Different Seasons

In the Afterword, King talks about his early career and his agent’s concern that King would find himself typecast as a horror writer when his range was really much broader. King himself decided very early that there were worse things than being stereotyped as a writer in a genre that he loved. However, although King leans heavily towards horror, he has a broader range. He often blends horror with other genres, including fantasy (Fairy Tale (2022), The Eyes of the Dragon (1984), The Talisman (1984), and The Dark Tower series (1982-2012)), science-fiction (The Tommyknockers (1987) and Under The Dome (2009)) and literary fiction (Different Seasons and Dolores Claiborne (1992)). He has also written several hard-boiled detective stories (Joyland (2013), Later (2012), and the Mr. Mercedes series (2014-16)) with and without horror/supernatural elements.

The four stories in Different Seasons are a difficult length to market—too short for paperback, too long for magazines. Also, they were written early in King’s career but late enough that his agent at the time was hesitant about an established horror writer putting out a mainstream collection and potentially alienating fans. He talked King into adding the final story, “The Breathing Method,” to placate the existing fan base. He needn’t have worried; King fans appreciate the elements of gritty detail and rich world-building in every genre. His genre-traversal attracts a range of readers to his work. King sometimes relates an anecdote about being accosted in a supermarket by a woman who, having accused him of being that horror writer Stephen King, declared that she didn’t approve of horror stories and he should write uplifting stories like “Shawshank Redemption.” When he declared that he had, in fact, written “Shawshank Redemption”, she refused to believe him (Eisenberg, Eric. “Stephen King Tells A Great Story About Shawshank Redemption, And How He Can't Convince People He Writes More Than Horror.” Cinemablend, 2021).

The stories in this collection became so popular that the first three have been made into movies, and as of 2023, the fourth, “The Breathing Method,” is being considered for development. “Shawshank Redemption” and “The Body,” in particular, have become some of the best-loved and highly-regarded films of the 20th century. The stories utilize genre-unspecific experiences such as coming-of-age–in “The Body,” the narrator looks back on his coming-of-age from the perspective of a jaded older man–and redemption. These are the same experiences that inform most of his horror fiction.

“The Breathing Method” is more in line with the genre for which King is best known. The internal story of Sandra Stansfield is typical of King’s oeuvre, but the frame story has a more understated magic. The club itself has elements of H. P. Lovecraft with its haunted house aura, including mysterious books and peculiar doors leading to strange places in other universes. The club also bears strong signs of influence from William Hope Hodgeson’s Carnacki, the Ghost Finder (1910-13) series of short stories. The Carnacki stories feature a somewhat enigmatic host not unlike Stevens. Carnacki periodically invites his friends for dinner and a tale of his latest supernatural ghost-finding adventure. The club in "The Breathing Method" is essentially a place for stories. The Carnacki stories invariably open with a reference to 427 Cheyne Walk in which Carnacki resides. In “The Breathing Method,” David frequently refers to the club only as “249,” which alludes to the Carnacki stories.

Although the stories in this collection are not considered horror as such—apart from the last—they all explore psychological horror. “Shawshank Redemption” looks at the horror of being falsely convicted and then trapped in a place where you are abused and cheated. “Apt Pupil” shows the horror of being consumed by human evil. “The Body” is about the weakness and vulnerability of childhood and a child’s first confrontation with mortality. “The Breathing Method” contains the real-life horror of being beheaded, knowing that the brain actually remains conscious for a time. King invokes horror even when using features not usually associated with the genre.