Night shift (collection). Night shift (collection) About the book "Night shift" Stephen King

Stephen King with the novel Night shift to download in fb2 format.

You have decided to set off on a journey through the nooks and crannies of nightmares lurking beyond reality. Only madness and panic reign here. Here, anything that seems reliable and familiar can turn into a deadly trap. Even daylight here seeps through the darkness of the night ...
Behind the bend in the road is a world where the Gray Evil lurks under the masks of people. Evil, in which there is not even a spark of the human soul.
A new turn - and here it is, the town ...
Another turn - and those who come across the possessed Lawnmower will repent three times. Because in the depths of his broken soul Death lurks ...
And again the road makes a turn - the dead return to the school, return with a thirst to bear death alive. And you have to sell your soul to the devil in order to defeat the devil ...
Read the NIGHT CHANGE storybook just the way Stephen King intended it!

If you liked the abstract of the book Night shift, then you can download it in fb2 format by clicking on the links below.

To date, a large amount of electronic literature is posted on the Internet. The Night Shift edition is dated 2014, belongs to the Horror genre in the Dark Tower series and is published by AST publishing house. Perhaps the book has not yet entered the Russian market or has not appeared in electronic format. Don't be upset: just wait, and it will definitely appear on UnitLib in fb2 format, but for now you can download and read other books online. Read and enjoy educational literature with us. Free download in formats (fb2, epub, txt, pdf) allows you to download books directly to an e-book. Remember, if you really like the novel, save it to your wall on a social network, let your friends see it too!

You have decided to embark on a journey through the back streets of nightmares lurking beyond reality, and this book is your guide to a world inhabited by sheer horror.

Behind the bend in the road is a world where the Gray Evil lurks under the masks of people. Evil, in which there is not even a spark of the human soul. A new turn - and here it is, a town where the ultra-modern meat grinder has found its own will and mind. Will to Evil and a mind aimed only at killing ...

And again the road makes a turn - and Doom comes to the small town. A terrible multi-tailed death, for which, alas, there is no pipe, no Pied Piper ... In Russia, the entire collection was first released only in 1998.

However, "entirely" - it is too loudly said. For some unknown reason, two stories at once did not get into it.

And if the story "The Last Crossbeam" was published for some time - under the same cover with "Carrie", "Fog", and a couple of unfortunate "foundlings" from the collection "Team of Skeletons", as well as in a paperback and in the same company (however, now it is not published at all), then "The Settlement of Jerusalem" simply disappeared into nowhere, and only in 2011 was published in the collection of "non-Lovecraft" myths of Cthulhu.

Based on materials from the site www.fantlab.ru This release is an attempt to restore the "native" collection "Night shift" - in the form in which it was published by the author. Unfortunately, it was not possible to find only the foreword by D. Macdonald. Also, it was not always possible to identify the translators of this or that story.

Hopefully King's fans will correct this omission in the future. ;)

You have decided to embark on a journey through the back streets of nightmares lurking beyond reality, and this book is your guide to a world inhabited by sheer horror.

Behind the bend in the road is a world where the Gray Evil lurks under the masks of people. Evil, in which there is not even a spark of the human soul. A new turn - and here it is, a town where the ultra-modern meat grinder has found its own will and mind. Will to Evil and a mind aimed only at killing ...

And again the road makes a turn - and Doom comes to the small town. A terrible multi-tailed death, for which, alas, there is no pipe, no Pied Piper ... In Russia, the entire collection was first released only in 1998.

However, "entirely" - it is too loudly said. For some unknown reason, two stories at once did not get into it.

And if the story "The Last Crossbeam" was published for some time - under the same cover with "Carrie", "Fog", and a couple of unfortunate "foundlings" from the collection "Team of Skeletons", as well as in a paperback and in the same company (however, now it is not published at all), then "The Settlement of Jerusalem" simply disappeared into nowhere, and only in 2011 was published in the collection of "non-Lovecraft" myths of Cthulhu.

Based on materials from the site www.fantlab.ru This release is an attempt to restore the "native" collection "Night shift" - in the form in which it was published by the author. Unfortunately, it was not possible to find only the foreword by D. Macdonald. Also, it was not always possible to identify the translators of this or that story.

