This is a list of short fiction works by Stephen King (b. 1947). This includes short stories, novelettes, and novellas, as well as poems. It is arranged chronologically by first publication. Major revisions of previously published pieces are also noted.
King is sometimes credited with "nearly 400 short stories" (or a similarly large number)."What Ails the Short Story" by Stephen King However, all the known published pieces of short fiction are tabulated below. In all, 218 works are listed.
Most of these pieces have been collected in King's seven short story collections: Night Shift (1978), Skeleton Crew (1985), Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993), Everything's Eventual (2002), Just After Sunset (2008), The Bazaar of Bad Dreams (2015), and You Like It Darker (2024); in King's five novella collections: Different Seasons (1982), Four Past Midnight (1990), Hearts in Atlantis (1999), Full Dark, No Stars (2010), and If It Bleeds (2020); and in the compilation Secret Windows: Essays and Fiction on the Craft of Writing (2000). Some of these pieces, however, remain uncollected.
1950s
1959
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "Land of 1,000,000 Years Ago" short story Uncollected Self-published Thirty-One of the Classics novella Uncollected Self-published "Jumper" short story Dave's Rag (1959) Secret Windows (2000) Self-published
1960s
1960
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "Rush Call" short story Dave's Rag (1960) Secret Windows (2000) Self-published "The Cursed Expedition" short story People, Places and Things (1960) Uncollected Self-published "I've Got to Get Away!" short story People, Places and Things (1960) Uncollected Self-published "The Hotel at the End of the Road" short story People, Places and Things (1960) Uncollected Self-published "Never Look Behind You" short story People, Places and Things (1960) Uncollected Self-published "The Other Side of the Fog" short story People, Places and Things (1960) Uncollected Self-published "The Stranger" short story People, Places and Things (1960) Uncollected Self-published "The Thing at the Bottom of the Well" short story People, Places and Things (1960) Uncollected Self-published
1963
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "The Undead" short story The Undead (1963) Uncollected Self-published "Trigger Finger" short story Trigger Finger (1963) Uncollected Self-published
1964
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "The Star Invaders" short story The Star Invaders (1964) Uncollected Self-published
1965
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "Codename: Mousetrap" short story The Drum (October 27, 1965) Uncollected Lisbon Falls High School publication "I Was a Teenage Grave Robber" short story Comics Review (1965) Uncollected First published in Comics Review, 1965. Later reprinted in Stories of Suspense (1965) retitled as “In a Half-World of Terror”. Partly reprinted in The Stephen King Illustrated Companion (edited by Bev Vincent, 2009).
1966
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "The 43rd Dream" short story The Drum (January 29, 1966) Uncollected Lisbon Falls High School publication
1967
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "The Glass Floor" short story Startling Mystery Stories (Fall 1967) Night Shift (2020 Deluxe Edition) First professional story; republished in Weird Tales #298 (Fall, 1990)
1968
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "Cain Rose Up" short story Ubris (Spring 1968) Skeleton Crew (1985) "Here There Be Tygers" short story Ubris (Spring 1968) Skeleton Crew (1985) "Harrison State Park '68" poem Ubris (Fall 1968) Uncollected "Strawberry Spring" short story Ubris (Fall 1968) Night Shift (1978) Collected heavily revised
1969
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "Night Surf" short story Ubris (Spring 1969) Night Shift (1978) Collected heavily revised "The Reaper's Image" short story Startling Mystery Stories (Spring 1969) Skeleton Crew (1985) Collected heavily revised "The Dark Man" poem Ubris (Fall 1969) Uncollected Republished as a standalone book (2013) "Stud City" short story Ubris (Fall 1969) Uncollected Incorporated into The Body (1982)
1970s
1970
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "Slade" short story The Maine Campus (June 11 – August 6, 1970) Uncollected "Graveyard Shift" short story Cavalier (October 1970) Night Shift (1978) "Donovan's Brain" poem Moth (1970) Uncollected "Silence" poem Moth (1970) Uncollected
1971
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "The Blue Air Compressor" short story Onan (January 1971) Uncollected Republished revised in Heavy Metal (July 1981) "In the Key Chords of Dawn" poem Onan (January 1971) Uncollected "I Am the Doorway" short story Cavalier (March 1971) Night Shift (1978) "Brooklyn August" poem Io #10 (1971) Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) "She Has Gone to Sleep While..." poem Contraband #1 (October 31, 1971) Uncollected Credited as 'Stephan King' "Woman with Child" poem Contraband #1 (October 31, 1971) Uncollected Credited as 'Stephan King' "The Hardcase Speaks" poem Contraband #2 (December 1, 1971) Uncollected Credited as 'Stephan King'
1972
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "Suffer the Little Children" short story Cavalier (February 1972) Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) "The Fifth Quarter" short story Cavalier (April 1972) Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) As John Swithen "Battleground" short story Cavalier (September 1972) Night Shift (1978) "The Mangler" short story Cavalier (December 1972) Night Shift (1978)
1973
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "The Boogeyman" short story Cavalier (March 1973) Night Shift (1978) "Trucks" short story Cavalier (June 1973) Night Shift (1978) "Gray Matter" short story Cavalier (October 1973) Night Shift (1978) "It Grows on You" short story Marshroots (Fall 1973) Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) Republished revised in Whispers (August 1982), collected further revisedNominee, Locus Award, 1983
