Once upon a time, Stephen King was an ordinary teacher/handyman who dreamed of writing career and sending their stories to various magazines, dreaming of earning at least something from them. But mostly they were not published anywhere, and even if they appeared somewhere, it was only to forget about them a couple of hours after reading.

Time passed, King gained popularity at a frantic pace, and in 1978 he decided to release his first author’s collection, which, as you might guess, consisted mostly of these “loser” stories. And here is the paradox - “ Night shift” is considered by many (and rightfully so), best collection writer. Why? It’s hard to say - if someone comes across a creation like “Grey Fuck” or “The Lawnmower Man” in a seedy magazine, it’s unlikely that this person will immediately recognize the talent of the person who wrote it. But, collected together, these stories form a single whole, and simplicity, and sometimes naivety, gives this collection a special charm. And one more thing - King very well managed to convey the spirit of the era of the 70s, when men wore bell-bottoms, women wore jeans, and ordinary workers drove up to bars in their old Chevys and Buicks to celebrate the end of the working day.

But at the same time, “Night Shift” contains several diamonds (more precisely, diamonds in the rough). Two brilliant thrillers – “The Cornice” and “The Stop Smoking Corporation”, the horror film “Children of the Corn”, the name of which has already become a household name. And, of course, two sentimental stories - “The Woman in the Ward” and “The Last Crossbar” (which our publishers, with incomprehensible persistence, place in the “Skeleton Team”), telling about the loss of loved ones, but not giving an answer on how to live with it.

Overall, “Night Shift” is a collection of good stories, without any pretensions to anything more, twenty stories about ordinary people faced with something incomprehensible and trying to return to normal life.

Rating: 9

And to begin with, I’ll say a few words about those stories that I rated seven points:

“The Settlement of Jerusalem” is a prequel to the novel “The Lot”, however, these works are united only by the location of the action. The novel is a good driving horror film about vampires in modern world. The story is a nod to Lovecraft, the action of which unfolds quite leisurely in mid-19th century. The narrative is revealed through letters from the main character, whose name is Charles Boone, as well as diary entries his servants. Charles moved to his family's old family estate and discovers that people from the nearest village are afraid and avoid him, mysterious rustles and steps are constantly heard within the walls of the house, and nearby there is a frightening abandoned town with a creepy church. In general, the stylization was not very successful; King was missing something here. Possibly experience, because Crouch End, released two years later, was stronger. It is possible that my impressions are due to personal perception and are not entirely correct. In any case, I recommend this story to fans of Lovecraftian horror, as well as to all those who are interested in learning more about the settlement of Jerusalem.

"Through Other People's Eyes." The plot revolves around the astronaut Arthur, who, having been in the orbit of Venus and returning to Earth, received a medal, money, disability and additional sets of eyes in his hands. This is actually the whole plot. Oh, I completely forgot, someone else is looking with these eyes, someone alien and who really, really hates everything earthly. The story is interesting, but too dark.

"Battlefield". Hitman John Renshaw, after successfully completing his next order, receives an unusual box. John “removed” the owner of a toy company, and the box sent contained toy soldiers consisting of “twenty infantrymen, ten helicopters, two machine gunners with Browning machine guns, four Jeeps.” Who would have thought that these same soldiers would be very willing to fight for real? The story consists entirely of action, this is a real dizzying military action, albeit limited to just one apartment. The main character at first seems somewhat limited and boring, but his ability to adapt to new conditions is admirable. Good idea, good implementation. I recommend it to all fans of hurricane action.

"Strawberry Spring" I put “Strawberry Spring” on a par with “The Man Who Loved Flowers.” This is a trick, a story whose intrigue will disappear after the first reading, and you will return to it not for solving mysteries or searching for new meanings, but for the perfectly written atmosphere and mood of the story. The main character, being a college student, experiences a “strawberry spring” - a false spring when the warmth comes too early and the earth is shrouded in thick fog. According to legends, such a spring occurs once every 8-10 years. Well, they say it’s right: in the spring, all the psychos get worse, so Jumping Jack, a maniac who kills girls with a knife, appears on campus. The parallels with Jack the Ripper are obvious; in my opinion, the author even sought to show the same story, but in modern realities, adding to his character an almost supernatural ability to elude the police in the fog and continue to kill, despite patrols and unrest among students. I recommend the story to all those who like to read thrillers about maniacs.

"Lawnmower Man" Many people do not understand this story. I'm not an exception. To begin with, I read “The Lawnmower Man” when I was 11 years old, and everything about it was alien to me. Cutting the grass in the yard with a lawnmower is something you only see in movies, and even then not often. Well, a naked fat man eating grass was also strange and incomprehensible. But there was nothing scary in the story. And let’s end with the fact that when you read it again as an adult, this story is still not scary, but it seems less strange. After American Gods, the local Pan's attempts to survive are unimpressive. But in itself, the story is faded and inexpressive.

