{"id":1299,"date":"2009-12-01T12:44:21","date_gmt":"2009-12-01T16:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=1299"},"modified":"2016-07-12T11:50:24","modified_gmt":"2016-07-12T17:50:24","slug":"news-from-the-dead-zone-125","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/news-from-the-dead-zone-125\/","title":{"rendered":"News From The Dead Zone #125"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When’s the last time you got a say in what book Stephen King is going to write next? Never! But now King is asking for people to express their preferences between two possible novels. Voting is open at his official web<\/a> site until Jan 1, 2010. Here is his message on the matter:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hey, you guys–I saw a lot of you Constant Readers while I was touring for Under the <\/em>Dome<\/em>, and I must say you’re looking good. Thanks for turning out in such numbers, and thanks for all the nice things you’ve said about Under the Dome.<\/em> There’ll be another book next year. It’s a good one, I think, but that’s not why I’m writing. I mentioned two potential projects while I was on the road, one a new Mid-World book (not directly about Roland Deschain, but yes, he and his friend Cuthbert are in it, hunting a skin-man, which are what werewolves are called in that lost kingdom) and a sequel to The Shining<\/em> called Doctor Sleep<\/em>. Are you interested in reading either of these? If so, which one turns your dials more? Ms. Mod will be counting your votes (and of course it all means nothing if the muse doesn’t speak). Meanwhile, thanks again for 2009.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

According to Ms. Mod, this isn’t an either\/or proposal–King may write both of these books. It’s more a matter of which one you’d like to see first<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Torontoist<\/a> has this summary of King’s discussion of Dr. Sleep<\/em>: “Seems King was wondering whatever happened to Danny Torrance of The Shining<\/em>, 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). King remarked that though he ended his 1977 novel on a positive note, the Overlook was bound to have left young Danny with a lifetime\u2019s worth of emotional scars. What Danny made of those traumatic experiences, and with the psychic powers that saved him from his father at the Overlook, is a question that King believes might make a damn fine sequel. So what would a sequel to one of King\u2019s most beloved novels look like? In King\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.”<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of that statement, numerous news sources assumed that King was committed to writing the novel, which caused him to issue a sort of retraction via Entertainment Weekly<\/a>. “It\u2019s a great idea, and I just can\u2019t seem to get down to it,” says the author in an e-mail. “People shouldn\u2019t hold their breath. I know it would be cool, though. I want to write it just for the title, Dr. Sleep<\/em>. I even told them [at the book signing], ‘It will probably never happen.'” Still, King \u2014 whose most recent novel is this month\u2019s Under the Dome<\/em> \u2014 can\u2019t quite shut the door on the Shining sequel, adding, “But ‘probably’ isn\u2019t ‘positively,’ so maybe.” The poll appeared on his website a few days later.<\/p>\n

Concerning the next book (before he tackles either of these two), he said this in Toronto: “I have one (story) that’s kind of like Under the Dome<\/em>, that I tried to write when I was 22 or 23 years old and I’m going to try to go back to that after this tour. I’d like to write that one. Beyond that, I have things that bounce around in my head. Dome<\/em> bounced around a long time. I don’t keep a writer’s notebook of ideas because I’ve felt all my life that if I get a really good idea, it will stick.”<\/p>\n

King’s appearance on The Hour can be found on the CBC website<\/a>. Here is a\u00a0one-minute clip<\/a> of King and Cronenberg on stage in Toronto. Here are three\u00a0video snippets from Talking Volumes in Minneapolis:<\/p>\n