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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9781416584087
ISBN number: 1416584080
Label: Scribner
Manufacturer: Scribner
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 384
Printing Date: November 11, 2008
Publishing house: Scribner
Release Date: November 11, 2008
Sale Popularity Level: 29
Studio: Scribner
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Product Description:
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 very 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.
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Rated by buyers 
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"Just After Sunset" is Stephen King's most recent collection of short stories. I guess I should preface my review by saying that I am a one of those readers that runs out and buys (in recent years, pre-orders) every SK book as soon as it becomes possible to do so, and have been doing that since "The Stand" very first came out in paperback. I think most of them are very, very good, a fair number outstanding and a few just so-so. "Just After Sunset" falls in between the very good and so-so categories. I rate it at 3.5 stars but since that is not allowed I rounded up to 4.
KIng is one of a relatively small cadre of well-known and successful authors who is just as good writing short stories, novellas and novels. In general, I think the longer forms work better for him. Many of his novellas (as well as a huge number of his novels) have garnered critical and popular acclaim and have been turned into movies. But he also writes a mean short story, as a number of previous efforts show (e.g., The Raft, Crouch End, Everything's Eventual, Children of the Corn, 1408). Most of the stories in "Just After Sunset" are not as memorable or compelling as the above examples, and the collection as a whole is not as strong as "Everything's Eventual". But it is still Stephen King, and that means it is still fun, sometimes scary, and well worth the read.
The one never-before-released story. "N.", seems to be everyone's favorite. It is one of the two longest short stories (at 54 pages) in the collection, but while I liked it OK, it was very reminiscent of H.P Lovecraft, an homage that I think was better done in "Crouch End". I also heard a lot about "Stationary Bike", which was OK but didn't knock my socks off. For my money, the most original, back-to-the-roots SK stuff was found in "Rest Stop", "Mute", "Ayana" and the capper and last story in the anthology, "A Very Tight Place". These alone were well worth the price of admission and showcased King's prodigious talent for originality, plot and writing. Mr. King remains one of my favorite authors and I just found out that his subsequent novel will be released early in 2009. I can't wait.
Rated by buyers 
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When I very first started reading this, I was going to give it only two stars. The very first seven stories were very slow for me to get through. They were not really scary or even interesting in the way King can be interesting in a non-horror fiction story as in Different Seasons. Also, I feel the very first seven would have been fine if they had been written by a very first published writer. King is a seasoned professional so therefore I was expecting more. My expectations weren't high to begin with. I do think the editor should have done his job much better when putting together this book.
When I started reading N, it got my attention. I had already read Machen The Great God Pan, so I knew where the story was coming from. Sometimes it helps to know the source material first.
The rest of the stories were good. They weren't great but they just weren't as bad as the very first seven.
The one story from N on that made me keep reading until the end was A Very Tight Place. Try reading it in some public restroom and see how effective it can be. Sometimes the right setting gives the extra edge to scare.
In all fairness, it isn't the worst Stephen King short story collection out there. I didn't like Everything Eventual. Its not the best either. My favorites are Night Shift, Skeleton Crew, and Nightmares and Dreamscapes. If I had to choose one as the best, I would go with Skeleton Crew.
Just After Sunset is one that I could have waited for in paperback. The lapse of time between the hardcover and paperback edition wouldn't have bothered me.
Since I am a collector and have the entire Stephen King library in hardcover, I had to buy it. If you do want it in hardcover, get the Collector's Set edition which features a DVD of N. There are two version out there and the other is just the stories. A true collector should seek out the added bonus gift.
I do like classic King from Carrie to It better than New King, everything from 1987 like Misery to Lisey's Story. The one exception has been Duma Key. The others have been so so. The biggest disappointment was Book 7 of the Dark Tower series. I didn't have a problem with the story until the ending, which is so bad.
If you a die hard fan, just get the hardcover.
If you can wait, want to save money, and don't mind the very first seven, then wait for paperback.
If I wasn't a fan I could have easily waited for paperback.
Rated by buyers -
I have been looking forward to this book since I heard about it - I usually like his short stories. Not so much this one. There really wasn't anything that was scary - occasionally thought provoking yes, scary no. The only story I really liked was the one about the stationary bike - and it was more of a grey comedy.
What really bothered me in this book was the amount of violence towards women. Yes, I hear you laughing - that is usually a staple in horror stories in general and I can't escape the fact that Rose Madder, Dolores Claibourne and Gerald's Game were full of violence towards women. Maybe it disturbed me this time because there was so much of it in one place and it was so graphic, I can't quite put my finger on why it bothred me so much this time. Definately not one of my favorites.
Rated by buyers 
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This collection of stories, written over a number of years (I remember reading "The Cat from Hell" when I was 18 or 19, in the Year's Best Horror Stories) shows that King has never lost his touch, and that short stories are still his finest format. "Harvey's Dream" is breathtakingly terrifying for anyone who has children, "The Gingerbread Girl" is better than 99% of the movies made with similar themes these days, and reading "N." was like plunging into an icy lake in Canada in the middle of February. I still can't get warm. Whole-heartedly recommended.
Rated by buyers 
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I enjoy King's stories very much (having read "Night Shift" twice and "Everything's Eventual" three times) so I was looking very forward to SK's new book of short stories. However, these stories fell flat for me. You could see what was coming a mile away ("Willa", for example) in some and others seemed like an exercise for creative writing class ("Harvey's Dream"). As an almost lifelong King fan, I STRONGLY recommend reading "Everything's Eventual" instead. With the exception of "Luckey Quarter" (maybe I just didn't get it), EVERY story in that collection is excellent and "1408" will blow you away - much, much better than the film adaptation.
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