"Rainy Season" is a short horror story by

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 ...

, first published in ''Midnight Graffiti'' in 1989, and later collected in King's book '' Nightmares & Dreamscapes'' in 1993.

Plot summary

A young husband and wife on summer vacation rent a house in a small town called Willow,

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

, only to be warned repeatedly (if vaguely) to leave by the local inhabitants. They do not comply and, having purchased groceries, return to the house. They learn the price for prosperity the citizens of Willow must pay: every seven years a husband and wife will go there from outside and will stay, despite protests, to become sacrifices during the rainy season. When the "rain" starts, the couple learns the nature of the precipitation: an army of grotesque black

toad Toad (also known as a hoptoad) is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. In popular culture (folk taxonomy ...

s the size of footballs, armed with needle-sharp teeth and able to chew through doors and walls. After the carnage, the toads melt away into poisonous sludge that is washed away easily. Two residents debate the price that is paid for their prosperity, but decide there is nothing they can do about it.

Publication

The writing of "Rainy Season" ended a bout of

writer's block Writer's block is a non-medical condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Writer's block has various degrees of severity, from difficulty in coming ...

from which King had been suffering. The story was first published in issue 3 of the magazine ''Midnight Graffiti'' in spring 1989. In 1993, it was republished in King's short story collection '' Nightmares & Dreamscapes'' collection. In 2006, a version of the story illustrated by Glenn Chadbourne was published as part of the Cemetery Dance Publications book '' The Secretary of Dreams, Volume One''. The audiobook version of this story was narrated by actress

Yeardley Smith Martha Maria Yeardley Smith ( ; born July 3, 1964) is an American actress. She stars as the voice of Lisa Simpson on the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. Smith began acting in 1982 after graduating from drama school. She moved to ...

Reception

Wiater et al. compared it to Shirley Jackson's short story " The Lottery", an idea reinforced by the fact that one of the story's characters directly references Jackson's story at one point. Writing at

Tor.com ''Reactor'', formerly ''Tor.com'', is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on specul ...

, Grady Hendrix called it a "time passer" that was likely expanded from a single surreal image.

Adaptations

"Rainy Season" was adapted into a 2017 short film of the same name, written and directed by Vanessa Ionta Wright and produced by Above the Line Artistry. In 2019, the story was again adapted, this time by Patrick Haischberger, and starring Thomas Stipsits, Sabrina Reiter, Inge Maux, Fritz Karl and Wolfgang Hübsch. The audiobook of this story is read by actor

References

External links