I’ve had this battered copy of \\n  Skeleton Crew\\n on my bookcase for a REALLY long time.

I vaguely remember getting this tattered paperback at a used bookstore decades ago, now. It was from a place in my hometown. The ink stamp inside has the address and phone number with a 206 area code – so from before the time they separated all the western Washington area codes from the communities around the Seattle area code and putting them into 253, 360, and 425.

It’s been on a myriad of bookshelves since. It’s held together with packing tape and my affection for Stephen King’s writing. I’m overdue on reading it, but, oh well. Here it goes with my rating for each story. I’ve skipped over the poems since I just sort of skimmed those and candidly didn’t pay much attention to them.

\\n  The Mist:\\n This is the first story of this collection. Probably a good choice to get us warmed up. It’s a novella about a bunch of people trapped by fog and what hides within it. At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about the starting offering. It’s good. But dang, Uncle Stevie and his endings... (4/5)

\\n  Here There Be Tygers:\\n A kid goes into a bathroom and there’s a tiger. Didn't quite appeal to me and I candidly found it confusing. (2/5)

And this year’s award (well, I suppose 1985’s) for really creepy damn toy goes to … \\n  The Monkey.\\n The toy that keeps going and going and going… is and featured as this edition's cover icon. Classic King. Loved it. (5/5)

\\n  Cain Rose Up:\\n Oof. A story about a guy shooting people. Didn’t really care for it. It was just sort of there. Hard to get into now, but even in 1985 when this was published in this anthology it kind of lacked depth or meaning. (1.5/5)

\\n  Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut:\\n For a tale about a shortcut, this one slowly meandered a bit. It got intriguing toward the end. Then it ended. And not a particularly satisfying one at that. So, 3/5 for this one.

\\n  The Jaunt:\\n Science fiction and horror with technology gone wrong. This one kept me thinking and guessing and it was a complete story. That's all I can legitimately ask for in a short story. So, yay! An upturn! (5/5)

\\n  The Wedding Gig:\\n This one had an interesting twist near the end but it wasn't really scary or disturbing or anything. (3/5)

\\n  The Raft:\\n All righty then! Back to floating on top with this one. The Raft is classic Uncle Stevie! A welcome story. Especially after trying to decipher a poem immediately before that. What the what is the dude doing writing a poem anyway? Anyway … a raft in a lake, four college kids, a weird black oily slick on the lake. Lots of distance between the anchored raft and the shore where their car and safety is. What could possibly go wrong with that. Well, turns out quite a bit. This one was awesome. Ending left a bit to be desired, but that's cool. (5/5)

\\n  Word Processor of the Gods:\\n This was another really good one. Who wouldn't change a few things around their life with a few keystrokes? (5/5)

\\n  The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands:\\n A creative curse forces a major character in this one make some difficult decisions in this interesting story. (4/5)

\\n  Beachworld:\\n Here, we have a sci-fi tale of a ship stranded on a different planet, where the sand isn't everything one would expect. It’s got madness, creatures, people acting dumb. All good stuff. (4/5)

\\n  The Reaper’s Image:\\n I’m not really sure what The Reaper's Image was about but it didn't really work for me or move me. (2/5)

But \\n  \\n    Nona\\n  \\n offered a weird tale of a different kind of Bonnie and Clyde with rats. Interesting. (4/5)

\\n  Survivor Type:\\n This one was worth the price of admission all by itself. Drugs, isolation, the will to live, and making \\"sacrifices.\\" The best story of the bunch by a very wide margin. Now THIS ONE is classic King. (5+/5)

\\n  Uncle Otto’s Truck:\\n again some pretty classic Uncle Stevie. They were pretty good but nothing like \\"Survivor Type.\\" (3.75/5)

\\n  Morning Deliveries: (Milkman #1):\\n Same feelings as Uncle Otto’s Truck. (3.75/5)

\\n  Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman #2):\\n Same as above, but upon reflection this one wasn’t as moving as the prior two. (3.5/5)

\\n  Gramma:\\n What to say? Hmmm… A kid is freaked out over his dying grandmother. He slowly comes to realize her power, not only over him, but others. It meander a LOT for a while but then got interesting. Problem was I sort of saw some of it coming. Oh well. (3.5/5)

