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Night Shift

Night Shift

Short storySeveral booksHorrorDark Fantasy
Pages
384
Published
1978
Language
English

Synopsis

Night Shift is Stephen King's first collection of short fiction, gathering twenty stories written for magazines between 1968 and 1977 alongside three previously unpublished pieces. Doubleday published the collection on February 17, 1978, with an introduction by John D. MacDonald. It won the 1980 Balrog Award for Best Collection and was a finalist for the Locus and World Fantasy Awards. Several stories became the basis for films, including Children of the Corn, The Mangler, Graveyard Shift, Sometimes They Come Back, The Lawnmower Man, and Trucks (filmed as Maximum Overdrive). The opening story, Jerusalem's Lot, is a prequel to King's novel 'Salem's Lot.

Prose complexity
3/10

Vibe

DarkTenseAtmosphericGritty
Survival

Genres

Horror Dark Fantasy Fantasy Mystery Paranormal Short Stories Body Horror Gothic Psychological Thriller

About the author

S
Stephen King

Stephen King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author whose work has defined popular horror fiction for more than half a century. Born in Portland, Maine, he grew up in poverty after his father abandoned the family, and credits his mother's resilience and a voracious reading habit as the foundations of his imagination. He began selling short stories to men's magazines while working as a high school English teacher, and published his first novel, Carrie, in 1974—his wife Tabitha retrieved...

Characters

All characters in Night Shift

Frequently asked questions

  • Are these stories connected to Stephen King's novels?

    Several stories in this collection serve as direct precursors or companions to his longer works, such as Jerusalem's Lot which acts as a prologue to 'Salem's Lot, and Night Surf which shares the same post-apocalyptic world as The Stand.

  • Have any of these stories been adapted for the screen?

    A significant number of these tales have been adapted into films and television projects, including notable entries like Children of the Corn, The Mangler, and Graveyard Shift.

  • How many stories are in Night Shift?

    Night Shift contains 20 stories, published in 1978 as King's first short story collection. The stories had been written and sold to magazines over the preceding several years; the collection brought them together for the first time.

  • How many Night Shift stories have been adapted to film?

    A large portion of the collection has been adapted. 'Children of the Corn' spawned a film franchise beginning in 1984 that ran to twelve films. 'Trucks' became Maximum Overdrive (1986), directed by King himself. 'Sometimes They Come Back', 'The Mangler', 'Quitters, Inc.' (as part of Cat's Eye), and 'The Lawnmower Man' were also adapted—making Night Shift one of King's most heavily mined source collections.

  • Is the story 'Jerusalem's Lot' related to 'Salem's Lot?

    Yes. 'Jerusalem's Lot' is set in the 1850s and functions as a prequel to 'Salem's Lot, taking place in the same location and featuring ancestors of characters in the novel. It is told as letters and diary entries—an epistolary horror story—and reveals the supernatural history of the town.

  • What is 'Trucks' about and what did it become?

    'Trucks' imagines a world in which machines—particularly heavy vehicles—suddenly become autonomous and hostile, trapping humans at a rest stop. The story was adapted into Maximum Overdrive (1986), the only feature film King directed. King has later said he was under the influence of cocaine and alcohol during production and considers the film a 'moron movie.'

  • What are the collection's stand-out stories besides 'Children of the Corn'?

    'Quitters, Inc.' follows a man who joins an extreme anti-smoking program run by organized crime, with consequences for any relapse. 'The Mangler' concerns a possessed industrial laundry machine. 'Strawberry Spring' is an epistolary serial-killer story set on a college campus. 'The Boogeyman' is a psychiatric case study of a man whose children are killed by a monster in their closet.

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