Now let's talk about all those stories that I rated eights:

"Night shift". I have never been afraid of rats. I think this is due to the fact that in my childhood I had a domesticated variety of this rodent and the sight of its gray relatives did not evoke either disgust or fear. Therefore, King's tale of monstrous rats as a horror story did not make much of an impression. Judge for yourself: a group of characters were cleaning the basement of an old factory of all sorts of junk. There is darkness all around of gray rodents. During the work, it was discovered that the basement is not as simple as it seems at first glance. As do the rats that live in it. This story was, of course, a good read, but it was too simple and traditional. It's like a chef cooked it tasty pie exactly according to the recipe, though without much inspiration or desire. Re-reading this story the other day, I shifted my perspective and suddenly discovered that Night Shift can be perceived as a horror story about people. Judge for yourself: main character, an educated guy who graduated from college. However, not only did he earn his living not with his head, but with his hands, but he also traveled extensively around the country. He is a loner, no friends, no girlfriend, no need for company. He does not shy away from violence and is clearly running from something or looking for something. And when this comrade went down into the depths of the basement with his boss, who knows what he saw there? We have the version of an unreliable narrator, but what really happened and what was the figment of the protagonist’s imagination - interest Ask. And if you look at it from this angle, the cook’s pie was definitely a success. Even though there is too much rat meat, the secret ingredient makes up for everything. You just need to try it.

"Night Surf" This story is like a torn out piece of reality, a story that happened, but the beginning and end of which we will never know. When I read it for the first time, I felt as if I was holding in front of me torn pages from a diary, and the diary itself had long been lost or destroyed. There is no climax or plot, we are simply shown the evening and night of a group of young people who survived the flu pandemic and who now have nothing. Only memories of the past, a hopeless present and a future in which there is only death. And it is precisely because of this hopelessness that it really scary story. It is enough just to imagine that you are going somewhere just to go at all, because there is no goal, your companions are indifferent to you, because you are all dead, and you are indifferent to yourself, because nothing matters anymore. If you are dead in your soul, then nothing worries you.

"Gray rubbish." A horror story reminiscent of a creepy tale told around a campfire. One day, the measured life of the regulars of the Night Owl bar was interrupted by a frightened boy who ran in there. The boy told creepy story about his father, who, having drunk some strange beer, began to lead a completely different lifestyle. He boarded up all the windows in the apartment, spends all his time in a chair under a blanket, drinks beer like water and... it stinks. The apotheosis of everything was the scene the boy accidentally saw of his dad devouring a decomposing cat. Realizing that his father was no longer human, the guy ran to the bar to his parent’s old friends and told them everything. So three adults go to see the creature they once knew. The writing is great; some scenes in the story may make you feel faint.

"Trucks". Stephen King once decided to talk about the rise of the machines, but quickly delved into social life and vices modern society. Before us is a variation of a global cataclysm, so to speak. The fact is that the trucks felt an irresistible thirst for murder and opened the hunting season for people. Several survivors take refuge in a diner, but are they safe? And if so, for how long? Everything we love about King is here. Psychologism, lively characters, intense plot and ambiguous ending.

“Sometimes They Come Back” is a rather ominous title, isn't it? And the story fits it perfectly. Mystical story about the evil that the main character faced as a child, and which returned years later to take revenge. The story can be considered typically King: psychologism, character development, a very vivid depiction of events, accurate, known to the author firsthand, a description of the teacher’s work... In its mood, the story most closely resembles “Pet Sematary”: an oppressive atmosphere of fear, bordering on hopelessness and despair.

"Cornice". Another work where King takes the most ordinary people and places them in extreme circumstances. The main character needs to walk around the building along the cornice of the 43rd floor, after which he will receive freedom, money and the woman he loves. The trouble is that the width of this cornice is only 12 cm, there is nothing to hold on to, and the main enemies in such a situation are cold, wind and pigeons. It is possible to pass, but it is damn difficult, but since the goal is worth all this unimaginable effort, then it must be achieved at all costs.

"I know what you want." Many guys would dream of knowing what girls want, because sometimes it is easier to explain the corpuscular-wave theory of light to an 8-year-old brother than to comprehend the logic of the fair half of humanity. Girls, in turn, are also not at all opposed to guys guessing their desires (and preferably, having them fulfilled right away). Fairy tale. Alas, King doesn’t particularly like to write fairy tales, and dilutes the picture with mundane everyday life, realism, and mental disorders. The plot can be described in one sentence: the girl Elizabeth meets an unusual boy, Ed, who makes her fall in love with him, guessing all her desires. Alas, the whole story is spoiled by the ending: too soft, too straightforward, too simple. You don’t even know who you sympathize with more in this story, and should you?

"Children of the Corn" Bert and Vicky, husband and wife, are traveling across America by car. One day they shoot down a young guy. Trying to find help, they discover that the area where everything happened is very strange: abnormally tall corn grows here, and a strange mystical cult flourishes among it, and it does not flourish out of nowhere. There is someone or something in the corn. He Who Walks the Rows is what this creature is called. Briefly but succinctly, King discusses the problems of spouses, the problems of children's society, religious education and worldview, and child cruelty.

