Different Seasons

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Frank Muller

Four gripping novellas tied together by the changing of seasons.

Hope Springs Eternal

"Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption"

An unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge...the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award nominee The Shawshank Redemption.

Summer of Corruption

"Apt Pupil"

Todd Bowden is one of the top students in his high school class and a typical American 16-year-old - until he becomes obsessed with the dark and deadly past of an older man in town. The inspiration for the film Apt Pupil from Phoenix Pictures.

Fall from Innocence

"The Body"

Four rambunctious young boys plunge through the façade of a small town and come face to face with life, death, and intimations of their own mortality. The film Stand by Me is based on this novella.

A Winter's Tale

"The Breathing Method"

A disgraced woman is determined to triumph over death.

©1982 Stephen King. All rights reserved. (P)2016 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Hypnotic." ( The New York Times Book Review)

"To find the secret of his success, you have to compare King to Twain and Poe - King's stories tap the roots of myth buried in all our minds." ( Los Angeles Times)

"Buy Different Seasons. I promise you'll enjoy it.... He creates people who are so alive, you can almost sense them." ( Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Four amazing short stories

Stephen King said that when he is writing his books Frank Muller's voice is the one that he hears in his head.

These are four amazing stories brought to life in audio format by the much missed and loved Frank Muller, one of the best narrators that ever lived.

Each of them is set in a different season of the year and three of them have been adapted into great movies. The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me are two of the movies inspired by these stories.

Fast paced plots and a perfect performance makes this collection a must read for all fans of Stephen King.


I hope that one day the publisher will take the time to mark the chapters for evrry book separatly.

Extraordinary listening

Intense, thrilling, thoughtful and a great performance! King at his best because it is not the usual King's horror.

3 out of 4 stories were good

I really enjoyed the 1st three stories, but the 4th (The Breathing Method) was not very good. It was really quite pointless. It was a story of a man telling a story about a time when someone else told him a story. And that story was boring.

Awesome

Frank Muller was just amazing. I love every book he did, and miss him so much.

Great set of novellas!

Excellent

Great collection of short stories - I enjoyed all of them. Shawshank was the standout in my opinion.

great book, but chapters are mistimed

the stories are phenomenal. apt pupil is the most chilling IMO. the story makes you really feel the descent into madness .

love it

this was a great collection of Mr.Stephen Kings Stories . I'm DEFINITELY going to read it again.

nice

I got sucked in. might have not been as good except for the narrator. I'm glad he read them.

King proves that he is more than a horror writer.

Different Seasons is an excellent collection of four novellas. Only one of these stories, "The Breathing Method" contains horror elements. Each of these stories illuminate the fact that King, regardless of what genre he is writing, is a master storyteller.
"Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" and "The Body" are rare cases where the adaptations are better, certainly more moving, than the solid, albeit long-winded novellas that inspired the films. Both stories are still a solid 4/5 stars, but they both tested my patience a bit.
"The Breathing Method" could be an episode out of the Twilight Zone. It has cosmic horror elements to it and a bit of body horror as well. It was absolutely fantastic and subtly creepy. 5/5 stars.
My favorite story in the collection though was "Apt Pupil". I love a good cat-and-mouse story, and this novella is a masterclass of the cat-and-mouse thriller. "Apt Pupil" is a horror story, not by definition, but by the fact that Kurt Dussander's and Todd Bowden's are a very real evil. 5/5 stars.

Muller (RIP) & King at their best

I started reading King when I was in 7th grade. He was my favorite author but this one is by far his best. The audio just goes a step further making it convenient to listen while multitasking or commuting. Muller’s voice rivals Morgan Freeman’s for storytelling. Perfect, since he does Red in Shawshank Redemption. Put on the sleep timer at bedtime and you have four perfect bedtime stories anytime you want. Although you may end up losing sleep listening to them all! Enjoy!