"Harvey's Dream" | |||
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Short story by Stephen King | |||
Country | United States | ||
Language | English | ||
Genre(s) | Horror | ||
Publication | |||
Published in | The New Yorker , Just After Sunset | ||
Publication date | June 2003 (first publication) | ||
Chronology | |||
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"Harvey's Dream" is a short story written by Stephen King, originally published in The New Yorker in June 2003 [1] and later included in King's short story collection Just After Sunset in 2008.
Harvey and Janet, a middle-aged married couple in a dysfunctional relationship, discuss over breakfast how Harvey woke up screaming from a dream he had: one of their daughters was killed by a truck. Janet soon realizes how the details of the dream are unerringly accurate for that morning, especially in noticing how their neighbor's car has a dent in it, along with what looks like a blood stain and a dark patch of hair. The story ends when Harvey answers a phone call, as he did in his dream, presumably confirming Janet's mounting fears that the events of the dream are true.
In The Independent , Matt Thorne reviews the book Just After Sunset, in which "Harvey's Dream" can be found. He mentions "Harvey's Dream" as being one of the weaker stories in the collection (along with "Graduation Afternoon"), stating that "in both of these stories, which seem to have been written quickly, [King] seems less interested in creating compelling fiction than in transcribing his night terrors." [2]
In The Washington Times , Christian Toto, also reviewing Just After Sunset, says that ""Harvey's Dream" lasts less than 10 pages, but Mr. King needs only a few paragraphs to evoke a wholly relatable nightmare — being stuck in an emotionless marriage." [3]
A review of Just After Sunset in the St. Petersburg Times calls "Harvey's Dream" "a quietly alarming little story", [4] one in Scotland on Sunday calls it "unusually polished" and "quietly eloquent" [5] and one in the Concord Monitor says the story is "a parent's worst nightmare, viewed in slow motion." [6]
Dan Simmons is an American science fiction and horror writer. He is the author of the Hyperion Cantos and the Ilium/Olympos cycles, among other works that span the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres, sometimes within a single novel. Simmons's genre-intermingling Song of Kali (1985) won the World Fantasy Award. He also writes mysteries and thrillers, some of which feature the continuing character Joe Kurtz.
Stephen Edwin King is an American author. Widely known for his horror novels, he has been crowned the "King of Horror". He has also explored other genres, among them suspense, crime, science-fiction, fantasy and mystery. Though known primarily for his novels, he has written approximately 200 short stories, most of which have been published in collections.
This is a list of short fiction works by Stephen King. This includes short stories, novelettes, and novellas, as well as poems. It is arranged chronologically by first publication. Major revisions of previously published pieces are also noted. Stephen King is sometimes credited with "nearly 400 short stories". However, all the known published pieces of short fiction are tabulated below. In all, 218 works are listed. Most of these pieces have been collected in King's seven short story collections: Night Shift (1978), Skeleton Crew (1985), Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993), Everything's Eventual (2002), Just After Sunset (2008), The Bazaar of Bad Dreams (2015), and You Like It Darker (2024); in King's five novella collections: Different Seasons (1982), Four Past Midnight (1990), Hearts in Atlantis (1999), Full Dark, No Stars (2010), and If It Bleeds (2020); and in the compilation Secret Windows: Essays and Fiction on the Craft of Writing (2000). Some of these pieces, however, remain uncollected.
Janet Paterson Frame was a New Zealand author. She is internationally renowned for her work, which includes novels, short stories, poetry, juvenile fiction, and an autobiography, and received numerous awards including being appointed to the Order of New Zealand, New Zealand's highest civil honour.
Thomas Ligotti is an American horror author, lay philosopher, and writer. His writings are rooted in several literary genres – most prominently weird fiction – and have been described by critics as works of philosophical horror, often formed into short stories and novellas in the tradition of gothic fiction. The worldview espoused by Ligotti in his fiction and non-fiction has been described as pessimistic and nihilistic. The Washington Post called him "the best kept secret in contemporary horror fiction."
