From worstpreviews, Last Thursday, Stephen King was promoting his new "Under the Dome" novel at Toronto's Canon Theatre and also talked about his next book, which he said he has been working on since last summer. The new book will be called "Doctor Sleep" and that it will be a sequel to one of his most popular novels, "The Shining."
The reason for the follow-up is because the author believes that the first novel never explained what happened to young Danny and his psychic powers. And even though King ended his 1977 book on a positive note, he believes that the events that took place at the Overlook Hotel must have left Danny with lots of emotional scars.
The Torontoist was at the event and described what the author has in mind for the follow-up:
"Danny is now 40 years old and living in upstate New York, where he works as the equivalent of an orderly at a hospice for the terminally ill. Danny's real job is to visit with patients who are just about to pass on to the other side, and to help them make that journey with the aid of his mysterious powers. Danny also has a sideline in betting on the horses, a trick he learned from his buddy Dick Hallorann."
4 comments:
I am not optimistic.
So, neither of you are optimistic? At least you're finally admitting there's two of you in there.
I can't say I'm optimistic either, but when I read "...the author believes that the first novel never explained..." I had a moment of sinking fear that the new novel was a prequel, with the requisite prequel patter about the stuff we get to finally find out about (as I've mentioned in several comments, this patter burns my butt).
But no, it's about the future of the characters instead. Although I don't buy the implication that novels with children as characters are obliged to tell you what happened to them when they grew up, it's a little better. My butt is not burned.
You've known there are two Jordans for a while.
One of the smartest J. J. Abrams comments in the Star Trek commentary track (and there are a hell of a lot to choose from) involves the sequence where Spock Prime mind melds with Kirk, and you get all the explaino about what happened with the black holes, Romulus, red matter etc. Abrams explains that they realized the secret to the sequence was to obscure the sound of Nimoy's explanations, because you really are better off not trying to follow the back story, because, you know, Who gives a shit, really? I'm telling you the man's a genius!
I read The Shining this summer after visiting the hotel that inspired King to write the book (and was also where the 1990s TV version was filmed). The book, while one of King's better works, still isn't as cool as the Stanley Kubrick film.
I watched the TV version this summer as well, and in it - King, who wrote the screenplay, adds a scene at the end where Danny, is graduating high school and is visited by the very proud conciliatory ghost of his father.
It's a dumb scene, but shows that King had been thinking about Danny growing up for some time.
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