Sat 24 Apr 2021
Stories I’m Reading: STEPHEN KING “Quitters, Inc.â€
Posted by Steve under Stories I'm Reading[4] Comments
STEPHEN KING “Quitters, Inc.†Short story. First published in Night Shift (Doubleday, hardcover, 1978). Reprinted in Best Detective Stories of the Year: 1979, edited by Edward D. Hoch (Dutton, hardcover, 1979); and Prime Suspects, edited by Bill Pronzini & Martin H. Greenberg (Ivy, paperback original; 1st printing, June 1987). Film/TV adaptations: (1) Anthology film Cat’s Eye (1985) along with “The Ledge” and “General.” (See comment #1.) (2) Bollywood film No Smoking (2007) (3) “Bigalow’s Last Smoke†(1985) an episode of Tales from the Darkside, 09 June 1985 (Season 1, Episode 21). (King is not credited on either of these last two.)
An agency man named Morrison meets an old friend from another agency in a bar, but while Morrison is in bad shape healthwise – he’s overweight, drinks too much, and more importantly, smokes too much – his friend is in great shape. How’d he do it, he asks. The friend gives him a business card. It says Quitters, Inc., Treatment by Appointment. Go here, he is told. They have a plan that’s guaranteed to get you to quit smoking. 100%.
Morrison demurs but decides to give it a try.
If you’ve ever read a Stephen King novel or story, you know you’re in for a gonzo over-the-top tale from here on out. 100%. No doubt about it. And so it is here. Nobody can match Stephen King when it comes to stories like this, but in that regard, this is only a normal Stephen King story.
Normal, that is, until it comes to the last line. If you ever read this story, you won’t forget it. Never. 100% guaranteed. And not a bad way to lead off an anthology of crime and mystery stories, as Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg did with Prime Suspects, the first of several similar collections they put together in the late 80s. Other authors include P. D. James, Ed McBain, John D. MacDonald and Donald E. Westlake, just for beginners.
April 25th, 2021 at 3:41 am
Since nobody’s mentioned it yet:
“Quitters, Inc.” was filmed as one segment of Cat’s Eye, a Stephen King trifecta from 1985.
The three stories were linked by Drew Barrymore and a cat, who took center stage in the third segment.
It’s been a while since I saw this, which is why I’m foggy about Parts 2 and 3.
I do recall “Quitters”, which opened the show; James Woods was the client and Alan King was the “doctor”.
What I remember most was that Gene Siskel raved about this part, while basically panning the other two; he actually thought that “Quitters” should have gotten the whole movie.
Somewhere down the line, I really ought to see the whole movie again, just to be sure …
April 25th, 2021 at 10:11 am
Thanks for the information, Mike, which I’ve added to that at the top of the review.
Without trying to spoil the ending to the story itself, I’ll add a [PLOT WARNING], but I think King’s tale owes a small debt in turn to Roald Dahl’s much earlier story “Man from the South.”
April 25th, 2021 at 7:48 pm
King has written several stories and novels (The Running Man) like this that convince me he read a lot of Robert Sheckley at some point.
April 26th, 2021 at 1:21 am
Sheckley? I remembered this one, and i remembered thinking it felt very much like Stanley Ellin’s work. It’s at the intersection of the mundane and the macabre, an Ellin specialty.