"The last crossbar." I don’t even know how to comment. “The Last Crossing” is perceived by me as a lighter version of “The Body”, but not in terms of feelings, emotions and depth, but in terms of the plot and events taking place. Before us is a story within a story: the main character recalls one of the most vivid episodes of his childhood in order to escape from the present for a while. A tragedy happened to the hero’s sister and he is mentally transported to the time when he was 10 years old, and how he once saved his sister’s life, because that’s what older brothers should do. Bright memories of childhood are filled with such unreasonable, but such real adventures that nostalgia awakens in readers. We have never been more alive than in childhood, it is a pity that many lose this as they grow up. And good, albeit tense, memories contrast sharply with the present, turning everything upside down.

"The man who loved flowers." A short story about love. It’s amazing how well King wrote out the romantic atmosphere of this story, its lyricism, without forgetting to insert a small wormhole of dangerous madness.

"On the road." Vampires in Salem's Lot are a sore subject. But interesting. “On the road” is a kind of afterword to “The Lot.” Two years have passed since the main events of the novel, but in the neighboring town they still know that the Lot is a dark and dangerous place, and under no circumstances should you go there. However, people who are not local, who are passing through these places, so to speak, do not know anything about vampires and, accordingly, become easy prey. One such case is described in this story. The story is not bad, very atmospheric, but too illogical. How vampires survived after the fire is not the most difficult question. It’s much more interesting why the bloodsuckers, hungry, didn’t go to neighboring towns for dinner? After the healing fire, did they develop a strictly defined habitat? Still, a good vampire horror story.

"The woman in the ward." One of the heaviest and scary stories at King's. And he scares not with monsters, not with people, but with the life circumstances in which the main character finds himself. Johnny's mother is terminally ill. Every day, his son sees how she slowly fades away, and his heart breaks with the desire to help her. But how to do this? Try to prolong her life, and at the same time her suffering, or... Most In the story, the main character remains impersonal. His name and the name of his mother hardly appear in the narrative, but mostly we just see “he” and “mother”. And thanks to this, it becomes easier to try on the story for yourself.

And finally, all the stories that I liked most in the collection:

"Meat Grinder" is one of the most interesting stories Stephen King. Built on a fairly simple idea of ​​obsession, the story is impressive in its plot and imagery. We have a bulky ironing machine that the laundry workers nicknamed “The Meat Grinder.” King knows firsthand what such devices look like and what they are capable of - he himself worked on one at one time, so enough time is devoted to the descriptions of the machine so that any reader also gets a sufficient understanding. One day the stars align in such a way that a bloodthirsty demon moves into the Meat Grinder. And what should we do now? ordinary people, not related to exorcism - the question is, of course, an interesting one. Stephen King is very successful at building horror and tension from ordinary everyday things. And if an ironing machine may be a novelty to many modern readers, then the image of a possessed refrigerator, which is briefly mentioned in the story, makes an equally impressive impression.

“And Buka came” - best story S. King. The best due to the fact that it is not simple story about a monster, but a story about a man who turned out worse than the monster itself. This is the story of how Mr. Billings came to the doctor and told him about his life, about his dead children and his fears. Mr. Billings believed that his children were killed by a bogeyman (in other translations “beech” or “brownie”, in the original the creature is called a “boogeyman”, that is, the archetype of a children's scarecrow, like our “babaika”), and the story can have two interpretations :

Spoiler (plot reveal) (click on it to see)

1) The Scarecrow really exists. However, then the main character did nothing to save his family. At times he even accidentally helped the monster.

2) The Scarecrow does not exist. Then it turns out that the main character is mentally ill and himself killed his loved ones.

As you can see, both versions of Billings are not painted. But this is the rational view of an adult. When I re-read this book, part of me still remembers those thrills of childhood and just wants to check the closet. Just in case.

“Stop Smoking Corporation.” A cruel story, although I can’t say that I am absolutely against such measures. I still have a double feeling. On the one hand, doing this to people is simply inhumane, but on the other hand, it is a colossal increase in the willpower of the smoker. King, as a storyteller, coped with his task brilliantly, the story is fascinating, makes you think, empathize with the main character, hate the Corporation, fear for the main character’s family and sympathize with everyone who quits smoking.

Rating: 8

King's first "official" collection is already considered a classic. It was precisely such works that did him a disservice, bestowing him with the title “King of Horror.” Almost all the stories belong to the “same” genre, and a couple of exceptions only emphasize this.

Here we are dealing with the early King, with all the shortcomings and advantages. The advantages include compactness and lightness of style, which somehow disappeared from later works, often suffering from unnecessary bells and whistles. But the stories themselves turned out to be more... superficial, or what? - in comparison with later ones. However, what is “superficial” for King, is unattainable depth for other authors, for he was one of the first to notice that horror is a reflection of real life’s hardships.