\\n  The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet:\\n Okay, well, I take some of that back. \\n  NOW\\n what to say? Good grief, I personally found this one really quite awful. It meandered and could not for the life of me hold my attention. If this had been at the start of the compilation it might have colored my entire perception of this anthology. I still can’t quite work out the point. A writer and an editor are talking. And then talking more. And the writer’s spouse is there and kind of neglected from the narrative. They’re talking about some dude going crazy or researching insanity. Or something. I don’t know. (1/5)

\\n  The Reach:\\n This poor story suffered having bringing up the rear of such a bad story right before it. I redoubled my concentration and got through it. It was pretty touching and dealt with loss and community, which I can relate to. (4/5)

Collectively, then I am putting this as a 4 for rounding up on the scores. This anthology was a damn site better than Nightmares and Dreamscapes. That one felt like a chore. This one felt like a collection. Not all good. Some pretty good. Some that’re gonna stick with me. That’s what an anthology should do.

If you're on the hunt for a book that has the power to evoke a wide range of emotions within you, from uproarious laughter to heart-wrenching tears, from blood-curdling screams to spine-tingling shivers, then look no further than "Skeleton Crew" by the renowned Stephen King.

“There are things of such darkness and horror—just, I suppose, as there are things of such great beauty—that they will not fit through the puny human doors of perception.”

This outstanding compilation of short stories and novellas serves as a testament to King's unrivaled mastery of the horror, fantasy, and humor genres. As you delve into its pages, you'll encounter a grandmother with a hug that proves to be deadly, a raft with a ravenous mouth, a monkey with a cursed toy, and a plethora of other unforgettable characters and situations.

It's a book that has the ability to keep you up throughout the night, compelling you to read just one more story...or perhaps two...or even three...

\\"..even the most well-adjusted person is holding on to his or her sanity by a greased rope.\\"

Another solid Stephen King outing.

Just writing about "The Mist."

I find it truly interesting how Stephen King masterfully portrays the townsfolk and their diverse reactions to the unfolding events.

It's almost as if we are witnessing the progression of grief in a unique and vivid way - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Each character is on their own individual journey, yet they are also being influenced, for better or worse, by those around them.

In the end, it becomes clear that sometimes the real horror lies not in the supernatural entities or the unknown forces of the Mist, but rather in the actions and behaviors of other people. The way they turn on each other, the panic and chaos that ensues, and the breakdown of social order all contribute to a sense of dread and unease that is truly palpable.

Stephen King has once again proven himself to be a master of the horror genre, able to create a world that is both terrifying and believable, and characters that we can't help but care about, even as they face their worst nightmares.

This was a reread for me. I first read it as a teenager (many, many years ago). I thought I would remember more of it, but it was like reading it for the first time. I really only remembered The Mist and Mrs. Todd's Shortcut, which makes sense since those might be my two favorite stories in this collection.

The entire collection was strong in the first half compared to the second half. Other stories that I really liked were The Jaunt, The Raft, Word Processor of the Gods, and Survivor Type. There were quite a few duds here that made the collection drag on. It could be why Night Shift is my favorite out of the two short story collections I have read.

Below is my breakdown of each story:

The Mist

This is the first thing I ever remember reading by Stephen King. I read Night Shift shortly after this collection of short stories. I think it really prepared me for how King could quickly create characters, but also loved open endings. He did a great job creating a spooky atmosphere with the fog and how everyone dealt with the problems it created. He did have some great characters with David, Ollie, Mrs. Carmody, and even Mrs. Reppler. There were some other characters that really seemed unnecessary, like Amanda. I rolled my eyes while listening to any scene that involved David and her. Beyond that though, I thought it was a really solid story and it is the main story that I have remembered from this collection over the years.

Here There Be Tygers

Well, this one was over before it started. So many questions, but no answers. I didn't hate it, but it made me think, \\"Wait, what? Is it over? Okay then.\\" If there was a bit more to it, I could have liked it. It is right there in the middle.

The Monkey

I remembered nothing about this story, which surprised me since the monkey is on the cover. Then while listening to it, I can see why I didn't remember it. It's another possessed inanimate object, but I didn't find anything scary about it. I was more amused listening to Matthew Broderick reading it and the way he said \\"horror\\" and \\"terror\\" as \\"horrah\\" and \\"terrah.\\" I also thought I had finally made it past the point in King's story where he feels the need to throw in the N word for no reason, but since this story was written earlier in his career and collected in this book, he still thought it was necessary. It is not.

