Stephen King working on a Shining sequel...with vampires!!

[Maserschmidt]

http://www.deadline.com/2011/09/step...with-vampires/

Oh lord. Odds of being awful? Pr (awful | King's recent trajectory, plus vampires) = 96.3%.

[Frodo]

Nothing good can come out of this...

[Dung Beetle]

I worship the ground Mr. King walks on…but I desperately wish he wouldn’t do this.

[Sarabellum1976]

I thought he was "done" writing fiction?

[Gyrate]

Ah, a story of a ghoulish creature engaging in cannibalistic behavior. And then writing a book.

Stephen King is turning into George Lucas, in that he's rejigging his past triumphs which will inevitably ruin them and make everyone hate him. Mining his back catalog for the Dark Tower series was bad enough.

[Thudlow Boink]

Originally Posted by Sarabellum1976

I thought he was "done" writing fiction?

...several times?

[Anaamika]

I am sick unto death of vampires, but I guess he's just trying to cash in on the current craze. Although he's a bit late! Still, Shining is one of my favorite books ever, and I don't think he can really improve on it.

[LVBoPeep]

I don't know - I'm curious as to what happened to Danny. Maybe it will be awful but I'll probably read it anyways. I am currently reading Full Dark, No Stars and it's better than I expected.

[hogarth]

Before I clicked on the link, I thought it would be "The Overlook Hotel 2: More Overlooking" (which would indeed be lame). But having another unrelated novel starring Danny Torrence doesn't sound offensive to me.

Of course, I gave up reading Stephen King books written after "Insomnia", so I'm not going to defend the writing quality of his recent books.

[Anaamika]

Originally Posted by LVBoPeep

I don't know - I'm curious as to what happened to Danny. Maybe it will be awful but I'll probably read it anyways.

Me, too, but why vampires? Danny was a very special child; there's a great deal more he could deal with than stupid old vampires.

[Steophan]

Originally Posted by Anaamika

I am sick unto death of vampires, but I guess he's just trying to cash in on the current craze. Although he's a bit late! Still, Shining is one of my favorite books ever, and I don't think he can really improve on it.

Unlikely, as he was writing about vampires decades before the current craze, and they're pretty important to The Dark Tower, and as such an important part of his fictional universe.

I think it sounds interesting, and will probably be good - King's success rate is probably as high as anyone who writes as many books as him.

[Anaamika]

Originally Posted by Steophan

Unlikely, as he was writing about vampires decades before the current craze, and they're pretty important to The Dark Tower, and as such an important part of his fictional universe.

I think it sounds interesting, and will probably be good - King's success rate is probably as high as anyone who writes as many books as him.

Well, I have read his vampire books, but that doesn't mean he couldn't be writing more books just to cash in on it!

[WOOKINPANUB]

Originally Posted by Dung Beetle

I worship the ground Mr. King walks on…but I desperately wish he wouldn’t do this.

Amen! I liked "Salem's Lot" back in the day but the genre has had the blood sucked out of it, so to speak. And for anyone who gave up on SK I suggest you give "Full Dark, No Stars" a try as LVBoPeep mentioned. The writing really harkens back to his early career.

[Enderw24]

I just think King needs to properly get in the mood before settling in to write this book.
Anyone have his supplier's number?

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

Originally Posted by WOOKINPANUB

And for anyone who gave up on SK I suggest you give "Full Dark, No Stars" a try as LVBoPeep mentioned. The writing really harkens back to his early career.

Yeah, I do think he still nails it in his shorter works.

[CalMeacham]

Isaac Asimov writing a sequel that joined his Robot series with the Foundation series seemed like a stupid idea, until I realized that it meant that sales would go up on both Foundation series books and Robot series books, as people unfamilar with books they hadn't read yet (or hadn't read in a long time) bought other books in the series to catch up.

This'll persuade people to buy copies of The Shining. And maybe Salem's Lot. Makes perfect sense.

[Tapioca Dextrin]

Will this new book feature a ... lamp monster?

