Summer of Stephen
Title: “The Ledge”
Publishing Date: 1977 Length: 9 pages Start Date: August 5, 2017 End Date: August 5, 2017 If you’re afraid of heights, “The Ledge” might not be the best story for you. It’s about a man who agrees to meet with his lover’s husband. The man believes the husband will agree to a divorce, allowing him to marry the woman he loves. The husband claims he’ll let the marriage end, but only if the man does something first. He has to climb over the husband’s balcony and walk all the way around his high-rise apartment complex. It’s multiple stories from the ground and the ledge is a mere 5 inches wide. The man agrees to the deal, though he doesn’t really have much choice. If he refuses, the husband will not only keep (or possibly kill) his wife, but he’ll also plant a huge amount of heroin in the man’s car, assuring him a lengthy jail sentence. So the man climbs over the railing of the balcony and begins his slow trudge around the building. This short story provides a pretty tense reading experience. I’m not afraid of heights, but I would never be able to do something like this. Just thinking about trying to inch along that tiny ledge makes me nervous. The moral of the story might be to not date married women, but I can’t imagine that’s what King is going for here. Regardless of the moral it’s supposed to convey, I found the ending of this story to be immensely satisfying.
0 Comments
Title: “The Man Who Loved Flowers”
Publishing Date: 1977 Length: 4 pages Start Date: August 2, 2017 End Date: August 2, 2017 Even though it’s only four pages long, “The Man Who Loved Flowers” might be my favorite King read so far. He manages to pack such a huge punch in so few pages, which means that every word is necessary. There are no supernatural elements to this one; it’s entirely based in the real world. And in my opinion, that makes it even creepier. I’m not going to say anything about the plot, because I want everyone to read it on his or her own. (I mean, it’s only four pages. You totally have time for that.) I will, however, say that even people who don’t usually like King’s work will probably like this one. In fact, if I hadn’t known that Stephen King wrote it, I definitely wouldn’t have guessed it was one of his stories. So, to recap: Go read “The Man Who Loved Flowers.” It’s in the Night Shift collection, but you can also find a PDF on Google. Then come talk to me. Because I absolutely loved this story and I want to discuss it with someone. Title: “One for the Road”
Publishing Date: 1977 Length: 8 pages Start Date: August 1, 2017 End Date: August 1, 2017 “One for the Road” takes place a few years after the events of ‘Salem’s Lot, and I am 100% here for it. The main character in this story lives in a town near Jerusalem’s Lot. He’s heard rumors about what happened there, but he was under the impression that all of that unpleasantness had been put to rest. Except that some of the vampires might have survived and are working to create more of their kind. This leads to the main character’s fear when a stranded motorist shows up during a blizzard, begging for someone to help him and his family. The main character and the owner of the bar where he’d been drinking reluctantly agree to return with this man to Jerusalem’s Lot to get his car out of the ditch. I’m not going to tell you what they find when they reach the car, though you can probably figure it out for yourselves. I will say that I really enjoyed this story. I wish King would write a whole series of full-length novels centered around the aftermath of ‘Salem’s Lot. I’ve also decided that I’ll probably never be able to go to Maine because I just assume that the entire state is overrun by supernatural beings. Title: “Children of the Corn”
Publishing Date: 1977 Length: 26 pages Start Date: August 1, 2017 End Date: August 1, 2017 This. Damn. Story. Okay, “Children of the Corn” isn’t actually that creepy when you’re reading it. It is pretty suspenseful, though, and there a few surprises. (I wanted to call them “jump scares,” but I’m not sure what the bookish equivalent of that would be.) But during the actual reading, I was entertained, but not freaked out at all. Cut to several hours later when I had to drive from my parents’ house back to my apartment. It’s a two-hour drive through farm country. Which means driving past, you guessed it, corn fields. So even though I didn’t find the story frightening when I first read it, you’d better believe that I was eyeing those corn fields with way more suspicion than ever before. I don’t want to say much about the plot of this short story, because I don’t want to spoil anything for those of you who haven’t read it and want to. But I will say that I really like the way this one ends. It’s definitely not a pleasant ending, but that kind of fits King’s writing personality. I’m also not looking forward to watching the movie version, partly because seeing this instead of imagining it will be significantly creepier, and partly because they probably changed pretty much everything during the adaptation process. Title: “Battleground”
