Thirty-four years after publishing the heart-stopping horror novel, “The Shining,” author Stephen King is brewing up the classic book’s sequel.
The legendary novelist, who was rumored to be penning the sequel in 2009, confirmed on his website Monday that he’s indeed working on a continuation of the chilling book on spirits, psychic powers, murder and insanity.
“It’s now official — Stephen is working on ‘Dr. Sleep’, the sequel to ‘The Shining’,” states the 64-year-old’s official site. “Dr. Sleep’s plot includes a traveling group of [psychic] vampires called The Tribe.”
Over the weekend, King visited George Mason University, where he accepted the Mason Prize and read excerpts from “Dr. Sleep.”
According to early reports of “Dr. Sleep,” the sequel takes readers through the life of 40-year-old Danny Torrance, a Hospice employee who uses his innate psychic powers to “visit with patients who are just about to pass on to the other side” and helps them die painless deaths.
“The Shining,” which was adapted into a Stanley Kubrick film and 90s television series, follows alcoholic Jack Torrance as he, his wife and son Danny move to an isolated Colorado hotel, where Jack accepted a winter caretaker position. The giant hotel is bursting with bad energy and vibes, ghosts and evil, all of which contribute to the erosion of Jack’s sanity and scare little Danny. Jack undergoes frightening personality changes and spirits flock to his son.
The Maine native, who has published more than 40 novels and is responsible for scary stories such as “Carrie,” “It,” “Misery” and “The Stand,” shed light on what we can expect from “Dr. Sleep” during his GMU speech. King said he’d been mulling over the prospect of revisiting the character of gifted — but haunted — Danny Torrance for a long time.
“This is an idea that I’ve had for some time. I wrote a novel in the ’70s called ‘The Shining’ … I always wondered what happened to that kid, Danny Torrance, when he grew up … I kept wondering, what’s Danny Torrance doing? What’s going on with him now? Where did he go after this terrible experience? And little by little, this story started to form,” King said.
The book, which is still in the works, “kinda goes back to ‘what’s the worst thing you can think of?” King continued. “I knew that there were bad people in this story that were like vampires, only that what they sucked-out was not blood, but psychic energy from special people like Danny Torrance. And I came to realize that these people were called The Tribe and that they move around a lot.”
The author’s next book, “11/22/63” hits bookstores on November 8.
Watch: King fleshes out sequel details
Watch: King reads “Dr. Sleep” excerpt
