Wednesday, November 25, 2009

A sequel to the Shining?

Ed here: This is from The Torontoist from Nov 20, link provided by The Wrap) Be great to see what King and David Cronenberg could come up with. My two favorite King films are still The Dead Zone and Cujo (I know, I know: but before you ask Cujo? Huh? See it again.)

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"Last night at Toronto’s packed Canon Theatre, fans of Stephen King were treated to a 15-minute reading from the author’s new novel, Under the Dome, and nearly an hour’s worth of typically funny anecdotes and keen observations during an on-stage interview with director David Cronenberg. Then King dropped a fan bombshell on the crowd by casually describing a novel idea he began working on last summer. Seems King was wondering whatever happened to Danny Torrance of The Shining, who when readers last saw him was recovering from his ordeal at the Overlook Hotel at a resort in Maine with fellow survivors Wendy Torrance and chef Dick Halloran (who dies in the Kubrick film version)…

(more)

"So what would a sequel to one of King’s most beloved novels look like? In King’s still tentative plan for the novel, 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.

"The title for King’s proposed sequel? Doctor Sleep.

Perhaps sensing that he’d let the cat out of the plot bag a little early, King then told Cronenberg and the audience that he wasn’t completely committed to the new novel, going so far as to say, “Maybe if I keep talking about it I won’t have to write it.”
Let’s hope King doesn’t have too many interviews booked in the next six months."

9 comments:

  1. Ed, my two favorites are Dead Zone (great movie, great performances by Christopher Walken and Martin Sheen), and Misery. I'll have to see Cujo again--it's been years.

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  2. Yeah now that you mention it I'd say Misery and Cujo are tied.

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  3. Anonymous6:21 PM

    Mr. Gorman,
    I came across your blog while searching for information about John D. MacDonald. It was Stephen King who actually turned me on to MacDonald, when I read MacDonald's forward to Night Shift. I thought, "Who is this man?" (I was about 14 at the time and not very bright.) A trip to the library, returned with The Green Ripper, and I became much wiser.

    I was digging through your blog for MacDonald information and found a post from January 30th of this year concerning a biography of MacDonald due out in Fall of '09. It's nearly December and I can't find any new information on this book. (I Googled, searched for the author, and checked the publisher's website, but came up with nothing.) Would you happen to have any updated info?

    As much as I love a mystery, this one has me stumped.

    --Larry New

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  4. From Amazon.com

    Hugh Merrill. The Red Hot Typewriter: The Life and Times of John D. MacDonald. St. Martin's Minotaur; 1st edition (August 12, 2000).

    Now out of print.

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  5. Anonymous4:22 AM

    No, I was thinking of this one.

    http://newimprovedgorman.blogspot.com/2009/01/john-d-macdonald.html

    Schaffner Press: Upcoming Releases Archives: "BLOODSHOT RAINBOW: The Life and Work of John D. MacDonald
    James Walling
    Fall '09
    Trade Paperback

    --Larry New

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  6. Schaffner Press: Upcoming Releases Archives: "BLOODSHOT RAINBOW: The Life and Work of John D. MacDonald
    James Walling
    Fall '09

    Sorry, Larry, I don't know anything about this book. I'll see if I can find something. I'd sure like to read it.

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  7. Anonymous8:36 AM

    Thank you.

    It would be pretty cruel for Schaffner Press to dangle this book in front of us, then pull it away.

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  8. Anonymous4:29 PM

    I hope we see The Bloodshot Rainbow.
    Wouldn't take much for it to be better than The Red Hot Typewriter

    John Hocking

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  9. A sequel to The Shining. I think about that prospect, and I'm surprised by how much I'd welcome it. Fingers crossed. :)

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