Cain Rose Up

Disappointing. It's similar to Rage, but there's no reasoning behind what is happening or any reason to care about anyone. I also wondered how this still exists and Rage was taken out of print. Rage is so much better than this story.

Mrs. Todd's Shortcut

This is the other story from this collection that stuck with me through the years. I loved that she was always trying to find the quickest way and how she said she could fold the map to find a faster route. I think that is my love of road trips and maps that made that connection with me. I had forgotten most of the story beyond those little bits, so I was glad that I really enjoyed it all this time around too.

The Jaunt

I thought I would have remembered this story since I love the idea of teleportation, but it was all new to me. It quickly painted a picture of how it was discovered and how it all works before the terrifying ending.

The Wedding Gig

I don't feel like I really got this one. It also seemed like the most interesting part of the story would have been the part that was summed up quickly at the end. I wish it would have been more about that.

Paranoid: A Chant

It's short and sweet and lives up to its name.

The Raft

Overall, I loved the intensity and suspense of this story. I would have loved it more if the two young women in it weren't portrayed as useless, whiny, and vindictive.

Word Processor of the Gods

Fun, twisted story. I wasn't a big fan of the protagonist and thought he might get his due by the end, but he didn't. I still liked it. It told a lot of story in a few pages.

The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands

The old guys at the club that also showed up in The Breathing Method are telling more stories. I could guess what the twist was almost immediately so it took a bit of wonder out of the story for me. I wanted it to be over a lot sooner than it was.

Beachworld

Very creepy and I think this would make a good sci-fi movie, or maybe a corny one, but it would be an entertaining movie.

The Reaper's Image

This was the start of something that could have been a lot scarier, but it was too short. If it would have had time to build up some suspense and misdirection, I think it would have been more effective.

Nona

It was a solid story. I really liked the twist at the end, but didn't like the whole rat angle. He does seem a bit obsessed with rats and I don't understand it. I did like this had references to \\"The Body\\" with Ace Merrill and Vern Tessio.

For Owen

Why? It's a short poem for his son, but I don't feel like it belongs here.

Survivor Type

Classic horror scenario. Hints at the grossness of sacrifice. This would be even scarier if it was part of a horror anthology on television.

Uncle Otto's Truck

Isn't King tired of writing about possessed inanimate objects? Guess not. I am though.

Morning Deliveries (Milkman #1)

What an odd little story. It was boring at the beginning, but I was waiting for it to turn. Then, the twist happened and it was over. I was thinking WTF but saw the next story was connected some how.

Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman #2)

I liked this story, but mostly because of the narrator on the audio that I was listening to. He did a great job acting like a drunk. I found it much more entertaining that I might have otherwise. I liked these two weird little stories.

Gramma

A super creepy story about how grandparents can be terrifying to little children. This one is even creepier.

The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet

A writer thinks all his good ideas come from a goblin that lives in his typewriter. I thought this story had potential, but the premise dragged on for far too long before it got to the good stuff at the end. You could see the end coming a mile away since it took so long to get there.

The Reach

I wanted to like this story, but I didn't really get any connection to the character to care about what was going to happen. I knew what was going to happen immediately too. It was pleasant enough.

Skeleton Crew is a remarkable short story anthology collection penned by Stephen King and published in 1985. By this time, King had firmly established himself as an iconic figure in the literary world.

Most of his early works had already been adapted into successful movies, and he was widely regarded as a Modern Master, a view that I wholeheartedly share.

I vividly remember the first time I delved into these stories and was simply amazed (a feeling that persists to this day) at how King could transform ordinary things into macabre and eerie horrors in the most imaginative ways.

For example, take the story “The Monkey.” Growing up, I had a wind-up monkey toy with cymbals. As an adult, when I think back on it, I recall its nappy fur and the capricious way it would clap its cymbals at all hours of the night.

Nostalgia is that bittersweet emotion, a familiar feeling of home intertwined with the pain of loss. That's precisely what I experienced while reading this story, as if I were conversing with an old friend who had gradually drifted away from me.

In any anthology, the quality of the stories is bound to be uneven. Therefore, I have decided to rate this collection 4 stars instead of 5. However, I'm certain that King won't be overly affected by my review. Still, I have a deep affection for almost all of these stories.

