I have long since grown tired of Stephen King's particular writing style, and I have tended to move away from horror, but I continue to credit him for some incredibly imaginative tales, some with ideas that are so unique, I wonder why didn't anyone else think of them?

Here are four more novellas from this master author that keep you turning the page, and each have a dark edge. The four titles are:

1. The Langoliers
2. Secret Window, Secret Garden
3. The Library Policeman
4. Sun Dog

The Langoliers

This is the first novella presented in this set of four. I loved it so much, I used it as a high-school drama project - to show how it could be turned into a stage play!

It is essentially about time travel and appealed more to my love of science-fiction. But it is not your ordinary run-of-the-mill time travel story that every science fiction writer draws upon. King steps completely away from the average - which involves going back into the past, seeing it, observing it, changing it, running with the dinosaurs... No way.

King takes several characters back in time through a rip in the temporal fabric high in the air. They only survive the trip because they happen to be asleep on the airplane. What they find is NOT a history as presented in every other book on the subject. Far be it from King to dish up what you expect.

He explodes the normal cliche vision by presenting a past that is DEAD. Everything - people, life - has moved on. The food is tasteless, matches don't work. Silence pervades the environment. The past is dead, lonely, gray, and everything that remains will eventually be eaten up by little black creatures (Langoliers). Their only hope is to try and get home...

Watch out for one particularly enjoyable speech by the 'mystery author' character...

I will never forget King's version of time-travel. I'd be happy if I could come up with some concept so original myself!

Secret Window, Secret Garden

This is the second of the four - or "two past midnight." This book is about a man, Mort Rainey, who you may suspect suffers from schizophrenia - he keeps having a run in with a man (John Shooter) claiming he plagiarized his work. Rainey keeps having black outs too.

You think you know.

It holds appeal to anyone who likes writing stories because of the plagiarism issue.

But you get a sense in which John Shooter may actually exist. Hold your breath...

I was inspired to write my own story from this one.

The Library Policeman

This was quite horrible and yet of course, you have to finish the whole thing to see the protagonist deal with his childhood demons.

I would say it could border on science-fiction once more (if you take certain presentations as alien rather than evil in the library), showing a strange character that lives off childish upset...

The vivid descriptions are still in my head as if I had lived it.

Sun Dog

I remember reading that the final novella ('4 Past Midnight) was inspired by a Polaroid camera. King was intrigued by them and it led to this story.

A teenage boy, Kevin, gets a camera for his birthday. However, he quickly finds that it only takes one picture - one of a black dog. Each new picture shows the dog has moved - as if the camera is snapping another dimension. The dog is moving toward Kevin in the pictures and looks as if its intent is nasty.

While you may feel King is reverting to a Cujo based idea, this presentation of the Polaroid dog is actually rather different - so you won't be reading a repeat.

These stories are found in the twilight zone - in that time where darkness and light are one. I am most intrigued by any science-fiction elements.



Recommended: Yes