Best Short Story Collection

[Black Suit]

I have recently purchased Skeleton Crew and Everything's Eventual. Haven't gotten around to them, they are way on deck but out of all the short story collection does anyone have a favorite?

Which one has the best stories?

[cfin5256]

Honestly I've only read Everything's Eventual, but really enjoyed it. There's a pre-DT story about Roland, and the title story provides another DT connection. I don't think you can go wrong with any SK book though... enjoy!

[shangirl]

oh gosh- it HAS to be skeleton crew. The Jaunt oh my goodness! At the end when the boy says "Longer than you think, dad, longer than you think." That gave me nightmares for like a week!

[IfSoGirl]

everything's eventual, just after sunset, and different seasons are my favorites. esp different seasons, the stories in there have such depth they're amazing and its no wonder that collection yielded some of the greatest king movies made yet.

[Speedygi81]

Different Seasons.

And Skeleton Crew comes close, very close.

[aptpupil]

I'm definitely still a fan of "Night Shift" as a short story collection. Stories such as "Sometimes They Come Back" and "Children Of The Corn" made a lasting impression on me.

"Different Seasons" was also great, as mentioned, although not really "short stories" as such. But it did produce two incredible movies, and gave me a user name, so it gets my vote also!

[kingricefan]

Between the two you listed (Everything's Eventual or Skeleton Crew) it's gotta be Skeleton Crew! The Mist will knock you out! There are so many great stories in there! EE is good but it contains a more mature King, one who is more concerned with a literary story than a scary one. Not saying this is a bad thing, there are a few wonderful stories in EE and as an artist SK has grown much in his writing, but we all love a good scare, right? Out of all of his collections tho, Night Shift is definately my favorite!! Those stories have an energy to them, a desperation in the writing style, a raw-ness to them, if you will, that just about leaps off of the pages at you. Those stories are gems and I'm glad that SK released them. Some of his earlier works keep popping up here and there (think Cat From Hell in Just After Sunset) and let's hope that we get to see ALL of those early stories at some point. King has nothing to be ashamed about with his early writings as far as I'm concerned. Bring 'em on, I say!

[Girl87]

Nightmares and Dreamscapes is my favorite short stories and Moving Finger was a great stories.

[Black Suit]

I scanned through some of the titles on Skeleton Crew and the one that stood out to me was "The Man Who Would Never Shake Hands" ..

I can't wait to get to it..

has anyone read it?

[seanryan]

night shift for me.

[Perse Jr.]

Definitely Skeleton Crew! Classic.

[tillyn]

To be honest i have to go back and reread these books, i remember enjoying them , but its been so long that i have to jog the neurons.

[Richard_B]

If you don't include "Different seasons" and "the Bachman Books" I'd have to go for Skeleton Crew (although my copy's recently gone awol!) If only for "Cain Rose Up" and "The Mist"

[Tooley]

I've only read parts of Everything's Eventual and I've enjoyed some of what I've read. Not to big on Autopsy Room Four, but oh well, the rest was good.

Four Past Midnight was a great novella collection by the way (just wanted to throw that out there).

[bopropadop]

They're all so good, so it's difficult picking a favorite. I really enjoyed EE so maybe I'd put it ahead of some of the others, especially for the DT-related short stories.

[AlvinS]

Skeleton Crew - No Contest.

[giftshoparty]

Currently reading Stephen king goes to the Movies and in "Low Men in Yellow Coats", Mr.King uses the phrase "..enough to make a maggot gag." I remember Dad on his paint jobs years ago.."..boy, that makes me some Christly dirty, enough to make a maggot gag I tell ya..." . Man, that made a little kid laugh. I love Stephen King's ability to put you smack dab in the middle of your own past. A.

[IUSMPhD]

For me, it goes 1. Skeleton Crew, 2. Night Shift, 3. Nightmares, 4. Sunset, and 5. Eventual.

For some reason, I didn't like Everything's Eventual. It would be a pretty distant #5. Every story seemed to end to abruptly. I know Stephen King has been trying to get everyone to enjoy the journey more than the ending, but I think he went overboard with it on EE. The Same goes for Cell.

[Natjen24]

My favorite is Hearts In Atlantis. I don't know if it a short story collection perse. it has four shorter stories, so I'm sticking with it. :grinning:

[Srbo]

I scanned through some of the titles on Skeleton Crew and the one that stood out to me was "The Man Who Would Never Shake Hands" ..

I can't wait to get to it..

has anyone read it?

I did.
Superb story, you will not be dissapointed.

But, The Jaunt and Mrs Todd Shortcuts are a tiny bit better, IMHO.

And, of course, The Mist. That one is hard to beat anyhow...

[Daisygirl]

Skeleton Crew will always be my favorite collection......It was my first SK book :cool2:

[constantreader85]

nightmare and dreamscapes for me. Dolan's cadillac was creepy.

