Stephen King's novella "The Dog of the Sun", author of the No. 1 bestseller, published in his award-winning 1990 collection of short stories "Four After Midnight", is now available as a separate publication.

This is mine-that's what he thought when his finger pressed the shutter button for the first time. Now he caught himself thinking that maybe he hadn't done it backwards.

Kevin Delevan only wants one thing for his fifteenth birthday: a polaroid Sun 660.

Although there's something wrong with his gift. No matter where Kevin points the camera, it gives out a picture of a huge, vicious dog. In each subsequent image, the threatening creature approaches the flat surface of the polaroid film, as if it intends to break through.

When old Pop Merrill, Castle Rock's most astute trader, finds out about this phenomenon, he comes up with a way to profit from it. But the Dog of the Sun, a beast that should not exist at all, turns out to be a very dangerous investment.