Stephen Kings short stories are often much better than his novels. Of all his books, I recommend: Misery, The Stand, Running Man, Needful Things, Insomnia, Desperation, Everythings Eventual, Bag of Bones, It, Duma Key
My favorite short story of Kings is called "Survivor Type". It's about a coke addict surgeon who gets stranded on a desert island, here is a snippet:
Feb 17(?)
Took off my right leg at the knee, but lost a lot of blood. Pain excruciating in spite of heroin. Shock-trauma would have killed a lesser man. Let me answer with a question: How badly does the patient want to survive? How badly does the patient want to live?
Hands trembling. If they are betraying me, I'm through. They have no right to betray me. No right at all. I've taken care of them all their lives. Pampered them. They better not. Or they'll be sorry.
At least I'm not hungry.