Rating: 
Summary: Creepy, creepier, creepiest.....oo ee oo
Review: Before I shifted in literary tastes from mostly science fiction and fantasy to Tom Clancy-style military thrillers, I was a regular reader of Stephen King's macabre masterpieces. I have about two-thirds of his literary output, and if books were not as expensive now I'd still be a regular reader of King's works.One of my favorite books by Steve-o is Skeleton Crew, his second collection of short stories, including the novella "The Mist." And as in any collection of short fiction, some of the 22 stories stand head and shoulders above the rest. The creepiest, by far, is "The Mist," which begins with, as in all good King works, with a seemingly normal event (a storm) and a routine occurrence (a trip to the supermarket) and slowly but surely morphs into a situation which becomes scarier as the story progresses. While not wanting to give anything away, I can tell you this much -- I'll never go to the Kash n' Karry and look at it quite the same way again, particularly in the spaghetti sauce section. "Survivor Type" is King's take on Robinson Crusoe. Its protagonist is Richard Pine, a surgeon who, unfortunately, has also been involved in the narcotics "business." Now, after he is shipwrecked and marooned on a desert isle, Pine is forced to face his inner demons and, by the way, cope with the problem of what to eat in a place where there is no viable food source. Suffice it to say that in his desperation he will have to use his surgical training to solve this dicey problem. While there are other stories that give me the willies, I am always drawn to "Word Processor of the Gods." I first read it before I ever owned -- or even used -- a personal computer, and its premise involving a word processor with supernatural powers, while silly on the surface, was very compelling to me as an aspiring writer. King asks: What if you simply typed a sentence like "I wish I were married to the loveliest, kindest person on earth," and by pressing ENTER, it came true? Maybe in the hands of a lesser writer the premise is silly, but King tells his story with a fine balance of spookiness and wit. The closing paragraph is a gem. The beauty of an anthology like Skeleton Crew is that you can read as much or as little of it as you like, choosing whatever story strikes your fancy at any given moment. If you are a newcomer to King's storytelling and don't want to commit yourself to a major novel such as IT or The Stand, this is a fine place to start.
Rating:
Summary: King opens the gate
Review: Skeleton crew is a highly recommendable collection of short stories by Stephen King, including a large variety of little masterpieces that are worth reading more than once. More than anything, the novella "The mist" makes this book a must-buy for any serious horror fan. It is not typical Stephen King, miles away from "Christine", "Cujo", "Salem's Lot" and even "The Shining", it is, apart from some short stories, Stephen King's darkest, most hopeless, and most cosmic story ever. It is in every sense lovecraftian without even mentioning one of the usual prerequisites, but combines Lovecraft's concept of cosmic alienation with all the merits of Stephen King's fine writing: a detailed and sympathetic characterisation of his protagonists and antagonists, a good sense of black humour, an action-packed plot and some delvings into the funny horror of old school splatter movies (among many others). "The mist" tells about the dire adventures of a bunch of Mainers (of course) caught in a supermarket and confronted with the unknown and utterly alien, told from the perspective of a family father. The horror is generated on several levels, by the mysterious "mist" that traps the people (and for which a good 1950'ies horror movie explanation is provided) which creates an eerie atmosphere of constant threat, by the creatures that inhabit it (which range from the ridiculous to the awe-inspiring), and particularly by the behaviour of the people that are confronted with supreme horrors, and which slowly but constantly go nuts one after the other. It is easily one of Stephen Kings masterpieces and easily outshines any of the other stories in the collection -well done as they are. It is more lovecraftian than anything Derleth, Carter or Lumley ever wrote, because it understands the cosmological concept. H. P. L. always raged about what would happen if the gates to the outer spheres are opened. Stephen King shows it and leaves no (or, at best, a pathetic) hope for mankind. To put it in one word: brilliant. If King wouldn't have written anything else, this book would secure him a place among the masters of weird fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I loved this book. The Mist was an excellent novella, the best in the book. the best short storie was probably the Jaunt, closely followed by, the ballad of the flexible bullet. I read it while camping and i had dreams causing me to get up and walk around the tent. Superlative.
