Skeleton Crew

Skeleton Crew is Stephen King’s second major short story collection, and it’s a beast: 22 tales ranging from classic horror to science fiction, dark fantasy, and surreal psychological drama. This is King in top form, experimenting with tone and scope while still delivering gut-punch scares and quiet, creeping dread.

From a mist that swallows a grocery store to a chilling poem about cannibalism, from haunted monkeys to time-travel accidents, Skeleton Crew is a full display of King’s imaginative range, and proof that sometimes the shortest stories cut the deepest.

The Mist: A violent storm is followed by an unnatural fog, and what’s inside it may not be from this world. A tense, claustrophobic survival horror story.

Here There Be Tygers: A young boy dreads asking to go to the bathroom at school…because he’s sure there’s a tiger in there.

The Monkey: Two brothers find their father’s old toy monkey, the kind with cymbals that clash when wound up. But every time it claps, someone dies.

Cain Rose Up: A college student snaps and takes a rifle to his dorm window. Short, cold, and horrifyingly grounded.

Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut: A woman becomes obsessed with finding shorter routes through rural Maine, routes that don’t seem to follow natural geography.

The Jaunt: In a future where teleportation is possible, a family prepares for a “jaunt” to Mars, only to learn why you never stay conscious during the jump.

The Wedding Gig: A jazz band hired to play a mob wedding gets a front-row seat to murder, revenge, and twisted loyalty.

Paranoid: A Chant (Poem): A dark, spiraling poem from the perspective of someone descending into full-blown paranoia.

The Raft: Four college students swim out to a floating raft…and discover something horrific waiting in the water.

Word Processor of the Gods: A struggling man inherits a strange word processor that allows him to rewrite the world around him.

The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands: A tale told in a club about a man cursed to never touch another person, for fear of instant death.

Beachworld: After a spaceship crash, two survivors wait for rescue on a planet that seems to be nothing but sand. But the sand is alive.

The Reaper’s Image: An antique mirror with a reputation for showing something you never want to see: Death himself.

Nona: A lonely drifter picks up a mysterious woman who seems to spark a trail of violence wherever she goes.

For Owen (Poem): A gentle, loving poem from King to his son, reflecting on imagination and shared moments.

Survivor Type: A disgraced surgeon stranded on a desert island documents his descent into desperation, and what he’s willing to do to survive.

Uncle Otto’s Truck: A man believes a broken-down truck is watching him. Waiting for him. And maybe, just maybe, thinking.

Morning Deliveries (Milkman #1): A milkman delivers more than just dairy; he knows his customers’ secrets, and he has his own twisted habits.

Big Wheels (Milkman #2): Two drunk friends and a mechanic go on a joyride that ends with something much darker than a hangover.

Gramma: A boy left alone to care for his sick grandmother starts to suspect she’s connected to something far older…and much darker.

The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet: A writer’s descent into madness (and typewriter gremlins) gets tangled up with an editor’s own unraveling reality.

The Reach: On a snowy island, an elderly woman senses death approaching, and finds peace in what lies across the ice.