Stephen King Praises New Horror Collection "I Know A Place"

Published May 5, 2026, 11:30 AM EDT

King's introduction begins eloquently with, "These stories are f*****g great. They rule," and over more than a dozen short stories (and one novella to kick things off, à la The Mist in King's 1985 collection, Skeleton Crew), I Know A Place illustrates why King had such good things to say (via Forbes).

If Cassidy's collection has attracted the eye of King, the streamers may not be too far behind. Streaming platforms are always looking for new IP to gobble up, and a horror short story collection is a glimmering trophy in an era of popular horror TV shows like It: Welcome to Derry, Widow's Bay, From, and Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities​​​​​.

I Know A Place: Rest Stop And Other Dark Detours Is Perfect For A Horror Anthology

As a short story collection, I Know A Place: Rest Stop and Other Dark Detours is perfectly suited for the anthology treatment, with a season's worth of perfectly contained stories that could be well-translated to television with the right creative vision and a showrunner who understands Cassidy's sensibilities.

Horror anthologies have always been a popular subgenre. The short format of anthologies lends itself to horror, where the scares can keep escalating over the course of an episode without threatening to fall apart like a Jenga tower. One of the difficulties with long-format horror is that at some point, the scares have to stop, and the story has to be told, not so with anthologies.

Cabinet of Curiosities, Lovecraft Country, Tales from the Crypt, and, of course, The Twilight Zone, have all understood that some horror needs to get in and get out to be effective. The same goes for short story horror, which King has long supported as a critical part of storytelling, writing in the intro for his Skeleton Crew, "...a short story is like a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger," (via GoodReads).

I Know A Place is a series of quick kisses in the dark, in that case, from every direction you can't see. It's a chilling collection, and a wonderfully written one, two attributes any horror TV show should require above all else.

Stephen King Is Not Afraid To Give His Opinion

If, for some reason, the contents of I Know A Place: Rest Stop and Other Dark Detours do not pique the interest of producers, the acclaim from Stephen King alone means the short story collection is worth checking out. King has never had much of an issue stating his honest feelings on books, shows, and movies.

He's lambasted adaptations of his own work, most famously taking issue with Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, but he's also been unafraid to voice his displeasure with The Dark Tower (2017), Firestarter (1984), and plenty of others. He tends to go a bit easier on younger writers and those who aren't adapting his work, but he's not someone to pump up a book, show, or movie he isn't a fan of.

If King is willing to write a glowing introduction for I Know A Place: Rest Stop and Other Dark Detours, you can be sure he sees something special in it. We will have to see whether streaming platforms feel the same way and whether Nat Cassidy decides that a TV adaptation is what he wants next for his book collection.