[Duma D]

What was the collection that had the corpses in the basement that smelled of rotting tomatos? I couldn't eat tomatos for a long time after reading it. Was it the same one with the guy who woke up during his autopsy? I was just transplanting a tomato plant in the back yard and I remembered that first story, at least the imagery. Then I remembered the other story because recently a friend of mine grew fully conscious during eye-surgery where she was supposed to be under at that point. She could hear the doctor telling the nurse that the patient had the biggest growth on her eye he had ever seen. She hadn't wanted to hear that stuff and let them know she was wide awake. They then put her under again. The horror that King writes of has more than its roots in reality; his writing is often a mirror to terrible possibilities. Forewarned is forearmed, except in Edgar's case in Duma Key.

[Gard-ole-Gard]

LOL Duma on the "forearmed" comment. I'm currently rereading Night Shift, so, as with anything by King, it's currently my favorite. Never has any author captivated and completely fulfilled the thirst that makes me pick up a book in the first place. I really hope he realizes how much entertainment he provides us.

[mylife4usk]

"Different Seasons" was also great, as mentioned, although not really "short stories" as such. But it did produce two incredible movies, and gave me a user name, so it gets my vote also!

Two??? um, what happened to the third one? Stand By Me, Apt Pupil and Shawshank! Different Seasons is the best novella collection, although Bachman Books is WAY up there. For short stories I liked Skeleton Crew and Everything's Eventual the best.

[jchanic]

Apt Pupil wasn't that great a movie, especially compared to Stand By Me and Shawshank Redemption. Those two are classics by any standard.

John

[mashead2000]

I'm about to start reading Skeleton Crew (already previously read The Mist) so i'm excited! also read Nightshift which was amazing so hope this compares

[God]

I'm not sure about collections overall, but some of the best short stories are these:
The Moving Finger (Nightmares and Dreamscapes)
Chattery Teeth (Nightmares and Dreamscapes)
Children of the Corn (NIght Shift)
The Mangler (Night Shift)
A Very Tight Place (Just After Sunset)
The Mangler (Night Shift)
Trucks (Night Shift)
The Raft (Skeleton Crew)
Survivor Type (Skeleton Crew)
The Man in the Black Suit (Everythings Eventual)
In the Deathroom (Everything's Eventual)
L.T.'s Theory of Pets (Everything's Eventual)
Lunch at the Gotham Cafe (Everything's Eventual)
The Gingerbread Girl ( Just After Sunset)
Dolan's Caddilac (Nightmares and Dreamscapes)
Rainy Season (Nightmares and Dreamscapes)

As you folks here on the MB will soon be able to tell, I really love my lists, so bear with me. Anyway these are some of my favorite short stories from all of King's collections. I didnt know whether or not to include Four Past MIdnight, so I just left it out

[nikkij124]

Im reading skeleton crew at the moment im about half way through its very good reading but i have to say i have just finnished just after sunset and thats the beast out of the two :smile2:

[Spaceman Spiff]

Impossible to decide...they're all great!

[michal]

The best thing about story collection I think is that you get soooo many good stories for the price of one book. I wouldn't want to decide, or, to be more accurate - I just tried and had a different answer each time I remembered another story. Just read them all I say.

[heather_eaves]

I think my favorite overall book was Skeleton Crew. It had so many awsome stories like The Mist, The Monkey, The Janut, The Reaper's Image, Survior Type, Uncle Otto's Truck, Gramma, and Mrs. Todd's Shortcut. My favorite short story (SO FAR)

[heather_eaves]

Sorry hit wrong button and it submitted it. My favorite story is N out of Just After Sunset, but there were only a couple of other stories that I really liked. I Night Shift I liked Jerusalem Lot, Graveyard Shift, The Mangler, The Boogeyman, The Ledge, Quitters Inc., and One for the Road. My favorites out of Everythings Eventual are Autopsy Room 4, The Man in the Black Suit (one of the best ever), The Little Sister of Eluria (even though I haven't read the Dark towers series I like this one), and The Road Virus Head's North. I boughth this one because I wanted to read 1408 and it was good but not the best in the book. I am now reading Nightmares and Dreamscapes so I won't say what is my favorite in that until I am done!

[fredo]

When you do read them let us know which you enjoyed best. I like 'em all.

[Matthew.Degnan]

well my two favourites are Night Shift, cos the stories are really entertaining, and Just After Sunset, cos they all seem to be.. a new burst of life in King's writing.

[futuramaguy07]

So far Ive only read Night Shift and about a quarter of Nightmares and Dreamscapes (this one got me into Kings writings, picked it up as i was awaiting a new novel from Terry Brooks) I loved Night Shift, and am currently caught up in The Dark Tower series. It may be some time before i can rate the short story collections, but I do own them all and look forward to them.