Stephen King - Night Shift (compilation). night shift stephen king night shift download rtf

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Title: Night shift

About "The Night Shift" by Stephen King

We present to your attention the first collection of Stephen King. It was the stories from the book "The Night Shift" that earned him the title of "King of Horrors." Almost all the works collected here are written in the horror genre. They provide an opportunity to get to know early work a writer who has a special charm.

Here Stephen King writes remarkably compactly, his style is extremely light. At the same time, there is some superficiality when compared with later works. However, what is superficial for the "king", for many other writers - unattainable depths.

Its horrors are a brilliant reflection of the real problems of mankind: drunkenness, which turns a person into "gray rubbish", fanatical religiosity, which gives rise to "children of the corn", dependence on technological progress leads to the fact that people become slaves to animated trucks, and children's fears and troubles can return when they are not expected at all ...

Night Shift is a guide to the dark corners of the world, which is inhabited by the most terrible nightmares and pitch horrors. Stephen King shows us a small provincial town in which the children of cultists take the lives of everyone who has crossed the line of the "age of temptation" - nineteen years. In another story, near a roadside cafe, we watch a handful of people fight sentient machines that kill all life. We continue to read and find ourselves in a school where the dead have returned, devoured by the thirst to kill.

Night Shift is the mysterious world of King, where Gray Evil hides under human disguises. It lacks even the slightest glimpse of something human.

In it, an ultra-modern meat grinder suddenly acquires will and reason. All her aspirations are aimed at evil and murder. In this world, you don't feel safe anywhere. Even rats are capable of bringing death, and nothing can save them from them.

Stephen King amazes with deep psychologism and incredibly vital details, thanks to which the characters literally come to life on the pages of the book "The Night Shift".

The writer strikes on the spot. He masterfully juggles all conceivable and inconceivable fears. Have you still not been afraid of vampires, closets, rats and trucks? Now you will! In addition to these fears will be added the animal horror of the fanaticism and cruelty of children, the fear of heights, darkness, loneliness, the fear of fanatical love and the helplessness that a serious illness brings, turning a person into a vegetable.

On our site about books lifeinbooks.net you can download for free without registration or read online book Stephen King's "Night Shift" epub formats, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot of pleasant moments and a real pleasure to read. Buy full version you can have our partner. Also, here you will find last news from literary world, find out the biography of your favorite authors. For beginner writers there is a separate section with useful tips and recommendations interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at literary skills.

Stephen King

Night shift (compilation)

Foreword

At parties (which I try to avoid as much as possible) I am often presented with smiles and firm handshakes by the most different people, who then, with a pointedly mysterious air, declare:

You know, I've always wanted to write.

I have always tried to be polite to them.

But now with the same gleefully mysterious grin I answer them:

– And you know, I always wanted to be a neurosurgeon.

There is confusion on their faces. But it is not important. The circle is full of strange confused people who do not know where to stick themselves and what to do.

If you want to write, then write.

And you can learn to write only in the process. Not a very suitable way to master the profession of a neurosurgeon.

Stephen King has always wanted to write, and he does.

And he wrote Carrie, and The Lot, and The Shining, and the wonderful stories you can read in this book, and an incredible number of other stories and novels and passages and poems and essays and other works that cannot be classified, and even more so, for the most part, publications. Too repulsive and terrible pictures are described there.

But that's how he wrote them.

Because there is simply no other way to write about it. Doesn't exist and that's it.

Diligence and diligence are wonderful qualities. But they are not enough. You have to have a taste for words. Get drunk, gorge on words. Swim in them, roll on the tongue. Reread millions of words written by others.

And the most violent contempt should be reserved for people who hide their complete helplessness and mediocrity behind verbosity, the rigid sentence structure inherent in the Germanic languages, inappropriate symbols, and an absolute lack of understanding of what is the plot, historical context, rhythm and image.

Only by beginning to understand what you yourself are, you will learn to understand other people. After all, in every first person you meet there is a piece of your own "I".

Well, that's all. So again, what do we need? Diligence and industriousness, plus love for the word, plus expressiveness - and from all this partial objectivity makes its way into the light of God with difficulty.

For absolute objectivity does not exist at all...

