Night Shift (short Story Collection)
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''Night Shift'' is
Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...
's first collection of
short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...
, first published in 1978. In 1980, ''Night Shift'' won the Balrog Award for Best Collection, and in 1979 it was nominated as best collection for the
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and the
World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...
.


Stories


Details

The back cover of the first edition of ''Night Shift'', thumb The book was published on the heels of '' The Shining'' (1977 Doubleday) and is King's fifth published book (including '' Rage'', which was published under the pseudonym of
Richard Bachman Richard Bachman is a pen name (as well as a fictional character) of American horror fiction author Stephen King, adopted in 1977 for the novel '' Rage''. King hid the link between himself and Bachman, until allowing for his identification in 1985 ...
). Nine of the twenty stories had first appeared in issues of '' Cavalier Magazine'' from 1970 to 1975; others were originally published in '' Penthouse'', ''
Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * 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. King had wanted to cut "Gray Matter" in favor of his 1972 story " Suffer the Little Children", but deferred to editor Bill Thompson who chose to keep "Gray Matter" in the collection ("Suffer the Little Children" was ultimately collected in '' Nightmares & Dreamscapes'' in 1993).


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. MacDonald writes that "Stephen King is a far, far better writer at thirty than I was at thirty, or at forty. I am entitled to hate him a little bit for this." He adds, "I will say that I do not give a diddly-whoop what Stephen King chooses as an area in which to write. The fact that he presently enjoys writing in the field of spooks and spells and slitherings in the cellar is to me the least interesting fact about the man anyone can relate", predicting that "Stephen King is not going to restrict himself to his present area of intense interest."


Deluxe edition

In 2020, a deluxe edition of ''Night Shift'' published by Cemetery Dance Publications. The deluxe edition included two other short stories by King: " The Glass Floor" (1967) and "
Weeds A weed is an unwanted plant of any species. Weed or weeds may also refer to: Places * Weed, Arkansas, an unincorporated community in the United States * Weed, California, a city in the United States * Weed, Kentucky, an unincorporated communit ...
" (1976).


Film, television or theatrical adaptations

With the publication of ''Night Shift'' and the rise in King's popularity as a best-selling author, and with the success of
Brian De Palma Brian Russell De Palma (; born September 11, 1940) is an Americans, American film director and screenwriter. With a career spanning over 50 years, he is best known for work in the suspense, Crime film, crime, and psychological thriller genres. ...
's motion picture adaptation of ''Carrie'' (1976), student film makers began submitting requests to King to adapt stories from the collection. King formed a policy he deemed the Dollar Deal, which allowed the students the permission to make an adaptation for $1. In the 1980s, entrepreneurial film producer Milton Subotsky purchased the rights to six of the stories in this collection 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 happened due to conflicts with the networks'
Standards and Practices In the United States, Standards and Practices (also referred to as Broadcast Standards and Practices or BS&P for short) is the name traditionally given to the department at a television network which is responsible for the moral, ethical, and le ...
.Perakos, Peter S. "Stephen King on ''Carrie'', ''The Shining'', etc." published in ''
Cinefantastique ''Cinefantastique'' is an American horror, fantasy, and science fiction film magazine. History The magazine originally started as a mimeographed fanzine in 1967, then relaunched as a glossy, offset printed quarterly in 1970 by publisher/ ed ...
'' Magazine Vol 1 No 8 Winter 1978. Reprinted in "Feast of Fear" Underwood & Miller, Carroll and Graf 1989 pp. 70
The following film, television, and theatre adaptations are adapted from the stories in ''Night Shift'':


Feature film adaptations

*'' Children of the Corn'' (1984) Hal Roach Studios, Inc., directed by
Fritz Kiersch George Keith "Fritz" Kiersch (born in Alpine, Texas) is an American film director, writer and, producer. He is perhaps best known for directing the horror film ''Children of the Corn (1984 film), Children of the Corn'' and the drama ''Tuff Tur ...
*'' Cat's Eye'' (1985)
Dino De Laurentiis Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis (; 8 August 1919 – 10 November 2010) was an Italian film producer and businessman who held both Italian and American citizenship. Following a brief acting career in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he moved into f ...
Productions/ MGM/UA, directed by Lewis Teague (featured adaptations of "Quitters Inc." and "The Ledge") *''
Maximum Overdrive ''Maximum Overdrive'' is a 1986 American horror film written and directed by Stephen King, in his only directorial effort. The film stars Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington, John Short, Yeardley Smith and Christopher Murney. The scr ...
'' (based on "Trucks") (1986) De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG), directed by Stephen King *'' Graveyard Shift'' (1990)
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
, directed by Ralph S. Singleton *'' The Mangler'' (1995)
New Line Cinema New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...
, directed by
Tobe Hooper Willard Tobe Hooper (; January 25, 1943 – August 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker, best known for his work in the horror film, horror genre. The British Film Institute cited Hooper as one of the most influential horror filmmakers of al ...
*'' The Boogeyman'' (2023)
20th Century Studios 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
, directed by Rob Savage


Television adaptations

*'' Sometimes They Come Back'' (1991) Vidmark Entertainment, directed by Tom McLoughlin, originally attempted to be adapted into '' Cat's Eye'' *''
Trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...
'' (1997) USA Pictures directed by Chris Thomson *''Battleground'' (2006)
Turner Network Television TNT (an initialism of Turner Network Television) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Global Linear Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. Its sister networks are TBS, TruTV, and Turner Classic ...
mini-series '' Nightmares & Dreamscapes'' *'' Children of the Corn'' (2009) a Syfy production *''Gray Matter'' (2019) Shudder series '' Creepshow'' *'' Chapelwaite'' (2021) based on the short story Jerusalem's Lot


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 Frank Árpád Darabont (born Ferenc Árpád Darabont, January 28, 1959) is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. In his early career, he was primarily a scre ...
*''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

*'' The Lawnmower Man'' (1992)
New Line Cinema New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...
, directed by
Brett Leonard Brett Leonard (born May 14, 1959) is an American film director, producer and music video Music video director, director specializing in the science fiction and Horror (genre), horror genres. A few of his films such as ''The Lawnmower Man (film ...
– an unrelated film named in tribute to the story of the same name contained within this anthology


''The Stephen King Collection: Stories from'' Night Shift

In 2000,
Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
released a recorded compilation of selected stories from ''Night Shift'', each read by John Glover. The full track list of unabridged stories is as follows:


See also

*
Stephen King short fiction bibliography This is a list of short fiction works by Stephen King (b. 1947). This includes short stories, novelettes, and novellas, as well as poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary ...
* Dollar Baby


References

{{The Mangler 1978 short story collections American short story collections Short story collections by Stephen King Doubleday (publisher) books English-language books