This Stephen King Short Story Became Too Disturbing for the…

Summary

King's novel "Survivor Type" went too far with its self-cannibalism theme.
King consulted with a doctor to understand the physiological aspects of the story.
The story was deemed too extreme for publication due to its gruesome nature.

Stephen King is known for his ability to tap into the human psyche to reveal its deepest, darkest fears in a bid to scare his readers, but one of his short novels ended up eventually turning against him, in which he later revealed that he may have gone too far with its gruesome concept. The celebrated horror writer, now 77, has written hundreds of novels, novellas, short stories, screenplays and even some nonfiction. Stephen King's worldwide popularity is so vast that he even had to use the pseudonym, Richard Bachman, just to publish all of his ideas in order to increase his publication without saturating the market for the "King brand".

He also briefly used the alias Beryl Evans for a short story collection, but this is less widely known. Additionally, he's attributed to having used the name John Swithen. For longtime readers, their adventures into King's creative mind all began with Carrie, King’s first published novel in 1974, which was inspired by two real-life girls from his high school who were both victims of bullying and mistreatment, which he combined to create the character of Carrie White. Carrie has always remained a standalone classic for fans due to its hard-hitting themes of alienation and retribution, but one of his many short story collections was too dark and twisted even for King's tastes.

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By Rachael Fiddis

Stephen King Admitted That Skeleton Crew’s “Survivor Type” Ended up Being Too Disturbing

In an interview with Monsterland Magazine, which has been more recently highlighted by horror writer Mark West, Stephen King talked about his short novel collection, Skeleton Crew, which comprises 22 stories, including the likes of The Mist, The Monkey, The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet and The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands. However, one of the stories called Survivor Type went over the top with its narrative for King. “As far as short stories are concerned, I like the grisly ones the best. However, the story "Survivor Type" goes a little bit too far, even for me," King said upon reflection.

First published in the 1982 horror anthology Terrors, and included in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew, Survivor Type is a psychological horror story which tells the tale of a drug-smuggling surgeon called Richard Pine who attempts to sneak vast amounts of heroin aboard a cruise ship. When the ship encounters an explosion, Pine escapes into the ocean and ends up marooned on a remote island. With only his drugs and no food, Pine eventually has to resort to self-cannibalism in order to survive, including amputating his own body parts to stay alive.

In researching the story, King even spoke with his neighbor, who was a retired doctor, to understand the main character's physiological state more by asking how long a person could feed on his own body for. Unsurprisingly, especially back then, King found it difficult to get Survivor Type published, stating that "not even men's magazines would consider this one". Just like many of King's writings, Survivor Type received an adaptation, but instead of a full movie, the story got a Creepshow animated TV adaptation instead, starring the voice of Kiefer Sutherland.