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    Flight or Fright
    Flight or Fright
    Flight or Fright
    Audiobook10 hours

    Flight or Fright

    Written by Stephen King and Bev Vincent

    Narrated by Stephen King, Bev Vincent, Norbert Leo Butz and

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    About this audiobook

    #1 New York Times bestselling author and master of horror Stephen King teams up with Bev Vincent of Cemetery Dance to present a terrifying collection of sixteen short stories (and one poem) that tap into one of King’s greatest fears—air travel—featuring brand-new stories by King and Joe Hill, “an expertly compiled collection of tales that entertain and scare” (Booklist).

    Stephen King hates to fly, and he and co-editor Bev Vincent would like to share their fear of flying with you.

    Welcome to Flight or Fright, an anthology about all the things that can go horribly wrong when you’re suspended six miles in the air, hurtling through space at more than 500 mph, and sealed up in a metal tube (like—gulp!—a coffin) with hundreds of strangers. Here are all the ways your trip into the friendly skies can turn into a nightmare, including some we’ll bet you’ve never thought of before... but now you will the next time you walk down the jetway and place your fate in the hands of a total stranger.

    Featuring brand-new “standouts” (Publishers Weekly) by Joe Hill and Stephen King, as well as fourteen classic tales and one poem from the likes of Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl, Dan Simmons, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and many others, Flight or Fright is, as King says, “ideal airplane reading, especially on stormy descents…Even if you are safe on the ground, you might want to buckle up nice and tight.”

    Each story is introduced by Stephen King and all will have you thinking twice about how you want to reach your final destination.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateSep 4, 2018
    ISBN9781508265436
    Author

    Stephen King

    Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes the short story collection You Like It Darker, Holly, Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King. 

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    Reviews for Flight or Fright

    4/5

    141 ratings12 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Good book. Especially Joe hill's story . But way too much filler at the end
    • 4/5
      This was a fun collection, overall. Some classic stories from Matheson and Bradbury and Dahl, with some very modern takes as well.

      Like any anthology, there were a couple of clunkers, but no outright terrible stories whatsoever. I can honestly say I enjoyed each one to some degree, and interestingly—because this isn't usually the case with any multi-author collection—there were quite a few standouts.

      I'd absolutely recommend this collection.
    • 4/5
      I had started this book previously but had to stop because I was not in the correct mind frame or Stephen King. I decided to use the audiobook the second time around and found it was much easier to understand, especially the older stories in this book. I tend to lose interest when trying to interpret the way things were written (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
      Some of the stories I had read before but still enjoyed them this time around. I especially enjoyed Stephen King’s new short story and also Roald Dahl’s story.
    • 4/5
      I loved this collection of seventeen tales of flying horror. In addition to the voices of its editors (Stephen King and Bev Vincent), the compilation contains stories by Ambrose Bierce, Arthur Conan Doyle, Richard Matheson (with perhaps the most famous story in the book thanks to The Twilight Zone), Cody Goodfellow, Dan Simmons, and Joe Hill, among others. A themed collection from various authors can get tedious if the authors are writing specifically for that theme. In this case, only a few of the stories were written specifically for this book.

      There are a few authors in this book whose works I will further explore thanks to their introduction here. I was already somewhat familiar with Cody Goodfellow as a result of his collaborations with John Skipp, but now I want more. Ditto Dan Simmons. I found a couple of the stories more forgettable than I'd hoped. One of them read more like a heavy handed history lecture than a story. But that one issue was not enough to turn me off the entire volume.

