Skeleton Crew

By Stephen King

Who could imagine…?

In this brilliant collection of twenty-two stories, Stephen King takes readers down paths that only he could imagine….

A supermarket becomes the place where humanity makes its last stand against unholy destruction…a trip to the attic turns into a journey to hell…a woman driver finds a very scary shortcut to paradise…an idyllic lake harbors a bottomless evil…and a desert island is the scene of the most terrifying struggle for survival ever waged.

Features the novella “The Mist”—Now a major motion picture

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Jun 3, 1986
• ISBN: 9781101138106

Stephen King

Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes the short story collection You Like It Darker, Holly, Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His 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 Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King. 

Reviews for Skeleton Crew

[silversurfer_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Some scary stuff within these pages...

[wordsampersand · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An above average collection of stories. The good stuff is superb, and the few low points are forgettable or forgivable. The capping story, "The Reach," reminds me of one of Wendell Berry's Port William stories with a hint of Gothic ghost story flair. It's really touching. The two that really stuck with me, though: "The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet," the best King story-within-a-story, and one of his very early "The Reaper's Image," which reminds me of something from M.R. James.

[manodogs_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Classic King in all his glory. Contains one of his finest short works, in addition to many others.

[writertomg · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Do you love?

Not his best anthology of short-stories/novellas (Different Seasons), but I like this nevertheless. A few highlights:

The Mist
The Monkey
The Raft
Word Processor of the Gods
Gramma
The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet

These stories were good and creepy. The others...not so good.

[fergster73 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Contains the novella The Mist which is my favourite Stephen King story of all time!

[madam_razz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'll be the first to admit that I'm far more prone to picking up a full-length novel I can sink my teeth into until page 651 and then wish for more, while usually bypassing most short story collections entirely. However, King doesn't seem to be able to write a single dud and his short stories are just as fascinating and intriguing as his long novels. This book was no exception and I absolutely loved it. My favorites were probably The Mist, The Jaunt, The Raft (this one people who have seen Creepshow 2 will probably recognize because it showed up as one of the short stories in that movie, but I found it to be absolutely fascinating to read it via the POV of a single character and being able to use my imagination was even better than seeing it play out in color on TV, not to mention that the differences in the story compared to the Creepshow version were neat to pick out), and Milkman #1 and #2. All of them were great, so it was difficult to pick just these out and I don't think it'd be possible to pick out just one as my top fave out of this collection. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Stephen King, horror and the macabre.

[anagarika0sean · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A great collection of stories. Mr. King has many classics, and this is no exception. He doesn't get much better with his short stories.

[lexi1022 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I honestly Love Stephen Kings short stories. The man really knows how to scare you. This book is a collection of some pretty twisted short stories of his. You'll be suprised but just what stories are inside this cover. I had no idea some of his most famous movies were based off of some short stories of his. This was an absolutly great read.

[hoperin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Holy crap I like King's short stories. I think I've only read Cujo and The Shining of his, besides this, and while I liked the guy and definitely intended to read more, I was/am under the impression that most people don't really like his stuff as much as his novels? I feel like most people have told me something along those lines. Either way, I like these much better! I didn't like the two poems (but I've never really liked poetry...) nor Milkman #2, but the rest were thrilling in their brief way, like a kiss in the dark, as King said in the intro. If I were the type of person to read leisurely before bed (as apposed to one who feverishly must get through chapters and chapters before I turn out my light) I would keep this under my pillow or on my bedside table, and it would become a lovely, worn out old friend.

[endersreads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An older version of King's now famous "The Mist" can be found here. It is the shining jewel of this collection. There are 21 other Shorts by King in this collection. Another story here that really stood-out in my mind, and that is King's little Sci Fi short, "The Jaunt". I laughed out loud hard and long at Carune's bag. It's a really great little story. Longer than you think.... heh heh. Now, the real "getter" here, the one that sticks with you, coils itself into your mind, is "The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet". Insanity and Alcohol go hand in hand. Who knows? Together they may bear a Fornit. ^_^ Writers will fall in love with this story.

[andyray_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The best stories of this almost great collection (IMHO) are "the Mist," "Grandma," "The Flexible Bullet," and "The Reach." "The Mist" has since permeated the popular mind through two versions of it as a movie. A good book for a cold, winter's (or late October) night.

[santhony_35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A collection of short stories, some of which are outstanding and some of which are less so.

