YOU LIKE IT DARKER: Stories (Scribner, 502 pp., $30) is an outstanding collection from Stephen King, the master of horror, that features 12 eerie tales full of darkness, loss, danger, resilience and even aliens. There are no throwaways here, but some stories merit individual attention. Its gradual slide into terror perfectly sets the tone for the entire collection. “The Fifth Step,” about a man who opens up to a stranger in a park, is a literary shanking — it’s fast and violent in equal measure. “On Slide Inn Road,” about a family that encounters two murderers while stuck on a country road, is a master class in tension and is full of King’s dark humor.

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Persons: Scribner, Stephen King, ”, creatives, Danny Coughlin’s, arithmomania hellbent