12/21/2005 12:37 PM
Posted by VeggieSteph

Everything’s Eventual by Stephen King

Everything’s Eventual is the second collection of Stephen King short stories I have read this year. I re-read Nightmares & Dreamscapes in January, and I picked up this collection at Half Price Books last month. I really like King’s short stories. You don’t get many short story writers published these days, and sometimes it is nice to read a whole story in one sitting. I have always felt that Stephen King knows just how to write a great short story. He’s able to pack a whole lot into 20 pages.

Everything’s Eventual has creepy stories, shock stories, a gangster story, and even a Dark Tower story. Out of the 14 stories, here are mentions of my favorites.

Autopsy Room Four – This one is your standard Holy Shit, I’m about to be buried alive story, but one with a funny little twist that doesn’t detract from the terror you feel thinking this character might be buried alive.

All That You Love Will Be Carried Away – This story deals with a man on the brink. He’s a traveling salesman, and he’s traveled as far as he thinks he could go. I like the underlying premise – he collects snippets from the roadside bathrooms he travels through. The end is just perfect. What at title!

The Little Sisters of Eluria – This is the Dark Tower story. Here Roland is traveling through a deserted town where he comes upon the green folk and a mysterious group of nuns, who, of course, are not what they seem. It’s a nice little story, and I think I liked it because I’m planning on finally reading the Dark Tower series this next year.

Lunch at the Gotham Café – What would you do if one day the maitre d’ at your lunchtime restaurant went wacko and wanted to kill you? And on top of that, what if you are having lunch with your almost ex-wife and her divorce lawyer?

That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French – This is a great story about a couple on their second honeymoon, but like Groundhog Day, they just can’t seem to get to the hotel.

1408 – Stephen King writes great haunted house stories (okay, Christine is a car, but it was haunted). This time the haunted house is a hotel room, and the person involved is a guy who writes books like The Top 10 Haunted Graveyards. Problem is, he doesn’t believe. Stephen King knows how to make him believe.

As one of the few major writers writing short stories today, he knows how to pack some whoppers. The stories are all good, and some are great. I’ll probably read a few of them again, just like I re-read Nightmares & Dreamscapes.