Night Shift (short story collection)

Night Shift is the first collection of short stories by Stephen King,[1] first published in 1978. In 1980, Night Shift received the Balrog Award for Best Collection, and in 1979 it was nominated as best collection for the Locus Award and the World Fantasy Award.[2] Many of King's most famous short stories were included in this collection.

Night Shift
First edition cover
AuthorStephen King
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreHorror
PublisherDoubleday
Publication date
February 1978
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages336
ISBN978-0-385-12991-6
Followed byDifferent Seasons 

Contents
Title Originally published in
"Jerusalem's Lot" Previously unpublished
"Graveyard Shift" October 1970 issue of Cavalier
"Night Surf" Spring 1969 issue of Ubris
"I Am the Doorway" March 1971 issue of Cavalier
"The Mangler" December 1972 issue of Cavalier
"The Boogeyman" March 1973 issue of Cavalier
"Gray Matter" October 1973 issue of Cavalier
"Battleground" September 1972 issue of Cavalier
"Trucks" June 1973 issue of Cavalier
"Sometimes They Come Back" March 1974 issue of Cavalier
"Strawberry Spring" Fall 1968 issue of Ubris
"The Ledge" July 1976 issue of Penthouse
"The Lawnmower Man" May 1975 issue of Cavalier
"Quitters, Inc." Previously unpublished
"I Know What You Need" September 1976 issue of Cosmopolitan
"Children of the Corn" March 1977 issue of Penthouse
"The Last Rung on the Ladder" Previously unpublished
"The Man Who Loved Flowers" August 1977 issue of Gallery
"One for the Road" March/April 1977 issue of Maine
"The Woman in the Room" Previously unpublished

Details

The book was published on the heels of The Shining (1977 Doubleday) and was King's fifth published book (including Rage, which was published under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman). Nine of the twenty short stories in the book had first appeared in various issues of Cavalier Magazine from 1970 to 1975; others were originally published in Penthouse, Cosmopolitan, Gallery, Ubris, and Maine Magazine. The stories "Jerusalem's Lot", "Quitters Inc.", "The Last Rung on the Ladder", and "The Woman in the Room" appeared for the first time in this collection.

Foreword and introduction

Night Shift is the first book for which King wrote a foreword. The introduction was written by one of King's favorite authors, John D. MacDonald.

Film, television or theatrical adaptations

With the publication of Night Shift and the rise in King's popularity as a best-selling author, also with the success of Brian De Palma's motion picture adaptation of Carrie (1976), student film and theatre makers began to submit requests to King to make adaptations of the stories that appeared in the collection. King formed a policy he deemed the Dollar Deal, which allowed the students the permission to make an adaptation for the consideration of just $1.

In the 1980s, entrepreneurial film producer Milton Subotsky purchased the rights to six of the stories in this collection with the intention to produce feature films and a television anthology based on multiple stories. Although Subotsky was involved with several King adaptations (Cat's Eye, Maximum Overdrive, Sometimes They Come Back, The Lawnmower Man) the television series never came to fruition due to conflicts with the networks' Standards and Practices.[3]

The following is a list of film, television or theatre adaptations made from the stories collected in Night Shift:

Feature film adaptations

Television adaptations

Dollar Baby adaptations (shorts)
  • The Boogeyman (1982) directed by Jeff Schiro
  • Disciples of the Crow (based on "Children of the Corn") (1983) directed by John Woodward
  • The Woman in the Room (1983) directed by Frank Darabont
  • The Last Rung on the Ladder (1987) directed by James Cole and Daniel Thron
  • The Lawnmower Man (1987) directed by Jim Gonis
  • Night Surf (2001) directed by Peter Sullivan
  • Strawberry Spring (2001) directed by Doveed Linder
  • I Know What You Need (2004) directed by Shawn S. Lealos
  • La Femme dans la chambre (The Woman in the Room) (2005) directed by Damien Maric
  • The Boogeyman (play) (2005) by Graham Rees (60 minutes)

Other

See also

References
  1. "Graveyard Shift". The New York Times.
  2. "Night Shift". Isfdb.org.
  3. Perakos, Peter S. "Stephen King on Carrie, The Shining, etc." published in Cinefantastique Magazine Vol 1 No 8 Winter 1978. Reprinted in "Feast of Fear" Underwood & Miller, Carroll and Graf 1989 pp. 70
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