First let me start by saying how much I love to read the SK short stories (well, most of them). I will say that there are a few that leave me with that kind of head scratching, "what the hell was he on when he wrote this" kind of feeling. Sometimes this can be a good thing, sometimes not so much. I feel like SK short stories are like good movie trailers, sometimes you get really pumped up by them, and sometimes they just leave you wanting more. I was trying to figure out how to space out my posts so that I can say a little about each story in Night Shift (even the ones that I don't really have much to say about) without getting too far behind, and without slowing my reading process. I figured that I would post after reading every 5 stories, and I think that that will work nicely. I am also planning on watching all the respective movie versions as well, and that will take some time, and I do not plan on slowing my reading for those, as it seems that there are like 8 or 9 movies that came from this collection (again, some of them complete crap, but still worth the watch just for the sake of it). Anyway, without further ado:"Jerusalem's Lot": The first of the "SK Connections" (which I will start to compile separately). "Jerusalem's Lot" is set in and around the town of the same name in 1850, and was previously the locale for 'Salem's Lot. It is an interesting short story told through letters written to the main character's friend. It is all about the evil that lies in the deserted town of Jerusalem's Lot, and also in the "haunted" house that the main character lives in. I liked the story, but was kind of frustrated because of the continuity issues between this and 'Salem's Lot. Don't get me wrong, I understand that this story was probably written a lot earlier that 'Salem's Lot, and hence the issues, but it still nagged at me. I kept asking myself, "Is his house the Marsten house?" which it seems to be, but then the end of the story has someone else in the house in 1971, which does not make sense. And also, the town is described as being an ocean town, and in the book it is not. Stuff like that. But I really liked the style of writing, as it reminded me a lot of Edgar Allen Poe. Very Gothic.
"Graveyard Shift": Ok, I love love love this story. It creeps me right out of my skin! The story is simple enough. It is basically about a bunch of mill workers who have to clean out the basement of the mill, and get attacked by huge nasty rodents. Need I say more. My skin is crawling just thinking about it. The story does have a deeper quality at times when it comes to the conflict between the main character and his asshole boss, and how the rats play into that situation. This is a perfect example of one of those SK short stories that does exactly what it is supposed to do, and ends just when it should end. There is a movie version, with the same name, that I have not seen yet, and I will let you know what I think about it after I watch it.
"Night Surf": This one is a "SK Connection" to be. It is a very short short story about a bunch of survivors of a flu virus that has decimated the world, on the beach, really just surviving. Really just a precursor to The Stand with little variation. Not much happens worth mentioning. One of those stories that ends just as it begins. Eh...take it or leave it.
"I Am the Doorway": Another awesomely creepy story. This one is about an astronaut who has been up to Venus, and has come back infested with an alien intelligence that manifests itself in the form of eyeballs on his hand. Pretty soon the alien starts to make him murder people, and things just get worse from there. This is another story that gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. I was just thinking that SK really does not dabble to much into space. I'm thinking about all the books of his that I know, and I really don't think that he has gone that far into what is considered "sci-fi". Even this story, while about an astronaut, is not really sci-fi at all. It might be interesting to see what kind of sci-fi story he would write, though.
"The Mangler": Another fun story, but one that ends way too early. It is the story of a possessed industrial folding press machine at a laundry facility that has a taste for blood. I know that even just saying that sounds really hokey, and it kind of is, but not so much while you're reading it as it is after you have finished. You kind of put the book down afterwards and say to yourself, "Really? A laundry folding machine that eats people?", but SK makes it work. But like I said, I feel like the story ends to soon. It's just at the point when the machine breaks loose and is coming down the street, and then bam...story over. But that's just me. Now, I have seen the movie, and will watch it again, but if it is anything like I remember then the movie goes to shit after the first 5 minutes. I will keep an open mind though.
Anyway, that's all for now. Stay tuned...
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