[PhiloVance]

Whoa, I thought Stephen King was dead. Didn't he get hit by a car or something? Really can't be bothered to Google. :meh:

[Enderw24]

Originally Posted by PhiloVance

Whoa, I thought Stephen King was dead. Didn't he get hit by a car or something? Really can't be bothered to Google. :meh:

He did die. But only in one version of time. In another version, Stephen King manages to carve out a key that merged two competing realities and brought him back into our world so he could write again.

[Unauthorized Cinnamon]

I suspect these vampires will be the same/related to the Salem's Lot ones. Father Whatshisname featured heavily in the later Dark Tower books, and he likes to tie a lot of his works together via DT.

I still think it will be stupid. I didn't even like Full Dark, No Stars. I think the last really good book he did was Everything's Eventual. (Though I will give props to "N" as one of the scariest, most evil stories I've ever read.)

[The_Peyote_Coyote]

I don't think The Shining needs any kind of sequel. It's his best work.

[Cat Whisperer]

I love Stephen King's later works - Duma Key is one of my favourite books of his. I'll certainly grant you that his writing style has changed, but for me it's changed for the better. Looking forward to this book!

[elfkin477]

Originally Posted by Frodo

Nothing good can come out of this...

Yeah, unfortunately.

Anyone else read Black House?

[Thudlow Boink]

Originally Posted by hogarth

Before I clicked on the link, I thought it would be "The Overlook Hotel 2: More Overlooking" (which would indeed be lame). But having another unrelated novel starring Danny Torrence doesn't sound offensive to me.

So, sounds like it's a sequel in the same sense as Black House is a "sequel" to The Talisman: a basically unrelated novel featuring the former protagonist as a grown-up.

ETA: After seeing the previous post: Yeah, I read Black House. I really liked it, but it was very slow to get going, and it was bound to disappoint anyone looking for something in the same vein as The Talisman.

[Unauthorized Cinnamon]

Originally Posted by elfkin477

Yeah, unfortunately.

Anyone else read Black House?

You know, I went and looked up King's bibliography so I could opine on when he started really sucking, and I saw Black House, and I had totally forgotten its existence until that moment. If I try hard, I seem to recall grown up Jack and a blind DJ or something. Clearly it had little impact on me!

[otternell]

Looking forward to it! It took me a long time to get into Black House (like several years before I got past page 10), but I enjoyed it. Like Cat Whisperer I LOVED Duma Key - great book.

I enjoy just about everything he's written at one level or another. I prefer the more supernatural stuff - so Under the Dome was not anywhere near my top 10 list for SK books.

Maybe I have low standards, but I'm just looking to be carried on a wave of story that gets me out of my life. I think that's why I don't like the books with more human on human violence, far too real for me.

[Dung Beetle]

Originally Posted by The_Peyote_Coyote

I don't think The Shining needs any kind of sequel. It's his best work.

It really is.

[Revtim]

Originally Posted by Cat Whisperer

I love Stephen King's later works - Duma Key is one of my favourite books of his. I'll certainly grant you that his writing style has changed, but for me it's changed for the better. Looking forward to this book!

I agree. I listened to Duma Key as an audio book, with a good reader, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Primarily because King's writing style.

[Anaamika]

I think he has become badly in need of editors who will tell him to stop talking so much...rather like Rowling did in her latter books.

.

[Johnny Q]

"The Caretaker" vs. the Bloodsuckers. Who will win?

Then again, I can see the allure of a place where oceans of blood are always pouring through the lobby to a vampire.

[Maserschmidt]

I wouldn't ever claim that only his early works were good, but to me Salem's Lot and The Shining were both outstanding novels. I recently reread Salem's Lot (the same paperback copy I read more than 30 years ago, which includes a 1979 autograph!), and even knowing where it was headed I found myself gripped.

Originally Posted by Anaamika

I think he has become badly in need of editors who will tell him to stop talking so much...rather like Rowling did in her latter books.

Originally Posted by Qadgop the Mercotan

Yeah, I do think he still nails it in his shorter works.

This is really at the heart of where King has fallen apart. He's like a batter who had 3 MVP years and who still puts together good streaks. Unfortunately most of his later books include stretches (frequently the endings) where he seems to lose it.

Still. I'll likely buy it.

[Maserschmidt]

Because the thread is short, and because it's on topic, this seems okay as a zombie. Update: it's coming out in September!

http://www.stephenking.com/promo/doctor_sleep/

On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and tween Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted readers of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.