1974
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "Sometimes They Come Back" short story Cavalier (March 1974) Night Shift (1978)
1975
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "The Lawnmower Man" short story Cavalier (May 1975) Night Shift (1978) "The Revenge of Lard Ass Hogan" short story The Maine Review (July 1975) Uncollected Incorporated into The Body (1982)
1976
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "Weeds" short story Cavalier (May 1976) Night Shift (2020 Deluxe Edition) Appears in comic book form in Creepshow (1982) as "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" and reprinted in Dark Screams: Volume One (2014) "The Ledge" short story Penthouse (July 1976) Night Shift (1978) "I Know What You Need" short story Cosmopolitan (September 1976) Night Shift (1978)
1977
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "Children of the Corn" short story Penthouse (March 1977) Night Shift (1978) "One for the Road" short story Maine (March/April 1977) Night Shift (1978) "The Cat from Hell" short story Cavalier (June 1977) Just After Sunset (2008) "The King Family and the Wicked Witch" short story Flint (August 25, 1977) Uncollected "The Man Who Loved Flowers" short story Gallery (August 1977) Night Shift (1978)
1978
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "Jerusalem's Lot" short story Night Shift (February 1978) Night Shift (1978) "The Last Rung on the Ladder" short story Night Shift (February 1978) Night Shift (1978) "Quitters, Inc." short story Night Shift (February 1978) Night Shift (1978) "The Woman in the Room" short story Night Shift (February 1978) Night Shift (1978) "The Night of the Tiger" short story The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (February 1978) Uncollected "Nona" short story Shadows (September 1978) Skeleton Crew (1985) The Gunslinger novella The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (October 1978) The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982) Collected revised;Nominee, Locus Award, 1978 "Man With a Belly" short story Cavalier (December 1978) Uncollected
1979
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "The Crate" short story Gallery (July 1979) Uncollected Appears in Fantasy Annual III (1981) and Shivers VI (2011). Appears in comic book form in Creepshow (1982)Nominee, Locus Award, 1980
1980s
1980
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes The Way Station novella The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (April 1980) The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982) Collected revised;Nominee, Nebula Award,1981;Nominee, Locus Award, 1981 "Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman #2)" short story New Terrors Two (July 1980) Skeleton Crew (1985) The Mist novella Dark Forces (August 1980) Skeleton Crew (1985) Nominee, World Fantasy Award, 1981;Nominee, Locus Award, 1981 "Crouch End" short story New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (October 1980) Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) Nominee, British Fantasy Award, 1981 "The Monkey" short story Gallery (November 1980) Skeleton Crew (1985) Collected heavily revised;Nominee, British Fantasy Award, 1982 "The Wedding Gig" short story Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (December 1980) Skeleton Crew (1985)
1981
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes The Oracle and the Mountains novella The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (February 1981) The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982) Collected revised "The Jaunt" short story The Twilight Zone Magazine (June 1981) Skeleton Crew (1985) The Slow Mutants novella The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (July 1981) The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982) Collected revised "The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands" short story Shadows 4 (October 1981) Skeleton Crew (1985) "The Monster in the Closet" short story Ladies' Home Journal (October 1981) Uncollected Incorporated into Cujo (1981) "The Bird and the Album" short story A Fantasy Reader (October 30, 1981) Uncollected Incorporated into It (1986) The Gunslinger and the Dark Man novella The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (November 1981) The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982) Collected revised "The Reach" short story Yankee (November 1981) Skeleton Crew (1985) Originally titled "Do the Dead Sing?"Nominee, World Fantasy Award, 1982
1982
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "Survivor Type" short story Terrors (July 1982) Skeleton Crew (1985) "Before the Play" short story Whispers (August 1982) Uncollected Unused prologue to The Shining (1977) Apt Pupil novella Different Seasons (August 27, 1982) Different Seasons (1982) Nominee, British Fantasy Award, 1983 The Body novella Different Seasons (August 27, 1982) Different Seasons (1982) The Breathing Method novella Different Seasons (August 27, 1982) Different Seasons (1982) Winner, British Fantasy Award, 1983;Nominee, World Fantasy Award, 1983;Nominee, Locus Award, 1983 Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption novella Different Seasons (August 27, 1982) Different Seasons (1982) "The Raft" short story Gallery (November 1982) Skeleton Crew (1985) Nominee, Locus Award, 1983 "Skybar" short story The Do-It-Yourself Bestseller (August 1982) Uncollected Partial short story
1983
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "Word Processor of the Gods" short story Playboy (January 1983) Skeleton Crew (1985) Originally titled "The Word Processor"; collected heavily revised "Uncle Otto's Truck" short story Yankee (October 1983) Skeleton Crew (1985) Cycle of the Werewolf novella Land of Enchantment (November 1983) Uncollected (standalone book) "The Return of Timmy Baterman" short story Satyricon II (1983) Uncollected Incorporated into Pet Sematary (1983)
1984