[bookmarque · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The best collection from King as far as short stories go. Love it. Haven't read it in ages, but I don't recall a single clunker. The most memorable for me is Survivor Type.

[thioviolight · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A good collection from Stephen King, Skeleton Crew is a mixed bag of horror. While not everything was to my liking, several gave me chills. The novella "The Mist" is not normally my type of horror, but I enjoyed it for how it was told. I found "The Monkey," "The Reaper's Image," "Uncle Otto's Truck" and "Gramma" pretty creepy, while "Survivor Type" was totally gruesome. "Word Processor of the Gods" was one of my favorites, loved the idea of a word processor that can change things in the real world. "The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet" was another standout for me (another story involving a writer), and "The Reach" was a lovely and poignant finish to the collection.

[mimiwi_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It doesn't get much better than Stephen King short stories. I read these the first time in high school and was completely freaked out. Who else can make us afraid of such normal, everyday objects? Steven King is truly the master of written horror.

[aelianna-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Just reading The Mist for now.

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The more Stephen King, the more I like his writing. I get the idea some people think he's a crappy bestseller along with all the rest, but hey -- sometimes you shouldn't be snobby. His stuff is easy to read and it deals with real emotions, people who could almost be real, in incredible situations. I get the feeling I've said this all before, so, um. Anyway, it's good to read his short stories. Short stories are quite condensed little things, and in King's case, that's a good thing. None of the lengthy set up he allows himself in his novels, like It and The Stand. "The Mist" is quite long and has quite a bit of set up, but a lot of the others are quite short. It was interesting seeing him do more sci-fi ish stuff, i.e. "The Jaunt".

[srboone · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not all the short stories in thsi collection are winners, but collectively they are quite unnerving.

[lukerik-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A mixed bag, both in genre and quality.There are two shockingly bad, but mercifully brief, poems. Tellingly, they hadn't been published previously.Two embarrassingly bad science fiction stories. The central idea of The Jaunt is good but the execution is poor. Beachworld is amateurish in conception and execution.Some, like the Milkman stories are just BORING.But there are some good ones. The Reach is very nicely written. The sort of thing you'd half wish weren't technically horror, if the ghost story genre weren't so respectable. Word Processor of the Gods is fun, as is The Raft. The best is The Mist I think. More of a short novel than a short story (I love both but King generally excels at the former than the latter), and very dark. Here even religion leads to madness and death

[buffalogr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Four novellas in one, each a little different and creepy. Ably narrated, each...stories range from visceral and gruesome to slow and ponderous. The short stories are a bit difficult to follow if you only listen occasionally--probably better if you do each one all at once. The author crams a lot of detail into each story.

[yarriofultramar · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A decent collection of Stephen King's short stories with fantastic "The Mist" - I love this short story and a recent movie inspired by this novella. Other stories worth mentioning are "The Jaunt" - a thrilling little science fiction, "The raft" - King has definitely a gift of making a mundane into dangerous. "The survivor" is definitely memorable and Gramma made me chuckle. In summary - a worthy read.

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoy Stephen King's earlier short stories the most, and this is probably my favorite collection. It opens with "The Mist," an excellent end-of-the-world story in which Lovecraftian monsters cross over into our dimension. The psychological suspense is as ramped up as the horror; King focuses on a group of ordinary people trapped in a grocery store and the effects that the nightmarish situation has on them, turning some into religious fanatics, others into unlikely heroes. Despite the doorstopper nature of many of King's books (and I really do enjoy the big books), I think most of his best work is in the more contained novella format.The remainder of the stories run the gamut. Some are creepy, some read like an episode of the Twilight Zone, and some are just full-on gross-outs. This collection contains the infamous story "Survivor Type," as well as such gems as "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut" and "The Raft." I particularly enjoyed the creepier, more haunting pieces like "Morning Deliveries (Milkman #1)" and "The Reach." One of the most memorable stories in the collection for me is "The Jaunt," a quasi-science fiction story about teleportation that I often find myself thinking about at odd moments.It's good to get this collection down off the shelf and wander back through it, looking back on stories I may not have read for 25 years (imagine that). SKELETON CREW holds up very well.

[briannad84 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite King books. My favorite two stories were "The Mist," and "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut." The movie version of "The Mist" actually looked alot like I pictured the story in my head. And the story that freaked me out the most was "Survivor Type." I don't think I'd quite go to those lengths to survive! Very chilling and very original.