Hopefully King's fans will correct this omission in the future. ;)

Stephen King

Night shift (collection)

Foreword

At parties (which I try to avoid whenever possible), I am often presented with smiles and strong handshakes by all sorts of people, who then, with a significantly mysterious air, declare:

- You know, I've always wanted to write.

I've always tried to be polite to them.

But now, with the same jubilant, mysterious grin, I answer them:

- And I, you know, always wanted to be a neurosurgeon.

Confusion immediately appears on the faces. But it is not important. All around are full of strange, confused people who do not know where to stick themselves and what to do.

If you want to write, then write.

And you can only learn to write in the process. Not a very suitable way to master the profession of a neurosurgeon.

Stephen King has always wanted to write, and he does.

And he wrote Carrie and The Lot and The Shining, and the wonderful stories that you can read in this book, and an incredible number of other stories and novels, and excerpts, and poems, and essays, and so on. works that are not subject to classification, and even more so, for the most part, publications. The pictures are too repulsive and scary.

But that's how he wrote them.

Because there is simply no other way to write about it. Doesn't exist, and that's it.

Diligence and hard work are wonderful qualities. But they are not enough. You must have a taste for the word. To revel, to glut with words. Swim in them, roll out on the tongue. Reread millions of words written by others.

And the fiercest contempt should be reserved for people who hide their complete helplessness and mediocrity behind verbosity, a rigid sentence structure inherent in Germanic languages, inappropriate symbols, as well as an absolute lack of understanding of what is plot, historical context, rhythm and image.

Only by starting to understand what you yourself are, will you learn to understand other people. Indeed, in every first comer there is a piece of your own "I".

Well, that's all. So, again, what do we need? Diligence and hard work plus love of the word, plus expressiveness - and from all this, partial objectivity is hardly breaking through into the light of God.

For absolute objectivity does not exist at all ...

And here I, typing these words on my blue typewriter and having reached the second page of this preface and having quite clearly understood at first what and how I was going to say, suddenly lost my mind. And now I’m not at all sure if I understand what I wanted to say.

Having lived in the world twice as long as Stephen King, I have reason to believe that I evaluate my work more objectively than Stephen King does his own.

Objectivity ... oh, it develops so slowly and painfully.

You write books, they spread throughout the world, and it is no longer possible to cleanse them from their inherent spirit, like from a husk. You are connected with them, as if with children who grew up and chose their own path, despite all the labels that you put on them. Oh, if only it was possible - to bring them back home and give each book extra shine and strength! .. Clean up, touch up page by page. Deepen, shovel, polish, get rid of excess ...

But at thirty, Stephen King is a much better writer than I was at thirty and forty.

And I feel a kind of hatred for him - just a little bit.

And I also think I know by sight a dozen demons hiding in the bushes along the path he chose, but even if I had a way to warn him about it, he would still not obey. Here who is who - either he is theirs, or they are his.

Everything is very simple.

OK. So what am I talking about? ..

Diligence, love of the word, expressiveness, objectivity ... What else?

History! Well, of course, the story, what else the hell!

History is something that happened to someone you watch and care for. It can happen in any dimension - physical, mental, spiritual. And also in a combination of all these three dimensions.

Another kind of intervention is pure grotesque. Here's one of my favorite examples I read from last year's bestselling book: "His eyes slid down the front of her dress."

The image must be written accurately, contain an unexpected and apt observation, and not break the charm of the narrative. Included in this collection is a story called Trucks, in which Stephen King draws a tense waiting scene in an auto repair shop and describes the people gathered there. “Traveling salesman, he never for a second parted with the coveted suitcase with samples. And now the briefcase lay at his feet, like a beloved dog, deciding to take a nap. "

A very, it seems to me, an accurate image.

In another story, he demonstrates an impeccable ear, giving the dialogue extraordinary liveliness and authenticity. The husband and wife went on a long journey. They are driving along some abandoned road. She says, “Yes, Burt, I know we're in Nebraska, Burt. And yet, where the hell are we going? skidded?"And he replies:" You have an atlas of roads. So look. Or forgot how to read? "

Very good. And so simple and accurate. Just like in neurosurgery. The knife has a blade. You keep it appropriately. And you make an incision.