Thus, blind religiosity and bigotry give birth to CHILDREN OF CORN. Drunkenness corrupts the soul, turning a person into GRAY CRAP. The consumer society becomes a slave to mechanization, and TRUCKS seize power over people. It seems to a person that, having matured, he will leave childhood hardships in the past, but... SOMETIMES THEY COME BACK.

As a result, I can say that the collection will appeal to all fans of good literature, except for the very serious ones, for whom EVERYTHING AT THE END and AFTER SUNSET will be more suitable. Well, I won’t advise fans of King: they’ll take you for an idiot, because they read it a long time ago!

Rating: 9

All. I read my first Stephen King book. It was the collection “Night Shift”.

Firstly, I was skeptical about the horror genre, even with a twisted plot. I kind of like it better Science fiction. Secondly, I did not expect such depth, psychologism and incredibly life-like details that directly bring the characters to life, and this is a very pleasant feeling.

The collection is truly, as stated in the preface, about Fear. And here King, one might say, floored me. I was prepared for the fact that there would only be stories about the fear of rats, about the fear of the ironing machine captured by the devil, about the fear of vampires (although these stories were written superbly). No. Stephen King turned out to be a deep psychologist of human souls...

It's all about the same Fear. But which one? Here I found Fear of religious fanaticism and child cruelty, Fear of responsibility for the death of my children, Fear of heights, Fear of that monster that lives in every person under the influence of alcohol, Fear of mechanization and shifting all worries to machines, Fear hopelessness and loneliness, Fear of long-forgotten but returning memories, Fear of the feeling that being absolutely understood, you understand that you are being controlled, that you are becoming dependent, Fear of fanatical love, Fear of distance in adult life even the closest people, and, finally, Fear of helplessness in the face of a serious illness that turns oneself loved one into a vegetable.

Rating: 9

Collection early stories Kinga did not surprise me, but only confirmed my faith in the king of horrors. From psychological to trashy “meat grinder” stories.

So, I’ll highlight the especially wonderful ones...

Settlement of Jerusalem.

A burden of horror hangs over the abandoned town of Jerusalem's Lot. An heir moves into an old house on the outskirts ancient family and the residents of the nearby village cannot rejoice at this, since the evil sleeping in Jerusalem will awaken and will not leave anyone aside. To the question - how can one describe all the horror in a nutshell - one can turn to this story.

Night shift

A disgusting feeling haunts the reader throughout the entire story - a stuffy stench, fat rats, dirt and darkness. No matter how funny it sounds, I thought, do I hate my boss that much?))

Meat grinder

The self-explanatory name seems to hint at what we will have to deal with... the inevitability and inevitability of the victory of technology over man. This topic will appear more than once on the pages of this collection. Well, the main character is a police officer working on a case involving an accident in a laundry room. This is where all the petty and stupid fears of a person spread their wings. As if nausea were setting in. You'll see for yourself how it all ended...I won't deprive you of this pleasure..

Gray trash

It was an ordinary evening before the bar closed, and suddenly the door opens and a boy runs in, begging for help. This vile and gray story begins so simply and alarmingly. One of the most disgusting stories in this book. Maybe I'm trying to dig too deep and find something that can't be here? But this story is like a parody of the modern immersion of society in social networks and television. And the main character here is gray trash. And everyone sees what gray rubbish is in their own way.

Sometimes they come back

What happened in our teacher’s childhood that changed his life so much? This is perhaps the main phrase of the story. But what methods he will use to fight the past is the second key phrase. The story is excellent. And the aftertaste is so bright with a taste of terrible retribution.

You start reading and thoughts come to mind - what’s the catch here, there doesn’t seem to be much action, but it’s so catchy and touching. I don’t know if this is a spoiler - but who would have thought that walking along the ledge could become so attractive.

Stop Smoking Corporation

And here is the main skeleton of the collection! If there were warm-up stories before, this one will hit you like an adult. The atmosphere of horror is at its best! 10 points. Do you want to quit smoking and don’t know how? Do you want to lose weight and have no willpower? Elementary, in our corporation you will be forced to look at many things in a new way! And you will never leave us the same. Py.sy. if you can leave, of course...

Rating: 10

If you are still reading these lines, then let's talk. Let's talk to you about fear.

"Gray rubbish"

A very scary story, although maybe it made such an impression on me due to the fact that it is the first story I read from the “King of Horrors”. The image of the smelly, sticky, nasty gray gunk has been haunting me for several days now. This is not just a horror story - it is a whole patchwork fabric woven from pieces of the destinies of the inhabitants of a provincial town. The story is replete with sketches from life. The images of the boy Timmy and his father Richie Greenedin were especially successful. “Grey Rubbish” is a warning for those who like to drink when they are deprived: stop, otherwise those closest to you will leave you, and you yourself will turn into something disgusting and terrible. Score 10.

