Everything's Eventual

Written by Stephen King
Published by Scribner

It's been almost nine years since King has published an anthology of his work. Used to be that short story collections by well-established authors were comprised of material that had appeared in various magazines or maybe an anthology of different authors. However, check out this bit from King: four of the stories most notably appeared as unabridged audio recordings, one originally as a downloadable e-book story. How the times are changing.

The big problem with this book is that its billing is misleading. "14 Dark Tales" it calls itself, when in actuality it's just fourteen stories, really--some are dark, some aren't. It's a tremendous stretch to call a short story about a mother redefining her sense of luck as dark. But between that subtitle and the blood-soaked dust jacket, you'd think you were getting fourteen great tales of horror.

But this is the new King, not necessarily same as the old King. And this is also not necessarily a bad thing. King in recent years has been experimenting with his literary image--and like it or lump it, at least he's been doing something original. For the most part, the experimentations have been positive, ranging from crazed ideas like "Let me try to set a novel almost completely in one room" or "Let me try and have a novel be a single monologue from one character." Sometimes the sheer amount of testicular fortitude involved assists the reader with whatever shortcomings might stem from the actual execution.

However, the majority of the stories in this tome come from disparate schools. Some deal with tried and true ideas that we've seen before in the genre--and King acknowledges this. The Picture That Changes factors into "The Road Virus Heads North," possibly one of the coolest titles in recent memory. And The Dead Man Who Isn't is the narrator of "Autopsy Room Four." There's also The Encounter With the Devil that comprises "The Man in the Black Suit." Unfortunately, these listed outings don't really go anywhere necessarily new--although "Autopsy"'s rather comical end is good, albeit blunted by an unfortunately non-comical endnote. The Haunted Room, though, which makes up the titular character of "1408", is the only true chiller of the entire book. It's good in the way that a campfire ghost story is good, making little chinchillas run up and down the spine.

The other definable school that the book addresses is the Bad Things Happening to Good People routine. "Lunch at the Gotham Cafe" and "LT's Theory of Pets" which deal with random events just...well...happening. This seems to make sense given recent events in King's own life, but these come off more as therapy than interesting literature. Interesting literature can be found in "All That You Love Will Be Carried Away," the tale of a lonely travelling salesman making a decision as he ponders his collection of roadside graffiti. It's truly poignant and moving. "Luckey Quarter," which attempts to be equally moving, does so more in its context/placement in the book than it does in its Ambrose Biercian attempt to mess with reality. A similar reading comes to "The Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French", although it just comes off like a rejected script for an original Twilight Zone episode.

The bottom line is that there are a few jewels among the pile of tales. I lament the fact that Scribner can't put out the book without having to portray the thing as "dark". It's a dark anthology in the way that Roald Dahl's Kiss Kiss is dark. It's also an interesting milepost in King's career, as he makes rumblings every so often now about retiring (which I don't believe is possible for a Constant Writer such as he). For King fans, they will find a series of capable stories told by a master who's tinkering. There's something to be said for that. However, those long-time fans like myself who want the amazing short fiction scares that came from a story like "Gray Matter" or even the powerful fantasy of "Word Processor of the Gods" will step away feeling oddly unsatisfied.

Grade: C+

Review submitted by Widgett