And then I, typing these words on my blue typewriter and having already reached the second page of this preface and having quite clearly imagined at first what and how I was going to say, suddenly became at a loss. And now I'm not at all sure if I myself understand what exactly I wanted to say.

Having lived in the world twice as long as Stephen King, I have reason to believe that I evaluate my work more objectively than Stephen King does his own.

Objectivity… oh, it develops so slowly and painfully.

You write books, they go around the world, and it is no longer possible to clean them from their inherent spirit, like from a husk. You are connected to them as if they are children who have grown up and have chosen their own path, despite all the labels that you have placed on them. Oh, if only it were possible - to bring them home and give each book additional brilliance and strength! .. Clean up, correct page after page. Deepen, shovel, polish, get rid of excess ...

But in his thirties, Stephen King best writer than I was in my thirties and forties.

And I feel something like hatred towards him for this - just a little.

Also, I think I know by sight a dozen or so demons hiding in the bushes along the path he has chosen, but even if I had a way to warn him about it, he still would not listen. At this point, who is who - either he is theirs, or they are his.

Everything is very simple.

OK. So what am I talking about?

Diligence, love for the word, expressiveness, objectivity ... And what else?

Story! Well, of course, the story, what else, damn it!

History is something that happened to someone you watch and care about. It can happen in any dimension - physical, mental, spiritual. And also in a combination of all these three dimensions.

Another kind of intervention clean water grotesque. Here's one of my favorite examples I read from last year's bestseller collection: "His eyes flickered over the front of her dress."

The image must be written accurately, contain an unexpected and apt observation and not break the charm of the story. This collection includes a story called "Trucks" where Stephen King draws a scene of tense waiting in an auto repair shop and describes the people gathered there. “A traveling salesman, he did not part for a second with the coveted suitcase with samples. And now the suitcase lay at his feet, like a beloved dog who decided to take a nap.

A very accurate image, I think.

In another story, he demonstrates an impeccable ear, giving the dialogue an extraordinary liveliness and authenticity. Husband and wife went on a long journey. They are driving along an abandoned road. She says, “Yes, Burt, I know we're in Nebraska, Burt. And yet, where the hell are we? skidded? And he replies: “You have an atlas of roads. So look. Or have you forgotten how to read?

Very good. And so simple and accurate. Just like in neurosurgery. The knife has a blade. You hold it appropriately. And you make an incision.

And finally, at the risk of being accused of iconoclasm, I must state with all responsibility that I absolutely do not care what kind of topic Stephen King chooses for his work. The fact that he is in given time obviously revels in the description of various horrors from the life of ghosts, witches and other monsters that live in basements and sewer manholes, it seems to me not the most important thing when it comes to the practice of his work.

After all, a lot of the most terrible things are happening around us. And all of us - both you and me - experience crazy stress every hour. And kids, in whose souls evil lives, you can fill Disneyland. But the main thing, I repeat, is history.

Taking the reader by the hand, she leads him along. And does not leave indifferent.

And further. The two most difficult areas for a writer are humor and mysticism. Under a clumsy pen, humor turns into a dirge, and mysticism causes laughter.

But if the pen is skillful, you can write about anything.

And it seems that Stephen King is not at all going to be limited to the sphere of his current interests.

Stephen King does not aim to please the reader. He writes to please himself. Me too. And when that happens, everyone likes the result. Stories that please Stephen King please me.

By a strange coincidence, while writing this foreword, I suddenly learned that King's novel The Shining and my novel The Condominium were on the bestseller list of the year. Don't get me wrong, King and I are not at all competing for the reader's attention. He and I, it seems to me, compete with the helpless, pretentious and pseudo-sensational works of those who never bothered to learn their craft.

As far as the craftsmanship with which the story is written and the pleasure you can get from reading it, we don't have many Stephen Kings.

And if you have read all of this, I hope you have enough time. And you can start reading stories.

...

John D. McDonald

To the reader

Let's talk. Let's talk about fear.

I am writing these lines and I am alone in the house. Cold February rain drizzles outside the window. Night ... Sometimes, when the wind howls like today, it is especially dreary, we lose all power over ourselves. But while it's not lost yet, let's talk about fear. Let's talk calmly and judiciously about approaching the abyss called madness ... about balancing on its very edge.

