Editing Skeleton Crew (short story collection)

{{Short description|1985 short story collection by Stephen King}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book| <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name          = Skeleton Crew
| title_orig    =
| translator    =
| image         = SkeletonCrewHC.jpg
| caption = First edition cover
| author        = [[Stephen King]]
| cover_artist  =
| country       = United States
| language      = English
| series        =
| genre         = [[Horror fiction|Horror]], [[science fiction]]
| publisher     = [[G. P. Putnam's Sons|Putnam]]
| pub_date      = June 21, 1985
| media_type    = Print (hardcover)
| pages         = 512
| isbn          = 978-0-399-13039-7
| preceded_by   = [[Different Seasons]]
| followed_by   = [[Four Past Midnight]]
}}

'''''Skeleton Crew''''' is a short story collection by American writer [[Stephen King]], published by Putnam in June 1985. A limited edition of a thousand copies was published by Scream/Press in October 1985 ({{ISBN|978-0910489126}}), illustrated by J. K. Potter, containing an additional short story, "[[The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson]]", which had originally appeared in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine (July 19 – August 2, 1984), and was later incorporated into King's 1987 novel ''[[The Tommyknockers]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.locusmag.com/index/t42.htm |title=The Locus Index to Science Fiction: 1984-1998 |magazine=[[Locus (magazine)|Locus]] |access-date=2014-10-11 |quote=This special edition has one extra story, “Becka Paulson,” not found in the trade edition wowza. }}</ref> The original title of this book was ''Night Moves''.<ref>[http://overlookconnection.com/catalog/castlerock-1985-p-6373.html Overlookconnection.com]</ref>

==Stories==

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! #
! Title
! Originally published in
|-
| 1
| "[[The Mist (novella)|The Mist]]"
| ''[[Dark Forces (book)|Dark Forces]]'' (1980)
|-
| 2
| "[[Here There Be Tygers (1968 short story)|Here There Be Tygers]]"
| Spring 1968 issue of ''[[Ubris (magazine)|Ubris]]''
|-
| 3
| "[[The Monkey]]"
| November 1980 issue of ''[[Gallery (magazine)|Gallery]]''
|-
| 4
| "[[Cain Rose Up]]"
| Spring 1968 issue of ''Ubris''
|-
| 5
| "[[Mrs. Todd's Shortcut]]"
| May 1984 issue of ''[[Redbook]]''
|-
| 6
| "[[The Jaunt]]"
| June 1981 issue of ''[[The Twilight Zone Magazine]]''
|-
| 7
| "[[The Wedding Gig]]"
| December 1980 issue of ''[[Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine]]''
|-
| 8
| "[[Paranoid: A Chant]]"
| ''Previously unpublished''
|-
| 9
| "[[The Raft (short story)|The Raft]]"
| November 1982 issue of ''Gallery''
|-
| 10
| "[[Word Processor of the Gods]]"
| January 1983 issue of ''[[Playboy (magazine)|Playboy]]''
|-
| 11
| "[[The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands]]"
| ''[[Shadows (anthology)|Shadows 4]]'' (1981)
|-
| 12
| "[[Beachworld]]"
| Fall 1984 issue of ''[[Weird Tales]]''
|-
| 13
| "[[The Reaper's Image]]"
| Spring 1969 issue of ''Startling Mystery Stories''
|-
| 14
| "[[Nona (short story)|Nona]]"
| ''Shadows'' (1978)
|-
| 15
| "[[For Owen]]"
| ''Previously unpublished''
|-
| 16
| "[[Survivor Type]]"
| ''Terrors'' (1982)
|-
| 17
| "[[Uncle Otto's Truck]]"
| October 1983 issue of ''[[Yankee (magazine)|Yankee]]''
|-
| 18
| "[[Morning Deliveries (Milkman No. 1)|Morning Deliveries (Milkman #1)]]"
| ''Previously unpublished''
|-
| 19
| "[[Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman No. 2)|Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman #2)]]"
| ''New Terrors'' (1980)
|-
| 20
| "[[Gramma (short story)|Gramma]]"
| Spring 1984 issue of ''Weirdbook''
|-
| 21
| "[[The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet]]"
| June 1984 issue of ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction]]''
|-
| 22
| "[[The Reach]]"
| November 1981 issue of ''Yankee''
|}