Rating: 
Summary: It's a shame The Mist wasn't a full length novel
Review: Better than Nightshift this collection of short stories is a must just for one story alone. That story is The Mist about a strange mist engulfing a small town which makes bugs and other things which used to be small huge. Read and see if the meek shall inherit the earth. It's a shame this one wasn't made into a full length novel as it's sensational.
Like in Nightshift there are great stories but also average ones. Other people however think the ones I think are average are great so maybe you will too. I liked The Raft, Uncle Otto's Truck, Cain Rose Up and The Monkey. Telling what each story is about will give away too much of the plot and the surprises you want to encounter. If you liked Night Shift then you'll like this collection. King does have a bit different style with short stories but even if you don't really like them you've got to at least read The Mist.
Rating:
Summary: Twenty Two Tales
Review: Stephen King is a well-known, best-selling author. Many of his books have made it to the movies, like Dream Catcher, and The Shining (which has made it to the movies many times). I especially like The Shining, and Cujo. Of course, he has written books I'm not too fond of either, like Christine. But some of his best stories are the short kinds, like the short stories in his book, Skeleton Crew. Skeleton Crew is an imaginative and often gruesome book. Some of the stories may seem hokey at first, but after some reading, you quickly become riveted to the twisting plots, gory details, and seemingly unstoppable evils that drive the stories. One of the best stories in the book is the first one, which is "The Mist". "The Mist" is about a failed military experiment that unleashes another dimension upon Earth that is filled to the brim with demented creatures. I could not get into some of the stories though, such as "Uncle Otto's Truck", which is pretty boring until just before the end, when Stephen King builds up some suspense, and pulls off a pretty boring ending. The reason I like "The Mist" is because of the detail. It's detailed enough that you can create a cool image of what he's describing, but he doesn't describe it so much that it's already basically drawn onto the page. He uses this perfect amount of detail in each of his stories. I also like the detail in these stories because it doesn't dwell on one thing too long, but it isn't so vague you have no idea what he's talking about. After reading "The Mist", I was surprised and pretty freaked out to wake up to a thick mist one morning. I give this book four stars. The diverse stories reel you in and keep you there. You never know what thing Stephen King will manage to make creepy. From milkmen to toy monkeys.
Rating:
Summary: his most inventive
Review: the inventive stories here are more inventive than "before" and "after". very professionally written. a great deal of psychology. great descriptions (esp. the mist, mrs. todd's shortcut). great ideas. there were some stories here that didn't deliver. but all in all, you can't expect more.
Rating:
Summary: It's Good t'be Da King
Review: ...
In his second and comparatively subdued anthology of short stories, King's distinctive prose comes off as more haunting than all-out horrifying; a deliberately paced walk through a haunted mansion rather than an amusement-park simulation thereof. The stories are no more or less effective for the wear, but Skeleton Crew doesn't so much grab you by the lapels and order you to be frightened as shrewdly offer you the option to be...and, should you accept it, you are methodically jangled from gut to psyche, and left to reverberate once the last word glides across the page. This is something an evolutionary jump for the Stephen King anthologies, somehow darker and far more intimate than its predecessor. Self-image, paranoia, and survival are recurring themes (The open-ended question "Do you love?" is sprinkled throughout the book like an ancient yet timeless chant of infinite power and potential)...whereas Night Shift focused primarily on society's external structure and surreality overlapping the real world. In these writings, you'll find only what you choose to take with you.
THE BALLAD OF THE FLEXIBLE BULLET: A poignant and complex tale with massage both universal and deeply personal.
BEACHWORLD: Science fiction as interpreted by King; somewhat superficial in contrast to other stories, but can easily get under your skin. The futuristic pidgin lingo is a tough go, but I gotta admire the man for having the patience and skill to create a universal dialect in the first place.
BIG WHEELS: A TALE OF THE LAUNDRY GAME (MILKMAN #2): Something of a day-in-the-life that abruptly crescendos into a revenge drama. Not the best this collection has to offer, but solid entertainment.
