by Jay Wilburn

The plan is to reread all of Stephen King’s works in the order that they were published. Richard Chizmar of Cemetery Dance had the vision. I’m doing it because I am a writer and I want to improve my fiction. And I love Stephen King’s stories. I think there is something to be learned through this process.

You can also go back to the beginning and read Before Carrie or any of my other posts up through this one and beyond by checking out this link to the Master List of all my #StephenKingRevisited posts.

Let’s explore what lies within the mist …

I swear I read this book before, but I do not have an original copy, if I did. I had to rebuy it as I set myself up for Stephen King Revisited. I recognize story titles inside, but I also know I read some in other magazines and anthologies.

There are titles I recognize for sure and recall the stories almost in their entirety. There are others I think I recognize, but then may have confused with other stories. I did that with the novel Roadwork for example. I am fighting the temptation to flip through the stories to jog my memory. That’s what revisiting the work is for, so I’ll save those revelations for my “after post.”

“The Jaunt” has got to be one of my favorite Stephen King short stories of all time. For all its flaws and sections of clunky predictions about future culture and technology, it is a story of dark discovery of simple cosmic horror at its core. It may be one of my favorite short stories ever.

I love Stephen King short stories as much or more than his novels. Any time a new short story collection came out from him once I was an adult, I snatched them up. I was sold without any pitch other than knowing the book existed.

I swear I’ve read this before, but now I’m less and less sure. Either way, I’m sold on the book and excited with no further pitch needed. My next post will be After Skeleton Crew which will be linked on the Master List of all my Stephen King Revisited posts.

Jay Wilburn

Jay Wilburn has a Masters Degree in Education that goes mostly unused since he quit teaching to write about zombies. Jay writes horror because he tends to find the light by facing down the darkness. His is doing well following a life saving kidney transplant. Jay is the author of Maidens of Zombie Kingdom a young adult fantasy trilogy, Lake Scatter Wood Tales adventure books for elementary and middle school readers, Vampire Christ a trilogy of political and religious satire, and The Dead Song Legend. He cowrote The Enemy Held Near, Yard Full of Bones, and The Hidden Truth with Armand Rosamilia. You can also find Jay's work in Best Horror of the Year volume 5. He is a staff writer with Dark Moon Digest, LitReactor, and the Still Water Bay series with Crystal Lake Publishing.

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