Editing Night Shift (short story collection)

{{Short description|Book by Stephen King}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book
| name          = Night Shift
| image         = Night Shift (1978) front cover, first edition.jpg
| caption       = First edition cover
| author        = [[Stephen King]]
| cover_artist  =
| country       = United States
| language      = English
| genre         = [[Horror fiction|Horror]]
| publisher     = [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]
| release_date  = February [[1978 in literature|1978]]
| media_type    = Print (hardcover)
| pages         = 336
| isbn          = 978-0-385-12991-6
| preceded_by   = 
| followed_by   = [[Different Seasons]]
}}

'''''Night Shift''''' is [[Stephen King]]'s first collection of [[short story|short stories]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Graveyard Shift|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/132261/Stephen-King-s-Graveyard-Shift/overview|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130616140138/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/132261/Stephen-King-s-Graveyard-Shift/overview|url-status=dead|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=[[The New York Times]]|author=Cavett Binion|archive-date=2013-06-16}}</ref> first published in 1978. In 1980, ''Night Shift'' won the [[Balrog Award]] for Best Collection, and in 1979 it was nominated as best collection for the [[Locus Award]] and the [[World Fantasy Award]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Night Shift|url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?36906|work=Isfdb.org}}</ref>

==Stories==

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! #
! Title
! Originally published in
|-
| 1
| "[[Jerusalem's Lot]]"
| Previously unpublished
|-
| 2
| "[[Graveyard Shift (short story)|Graveyard Shift]]"
| October 1970 issue of ''[[Cavalier (magazine)|Cavalier]]''
|-
| 3
| "[[Night Surf]]"
| Spring 1969 issue of ''[[Ubris]]''
|-
| 4
| "[[I Am the Doorway]]"
| March 1971 issue of ''Cavalier''
|-
| 5
| "[[The Mangler]]"
| December 1972 issue of ''Cavalier''
|-
| 6
| "[[The Boogeyman (short story)|The Boogeyman]]"
| March 1973 issue of ''Cavalier''
|-
| 7
| "[[Gray Matter (short story)|Gray Matter]]"
| October 1973 issue of ''Cavalier''
|-
| 8
| "[[Battleground (short story)|Battleground]]"
| September 1972 issue of ''Cavalier''
|-
| 9
| "[[Trucks (short story)|Trucks]]"
| June 1973 issue of ''Cavalier''
|-
| 10
| "[[Sometimes They Come Back]]"
| March 1974 issue of ''Cavalier''
|-
| 11
| "[[Strawberry Spring]]"
| Fall 1968 issue of ''Ubris''
|-
| 12
| "[[The Ledge (short story)|The Ledge]]"
| July 1976 issue of ''[[Penthouse (magazine)|Penthouse]]''
|-
| 13
| "[[The Lawnmower Man]]"
| May 1975 issue of ''Cavalier''
|-
| 14
| "[[Quitters, Inc.]]"
| Previously unpublished
|-
| 15
| "[[I Know What You Need]]"
| September 1976 issue of ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]''
|-
| 16
| "[[Children of the Corn]]"
| March 1977 issue of ''Penthouse''
|-
| 17
| "[[The Last Rung on the Ladder]]"
| Previously unpublished
|-
| 18
| "[[The Man Who Loved Flowers]]"
| August 1977 issue of ''[[Gallery (magazine)|Gallery]]''
|-
| 19
| "[[One for the Road (short story)|One for the Road]]"
| March/April 1977 issue of ''Maine''
|-
| 20
| "[[The Woman in the Room]]"
| Previously unpublished
|}

==Details==
[[image:Night Shift (1978) back cover, first edition (cropped).jpg|The back cover of the first edition of ''Night Shift''|thumb]]

The book was published on the heels of ''[[The Shining (novel)|The Shining]]'' (1977 Doubleday) and is King's fifth published book (including ''[[Rage (Stephen King novel)|Rage]]'', which was published under the pseudonym of [[Richard Bachman]]). Nine of the twenty stories had first appeared in issues of ''[[Cavalier (magazine)|Cavalier Magazine]]'' from 1970 to 1975; others were originally published in ''[[Penthouse (magazine)|Penthouse]]'', ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'', ''Gallery'', ''Ubris'', and ''Maine Magazine''. The stories "Jerusalem's Lot", "Quitters, Inc.", "The Last Rung on the Ladder", and "The Woman in the Room" appeared for the first time in this collection.

