The Dune is a short horror story by Stephen King, first published in the Fall 2011 issue of Granta, and later collected in his 2015 short story collection, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.
Contents
Plot Summary
The Dune is set in Florida, and focuses on a retired Florida Supreme Court Judge named Harvey Beecher and his lifelong obsession with a mysterious sand dune on an unnamed island, a short distance off the Gulf coastline of his family's property. For some obscure reason, since he was a child and first ventured on to the island looking for supposed buried treasure, he has seen the names of people who are going to die within a month, written in the sand. The main plot focuses on a visit of Beecher's lawyer Anthony Wayland, with whom Beecher wants to 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 Beecher found written there is the reason he now wants his will finished quickly, though it was not Beechers' own name like Wayland at first thinks, and is implied to be Wayland's himself.
Reception
As of November 2015, 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.