“I stood there for a moment, first surveying the damage, then glancing out at the mist again. It seemed closer, but it was very hard to tell for sure. If it was closer, it was defying all the laws of nature, because the wind – a very gentle breeze – was against it. That, of course, was patently impossible. It was very, very white. The only thing I can compare it to would be fresh-fallen snow lying in dazzling contrast to the deep-blue brilliance of the winter sky. But snow reflects hundreds and hundreds of diamond points in the sun, and this peculiar fogbank, although bright and clean-looking, did not sparkle…[M]ist isn’t uncommon on clear days, but when there’s a lot of it, the suspended moisture almost always causes a rainbow. But there was no rainbow here…”

- Stephen King, The Mist, featured in Skeleton Crew

When I envision a Stephen King book, I picture a work that can vary in size from a hefty brick (like the mass market edition of The Stand) to a small puppy (such as the hardcover edition of Under the Dome). I recall memories of extensive word counts, elaborate backstories, and side-plot detours that can stray hundreds of pages from the main storyline. More than anything, when I think of King's extensive body of work, I think of excess. Excess in terms of gore, violence, and the sheer number of pages. And frankly, as much as I sometimes complain about King's meandering tomes, that's precisely what I love about him. There is something truly wonderful about getting completely lost in a work like It, where a simple good-versus-evil concept is expanded to lengths that Tolstoy or Proust might have approved of.

Yet, according to his own recollections in the introduction to Carrie, King began his career writing short stories and selling them to various print magazines for a few hundred dollars each. He'd get an idea – invariably strange – and then quickly write a draft in a few days before sending it off to publications that no longer exist.

Normally, I'm not overly fond of short stories. It's a personal preference that I can't quite explain, except for the unsatisfactory feeling of something ending just as I start to become engaged. Nevertheless, having made a small start on King's extensive bibliography, I decided to explore some of his shorter works.

Skeleton Crew is a collection of twenty-two short stories originally published between 1980 and 1985. Although many of the individual selections are relatively quick reads, the entire collection – from cover to cover – is over five hundred pages long.

The headline selection in Skeleton Crew – and the reason I chose it in the first place – is The Mist. More of a novella than a short story, The Mist follows a group of people trapped in a supermarket after being surrounded by a fog that hides a deadly threat. It's quite good, with several excellent sequences. However, I would argue that the movie version is far superior, with its brutally unflinching and unforgettable ending. I suppose I couldn't help but feel that The Mist was both too long and too short. As part of a short story collection, it overstayed its welcome. At the same time, the concept is excellent, and with the potential inherent in a large cast of characters, I would have liked to see it receive the full, big-novel treatment.

Even though I was mainly interested in The Mist, I decided – out of a sense of obligation, really – to read the rest of the stories straight through. As I suppose is true of any such collection, no matter how skillfully curated – and Skeleton Crew sometimes feels rather random – it's a mixed bag.

Surprisingly, my favorites tended to be more science-fiction than horror based. In Beachworld, two astronauts end up stranded on a desert planet that seems to be alive. Immediately, one of the astronauts starts to go mad. Using only a few pages, King is able to hint at a much larger – and potentially extremely interesting – universe surrounding his compact tale. In The Jaunt, King plays with the concepts of time, space, and teleportation, while providing a gruesome twist at the end. It feels very much in the vein of The Twilight Zone, with the addition of King's ever-present willingness to take things to extremes.

King has always had a warped sense of humor, and that's certainly on display in many of the stories in Skeleton Crew. For example, in Survivor Type, a drug-running doctor ends up on a deserted island. In a series of journal entries, he narrates his increasingly desperate efforts to avoid starvation.

Unfortunately, King also has some less-than-desirable literary tricks and tics that appear and reappear so frequently that they start to seem pathological. His treatment of female characters, for instance, is extremely inconsistent and often involves disapproving descriptions of a woman's weight. When he's not shaming women for their weight, King positions them as either slutty temptresses or nagging wives. A story like Word Processor of the Gods, about a struggling writer who has to deal with an overweight, nagging wife, simply doesn't work anymore, if it ever did. It's bordering on cruel and feels like the wish fulfillment of a perpetually self-centered misogynist.

