Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Night Shift by Stephen King: 1979 Signet Paperback Edition

Another find from this past weekend, an early print of that essential collection of horror short stories, Night Shift, from some dude named King, published by Signet/New American Library in February 1979. Ah remember the days of cutout paperback covers, and then the "stepback" art inside (thanks to Don Brautigam)? Sure, sure, the whole image is a spoiler, as was pointed out to me - never really thought about it before - because once you start reading a particular story in the collection, you're gonna know where it'll end up. Still quite striking, from back when horror paperbacks had covers that related directly to their contents and weren't just made up of Photoshop clipart of high heels, lacy bustiers, six-pack abs, and blood-filled martini glasses. And it's much better than all the reprint covers. You can read my review here.

7 comments:

Jeff said...

"Night Shift" was the book that introduced me to King's work. I actually own a copy of the 1979 paperback edition. In my opinion still one of his best books - even if it was an anthology.

Will Errickson said...

An early read for me too! Lots of faves. Actually NIGHT SHIFT, since it's by one writer, is a collection; an anthology is a book of stories by various authors put together by an editor.

Unknown said...

Really enjoy your blog but you remembered the story in question wrong: the image is not in truth a spoiler.

John Seavey said...

Night Shift was the first King book I read, and I remember I was young enough that I had to steel myself for each individual story. I'd read one story, and that would be it for about a week or so, and then I'd read another. I slowly worked my way through the whole book that way.

Washburn69 said...

Can you post the ISBN of this edition? I am trying to find a copy.

Will Errickson said...

This edition ISBN: 0-451-08510-8

Mike said...

One of my favorite stories from that book was "I Know What You Need". Very good story if you were ever a misfit as a child.