Night Shift (1)

by Stephen King

I am 200 pages into reading Stephen King's first collection of short stories, Night Shift, and would like to go through the stories I have read so far.

But first....

Let's talk, you and I. Let's talk about fear.

The foreword to the collection was probably the first piece Mr. King has written that felt to be talking to me on a personal level. This is, actually, one of my favorite pieces of writing of his. Because it makes so much sense in its reasoning about why horror fiction works on us and why it is okay to love it, too. The fears we have appear to be universal and there is something very soothing in that.

The thing under my bed waiting to grab my ankle isn't real. I know that, and I also know that if I'm careful to keep my foot under the covers, it will never be able to grab my ankle.

Jerusalem's Lot
This is something of a prequel to 'Salem's Lot. It goes way back in the timeline and calls out the thing/worm/Satan (?) that has lured in generations of one family and is only talked about in whispers by the townsfolk, who make sure to avoid the place. Would have worked nicely as an intro to King's second novel, but works just fine as a stand-alone story.
6/10

Graveyard Shift
The particular terror in this story is one shared by many - that of rats. Vast numbers of rats and even one of dimensions we would rather try not to think about. Satisfyingly, the anti-hero (one we do not care for even though we may cheer for him when taking one the foreman) gets his just dessert.
7/10

Night Surf
This never worked for me. The evil is much to subtle and only a very distant backdrop to the story. A type of flu wipes out most of earth's population (a motive King revisits much more effectively in The Stand) but we are left with a group of sullen teenagers on a beach.
3/10

I Am the Doorway
Written in a time when space was still much more of a mystery than it is today, when we don't even have to actually go there to learn of distant planets. The belated effect space travel has on the principal character, a former astronaut from a Venus mission, is very creepy and does not quite fit the type of alien invasion we all imagine to happen any day now.
8/10

The Mangler
Nope, not buying it. Gross it is but even for King standards this is way out there.
3/10

The Boogeyman
Here the other classic monster (beside the one hiding under the bed) is the one hiding in the closet. Nice twist.
7/10

Grey Matter
Oh, gross. The dangers of slightly off beer. Or maybe the dangers of alcohol in general. Or maybe no underlying message at all.
7/10

Battleground
Goliath (the hit man) is taken down by an entire (toy) army of Davids. The horror!
7/10