Excellent collection of some really scary stories regarding planes.

You can feel the plane taking off in Richard Matherson's tale and once you are up in the (mostly) blue skies, the horror really sets in.
My favourite is Joe Hill's story that is a little too real for comfort, which makes it all the more horrific.

Really enjoyed my journey with these talented writers. ( )

Hang on Tight and Buckle Up!

This book was interesting, but here is the nitty gritty, if you are a frequent flyer, I don't think it would be good idea to read this book on your flight. Actually I would advise against it as some of the stories within this book will make you wish that you hadn't read it and it might have you sleeping with the oxygen mask attached to your face the whole trip. There are 17 stories within these pages written by different authors, but I have some favorites listed below.

Favorite stories are:

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet by Richard Matheson

The Flying Machine by Ambrose Pierce

Two Minutes Forty-Five Seconds by Dan Simmons

Air Raid by John Varley

You Are Released by Joe Hill

Murder in the Air by Peter Tremayne

The Turbulence Expert by Stephen King

Thoughts:

Before I even made it to chapter one, I was already dreading what was ahead of me as the introduction by Stephen King was scary enough to where I never want to fly. Here is a small blurb from his introduction: "Yet you are entering what is basically a tube filled with oxygen and sitting atop tons of highly flammable jet fuel." Now if that doesn't send shivers down your spine, I don't know what will as now I cannot get that image out of my head!

I have flown one time when I was young, but after reading this book, I have decided that I don't even want to attempt stepping foot on a plane ever again.

So with that being said, I did enjoy the book though, but I only enjoyed them, because like I said, I know I won't be "flying the friendly skies". Giving this book four "Fly the Frightful Skies" stars!

For images on this review, please see my blog:
https://booknookretreat.blogspot.com/2022/03/flight-or-fright-by-stephen-king.ht... ( )

A solid collection of horror stories all related to flying. As someone who as an adult has (gasp) never flown this was not all that scary to me. I have a strong suspicion that would be different if I had flown or was going to fly recently. A well curated collection however my favorite part was the intro by Stephen King. ( )

Contains:
Introduction / Stephen King --
Cargo / E. Michael Lewis --
Horror of the heights / Arthur Conan Doyle --
Nightmare at 20,000 feet / Richard Matheson --
Flying machine / Ambrose Bierce --
Lucifer! / E.C. Tubb --
Fifth category / Tom Bissell --
Two minutes forty-five seconds / Dan Simmons --
Diablitos / Cody Goodfellow, Cody --
Air raid / John Varley --
You are released / Joe Hill --
Warbirds / David J. Schow --
The flying machine / Ray Bradbury --
Zombies on a plane / Bev Vincent --
They shall not grow old / Roald Dahl --
Murder in the air / Peter Tremayne --
The turbulance expert / Stephen King --
Falling / James Dickey --
Afterword: an important message from the flight deck / Bev Vincent. ( )

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. ( )