Skeleton Crew: Stories Mass Market Paperback – May 30, 2017

Reading Skeleton Crew slowly for over a year now, using it as a bridge between various other novels and such to help with my SK addiction, I can say Skeleton Crew serves as possibly the best sampling of Stephen King considering the diversity and length it gives, all for under $10. The collection features a full novel, nineteen short stories, and even a couple poems to mix things up. One can see that this really does include so much of the best from SK when so many of these stories later ended up being adapted into TV show episodes or even movies.Some notables include...The headlining feature of Skeleton Crew is certainly The Mist, which stands as one of his fan favorites, and even though it's shorter then most of his novels, he's able to still deliver on a great balance between tension, action, and character-development better than most of his 700+page novels. This story alone almost makes it worth the price, yet it only takes up a quarter of the collection.As many other reviewers note, Cain Rose Up sticks out awkwardly as a too simple and too violent story of a school shooting. It feels like it should actually be the end of a much more complex and interesting story (like Rage).The Jaunt is probably my favorite out of the whole collection for it's delivery on a interesting idea, and the resulting payoff at the end, it's also cool to read one from SK that delves into some fun sci-fi aspects. This whole story can be read online for free, so if nothing else, at least do that.The premise for Word Processor of the Gods is awesome enough, a homemade computer that is able to create anything into existence that is typed into it. However, I feel that this could've been made into something much bigger and better then it is, yet still stands as a good read.Nona felt the most like a SK story with a near excessive amount of characters that all felt like they should be part of a bigger story (which is why most of them later show up in other stories set in the same town). It still serves as a good read, especially if recently reading Body or Hearts in Atlantis.The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet takes some time to build up speed into a great disturbing yet subtlety comedic story. It's one of the longer and last stories in the collection and along with The Reach it's a great note to end on.Overall, I would recommend this collection for any SK fan, as it features many of his most popular and memorable works (especially in terms of works that are not full novels) might even be the best place for a newcomer of Stephen King to start.

I've been reading Stephen King's stories since I was a young teen back in the 80s and have always had a soft spot for his earlier works. These last couple of months, I have been revisiting his older works, both the full-length novels and short story collections. "Skeleton Crew" is one of my perennial favorites of his short story collections, a perfect blend of the macabre and the twisted.The stories featured here are:The MistHere There Be TygersThe MonkeyCain Rose UpMrs. Todd's ShortcutThe JauntThe Wedding GigParanoid: A ChantThe RaftWord Processor of the GodsThe Man Who Would Not Shake HandsBeachworldThe Reaper's ImageNonaFor OwenSurvivor TypeUncle Otto's TruckMorning Deliveries (Milkman #1)Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman #2)GrammaThe Ballad of the Flexible BulletThe ReachThis was a wonderfully nostalgic read for me; it reminded me how much i had missed King's earliest works (going to start on Salem's Lot next).

Product had water damage, but refunded immediately providing a satisfied customer.

As always stephen king delivers, and he keeps your greater interest of what next?

Excellent book filled with several short stories by the master horror writer Stephen King. The book was required reading for an online college class called: "Horror Writing Intensive: Analyzing the Work of Genre Master Stephen King." BTW it was an excellent class taught by Philip Athans another fine author and teacher. For the class we were required to read and analyze several books by Stephen King. I find he has a gift of really bringing the reader into the story, which a great writer is supposed to do. The various short stories in this book are all very well written. You will not be sorry if you by this book it is well worth the read. I’ve already recommended this book to my family and friends. I just hope my Sci-Fi book, "Deep Light”, which will be published before December 2017, will be as well received.

This is Stephen King's second collection of short stories, except for The Mist, which seems to be more of a novella.Unlike SK's first collection, titled "Night Shift", this one has fewer good stories. My favorites:The Mist: After a very severe storm hits a Maine town, a fog begins to form around the town. While one of the main characters is in town to get food supplies, the fog envelops the store. The several dozen people trapped in the store fight monsters coming from the fog and also battling insanity.Word Processor of the Gods: A struggling author receives a jury-rigged computer built by his recently-deceased, highly intelligent nephew, but the word processor on the computer possesses unimaginable abilities.Despite the fewer number of good stories in this collection, i still recommend it.