Rambling, old, unsmart and comfortable. A place where the family could settle; the children grow and play and explore. The rolling hills and meadows of Maine seemed a world away from the fume-choked dangers of Chicago. Surely it was a safe place.

Set in a small New England town called Salem's Lot, this classic Stephen King horror tale's central character is a fairly successful writer who, upon returning to the town to write a semi-autobiography, finds himself surrounded by terror.

The sparrows are flying again. The idea haunts the edge of Thad Beaumont's mind. He should be happy; for years it is his secret persona 'George Stark', author of super-violent pulp thrillers, who has paid the family bills. But now he is writing seriously again under his own name, and his pseudonym is buried forever.

With an afterword in which Stephen King describes the inspiration behind each of these short stories, 'Full Dark, No Circles' contains close-up portraits which bristle with intensity.

When bestselling crime writer Mike Noonan's wife dies, he suffers from writer's block. Until he is drawn from Derry to his lakeside retreat, Sara Laughs - a house once inhabited by a famous singer.

Carrie has the gift of telekinesis. To be invited to prom night by Tommy is a dream - the first step to social acceptance. But events take a turn on that night as Carrie is forced to exercise her terrible gift on the town that mocks and loathes her.

Christine, blood-red, fat and finned, was 20. Her promise lay all in her past. There was still power in her - a frightening power that leaked like sump oil, staining and corrupting. A malign power that corroded and turned ownership into possession.

Danny is only five years old but in the words of old Mr Hallorann he is a 'shiner', aglow with psychic voltage. When his father becomes caretaker of the Overlook Hotel his visions grow frighteningly out of control.

First came the days of the plague, then came the dreams. Dark dreams that warned of the coming of the dark man. The apostate of death, his worn-down boot heels tramping the night roads. The warlord of the charnel house and Prince of Evil. His time is at hand. His empire grows in the west and the Apocalypse looms.

What would you do if your everyday world were turned upside down in an instant? In this collection of twist-in-the-tale stories of suspense you can feel the everyday become the unexpected.