Publishing Date: 1977 Length: 8 pages Start Date: July 13, 2017 End Date: July 13, 2017 I have mixed feelings about this short story. “Battleground” starts out with a professional hitman returning from his latest kill (a toymaker) to find a package waiting for him. It’s from the dead toymaker’s mother. Inside the package he finds a troop of toy soldiers, complete with a set of weapons, tanks, and helicopters. As this is a Stephen King story, of course these toys are actually alive and immediately begin to attack the hitman. He fights back as long as he can, but is eventually killed when the toy soldiers deploy their miniature thermonuclear weapon. For the most part, this is a pretty good story. It packs a lot of action into eight pages without wasting time on unnecessary descriptions and dialogue. My biggest problem with the story is the toy soldiers. I just kept picturing the army men from Toy Story, which makes it hard to take them seriously. Although, maybe that’s kind of the point. You wouldn’t expect these seemingly harmless, two-inch tall, plastic guys to suddenly open fire in your apartment, so they always have the element of surprise on their side. Overall, “Battleground” was a fun read, but probably not one I’d pick up again. Title: “Jerusalem’s Lot”
Publishing Date: 1977 Length: 22 pages Start Date: July 10, 2017 End Date: July 10, 2017 I loved Salem’s Lot, so I was looking forward to reading “Jerusalem’s Lot.” Unfortunately, I was disappointed. This short story takes place in the mid-1800s (about 125 years before the events of Salem’s Lot) and is told through a series of letters. The plot summary sounds interesting enough: a rich guy and his manservant move into a creepy old mansion, stumble upon an abandoned Puritan settlement, learn that there was some serious occult business happening at the settlement, return to the settlement to get rid of the evil presence lurking there, and end up possessed and killed by it. Like I said, it sounds great. But King wrote this one with a heavy 1800’s style, so reading it just became tedious. It felt like all of that Puritan literature I pretended to read for my American lit classes, but I actually just read the Wikipedia entries. I understand that he wanted to stay true to the language of the time period, but it just wasn’t for me. If you’ve been reading these last few “reviews,” you’ve probably noticed that I don’t seem to like King’s short stories very much. Don’t worry. I just have one or two more mostly negative ones and then there’s a whole run of stories I loved. I just need to get around to catching up on these. Title: “Graveyard Shift”
Publishing Date: 1977 Length: 13 pages Start Date: July 10, 2017 End Date: July 10, 2017 Maybe it’s because I read it almost two months ago, but “Graveyard Shift” wasn’t one of King’s more memorable short stories for me. It’s the story of a group of mill workers who agree to work the dreaded night shift in order to help with a massive cleaning project in the basement of the mill. While down there, the workers discover a small population of giant rats. This leads them to find a trapdoor that’s locked from the other side. One of the workers is chosen to find out what’s in the sub-basement, but he demands that the cruel foreman accompany him down into the dark. Below the mill, the two find a thriving population of giant, albino rats, some of which have evolved toward the ability to fly. Upon reaching the end of the sub-basement, they stumble upon the horror of a cow-sized rat who has no eyes or legs and seems to have only one purpose: to breed more rats. The worker shoves the foreman toward this rat and runs, leaving the man to be devoured before falling himself to an attack of rats just before reaching the exit. The premise sounds kind of creepy and cool, and I vaguely recall enjoying reading it. But I could not for the life of me remember the plot until I read a summary. I don’t know what it was about this particular story, but it just didn’t stick with me. Apparently there’s a movie version, but I’m not sure I want to watch two dudes get eaten alive by giant rats. |
Jacinta M. CarterProfessional Book Nerd Archives
July 2019
Categories |