I love Stephen King books, the bigger the better, I love the heft of them in my hand, the weight of them as I carry them with me, the turning of each page revealing some new wonder or terror, and the way I connect to the characters and his stories.

But sometimes you just need a taster, and King knows how to serve that up to with collections of short stories and novellas. You Like It Darker is the thirteenth collection of King’s shorter works and it is available today from Simon & Schuster Canada.

King delivers twelve tales that will delight and horrify, there are tearful and terror-full moments, and our Uncle Steve knows how to dole out a tale like a fishing line, bait the hook and reel the reader in completely.

We are introduced to Two Talented Bastids. They are two artists from Maine, one an author, the other a painter and a surviving son discovers a testament that reveals how they went from good to bestselling. It’s fun, has some great character moments, and has some very nice nods to the Castle Rock neighbourhood, as well as familiar locations fans will recognize like the suicide steps and Derry. It’s an interesting tale, but not my favourite in the collection.

In fact, it ended up that the further I got into the book, the more I liked each story. And that’s the wonderful thing about short story collections, if you’re not a fan of one, there’s another one coming a few pages along.

The Fifth Step is a fantastic little charmer that sees a chance encounter leading to a confession of an alcoholic who has a deadly secret. It’s short, tightly woven, and a lot of fun.

Willie the Weirdo hints at something bigger, something that we may encounter again, or may have encountered before in the King-universe. We are introduced to a family that includes a strange young boy, and his dying grandfather and things aren’t going to be easy for young Willy.

Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream is the first tale in the collection that I really loved. Danny is a aging custodian who has a horrific dream that leads him to a murdered woman. When he does the right thing and calls in an anonymous tip, his real nightmare begins. This one was just the right length, closer to a novella that allows us to know all the characters, their issues and the effects of a police investigation on an innocent person.

That one is followed up by the short story, Finn. The titular character has a lot of bad luck, and his day is about to get worse. But with so much bad luck accrued in his life, maybe something owes him a little bit of good luck, and maybe it’s due.

On Slide Inn Road is a wonderfully brutal tale that starts out with a family trip as they take a shortcut on the way to Derry but their journey takes an unexpected turn, and Grandpop may be the family’s last and only hope.

Red Screen is a fun little story that doesn’t overstay its welcome and consequently is very creepy. A police detective investigates a homicide where the murderer admits he did it, but he claims the person he killed wasn’t who she appeared to be. There are more people like this and there’s a way to tell…

The Turbulence Expert is interesting but didn’t fire as well as the rest of the stories in the collection, though I really quite like the idea. The narrator is a man with an unusual job, he lives in fear during airline flights but does what he does to keep passengers and airlines safe. A fun concept.

The final four stories are all new favourites of mine, and they run the gambit in terms of genre, characters, and captivating moments. Laurie is about an elderly widower living in the Florida Keys, Rattlesnake Key specifically, and he is gifted a puppy, Laurie, to help him live his life and help him to get over the loss of his wife. As the two begin to bond there is trouble lurking in the shallows.

Rattlesnakes set in the same Florida Key as Laurie, which it brushes up against, is a semi-sequel to the classic King novel Cujo. We catch up with Vic, the husband from that story who is still haunted by the death of his son, Tad, and the recent loss of his wife, so in the middle of COVID, takes up residence at Rattlesnake Key in a friend’s home. Vic meets a strange neighbour and soon finds himself caught up in a ghost story involving dead kids and lots of snakes (gah!).

The Dreamers has a slightly Lovecraftian feel to it as a Vietnam vet turned stenographer takes on an assignment with a scientist determined to discover the reality of the universe under dreams. It’s creepy and unnerving and I want to explore this corner of the King-verse more!

The Answer Man is a lovingly told tale of a life, the good and the bad, and a trio of encounters with the Answer Man just when the narrator needs them.

There are a lot of aging and older characters in this collection (perhaps a reflection of Uncle Steve and those of us who have journeyed with him over the decades), as the stories bounce between Castle Rock and the Florida Keys, but they’ll all take you in and show what King does best; wrap you up in tales that will delight and horrify, and he’ll keep you (mostly) safe in the dark as you turn the pages by lamplight as the shadows move around you (watch out for deadlights). Thanks Uncle Steve!

You Like It Darker is available from Simon & Schuster Canada today.