Beachworld
Encyclopedia
"Beachworld" is a short science fiction
story by Stephen King
, first published in Weird Tales
in 1984, and collected in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew
.
After the catastrophic crash landing of a Federation spacecraft on an uncharted planet made up entirely of sand, only crew members Rand and Shapiro survive. The men stare out over the sand dunes and remark on how the planet is similar to a beach. Rand, who is slowly becoming insane, refuses to move from the dune on which he is sitting or to drink water. When help arrives in the form of another spacecraft, Shapiro tries to take Rand onboard with him. However, Rand resists leaving the planet, and the sand reveals itself to be sentient. It prevents Rand's rescue by both wrecking the android sent from the ship and sending a hand of sand up to stop a tranquilizer dart. The rescue ship escapes just in time, with Shapiro narrowly avoiding a giant hand of sand. Rand, left alone, stares up at the ship as it disappears, and then begins to pile handfuls of sand into his mouth.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
story by Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
, first published in Weird Tales
Weird Tales
Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....
in 1984, and collected in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew
Skeleton Crew
Skeleton Crew is the second collection of short fiction by Stephen King. The first collection, Night Shift, was published seven years prior in 1978. Different Seasons, a collection of four novellas, was published between the two in 1982. Skeleton Crew was originally published in hardcover form by...
.
Plot summary
"Beachworld" is set at an unspecified time in the distant future. Among the few clues to the date is the passing reference that the last of the Beach Boys had died eight thousand years previously.After the catastrophic crash landing of a Federation spacecraft on an uncharted planet made up entirely of sand, only crew members Rand and Shapiro survive. The men stare out over the sand dunes and remark on how the planet is similar to a beach. Rand, who is slowly becoming insane, refuses to move from the dune on which he is sitting or to drink water. When help arrives in the form of another spacecraft, Shapiro tries to take Rand onboard with him. However, Rand resists leaving the planet, and the sand reveals itself to be sentient. It prevents Rand's rescue by both wrecking the android sent from the ship and sending a hand of sand up to stop a tranquilizer dart. The rescue ship escapes just in time, with Shapiro narrowly avoiding a giant hand of sand. Rand, left alone, stares up at the ship as it disappears, and then begins to pile handfuls of sand into his mouth.