This leads to another recurring theme, that of toxic masculinity. That particular term entered the lexicon around the time that King wrote these stories, but there's no indication that he was responding to concerns about the troubling behavior of certain young men. On the contrary, in Skeleton Crew, there are several stories in which the protagonist is an entitled male filled with murderous impulses that we're implicitly encouraged to cheer. One particularly unredeemable selection features a college student shooting people from his dorm room. (Although this was published long before Columbine, Sandy Hook, and Las Vegas, King was clearly inspired by Charles Whitman's 1966 massacre from atop the tower at the University of Texas-Austin). There's no real point to it, except that it gives King the opportunity to vividly describe headshots and splattered brains. Another equally pointless wallow in depravity follows an ex-college student's violent rampage, with every murder described in loving, leering detail.

In my experience with King, the good and the bad have always gone hand in hand. Even his best novels have problematic parts or sections that haven't aged well. Usually, though, the good outweighs the bad, often by a significant margin. Skeleton Crew has a more balanced ratio. Every story is readable, and even the worst-conceived ones are written with King's underrated skills. Even when the underlying premise is deplorable, most of the stories are effortlessly entertaining. They're also a bit insidious. On the nights when I read Skeleton Crew, I noticed that my sleep was often disrupted by vivid and disturbing dreams. That Skeleton Crew managed to affect my dream life is a sort of compliment.

With that said, the best stories in this collection aren't quite good enough to make you forget the flaws in the worst ones.

Skeleton Crew, Stephen King's second collection of short fiction, is like a scattergun. It contains a wide variety of tales, both in genre and quality.

From the Lovecraftian-tinged horror of The Mist to the science fiction of The Jaunt and Beach World, the modern fantasy of Mrs. Todd's Shortcut, and even a Jazz Age gangster tale in The Wedding Gig, King shows that his talents aren't just limited to horror. He even includes two short poems, which, unfortunately, aren't short enough.

The marquee attraction in this collection is The Mist. It's a novella-length tale that combines King's usual small town characters encountering horror with the eldritch, mind-breaking terror typical of Lovecraft's work. It's long enough to stand alone (and has been published as such), and I consider it among King's top works.

There are other standout stories in Skeleton Crew. The Jaunt is a clever tale that starts as breezy sci-fi and ends with a horrific twist that will stay with you. The Monkey effectively plays with our fears of loss and mortality by turning a simple windup child's toy into a malicious harbinger of doom. Mrs. Todd's Shortcut is both strange and sweet, and is nearly a perfectly told tale. Gramma shows King's talent for writing from a child's perspective and is weirdly terrifying.

A few of these stories are well told and clever but didn't grab me due to personal taste (Beach World, The Raft, Survivor Type). Your mileage may vary on these. Here There Be Tygers was one of King's earliest stories, written in high school, and it shows. Then there are others that are just bad, like his killer stories (Cain Rose Up, Nona) and the aforementioned poetry (Paranoid A Chant, ForOwen). You can actually improve this collection by skipping these altogether. Ultimately, the quality of the best stories here outweighs the stinkers, making Skeleton Crew a solid collection.

Probably more like 3.5/5 overall as a group of stories for me. Each story has its own unique charm and flaws.

The Mist is a truly captivating tale. It builds an atmosphere of intense dread and uncertainty. The way the mist encroaches upon the small town and the strange creatures that emerge from it keep the reader on the edge of their seat. I would definitely give it a 5/5.

The Raft is another excellent story. It has a simple yet effective premise. A group of friends find themselves stranded on a raft in the middle of a lake, and something sinister is lurking beneath the surface. The tension steadily rises as they struggle to survive. It also earns a 5/5.

Gramma is a disturbing and unforgettable story. It delves into the darker side of human nature and the power of superstition. The character of Gramma is both creepy and fascinating. I would rate it 5/5 as well.

The rest of the stories are more like 3/5. They have their moments but don't quite reach the same level of excellence as the first three. However, they are still worth reading.

Overall, I would say that this collection is definitely worth the read for those three outstanding stories alone.

A blend of what I love most about King (which is overwhelmingly the case) and what drives me mad (few and far between). The Mist, The Jaunt, Word Processor of the Gods and Gramma stood out the most to me as amalgamations of wacky, terror-inducing, mind-bending creativity. These stories have the ability to transport the reader to another world, filled with strange and wonderful characters and situations. Beachworld and The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet, on the other hand, sit on the bottom of “not my cup of tea-ness”. They just didn't quite resonate with me in the same way as the others.

