Night Shift (1978) by Stephen King

Night Shift (1978) by Stephen King:

• Jerusalem's Lot (Previously unpublished)
• Graveyard Shift (October 1970 issue of Cavalier)
• Night Surf (Spring 1969 issue of Ubris)
• I Am the Doorway (March 1971 issue of Cavalier)
• The Mangler (December 1972 issue of Cavalier)
• The Boogeyman (March 1973 issue of Cavalier)
• Gray Matter (October 1973 issue of Cavalier)
• Battleground (September 1972 issue of Cavalier)
• Trucks (June 1973 issue of Cavalier)
• Sometimes They Come Back (March 1974 issue of Cavalier)
• Strawberry Spring (Fall 1968 issue of Ubris)
• The Ledge (July 1976 issue of Penthouse)
• The Lawnmower Man (May 1975 issue of Cavalier)
• Quitters, Inc. (Previously unpublished)
• I Know What You Need (September 1976 issue of Cosmopolitan)
• Children of the Corn (March 1977 issue of Penthouse)
• The Last Rung on the Ladder (Previously unpublished)
• The Man Who Loved Flowers (August 1977 issue of Gallery)
• One for the Road (March/April 1977 issue of Maine)
• The Woman in the Room (Previously unpublished)

Stephen King's early short stories appeared for the most part in markets that don't exist any more -- "girly" magazines that published stories in between the sections of nude photos. And those markets paid much better than the genre markets for short stories. 

Night Shift appeared the same year as The Stand, after the success of Carrie (novel and movie), 'Salem's Lot, and The Shining (and after the pseudonymous publication of Rage as by Richard Bachman). 40 years (and many re-readings of many of the stories) later, a few observations.

King was very generous here with unpublished material -- four stories! And they're good stories. "Jerusalem's Lot" is King's most Lovecraftian pastiche, and it's a lot of fun. "Quitters, Inc." is a solid thriller with a twist. And "The Last Rung on the Ladder" and "The Woman in the Room" are moving, "slice-of-life" stories then atypical for King.

The published stories are almost all horror. And they're still very effective. "The Boogeyman" is my all-timer here, one of King's ten best horror stories. Throughout the collection, King's ability to synthesize horror and the mundane waxes and wanes. I do love the transformative, tainted beer in "Gray Matter" (based on a true story, sort of!). 

King's world in these stories is one in which, pushing H.P. Lovecraft to the fringes of absurdity, eldritch tomes of forbidden knowledge are available at your public library. King goes to the well of easily-acquired magical books a couple of times too many. He would lose this tendency very quickly, coming up with more normative, intuitive ways for his characters to do battle with the forces of darkness. 

The suspense/thriller stories are also top-notch, none moreso than "Battleground," with its cool-headed assassin faced with a most unlikely payback. "The Ledge" and "Quitters, Inc." are also nice, taut pieces of suspense based on clever ideas. The latter two were memorably filmed as part of the under-rated Cat's Eye movie, while the former was brilliantly adapted and filmed for the Nightmares and Dreamscapes miniseries of more than a decade ago.

I count six other film or TV adaptations besides the ones noted above. But no "Gray Matter" or "Jerusalem's Lot"! Ridiculous! Highly recommended as one of the five or six greatest original horror collections ever published. All-timer!