"The Dune" is a short horror story by

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

, first published in the Fall 2011 issue of

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

, and later collected in his 2015 short story collection, ''

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams ''The Bazaar of Bad Dreams'' is a short fiction collection by Stephen King, published on November 3, 2015. This is King's sixth collection of short stories and his tenth collection overall. One of the stories, "Obits", won the 2016 Edgar Award fo ...

''.

Plot summary

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, a retired

Florida Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Florida is the highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of seven members: the chief justice and six justices. Six members are chosen from six districts around the state to foster geographic diversity, and one ...

Judge named Harvey Beecher has a lifelong obsession with a mysterious

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

on an unnamed island, a short distance off the Gulf coastline of his family's property. Since he was a child and first ventured onto the island looking for buried treasure, he has seen the names of people who are going to die within a month written in the sand. Beecher's lawyer, Anthony Wayland, visits to help Beecher finish his last will. While drawing up the document, Beecher tells about his most recent visit to the dune and the grim recollection of his lifelong experiences with it. The name that Beecher found written in the dune is the reason he now wants his will finished quickly. Wayland assumes Beecher has seen his own name in the sand, but later it is implied the name was Wayland's.

Reception

, readers of the web site Goodreads.com had registered 139 ratings for the story, with an average score of 3.77 out of 5 stars.

References

External links

* Horror short stories Short stories by Stephen King Short stories set in Florida 2011 short stories {{2010s-horror-story-stub