 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(October 2008) |
| "Nona" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Stephen King | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Horror, short story |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Shadows(1st release), Skeleton Crew |
| Publication type | Anthology |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Publication date | 1978 |
"Nona" [1] is a short horror story by Stephen King, first published in the 1978 anthology Shadows and later collected in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew . [2]
The story is the account of an unnamed man being held in prison, recounting his life as a college dropout who met and fell in love with a beautiful girl named Nona, while aimlessly hitchhiking on a snowy winter's night in Maine. That night, the narrator is seduced by Nona into murdering several innocent bystanders. Somewhere near Castle Rock, Nona lures the narrator to a graveyard and morphs into a hideously large rat which laughs at him. It's not immediately clear whether the narrator has encountered a supernatural force or Nona is a figment of his insanity. Later, the narrator is found alone by the authorities, taken into custody, and sentenced to prison where he now writes his tale. Also, the narrator is preparing to commit suicide as he contemplates hearing strange sounds in the walls (not unlike H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Rats in the Walls" (1924), King's own earlier short story, "Jerusalem's Lot" (1978), or King's later novella "1922" (2010)).
In Hearts in Atlantis (1999) there is a character called Ronnie Malenfant, who has the same surname as the character Betsy Malenfant which appears in "Nona". In Hearts In Atlantis, Ronnie refers to having a sister.
Ace Merrill and Vern Tessio, who first appeared in The Body (1982), appear in flashback in this story. Ace later played a major role in Needful Things (1991).
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.
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger is a dark-fantasy novel by American author Stephen King. It is the first volume in his Dark Tower series. The Gunslinger was first published in 1982 as a fix-up novel, joining five short stories that had been published between 1978 and 1981. King substantially revised the novel in 2003; this version has remained in print ever since, with the subtitle "RESUMPTION". The story centers Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger, who has been chasing his adversary, "the man in black," for many years. The novel fuses Western fiction with fantasy, science fiction, and horror, following Roland's trek through a vast desert and beyond in search of the man in black. Roland meets several people along his journey, including a boy named Jake, who travels with him part of the way.
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.
Hearts in Atlantis (1999) is a collection of three novellas and two short stories by Stephen King, all connected to one another by recurring characters and taking place in roughly chronological order. The stories are loosely autobiographical; in an author's note, King writes that while the places in the book are fictionalized, "Although it is difficult to believe, the sixties are not fictional; they actually happened."
Skeleton Crew is a collection of short fiction 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, and was later incorporated into King's 1987 novel The Tommyknockers. The original title of this book was Night Moves.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1843. It is told by an unnamed narrator who endeavors to convince the reader of the narrator's sanity while simultaneously describing a murder the narrator committed. The victim was an old man with a filmy pale blue "vulture-eye", as the narrator calls it. The narrator emphasizes the careful calculation of the murder, attempting the perfect crime, complete with dismembering the body in the bathtub and hiding it under the floorboards. Ultimately, the narrator's actions result in hearing a thumping sound, which the narrator interprets as the dead man's beating heart.
The Mist is a science fiction psychological horror novella by American author Stephen King. First published by Viking Press in 1980 as part of the Dark Forces anthology, an edited version was subsequently included in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew. In the story, the small town of Bridgton, Maine is shrouded in a dense mist that conceals otherworldly creatures. The protagonist and narrator David Drayton, who has taken refuge with his young son in a supermarket, tries to survive against not only the creatures of the mist, but also fanatical aggression from other survivors. In The Mist, King addresses the themes of man-made fears and religious fundamentalism.
The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet is a fantasy novella by American writer Stephen King, first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1984 and collected in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew as well as the 2000 collection Secret Windows. The title is in reference to the narrator's belief that insanity is a sort of "flexible bullet": it will eventually kill, but how long this process takes, and how much damage the bullet does before the victim finally dies, are impossible to predict. Since the publication of this story, King has occasionally used the term "flexible bullet" to describe insanity, in reference to this story.
"Trucks" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the June 1973 issue of Cavalier magazine, and later collected in King's 1978 collection Night Shift.
William Maurice Denham OBE was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 films and television programmes in his long career.
"Strawberry Spring" is a horror short story by Stephen King. It was originally published in the Fall 1968 issue of Ubris magazine, then republished in the November 1975 issue of Cavalier magazine, and, heavily revised, collected in King's Night Shift in 1978.
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.
"One for the Road" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the March/April 1977 issue of Maine, and later collected in King's 1978 collection Night Shift.
"Jerusalem's Lot" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in King's 1978 collection Night Shift. The story was also printed in the illustrated 2005 edition of King's 1975 novel 'Salem's Lot.
"The Reaper's Image" is a horror short story by American writer Stephen King, first published in Startling Mystery Stories in 1969 and collected in Skeleton Crew in 1985. The story is about an antique mirror haunted by the visage of the Grim Reaper, who appears to those who gaze into it.
"The Reach" is a short story by American writer Stephen King. First published in Yankee in 1981 under the title "Do the Dead Sing?", it was later collected in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew.
"Uncle Otto's Truck" is a horror short story by Stephen King, first published in Yankee in 1983, and collected in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew.
"The Wedding Gig" is a short story by Stephen King first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in December 1980 and reprinted in its June 2004 issue. It was revised for King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew. It later appeared in the 1999 mystery story anthology Master's Choice, edited by Lawrence Block.
"Morning Deliveries " is a short story by Stephen King that was published in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew.
"Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game " is a horror short story by Stephen King, first published in the 1980 anthology New Terrors, edited by Ramsey Campbell, and collected in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew. It was adapted from an unfinished novel called "The Milkman". The events in this story follow the events of the previously unpublished short story "Morning Deliveries ", which appears in the same collection.
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