I love to read Stephen King's work. My only of his work started about 10 years ago. Before that, I have always thought Stephen King's story are ghost related. You know, those supernatural beings that haunt old houses. In reality though, his work is not really related to spirits or undead, even though it is always categorize under horror. His stories are just very disturbing and, well, horrifying. For example, look at this synopsis of a short story he wrote. I stumbled upon it today.
"Survivor Type" is written as the diary of a disgraced surgeon, Richard Pine (real name Richard Pinzetti), who, while attempting to smuggle a large amount of heroin on a cruise ship, finds himself marooned on a tiny island in the Pacific with very limited supplies and no food. A self-proclaimed "survivor" type, his diary entries documenting his day-to-day activities become more and more disjointed and raving, revealing his slow mental decay and eventual insanity caused by starvation, isolation, and drug use. Determined to hold out for rescue, he goes to horrifying lengths to survive. After breaking his ankle while attempting to signal an airplane, he amputates his foot, then realizes he has to eat it to survive. He continues to amputate his own limbs to use as a food source, ingesting the heroin as a crude anesthetic during the operations. Although he initially keeps track of the dates (the entries begin January 26), his increasing mental instability causes him to lose perception of days passed (finally ending his entries with "Febba" and "Fe/40?"). His last few diary entries, barely comprehensible, indicate that he has cut off and eaten everything below his waist, as well as his ears, and drools uncontrollably as he ponders which body part to consume next. The diary entries end when he cuts off his left hand to eat. ("lady fingers they taste just like lady fingers").
See? It has nothing to do with ghost. But it's the sort of deranged ideas that he put into his novels are what made him unique. There are many more example of his work that's equally disturbing and leave a vivid image on your mind, that will last weeks after you read his books. Some of my favourites are Pet Semetary, Thinner, Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Misery, 11/22/63.
What's your favourite Stephen King book?