[lisamaria_c · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reading this so soon after his first anthology, Night Shift, I found Skeleton Crew a disappointment. With his first collection, I only found one story to be really weak and several outstanding. While I wouldn't exactly say this book was the reverse, I only felt about seven stories worth the read. The first story is a short novel of 154 pages that takes up more than a quarter of the book. The Mist deals with a few dozen people trapped in a supermarket by monsters hidden by a mysterious mist. The narrator, David Drayton, himself calls the creatures from a "B-grade film" and that's how the story struck me overall, without the resonance and terror of King's best novels. About two-thirds through, I found myself skimming. There are two poems in the book, neither of which I found impressive--but then I'm no fan of modern poetry. That leaves a 18 short stories and a novella, The Flexible Bullet. That novella alone is almost worth the price of the book. One of the best of King's works in my opinion at any length, written in a masterful omniscient point of view, it's a spooky little tale of the writer's muse, and its closeness to madness. A few of the shorts stand out number standout for how they irked me: "The Jaunt," a rather lame science-fiction effort, is only amusing for its bad stab at prognostication. It has us having almost run out of fossil fuel in 1987, with thousands of people having died in the United States for the lack of heating oil the year before. "The Wedding Gig" comes across as an overextended fat joke, with the wonderful line that, unlike race, one shouldn't feel sorry for those with a weight problem because, "Fat people can always stop eating." (Spoken like a man who never had much of a weight problem. King treated cigarette smoking with a lot more sympathy in the short "Quitters, Inc" in Night Shift.) The obese woman's coffin is described as a "meat locker." Three of the shorts were written when King was just a teen--and it shows--none of those are memorable. "The Monkey" "The Raft" and "Gramma" are vintage King, and delivered up a good dose of horror and suspense. "The Word Processor of the Gods," despite touches of horror, was unusual for leaving me with a smile--rather sunny for a King story. "Survivor Type" on the other hand, was gruesome even for a King story--but I can't say it wasn't memorable. As a collection, I don't think this was as strong as Night Shift, but it certainly contained some unforgettable stories equal--or more--to the best in that book.

[stefany_6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Skeleton Crew is still my overall favorite of Stephen King's short story collections. Several of the stories have been used in film and television (in forms that I actually enjoyed!) and I think that overall he does a good job of maintaining an aura of suspense throughout the collection instead of from story to story. The collection actually starts off with a novella, The Mist, that I used an excerpt from during high school for a competitive forensics dramatic reading that I scored very well with throughout the season and received the highest marks available at the state tournament.Some of my favorites from the collection include: The Mist (most people hated the film, I didn't think that it was really THAT bad), The Monkey (one of King's creepiest short stories), The Raft, and Gramma (also my favorite episode from the attempted revival of The Twilight Zone.)Overall, Skeleton Crew is a very solid collection of creepy tales and I thoroughly enjoyed it the second time around.

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"Use it, but don't abuse it.""I will and I won't."These quotes are from the short story "Cain Rose Up". I've been saying them, or a version of them ever since I first read this collection, way back when it came out in 1985. How can it be that long ago? Ah well, I love this book, especially as it contains my all time favorite short story of Stephen King's, "Survivor Type"! It's also nostalgic for me, as it also contains the first King short story I ever read, "Nona", from a different collection I found in an old paperback book in our family cabin in Tahoe. And it inspired my fear of wind-up monkeys. Memories...Other quotes I love from this book:"Good drink, good meat, good God, let's eat!" - Garrish from "Cain Rose Up""lady fingers they taste just like lady fingers"- "Survivor Type" "Ohhh, Ceesco!""Ohhhh Pancho!" - "The Raft" "Do you love?" - "Nona" "The Raft" and "The Reach"If I've made any errors in documenting these quotes, blame it on the Fornit in my keyboard...

[cookierooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Part of my "ripping yarns" summer reading! The Mist is great, perhaps a bit long.

[blockbuster1994 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Skeleton Crew is another great collection of short stories by horror master Stephen King. Every original story is premised on ideas that would scare the pants off any child: from freaky death monkey toys to witch possessed grandmas to flesh-consuming oil spills. The overall atmosphere of unbridged terror is, of course, executed to perfection by King.

[pingobarg · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

a great and varied compendium of kingisms. a fun read.

[david_masumba · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Storygalore! I really love the Jaunt, it is short but it packs as wallop!