"Meat grinder"

Interesting, but simple and naive story. Everything seems to be good about it, but something is missing. There is a lack of a second bottom, a philosophical subtext, a message to the reader. Usually I find this philosophical and psychological background, even if it seems to not exist and cannot exist. I didn't find that in this story - the plot is in this case primary It is clear that the author worked in a laundry and knows all the intricacies firsthand. Rating 4.

"Night Surf"

The main characters are practically not described, but from the scant information the reader still manages to form a certain picture in his head. The atmosphere of loneliness and general helplessness prevails in the story; the general feeling of the story does not save it from being classified as mediocre. Rating 5.

"Night shift"

The title story of the collection should set a certain bar and general mood collection. In principle, the story copes with its role - it is a scary story, leaving behind a feeling of disgust and fear of basements. I have never considered myself a zemmiphobe (zemmiphobia is the fear of rats), but after reading this story I will treat them with caution and caution. Score 9.

"I know what you want"

An interesting, thought-provoking story. What are you willing to do for your loved one? This is the choice of each of us: either you truly love and wish only happiness for your loved one, even with another, or you become selfish and forcefully keep love close to you. Score 10.

"Cornice"

Still psychological portraits Stephen King succeeds in his characters. Even without any fantastic element it can create tension like stretched string story, and it’s up to the reader to decide for himself whether this string will break or not. Score 8.

"Stop Smoking Corporation"

What are you willing to do for the happiness of your family? Stop smoking soon, otherwise your family will soon lose their fingers. Score 8.

"Through Other People's Eyes"

A Lovecraftian tale - a threat from other planets, it's strange that Yuggoth isn't mentioned. No matter how much you try, the curse will never let you go, you either fight and die, or give up and die. Score 6.

"Battlefield"

Interesting idea, poor execution. This was not written by Stephen King, but by a student. high school, I remember at school we were assigned fantasy essays. Yes, and there is an old film about soldiers who came to life. Rating 4.

"Sometimes they come back"

An interesting, bewitching story about how when the ghosts of the past won’t let you go, you need to get rid of them yourself. There is no need to grieve for what you have lost, you need to rejoice in what you have.

Hatred and the thirst for revenge, along with love, are the most strong feelings. So strong that they can bring a dead person back from the other world. There is a belief that the spirit of a deceased person cannot find peace if he has important unfinished business, and these guys had such unfinished business in the form of a living Jim Norman. But he paid his sacrifice in full and got rid of them, let's hope they don't come back AGAIN. Score 10.

"Children of the Corn"

Stephen King - "King of Horror" and Great master. A master of describing provincial provincial towns, in “Grey Fuck”, “Jerusalem’s Lot”, and “Children of the Corn”. You can almost physically feel the atmosphere of desolation and decay; you can even inadvertently sneeze from the dust that has accumulated over 12 years on the bar counters in Gatlin. The worst thing is the degeneration of the city; these children, who blindly and fanatically believe in THE ONE WHO IS BYPASSING THE RANKS, do not even suspect that with each person who leaves they are degenerating. And even if a seed of doubt has already arisen among them, all that remains is to wait until September, after the hot summer, when the scorching sun will dry out this damned corn. Score 10.

"And Buka came"

“It’s good that I don’t have a closet,” I thought after reading this story. If I had, I would have moved out today. If Lester Billings came to me, I would tell him not to give up, just as he never gave up. last people not the Earth from “Night Surf”, the would-be lover from “The Cornice”, the hapless killer from “Battlefield”, the school teacher from “Sometimes They Come Back”. But he gave up even before the first coming of Buka. “Who is the boss in the family? Husband... You can’t tremble over children” - so he thought, he made a mistake and paid dearly for it. Score 10.

"The Man Who Loved Flowers"

A wonderful, interesting, short story filled with meaning and mood. Where's my gray jacket? Where is my hammer? And where the hell should I look for my Norma? Score 10.

"Trucks"

This is the second story in the collection about things that come to life, but this time it turned out to be more interesting and exciting than “Battlefield”. The show is ruled by animated trucks, and people are just pathetic puppets and slaves. Score 6.

"Strawberry Spring"

An intense detective story about the most interesting and favorite time of every person - studenthood. How to recognize a murderer among your closest friends? No way, start with yourself: maybe you are a killer? Mister Hyde or a Dark Fellow Traveler lives inside each of us, sometimes he reaches out to the steering wheel and takes control, no matter how good we may seem from the outside. Do you remember what you did last night? Me not. Score 10.

"Lawnmower Man"

A very strange, just terribly boring story, to be honest, I’m just sorry for the minutes spent on it. Trash - there are no more words except for a rating of 1 point.

"Woman in the Ward"

A very interesting idea, but poor implementation. How could such a master of psychologism as Stephen King turn around? It feels like he chose to take a shortcut, that the King got scared and didn’t turn around in full force. It was possible to create a more voluminous and multifaceted work. Score 6.

