Listen free for 30 days

  • Gray Matter and Other Stories From Night Shift

  • And Other Stories from Night Shift
  • Written by: Stephen King
  • Narrated by: John Glover
  • Length: 3 hrs and 28 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (14 ratings)

1 credit a month, good for any title to download and keep.
The Plus Catalogue—listen all you want to thousands of Audible Originals, podcasts, and audiobooks.
$14.95 a month plus applicable taxes after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
Gray Matter and Other Stories From Night Shift cover art

Gray Matter and Other Stories From Night Shift

Written by: Stephen King
Narrated by: John Glover
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $19.21

Buy Now for $19.21

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

Consummate master of his craft, Stephen King has kept millions awake past midnight shivering at tales that probe the shadows and reveal the dark side. Now listeners can chill to this dramatic unabridged production of 6 short stories from his best-selling book, Night Shift. It brings Stephen King's demonic stories fully to life - and the terror even closer to home.

Lying on the couch in Dr. Harper's office, keeping a close watch on the closet door, Lester Billings relates the bizarre tale of "The Boogeyman" who has taken his children's lives. In "I Know What You Need," a pretty college co-ed finds the perfect lover while on a campus in Maine. A young man thrills to the eerie mists of a murderous "Strawberry Spring." A winter storm hits and a group of old codgers who regularly gather around the Reliable at Henry's Nite-Owl discover the gruesome fate of an old crony in the title story, "Gray Matter." A son, horrified by the grim indignity of death, struggles with his love for "The Woman in the Room," while a hit man, back from a successful assignment, finds himself besieged by a toy army that turns his New York penthouse into a deadly "Battleground."

©1976 Stephen King (P)1995 Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, A Division of Random House, Inc.

What listeners say about Gray Matter and Other Stories From Night Shift

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

No reviews are available
Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for bonita
  • bonita
  • 2016-07-09

We need a complete and unabridged version

My advice to long time King fans and newcomers alike is to skip these three Nightshift samplings, and to wait for a complete anthology. This collection, along with two others available from audible, were released in the mid 90s. They sound as if they were ripped directly from the old cassettes in some places, and this distracted me at times. Yes, Audible has the three volumes making up the old Bantom Doubleday Dell audio Nightshift collection, but be warned. A few stories from the anthology have never been published on audio before. Even if an audible customer were to purchase Gray Matter and other stories, Lawnmower Man and other stories, and Graveyard Shift and other stories, they'd be missing a few.The unincluded tales are I am the Doorway, One for the Road, Children of The Corn, and Trucks. Hopefully, Simon and Schuster will choose to give audiobook readers Nightshift in its entirety soon, including the prefatory matterial. They've recently released the complete Skeleton Crew anthology three or so days before this review was written, so I prefer to be optimistic.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

114 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Danielle Bevil
  • Danielle Bevil
  • 2020-07-26

Missing audio

There are 3 to 4 second bursts of audio missing in chapters 4 through 6. In some places it sounds like its missing an entire paragraph. You might want to have a paper copy of the book to fill in the blanks.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for J. Higgins
  • J. Higgins
  • 2016-08-02

Poor Sound Quality

Stories are fun, John Glover is great, but fuzzy sound quality detracts from the experience.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for The Davage
  • The Davage
  • 2008-07-08

Lame

Narrator and audio quality is fine.

Stories are not Stephen Kings best work. Boring, silly, and unimaginative at best.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Breezybealle
  • Breezybealle
  • 2016-10-11

Why do I bother?

I'm not even sure why I bothered to use a credit. King is a masterful storyteller. His prose is engaging and vividly descriptive, his characters strongly developed. But somehow, even though time after I time I keep wishing his next short story will get better, sadly, they do not. His anthologies are full of boring tales in which do not hold my interest, but still, I read them all, in hopes of finding that one diamond in the rough. I know it's there somewhere. His full length novels are amazing. It's almost as if he's two different people. Or maybe its just that his strength lies in stories that are long and drawn out. I will say that even though the plots were severely lacking in substance and "I know what you need" was the only story I even remotely enjoyed, the narration was superb. A definite A+ performance. But, in my personal opinion, this was definitely not worth a credit.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Jessica Henson
  • Jessica Henson
  • 2015-01-28

Loved it!

Great! Enjoyed from start to finish! Definitely recommend it! Good for relaxing at home or being on the go. Will listen again.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for John Worth Moore IV
  • John Worth Moore IV
  • 2020-07-21

creepy stuff

John Glover is great, just wish all stories were in one book. King is best

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Neno
  • Neno
  • 2022-10-17

matter of perspective

i read this in an effort to read all of king’s work in order of publication. that said, it’s an old recording so the quality isn’t fantastic but it’s more nostalgic than distracting.

biggest bummer is that to read the whole book you have to spend 3 credits - recommend just buying these if you want them, not credit worthy imho

as for the stories, they’re okay. but in context of king’s work he was a young pup

the stories included in this part:
- the boogeyman
- i know what you need
- strawberry springs
- the woman in the room
- battle ground

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Sarah
  • Sarah
  • 2021-08-31

overall good

the audio quality is a little sub par but not enough to ruin it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Richard S. Swol
  • Richard S. Swol
  • 2020-11-05

Vintage Stephen King

More stories from Night Shift, King's first collection. Winners all that will stick with you for years to come... I know that they stuck with me since I first read them in the 70's.

My only issue with the collection is that it sub-divides the book into three audiobooks. So rather than buying one audiobook, you need to get three to get the entire physical book. I suspect that will not be remedied anytime soon, considering the age of the publication. I still find it annoying.

Quality wise, this is an excellent value and easy to recommend to anyone who a good scary story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Marie Franç
  • Marie Franç
  • 2008-03-15

Gray Matter (Stephen King) Narrateur : John Glover

Que pouvoir espérer de mieux, que d'écouter d'étranges et terribles histoires, dont chaque détail est à "Lui Seul" un univers entier à visiter, écouter, respirer ses frémissements, ses chuchotements, qui sont liquides et visqueux, ses appels au secours, ses prières et incantations qui ne sont que de simples gouttes d'eau au regard des bûchers ardents à éteindre, ses "chocs" humoristiques aux instants des "Dead Zone", quand notre coeur a atteint "son ultime marée basse" ! Vous êtes un Grand Magicien et "Maitre de Nos Illusions et Peurs" Monsieur Stephen THE King... et : Voici que pour cette fois, vous avez le privilège de vous draper dans "la voix-voie de votre maître", que dire de PLUS que ... "Thanks, Master John Glover", You are the only one to "Touch our spirit abyss and destroyed nightmare", with your slowly and sensual voice, "just between god and devil" ! Un Mystérieux et miraculeux mariage des âmes tourmentées et des splendeurs lumineuses des rédemptions certaines. Un Voyage en Enfer dont les souterrains sont illuminés de Roses Mystiques : telle "La Barrière d'Or du Ciel" (cf. "La Damoiselle Élue" Debussy/D'Annunzio), avec Toujours en contrepoint cette certitude si terrifiante des ultimes paroles de La Damnation de Faust :..."Et Dans les profondeurs des ténèbres, un mystère d'horreur s'accomplit".

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful