Night Shift (book)
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| Author | Stephen King |
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| Publisher | Doubleday |
| Released | 1978 |
| Pages | 368 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-385-12991-2 |
Night Shift (1978 Doubleday) is the first anthology of short stories by Stephen King. Many of King's most famous short stories were included in this collection.
Contents |
[edit] Contents
The book was published on the heels of The Shining (1977 Doubleday) and was King's fifth published book (including Rage, which was published under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman). A vast majority of the stories had appeared in various issues of Cavalier Magazine from 1970-1975, others were originally published in Penthouse, Cosmopolitan, Gallery and Maine Magazine. The stories "Jerusalem's Lot", "Quitters Inc.", "The Last Rung on the Ladder", and "The Woman in the Room" appeared for the first time in this collection.
The introduction was written by one of King's favorite authors, John D. MacDonald.
Night Shift is the first book for which King wrote a foreword. This foreword, in which the writer humbly introduces himself, sets up his characteristic "fire-side-storyteller" tone. He begins the forward directly addressing the reader; "Let's talk, you and I. Let's talk about fear." This friendly, conversational tone, will become a hallmark of Stephen King's writing style - especially his non-fiction writing. He closes the foreword on a note that would become familiar to his 'Constant Readers' (a term of endearment that King reserves for his fans):
"...it's still dark and raining... There's something I want to show you, something I want you to touch. It's in a room not far from here - in fact, it's almost as close as the next page.
Shall we go?"
[edit] Stories Collected in Night Shift
- "Jerusalem's Lot"
- "Graveyard Shift"
- "Night Surf"
- "I Am the Doorway"
- "The Mangler"
- "The Boogeyman"
- "Gray Matter"
- "Battleground"
- "Trucks"
- "Sometimes They Come Back"
- "Strawberry Spring"
- "The Ledge"
- "The Lawnmower Man"
- "Quitters, Inc."
- "I Know What You Need"
- "Children of the Corn"
- "The Last Rung on the Ladder"
- "The Man Who Loved Flowers"
- "One for the Road"
- "The Woman in the Room"
[edit] Connections
One of the stories, "Night Surf" is thought by some scholars to be the inspiration for The Stand [1][2], considered by many fans to be one of King's greatest books. [3] Both stories deal with a lethal virus that kills nearly all of human kind. Two other stories, "Jerusalem's Lot" and "One For the Road" both deal with the fictional town from the novel Salem's Lot (which was published three years prior). "Jerusalem's Lot" is a collection of letters from the mid 1800s discussing events of the abandoned hamlet where 'Salems Lot will one day be. This story is also heavily inspired by H.P Lovecraft's The Rats in the Walls. "One For the Road" is a sequel of sorts to Salem's Lot, taking place after the events of the novel.
The short story "Battleground" appears to be strongly influenced by Richard Matheson's "Prey." Both feature a lone protagonist trapped in an apartment with toys that turn deadly.
[edit] Film Adaptations
With the publication of Night Shift and the rise in King's popularity as a best-selling author, also with the success of Brian DePalma's motion picture adaptation of Carrie (1976), student filmmakers began to submit requests to King to make short adaptations of the stories that appeared in the collection. King formed a policy he deemed the Dollar Deal, which allowed the students the permission to make a short for the consideration of just $1.
In the 1980s, entrepreneurial film producer Milton Subotsky purchased the rights to six of the stories in this collection with the intention to produce feature films and a television anthology based on multiple stories. Although Subotsky was involved with several King adaptations (Cat's Eye, Maximum Overdrive, Sometimes They Come Back, The Lawnmower Man) the television series never came to fruition due to problems with the network's Standards and Practices.[4]
The following is a list of motion picture adaptations made from the stories collected in Night Shift:
[edit] Feature Film Adaptations
- Children of the Corn (1984) Hal Roach Studios, Inc. directed by Fritz Kiersch
- Cat's Eye (1985) Dino De Laurentiis Productions / MGM/UA directed by Lewis Teague (featured adaptations of "Quitters Inc." and "The Ledge"
- Maximum Overdrive (based on "Trucks") (1986) De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) directed by Stephen King
- Graveyard Shift (1990) Paramount Pictures directed by Ralph S. Singleton
- The Lawnmower Man (title only) (1992) New Line Cinema directed by Brett Leonard
- The Mangler (1995) New Line Cinema directed by Tobe Hooper
[edit] Television Adaptations
- Sometimes They Come Back (1991) Vidmark Entertainment directed by Tom McLoughlin
- Trucks (1997) USA Pictures directed by Chris Thomson
- Battleground (2006) Turner Network Television mini-series Nightmares & Dreamscapes
[edit] Dollar Baby Adaptations (shorts)
- The Boogyman (1982) directed by Jeff Schiro
- Disciples of the Crow (based on "Children of the Corn") (1983) directed by John Woodward
- The Woman in the Room (1983) directed by Frank Darabont
- The Last Rung on the Ladder (1987) directed by James Cole and Daniel Thron
- The Lawnmower Man (1987) directed by Jim Gonis
- Night Surf (2001) directed by Peter Sullivan
- Strawberry Spring (2001) directed by Doveed Linder
- I Know What You Need (2004) directed by Shawn S. Lealos
- La Femme Dans la Chambre (The Woman in the Room) (2005) directed by Damien Maric
[edit] References
- ^ - Michael R. Collings, The Annotated Guide to Stephen King, Starmount Press, 1986, p.41.
- ^ - George Beahm, Stephen King From A to Z, Andrews and McNeel, 1998, p. 28, 201.
- ^ - Beahm, The Stephen King Companion, Andrews and McNeel, 1989, p. 277.
- ^ - Perakos, Peter S. "Stephen King on Carrie, The Shining, etc." published in Cinefantastique Magazine Vol 1 No 8 Winter 1978. Reprinted in "Feast of Fear" Underwood & Miller, Carroll and Graf 1989 pp. 70
[edit] See also