"Rainy Season" is a short horror story by Stephen King, first published in Midnight Graffiti in 1989, and later collected in King's book Nightmares & Dreamscapes in 1993.
"Crouch End" is a horror story by Stephen King, set in the real-life North London district of Crouch End, originally published in New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (1980), and republished in a slightly different version in King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes collection (1993). It contains distinct references to the horror fiction of H. P. Lovecraft.
Bag of Bones is a 1998 horror novel by American writer Stephen King. It focuses on an author who suffers severe writer's block and delusions at an isolated lake house four years after the death of his wife. It won the 1999 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel, the 1999 British Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and the 1999 Locus Award for Best Dark Fantasy/Horror Novel.
Joseph Payne Brennan was an American writer of fantasy and horror fiction, and also a poet. Of Irish ancestry, he was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and he lived most of his life in New Haven, Connecticut, and worked as an Acquisitions Assistant at the Sterling Memorial Library of Yale University for over 40 years. Brennan published several hundred short stories, two novellas and reputedly thousands of poems. His stories appeared in over 200 anthologies and have been translated into German, French, Dutch, Italian and Spanish. He was an early bibliographer of the work of H. P. Lovecraft.
Junot Díaz is a Dominican American writer, creative writing professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a former fiction editor at Boston Review. He also serves on the board of advisers for Freedom University, a volunteer organization in Georgia that provides post-secondary instruction to undocumented immigrants. Central to Díaz's work is the immigrant experience, particularly the Latino immigrant experience.
"Head Down" is a non-fiction essay by Stephen King that first appeared in The New Yorker in 1990 and was later republished as part of his 1993 short story collection, Nightmares & Dreamscapes. It also pairs with another work in that collection, Brooklyn August.
Stalking the Nightmare is a 1982 collection of short stories and nonfiction pieces by American writer Harlan Ellison. The short stories are interspersed with "Scenes from the Real World" sections, which are essays on a variety of topics. Although most of the stories had not previously appeared in any of Ellison's books, four of them were taken from his out of print 1970 collection Over the Edge.
Sarah Shun-lien Bynum is an American writer, of Chinese descent. She previously taught writing and literature in the graduate MFA writing program at Otis College of Art and Design until 2015. She lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and daughter.
"Stationary Bike" is a short story by the American writer Stephen King, originally published in the fifth edition of From the Borderlands in 2003. In 2008, it was republished in King's collection Just After Sunset.
"The Things They Left Behind" is short story by American writer Stephen King, originally published in the compilation Transgressions: Volume Two edited by Ed McBain and published by Forge Books. It is one of three stories that is also available on audiobook compilation, in the "Transgressions" series, titled Terror's Echo and read by John Bedford Lloyd. It was later included in King's own 2008 collection Just After Sunset.
"Willa" is a short story by American writer Stephen King, originally published in the December 2006 issue of Playboy magazine.
Just After Sunset is the fifth collection of short stories by Stephen King. It was released in hardcover by Scribner on November 11, 2008, and features a holographic dust jacket. On February 6, 2008, the author's official website revealed the title of the collection to be Just Past Sunset. About a month later, the title was subtly changed to Just After Sunset. Previous titles mentioned in the media by Stephen King himself were Pocket Rockets and Unnatural Acts of Human Intercourse.
Lauren Groff is an American novelist and short story writer. She has written five novels and two short story collections, including Fates and Furies (2015), Florida (2018), Matrix (2022), and The Vaster Wilds (2023).
"Ayana" is a short story by Stephen King that was originally published in the Fall 2007 issue of The Paris Review, and later included in King's collection Just After Sunset in November of 2008.
"Graduation Afternoon" is a short story by American writer Stephen King, originally published in the March 2007 issue of Postscripts, and collected in King's 2008 collection Just After Sunset.