Review: "Everything's Eventual," by Stephen King

Some good, some mediocre. This isn't my favourite collection of short stories from Stephen King (I've enjoyed Bazaar of Bad Dreams the most so far, which probably doesn't make me in the majority). What I disliked about the some of these stories is that King uses the word "short" almost as a joke in this collection. Some of these are 40 or 50 pages, and are pretty well novellas. Even King says short stories are meant to be read in one sitting, but some of them took two or three for me - probably I'm just a slow reader. I do, however, feel that a short story is becoming too long when it exceeds the 30 page mark. That said, there were a few notable stories in here that I really enjoyed: - Autopsy Room Four - All That You Love Will Be Carried Away - L.T.'s Theory of Pets - Lunch at the Gotham Café - Riding the Bullet - Lucky Quarter Give the way the novel is marketed (the cover, namely, and the "14 Dark Tales" message on the cover) I figured these would be more scary. But there were only one or two that I found might be considered a "Dark Tale." Most, though, were just regular old stories, which didn't make them bad stories, but sort of left me disappointed in the end. I wanted more punch from them, more of a slap in the face, eye-opening conclusion to each. Mostly, my own expectations probably ruined the overall experience, given that I was expecting more horror and terror. And I should know better, by now, that King tend to write longer stories (short stories included) than your average author might. On to the next King!