My name is Stephen King. I am a grown man. I live with my wife and three children. I love them very much and believe that the feeling is mutual. My job is to write and I love my job very much. The novels Carrie, The Lot, The Shining were so successful that now I can earn a living exclusively by writing. And it makes me very happy. At present, everything seems to be in order with health. Got rid of it last year bad habit smoking strong unfiltered cigarettes, which he had tarred since the age of eighteen, and switched to low-nicotine filtered cigarettes. Eventually, I hope to quit smoking completely. I live with my family in a very comfortable and glorious home next to relatively clear lake in Maine; one time last fall, waking up early in the morning, suddenly saw a deer in the backyard. He was standing next to a plastic picnic table. We live well.

Very happy when small work(literally 40 pages), it can make you give birth to so many thoughts! You know, for the number of novels that I read from King, the opinion about his self-repetitions took root. From this story, from the very beginning, something similar was drawn. The techniques are the same, the narration is almost the same, and the transition from ordinary history in real horror with the walking dead, this was only confirmed. So, I read it to the end and plunged into thoughts, so strong that it dawned on me and I was able to discover a double bottom. What did we get here: a teacher who experienced a horrific tragedy in early childhood when a group of teenagers took his brother's life right in front of him. After, we are shown how this case affected further development men: constant nervous breakdowns, visits to support groups with people who have experienced similar tragedies, problems with employment). Gradually, everything changes and the main character manages to find a good job in college, with understanding colleagues and an acceptable lesson schedule. But not with the latest. It is intended for disadvantaged teenagers who are significantly behind in their studies. And so, gradually, everything begins to crumble, when the disappearing students are replaced by those who killed his brother and begin to promise that his time has already come. The teacher decides to take revenge on his offenders and his brother. The whole story can be divided into several layers at once. The first is saturated with healthy mysticism. The second is damage. human psyche which leads to dire consequences. If they bow to which of them is correct, then I will choose the second one. King does not bring us to a line that can explain where the reality of what is happening. It was more terrible to think about the causes of children's aggression, when teenagers of 10-15 years old cruelly crack down on their peers. Here, not only the act itself is frightening, but its causes. It is hard to imagine that a child who did not even have time to properly assert himself in this life, such a gnawing anger appears that can bring him to a terrible sin.

Of all the works of the master I have read, I consider The Last Crossbar to be the best. It’s even hard for me to imagine how great King’s talent is that he could so easily write a story about love, loss and parting ... As a person who grew up in a family alone, without brothers and sisters, it’s hard for me to imagine the love that hovered between relatives. I tried to imagine it, and just so you know how much I succeeded. I really was there, with them, carelessly jumping into a haystack, and was afraid for my dear person, I was worried that adults would punish me for disobedience. But I never left the feeling that he would always come and help. In the most difficult moment! He will throw all his strength so that everything falls into place again. King masterfully manages the emotions of his reader and evokes genuine joy from the very barn where the endless love of a brother and sister seemed to be forged. There is nothing better than being a child. Especially if you know that you have a person who will always come to the rescue and listen. For a fragile child, it can be a father, mother, grandfather or grandmother ... Or maybe an older brother. It is he who will protect his sister from all the troubles of our unpredictable life. After all, the baby looks at the one he trusts in a completely different way, his eyes are full of innocence and devoid of those fears that adults constantly experience. Why, such a look can only be thrown at the one who deserves it. If you become worthy of it, then the child has found his own role model. Just like that, love is not given to anyone. We were all children and understand that frivolous attitude to life. When at full speed you want to fly to something unknown and be extremely careless. By the end of the story, I was still with them. I was able to experience two lives because they flashed before my eyes. In the end, their lives turned out to be banal, which made my chest ache. From the very beginning, I knew that this story would not end with anything good, and so it happened. How did I get it? My acquaintance with King has been going on for more than a year, and the life of an ordinary American person is very familiar to me through movies and TV shows. So at the very end, the reader is unable to change anything and must come to terms with the merciless fate of fate. There is another message in this. The author manages to change the reader's ideas about future fate heroes and demonstrate a completely different outcome, quite unexpected, so that he would pay attention to the problems shown in the story. This problem is quite multifaceted and incredibly relevant for residents of large cities. People close to us often leave their homes in search of a better life leaving only bitterness in the soul. We can only look for the fault that caused all this to happen. There were no offenses here, omissions about parting were not allowed. Just one person, unconditionally believed in another, that he would come and help in difficult times. Every conversation screamed their intimacy. But as often happens, people get older and everyone scatters around this endless world. It's a shame only for native people who have to leave each other and move in parallel, albeit partly intersecting. This is the very closeness between people, who, besides them, will listen to us and help us in difficult times? You should not look at the number of pages in the story, it is eerily small, but this does not lose quality and plot. At first glance, it seems like there is only one problem here. One has only to dive deeper, as the second one will come out after one, etc. The story itself seems to be trying to remind us of childhood, those wonderful, carefree times when there is only ours around. small world, which we tried our best to expand. And from about this moment you begin to understand what exactly the author is scaring here. These are not monsters or ghosts - this is our life with you. Quick and ruthless. Even if you did not have a brother or sister, they were replaced by you best friend or a friend with whom, over time, had to leave. How is he, what's wrong with him, would he like to talk to you? Or do you just have those very pleasant memories, and he is so busy with things that he can’t even return at that time even for a minute? After reading the work to the end, tears involuntarily welled up in me. It’s hard for me to admit, but it all comes, the paths diverge, but the memories remain. Stories like this one can turn the soul inside out, touch the strings of the soul and leave a bitter aftertaste. The most interesting thing is that the situation was far from hopeless and could be changed in an instant. Our indifference acquired over the years is to blame for everything. Do not forget your past and loved ones, even with the onset of the present.