"Staff"

Vampires? Excuse me, it’s boring and hackneyed. Read the story better in winter when the snow is raging outside the windows. A good addition to the story “Jerusalem’s Lot,” which, unfortunately, is not in the publication. Why couldn’t both stories be left, especially since they are connected by the location of the action. Score 6.

Stephen King does not invent stories for his creations, he simply shows us what we are really afraid of, what we need to be afraid of in order to survive. A person cannot live without fear; in this case, he loses the meaning of life, loses the incentive to move forward, develop, and evolve. Fear is the engine of progress. In this collection of stories, the king dissected and presented to the public literally all types of fear, starting from the fear of darkness and fear of loneliness, ending with fear of the unknown and supernatural, fear of his own dark half.

“It’s two o’clock in the afternoon. Friday.

Hall was sitting on a bench near the elevator - the only place on the third floor where a worker can calmly take a smoke - when Warwick suddenly appeared. It cannot be said that Hall was delighted at the sight of Warwick. The foreman should not have appeared before three - the hour when he enters the factory new shift. He should sit in his office, in the basement, and drink coffee from the coffee pot that stands on his desk. Perhaps the coffee was too hot..."

The work belongs to the Thriller genre. It was published in 1974 by AST Publishing House. The book is part of the Night Shift series. On our website you can download the book "Night Shift" in fb2, rtf, epub, pdf, txt format or read online. The book's rating is 4.25 out of 5. Here, before reading, you can also turn to reviews from readers who are already familiar with the book and find out their opinion. In our partner's online store you can buy and read the book in paper version.

You have decided to embark on a journey through the nooks and crannies of nightmares that lurk beyond reality, and this book is your guide to a world inhabited by utter horror.

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

And again the road makes a turn - and Death comes to the small town. A terrible, many-tailed death, for which, alas, there is neither a pipe nor a Pied Piper...

Stephen King

Night shift

Introduction to the collection “Night Shift”

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

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

My name is Stephen King. I'm a grown man. I live with my wife and three children. I love them very much and believe that the feeling is mutual. My job is to write, and I really love my job. The novels “Carrie,” “The Lot,” and “The Shining” were such a success that now I can make a living exclusively by writing. And this makes me very happy. Currently, my health seems to be fine. Last year I got rid of bad habit smoked strong non-filter cigarettes, which he tarred from the age of eighteen, and switched to filter cigarettes with a low nicotine content. Over time, I hope to quit smoking completely. I live with my family in a very cozy and nice house next to a relatively clean lake in Maine: one day last fall, I woke up early in the morning and suddenly saw a deer in the backyard. He stood next to a plastic picnic table. We live well.

And yet let's talk about fear. Let us not raise our voices or cry out naively. Let's talk calmly and reasonably. Let's talk about that moment when the good fabric of your life suddenly begins to fall apart and completely different pictures and things open up before you.

At night, when I go to bed, I still adhere to one habit: before I turn off the light, I want to make sure that my legs are properly covered with the blanket. I’m no longer a child, but... but I’ll never fall asleep if even the edge of my foot sticks out from under the blanket. Because if a cold hand suddenly emerges from under the bed and grabs me by the ankle, you know, I might scream. Scream so loudly that the dead will wake up. Of course, nothing like this can happen to me, and we all understand this perfectly. In the stories collected in this book, you will meet a wide variety of night monsters - vampires, demons, the creature that lives in the closet, and other creepy creatures. They are all unreal. And the creature living under my bed and ready to grab my leg. also unrealistic. I know it. But I also know for sure that if I cover my legs properly with a blanket, she will not be able to grab my ankle.

Sometimes I have to speak to different people who are interested in literature and writing. Usually, when I finish answering questions, someone always stands up and asks the same question: “Why do you write about such terrible and dark things?”

And I always answer the same: Why do you think I have a choice?

Writing is an activity that can be summed up in these words: grab what you can.

In the depths of human consciousness there are certain filters. Filters different sizes, varying degrees of permeability. What gets stuck in my filter can easily pass through yours. What gets stuck in yours easily slips through mine. Each of us has some kind of built-in body protection system against dirt, which accumulates in these filters. And what we find there often turns into some kind of side line of behavior. An accountant suddenly begins to become interested in photography. An astronomer collects coins. The schoolteacher begins to make charcoal sketches of tombstones. Slag, sediment stuck in the filter, particles that refuse to pass through it, often turn into a mania, a kind of obsession. In civilized societies, by unspoken agreement, this mania is usually called a “hobby.”

Sometimes a hobby develops into a lifelong pursuit. An accountant suddenly discovers that he can freely feed his family by taking photographs; the teacher becomes a real expert on tombstones and can even give a whole series of lectures on this topic. But there are professions in the world that begin as a hobby and remain a hobby for life, even if the person doing them suddenly sees that he can earn his living from it. But since the very word “hobby” sounds petty and somehow undignified, we, again by unspoken agreement, begin to call our activities “art” in such cases.