==Overview==
The collection features 22 works, which include 18 short stories, two novellas (''The Mist'' and ''The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet''), and two poems ("Paranoid: A Chant" and "For Owen"). In addition to the introduction, in which King directly addresses his readers in his signature conversational style, ''Skeleton Crew'' features an epilogue entitled "Notes" wherein King discusses the origins of several stories in the collection. The stories are collected from science-fiction and horror anthologies (''Dark Forces'', ''Shadows'', ''Terrors'', and ''New Terrors''), genre magazine publications (''[[The Twilight Zone Magazine|Twilight Zone]]'', ''[[Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine]]'', ''Startling Mystery Stories'', ''Weirdbook'' and ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction|Fantasy and Science Fiction]]''), and popular magazines (''[[Redbook]]'', ''[[Gallery (magazine)|Gallery]]'', ''[[Yankee Magazine|Yankee]]'' and ''[[Playboy (magazine)|Playboy]]'').

Although published in 1985, the stories collected in ''Skeleton Crew'' span 17 years from "[[The Reaper's Image]]" (King's second professional sale when he was just 18 years old) to ''[[The Ballad of The Flexible Bullet]]'' which was completed in 1983.<ref>King, Stephen, "Introduction" to ''Skeleton Crew'', Putnam Press 1985 pp.&nbsp;13</ref>

The collection also features more personal works, including "For Owen", the poem he wrote for his son, and "Gramma", a horrific tale from an 11-year-old boy's perspective that seems to recall King's horrors living with his invalid grandmother.<ref>Spignesi, Stephen J. ''The Essential Stephen King'', New Page Books, 2001, pp.&nbsp;232</ref>

Of one of the stories in the collection, King says: "As far as short stories are concerned, I like the grisly ones the best. However, the story "Survivor Type" goes a little bit too far, even for me."<ref>Grant, Charles L. "Interview with Stephen King " Monsterland Magazine, May/June, 1985.</ref>

==Adaptations==

===Film and television===

"The Raft" was adapted as a segment of the 1987 [[New World Pictures]] anthology film ''[[Creepshow 2]]'', with a script by [[George A. Romero]], and directed by Michael Gornic.

"Word Processor of the Gods"  (1984 Laurel TV, directed by Michael Gornic) was a 22-minute [[List of Tales from the Darkside episodes#ep8|episode]] of ''[[Tales from the Darkside]]''.

"Gramma" was adapted into an episode of the 1985 iteration of ''[[The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]'', written by [[Harlan Ellison]]. In 2014, it was loosely adapted into a film called ''[[Mercy (2014 film)|Mercy]]'', starring [[Chandler Riggs]] and [[Dylan McDermott]].<ref>{{cite web | title = Dylan McDermott Joins Stephen King's 'Mercy' | url = http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/dylan-mcdermott-joins-stephen-kings-402081 | website = The Hollywood Reporter | date = 13 December 2012 | access-date = 2021-10-14}}</ref>

''The Mist'' was adapted into the film ''[[The Mist (film)|The Mist]]'' (2007 [[The Weinstein Company]], written and directed by [[Frank Darabont]]), which was released on November 21, 2007; it was later adapted as a 2017 [[Paramount Network|Spike]] [[The Mist (TV series)|TV series]].

"Survivor Type" was adapted as an animated segment for a special episode of the 2019 [[Creepshow (TV series)|''Creepshow'']] TV series with the main character voiced by [[Kiefer Sutherland]].