GRAY SHIT What do you think might be hiding in a simple beer can? Let's think together. Alcoholism? Possibly, but too little. Delirium tremens? Partly yes, but still not the same. A murder committed under a high blood alcohol content? Yes, well, no. Why has no one written before that “something” can be hidden in beer cans, which, happily escaping to freedom, will arrange a real genocide the human race, simultaneously turning it into a fetid lump, spreading mucus? It truly sounds creepy, but it’s even scarier to imagine. “MEAT GRINDER” If you have never been afraid of machines for washing and drying clothes, it's time to change your mind and bypass them in the fifth way. After all, you never know what the blood of a virgin that got inside can do with this product, grave land, toad eye, horse hoof and belladonna stalk. I can say right away - nothing good. Having mixed such a vigorous cocktail, harmless at first glance white car, will begin to regard you as no higher than a laundry shirt. NIGHT SURF Imagine this picture. In front of you is a lush ocean, a cluttered beach around and fine white sand. The surf constantly goes over the water and raises shreds of foam. And somewhere out there, far away, already beyond the horizon, people are trying to survive, because they are exterminated in packs by a mysterious virus that can turn a human head into a kind of basketball. Creepy, scary, great. NIGHT SHIFT Your advice, if you are offered to take the night shift, immediately refuse and run as far as possible. After all, in the building that you need to spend the next night, there will definitely be such a modest basement with rats swarming everywhere and their main leader. It even becomes scary how your shift will end, and whether it will come to an end ... I KNOW WHAT YOU WANT So, turn around and find something unusual. Hooray, you noticed it! Yes, that strange guy, very reminiscent of his appearance clown. Take a closer look at his hands, he is holding a voodoo doll and carefully looking at you. I will say more, he knows about your hidden desires, he controls them and is ready to give up such a profitable skill for a little praise in the form of your heart! If you decide to take away the wife of one of the big business tycoons in your city, be prepared to rush headlong to the 42nd floor of a local skyscraper and climb onto the cornice there, which is no more than 20 centimeters wide. Now look down and remember my warning. DO NOT SMOKER JOINT STOCK COMPANY You have been thinking about quitting smoking for a long time. Welcome to Smoke No More LLC. The guys here are distinguished by their methods in the fight against tobacco addiction. At first they seem rather strange, but after a while you realize how effective and trouble-free their method is. Forget about that funny book Allen Carr about an easy way to quit smoking, because it is only available to these guys. I OPEN THE DOOR In the depths of space, there must be other life forms that are constantly watching us. These little blood-drenched eyes are just waiting for the moment when they can open the door to our world with you and arrange a massacre. BATTLE FIELD All brutal killers like to relax after another case. Some are great at it, but others have to deal with a real army of toy soldiers who were able to get a small model of a thermonuclear warhead. Now the killer will be able to rest, because parts of his body will instantly scatter around the neighborhood. SOMETIMES THEY RETURN New students are always good. It's just bad that they came to us not from another school or a neighboring city, but straight from the place where they end up after death. Teaching such people will be a continuous problem. CHILDREN OF THE CORN Children here have extremely difficult relationships with adults. They do not listen to them and give preference to someone whose voice sounds to them from the fields. In order not to anger their benefactor once again, they donate to him all the men and women who are already 19 years old. There is nothing to be done - God ordered it so. Why are you still standing here, quickly go there and help him. From now on, do not even think about leaving a small child in a room with a closet or closet. You know, Buka loves places like this, and he loves tasty kids even more. THE MAN WHO LOVED FLOWERS What is the first thing you think of when you see a man with flowers walking towards you? Probably a man in love who prepared a present for his woman. What do you think of a man with flowers in one hand, a hammer in the other, and crazy eyes that are about to jump out of their sockets? In this case, it is better to leave your thoughts and go as far as possible from him, he will not use such a tool for its intended purpose. TRUCKS The most common gas station with an adjacent car park. Nearby, it is not clear why, huge trucks cut one circle after another, constantly honking and happily knocking down passers-by at full speed. Everyone is shocked and tries to escape and hide in the diner, but multi-ton cars will gladly look there. He jumps with great joy on the wet earth and leaves behind a trail of dead bodies of young women. LAWN MOWER The most ordinary guy wanted to tidy up his lawn and mow all the extra grass. It seems that nothing foreshadowed trouble, until the bloodthirsty Pan decided to intervene in this process with his subjects. The lawn is mowed, as is its owner. WOMAN IN THE WARD It's hard to say something about a boy who, from the bottom of his heart, wanted to help his mother. But God, what have you done. ON THE RAIL If next to your locality there is one abandoned town in which people constantly disappear, and the human shadow is refracted under the sun's rays. There is a possibility of a bunch of vampires living there.