All week they were broadcasting on the radio that a strong north wind and heavy snowfall were about to begin. On Thursday, the forecast finally came true. And very quickly, by about four o’clock in the afternoon, about eight inches of snow had fallen, and the wind still did not subside. By that time, about five or six regulars had gathered in Henry's bar called NIGHT OWL. This establishment is an ordinary small eatery-shop on this side of Bangor, which is open to visitors around the clock.

Henry is not involved in big business - his clients are mainly students who pump him up with beer and cheap wine. This income, however, is enough for him to live a calm and completely comfortable existence. We come here too, the old fools from the Department of Social Security, to chat a little about who has died lately, or how humanity is steadily approaching the end of the world.

Henry himself was behind the bar that evening; Bill Pelham, Bertie Connors, Carl Littlefield and I sat around the fireplace with our legs extended towards the fire. Outside, on the street, there was almost no movement. There was not a single car along Ohio Street, only snowplows slowly clearing away the snow. There, where they had not yet reached, the wind blew up bizarre snow dunes, some of which, with their ribbing, resembled the long spines of some ancient dinosaurs.

During the entire afternoon, only three other visitors, besides us, entered the NIGHT OWL. One of them, if he could be considered a client, was blind Eddie. Eddie was already about seventy and was, in fact, not completely blind - just severe senile weakness of vision. He comes here once or twice a week and, after sitting for a while and quietly stealing a loaf of bread from the counter, leaves with dignity. At such moments, he is extremely pleased with himself and the expression of his “cunning” squinted face can be approximately conveyed in the following words: HERE YOU ARE, BRAINLESS CHILDREN OF BITCHES! I FOOLED YOU AGAIN!

Bertie once asked Henry why he never tried to stop it.

“I can answer you,” Henry said to this. - Several years ago, the Air Force asked the government (and in reality, of course, the taxpayers) for twenty million dollars to build a flying model of a new aircraft under development. The program ultimately cost seventy-five million dollars, but the aircraft never entered mass production. All this was ten years ago, when blind Eddie and I were younger than we are now, and I voted for one woman who was in favor of funding this program, and Eddie voted against her. In the end, there were more people like me and seventy-five million dollars were wasted, as it turned out later, down the drain. And since then I pretend not to notice Eddie stealing bread from me.

Verti did not immediately understand what was what in this funny story and with a puzzled look returned to his table, trying to digest what he had heard.

The door opened again and from the street, with clouds of cold air, a young boy, just a boy, burst in. It was Richie Greenedine's son. He brushed the snow off his boots and hurried straight towards Henry. He looked very excited, as if he had just witnessed something very, very scary. The Adam's apple on his thin neck, which was the color of a dirty, oily rag due to the frost, was nervously twitching up and down - just shaking with excitement.

Mr. Pameli,” he babbled excitedly, looking around fearfully with his googly eyes. - You should go there! Bring him the beer yourself, please! I can't go back there anymore! I'm scared!

Well, well, calm down,” Henry stopped him, taking off his white apron and leaving the counter. - Let's do it again from the very beginning and slow down. What happened there? Was your father drunk or what?

Hearing these words, I suddenly remembered that I had not seen Richie for quite some time. He usually came here at least once a day to buy a case of beer. As a rule, he took the cheapest beer. He was a huge and very fat man with sagging cheeks, a double chin and fat, fleshy arms. Richie always drank beer like a pig. When he worked at the sawmill in Clifton, he still somehow kept himself under control. But one day there was some kind of accident there - either due to substandard wood, or through the fault of Richie himself - but as a result he received a serious back injury and was fired for health reasons. Since then, Richie has not worked anywhere, became even fatter (maybe from the beer, or maybe from the injury), and the plant paid him a monthly disability pension. Lately, as I said, he has completely disappeared from view. Apparently, he just didn’t leave the house at all. But I regularly watched his son bring him his daily (or nightly) case of beer. Quite a cute little boy, it should be noted, is this fat pig. Henry always sold him beer, knowing that the boy would take it to his father and not drink it somewhere with his friends.

Yes, he got drunk,” the boy answered, “but that’s not the point.” The thing is... The thing is... Oh, God, how AWFUL this is!

Henry realized that the poor child was about to burst into tears and it would be even more difficult to get anything more or less intelligible from him.

“Karl, wait a little for me,” he said abruptly. - Fine?

Certainly.

“Well, now, Timmy, let’s go to the pantry and you can calmly tell me what happened there,” Henry said and, leaning towards the boy, put his arm around his shoulders reassuringly.

They left, and Karl important look walked behind the counter and took Henry's place. During all this time, none of those present uttered a word and the voices coming from the pantry were heard quite well - Henry's low, stentorian bass and the thin, pattering voice of Timmy Greenadine. A few minutes later he broke into a squeak, and the boy began to cry. Will Pelham cleared his throat loudly and began to fill his pipe.

“I haven’t seen Richie in a couple of months,” I noted out loud.

