Skeleton Crew

This is another collection of short stories - 22 to be exact (19 stories, a novella, and 2 poems).  This also includes the first story King ever wrote, Here There Be Tygers.  Some are only a few pages, while others are quite lengthy.  Rather than go through each story, I will just tell you those that I enjoyed the most.

The Mist - this is the longest in the collection and also the first. This is the story about horrible lab experiment gone wrong creatures that are contained within a mist that rolls over Maine and most of New England. The story centers on a father and his son who are going to the grocery store after a storm has taken out the power - as they are driving there the mist is rolling across the lake and by the time they are ready to leave the store there is nothing to be seen outside but this thick fog. The father quickly realizes that there are creatures in the fog that are killing people, while some other people trapped in the store refuse to face reality. Eventually they are whittled down into two groups - those that make a plan of escape (which includes the father and his son) and a crazy group that believes a human sacrifice is necessary for the creatures and the mist to disappear. I really loved the tension of this story, but I could have done without the coincidence of a thick fog enveloping my city for the past few days!

The Monkey - You know those crazy mechanical/stuffed monkeys that wind up and clap symbols together with that shit eating grin on their face? Yeah, this story is about those freaky things.  I can honestly believe this one as those things are scary all on their own, who would ever give that as toy or think it is a good idea? Ugh!! Anyway, this monkey basically has the power to destroy people when it is wound up and its cymbals clink together. A young boy threw the monkey down a well when he lost both his parents and a best friend. Years later it resurfaces (not for the first time either) and now it threatens his family.  Toys that move around the room on their own and never seem to leave are always thrilling, right?

Mrs. Todd's Shortcut - I loved this one, it is about a wealthy woman who gets a thrill from driving her car fast and trying to be find the shortest route between two points. She pushes the boundaries so much that is just possible that she pushed right through them.

The Jaunt - Terrifying story about the ability to travel from Earth to Mars or from one point to another through a teleportation of sorts. And what happens when you know what you are experiencing.

The Raft - Ah being young and impetuous is such a wonderful thing - until you are trapped on a raft in the middle of a lake in only your underwear and the it is October in Maine. Oh, did I forget to mention the entity in the water that is consuming your friends through the wood slats in the raft? So how do you get out of this one college boy??

Word Processor of the Gods - If you had a computer, that could magically give you everything that you wanted and permanently delete those that you don't want, including people - what would you do? Thought so.

The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands - This was a quirky little story that I enjoyed mostly because it links back to the Breathing Method from Different Seasons.  So again a group of men are together and one is recounting a terrible tale to the listeners, because after all "It is the Tale, not he who tells it."

Nona - Bonnie and Clyde on a murder spree through Maine, except Bonnie has the power to make Clyde feel what she is feeling.  Oh, and Bonnie is dead, so it is really just Clyde in this case.

Survivor Type - If you were completely stranded on a small island that you could walk completely around in 2 minutes, without food, without water, but with several kilos of heroin, what would you do? The surgeon in this story decides that he has to eat, and without anything else being available, why not just eat yourself, from the feet up.

I have to admit that I stalled reading this collection as I know the next book is It and I am a little freaked out to read that again. But I have to do it, I have to face him once more.  I am finding it odd however that when I  am parking my car in public I seem to always find the stop right over the sewer grate. But, that is probably a coincidence, right?