King’s first collection of short stories showcases the darkest depths of his brilliant imagination. Here we see mutated rats gone bad (“Graveyard Shift”); a cataclysmic virus that threatens humanity (“Night Surf,” the basis forThe 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.
“A master storyteller.” —
Los Angeles Times“Eerie. . . . Ought to chill the cockles of many a heart.” —
Chicago Tribune“A master. . . . [King] will catch you in his web and reach you at an elemental level where there is no defense.” —
Palm Beach Post“The most wonderfully gruesome man on the planet.” —
USA Today “An undisputed master of suspense and terror.” —
The Washington Post “[King] probably knows more about scary goings-on in confined, isolated places than anybody since Edgar Allan Poe.” —
Entertainment Weekly “He’s the author who can always make the improbable so scary you’ll feel compelled to check the locks on the front door.” —
The Boston Globe “Peerless imagination.” —
The Observer(London)
Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are11/22/63;Full Dark, No Stars;Under the Dome;Just After Sunset;Duma Key;Lisey’s Story;Cell; and the concluding novels inl3–