Never Look Behind You

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"Never Look Behind You"
Short story by Chris Chesley and Stephen King
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Horror short story
Publication
Published in People, Places and Things
Publication type Anthology
Publisher Triad Publishing
Media typePrint
Publication date 1960

"Never Look Behind You" is a short story by Chris Chesley and Stephen King. It was self-published by Chesley and King in 1960 as part of the collection People, Places and Things .

Contents

Plot summary

An "old miser" [1] and "usurer" [2] named George Jacobs is counting money in his office when an elderly, scar-faced woman dressed in rags enters behind him. As Jacobs finishes counting, the woman tells him "too bad you won't be able to spend it". After Jacobs turns around to confront the woman, she raises her hand, killing Jacobs with "a flash of fire on his throat".

Following Jacobs' death, an unnamed character queries what killed him, while another states that he is glad that Jacobs is dead. The latter character is described as "lucky" as "he didn't look behind him".

Publication

"Never Look Behind You" was written by Chesley and King in the summer before beginning high school. [3] [4] [5] It was self-published in 1960 as part of the short story collection People, Places and Things , [2] [6] which was mimeographed in King's family basement by Chesley and King. [7]

Reception

Rocky Wood describes People, Places and Things as "juvenilia" but with "clear hints of the King to come". Reviewing "Never Look Behind You", Wood comments that "it is the punch line that makes the story." [2] Michael R. Collings states, "In approach, content, theme, and treatment [the stories] clearly suggest directions the mature King would explore in greater detail...". [8] Tyson Blue describes "Never Look Behind You" as "an intriguing little tale not so much for what it says as what it does not say". [1] Stephen J. Spignesi notes similarities between the character of the old woman and the character Taduz Lemke from King's 1984 book Thinner . [9]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Blue, Tyson (1989). The Unseen King. Borgo Press. pp. 11–12. ISBN   978-1-5574-2072-5.
  2. 1 2 3 Wood, Rocky; King, Stephen (2017). Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished. Overlook Connection Press. pp. 225–231. ISBN   978-1-892950-59-8.
  3. ↑ Beahm, George (1998). Stephen King from A to Z: An Encyclopedia of His Life and Work. Andrews McMeel Publishing. pp. 114, 156–157. ISBN   978-0-8362-6914-7.
  4. ↑ Rolls, Albert (2008). Stephen King: A Biography. ABC-CLIO. p. 5. ISBN   978-0-313345-73-9.
  5. ↑ Spignesi, Stephen J. (2018). Stephen King, American Master: A Creepy Corpus of Facts About Stephen King & His Work. Permuted Press+ORM. p. 357. ISBN   978-1-682616-07-9.
  6. ↑ Wood, Rocky (2017). Stephen King: A Literary Companion. McFarland & Company. p. 192. ISBN   978-0-7-86485-46-8.
  7. ↑ Wilson, Suzan (2000). Stephen King: King of Thrillers and Horror. Enslow Publishers. p. 37. ISBN   978-0-766012-33-2.
  8. ↑ Collins, Michael (2002). Horror Plum'd: An International Stephen King Bibliography and Guide, 1960-2000. Overlook Connection Press. p. 114. ISBN   978-1-892950-45-1.
  9. ↑ Spignesi, Stephen J. (1998). The Lost Work of Stephen King: A Guide to Unpublished Manuscripts, Story Fragments, Alternative Versions, and Oddities. Birch Lane Press. p. 357. ISBN   9781559724692.
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