Official Stephen King Publication Countdown - 34. The Langoliers, 33. The Ten o'Clock People (7 Viewers)

[Ministry of Pain]

43. “The Monkey”
1980
Short story from Skeleton Crew
Horror
3/5

A man tries to escape from a cymbal-banging monkey toy that continually resurfaces in his life and seems to be associated with the untimely death of those around him.

This story surprised me. I expected it to be fairly simple and somewhat boring, but it actually is quite terrifying. On the surface, the monkey itself is scarier than I would have ever expected. But the story also has some depth and the apparent connection between the toy and the guilt the protagonist carries adds a lot. I’ve not seen the movie adaptation that just came out, but if it is anything like the short story it would definitely be worthwhile.

One of the most underrated books and then movies on this list
I'm not saying you had to rank it Top 10, just that many likely never read the book or saw the movie
Both are worth checking out

 

[Ministry of Pain]

The Shining is gonna be mega high, it's almost on a different level
I would have it on my Mt Rushmore

He has a handful of these types and that's a handful more than many writers ever accomplish.
My 1st King book that I picked up and read was "Pet Sematary" and it scared the **** out of me, used to jump anytime someone would open my bedroom door and I was reading it

Thanks for doing this

 

[Dan Lambskin]

37. The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
1982
Novel
Dark fantasy, western, horror
3/5
- Dark Tower story
- Randall Flagg story

“Yet suppose further. Suppose that all worlds, all universes, met at a single nexus, a single pylon, a Tower. And within it, a stairway, perhaps rising to the Godhead itself. Would you dare climb to the top, gunslinger?”

“Only enemies speak the truth. Friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty."

"Go then, there are other worlds than these."


Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger, relentlessly pursues the Man in Black across a post-apocalyptic desert world, ultimately seeking the Dark Tower.

“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” With these words, among the most famous from any of his novels, Stephen King opens the epic that would become his magnum opus.

The initial inspiration for The Dark Tower was Robert Browning’s poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came.” Additionally inspired by The Lord of the Rings and a number of western books and movies, he began writing an epic story in the early 1970s. When he published the first part of that epic, The Gunslinger, in 1982, it wasn’t clear that it would ever end up going anywhere.

It ended up going places King didn’t expect, prompting him to release a revised version of the novel in 2003 which corrected some plot inconsistencies between the original book and later novels in the series. Most of the edits were fairly small, however, and the tone of the original version remains. It’s a very different tone than the rest of the series, generally darker and lacking some of the humor of the later books. Nevertheless, this is a great beginning to an epic journey.

Love this series. I should do a reread
It does have its flaws but such a great journey

 

[turnjose7]

36. The Breathing Method
1982
Novella from Different Seasons
Horror
2/5

A determined woman gives birth despite all circumstances conspiring against her.

This is another underrated gem. It’s a frame story with the outer tale taking place in the same gentleman’s club as “The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands” and providing more of a glimpse into the supernatural power of that club. The core tale is a relatively straightforward but an inspiring account of a character with incredible resolve. Sandra Stanfield is one of my favorite King characters, maybe the best of his female characters. King does a nice job with the period setting here, and the story has some underrated humor. Notably, this is the only story in Different Seasons that has supernatural elements.

 

[turnjose7]

35. The Body
1982
Novella from Different Seasons
Coming of age, realism
1/5
- Castle Rock story

“I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12 - Jesus, did you?”

“The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them - words shrink things that seem limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out.”


Four adolescents embark on a journey to find the body of a kid who died in an accident.

Most are probably familiar with the movie adaptation Stand by Me. It’s a great movie and a pretty faithful adaptation. The novel is also fantastic. It’s the quintessential coming-of-age story. I think even the harshest critics of Stephen King would have to admit that one thing he does super well is writing from the perspective of kids. I mean he seriously is probably the best author I have ever read at that. Here he does that as well as any of his works.

There isn’t anything supernatural about this story at all. I think it is probably one of his works that is most based on King’s own life. Obviously, a lot of his characters are writers and contain bits and pieces of him, but I get the sense that (along with Mike Noonan) Gordie Lachance is near the top in terms of how King sees himself.

