Night Surf

[simon1]

For me this is one of the best short stories Stephen King has written.

I cannot recommend it enough. I read it for the first time 20 years ago, and I read it again before I posted this, and it still contains a massive punch.

[michal]

Can't say I agree, but maybe I haven't paid enough attention to it. What about it did you like so much? What made is so special to you? Tell me and maybe I'll go dig it up for a rereading session.:biggrin2:

[simon1]

You know I cannot really say I like it so much. I just do. There's an almost overwhelming sense of melancholy about the piece that really struck me when I first read it, and again the other day. I cannot recall any other King piece like it.

I have always wondered where such a powerful short story came from.

I agree though its easy to miss it! If you do read it again I'd appreciate your thoughts.

[strange]

I thought it was one of the best in the book just because it had a sense of human suffering and how we'd sort of react to that situation, like the fact he doesn't know what next and distances himself from things.

[bopropadop]

While this story isn't one of my favorite short stories, I like it's similarity to The Stand and the fact that given their circumstances, they live for the day if nothing else.

Can anyone remember if Captain Trips is specifically mentioned in this story? I think it is though I'm at work and can't look it up...

[strange]

Can anyone remember if Captain Trips is specifically mentioned in this story? I think it is though I'm at work and can't look it up...

It is, they call it that and they say it oringated in Asia.

[wally wonder]

read this one again. story has some of the feel of rage in the character of bernie. bernie is not a nice guy. there's a scene that brings to mind the charyou tree from the dark tower series. but if these characters were in the stand, i could see them heading to vegas, not boulder. world of difference between these characters and those in the stand.

[Aarny]

Something about it struck me. A sense of lonliness, and the imagry of the whole story was excellent.

[edkemper]

This collection was my intro to SK about fifteen years ago and this story has always been one that stuck with me. It was the reason I read The Stand. I recently borrowed The Night Shift from my brother and after a re-read I still like this story alot.

[Alan Pangborn]

Sweet story - reminds me of Catcher in the Rye due to the narrator's tone and inflated toughness. I like that it is horrifying in its implications, rather than anything that actually occurs. I also like the idea of calling a beach home at the end of the world.

[Midten]

Personally I didn't think it was the great. But I'll have another read at it.

[larstriplj]

When The Stand first came out, the first thing I did was pull my copy of The Night Shift. I wanted to see if I was nuts, or if there really was as much of a similarity as I thought there was in the two.

Of course it's an unmistakable similarity. I've always called the virus in The Stand "Captain Trips" and I have always thought of Night Surf as an excerpt from The Stand. Of course I realize some of the details are different, but it could be that SK just wrote the short story first. (Many of the stories in The Night Shift were turned into books/movies.)

[GNTLGNT]

I sorta-kinda thought it was a test balloon, before jumping into "The Stand"...

[Breger3]

I sorta-kinda thought it was a test balloon, before jumping into "The Stand"...

I thought the same thing, that it was a trial run, or a test drive. It wasn't one of my favorite stories in this collection, but I LOVE The Stand, so it holds a special place in my heart.

[motocop]

For me it was the Stand "light", these people could have been in the Stand, Same circumstances, just another city. Capt. Tripps affected the whole world, so this story was just another town with some survivors in it. Nice extension to the stand though.

[JellybeanJay]

I just finished reading this and I have a question....

In this story they refer to Captain Tripps, is that the same or similar disease as in The Stand?

[motocop]

yeah same disease. They mention it started in Asia, but I dont remember that being said in the Stand. Maybe I just dont remember though.

[Breger3]

In the Stand it's leaked by the American Government, it was a warfare germ.