For being known as an author of heavy tomes, Stephen King has a little-known secret. His short stories are hidden gems.
Many are well known. Movies, good and bad, have been made from them. But there are just so many of them! And some fantastic shorts have gotten lost.
A lot of them. What was supposed to be one blog post about ten short stories has blossomed into a mini-series about fifteen short stories. Seeing as how we’re talking about Stephen King, that makes sense.
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For today, though, here are five lesser-known Stephen King short stories that should be more known. Each one is eerie, creepy, gory, and guaranteed to stick with you.
Jerusalem’s Lot
From Night Shift, 1978
Often seen as a precursor for the much longer ‘Salem’s Lot, Jerusalem’s Lot can be seen as a test run. Or proof of concept.
Set in older, Victorian-like times of manservants and superstitious townsfolk, this story is about a man named Charles. He’s moved into an old family house with his manservant, Calvin. Together they discover rats and undead monsters dwelling in the walls.
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Told in a diary entry and letter formula, the story reads like a love letter to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The atmosphere is eerie, the ending is bloody and gory. Truly a treat for anyone who loves a good old-fashioned vampire story.
Graveyard shift
From Night Shift, 1978
I don’t know what happened to King that caused such fear of rats. But after reading this story, I’m a little freaked out by them myself.
In the bowls of a decrepit textile mill, rats have been breeding and evolving into horrifying sub creatures. Rats as big as cars, rats that can fly. Even a horrifying mother rat who is birthing out baby rats like a queen ant. The main character, Hall, and his monster of a supervisor are tasked with going into the basement and clearing the rats out.
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After they fail horribly and die terrible deaths another group is assembled to see what’s taking them so long.
Trucks
From Night Shift, 1978
This short is the basis of the movie Maximum Overdrive. But don’t that stop you from reading it.
The story itself is great. A group of people is trapped in a diner, ringed by sentient trucks that don’t like mankind very much. Many of the characters are only in the diner because they were run off the road by semis. They do their best to survive, trying to think of ways to defeat the giant metal machines intent upon crunching them under their already bloody tires.
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Strawberry Spring
From Night Shift, 1978
Doesn’t this title sound nice? Strawberry spring is when you get a bout of unseasonably warm weather in late winter before proper spring begins. Imagine that sort of sweet, warm weather sinking into a college campus in the late ’60s, where most of the story takes place. It would bring out everyone from their long winter hibernation.
Strawberry springs don’t happen every year. And in this little campus, they bring with them a butcher called Springheel Jack.
The story of the brutal on-campus killing spree is told from the point of view of our unnamed narrator. He’s an adult now, reading in the paper that Springheel Jack is back. And he, our narrator, doesn’t remember where he was last night.
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Or why he’s afraid to open the trunk of his car.
Quitters Inc.
From Night Shift, 1978
Do you smoke? Wouldn’t you do anything to quit?
That’s the situation that our main character, Dick, finds himself in. He wants to quit smoking, an admirable goal. So his boss tells him about the great way he quit, called Quitters Inc. They guarantee that you will, without a doubt, quit smoking. And you won’t gain weight, either.
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Or else they’ll torture your loved ones and make you watch.
What’s scary about this story isn’t the description of what happens to Dick’s wife. What’s scary is thinking of how many people would be willing to sign up for this program.
Stay tuned next week for part two.
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“In the distance, she heard her husband in the backyard call for her , but she was not that woman anymore, that mother and wife. She was Nightbitch, and she was fucking amazing. It seemed she had been waiting for this for a very, very long time.”
-pg 89, Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
Nightbitch is the debut novel of Rachel Yoder about a stay-at-home mother coming to terms with the loneliness and brutality of motherhood. The main character, only referred to as The Mother, begins to undergo a frightening change as she sinks deeper into a depressive state. She transforms into Nightbitch, an animalistic creature full of anger, bloodlust, and freedom. The Mother must utilize the help of a strange book and a group of multi-level marketing mommies to harness her newfound strength before she loses herself or her family.