I prefer this collection over Night Shift, and I believe I’m in the minority on that, but that’s usually the case with my taste. I delight in what most disparage, and I disparage what most delight in. I’m ok with that. It’s one of the reasons I love King so much. He has something for all tastes. Whether you prefer horror, science fiction, or just a good old-fashioned story, King has it all. His ability to create vivid and engaging worlds is truly remarkable, and I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

Abundance of Horror

"Then she saw it again. It was closer. A dark, round spot, like an enormous mole, floating on the gentle waves of the lake. The first time she had noticed it was about forty meters away from the raft. Now it was already halfway there. How was it possible? How..."

"It was a beach that didn't need an ocean because it was an ocean in itself, a sea of sand, the black and white snapshot of a sea immortalized forever in dips and crests. Dunes. Some low, others steep, some smooth, some corrugated. Sharp peaks, flat peaks, jagged peaks that seemed like dunes piled on top of other dunes, like the tiles of a domino. Dunes, but no ocean."

King's third collection shows a heterogeneity already recognized with excellent results in Sometimes They Come Back (Different Seasons, the second in chronological order, is a collection of four long stories that sacrifices the author's eclecticism to give ample breathing room to the few stories proposed: it is not really comparable to the two mentioned). From horror to science fiction, without ruling out descents into the surreal or classic coming-of-age stories, King's pen gives birth to small universes that continue to exist even when the reader lingers on the last line. A meager handful of turbo-trash finds space and, fortunately, does not go to spoil the very good final result of the collection.

"The Mist" 4★
A group of people find themselves barricaded in the local shopping mall following the descent of a mysterious mist. If the roots of the story are typically Lovecraftian, the disillusioned gaze of the American provincial microcosm belongs to King, without a doubt. Worth noting is the good 2006 adaptation by Darabont.

"Tigers!" 4★
A child harassed by the teacher's barbs, exposed to public ridicule in front of the class for the simple need to use the bathroom, becomes the protagonist of a surreal discovery. A dry and disconcerting weird story, capable of precisely delineating the psychological movements of the protagonist.

"The Monkey" 3.5★
The irrational fears of the infantile sphere are sublimated in a mischievous monkey toy with a Mephistophelian grin and brass plates: jang-jang-jang, who will be the next dead? Well-told story, with past-present alternations to embroider on the malignant element and exacerbate its sense of unease. Some botched supernatural elements in the closing mar the final result.

"Cain Rose Up" 3.5★
In a generic college, at night, a student awaits the outcome of an exam and goes up to his room to exorcise his fear. A subject that is scary in its own way and also reiterated in the American crime chronicle. Perhaps a more relevant and in-depth context was needed to highlight what was narrated.

"Mrs. Todd's Shortcut" 4.5★
Homer Buckland has the opportunity to tell about Mrs. Toad and the car trips that have dotted his life. A story that makes the surreal the distinctive feature to sketch the love for the mystery and the unexplored. An intense and romantic story, without becoming cheesy.

"The Jaunt" 5★
An American family must endure teleportation to move to a town on Mars: we are in a hypothetical future where such technology has become the main means of locomotion. The dialogue between father and son sheds light on the birth of the technology, including its darkest aspects. A science fiction story that borders on Lovecraftian horror: it is difficult to find a story so balanced and, above all, inspired.

"Wedding Gig" 3.5★
The protagonist, a musician in a band, is asked to use his art for the wedding of the sister - fat and ungainly - of a second-rate gangster. A likable subject in the service of a well-written story.

"Ode of the Paranoid S.V."
First-person poem of a paranoid individual. Unjudgeable since the adaptation of any poetic composition prejudices the form (and, by reflection, the content).

"The Raft" 4.5★
Four boys decide to take one last swim in the lake. But, upon reaching the raft moored in the center of the lake, a mysterious oil slick begins to move around the group. A classic survival story packaged with all the crimes of the case, well supported by a rather atypical entity in its manifestation.

"The Word Processor of the Gods" 4★
What would happen if, one day, a particular word processor was delivered to your home, the last gift from your favorite nephew? A successful variant of the genie in the lamp, here materialized in a computer to rewrite reality. The introspective course of the protagonist is corrected, generous and selfish at the same time in the face of typical decisions.