[aruvqan]

Originally Posted by Johnny Q

"The Caretaker" vs. the Bloodsuckers. Who will win?

Then again, I can see the allure of a place where oceans of blood are always pouring through the lobby to a vampire.

MMM, rather like the set breakfasts at Holiday Inns ...

[A Dodgy Dude]

Originally Posted by Sarabellum1976

I thought he was "done" writing fiction?

He is done. He just doesn't realize it.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/...d.php?t=244255

[Sampiro]

Originally Posted by Sarabellum1976

I thought he was "done" writing fiction?

In addition to saying that several times he has said that he would be totally blind by... several years ago now. I know that he does have major eye issues and I'm certainly glad he still has enough sight to enjoy the world around him, either his diagnosis was changed or he seems to has some drama queen in him as well.

Originally Posted by Unauthorized Cinnamon

I suspect these vampires will be the same/related to the Salem's Lot ones.

I kind of hope so. I'm really tired of sexy immortal vampires.

My guess: the vampires and Doc join forces to fight off Ma Creed.

[TBG]

Can't wait for the inevitable Christine vs It.

[koeeoaddi]

Dammit, Steve! Is it too much to ask, if you're going to go back to the Overlook, that you at least keep the boo-factor consistent? See, haunted houses and ghosts are boatloads of creepy fun and we're all sick to death of fucking vampires. Besides, Danny shines, he doesn't sparkle.

At least there won't be any big dumb shambling zombies. Right? Right?!

[lisacurl]

I'm dubious, but I kind of love the idea of elderly RVers as a traveling pack of quasi-vampires.

[Sicks Ate]

Jesus Fuck, Steve. Stop 20 years ago, please.

[Gray Ghost]

Oh good. Take what's probably my favorite novel of his, one that works perfectly well without any supernatural influence whatsover, and shit all over it by bringing in torture-porn vampires. Great. It'll probably be three times the length of The Shining too, since he's long outgrown anything so mundane as needing to be edited.

Glad I stopped reading him after Cell. Though the recommendations earlier in the thread make me want to pick up Duma Key.

[Dung Beetle]

Originally Posted by Gray Ghost

Oh good. Take what's probably my favorite novel of his, one that works perfectly well without any supernatural influence whatsover, and shit all over it by bringing in torture-porn vampires.

I too, wish he hadn't done this... and yet I know I must read it.

[Sister Vigilante]

Originally Posted by lisacurl

I'm dubious, but I kind of love the idea of elderly RVers as a traveling pack of quasi-vampires.

They already did this, in an X-Files episode.

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

Originally Posted by Gray Ghost

Glad I stopped reading him after Cell. Though the recommendations earlier in the thread make me want to pick up Duma Key.

Yeah, you'll want to read Duma Key. And 11/22/63. And The Wind Through the Keyhole.

He still can write. From time to time.

[Cartooniverse]

Unabashed fan here. The Shining is the Holy Grail of King novels, IMHO. It spoke to me on some levels at 14 when I first read it. At 38, it was quite a different experience.

Since I'm such a fan, I'm not quick to deride his interest in delving into where things went. I don't think for a moment that King wrote his novel with the coda chapter with the intention of writing a sequel. I think he's curious.

Whether his curiosity produces a story that pleases me is another thing entirely !!

[Pazu]

Originally Posted by Maserschmidt

Because the thread is short, and because it's on topic, this seems okay as a zombie. Update: it's coming out in September!

http://www.stephenking.com/promo/doctor_sleep/

For some reason, the promo text is making me think of Justin Cronin's The Passage and The Twelve, even though the plot doesn't actually sound all that similar.

[Leaper]

Originally Posted by Gray Ghost

Oh good. Take what's probably my favorite novel of his, one that works perfectly well without any supernatural influence whatsover

Um... Okay. I'd... never thought of this before.

I suppose if I tilt my head and squint, it could work "perfectly well," but I'm not sure it'd hang together as well, especially since it's not just told from Jack's point of view...

[Scupper]

Originally Posted by Sister Vigilante

They already did this, in an X-Files episode.

And in the movie Near Dark.