"The Night Flier" is a horror short story by American writer Stephen King, first published in the 1988 anthology '' Prime Evil: New Stories by the Masters of Modern Horror'', and then in King's own

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

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.

Plot summary

Richard Dees is a deeply cynical reporter for a trashy

supermarket tabloid Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism (usually dramatized and sometimes unverifiable or even blatantly false), which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known a ...

called ''Inside View''. Dees' current subject of investigation is the Night Flier, an apparent

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

who travels between small airports in a

Cessna Skymaster The Cessna Skymaster is an American twin-engine civil utility aircraft built in a push-pull configuration. Its engines are mounted in the nose and rear of its pod-style fuselage. Twin booms extend aft of the wings to the vertical stabilizers ...

, gruesomely killing people in a way that leads Dees to think the man is a lunatic who believes himself to be a vampire. After only a few days of interviewing witnesses and following the killer's trail in his own Beechcraft Bonanza, Dees overtakes the Night Flier during a violent thunderstorm at

Wilmington International Airport Wilmington International Airport is a public airport located just north of Wilmington, North Carolina, in unincorporated Wrightsboro, Cape Fear Township, New Hanover County. ILM covers 1,800 acres (728 ha). During the calendar year 2018 IL ...

, and quickly learns that he is badly mistaken about his would-be quarry: it is, indeed, a vampire that is doing the killings. After Dees watches the Night Flier casually empty the bloody contents of his bladder into an airport urinal (or as much of this act as he can see reflected in a mirror), the creature warns off his "would-be biographer", destroys his photographic evidence, and leaves the mortally shaken reporter amidst a scene of carnage to explain himself to police and watch as the Night Flier's plane takes off.

Publication

"The Night Flier" was first published in the 1988 anthology '' Prime Evil: New Stories by the Masters of Modern Horror''. It was collected in King's

book ''

''.

Connections to other works

Dees previously made a brief appearance in King's novel '' The Dead Zone''. In the notes of ''Nightmares and Dreamscapes'', King states that the Night Flier could also be the titular character of his short story " Popsy". The character of the Night Flier is used by

Kim Newman Kim James Newman (born 31 July 1959) is an English journalist, film critic and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's ''Dracula'' at ...

in his short story "You Are the Wind Beneath My Wings". In it, he is paired with the character Rainbird from '' Firestarter'', with both working for the Shop. Newman gives the Night Flier the name of Andrews. The ''Inside View'' is a

sensationalist In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emo ...

tabloid pushing blood, gore, and mystery stories about alien abductions and the like, and has also been mentioned in several of King's novels and novellas, such as ''Desperation'', ''Insomnia'', ''The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands'', ''Bag of Bones'', ''Needful Things'', ''Doctor Sleep'', ''From a Buick 8'', ''Elevation'', and ''If It Bleeds''.

Adaptations

The story was adapted into the 1997 film of the same name directed by Mark Pavia and starring

Miguel Ferrer Miguel José Ferrer (February 7, 1955 – January 19, 2017) was an American actor. His breakthrough role was as Bob Morton in the 1987 film ''RoboCop''. Other film roles include Quigley in '' Blank Check'' (1994), Harbinger in ''Hot Shots! Part D ...

as Dees. The film adaptation follows the original plot fairly closely (and maintains Dees' deeply unsympathetic nature), except for adding a rival in the form of up-and-coming female reporter Katherine Blair, and changing Dees' ultimate fate.

Reception

Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' called the story "King's jeremiad against the tabloid press", though he states that there is a degree of hypocrisy to the satire, given that King himself makes a living selling sensationalistic stories. George Beahm called it "prime King" that "eschew

Anne Rice Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien; October 4, 1941 – December 11, 2021) was an American author of gothic fiction, erotic literature, and Christian literature. She was best known for her series of novels '' The Vampire Chronicles''. ...

-type vampires".

Plot summary

Publication

Connections to other works

Adaptations

Reception

References

See also