It is worth noting that this is one of his earliest stories to be set in Castle Rock. It is also the first major story to feature Ace Merrill and give us a significant glimpse into that family of antagonists (though, as previously mentioned, Ace is mentioned in the Skeleton Crew version of “Nona,” he was not in the original version that was published before this novella).

Finally, I love the second quote above. Maybe a weird thing for a writer to say, but as someone who struggles to communicate, this rings true to me.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

36. The Breathing Method
1982
Novella from Different Seasons
Horror
2/5

A determined woman gives birth despite all circumstances conspiring against her.

This is another underrated gem. It’s a frame story with the outer tale taking place in the same gentleman’s club as “The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands” and providing more of a glimpse into the supernatural power of that club. The core tale is a relatively straightforward but an inspiring account of a character with incredible resolve. Sandra Stanfield is one of my favorite King characters, maybe the best of his female characters. King does a nice job with the period setting here, and the story has some underrated humor. Notably, this is the only story in Different Seasons that has supernatural elements.

This is sort of the forgotten story from this book. Agree with your assessment and like it better than at least Apt Pupil from the collection (I'll rank them when you select the last one).

I believe King wrote Different Seasons because he was tired of the "all he does is write horror" takes about him. Of course, he couldn't help himself a little here

 

[Uruk-Hai]

35. The Body
1982
Novella from Different Seasons
Coming of age, realism
1/5
- Castle Rock story

“I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12 - Jesus, did you?”

“The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them - words shrink things that seem limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out.”


Four adolescents embark on a journey to find the body of a kid who died in an accident.

Most are probably familiar with the movie adaptation Stand by Me. It’s a great movie and a pretty faithful adaptation. The novel is also fantastic. It’s the quintessential coming-of-age story. I think even the harshest critics of Stephen King would have to admit that one thing he does super well is writing from the perspective of kids. I mean he seriously is probably the best author I have ever read at that. Here he does that as well as any of his works.

There isn’t anything supernatural about this story at all. I think it is probably one of his works that is most based on King’s own life. Obviously, a lot of his characters are writers and contain bits and pieces of him, but I get the sense that (along with Mike Noonan) Gordie Lachance is near the top in terms of how King sees himself.

It is worth noting that this is one of his earliest stories to be set in Castle Rock. It is also the first major story to feature Ace Merrill and give us a significant glimpse into that family of antagonists (though, as previously mentioned, Ace is mentioned in the Skeleton Crew version of “Nona,” he was not in the original version that was published before this novella).

Finally, I love the second quote above. Maybe a weird thing for a writer to say, but as someone who struggles to communicate, this rings true to me.

A+ story/A+ film adaptation. Rob Reiner went on one of the all-time directorial heaters during the period he made this. Most all of the casting was great, but this was the River Phoenix Show - Reiner had to get it right with casting that part and there's no way he could have made a more perfect choice. And Sutherland as Ace was such a perfect *******

The novella is exactly the right length and still has some of King's best writing.

 

[turnjose7]

34. The Langoliers
1990
Novella from Four Past Midnight
Horror
3/5

Passengers aboard a commercial flight fall asleep, and upon awakening find themselves in an alternate universe in which most of the population has disappeared.

Of all the stories in Four Past Midnight, The Langoliers is the strangest, but it also might be the most fun. The premise is cool, and the story has a lot of great characters and multiple layers to it. The biggest downside is that the payoff at the end is kind of weak as the main evil forces are a little disappointing. This is a fairly common criticism of several of King’s stories, and he has written extensively on the challenge of building up a terrifying antagonist in a horror story then being able to live up to expectations at the final reveal (and how this is even harder to do in writing than in visual media like film). Notwithstanding that, I still really like this story and actually consider the ending to be pretty satisfying.

 

[turnjose7]

33. “The Ten o’clock People”
1993
Short story from Nightmares and Dreamscapes
Horror
3/5

An office worker taking his regular smoke break discovers a horrifying truth about people in positions of authority.

I’m not sure why I like this story so much as the plot is fairly simple and it has been criticized for being a rip off of John Carpenter’s They Live (it’s actually an homage to the inspiration for that movie, Ray Nelson’s short story “Eight o’Clock in the Morning”). The bottom line is I love this story. The social commentary regarding smokers is fine though not particularly compelling. What is compelling is the description of the story’s antagonists, which is horrifying and elevates this above similar stories like They Live and "Eight o'Clock in the Morning."