      This is a great read for any Stephen King fan who wants to start branching out, to see what other horror greats have to offer.
    • 5/5
      This is a grand book and I loved it. It also gave me the opportunity to read works by authors I'd never have encountered otherwise. I was out of reading material and my daughter gave it to me. I'm so glad she did.
    • 3/5
      This audiobook took me three nights to get thru, which isn’t usual. But I found most of the stories quite boring, and had a hard time getting thru this whole thing.
      —Introduction by Stephen King.
      —"Cargo" by E. Michael Lewis.
      —"The Horror of the Heights" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
      —"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" by Richard Matheson.
      —"The Flying Machine" by Ambrose Bierce.
      —"Lucifer!" by E.C. Tubb.
      —"The Fifth Category" by Tom Bissell.
      —"Two Minutes Forty-Five Seconds" by Dan Simmons.
      —"Diablitos" by Cody Goodfellow.
      —"Air Raid" by John Varley.
      —"You Are Released" by Joe Hill.
      —"Warbirds" by David J. Schow.
      —"The Flying Machine" by Ray Bradbury.
      —"Zombies on a Plane" by Bev Vincent.
      —"They Shall Not Grow Old" by Roald Dahl.
      —"Murder in the Air" by Peter Tremayne.
      —"The Turbulence Expert" by Stephen King
      —"Falling" by James L. Dickey
      —Afterword by Bev Vincent

      Two minutes fourth five second was good. You are released was wonderful and I loved it. Zombies on a plane kept me very interested, and I wish it was longer so I could know what happened next.

      The narrators were Bev Vincent, Stephen King, Norbert Leo Butz, Christian Coulson, Santino Fontana, Simon Jones, Graeme Malcolm, Elizabeth Marvel, David Morse, and Corey Stoll.