“Not a big loss,” Bill chuckled.

IN last time“I saw him... um, around the end of October,” Karl added. - I think it was on All Hallows' Eve. He also bought a case of Schlitz beer then. I could barely stand. And he was swollen like never before.

There was practically nothing to add to what was said about Richie. The boy was still crying, but at the same time he was trying to say something else. Meanwhile, the wind outside began to whistle and howl even more than before, and the radio said that by morning the thickness of the snow cover would increase by at least six inches. It was then mid-January and I was very surprised that no one had seen Richie since the end of October - with the possible exception of his son.

Stephen King

Night shift (collection)

Preface

At parties (which I try to avoid as much as possible), I am often greeted with smiles and firm handshakes by the most different people, who then, with a significantly mysterious air, declare:

– You know, I always wanted to write.

I always tried to be polite to them.

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

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

Confusion immediately appears on their faces. But it is not important. There are a lot of strange, confused people around who don’t know where to put themselves and what to do.

If you want to write, then write.

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

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

And he wrote "Carrie" and "The Lot" and "The Shining" and wonderful stories, which you can read in this book, and an incredible number of other stories, and novels, and excerpts, and poems, and essays, as well as other works that are not subject to classification, much less, for the most part, publication. The pictures described there 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, that's all.

Diligence and hard work are wonderful qualities. But they are not enough. You must have a taste for words. To revel in, to gorge on words. Swim in them, roll them on your tongue. Re-read millions of words written by others.

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

Only when you begin to understand what you are, you will learn to understand other people. After all, in every first person you meet there is a piece of your own “I”.

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

Because absolute objectivity does not exist at all...

And here I, typing these words on my blue typewriter and having already reached the second page of this preface and having a completely clear idea at first of what I was going to say and how, suddenly became confused. And now I’m not at all sure whether I understand what exactly 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 evaluates his own.

Objectivity... oh, it is developed so slowly and painfully.

You write books, they are distributed throughout the world, and it is no longer possible to clear them of their inherent spirit, like husks. You are connected to them, as if to children who have grown up and chosen their own path, despite all the labels that you put on them. Oh, if only it were possible - to bring them home and give each book additional shine and strength!.. Clean up, correct page by page. Deepen, shovel, polish, get rid of excess...

But at thirty, Stephen King is where best writer than I was in my thirties and forties.

And I feel something like hatred towards him for this - just a little.

And I 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 still wouldn’t listen. Here it’s who wins – either he is theirs, or they are his.

Everything is very simple.

OK. So what am I talking about?..

Hard work, love of words, expressiveness, objectivity... What else?

Story! Well, of course, history, what the hell else!

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

Another kind of intervention - clean water grotesque. Here's one of my favorite examples I read from last year's best-selling 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 story. This collection includes a short story called "Trucks," in which Stephen King depicts a tense scene in an auto repair shop and describes the people gathered there. “A traveling salesman, he never parted with his treasured suitcase with samples for a second. And now the suitcase lay at his feet, like a beloved dog who decided to take a nap.”

It seems to me a very accurate image.

In another story, he demonstrates impeccable hearing, giving the dialogue extraordinary liveliness and authenticity. A 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 answers: “You have a road atlas. So look. Or have you forgotten how to read?”

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

And finally, at the risk of being accused of iconoclasm, I must state with full responsibility that I absolutely do not care what topic Stephen King chooses for his work. The fact that he is in given time clearly revels in the description of various horrors from the life of ghosts, witches and other monsters living in basements and sewer hatches, 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 we all - you and I - experience crazy stress every hour. And Disneyland can be filled with children with evil in their souls. But the main thing, I repeat, is still history.

Taking the reader by the hand, she leads him along. And it doesn’t 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 causes laughter.

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

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

Stephen King's goal is not to please the reader. He writes to please himself. Me too. And when this happens, everyone likes the result. The stories that make Stephen King happy make me happy too.

By a strange coincidence, while writing this introduction, I suddenly learned that King's novel The Shining and my novel Condominium were included in the bestseller list of the year. Don't get me wrong, King and I are not 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.

When it comes to the craftsmanship with which the story is crafted and the enjoyment you can get from reading it, we don't have many Stephen Kings.

And if you've read all 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 to you about fear.

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

My name is Stephen King. I'm a grown man. I live with my wife and three children. I love them very much and believe that the feeling is mutual. My job is to write, and I really love my job. The novels “Carrie,” “The Lot,” and “The Shining” were such a success that now I can make a living exclusively by writing. And this makes me very happy. Currently, my health seems to be fine. Last year, I got rid of the bad habit of smoking strong, unfiltered cigarettes, which I had tarred since I was eighteen, and switched to filtered cigarettes with a low nicotine content. Over time, I hope to quit smoking completely. I live with my family in a very cozy and nice house next to a relatively clean lake in Maine; One day last fall, I woke up early in the morning and suddenly saw a deer in the backyard. He stood next to a plastic picnic table. We live well.