Willa
Encyclopedia
"Willa" is a short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 by Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...

 that was originally published in the December 2006 issue of Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

magazine.

The story is also included as the first entry in King's 2008 short-fiction collection Just After Sunset
Just After Sunset
Just After Sunset is the fifth collection of short stories by Stephen King. It was released in hardcover by Scribner on November 11, 2008, and features a holographic dust jacket. On February 6, 2008, the author's official website revealed the title of the collection to be Just Past Sunset. About a...

. In the endnotes in the collection called "Sunset Notes", King writes of this story: "This probably isn't the best story in the book, but I love it very much, because it ushered in a new period of creativity for me – as regards the short story, at least. Most of the stories in Just After Sunset were written subsequent to 'Willa', and in fairly quick succession (over a period of not quite two years)."

Plot summary

A man finds himself in a train station after an apparent wreck with a few of the other passengers. Unable to locate his fiancee, Willa, he decides to set out to a nearby town—where he knows she would go—to find her. The others try to convince him that not only is the train going to arrive any minute to pick them up, going to town is dangerous as the almost three-mile hike goes straight through deserted terrain that is inhabited by dangerous wolves. Ignoring their advice, he heads into town and has a close-encounter with one of the wolves on the way.

Noticing some lights and music at a nearby honky-tonk, he decides to investigate and finds Willa sitting all alone in a corner booth. As he tries to convince her to come back to the station with him, he realizes what they both have known all along: That he and Willa (along with the rest of the passengers at the train station) are actually ghosts—dead from a train-wreck that happened nearly 20 years before. When they return to the station, he sees a poster saying that the station will be demolished, a poster the other ghosts are unable to see because of their disbelief. He and Willa leave the station for good, pondering what will happen to the ghosts during demolition.

Critical reception

Several critics, in reviewing Just After Sunset, also included their opinions of "Willa". In The Washington Times
The Washington Times
The Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the...

, the reviewer says, ""Willa" is more than just a flirty romance. It's a ghost story, albeit one with a kicker that causes goosebumps of a different order." Carole Goldberg, in the Sun Sentinel, calls the story a "wistful love song in a haunting minor key." A review for NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

 says that in "Willa", as well as in another story in the collection, "The Things They Left Behind
The Things They Left Behind
"The Things They Left Behind" is short story by Stephen King, originally published in the compilation Terror's Echo edited by Ed McBain and published by Forge Books...

", King uses "the supernatural as a way to movingly depict life's frailty."

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK