10 Stephen King Stories That Need To Become TV Shows
3. The Things They Left Behind
King's 2008 collection Just After Sunset saw the writer at something of an impasse with his noughties short story output; sure, his full length novels were hitting a peak, with the likes of Under The Dome and 11/22/63 impressing readers, but shorts from this collection such as A Very Tight Place and Harvey's Dream made up a clutch of tales that were a tad bland. Not so dull, though, is this daring little short. Set in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, The Things They Left Behind follows Scott Staley, a man racked with survivors guilt on a crusade to bring items to the families of those that perished in the atrocity, all in the name of shedding some light on their lives and easing his own pain. The overall theme itself, in the wrong pen, could have gone horribly wrong, but somehow King has written a story that is touching and peppered with supernatural themes to keep it eerie - in an ethereal way. Better still, with a list of items to find that is, sadly, quite extensive, there is scope for this being turned into something really special on the small screen.
Shaun is a former contributor for a number of Future Publishing titles and more recently worked as a staffer at Imagine Publishing.
He can now be found banking in the daytime and writing a variety of articles for What Culture, namely around his favourite topics of film, retro gaming, music, TV and, when he's feeling clever, literature.
