful! The Boogeyman: While any of the haunting, skin-crawling stories in this book might have you checking under your bed or giving your closet a thorough inspection, none of them will guarantee it quite like this one will! One for the Road is the only other vampire story in the book and while it’s not as chilling as the first story, it comes close. Really, REALLY close! Most people probably wouldn’t get out of their cars in such a situation anyway, not as long as they have good cell phone reception, but this story would make you even happier to lock yourself in your car and use your cell phone to summon help if your car ever broke down on a deserted back road. This book was the first time I ever read a short story collection by Stephen King. Before reading it, I hadn’t even read a collection of novellas, not by King or anyone else. So, considering that the King of Horror had already proved that he could scare me out of my wits, or at least come close, with a large variety of novels by then, I love Night Shift because he also proves for the first time that his nightmares don’t have to consist of more than 10 or 20 or 30 pages to give me, or anyone else, a major case of the creeps. Looking for a nerve-shattering collection of short stories by this master of the macabre? Read this book. While you read it, you’ll find Stephen King working the Night Shift to bring your worst nightmares to life… right before your eyes!
An early collection of short stories written by Stephen King, some have been made into movies. It’s Stephen King! Always worth reading!
This is one of the the first Stephen King books I purchased as a young adult. The short stories offer a smorgasbord of what makes King’s writing so enjoyable. From the terrifying to the otherworldly, this book has it all. It is one that I return to every few years, and I always discover something new and surprising.
I read this collection many years ago and recently returned to it. To me, this is King’s darkest collection of short stories. A great read.
Great stories!
This might sound a little strange but I think that this collection is a work of art. I’d put this right up alongside Chekhov and Poe.
If you ever wondered why people make such a big deal out of Stephen King, I think his talents are fully on display here.
King has a great ability in these stories to crunch a great deal of backstory and exposition in a small amount of page space and still make it seem natural. In certain paragraphs he’ll stealthily segue four or five times without me even noticing and then I’ll have to reread his story four or five times to try and see how he did it. The way he blends genre is ingenious also. Is it science fiction? Is it dark fantasy? Is it horror? Or is it some blend of all three?
Then there’s Kings diction. He is so comfortable and adept at using those short, guttural english words. Sometimes, in the middle of a story, he’ll make up a word and you’ll swear that he didn’t. You’ll swear that that word has always existed but it hasn’t. Check your dictionaries. You’ve been duped. His horrific onamonapia is on display here.
These were the stories that King wrote because he had to. Because he felt that if he came up with a good enough monster, it would pay for his kid’s medicine and bring a better life to him and his family. And it shows. The pacing is perfect.
My favorite story is I am the Doorway. I’ve read that one several times trying to figure out where all the master strokes are.
I wish more short stories were written this way. I recently watched a DVD that showed an interview of a small press editor that said something that really annoyed me. She said that some authors foolishly tried to make the endings of their short stories too tidy, that they “tried to put a neat little bow on the end of their stories” and that this diminished them.
These stories all have definite endings. Stephen King is not trying to confuse anyone or leave all that much room for interpretation. I would argue that that is more artistically courageous than leaving an ending ambiguous. He can never infer that a reader “just didn’t understand” or talk around in circle for hours about themes. These stories are designed to either succeed or fail.
So, what I’m arguing for here is definitive endings in short stories. Of course, there are the one in a million geniuses, like Chekhov, who can truly write great open-ended short stories. But open-ended endings are so much easier to fake. They are a lot more prone to becoming “The Emperor’s New Clothes” (especially in academic circles where there’s lots of money and reputation at stake… oooh–I went there! Snap! I’m not gonna lie, I hate what the academic world has done to the short story. It doesn’t belong to you tweedy twerps, okay? Let it go. Give it back to us. The people who have lived lived-lives.)
About 80% of these hit it out of the park.
Hands down Stephen King’s BEST short story collection!
I still feel like King is at his best when writing short fiction. I always enjoy his collections (something I can’t always say about his novels), and this is my favorite of all his collections. I think what makes him such a good short story writer is his originality. He writes things you’ve never thought of or seen before.
Stephen King, duh.
only reason not a 5 star is because i don’t like short stories. I prefer a full novel with a beginning , middle and end. short stories feel like i only get one piece of the story – the middle.
A good read and waaaaay better than the low-budget movie.
Classic King stories!
Some wonderful tales from SK here. Some I didn’t love as much, but I first read this years ago, and I’ve found some stories linger with me even if I didn’t initially feel strongly about them, and others simply impact me differently at a different stage in life, such that some I once thought dull I now love.
I love all his works, but something about his short story anthologies really grabs me. Great work here. Highly recommended.