"The Glass Floor" is a short 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 autumn 1967 issue of ''Startling Mystery Stories''. It was King's first professional sale.

Plot summary

Charles Wharton visits Anthony Reynard, the recently widowed husband of Wharton's sister Janine, in his Victorian mansion, the appearance of which unsettles Wharton. Reynard tells Wharton that Janine died by falling off a ladder while dusting the mansion's East Room, breaking her neck. When Wharton asks to see the room, Reynard refuses, telling him the door to the room has been

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

ed over. When Wharton protests, Reynard's elderly housekeeper Louise explains that the East Room – which has a floor made entirely out of mirror glass – is regarded as "dangerous". At Wharton's insistence, Reynard gives him a trowel and allows him to reopen the East Room, refusing to watch. Upon entering the room, Wharton is quickly disoriented by the mirrored floor; fancying that he is standing in mid-air, he panics and calls for help. Reynard finds Wharton's body lying in the middle of the room; he removes it using a pole hook, leaving a small pool of blood on both the floor and ceiling. As he prepares to once again plaster the East Room shut, Reynard wonders "if there was really a mirror there at all".

Publication

King wrote "The Glass Floor" in the summer of 1967 at the age of 19. It was the first of his submissions (over the course of two years) to magazine editor

Robert A. W. Lowndes Robert Augustine Ward "Doc" Lowndes (September 4, 1916 – July 14, 1998) was an American science fiction author, editor and fan. He was known best as the editor of ''Future Science Fiction'', ''Science Fiction'', and ''Science Fiction Quarterly ...

to be accepted for publication. King earned $35 () for the story, marking his first professional earnings from writing. "The Glass Floor" was first published in the autumn 1967 issue of ''Startling Mystery Stories''. It was later published (with some minor amendments) in issue #298 of ''

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, pri ...

'' in autumn 1990 and in issue #68 of '' Cemetery Dance'' in December 2012. In 2020, it was published as part of the trade hardcover ''Best of Cemetery Dance 2''. It has never been collected in a work by King.

Reception

Michael R. Collings described "The Glass Floor" as "derivative, depending upon

Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widel ...

and Lovecraft for its situational and atmospheric horror", while regarding it as an improvement on the "workaday prose" of King's earlier work. George Beahm also regarded the story as "derivative", but judged it to be "a first effort that requires no apology". Revisiting the story after 23 years in 1990, King described the first several pages as "clumsy and badly written - clearly the product of an unformed story-teller's mind" but judged the climax to be "better than I remembered" with "a genuine ''

frisson Frisson ( , ; French for "shiver"), also known as aesthetic chills or psychogenic shivers is a psychophysiological response to rewarding stimuli (including music, films, stories, and rituals) that often induces a pleasurable or otherwise posi ...

''".

Rocky Wood Rocky Wood (19 October 1959 – 1 December 2014) was a New Zealand-born Australian writer and researcher best known for his books about horror author Stephen King. He was the first author from outside North America or Europe to hold the pos ...

notes two seeming factual errors in the story: Reynard's mansion bears the date 1770 but is contrastingly described as " Victorian" (1770 being part of the

Georgian era The Georgian era was a period in British history from 1714 to , named after the Hanoverian Kings George I, George II, George III and George IV. The definition of the Georgian era is often extended to include the relatively short reign of Will ...

) and " Revolutionary War vintage" (the American Revolutionary War lasting from 1775 to 1783).

References

External links

"The Glass Floor" at StephenKing.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glass Floor, The Short stories by Stephen King 1967 short stories Horror short stories Works originally published in American magazines Works originally published in mystery fiction magazines

Plot summary

Publication

Reception

References

See also

External links