And finally, at the risk of being accused of iconoclasm, I must declare with full responsibility that I absolutely do not care what topic Stephen King chooses for his work. The fact that at this time he clearly revels in describing various horrors from the life of ghosts, witches and other monsters living in basements and sewer manholes, it seems to me not the most important thing when it comes to the practice of his work.

After all, a lot of the most terrible things are happening around us. And all of us - you and I - experience crazy stress every hour. And with kids, in whose souls evil lives, you can fill Disneyland. But the main thing, I repeat, is still history.

Taking the reader by the hand, she leads him along. And does not leave you indifferent.

And further. The two most difficult areas for a writer are humor and mysticism. Under a clumsy pen, humor turns into a funeral song, and mysticism evokes laughter.

But if the pen is skillful, you can write about anything.

And it seems that Stephen King is not going to limit himself to the sphere of his current interests.

Stephen King is not intended to please the reader. He writes to please himself. Me too. And when that happens, everyone likes the result. The stories that delight Stephen King are also pleasing to me.

By a strange coincidence, while writing this foreword, I suddenly learned that King's novel The Shining and my novel The Condominium are on the bestseller list of the year. Don't get it wrong, King and I are not at all competing for the reader's attention. He and I, it seems to me, are competing with the helpless, pretentious and pseudo-sensational works of those who never bothered to learn their craft.

As for the skill with which the story is created, and the pleasure that you can get by reading it, then we don't have that many Stephen Kings.

And if you've read all of this, I hope you have enough time. And you can start reading stories.

John D. Macdonald

To the reader

Let's talk. Let's talk with you about fear.

I am writing these lines, and I am alone in the house. A cold February rain is drizzling outside the window. Night ... Sometimes, when the wind howls like today, especially sad, we lose all power over ourselves. But while it is still not lost, let's talk about fear. Let's talk calmly and judiciously about approaching the abyss called madness ... about balancing at its very edge.

My name is Stephen King. I am a grown man. I live with my wife and three children. I love them very much and I believe that the feeling is mutual. My job is to write and I really love my job. The novels "Carrie", "The Lot", "The Shining" were so successful that now I can only make a living by writing. And this makes me very happy. At present, health seems to be all right. Last year, I got rid of the bad habit of smoking strong non-filter cigarettes, which I had been tarring since I was eighteen, and switched to filter cigarettes with low nicotine content. In time, I hope to quit smoking altogether. I live with my family in a very cozy and nice house next to a relatively clean lake in Maine; One day last fall, when I woke up early in the morning, I suddenly saw a deer in the backyard. He was standing next to a plastic picnic table. We live well.

It makes me very happy when a small work (literally 40 pages long) is capable of giving birth to such a number of thoughts! You know, for the number of novels that I read from King, the opinion about his self-repetition has taken root. From the very beginning, this story was drawn to something similar. The techniques are all the same, the narrative is almost the same, and the transition from an ordinary story to a real horror with the living dead only confirmed this. So, I read it to the end and plunged into thoughts, so strong that it dawned on me and I was able to discover a double bottom.What we got here: a teacher who survived a terrible tragedy in distant childhood, when a group of teenagers took the life of his brother right before his eyes. After that, we are shown how this incident affected the further development of a man: constant nervous breakdowns, visits to support groups with people who have experienced similar tragedies, problems with employment). Gradually, everything changes and the main character manages to find a good job in college, with understanding colleagues and an acceptable lesson schedule. But not with the very last one. It is designed for disadvantaged teenagers who are significantly behind in their studies. And so, gradually everything begins to crumble, when the disappearing students are replaced by the same ones who killed his brother and begin to promise that his time has already come. The teacher decides to take revenge on his offenders and his brother. The whole story can be broken down into several layers at once. The first is saturated with healthy mysticism. The second is damage to the human psyche, which leads to dire consequences. If they bow down, which of them is correct, then I will choose the second King and does not lead us to the line that can explain where the reality of what is happening. It was more terrible to think about the reasons for child aggression when teenagers 10-15 years old cruelly deal with their peers. Here, not only is the act itself frightening, but its reasons. It is difficult to imagine that a child who did not even have time to assert himself properly in this life, there is such a gnawing anger that can bring him to a terrible sin.