King had wanted to cut "Gray Matter" in favor of his 1972 story "[[Suffer the Little Children]]", but deferred to editor Bill Thompson who chose to keep "Gray Matter" in the collection ("Suffer the Little Children" was ultimately collected in ''[[Nightmares & Dreamscapes]]'' in 1993).<ref name="King1993"/>

==Foreword and introduction==
''Night Shift'' is the first book for which King wrote a foreword.  The introduction was written by one of King's favorite authors, [[John D. MacDonald]]. MacDonald writes that "Stephen King is a far, far better writer at thirty than I was at thirty, or at forty. I am entitled to hate him a little bit for this." He adds, "I will say that I do not give a diddly-whoop what Stephen King chooses as an area in which to write. The fact that he presently enjoys writing in the field of spooks and spells and slitherings in the cellar is to me the least interesting fact about the man anyone can relate", predicting that "Stephen King is not going to restrict himself to his present area of intense interest."<ref>John D. MacDonald. Introduction to ''Night Shift'' by King, Stephen. 1978 p. vii-x</ref>

==Deluxe edition==
In 2020, a deluxe edition of ''Night Shift'' published by [[Cemetery Dance Publications]]. The deluxe edition included two other short stories by King: "[[The Glass Floor]]" (1967) and "[[Weeds (short story)|Weeds]]" (1976).<ref name="Maddrey2023"/>

==Film, television or theatrical adaptations==
With the publication of ''Night Shift'' and the rise in King's popularity as a best-selling author, and with the success of [[Brian De Palma]]'s motion picture adaptation of ''Carrie'' (1976), student film makers began submitting requests to King to adapt stories from the collection. King formed a policy he deemed the [[Dollar Baby|Dollar Deal]], which allowed the students the permission to make an adaptation for $1.

In the 1980s, entrepreneurial film producer Milton Subotsky purchased the rights to six of the stories in this collection to produce feature films and a television anthology based on multiple stories. Although Subotsky was involved with several King adaptations (''Cat's Eye'', ''Maximum Overdrive'', ''Sometimes They Come Back'', ''The Lawnmower Man'') the television series never happened due to conflicts with the networks' [[Broadcast Standards and Practices|Standards and Practices]].<ref name=Pearkos>Perakos, Peter S. "Stephen King on ''Carrie'', ''The Shining'', etc." published in ''[[Cinefantastique]]'' Magazine Vol 1 No 8 Winter 1978. Reprinted in "Feast of Fear" Underwood & Miller, Carroll and Graf 1989 pp. 70</ref>

The following film, television, and theatre adaptations are adapted from the stories in ''Night Shift'':

===Feature film adaptations===
*''[[Children of the Corn (1984 film)|Children of the Corn]]'' (1984) [[Hal Roach#Hal Roach Studios|Hal Roach Studios, Inc.]], directed by [[Fritz Kiersch]]
*''[[Cat's Eye (1985 film)|Cat's Eye]]'' (1985) [[Dino De Laurentiis]] Productions/[[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM/UA]], directed by [[Lewis Teague]] (featured adaptations of "Quitters Inc." and "The Ledge")
*''[[Maximum Overdrive]]'' (based on "Trucks") (1986) [[Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica|De Laurentiis Entertainment Group]] (DEG), directed by Stephen King
*''[[Graveyard Shift (1990 film)|Graveyard Shift]]'' (1990) [[Paramount Pictures]], directed by Ralph S. Singleton
*''[[The Mangler (film)|The Mangler]]'' (1995) [[New Line Cinema]], directed by [[Tobe Hooper]]
*''[[The Boogeyman (2023 film)|The Boogeyman]]'' (2023) [[20th Century Studios]], directed by [[Rob Savage]]

===Television adaptations===
*''[[Sometimes They Come Back (film)|Sometimes They Come Back]]'' (1991) [[Vidmark Entertainment]], directed by Tom McLoughlin, originally attempted to be adapted into ''[[Cat's Eye (1985 film)|Cat's Eye]]''
*''[[Trucks (film)|Trucks]]'' (1997) [[USA Network|USA Pictures]] directed by Chris Thomson
*''Battleground'' (2006) [[Turner Network Television]] mini-series ''[[Nightmares & Dreamscapes (TV series)|Nightmares & Dreamscapes]]''
*''[[Children of the Corn (2009 film)|Children of the Corn]]'' (2009) a [[Syfy]] production
*''Gray Matter'' (2019) [[Shudder (streaming service)|Shudder]] series ''[[Creepshow (TV series)|Creepshow]]''
*''[[Chapelwaite]]'' (2021) based on the short story [[Jerusalem's Lot]]

