Skeleton Crew
A mixed Stephen King collection of 22 stories and poems, ranging from creature horror to sci-fi, surrealism, and dark grief.
First published 1992
More about this book
Story
This collection brings together twenty-two short works of varying lengths, led by a novella-length opener and followed by stories, poems, and brief oddities. The pieces repeatedly place ordinary people into destabilizing situations: trapped in a store, facing strange toys, navigating dangerous roads, or confronting impossible technologies and private fears.
Across the collection, the stories shift between horror, science fiction, fantasy, crime, and uncanny realism. Several pieces use framed narration, diary entries, or oral storytelling, while others move quickly toward a sharp reveal or grim twist. The collection is frequently described as uneven, but with multiple standout stories that readers single out as especially memorable or disturbing.
The overall experience is a broad sampler of King’s short-form range: atmospheric dread, grotesque survival, social breakdown, and uncanny premises grounded in recognizable American life. The best-liked stories are often those that combine suspense with strong imagery, human conflict, or an unforgettable ending, while the weaker pieces are often described as filler, too brief, or frustratingly thin.
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Details
- Authors
- Stephen King
- First published
- 1992
- Genres
- Horror, Short Stories, Fantasy, Thriller, Anthologies, Supernatural, Science Fiction, Collections
- Subjects
- American Horror tales · nested narrative · Novellas · alcoholism · anecdotes · diaries · heroin · cruise ships · islands · insanity · self-cannibalism · amputation · anesthesia · drooling · free verse poetry · horror · arsenic · cyanide · CIA · FBI · Prohibition · racketeers · blackmail · Horror short story · teleportation · Texaco · anaesthesia · heart attack · wormholes · missing persons · short stories · snipers · Cymbal-banging monkey toys · magic · Horror novel · thunderstorms · mist · supermarkets · suicide · baggers · tentacles · pharmacies · prophecies · end times · human sacrifice · revolvers · fantasy fiction · horror fiction · Fiction · Horror stories · Horror tales · Fiction, horror · Fiction, short stories (single author) · American Fantasy fiction · Fiction, fantasy, short stories · Fiction, fantasy, collections & anthologies · Fiction, media tie-in · Fiction in Spanish · Récits d'horreur américains
- ISBN-13
- 9780751504385
[DEV NOTE: Eventually use our own synthesized data.]