Night Surf

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addieprey

Well-Known Member
I have been rereading The Stand and that made me think of the story in Night Shift called Night Surf.
I went back and read Night Surf, and I can clearly see that it has much to do with the events that unfold in The Stand, although written prior to The Stand itself.

In Night Surf the characters seem not to know that the epidemic was caused by an experiment that got loose (if this short story is even happening on the same level of existence that the events of The Stand unfold on) , they just attribute it to "the flu" and they call it A 6, and mention that it came out of Southeast Asia and covered the world. They do call it "Captain Trips" at one point though.

I read that Night Surf was originally published in 1969, I think that predates the beginning of the writing of The Stand. Did SK write Night Surf prior to when The Stand took off in his imagination in the grand and glorious way that it eventually did?

Is it just another example of there being "other world than this"?

I look at what I have written and realize it's rhetorical questions for the most part.

Any thoughts or rhetorical questions in response to my own would be welcome.
 

Walter Oobleck

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Mar 6, 2013
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At one time here, a typed-manuscript was available, titled "Cannibals" or "The Cannibals"...it is/was a variation on the story we know as Under the Dome. I think at the time there was some business w/The Simpson's and you know how Bart can be. That said, in The Tommyknockers, there is a scene late in the book that pre-echoes a scene from Under the Dome, one of the accidents (plane) that happen when the story begins to unfold. There are some repeated images in King's stories...a Welsh dresser...a braid of hair...a phrase or three, Ike and Mike they think alike...or ideas. He has that line in Duma Key...that I do not recall exactly, but it is in one of the "How to Draw a Picture" sections...something about obsessions...when one focuses they focus back...thought King had paraphrased someone, Nietzsche maybe. They're probably like fish...say like those you can see in the tank...some at the bottom, but others rising to the surface from time to time. And yeah, other worlds is one way of looking at it, too. :)
 

FlakeNoir

Original Kiwi© SKMB®
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Apr 11, 2006
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At one time here, a typed-manuscript was available, titled "Cannibals" or "The Cannibals"...it is/was a variation on the story we know as Under the Dome. I think at the time there was some business w/The Simpson's and you know how Bart can be. That said, in The Tommyknockers, there is a scene late in the book that pre-echoes a scene from Under the Dome, one of the accidents (plane) that happen when the story begins to unfold. There are some repeated images in King's stories...a Welsh dresser...a braid of hair...a phrase or three, Ike and Mike they think alike...or ideas. He has that line in Duma Key...that I do not recall exactly, but it is in one of the "How to Draw a Picture" sections...something about obsessions...when one focuses they focus back...thought King had paraphrased someone, Nietzsche maybe. They're probably like fish...say like those you can see in the tank...some at the bottom, but others rising to the surface from time to time. And yeah, other worlds is one way of looking at it, too. :)
The Cannibals. :)
 

addieprey

Well-Known Member
At one time here, a typed-manuscript was available, titled "Cannibals" or "The Cannibals"...it is/was a variation on the story we know as Under the Dome. I think at the time there was some business w/The Simpson's and you know how Bart can be. That said, in The Tommyknockers, there is a scene late in the book that pre-echoes a scene from Under the Dome, one of the accidents (plane) that happen when the story begins to unfold. There are some repeated images in King's stories...a Welsh dresser...a braid of hair...a phrase or three, Ike and Mike they think alike...or ideas. He has that line in Duma Key...that I do not recall exactly, but it is in one of the "How to Draw a Picture" sections...something about obsessions...when one focuses they focus back...thought King had paraphrased someone, Nietzsche maybe. They're probably like fish...say like those you can see in the tank...some at the bottom, but others rising to the surface from time to time. And yeah, other worlds is one way of looking at it, too. :)

Your post reminded me that I have both "The Cannibals" and "The Plant" on my computer, and forgot to both get them printed out and read them. Thanks for reminding.

Do you and Flake Noir mean that "The Cannibals" has something to do with the stand, or that it was a story that started life going in one direction but then ended up as "The Dome"?

Thanks for you answers!
 

FlakeNoir

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Apr 11, 2006
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Your post reminded me that I have both "The Cannibals" and "The Plant" on my computer, and forgot to both get them printed out and read them. Thanks for reminding.

