In his introduction to Everything's Eventual, horror author extraordinaire Stephen King describes how he used a deck of playing cards to select the order in which these 14 tales of the macabre would appear. Judging by the impact of these stories, from the first words of the darkly fascinating "Autopsy Room Four" to the haunting final pages of "Luckey Quarter," one can almost believe King truly is guided by forces from beyond.

His first collection of short stories since the release of Nightmares & Dreamscapes in 1993, Everything's Eventual represents King at his most undiluted. The short story format showcases King's ability to spook readers using the most mundane settings (a yard sale) and comfortable memories (a boyhood fishing excursion). The dark tales collected here are some of King's finest, including an O. Henry Prize winner and "Riding the Bullet," published originally as an e-book and at one time expected by some to be the death knell of the physical publishing world. True to form, each of these stories draws the reader into King's slightly off-center world from the first page, developing characters and atmosphere more fully in the span of 50 pages than many authors can in a full novel.

For most rabid King fans, chief among the tales in this volume will be "The Little Sisters of Eluria," a novella that first appeared in the fantasy collection Legends, set in King's ever-expanding Dark Tower universe. In this story, set prior to the first Dark Tower volume, the reader finds Gunslinger Roland of Gilead wounded and under the care of nurses with very dubious intentions. Also included in this collection are "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French," the story of a woman's personal hell; "1408," in which a writer of haunted tour guides finally encounters the real thing; "Everything's Eventual," the title story, about a boy with a dream job that turns out to be more of a nightmare; and "L.T.'s Theory of Pets," a story of divorce with a bloody surprise ending.

The Perfect Medium for King's Fiction

Stephen King is one of America's great authors. The technical side of his writing is nearly perfect, and he can create heartbreaking nostalgia and startling realism with ease. All of King's novels spring from unusually creative and original ideas, but unfortunately they tend to continue on auto pilot for hundreds of pages before finally petering out.

"Everything's Eventual" is a collection of 14 Stephen King short stories. In my opinion, the short story is the ideal medium for King's fiction: it showcases his creative use of situation, voice, language, and description while freeing him from having to continue a story past its natural length.

These 14 stories are all decent enough, some better than others. A few are derivative ("Autopsy Room Four"), a few are overly violent ("In the Deathroom"), a few are fluff ("Luckey Quarter"), and a few are chillingly wonderful ("The Road Virus Heads North," "Riding the Bullet," and the title story).

A fascinating bonus is an introduction in which King discusses the lost art of the short story. He also provides interesting comments about each story.

A bit of a mixed bag ...

I really wasn't expecting much from this anthology but I was pleasantly surprised. It starts out poorly with a few hit and miss stories but it improves as it goes on and some of the stories are King at his best.

My Synopsis
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Autopsy Room 4: No as terrifying as I expected it to be. The humorous tone reassures the reader that everything will come out all right in the end.

All that you love ... It has some atmospheric appeal but it plods on too long and the ending is a damp squib ... also what's with SK's bathroom obsession? Are we seriously supposed to care about the fate of a guy whose hobby is deconstructing bathroom graffiti?

The Man in Black: Has all the faked up 'horror' and irrelevance of 'From a Buick 8'. Yet again SK introduces a piece of cheap bathroom humour which destroys any credibility this piece might have had ...

The Death of Jack Hamilton: Pure and utter filler. It plodded on forever -I nearly gave up at this point.

In the Deathroom: Starts out well, but King never achieves the Kafkaesque mood he aspires to - too many heavy hints that the hero will make a heroic escape destroys the tension for the reader.

Little Sisters of Eluria. Sorry didn't read this one, the words 'gunslinger' were enough, I don't rate King's attempts at fantasy.

Everything's Eventual. This was the first story to show real promise. It goes nowhere in the end but this was the point where I started to hope.

Theory of Pets. This reminded me a lot of vintage King stories such as 'The Body' which, while not particularly frightening, show off his story-telling skills at their best.

The Road Virus Heads North. This frightened the wits out of me - the first time I've been moved to check the doors and windows by a SK story in a LONG time ...

The Gotham Cafe. Doesn't quite work, but nonetheless left a lasting impression on me.

Things you can only say ... The second best story in this collection IMO. I had to keep reading it over again to savour its meaning.

1408. The best story in the collection - in fact one of the best he has ever written. Borrows a lot from 'The Haunting of Hill House' but none the worse for that.

Riding the Bullet. Unlike most other people this was a new one for me - and it worked in a very basic way. Probably by this point I would have been spooked by my own shadow. I had forgotten my old rule - never read SK after darkness falls. Not really necessary with most of his latest stuff which is more likely to prove a cure for insomnia, than induce it!

The Luckey Quarter. Just read this one on my way to work. Not frightening but is a moving depiction of the effect of poverty on a woman's hopes and dreams.

So only seven stories out of 14 I can praise wholeheartedly - but I felt it was worth the 4 star rating for those alone.

A short story sage

This is a wonderful book that easily makes you laugh. The characters are lively and easy to love, and their actions are majestic. They remind me of the characters in Janvier Tisi's THE USURPER , who despite their strengths are victims of the situations they find themselves in. This book will be fun to readers of all age groups.