CAIN ROSE UP: An unnerving tale of cynicism, disenchantment and impulse, eerily foreshadowing the acts of school violence prevalent from the late twentieth century to now.
FOR OWEN: A breezy and touching poem dedicated to his youngest son, showcasing King's elusive sentimental side.
GRAMMA: A harrowing tale focusing on youth and the unknown, raw and evocative.
HERE THERE BE TYGERS: A strange, juvenile but effective mini-study on the parallels between a child's everyday concerns versus the perils that could potentially befall us out of the clear blue nowhere.
THE JAUNT: Another slice of sci-fi a la King, every bit as twisted as Beachworld, but far more purposeful/cautionary overall. Tinges of Cronenberg's The Fly. This one scared the [daylights] out of me--I thought about it for literal DAYS afterward.
THE MAN WHO WOULD NOT SHAKE HANDS: A brief meditation on paranoia; it seems alost satirical to me.
THE MIST: An apocalyptic novella that takes the classic final-showdown-of-mankind scenario and transports it into a most unusual locale. Hints of Jurassic Park, Dawn of the Dead and John Carpenter's The Fog.
THE MONKEY: A classic horror story, and as close to vintage King as you'll find in this anthology. The angel of death manifests itself in the form of a mechanical monkey-doll.
MORNING DELIVERIES (MILKMAN #1): A conceptually interesting kind of horror farce, more a hypothetical situation than a telling of actual events...as with Ellis' American Psycho, the reader is almost led to believe the scenario exists only within the wishful thoughts of the main character. Flawed, but readable.
MRS. TODD'S SHORTCUT: A woman's desire to save time and resistance to change leads her life into a series of strange events. Deep.
NONA: Almost a love story, it seamlessly fuses the mythic images of the anima and the succubus...a theme that's been touched upon in modern literature, but not fully or effectively explored until now.
PARANOID--A CHANT: Another poem, this one brimming with kinetic imagery and dark satiric humor. A personal favorite.
THE RAFT: Another straightforward horror story featuring what could best be described as the Blob's bastard cousin, with strong subtexts of post-adolescent angst, envy and sexual (im)morality.
THE REAPER'S IMAGE: Haunting and original, yet strangely anticlimactic. Not my favorite.
SURVIVOR TYPE: A survival tale with a shocking--and sickening--twist. By no means superficial, though.
UNCLE OTTO'S TRUCK: A wealthy elderly eccentric is driven literally crazy and to poverty by his Cresswell truck. An odd premise with a webwoven theme of irony and gossip.
THE WEDDING GIG: A sad tale set in the Prohibition era, representing a refreshing change of venue in King's world. A provocative look at, of all things, family ties and prejudice.
WORD PROCESSOR OF THE GODS: An interesting take on the nagging what-ifs of life and the hypotheticals of reversing personal regrets...both disturbing, yet not without a strange sweetness.
Rating:
Summary: Skeleton Crew
Review: This hefty sampler of King's shorter works, from all stages of the horror master's career, demonstrates the range of his abilities. Some of the stories here rank among his best, and ``even the less successful ones are fun,''
Rating:
Summary: Great for teens
Review: I'm not a big Stephen King fan but Skeleton Crew is spectacular. I worked for three years as a summer camp counselor and when you have a group of 15 year old boys, they don't want to hear cheesy ghost stories or little kid stories. I read them a few of King's short stories and they LOVED them. While his Novels tend to drone on a bit too much for my taste, his short stories are just right. Check out "Nightmares and Dreamscapes" too.
Rating:
Summary: THE MIST, THE RAFT, CAIN ROSE UP...CHILLING!!
Review: This book was a great read from front to cover. a few stories i wasnt into as much as others however you cant always be perfect!(although King comes very close!) This book has my favorite short story of kings in it "The Mist"! im sure the title of this article already gave that away though! many wonderfull stories that make you wonder where the ---- King gets his ideas from! another personal favorite story to mention would be "The Raft"! rather than waste time writing about i just recamend you buy it and get ready for a wonderfull ride!
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