Do you and Flake Noir mean that "The Cannibals" has something to do with the stand, or that it was a story that started life going in one direction but then ended up as "The Dome"?

Thanks for you answers!
Oh sorry, I was just supplying the link to the story that Walter was mentioning. I would say yes to the second--that the story had been floating around in Stephen's head for some time, started out as one thing and ended up as another.
 

rudiroo

Well-Known Member
May 20, 2008
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I got a little thrill out of a forgotten part of that wonderful SK universe.
Correctimondo!
I just reread it recently too - yet again, a gap of xyz years just makes the collection richer - like a vintage wine or a really ripe cheese.
As Addieprey suggests, there are a lot of links & connections in Stephen King World.

All the hints & whiffs of characters & stories-yet-to-come are in Night Shift.
Love this book - love it, love it, love it:biglove:
 

Sunlight Gardener

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Jul 22, 2013
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Night Surf has such a feeling of bleak dread to it, I really like it. It is dark and depressing but that's what draws me to it. You just know from the tone of the story that things are going to turn out horribly in the end.
 

krwhiting

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Jan 5, 2015
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Night Surf has such a feeling of bleak dread to it, I really like it. It is dark and depressing but that's what draws me to it. You just know from the tone of the story that things are going to turn out horribly in the end.

Agreed. Especially given the nature of the persons in it. No one in it that draws sympathy. A lot of "self" in it.

Kelly
 
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krwhiting

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Jan 5, 2015
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This story reminds me of a John Fante / Bukowski or even a... shudder... Salinger story.

Love your picture. One of my favorite shows. As to Salinger, I read Catcher in the Rye some years ago. Once. And I was done with Salinger. Same thing happened with Pynchon. I read Gravity's Rainbow and checked out on him.

Kelly
 

Grant87

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Jan 3, 2015
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What a story. One of my favorites from Night **** for sure. The hopelessness displayed in this story is truly terrifying.
 
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skimom2

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Oct 9, 2013
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Love your picture. One of my favorite shows. As to Salinger, I read Catcher in the Rye some years ago. Once. And I was done with Salinger. Same thing happened with Pynchon. I read Gravity's Rainbow and checked out on him.

Kelly
Ditto. I'll never understand the adoration for Salinger.
 
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Blake

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Feb 18, 2013
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I recently read Ray Bradbury's short story, 'The Lake', which is brilliantly atmospheric. Night Surf is brilliantly atmospheric as well. Both are clearly different stories but somehow they remind me of being very similar in atmosphere. Even though 'Night Surf' isn't a ghost story is reminds me of one because the people are dead/dying in the world. Same with 'The Lake' because it is about someone that is missing.
 

Wab

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Oct 29, 2017
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At one time here, a typed-manuscript was available, titled "Cannibals" or "The Cannibals"...it is/was a variation on the story we know as Under the Dome. I think at the time there was some business w/The Simpson's and you know how Bart can be. That said, in The Tommyknockers, there is a scene late in the book that pre-echoes a scene from Under the Dome, one of the accidents (plane) that happen when the story begins to unfold. There are some repeated images in King's stories...a Welsh dresser...a braid of hair...a phrase or three, Ike and Mike they think alike...or ideas. He has that line in Duma Key...that I do not recall exactly, but it is in one of the "How to Draw a Picture" sections...something about obsessions...when one focuses they focus back...thought King had paraphrased someone, Nietzsche maybe. They're probably like fish...say like those you can see in the tank...some at the bottom, but others rising to the surface from time to time. And yeah, other worlds is one way of looking at it, too. :)
Consciously and unconsciously Stephen weaves elements. In the short story 'The Monkey' the family moves to Arlen in Texas to work for Texas Instruments in the same calculator assembly plant which is mentioned in The Stand.
 
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Wab

Well-Known Member
Oct 29, 2017
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Love your picture. One of my favorite shows. As to Salinger, I read Catcher in the Rye some years ago. Once. And I was done with Salinger. Same thing happened with Pynchon. I read Gravity's Rainbow and checked out on him.

Kelly
Salinger did work that was far superior to Catcher. I've read it three times: loved it at 14, hated it at 19 and in my 20s I understood the two reactions.
 
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