Best Stephen King Short Story Collections

[Avatar]

Wow, I haven't read any of those.

The best are:

Night Shift
Skeleton Crew
Different Seasons

Nightmares and Dreamscapes is good, but variable...more stories in there I didn't like than in the others listed above.

Everything's Eventual is pretty good too.

--A

[Emayl]

Well, might as well contribute a bit.

I wore out my copies of Skeleton Crew, Night Shift and the Bachman Books. I once loaned my copy of the BB to my girlfriend who returned it years later with the cover missing and the pages swollen. She dropped it in the tub a few times, apparently. I really liked that cover - the orange one with the skulls in the road.

Some great stories in all three of those collections.

[Avatar]

Ooh, how could I leave out the Bachman Books...I loved all of those except Roadwork. Especially Rage & The Long Walk. (Which last, now that I think about it dovetails with The Running Man, gameshows etc.)

Guess Rage is no longer PC though.

(Have you read The Dark Tower?)

--A

[Emayl]

Yeah, I don't think Rage is in print anymore, and in-print copies of the Bachman Books don't include it. It's a terrifying, well-crafted story, but I understand why King and his publishers would want to distance themselves from it.

Personally, The Long Walk and The Running Man are both awesome. I get a kick out of the movie version of RM, but man is that short story a killer. Great stuff.

Skeleton Crew was my first foray into SK (thanks, mom). Survivor Type, Word Processor of the Gods, The Jaunt, of course The Mist. Several I can't remember right now, I'm sure. There was a full-fledged poem included in that book, if I remember right?

I have never read The Dark Tower. I kind of drifted away from King (and reading for pleasure in general) in the mid-1990s. I had too much college reading to do.

[lucimay]

i'm not as big on the short stories as I am on the novels but Different Seasons has 2 of my all time favorite King stories in it so that would have to be my favorite, even tho those are basically novellas, a little to long to be called short stories but not long enough to be novels.

I own copies of Skeleton Crew, Night Shift, Everything's Eventual, and Full Dark, No Stars...but mostly they just sit on the shelf. i'm sure I read them when they came out but haven't reread any of them.
have y'all seen my King shelf
third shelf down...all the way across. heh. (that's Donaldson right below King and Erikson right above King.

[Avatar]

Yeah, I don't think Rage is in print anymore, and in-print copies of the Bachman Books don't include it. It's a terrifying, well-crafted story, but I understand why King and his publishers would want to distance themselves from it.

Yeah, understandable, but still one of my all time favourites. Glad my old copy has it.

Skeleton Crew was my first foray into SK (thanks, mom). Survivor Type, Word Processor of the Gods, The Jaunt, of course The Mist. Several I can't remember right now, I'm sure. There was a full-fledged poem included in that book, if I remember right?

No way! Mine too! And it was also my Mom's. Wasn't the poem The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet? (Or was that sorta free-style prose? (Always loved the name.) There was the thing about paranoia as well that always stuck with me..."the sugar smells of bitter almonds..." That could have been it.)

I'm actually looking for a copy of Four Past Midnight at the moment, I swear I used to own it but it's gone, and the GF wants to read The Langoliers after I told her about it. (The only memorable story in that book IMO.)

I have never read The Dark Tower. I kind of drifted away from King (and reading for pleasure in general) in the mid-1990s. I had too much college reading to do.

Personally, I think it's his greatest series over-all, with a couple of admittedly weak points. The ending caused a lot of divisiveness regarding how appropriate / good it was, but after my second read, (and a post from Wayfriend here somewhere) I decided I liked it.) Everything else aside, I think Roland Deschain is possibly one of the greatest fantasy characters ever written.

have y'all seen my King shelf
third shelf down...all the way across. heh. (that's Donaldson right below King and Erikson right above King.

Call that a bookshelf LuciMay? Where's the rest of them?

--A

[lucimay]

Call that a bookshelf LuciMay? Where's the rest of them?

--A

dude...that's just the living room bookshelf. Waddley came to visit us and she exclaimed..."Luce...you have books in every room in the house!" which, after she pointed it out, I realized...I DO! hahaha. even the bathrooms (magazines & crossword puzzles, but still kinda books.)

[Avatar]

Well, I knew you had to have more, that's why I asked. Mine are mostly concentrated in my study, but there are ones in current use all over the place.

--A

[lucimay]

god yes. I took pics and I've just been on google photo to try and share them here but it will only share links to the google photo archive, won't actually make the pic come up here in the post. i'll work further on this cause I hate that photobucket puts their big ol' logo on any pic you post. so stupid.