People keep gifting me Stephen King books, and I keep feeling obligated to read them. In this case, I’m glad I did, even if the cover is cheese of the moldiest variety. This collection of short stories disposes of King’s slow-build storytelling style and gets straight to the point. The tales range from short to novella length, and from stark and simple to subtly intriguing. Some have meaty themes and others are just cool and surprising, no thematic theorizing required. Most of these are a joy to read. They’re also an indicator that King, after all these years, still absolutely loves to create fiction.