''Rainy Season'' is a short horror story by

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

, first published in the Spring 1989 issue of ''Midnight Graffiti'' magazine, and later included in King's ''

Nightmares & Dreamscapes ''Nightmares & Dreamscapes'' is a short story collection by American author Stephen King, published in 1993. Stories Dedication King dedicated this collection of stories to Thomas Williams, a writing instructor who taught for many years at t ...

'' collection. It ended a bout of writer's block from which King had been suffering.

Plot summary

A young husband and wife on summer vacation rent a house in a small town called Willow,

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and nor ...

, only to be warned repeatedly (if vaguely) to leave by the local inhabitants. They do not comply and, having purchased groceries, return to the house. They learn the price for prosperity the citizens of Willow must pay: every seven years a husband and wife will go there from outside and will stay, despite protests, to become sacrifices during the rainy season. When the "rain" starts, the couple learns the nature of the precipitation: an army of grotesque black toads the size of footballs, armed with needle-sharp teeth and able to chew through doors and walls. After the carnage, the toads melt away into poisonous sludge that is washed away easily. Two residents debate the price that is paid for their prosperity, but decide there is nothing they can do about it.

Film, TV, theatrical, or other adaptations

"Rainy Season" has been adapted by artist

Glenn Chadbourne Glenn Chadbourne is an American artist. He lives in Newcastle, Maine. He is best known for his work in the horror and fantasy genres, having created covers and illustrated books and magazines for publishers such as Cemetery Dance Publications, ...

for the book "The Secretary of Dreams" a collection of comics based on King's short fiction released by Cemetery Dance Publications in December 2006. The audiobook version of this story was narrated by actress

Yeardley Smith Martha Maria Yeardley Smith ( ; born July 3, 1964) is an American actress, artist and writer. She currently stars as the voice of Lisa Simpson on the long-running animated television series ''The Simpsons''. Smith became an actress in 1982 aft ...

. Smith was also in

Maximum Overdrive ''Maximum Overdrive'' is a 1986 American comedy horror film written and directed by Stephen King. The film stars Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington, and Yeardley Smith. The screenplay was inspired by and loosely based on King's sho ...

, the 1986 film adaptation of the Stephen King short story "Trucks". "Rainy Season" has been adapted into a 2017 short film of the same name, written and directed by Vanessa Ionta Wright and produced by Above the Line Artistry. 2019 has been another adaption by Patrick Haischberger, played by Thomas Stipsits, Sabrina Reiter, Inge Maux, Fritz Karl and Wolfgang Hübsch.

Reception

Wiater et al. compared it to

Shirley Jackson Shirley Hardie Jackson (December 14, 1916 – August 8, 1965) was an American writer known primarily for her works of horror and mystery. Over the duration of her writing career, which spanned over two decades, she composed six novels, two m ...

's short story " The Lottery", an idea reinforced by the fact that one of the story's characters directly references Jackson's story at one point. Writing at

Tor.com ''Tor.com'' is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on speculative fiction. From 20 ...

, Grady Hendrix called it a "time passer" that was likely expanded from a single surreal image.

References

External links

* {{Stephen King Short stories by Stephen King 1989 short stories Horror short stories Short stories adapted into films

Plot summary

Film, TV, theatrical, or other adaptations

Reception

See also

References

External links