Just After Sunset: Stories
 | By Stephen King Scribner, 2008, Hardcover Customer Rating: 26 reviews Recommend |
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Stephen King — who has written more than fifty books, dozens of number one New York Times bestsellers, and many unforgettable movies — delivers an astonishing collection of short stories, his first since Everything's Eventual six years ago. As guest editor of the bestselling Best American Short Stories 2007, King spent over a year reading hundreds of stories. His renewed passion for the form is evident on every page of Just After Sunset. The stories in this collection have appeared in The New Yorker, Playboy, McSweeney's, The Paris Review, Esquire, and other publications.
Who but Stephen King would turn a Port-O-San into a slimy birth canal, or a roadside honky-tonk into a place for endless love? A book salesman with a grievance might pick up a mute hitchhiker, not knowing the silent man in the passenger seat listens altogether too well. Or an exercise routine on a stationary bicycle, begun to reduce bad cholesterol, might take its rider on a captivating — and then terrifying — journey. Set on a remote key in Florida, "The Gingerbread Girl" is a riveting tale featuring a young woman as vulnerable — and resourceful — as Audrey Hepburn's character in Wait Until Dark. In "Ayana," a blind girl works a miracle with a kiss and the touch of her hand. For King, the line between the living and the dead is often blurry, and the seams that hold our reality intact might tear apart at any moment. In one of the longer stories here, "N.," which recently broke new ground when it was adapted as a graphic digital entertainment, a psychiatric patient's irrational thinking might create an apocalyptic threat in the Maine countryside...or keep the world from falling victim to it.
Just After Sunset — call it dusk, call it twilight, it's a time when human intercourse takes on an unnatural cast, when nothing is quite as it appears, when the imagination begins to reach for shadows as they dissipate to darkness and living daylight can be scared right out of you. It's the perfect time for Stephen King.
Title: Just After Sunset: Stories
Sales Rank: 29 in Books
Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Scribner, 2008-11-11, Hardcover, 384 pages, ISBN: 1416584080
Package Dimensions: 9.37 x 6.54 x 1.5 inches, 1.54 pounds
- Short stories by the King
- As Stephen King's novels have grown to be more and more bloated, I have stopped reading them. His short stories, however, don't cry out for an editor with a fast red pencil, so I still enjoy them. This latest collection is no exception. As wtih any short story collection, the entries are going to be a bit uneven, with many very good ones, some… More reviews
- What happened to the old Stephen King?
- I've read all of Stephen King's books except for that Dark Tower stuff. I remember the days when Mr.King's books were thrilling page turners. His last few novels, from "Dreamcatcher" on, have not held my interest at all. I felt some hope seeing Mr. King had a new short story book out. His short stories never… More reviews
- Stephen, where is thy sting?
- Remember King's short story compilation, Night Shift? I still have the Signet paperback from 1979. Read it to tatters too. I don't see "Just After Sunset" reaching that stage of decrepitude. Nope, I think I'll donate it to the library book sale today.
Some of these stories have so much promise, but they fail to follow through in the end. Take… More reviews
- So Entertaining...couldn't wait to start....couldn't stop till the end
- I bought this book to read over the Thanksgiving holiday. My fingers kept walking themselves to the end table where it lay and fluttering the pages until I could start reading without "actually" opening the book. I finally gave in to my "King addiction" and could not longer delay the anticipated pleasure and read it in two sittings. Good ol' King. Dependable… More reviews
- Stephen King's new book
- I recently purchased "Just After Sunset" and read it in a day's time. It was so good I couldn't put it down. I think this is his best short story collection besides "Night Shift". The stories were well written, suspenseful and held my interest. It's so hard to pick out a favorite story from this book, but I was blown away by "Graduation Afternoon" for some… More reviews