      3 stars, and recommended to people who love flying, airplane disasters, crashes, planes, and WW2 and Vietnam era stories.
    • 3/5
      Flight or Fright edited by Stephen King and Bev Vincent is a mixed bag of solid and less-than-memorable stories. The idea for the book was generated by the uneasy flyer, King, who introduced (and even wrote one of) the offerings. It was up to Vincent to collect the other 16 stories, many of which from authors from the past like Ray Bradbury, Arthur Conan Doyle, Roald Dahl, and Richard Matheson. Matheson's story, by the way, is the classic "Nightmare at 20,000 feet" which was made truly memorable by William Shatner's performance as the freaked-out flyer in a 1960's Twilight Zone episode. The other excellent additions to this anthology came from King, of course, his son Joe Hill with a story ("You Are Released") that's a little too close to home these days, E.C. Tubb's terrific "Lucifer", E. Michael Lewis' creepy, "Cargo", Peter Tremayne's whodunit at 35,000 feet, "Murder in the Air", Vincent's own, "Zombies on a Plane", and Cody Goodfellow's, "Diablitos".Flight or Fright is a decent collection, but this reader would have enjoyed it even more if the number of original (and newer) offerings had been increased.
    • 4/5
      Seventeen tales related by the theme of the hazards and horrors of flight, each with a short introduction by Stephen King. Some are new; some are classic science fiction tales from master story-tellers. Of particular note are Richard Matheson’s “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” [which became a classic “Twilight Zone” episode] and Ray Bradbury’s “The Flying Machine.” Tales from Ambrose Pierce and Arthur Conan Doyle, new offerings from Joe Hill and Stephen King . . . it’s a treasure-trove of delightfully chilling tales.Recommended.
    • 1/5
      OMG. What a drag. I was drawn to this anthology of short stories not just because of Mr. King but because of the theme of this anthology. I am a fan of aviation stories. Plus, unlike Mr. King, I don't mind flying. In fact, I have about thirty hours of flight time under my belt piloting a plane. The first story was good, the next one was alright and the next several were boring. I was expecting a bunch of great stories filled with horror, thrills, and chills. Stories that would make you fearful of flying. Kind of like Final Destination, the first movie in the series. I was even let down by Mr. Dan Simmons and Joe Hill. Two favorite authors of mine. After that I did not feel like reading any of the remaining stories left in this anthology. I would not recommend this book.
    • 4/5
      I thought this was an excellent book. The majority of the stories were great! Below are my reviews for each of the stories:Cargo - Story about a cargo plane picking up dead bodies from the Jonestown cult massacre. A little creepy but ending was kind of dumb.The Horror of the Heights - Great story about a man who flies high to see what happened last time the plane went up to the same altitude. Very descriptive things and ending was very vague.Nightmare at 20,000 feet - One of my most favorite Twilight Zone episodes. Love this story about a man on a plane seeing a gremlin outside on the wing. Did he really see it or was it all in his mind?The Flying Machine - Ya no. One page story made absolutely no sense.Lucifer! - Excellent story about a man who stole a time traveling ring.. what does this have to do with flying? Oh he gets on a plane and his time traveling ring backfires on him really bad. Great ending.The Fifth Category - Did not like this story at all. It sounded promising at first when the man woke up in an empty plane but then the backstory got all political and confusing and basically it was men taking over to the plane to torture the guy. Dumb.Diablitos - Freaky just plain freaky. Story about a man who steals a mask and gets on a plane with it. What happens after that is just scary and gross. The ending was cool and I thought it was a good story.Air Raid - An awesome futuristic sci fic plane story about robots? getting on a plane to save the humans and replace them with clones. Very interesting idea.You Are Released - First Joe Hill story I've read and it won't be the last. Story about a plane caught in the air during a nuke attack. Great story and build up as well as character different POVs.Warbirds - Nope, I tried to read it twice and it bored me to death. Couldn't finish it. I believe it's about WWII but that's about all I got from it.The Flying Machine - Interesting short story about a man who invented a flying machine and an emporer who seen only chaos and destruction. I enjoyed this little tidbit.Zombies on a Plane - Ok so I love zombie stories and this one did not disappoint. Survivors escape to a plane and barely make it away from a crowd of the undead. However, a passenger on board is having a heart attack... Ended the story left wide open!They Shall Not Grow Old - Not a scary story at all. It's about a pilot who goes missing for two days and shows up thinking he's only been gone for an hour. When he finally remembers where he's been, it's truly an amazing story and the ending is superb.Murder in the Air - An awesome murder mystery in a plane! Yes I guessed the killer early on... too easy but good story.The Turbulence Expert - Ah finally the Stephen King story. It was really good. Not scary at all. It's about a guy who goes on planes to control turbulence and recruits someone new. Loved the ending.Last one - Falling - Poem and if you never read my previous reviews, I do not like poems. Needless to say I tried to give it a chance but gave up on it. I think it's about a woman falling out of a plane.
    • 4/5
      I fully admit it - I hate flying - or rather flying scares me - a lot. So why in the world would I want to read '17 turbulent tales' about flying? Well, I do love a good, scary read!Flight or Fright is edited by Stephen King and Bev Vincent and features 17 tales (and one poem) from King himself, his son Joe Hill and fourteen other noted authors. There's a wide variety ranging from modern day horror writers such as Dan Simmons and Richard Matheson to historic writers such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and a wealth in between. I loved the intro from King - his story of flying only cemented my unwavering fear. The stories range from horror to mystery to sci-fi, so there's a little bit of something for everyone.I do love short story collections - you can read or listen to one when you have a limited amount of time and still have the satisfaction of an ending. And the same applies to listening. I did listen to Flight or Flight. There are eleven different narrators, some of whom I was familiar with and some new to me. This was a great opportunity to sample new readers. King prefaces each story with an introduction to the author and a quick overview of the tale.Favorite story? Hmm, hard to pick but I have to say I really liked Joe Hill's You Are Released. My next two faves were The Horror of the Heights by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A fascinating tale considering air travel was quite new at the time of writing. (1913) And of course King's The Turbulence Expert. Listen to an excerpt of Flight or Fright.And by the end? Yup, still scared of flying....perhaps even more....
    • 3/5
      I picked this up because Stephen King's name is on the front, and a new short story of his is inside. And I enjoyed his tale, even though it wasn't a horror one. His "Introduction" is good too! As for the other tales that take place inside "a howling shell of death"...To begin, there are really only 15 "turbulent tales", as one is a poem, and one is less than half a page. The first story was the best, super scary and creepy and I never want to read it again! After that, it's hit-or-miss, and mostly the latter. Richard Matheson and Ray Bradbury are their usual awesomeness, and Joe Hill and Bev Vincent deliver nicely! And "Murder in the Air" is a nice who-done-it! So that's 7 out of 17 (or 15, in my opinion) which is less than 50 percent - not great. I'd give this only two stars, but that first story, "Cargo" by E. Michael Lewis, pushes a three. My hackles are still up over that little ditty...