As noted previously, the themes of recurring evil and the "Bad Place" are present in a variety of King's works, and, as shall be seen presently, the question of moral responsibility is of particular importance in Thinner (1984). Owing to its uniqueness in the King canon, it may be somewhat misleading to consider Pet Sematary as being closely related to any of his other works, although its central premises are explored with startlingly different results in his short story "Word Processor of the Gods" (in Skeleton Crew, 1985).