Skeleton Crew by Stephen King - Part One
When it comes to Stephen King books, I tend to like almost all of them. Whether he’s writing in the genre of horror, thriller, science fiction or drama, I find them all enjoyable to various degrees. Even his technical books about writing have been great reads. If I had to pick a favorite, though, I’d have to say that I like his short stories and novellas best of all. Not to suggest that I don’t enjoy his full-length novels, because I do immensely, but a good short story is not that common. King has a definite skill for the craft.
The Skeleton Crew, which came out in the 80’s, was just such a collection. Not only does it have nineteen short stories, there are two poems and a novella included as well. Beyond this, the introduction and notes at the end go even further towards creating one hell of a good time for readers, using King’s trademark coversational style and seemingly open approach to communication. Published in 1985, just two years after Different Seasons (another of his anthology books), the works presented span 17 years and 512 pages (in the hardbound edition I read) of writing.
This article is going to be released in two parts. I’ll cover 11 of the writings in this half and the rest in the final posting. So, enough of my rambling, let’s get to the review.
"The Mist" - The opening piece isn’t a short story, it’s actually considered a novella. It was first published in Dark Forces, a horror anthology edited by Kirby McCauley, in 1980. Set in the small town of Bridgeton, Maine, the tale centers around an artist named David Drayton and his son Billy. They become trapped in their local grocery store as a mysterious layer of, well, mist smothers their town. It’s rumored that the bizarre incident is somehow related to a secret military project said to be taking place at a nearby military base. You’ll get to see King’s take on just what happens when people from our modern age get flung back through the centuries into fear and superstition.
This novella was adapted into a text-based computer game, was the inspiration for the video game Half-Life and quite possibly Silent Hill, which was not only a game but also made into a movie. An audio version of it is available on cassette or CD and it’s actually in development, at the time of this article’s publication, as a full-length feature film. Frank Darabont is set to direct. You may remember him as the director of both Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. I’m really looking forward to being able to watch this play out on screen because I found this particular novella to be extremely cinematic long before I knew of its actual production as a film. [you can read my review of the Mist now]
"Here There Be Tygers" - While it is true that Ray Bradbury has a story bearing this same title, this story is not in any way science fiction. It’s a short piece that focuses on a young boy of elementary school age who believes that there are tigers in the bathroom. Not my favorite in the book, but it’s not terrible either. My struggle with it was that it required a bit more childlike thinking than I felt like doing when I read it. It’s also interesting to note that it was written in 1968, when Stephen King was 18 years old, apparently as his first story that would one day actually be published (not his first story ever published, though).
"The Monkey" - Continuing on with the animal theme, up next we’ve got this little literary offering. Here we’re told the story of one of those little stuffed monkeys that is wound up so that it can clang a small pair of cymbals together. These things really creeped me out as a kid, so I felt instantly at home with this story. Fortunately I never encountered one similar to the toy monkey in this story, because that one predicts people’s death. This was a very classic style of horror tale. Overall, I enjoyed it quite alot.
"Cain Rose Up" - Here we’ve got a depressed college student. You know what happens when college kids get depressed, right? Yep, they go on homicidal sniper rampages from the comfort of their own dorm rooms! This one might remind you of Rage by Richard Bachman. That’s because Richard Bachman is just a pseudo-name for Stephen King, silly. This story is kind of disturbing, honestly, because it has an intensely real feel to it. I couldn’t help but think of Apt Pupil as I read it, either. One might begin to think that Mr. King has considered a career in the mercenary sharpshooting industry after reading this one.
"Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut" - Redbook magazine first published this short story in 1984. The plot stars the free-spirited character Mrs. Todd (who reminds me of The Wind in the Willows‘ Mr. Toad). She’s obsessed with finding a shorter route between her home and her workplace. She does find something, alright but I’m not going to blow the surprise by detailing that here. I really enjoyed this one because the main character is alot of fun to read about.
"The Jaunt" - First published in The Twilight Zone Magazine (1981), this story is not so much a horror tale as it is a science fiction tale. Okay, it’s actually a fine mixture of both. It’s set in a future where people, amazingly, still rent time on computers. The "jaunt" being referred to is actually a super-duper new way to travel: to planets beyond Earth. In this world, Exxon/Mobile and other giants of the petroleum industry are now water purification companies thanks to an oil crash in the earlier part of the 21st century. King mentions "The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester which turns out to be the inspiration for this story. The plot centers around a family that is about to jaunt and what happens to them when something unexpected happens. If you’re at all interested in the possibilities of teleportation you’ll really enjoy this one’s imaginative presentation.
"The Wedding Gig" - Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine first published this story in 1980. It’s told from perspective of a band’s leader. Basically, this band is asked to perform at a wedding. Of course, that in itself wouldn’t really make for a tale of much interest to anyone. As expected, the situation deteriorates in typical King fashion. Though it’s not an utterly brilliant story, it’s a good one and a definite step out of what you might’ve come to expect from its author.
"Paranoid: A Chant" - Before reading this book I wasn’t aware that Stephen King wrote poetry, though I’m not flabbergasted that he has. This is one of the two poems in the book and it’s 100 lines in total. It’s a first-person narration of a person’s diary and this person just happens to be a paranoid schizophrenic. They’re seeing threats and persecution at every turn. They’re recording every wrong they perceive as having been done to them. The poem is "recursive" which means it ends the same way it began. Not only does this poem tie into the Dark Tower series, it’s also connected to The Stand. There was an 8-minute short film made about it as well, which was for some time available via download. It’s an interesting piece that changes the pace a bit, so that’s a plus.
"The Raft" - Gallery, a "men’s magazine" first published this story in 1982. The story revolves around two college aged couples who set out for a swim in a Pennsylvania lake. Of course, King can’t just tell us this story, so you know to expect some sort of danger, right? You’ll get one of his stranger "monsters" in this one. It was also committed to film in 1987 as a part of Creepshow 2, directed by Michael Gornick who used a screenplay by George Romero.
As an intriguing sidenote, King submitted this story to the magazine Adam, where it was supposed to be published in 1969. However, he’s never been able to locate a single printing of it as far as I know. He was paid for it, though and the check actually ended up preventing him from having to do jail time when he was unable to pay a fine.
"Word Processor of the Gods" - Originally titled "Word Processor", this story made its debut in the January 1983 issue of Playboy magazine. Since no one actually reads the words in that magazine, especially stories about word processors, King decided to include it with this anthology. It’s a pretty neat concept, really. Basically, the lead character is a miserable man who was gifted with a word processor by his nephew. That’d be pretty mundane, but this nephew is a marvellous genius who later perishes in a tragic accident. The man finds out that his gift can actually alter reality and that’s where things get interesting. I enjoyed this one and also learned that it was included in a November 25, 1984 episode of Tales from the Darkside, a TV series.
"The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands" - This is the final story we’ll be taking a look at in part one of this review. First published in the 1982 horror anthology Shadows 4, edited by Charles L. Grant, this story is told by a wealthy gentleman from society’s upper echelons. It’s a classic sort of tale that feels quite genuine and almost as if you’re hearing it from a cigar-smoking old timer around a fireplace rather than reading it in a book. The man referenced in the title has been cursed, but you’ll have to actually read the story in order to find out more, because I am The Man Who Will Not Spoil Stories.
Here you go: Part 2 of The Skeleton Crew by Stephen King to finish this review!
-- by GlowStormLion of http://www.happyhorror.com
Tags: book, novel, short stories
