Skeleton Crew
by Stephen King
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In the introduction to Skeleton Crew (1985), his second collection of stories, King pokes fun at his penchant for "literary elephantiasis,"
makes scatological jokes about his muse, confesses how much money he makes (gross and net), and tells a story about getting arrested
one time when he was "suffused with the sort of towering, righteous rage that only drunk undergraduates can feel." He winds up with an
invitation to a scary voyage: "Grab onto my arm now. Hold tight. We are going into a number of dark places, but I think I know the
way."
And he sure does. Skeleton Crew contains a superb short novel ("The Mist") that alone is worth the price of admission, plus two
forgettable poems and 20 short stories on such themes as an evil toy monkey, a human-eating water slick, a machine that avenges
murder, and unnatural creatures that inhabit the thick woods near Castle Rock, Maine. The short tales range from simply enjoyable to
surprisingly good.
In addition to "The Mist," the real standout is "The Reach," a beautifully subtle story about a great-grandmother who was born on a small
island off the coast of Maine and has lived there her whole life. She has never been across "the Reach," the body of water between island
and mainland. This is the story that King fans give to their friends who don't read horror in order to show them how literate, how
charming a storyteller he can be. Don't miss it.
--Fiona Webster
On The Flap
The Master at his scarifying best! From
heart-pounding terror to the eeriest of whimsy--tales from the outer
limits of one of the greatest imaginations of our time!
Evil that breathes and walks and shrieks, brave new worlds
and horror shows, human desperation bursting into deadly menace--such are
the themes of these astounding works of fiction. In the tradition of
Poe and Stevenson, of Lovecraft and The Twilight Zone, Stephen King
has fused images of fear as old as time with iconography of contemporary
American life to create his own special brand of horror--one that has kept
millions readers turning the pages even as they gasp.
In the book-length story "The Mist," a
supermarket becomes the last bastion of humanity as a peril beyond
dimension invades the earth...
With "Word Processor of the Gods," you can make
your dreams come true--along with your nightmares...
Touch "The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands," and
say your prayers...
There are some things in attics which are better left
alone, things like "The Monkey"...
The most sublime woman driver on earth offer a man
"Mrs. Todd's Shortcut" to paradise...
A boy's sanity is pushed to the edge when he's left alone
with the odious corpse of "Gramma"...
If you were stunned by Gremlins, the Fornits of "The
Ballad of the Flexible Bullet" will knock your socks off...
Trucks that punish and beautiful teen demons who seduce a
young man to massacre; curses whose malevolence grows through the years;
obscene presences and angels of grace--here, indeed, is a night-blooming
bouquet of chills and thrills.
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