Nightmare's and Dreamscapes by Stephen King is his latest
compilation of short stories.  After reading many short stories by
the same author many similarities and differences become apparent.
     King likes to use writers or authors as his main characters in
his stories.  For example in The End of the Whole Mess King uses
Howie Fornoy, a writer to convey his story.  In Night Flier King
uses a tabloid writer named Richard Dees as his main character. 
Although the perspective of the character's changes they are both
authors.
     Another similarity in King's works is that fact that most of
the characters are harmed in one way or another in the end of the
story.  In The End of the Whole Mess Howie ends up dying after he
helps out his younger brother.  In Suffer Little Children Miss
Sidley becomes insane and kills more than half of her students. 
Lastly in the story It Grows on You, Gary Paulson has a heart
attack and dies for no reason.
     In two of King's stories, Night Flier and Popsy, vampires play
significant roles.  The story Night Flier revolves around Dees
trying to get a picture of the vampire for his tabloid story.  In
Popsy, Sheridon kidnaps the grandchild of a vampire and the story
then revolves around the older vampire (Popsy) trying to get his
grandson back.
     Stephen King likes to use characters of all sexes and ages as
his main characters to put some variety in his stories.  In Dolan's
Cadillac a middle aged, balding teacher from a middle class
neighborhood is the main character.  The End of the Whole Mess is
centered around Howard Fornoy, a successful writer, telling the
story of how is brother tried to stop the world from fighting all
the time.  In Suffer Little Children, Miss Sidley, a school teacher
becomes insane and kills her students because she thinks that they
are monsters.  All of these characters are very different from each
other which makes it kind of hard to believe that they are created
by the same person.
     All of King's short stories are set in the near future, or the
present.  The stories aren't set in strange parallel dimensions or
far into the future on other planets.  They are set on earth.  They
are also set in a time frame that people can understand.  Dolan's
Cadillac is a good example.  Just by the title one would guess it
is set in the present.  Also in Dolan's Cadillac King uses cities
and highways that most people are familiar with.  He sets the story
in Las Vegas and on Highway 71 which runs between Los Angeles and
Las Vegas.  In The End of the Whole Mess Howard Fornoy is typing
his story on his brother's electric typewriter because he doesn't
have his Wang word processor in the hospital.
     There is no prevalent, reoccurring conflict utilized by King. 
In Dolan's Cadillac the main character is trying to kill Dolan
which is an obvious Man versus Man conflict.  Suffer Little
Children shows Miss Sidley slowly loosing her sanity and eventually
going on a shooting spree and killing the majority of her students. 
That is a prime example of a Man versus Himself conflict.  In Night
Flier Dees has to deal with extreme weather and environmental
factors in order to follow the vampire that he wants to photograph,
a perfect example of Man versus Nature.
     The short story is recognized as a style of writing all it's
own.  By showing that he can write both wonderful novel's and
excellent short stories Stephen King has established himself as one
of the great American writers whose works will hopefully be around
for many more generations so that people can enjoy them.