"Obits" is a short story by American author Stephen King, which was first published in King's 2015 short-story collection, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams". The story won the 2016 Edgar Award for Best Short Story.
Plot
The story is narrated by Michael Anderson, who, according to him, is 'less-than-fearless'. He briefly describes how he went to the University of Rhode Island, where he got a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, and how Professor Vern Higgins, the head of journalism there, instructed them to write their stories.
Michael says he had a string of odd jobs at first, until he took an impulsive decision and wrote a nasty, unsympathetic joke obituary for Jack Briggs, an actor who had died of a drug overdose, and sent it to Neon Circus (his favourite webzine). The editor of Neon Circus, Jeroma Whitfield, was impressed with his article and offered him a column writing obituaries in Neon Circus. Seeing this as an opportunity to do something he really wanted to do, Michael accepted.
Michael then describes Neon Circus, and Katie Curran, his colleague, who he also has a crush on. One day, angry with Jeroma for refusing him a raise, he wrote an obituary for her as a joke to vent out his anger. However, he later got a call from Katie, who informed him that Jeroma actually died. Michael then says he thought it just a coincidence, and that Jeroma couldn't really have died just because he wrote an obituary for her. However, later on in the story, it becomes clear that he actually has a power of killing living people by writing their obituaries. He describes how his power was like an addiction, and how the urge to use it again and again grew stronger every time he wrote an obituary. He also found out later that his power sort of 'spread' further and further every time he used it. This meant that, even if he wrote an obituary for a particular person, other people with similar names also died.
He goes on to say that he left his job at Neon Circus, and now lives in Wyoming, where he works as a house painter and does various other jobs. He stopped using laptops and computers, and only uses an iPad now, on which he checks out Neon Circus from time to time. He ends the story by saying how he has tried to stick to the way Mr. Higgins had told them to follow while writing a story, and how, like Mr. Higgins always said, 'it's the end only for now'.