"The Man Who Wouldn't Shake Hands" 3★
In the mysterious club proposed in The Breathing Method, a story from Different Seasons, this time the story of a mysterious individual with a phobia of not wanting to shake hands with anyone is told: what is his secret? A story with an almost gothic atmosphere, with a sneaky narration that reveals little of the context - the club - and limits itself to presenting a strange little story.

"Suffer the Little Children" 4.5★
Eight thousand years after the death of the Beach Boys, two astronauts crash their spaceship in an endless sandy plain: a terrible struggle for survival begins, between drought and the creeping threat beneath the sand dunes. A dry and fierce story about survival in inhospitable environments; almost a hybrid between Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles and Lem's Solaris. Some of King's nonsense, at the end, fortunately has no physical space to compromise the beautiful story.

"The Image of the Lover" 4.5★
Two individuals bring an antique mirror up to the attic, on which there are disturbing rumors: the previous owners have seen the Reaper in the reflection, shortly before meeting a bad end. King, unlike his concrete and often tacky horrors, wisely doses the reader's anticipation with the distorted perception that anyone experiences in front of the mirror.

"Nona" 3.5★
An individual from Castle Rock tries to hitchhike; but, at a roadside diner, he will find something else waiting for him. It is difficult to classify this story: on the one hand, we enter the deviated and at the same time normal mind of a madman; on the other hand, the classic Kingian framework of preadolescent focus (and bullies with a pocket knife). Well written, but it does not leave a mark like other stories.

"For Owen S.V."
Nothing, King's poems really translate badly into Italian. Here too it is better to be a Democritean and not expose oneself.

"The Art of Survival" 5★
A surgeon of dubious morality is shipwrecked on a deserted islet. How to survive when the fauna is scarce and all that remains, apart from a couple of kilos of heroin, is your body? Not very believable from a scientific point of view; also, the narration through a diary leaves a lot to be desired: who would ever take notes in that situation and in those conditions? And yet the story literally violates the limits imposed by man in dignity for survival: family, friends, animals, and ethics are sacrificed in the face of necessity. An iconic story in the author's production.

"Uncle Otto's Truck" 2.5★
A crazy uncle from Germany decides to take a small house in front of the truck - which went off the road years ago, in an accident - of his business partner, who later died under mysterious circumstances. Reminiscences of Duel in the service of a dull story: neither the truck nor Uncle Otto himself, stereotyped and anonymous, are great subjects.

"Morning Deliveries (Milkman #1)" 1★
The ritual of the milk delivery is necessary to frame the American mornings, with the green lawn to water and the chirping birds. The idea of the murdering milkman (spiders and cyanide in the bottles) is the height of King's collection of silliness. A purge of all respect, this story.

"Four Wheels: The Story of the Nice Laundrymen (Milkman #2)" 3★
A story that ties the figure of the milkman to a classic story of betrayal - to the detriment of the protagonist. The story itself is configured as the destruction of the American dream filtered through the eyes of a group of derelicts: two laundry workers, drunk as skunks while driving a beat-up car, meet up with a school friend of one of the two (a local mechanic). A story that is not memorable nor really enriching for the poetry that takes hold more strongly in other areas; and yet it exudes honesty and that's enough.

"The Grandma" 5★
George has to stay at home to take care of his sick grandmother, confined to bed due to obesity and not all there due to senile dementia. An exercise in tension that plays on the indecipherable fear that the elderly sick person exercises on the child; the esoteric component - infused with a subtle Lovecraftian matrix - strengthens a story complete in its irrational unease. The same subject can be found, albeit in a completely different context, in the flashback parenthesis of Pet Sematary with Zelda at the center.

"The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet" 3★
The story of a writer tormented by mysterious presences nested in the typewriter and also the prey of the inexhaustible pool of conspiracies that trigger the siege syndrome. His editor, among rivers of alcohol and improbable epistolary relationships, tries to interact with him: he will be swept away by the same self-destructive spiral. King is used to constructing fictional counterparts that represent him; and it is no coincidence that alcohol and the theme of the double - independent and not very inspired writer; writer dependent on something, creative at a high level - are also proposed here. Excessively wordy and with a limping narrative rhythm; it still saves itself in corners for the good underlying idea.