Of all the works of the master I have read, "The Last Crossbar" I consider the best. It’s even hard for me to imagine how great King’s talent is that he was so easy to write a story about love, loss and separation ... As a person who grew up in a family alone, without brothers and sisters, it’s difficult to imagine the love that hovered between loved ones. I tried to present it and if only you knew how much I succeeded. I was really there, with them, carelessly jumping into a haystack, and was afraid for my loved one, worried about the fact that adults would punish me for disobedience. But I never left the feeling that he would always come and help. In the most difficult moment! He will throw all his strength so that everything will fall into place again. King masterfully manages the emotions of his reader and evokes genuine joy from the very barn where the endless love of brother and sister was forged. There is nothing better than being a child. Especially if you know that you have a person who will always come to the rescue and listen. For an immature child, it can be a father, mother, grandfather or grandmother ... Or maybe an older brother. It is he who will protect his sister from all the troubles of our unpredictable life. After all, the baby looks at the one whom he trusts in a completely different way, his eyes are full of innocence and devoid of those fears that adults constantly experience. Why, such a look can be thrown only at the one who deserves it. If you become worthy of him, it means that the child has found his own example to follow. Just like that, love is not given to anyone. We were all children and understands that frivolous attitude towards life. When at full steam you want to fly to something unknown and be extremely careless. By the end of the whole story, I still remained with them. I was able to survive two lives, because they flashed before my eyes. In the end, their lives turned out to be banal simply, which made my chest pinch. From the very beginning, I understood that this story will not end with anything good, and so it happened. How did I get it? My acquaintance with King has been going on for more than a year, and the life of an ordinary American person is very familiar to me through movies and TV shows. At the very end, the reader is unable to change anything and must come to terms with the merciless fate of fate. There is another message in this. The author manages to change the reader's ideas about the further fate of the heroes and demonstrate a completely different outcome, rather unexpected, so that he would pay attention to the problems shown in the story. This problem is quite multifaceted and incredibly relevant for residents of large cities. People close to us often leave their homes in search of a better life, leaving only bitterness in their souls. We just have to look for the rift, because of which all this happened. There were no grievances here, omissions about parting were not allowed. Just one person, unconditionally believed in another, that he would come and help in difficult times. Every conversation screamed about their closeness. But as often happens, people get older and everyone scatters around this endless world. It's a shame only for family members, who have to leave each other and move in parallel, although partly they intersect. This is the very closeness between people, who apart from them will listen to us and help us in difficult times? You should not look at the number of pages in the story, it is terribly small, but this does not lose in quality and plot. At first it seems like there is just one problem. One has only to dive deeper, as the second one will come out after one, etc. The story itself seems to be trying to remind us of childhood, those wonderful, carefree times when there is only our little world around, which we tried with all our might to expand. And from about this moment you begin to understand what exactly the author is afraid of here. These are not monsters or ghosts - this is our life with you. She is short-lived and merciless. Even if you did not have a brother or sister, they were replaced by your best friend or girlfriend, with whom, over time, you had to part. How is he there, what's with him, would he like to talk to you? Or only you have those very pleasant memories, and he is so busy with business that he cannot even return to that time even for a minute? After reading the work to the end, tears involuntarily came to me. It's hard for me to admit, but it still comes, the paths diverge, but the memories remain. Stories like this can turn the soul inside out, touch the strings of the soul and leave a bitter residue. The most interesting thing is that the situation was far from hopeless and could be changed in an instant. Our indifference, acquired over the years, is to blame for everything. Do not forget your past and loved ones, even with the advent of the present.

