The 5 Greatest Stephen King Short Stories
Known for his novels, it’s here he shines the brightest.
He’s been writing them since childhood. When success came, he started releasing collections. Now Stephen King calls short-stories a lost art.
It is time to revive them.

5. The Man in The Black Suit
Told in first-person, the narrator tells us about a time when a devilish figure appeared to him in the woods. He was a just child when the tall, suspicious man spoke. The conversation changed him forever.
Released in 2002’s collection, it has classic King iconography. Man personifying Devil. Think Randall Flagg in The Stand, or Leland Gaunt in Needful Things.
A great story with solid prose, building tension and suspense. It can be seen as a metaphor about the end of innocence. Darkness tempting purity.

4. Fair Extension
Here we witness another marriage with evil. This time, King is more blatant. He names the antagonist George Elvid. It’s an apt acronym for Devil.
David Streeter, a terminal cancer patient, meets Elvid near an airport. The man offers Streeter a deal: he would cure his cancer. In exchange Streeter would sacrifice his best friends’ life. He’s tempted to accept.
Part of 2010’s collection “Full Dark No Stars”, this is King at his most poignant — a tale of morality. An observation into man’s egotism and blind self-interest. Thoughtful and entertaining.

3. Everything’s Eventual
This is a Tale of Death about Richard Earnshaw He is 19, and with a mysterious power: the patterns he draws on a paper seem to influence others. For the worse. This discovery leads him towards darkness. A mysterious man knows about his gift. He offers him monthly payments in exchange for deaths. And chaos.
Everything’s Eventual is another story forged in first-person narrative. It gives insight into the character’s thoughts and motivations. Brilliantly penned, it’s a story debating humanity's preference for evil, even when doing good is a valuable option.

2. The Cat From Hell
Simplistic ideas can be engaging. Such is the case with King’s 1977 short. It’s about an evil cat with unfinished business — a feline trying to kill a hit man. A hitman who just happens to be his previous owners’ killer.
Towards the end, the tale becomes gruesome, yet filled with wry humour. The Cat From Helll is silly, it’s tone sarcastic, but entertaining. Surprisingly memorable.
Recently, King included it in 2008’s Just After Sunset collection.

- N.
Inspired by Stonehenge, here H.P Lovecraft meets Stone Age folklore. In this one, we read a psychiatrists case study. The doctor reveals his obsession with a patient. He calls it patient N, because he’s fixed on prime numbers and their curious relationships.
Patient N is convinced Ackerman’s Field, an old monument, is haunted, deeming it a dangerous place. When the doctor decides to go there, things get increasingly somber.
The unconventional storytelling makes N. one of his best narratives. It incorporates his literary influences — through Lovecraft —adding new, uncharted possibilities.
The story has been adapted into an animated web-series. It’s one of Kings’ best screen-translations.
