Just Finished Reading Stephen King's Novella The Sun Dog

I've possessed a hardbound copy of Stephen King's 1990 book Four Past Midnight for several years, but had only gotten around to reading one of its four novellas: The Library Policeman.  Two of the book's stories were adapted into movies: The Langoliers (which I saw) and Secret Window, Secret Garden (of which I only caught a couple of scenes).  I didn't see the point of reading the former after seeing the movie...which is why I've never read King's Misery or Firestarter, either.  As for Secret Window, Secret Garden, there's no reason for me to avoid reading it since I don't know how the story ends.  That leaves the remaining novella: The Sun Dog, which I just finished reading...

Keep in mind, with The Sun Dog, that we are dealing with a story set in the author's time frame of 1990.  Back then Polaroid was a very popular brand of camera with its pictures developing a few seconds after their jettisoning, something that in our time must seem a bit obsolete.  But for protagonist Kevin Delevan, there are few things he wanted more for his fifteenth birthday than the Polaroid Sun 660 he receives.  Immediately he lines up his family for a photo op, but the resulting picture reveals only an ugly, stray-looking dog with its back to the camera, facing a fence in the background.  And no matter how many photos Kevin takes, he gets that dog with the fence.  Although he is inclined to return the obviously defective product, a strange feeling inside him compels him to keep it and investigate the cause of the puzzling photos.  It is then his sister who points out to him that the photos are not all the same...they change very gradually.  Kevin takes the advice of someone to take the camera to "Pop" Merrill, an elderly, miserly loan shark who has a shop full of gadgets and who has built up a reputation for his ability to take apart clocks and other items...including presumably cameras.  Well, that was a bad decision on Kevin's part, because Merrill's greed takes over as he plots to wrest away possession of the camera...

Since I don't give away story endings, this is another one you'll have to read for yourself.  But I will say this: Stephen King likes to take ostensibly innocent looking objects...like cars, for example...and impart something supernatural and sinister to them.  And by choosing a camera, he also explores the idea of a two-dimensional universe interacting with ours of three dimensions.  If that sounds a lot like Edwin Abbott's Flatland, well, King openly acknowledges it in this intriguing story.  Of all the characters in The Sun Dog, I found that of "Pop" Merrill to be by far the most interesting and thought-provoking.  But that's not surprising since I've long thought that Stephen King's greatest attribute as a writer of fiction has been his genius at character development...

I recommend The Sun Dog...now to read Secret Window, Secret Garden...