'Chattery Teeth' – Stephen King

I think this week is going to end up being another week for short stories. Work is giving me a real kicking at the moment and what with the kids being on Summer Holiday now, reading time is strictly limited to whatever time I can grab at home when I'm not getting ready for the 'Audit of Doom' (my title, not theirs, I think it's pretty accurate though...) Short stories are about all I'm good for right now, while I try and get longer books read, but that's ok; I've got shelves full of brilliant short stories that I can share with you. One of them is a favourite of mine, 'Chattery Teeth' by Stephen King. I've got it as part of the 'Nightmares and Dreamscapes' collection (which has proved remarkably stubborn in not telling me where it was originally published, oh well...)

'The case was full of fabulous junk, most of it undoubtedly made in Taiwan and Korea, but there was no doubt at all about the pick of the litter. They were the largest Chattery Teeth he had ever seen. They were also the only ones he'd ever seen with feet – big orange cartoon shoes with white spats. A real scream.'

Hitchhikers are trouble but Hogan can't help himself. A stop at a roadside diner sees him leave with two hitchhikers in tow, a young man passing through and a pair of Chattery Teeth for Hogan's son. Before Hogan's journey ends, one of his hitchhikers will try and kill him, while the other...

I was talking to @Zen_Of_Earth_X on Twitter, last night, about how much I love short stories. Don't get me wrong, I love a 'fat epic' just as much as the next man but there's something about a short story that just hits the spot. And that's it really, if a 'fat epic' stumbles then it gets two or three chances, over the next hundred pages, to get back on track; a short story has to get it right first time otherwise it's dead in the water, a footnote in a random blog like this ;o)

Like most people, I cut my horror reading teeth on King's longer works but it's his short stories that I'll always end up going back to because they keep hitting the target. And 'Chattery Teeth' is one of my favourites.

Right from the start, we're told that this is a dangerous world for the likes of travelling salesman Bill Hogan. He's already been robbed once and the aura of death hanging over the owner of the diner is almost like a premonition for Hogan, and us as well. Death is out there, we don't know where it is coming from but we know it's coming. And hasn't King just spent a lot of time directing us at those Chattery Teeth...? This story sets things up beautifully, we're not even on the road yet and I'm all tense, waiting for the payoff.

When that payoff comes... Look, I'm not going to go into this in great detail because I really want you (yes, you!) to go off and find a copy of 'Chattery Teeth' to read yourself. It's worth it.

And the payoff is worth it, a heady brew of the mundane dangers of our world and a little glimpse into that strange world that exists right beside ours. A world where the most ordinary looking things can take on a whole new meaning and scare the life out of the unsuspecting (and suspecting) reader. And then just when you think you've got a handle on things, that's when King hits you with the twist. Again, I'm not going to say much other than it casts King's world in a light that you won't often see.

'Chattery Teeth' is a brilliant read in itself but it's also like a lesson in how to write the perfect horror short story. Everything is set just where it needs to be and runs at exactly the right time for it to do what King needs it to. Like a dark and slightly evil puzzle that fits together first time and leaves you a little unsettled by what it has shown you.