Doctor Sleep

[peteOcha]

From the King website:

"It's now official--Stephen is working on Dr. Sleep, the sequel to The Shining. This weekend Steve read an excerpt from this at his appearance at George Mason University. They have given us permission to post their taping of the event here on Steve's site which we will do as soon as we receive the file. Dr. Sleep's plot includes a traveling group of vampires called The Tribe which is part of the passage he read from.

Really interested in hearing the passage when they upload it!

[gsconquest]

Not too sure how vampires connect to The Shining, but I am interested in finding out. It has been a while since I read the Shining. Is there an obvious connection that I'm not remembering?

[jhanic]

My gut feel is that it's a similar sequel to The Shining as Black House was to The Talisman. Same main character, but no other real relation to the original.

JOhn

[srboone]

My gut feel is that it's a similar sequel to The Shining as Black House was to The Talisman. Same main character, but no other real relation to the original.

JOhn

I hope not! Black House didn't do justice to The Talisman or the character of Jack Sawyer! I can't say I'm excited about Dr. Sleep, but I really hope it's a better sequel than BH!

[peteOcha]

Not too sure how vampires connect to The Shining, but I am interested in finding out. It has been a while since I read the Shining. Is there an obvious connection that I'm not remembering?

...as long as they don't sparkle!!

Can't think of a connection either, thats what makes this all the more interesting for me.

[frik51]

I hope not! Black House didn't do justice to The Talisman or the character of Jack Sawyer! I can't say I'm excited about Dr. Sleep, but I really hope it's a better sequel than BH!

True, Black House doesn't read like a Talisman sequel at all. In spite of this, I loved it. Maybe even more than the first book.

sk

[bsaenz24]

True, Black House doesn't read like a Talisman sequel at all. In spite of this, I loved it. Maybe even more than the first book.

sk

Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.

Black House was a great book, but Talisman is a classic!!

[srboone]

I must disagree. BH started off with 100 pages of inexplicable narration (I started the book 3 times before gettting past the point); then it became a very good police procedural infused with Jack's supernatural inclinations; then it ended up as a part of the DT series that had me shaking my head. Something tells me that Straub heavily influenced the first part, then let King run with the story after that.

Didn't find it nearly as successful as The Talisman--which I found to be a much more interesting and accessible version of Huckleberry Finn.

A classic, through and through.

[gsconquest]

I hope this isn't going to be a sequel like Halloween 3: Season of the Witch. Where they take a popular story and use it to sell a not so great idea that in no way relates to the previous works. Guess we'll wait and see. I am cautiously optimistic.

[HorrorScribe]

Regardless of how much a true sequel Dr. Sleep is to The Shining, I'm as eager to read it as I am any new SK book. With that said, because The Shining is one of his best (as well as one of my personal favorites), I have high expectations for Dr. Sleep. Furthermore, I'm just glad that SK hasn't yet made good on his oft-made threat to retire from publishing.

[peteOcha]

And I hope he doesn't plan to do that any time soon! Its ok if he wants to slow down, say 1-2 books a year, and one short story anthology every 2-3 years. But no less!!

[Grant Wootton]

Regardless of how much a true sequel Dr. Sleep is to The Shining, I'm as eager to read it as I am any new SK book. With that said, because The Shining is one of his best (as well as one of my personal favorites), I have high expectations for Dr. Sleep. Furthermore, I'm just glad that SK hasn't yet made good on his oft-made threat to retire from publishing.

Totally concur, The Shining is one of my personal Top 5 and, as such, anything less than a storyline that gells/blends with the original storyline will be a ... touch ... disappointing. As always though, I'm optimistic

[srboone]

The Shining is my personal favorite.

One of the reasons, other than that fact that is scared the **** out of me in 1981 and again in 2011, is that is was written before the DT series took off and any references to it were either added later (which I haven't read) or were simply worked into the series. Not that I don't like the DT series, I do. but I like the idea of being able to read it again without having to cross reference it to DT. That's the reason I prefer his pre-1985 stuff. A lot of good stories were derailed by tie-ins to DT. Insomnia and Black House immediately come to mind.

So I'm excited because King is writing again and I'm not because he might be monkeying with my favorite work.

But if it is a precursor to a signed/limited of The Shining, I'm all for that!!!

[misery chastain loves co.]

Vampires and The Shining? Don't they mean Salem's Lot? lol. Hmmmm....oh well, you know we're all going to go out and get this as soon as it's released, read it immediately, love it or "dislike" it(hate is too strong a word to use for ANY King book ) and discuss from there. That's why we love our Uncle Stevie after all these years.....

[bsaenz24]

Hate is only too strong a word when you're not reading Tommyknockers.