The Shining 2 - Dr. Sleep

[MichaelMyers]

You'd have thought that penning over 50 books, shifting millions of copies and seeing your work transformed into some of the most famous films of a generation might give an author confidence in their art. Not Stephen King.

Ahead of the publication of Doctor Sleep, the sequel to 1977's The Shining, King told the BBC that he is nervous about how readers will react to his latest work.

Speaking to arts editor Will Gompertz, the 65-year-old author said he expects the majority of readers to compare the new title with his horror classic: "You are faced with that comparison and that has got to make you nervous, because there is a lot of water under the bridge. I'm a different man".

"People kept asking me - I'd go to autographing sessions and they'd say, 'Whatever happened to that kid from The Shining?'", said King, explaining the beginnings of his new work. "I've never been someone who wanted to revisit the past and I'm particularly leery about revisiting the scary books; I feel like a lot of people read those books under the covers with flash lights when they were children themselves."

........

Doctor Sleep sees a mature Danny Torrance using his 'Shining' abilities in his job at a hospice, helping people move on from this life to the next.

http://www.shortlist.com/entertainme...quel-reception

Out next Tuesday, September 24th.

[hammerfan]

Originally Posted by MichaelMyers

http://www.shortlist.com/entertainme...quel-reception

Out next Tuesday, September 24th.

Looking forward to it!

[_____V_____]

This follow-up, which King tells USA Today is a "true history of the Torrance family," is titled "Doctor Sleep" and it initially picks up three years after the end of the first book, with 8-year-old Danny being visited by an Overlook Hotel ghost, then jumps ahead to when Danny is Dan, an adult alcoholic working as a hospital orderly.

While King says the famous movie starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall is "certainly beautiful to look at," he says that it was made with a "cold heart" and showed very little understanding of the characters from the novel.

Therefore, don't expect "Doctor Sleep" to be a sequel to the horror film, which ended quite differently from the novel.

One of the over-arching themes of "Doctor Sleep" is whether Dan, who is facing new supernatural enemies, will be as self-destructive as his father was in the original novel. King calls his characterizations in "Doctor Sleep" "sharper" than "The Shining," saying that he's older and has "learned a little more."

"Doctor Sleep" hits bookstores and e-readers Tuesday, Sept. 24.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/b...-king/2828845/

[spooky_reader]

Okies - so who else is reading/has read this? Really interested to hear what others think.