The novel is a stunning commentary on the everyday violence of motherhood centered within the context of werewolf and mystical woman mythos. The Mother spends much of the book contemplating her future and the abandonment of her dreams. Specifically, she grapples with the loss of her ability to create art, her longtime passion. On a larger scale, Nightbitch examines how many women are asked to stop being individuals after having children and only become mothers–existing only in the presence of their child. The message is clear, poignant, dark, and at times, hilarious. The prose and structure of the book are abnormal, however, it works with the overall messaging and plot.
As far as negatives go, Nightbitch was pretty ambiguous. This was by design, and created an aura of magical mysticism around many of the characters and events. The Mother is the definition of an unreliable narrator. However, towards the end of the book, I would have liked a little more clarity in what certain characters knew.
Nightbitch is a must read for any parent. As a non-parent, I highly recommend it for those interested in feminist horror or more avant-garde approaches to horror narratives. Those who don’t like books with heavy introspection or ambiguous storytelling may enjoy something else, however I still think it is an interesting read nonetheless.
“Dread washed over me. Had she been sitting there, watching me sleep, the whole night? Her skin gleamed like candle wax in the light; then she grinned and whatever color her eyes had been before, now they turned red. In an instant, her skin transformed, dried and desiccated into leather, and her teeth grew long and needle sharp.”
-pg 214, The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
My only minor criticisms would be the resolution was fairly quick and mostly offscreen. Though maybe I’m just saying that because I wanted to keep reading, even after the book ended! I also found myself slightly annoyed at the characters for not picking up on some of the more obvious clues to what had happened in the house.
A thoroughly enjoyable gothic (and dare I say, romantic) novel that kept me on the edge of my seat, I highly recommend The Hacienda. If you enjoy haunted house tales, you will enjoy this book.
Are their traditions innocent or are they darker than they seem?
The Plot
Harry, short for Harriet, is a British writer gaining popularity after the publishing of her first novel. She meets Edward, a member of the widely known Holbeck family, and the two strike up a relationship. The Holbecks are high powered executives, running family businesses that bring in massive amounts of wealth. When Harry learns she is pregnant, the couple decide that it is finally time for her to meet the family.
During her first meeting with the family, Edward’s father, Robert gives Harry a vintage tape that he says holds a story that he’d like her to listen to. As Harry listens to the tape, she begins to believe that the Holbecks have done some very bad things.
As she continues visiting the family, their strange traditions are revealed to her. The games that they play traditionally involve darkness and fear. Can Harriet find out the truth about the mysterious Holbecks?
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The Verdict
Catherine Steadman outdoes herself in The Family Game. She creates such a mysterious family in the Holbecks and their dynamics are intriguing. Readers will follow Harry as she tries to determine the truth about Robert’s misdoings. The cast of family characters are a wonder to watch. We’ve all always wondered what the extremely rich live like. Harry shows us their virtues and misdeeds.
The novel really remarks on the power of wealth and the wealthy’s ability to commit audacious crimes and pay for them to go away. Robert, as the patriarch of the family, is a prime example of such. As Harry begins to discover that Robert may be confessing to a series of murders on the cassette tape, she must decide how to proceed. She knows that the power that Robert holds cannot be taken lightly.
As Harry navigates potentially deadly Christmas traditions, she races for the truth, unable to forget once she finds it. Harry is such a compelling character – a developing mother willing to risk life and limb to protect her unborn baby. Harry is brave and unapologetic and is a true testament on how to write a female main character.
It was very difficult for me to decide between 4 and 5 Cthulus, so we will call it 4.5. This is a novel I highly recommend thriller lovers check out.
(4.5 / 5)
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Jennifer Weigel
March 25, 2021 at 7:53 pm
I love King’s short stories. Nightmares and Dreamscapes was my favorite collection.