"The Jaunt" will be made into a feature film by production company [[Plan B Entertainment]], with [[Andy Muschietti]] set to direct.<ref>{{cite web | title = Stephen King's Teleportation Tale "The Jaunt" Will Be A Feature Film | url = http://io9.com/stephen-kings-teleportation-tale-the-jaunt-will-be-a-1691295953 | website = io9.com | date = 13 March 2015 | access-date = 2021-10-14}}</ref>

A [[The Monkey (film)|film adaptation]] of "The Monkey" directed by [[Oz Perkins|Osgood Perkins]] with [[James Wan]] as executive producer through his [[Atomic Monster]] production label was released by [[Neon (company)|Neon]] on February 21, 2025.<ref>{{cite web | title = Stephen King's The Monkey Adaptation Sets 2025 Release Date | url = https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/stephen-kings-the-monkey-adaptation-from-osgood-perkins-sets-february-2025-release-date/ | website = empireonline.com | date = 21 June 2024 | access-date = 2024-08-12}}</ref>

===Dollar Baby adaptations===

The following stories have been adapted as [[Dollar Baby]] short films:

*''Here There Be Tygers'' (1988), by [[Guy Maddin]]
*''Cain Rose Up'' (1989), by David C. Spillers
*''[http://www.paranoidthemovie.com Paranoid]'' (2000), by Jay Holben
*''Here There Be Tygers'' (2003), by James Cochrane
*''The Jaunt'' (2007), by Todd Gorman
*''[http://www.survivortypefilm.com Survivor Type]'' (2011), by Chris Ethridge and Jayson Palmer
* The Reaper's Image (2013) by Sammy Bates
* The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands (2022) by Nicholas Bromund
* Cain Rose Up (2022) by Miguel Marquez

===Other media adaptations===
''The Mist'' was adapted as a 90-minute full-cast audio recording in 1986 in "3-D Sound" from ZBS Productions, released by [[Simon & Schuster, Inc.]]

In 1985, the [[American Library Association]] issued a series of posters that featured celebrities  encouraging Americans to patronize their local libraries. In one of these, [[Michael J. Fox]] holds a copy of ''Skeleton Crew'' while a skeletal  hand rests on his shoulder.

==Reception==
[[Neil Gaiman]] reviewed ''Skeleton Crew'' for ''[[Imagine (game magazine)|Imagine]]'' magazine, and described it as "500 pages of gorious goodies."<ref name="Imagine29">{{cite journal | last = Gaiman|first = Neil |author-link=Neil Gaiman| title =Fantasy Media  | type = review | journal = [[Imagine (AD&D magazine)|Imagine]] | issue = 29| pages =45 | publisher = TSR Hobbies (UK), Ltd. |date=August 1985| issn = }}</ref>

''Skeleton Crew'' is critically held as showing King as a maturing writer<ref>Beahm, George, ''The Stephen King Companion'', Andrews and McNeel, 1989, pp.&nbsp;271</ref> with greater breadth and depth than his previous short works.<ref>Collings, Michael R., ''The Annotated Guide to Stephen King'', Starmount Press, 1986, pp.&nbsp;25</ref>

==Reviews==
*Review by Faren Miller (1985) in ''[[Locus (magazine)|Locus]]'', #291 April 1985<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?36904|title = Title: Skeleton Crew|website = isfdb.org}}</ref>
*Review by Michael R. Collings (1985) in ''[[Fantasy Review]]'', June 1985
*Review by Doc Kennedy (1985) in ''[[Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine]]'', July–August 1985
*Review by Don D'Ammassa (1985) in ''[[Science Fiction Chronicle]]'', #73 October 1985
*Review by Algis Budrys (1985) in ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction]]'', November 1985
*Review by David Pringle (1985) in ''[[Interzone (magazine)|Interzone]]'', #13 Autumn 1985
*Review by Roz Kaveney (1985) in ''[[Foundation (journal)|Foundation]]'', #34 Autumn 1985
*Review by Darrell Schweitzer (1986) in ''[[Science Fiction Review]]'', Spring 1986
*Review by Andy Sawyer (1986) in ''Paperback Inferno'', #63

==See also==
{{portal|Novels}}
*[[Dollar Baby]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Skeleton Crew (short story collection)}}
{{Stephen King}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1985 short story collections]]
[[Category:American short story collections]]
[[Category:Short story collections by Stephen King]]
[[Category:G. P. Putnam's Sons books]]