WHO BUT STEPHEN KING WOULD TURN A PORT-O-SAN INTO A SLIMY BIRTH CANAL, OR A ROADSIDE HONKY-TONK INTO A PLACE FOR ENDLESS LOVE? A BOOK SALESMAN WITH A GRIEVANCE MIGHT PICK UP A MUTE HITCHHIKER, NOT KNOWING THE SILENT MAN IN THE PASSENGER SEAT LISTENS ALTOGETHER TOO WELL. OR AN EXERCISE ROUTINE ON A STATIONARY BICYCLE, BEGUN TO REDUCE BAD CHOLESTEROL, MIGHT TAKE ITS RIDER ON A CAPTIVATING-AND THEN TERRIFYING-JOURNEY. SET ON A REMOTE KEY IN FLORIDA, THE GINGERBREAD GIRL IS A RIVETING TALE FEATURING A YOUNG WOMAN AS VULNERABLE-AND RESOURCEFUL-AS AUDREY HEPBURN'S CHARACTER IN WAIT UNTIL DARK. IN AYANA, A BLIND GIRL WORKS A MIRACLE WITH A KISS AND THE TOUCH OF HER HAND. FOR KING, THE LINE BETWEEN THE LIVING AND THE DEAD IS OFTEN BLURRY, AND THE SEAMS THAT HOLD OUR REALITY INTACT MIGHT TEAR APART AT ANY MOMENT. IN ONE OF THE LONGER STORIES HERE, "N", WHICH RECENTLY BROKE NEW GROUND WHEN IT WAS ADAPTED AS A GRAPHIC DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT, A PSYCHIATRIC PATIENT'S IRRATIONAL T In King's latest collection of short stories (following 2002's Everything's Eventual ), he presents 14 tales that range from the philosophically themed, to one in which the author gleefully admits to playing with the gross-out factor ("A Very Tight Place"), to "The Cat from Hell," which makes its hardcover debut some 30 years after its original publication as part of a contest in Cavalier , one of the gentleman's magazines that put food on the table in King's early years as a writer. In his introduction, King cites his recent stint as guest editor for the 2007 edition of Best American Short Stories as an impetus to return to the form in his own writing. Several of the works included here were written following that experience. Finally, as King has done previously in his collections, at the end of the volume he provides the reader with brief insights into the inspirations for each tale. Recommended for all popular fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 7/08.]—Nancy McNicol, Hamden P.L., CT Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Critics agreed that Just After Sunset showcases a matured and sophisticated Stephen King, one who eschews vampires and clowns in favor of more refined terrors—unraveling relationships, aging, and the decay of both body and mind. That's not to say that readers won't be frightened. With the exception of "The Cat From Hell," written in the 1970s, King composed these stories after his famous brush with death, and many critics touted them as some of his finest. As with most short story collections, a few pieces are uneven, and "A Very Tight Place" is not for the claustrophobic. However, there are some real gems here. "If most Stephen King novels are 800-page sides of beef, this short story collection is the filet mignon," concludes the reviewer from the Charlotte Observer . Copyright 2008 Bookmarks Publishing LLC Guest editing the 2007 edition of Best American Short Stories inspired King to write again in the form himself, he says, and all but one tale in his first collection since Everything’s Eventual (2002) postdate that experience. King is a high-volume factory of novels, however, and it’s no surprise here that the longer, the better. The 10- to 20-page “Rest Stop,” “Harvey’s Dream,” “Graduation Afternoon,” “The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates,” “Ayana,” and “The Cat from Hell” wear their concepts on their sleeves and reek of formula. They’re not bad, just predictable. If you adore the pulpish, spooky little chiller per se, they will gratify. Better are the 24- to 34-page “Willa,” “Stationary Bike,” and “Mute,” though King’s bang-on characterization of the last as resembling an old Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode indicates the familiar, sentimental conventions of all three. Best are the big guys: the run-for-your-life vignette “The Gingerbread Girl,” despite its cardboard psycho villain; “A Very Tight Place,” the kind of gross-out suspense episode King is famous for; and, especially, “N.,” which was inspired by Arthur Machen’s parallel-realities horror novella “The Great God Pan” (on a similar premise, Machen also wrote a story entitled, sans the Kingly period, “N”), indirect source of the classic horror movie Night of the Demon. OK, Steve, you’ve had your fun, and so have we. Now back to the big, fat freak-outs. --Ray Olson Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Prize. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.