GRAY BAD What do you think might be hiding in a simple beer can? Let's think together. Alcoholism? Perhaps, but too weak. Delirium tremens? Partly yes, but still not that. High blood alcohol murder? Oh no. Why has no one written before that in beer cans "something" is capable of hiding, which, having happily escaped to freedom, will arrange a real genocide to the human race, simultaneously turning it into a fetid lump, spreading mucus? It really sounds creepy, and even worse to imagine. "MEAT GRINDER" If you have never been afraid of machines for washing and drying clothes, it's time to change your mind and bypass them the fifth way. After all, you never know what the blood of a virgin, grave earth, a toad's eye, a horse's hoof and a belladonna stalk can do with this product. I can tell right away - nothing good. Having mixed such a vigorous cocktail, a seemingly harmless white car will begin to regard you as no higher than a shirt for washing. Before you is a lush ocean, a cluttered beach all around and fine white sand. The surf is constantly picking up the waters and heaving up scraps of foam. And somewhere out there, far, even beyond the horizon, people are trying to survive, because they are destroyed in batches by a mysterious virus that can turn a human head into something like a basketball. Creepy, scary, great. NIGHT SHIFT My advice to you, if you are offered to take the night shift, immediately refuse and run as far as possible. Indeed, in the building, which you need to spend the next night, there will certainly be a modest basement with rats teeming everywhere and their main leader. It even becomes scary how your shift will end, and whether it will come to an end ... I KNOW WHAT YOU WANT So, turn around and find something unusual. Hooray, you noticed him! Yes, that strange guy, very much like a clown in his appearance. Take a closer look at his hands, he is holding a voodoo doll and looks at you carefully. I will say more, he knows about your hidden desires, he controls them and is ready to give up such a profitable skill for a little praise in the form of your heart! If you decide to take the wife of one of the big business tycoons in your city, be prepared to rush headlong to the 42nd floor of the local skyscraper and climb the local cornice, which is no more than 20 centimeters wide. Now look down and remember my warning. JOINT STOCK COMPANY “NO SMOKING ANYMORE” You have long thought about quitting smoking. Welcome to LLC "No More Smoking". The guys here are distinguished by their methods of fighting tobacco addiction. At first they seem rather strange, but a little later you realize how effective and reliable their method is. Forget that funny book by Allen Carr about the easy way to quit smoking, because it is only available to these guys. I AM THE DOOR OPENING In the depths of space, there should be charming other life forms that constantly follow us. These little bloodshot eyes are just waiting for the moment when they can open the door to our world with you and arrange a massacre. BATTLE FIELD All cruel killers love to relax after the next case. Some do it well, but others have to deal with a real army of toy soldiers who were able to get a small model of a thermonuclear warhead. Now the killer will be able to rest, because parts of his body will instantly scatter around the neighborhood. SOMETIMES THEY RETURN New students are always good. It's just bad that they came to us not from another school or a neighboring city, but straight from the place where they go after death. Teaching them will be a real challenge. CORN CHILDREN Children here have a very difficult relationship with adults. They do not listen to them and give preference to someone whose voice sounds to them from the fields. In order not to anger their benefactor once again, they donate to him all men and women who have already turned 19 years old. Nothing to be done - so ordered from God.BOOK Wait, can you really hear this dank cry of a child from the next room? Why are you still standing here, quickly go there and help him. From now on, don't even think about leaving a small child in a room with a closet or closet. Do you know that Buka loves such places, and even more he loves delicious kids. A MAN WHO LOVED FLOWERS What do you think first of all when you see a man with flowers coming towards you? Probably a man in love who prepared a present for his woman. What do you think of a man with flowers in one hand, a hammer in the other and crazy eyes that are about to jump out of their sockets? In this case, it is better to leave your thoughts and go as far away from him as possible, he will not use such a tool for its intended purpose. Nearby, it is not clear why, huge trucks cuts one circle after another, constantly honking and happily knocking down passers-by at full speed. Everyone is shocked and tries to escape and hide in the diner, but multi-ton cars will gladly look in there. He jumps with great joy on the wet, earth and leaves behind a trail of the dead bodies of young women. GAS MOWERS The most ordinary guy wanted to tidy up his lawn and mow all the excess grass. It seemed that nothing boded trouble until the bloodthirsty Pan with his subjects decided to intervene in this process. The lawn is mowed, as is its owner. WOMAN IN THE CHAMBER It's hard to say anything about the boy who from the bottom of his heart wanted to help his mother. But God, what have you done. If there is one abandoned town near your settlement, where people are constantly disappearing, and the human shadow is refracted under the sun's rays. There is a possibility that a bunch of vampires live there.