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.

He is the most amazing writer of the 20th and 21st centuries. The depth and breadth of these stories is astounding.What masterful stories and story telling.How does he even think of these stories?Each is completely different from all the others, and in each, the characters are 3 dimensional, as are the places.I will read these stories over and over again and try to learn from the master.

Steven King is such a good writer. I really enjoyed most of the stories in this collection. In reading these stories, it occurred to me that King really excels at character, concept and writing voice. He creates characters we care about, he always has an interesting, novel hook, and he strikes just the right balance of writing interesting descriptions without writing purple prose. These three elements combine to create stories that begin wonderfully, draw the reader in and set up big expectations for the end. Unfortunately, this is usually where King's stories fall short. Because the stories aren't planned out with a structure, the endings are hit-or-miss. Some in this collection, like The Jaunt, The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands and Survivor Type, had great endings. Others, like The Raft, Uncle Otto's Truck, and The Milkman Stories just peter out without a strong conclusion or theme. Nonetheless, all these stories are worth reading for their imaginative concepts and characters as well as their wonderful examples of strong writing.

It's impossible to pick a favorite but having said that I REALLY enjoyed The Monkey and The Flexible Bullet. Stephen King never disappoints me.The Audible book even has a couple of the stories narrated by Stephen King himself. All of the Narrators did an amazing job! I highly recommend this short story book to everyone who enjoys suspense, or as my grandson would say "spooky stories"

Stephen King is one of my favorites and after watching The Monkey my daughter has started enjoying his books as well.