You have decided to embark on a journey through the back streets of nightmares lurking beyond reality, and this book is your guide to a world inhabited by pitch horror.

Behind the bend in the road is a world where Gray Evil lurks under the masks of people. Evil, in which there is not even a spark of the human soul. New turn- and here it is, the town where the ultra-modern meat grinder found its own will and mind. The will to Evil and the mind, aimed only at killing ...

And again the road makes a turn - and Death comes to the small town. A terrible many-tailed death, for which, alas, there is neither a pipe nor a Pied Piper ... In Russia, the entire collection was first published only in 1998.

However, "whole" is too strong a word. Two stories at once, for some unknown reason, did not get into it.

And if the story “The Last Crossbar” was published for some time - under the same cover as “Carrie”, “The Fog”, and a couple of unfortunate “foundlings” from the collection “Team of Skeletons”, as well as in paperback and in the same company (however, now it is not published at all), then “Jerusalem Settlement” simply sank into nowhere, and only in 2011 it was published in the collection of “non-Lovecraftian” myths Ktul hu.

Based on materials from the site www.fantlab.ru This release is an attempt to restore the "native" collection "Night Shift" - in the form in which it was published by the author. It was not possible, unfortunately, to find only the preface by D. Macdonald. Also, it was not possible to determine the translators of this or that story everywhere.

Let's hope that fans of the King in the future will correct this omission. ;)

You have decided to embark on a journey through the back streets of nightmares lurking beyond reality, and this book is your guide to a world inhabited by pitch horror.

Behind the bend in the road is a world where Gray Evil lurks under the masks of people. Evil, in which there is not even a spark of the human soul. A new turn - and here it is, a town where an ultra-modern meat grinder has found its own will and mind. The will to Evil and the mind, aimed only at killing ...

However, "whole" is too strong a word. Two stories at once, for some unknown reason, did not get into it.

Let's hope that fans of the King in the future will correct this omission. ;)