Stephen King may be the most recognizable name in the history of horror fiction. He’s certainly one of the most prolific in the genre.
King, like other well-known authors such as Neil Gaiman, Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Leonard Elmore and many many other amazing authors, writes short stories.
King has published many short story collections and has talked publically regarding the fact that it is its own art and you have to exercise that artistic muscle or you can lose the knack for it.
Stephen King is well known for his non-fiction work entitled On Writing, which is still one of the best books about writing in circulation. But, he also wrote about writing short stories in the introduction of his Just After Sunset collection that is worth reading.
King talks more about this in an interview on Bibliostar.TV
FACTOID: Misery and Gerald’s Game started out as short stories and ended up full novels.
Many of King’s short stories have been turned into movies, television series or cable series. Some of these are considered classics such as Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me.
Below is a list of King’s short stories or novellas that have made it to either movie, television, vignettes in other shows, or cable for your viewing pleasure.
ALPHABETICAL ORDER
1408 (based on the short story of the same name in the Everything’s Eventual collection)
1922 (In the Full Dark, No Stars collection.)
A Good Marriage (In the Full Dark, No Stars collection.)
Apt Pupil (In the Different Seasons collection.)
Big Driver (In the Full Dark, No Stars collection.TV movie.)
Chattery Teeth (From the Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection. Quicksilver Highway)
Children of the Corn (From the Night Shift collection. This story spawned several movies. Children of the Corn 666: Isaac’s Return. Children of the Corn II: The Final. Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest. Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering. Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror. Children of the Corn: Genesis. Children of the Corn: Revelation.)
Creepshow (A collection of horror comedy short stories in an anthology film. It inspired sequels. Creepshow II and Creepshow III
Cycle of the Werewolf (Novella. Seen as Silver Bullet movie. This was a pretty lengthy novella and standalone, but we included it since it’s not a full novel)
Dolan’s Cadillac (Found in the Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection)
Gramma (From the Skeleton Crew collection. In an episode of The Twilight Zone 1984)
Graveyard Shift (Found in the Night Shift collection)
In the Tall Grass (This is a novella standalone written with his son Joe Hill)
Low Men in Yellow Coats (In the Hearts in Atlantis collection)
Nightmares and Dreamscapes (mini-series; eight episodes based on eight short stories)
Quitters, Inc. (From the Night Shift collection. Seen in Cat’s Eye.)
Riding the Bullet (Found in the Everything’s Eventual collection.)
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (As found in the Different Seasons collection. Seen in the movie The Shawshank Redemption)
Secret Window, Secret Garden (Found in the Four Past Midnight collection. Seen as Secret Window)
Sometimes They Come Back (From the Night Shift collection. Has sequels in TV film. Sometimes They Come Back… Again and Sometimes They Come Back… for More.
The Body (Found in Different Seasons. Seen in the movie Stand by Me)
The Cat from Hell (In the Just After Sunset anthology. Seen in Tales from the Darkside: The Movie)
The Crate (Appears in comic book form in Creepshow)
The Langoliers (As found in Four Past Midnight collection. It was a mini-series)
The Lawnmower Man (As found in the Night Shift collection. This has sequels as well. The Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace and The Lawnmower Man: A Suburban Nightmare)
The Ledge (From the Night Shift collection. Seen in Cat’s Eye.)
The Mangler (As found in the Night Shift collection. This has a movie and two sequels. The Mangler 2 and The Mangler Reborn)
The Mist (From the Skeleton Crew collection. The Mist was a movie twice and a TV series.)
The Moving Finger (Short story from the Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection. Episode of Monsters.)
The Night Flier (Short story from the Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection)
The Raft (From the Skeleton Crew collection. Seen in Creepshow)
The Revelations of ‘Becka Paulson (Was in a limited edition of the Skeleton Crew collection and incorporated into The Tommyknockers. Seen in an episode of The Outer Limits)
Trucks (Found in the Night Shift collection. Seen as Maximum Overdrive movie)
Weeds (Appears in comic book form in Creepshow called “The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill”)
Word Processor of the Gods (From the Skeleton Crew collection. In an episode of Tales from the Darkside)
