As some of you may already know, Stephen King has been working on a sequel to his novel, The Shining.
The story follows Danny Torrance, who is now 44-years old and living in upstate New York. Danny is, “a hospice worker who uses his powers to help ill patients to pass away without pain. Unfortunately, he runs afoul of a gang of wandering psychic vampires (called The Tribe) who feed on people’s energy.” The novel, Doctor Sleep will debut on Sept. 24, 2013.
Back in 2009, King gave his readers the power over which book he should write next, Doctor Sleep or the next Dark Tower novel, The Wind Through the Keyhole:
“I mentioned two potential projects while I was on the road, one a new Mid-World book (not directly about Roland Deschain, but yes, he and his friend Cuthbert are in it, hunting a skin-man, which are what werewolves are called in that lost kingdom) and a sequel to The Shining called Doctor Sleep. Are you interested in reading either of these? If so, which one turns your dials more? [We] will be counting your votes (and of course it all means nothing if the muse doesn’t speak).”
Voting ended on December 31, 2009, and it was revealed that Doctor Sleep received 5,861 votes, while The Wind Through the Keyhole received 5,812.
Geez, that was a tight race. I’m curious of what adult Danny’s thoughts are on the events that transpired during the time his family spent at the Overlook Hotel.
Below is a video of King reading an excerpt from the book during an awards ceremony at George Mason University last Friday.