===Dollar Baby adaptations (shorts)===
*''The Boogeyman'' (1982) directed by Jeff Schiro
*''Disciples of the Crow'' (based on "Children of the Corn") (1983) directed by John Woodward
*''The Woman in the Room'' (1983) directed by [[Frank Darabont]]
*''The Last Rung on the Ladder'' (1987) directed by James Cole and Daniel Thron
*''The Lawnmower Man'' (1987) directed by Jim Gonis
*''Night Surf'' (2001) directed by Peter Sullivan
*''Strawberry Spring'' (2001) directed by Doveed Linder
*''I Know What You Need'' (2004) directed by Shawn S. Lealos
*''La Femme dans la chambre'' (''The Woman in the Room'') (2005) directed by Damien Maric
*''The Boogeyman'' (play) (2005) by Graham Rees (60 minutes)

===Other===
*''[[The Lawnmower Man (film)|The Lawnmower Man]]'' (1992) [[New Line Cinema]], directed by [[Brett Leonard]] – an unrelated film named in tribute to the story of the same name contained within this anthology

==''The Stephen King Collection: Stories from'' Night Shift==
{{infobox book |
| name          = The Stephen King Collection: Stories from Night Shift
| image         = Stephen_King_Value_Collection.tiff
| author        = [[Stephen King]]
| country       = United States
| language      = English
| genre         = Short story collection
| publisher     = [[Random House]] Audio
| media_type    = Compact Disc, Digital Audio, MP3
|audio_read_by  = [[John Glover (actor)|John Glover]]}}
In 2000, [[Random House]] released a recorded compilation of selected stories from ''Night Shift'', each read by [[John Glover (actor)|John Glover]].<ref>{{cite web
	| url = https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/92994/stephen-king-value-collection-by-stephen-king/
	| title = The Stephen King Collection: Stories from Night Shift
	| website = Penguin Random House
	| access-date = 1 November 2023
}}</ref> The full track list of unabridged stories is as follows:
{{columns-list|colwidth=25em|*"[[The Boogeyman (short story)|The Boogeyman]]"
*"[[I Know What You Need]]"
*"[[Strawberry Spring]]"
*"[[Gray Matter (short story)|Gray Matter]]"
*"[[The Woman in the Room]]"
*"[[Battleground (short story)|Battleground]]"
*"[[Graveyard Shift (short story)|Graveyard Shift]]"
*"[[The Man Who Loved Flowers]]"
*"[[The Last Rung on the Ladder]]"
*"[[Night Surf]]"
*"[[Jerusalem's Lot]]"
*"[[The Lawnmower Man]]"
*"[[Sometimes They Come Back]]"
*"[[Quitters, Inc.]]"
*"[[The Ledge (short story)|The Ledge]]"
*"[[The Mangler]]"}}
{{clear}}

==See also==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{commons}}
*[[Stephen King short fiction bibliography]]
*[[Dollar Baby]]

==References==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="King1993">{{cite book|last=King|first=Stephen|authorlink=Stephen King|title=Nightmares and Dreamscapes|url=https://archive.org/details/nightmaresdream00king|url-access=registration|publisher=Viking|year=1993|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/nightmaresdream00king/page/801 801]|isbn=0-606-06623-3}}</ref>

<ref name="Maddrey2023">{{cite book |first1=Joseph |last1=Maddrey |title=Adapting Stephen King |volume=2: Night Shift from Short Stories to Screenplays |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RTYEAAAQBAJ |date=2003 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |isbn=9781476648217 |pages=12 |author-link=Joseph Maddrey }}</ref>

}}

{{Night Shift}}
{{Stephen King}}
{{The Mangler}}

[[Category:1978 short story collections]]
[[Category:American short story collections]]
[[Category:Short story collections by Stephen King]]
[[Category:Doubleday (publisher) books]]
[[Category:English-language books]]