"The Arm" 3★
To live forever on an island, never seeing the world beyond: this is the summary of the closing story, with an elderly woman as the protagonist who weaves a collective narration of the village and its inhabitants. Although told with a certain poetic vein, the story seems more like the draft of a short novel; nor is it helped by the flood of characters listed, a characteristic that contributes to giving the whole story an air of summary.

\\n  Review\\n

I'm not typically a devotee of short stories, yet I'm a huge admirer of Stephen King. Before delving into this collection, I had perused two others by him: Hearts in Atlantis and Different Seasons. I felt that both of those were more robust collections. The main disparity, I think, is that they contained fewer, but lengthier stories.
This particular collection has been on my radar for an extended period, especially due to The Mist, which is the first (and longest) story. In fact, it's a novella, while the rest are short stories. It's purported to have "major" ties to his Dark Tower series, and it's one of the few in that category that I hadn't read previously. Personally, I found the claim of it being a "major" connection to be a bit of a stretch, especially when compared to most of the others. So, if, like me, you're inclined to read all the associated works, I believe you can skip this one without much consequence.
In this collection of 22 stories (although calling 2 of them stories is perhaps overly generous), there are 3 that are worthy of mention. The best story was probably Mrs. Todd's Shortcut. I thought it was truly fantastic. I also greatly enjoyed The Monkey and Gramma.
Paranoid: A Chant and For Owen bring up the rear. I suppose if you have small snippets of writing that you deem interesting, including them in such a large collection is the best way to publish them, but I think the collection would have been stronger without them, in my personal opinion.
As for the rest, you can refer to my list of ratings below.



\\n  Audio\\n

This book features 13 distinct narrators, with some of them reading multiple stories. Will Patton, Frances Sternhagen, Paul Giamatti, and Norbert Leo Butz were the standouts among the group. None of the narrators were bad, but most of them were rather forgettable. You can view my comprehensive ratings for each performance below.



\\n  Ratings\\n

Story - Story Rating - Narrator - Narrator Rating


The Mist - 3 - Will Patton - 4.5

Here There Be Tygers - 2.5 - Kyle Beltran - 3

The Monkey - 4.5 - Matthew Broderick - 3

Cain Rose Up - 1.5 - Kyle Beltran - 3

Mrs. Todd's Shortcut - 4.5 - Dana Ivey - 3.5

The Jaunt - 3 - Robert Petkoff - 3

The Wedding Gig - 2.5 - Paul Giamatti - 4

Paranoid: A Chant - 1 - Will Patton - 3

The Raft - 3 - Stephen King - 3

Word Processor of the Gods - 3.5 - Norbert Leo Butz - 3.5

The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands - 2 - Paul Giamatti - 4

Beachworld - 2.5 - Michael C. Hall - 3

The Reaper's Image - 2 - David Morse - 3

Nona - 3 - Norbert Leo Butz - 3.5

For Owen - 1.5 - David Morse - 3

Survivor Type - 2.5 - Norbert Leo Butz - 3.5

Uncle Otto's Truck - 3 - David Morse - 3

Morning Deliveries (Milkman #1) - 3 - Dylan Baker - 3

Big Wheels: A Tale of The Laundry Game (Milkman #2) - 3 - Dylan Baker - 3

Gramma - 4 - Frances Sternhagen - 4.5

The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet - 3.5 - Michael C. Hall - 3

The Reach - 2.5 - Lois Smith - 3

I bought it for Nebbia, after I saw it in pieces, the film "The Mist".

It's the first story and it's not bad considering that I don't even remember how the film ends.

The stories are not bad. I would say that it deserves the maximum. King is the King.

Stephen King is a renowned author known for his captivating and often spine-chilling stories. His works have been adapted into numerous successful films, and "The Mist" is one of them.

The film presents a post-apocalyptic world where a strange mist descends upon a small town, bringing with it terrifying creatures. The characters in the story must fight for their survival and face the unknown horrors within the mist.

Although I only saw the film in pieces, I could sense the tension and excitement that it offers. The story keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, wondering what will happen next.

King's ability to create vivid and believable characters, as well as his talent for building suspense, is truly remarkable. His stories have a way of drawing readers and viewers in and making them feel as if they are part of the action.

In conclusion, whether it's in the form of a book or a film, Stephen King's works are definitely worth experiencing. They have the power to thrill, scare, and leave a lasting impression on the audience.