Sunset (anthology)

Sunset ("Sunset"; in the English original: Just After Sunset ) is a collection of short stories by the American writer Stephen King , which was published in November 2008 by Scribner Publishing in New York. At the same time, Heyne-Verlag published the German translation. The collection contains 13 short stories. Almost all of the short stories appeared elsewhere prior to their release in Sunset . So King originally read the first story to Willa on January 21, 2006 at an event in Florida entitled An Evening with Stephen King . In December 2006 it was published in the US magazine Playboy .

The short stories

1. Willa ( Willa )

Several passengers on a derailed train, including David Sanderson, are waiting for a replacement train at Nest Crowheart Springs station. David discovers that Willa, his fiancée, has disappeared. He goes looking for her and finally finds her in a bar. He can't understand how she can risk missing the replacement train, but Willa is the only one who has recognized what's going on: she, her husband and everyone other passengers were killed in the train accident, this is their afterlife. Back at the train station, the couple fails to convince the others of their death. Since the ghosts have lost their sense of time, most of them do not notice that more than twenty years have passed since the derailment and that the now vacant train station is to be demolished. To avoid this, Willa and David nest in the bar and continue to live there as “house ghosts”.

2. The Gingerbread Girl ( The Gingerbread Girl )

After her baby dies, Emily Owensby starts jogging excessively. Her husband has no understanding for this “tick”, which is why she moves out and lives in her father's summer house. One day she sees the owner Pickering's car in the front yard of a mostly empty villa, with a mutilated corpse sticking out of the trunk. When she takes a closer look at it, Pickering knocks her down. He plans to rape and kill her, but she manages to break free. In the showdown, an escape along the beach, she finally manages to drown him because he cannot swim.

3. Harvey's Dream ( Harvey's Dream )

Harvey Stevens tells his wife Janet about his terrible nightmare: he dreamed that their daughter Trisha had called to tell them that one of the other two daughters had died. The story ends when the phone actually rings.

4. The rest stop ( rest stop )

At a rest stop, a university professor, John Dykstra, is brought into an uncomfortable situation: he involuntarily has to overhear a man beating his pregnant girlfriend into a diaper in the women's toilet. He decides to transform into his alter ego as a hardened crime writer and turns the bat. In doing so, he himself uses far more force than necessary.

5. The home trainer ( Stationary Bike )

The overweight artist Richard Sifkitz changes his diet and buys an exercise bike. In order not to be bored, he paints a long forest path on the wall, which he can cycle along while pedaling. Gradually he gets so lost in this fantasy that he actually thinks he is driving along this path. However, he soon feels persecuted - by people he has made up. When they finally confront him, they don't kill him as expected, they just have a conversation with him, in which it basically emerges that fantasy and reality merge.

6. legacies ( Things They Left Behind )

Almost a year after the 9/11 terrorist attacks , strange things are happening in the life of storyteller Scott Staley, who worked at the Light and Bell insurance office on the 110th floor of the World Trade Center . Things appear in his apartment that belonged to his dead colleagues. When he discards them, they emerge again until he finally begins to return them to the family members of the owners.

7th graduation day ( Graduation Afternoon )

Eighteen year old Janice is at her friend Buddy’s graduation party. She herself will graduate in two weeks. Janice ponders her future when an atomic bomb detonates over New York.

8. N. ( N. )

The story begins with a letter from Sheila Bonsaint, whose brother Johnny committed suicide, to his former best friend. Attached to this is a manuscript of her brother in which he reports on the interesting case of his patient N. At first N. seemed to have only an "ordinary" delusion, which consisted of the duty to prevent the passage of evil creatures from a parallel universe on Ackerman's Field. However, his story is so realistic that after the suicide NS Johnny checks his statements and falls into the same madness. His fate finally overtakes Sheila and at the end of the short story also Charlie, who was originally written to.

9. Hell Cat ( The Cat From Hell )

John Halston, a professional killer, is called into his house by the aged pharmaceutical boss Drogan. There Drogan, who used to wear out fifteen thousand cats for experiments, tells him his mission: John Halston is supposed to kill the vicious cat that has made itself comfortable in the house in recent months. Just apparently child's play. When Halston drives off with her, she breaks free, causes a car accident and finally digs through his mouth and into his innards. When a farmer discovers the wreck the next morning, she eats her way out of Halston's belly and runs back towards Drogan's house.

10. The New York Times for a special price ( The New York Times at Special Bargain Council )

Annie only lost her husband James in a plane crash a few days ago - but suddenly James calls her. He tells of his existence as a “freshly baked” ghost and warns you not to go to a certain bakery on Sundays. Annie sticks to it and therefore does not die from the explosion that actually takes place there years later. When she hears the phone ring one day and is expecting James again, only the New York Times is recommended to her at a special price, which is what gives the story its name.

11. Mute ( Mute )

The book salesman Monette picks up a deaf and mute hitchhiker in his car and, convinced that she will not be heard, tells him his story: his wife was unfaithful to him for years and, moreover, has amassed large debts, which is why their daughter's college funding threatens to overturn. The hitchhiker disappears when Monette exits. A few days later, Monette's wife and her lover are murdered. Monette seeks a confessional in one of the story's frameworks because he feels guilty about his lack of compassion. The killer has not yet been caught, but honestly Monette is happy with it.

12. Ayana ( Ayana )

First-person narrator Gentry tells of a miracle healing that took place before the eyes of the Gentry family. Ayana had also touched the narrator briefly, and now it is up to him to pass on the miracle.

13. In a tight spot ( A Very Tight Place )

Out of revenge and bitterness, the extremely rich building contractor Grunwald puts his hated neighbor Curtis Johnson in a toilet on an abandoned construction site and tips it on the door. However, Curtis manages to free himself with the dog tag of his deceased pet. He visits the seriously ill Grunwald, but only retaliates with scorn and ridicule. A short time later, Grunwald committed suicide.

literature

• Stephen King: Just After Sunset , anthology, UMBID / ISBN 978-0-340-97716-3 (engl.)
• Stephen King: Sunset , Heyne, 2008, ISBN 978-3-453-26604-9

Web links

• Detailed information on the contents of all short stories in KingWiki