Before reading: Yes, I wasn't much of a fan of the short story format before...but I am going in with an open mind. I do not know too much about the stories in this collection but I have heard many good things. This was when King was in his writing prime and I have high hopes. Like with Night Shift I will go through each story individually and then will discuss the collection as a whole. The Mist is included in this collection but I will be skipping it as I have already read it as a standalone. Here we go! After reading: The Mist: Do go into The Mist ! ...okay, I won't. As I literally just mentioned I will be skipping over our first story. It does feel nice to be able to skip 150 or so pages and bypass the longest "short" story in this collection. If you're interested in my thoughts on this one, feel free to go back and read what I had to say about it. As a standalone, it was alright. I'm sure if you decided to read it for the first time in this collection