Originally published in 1976, this is Stephen King’s first collection of short stories, featuring some his earliest work. Many of them originally appeared in men’s magazines during the early 70’s, such as Penthouse, Gallery, and Cavalier, which at that time were an exploding market for short horror fiction. One of the stories, Children of the Corn, was later made into a movie, and another, Quitters, Inc., was featured in another, Cat’s Eye. In 1992 The Lawnmower Man was also made into a movie, but it shared so little with his original story that King successfully sued to have his name removed from it.

Anybody looking for a short creepy story to read just before they go to sleep (if they’re looking for a good nightmare, that is).

The flavor of this book. King was ‘raised’ on classic science fiction and horror movies and traditional tales during the 50’s and 60’s, and it shows with some of the stories in this collection.

The Lawnmower Man. Although King didn’t like the aforementioned movie production, I just wasn’t satisfied with the original story itself. In almost of his horror stories he can make the unbelievable believable, but it just didn’t do that with this one.

As always, once you develop a taste for King’s writing style, not to mention the genre itself, it’s hard to keep from running out to the nearest book store and buy another one of his books.

Being a major Stephen King fan, I’m rarely disappointed after reading one his books, especially his collections. It’s almost sad when you realize you only have a few pages left to read; something akin to scooping out the last bowl of your favorite ice cream, knowing it’s all gone now. His books are that addicting.

There’s not a lot that can be said about Stephen King. He’s proven himself time and time again to be not just a master of the craft, but THE master, and having just turned 69, he’s still going as strong, if not stronger, than he ever has.

Any lover of horror and dark fiction would appreciate it.

I’ve read almost every book King has ever written, some of them multiple times, and there’s not much more praise that can be lavished on this author. He’s known for his horror more than anything else, and rightly so, but if anybody were to delve into all of his work, they’d realize that this author can write in any genre he wants, and do so very successfully.

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Created Nov 16, 2016 at 1:18pm • Submit your own review...