Reading an excerpt from his latest work-in-progress at a George Mason University event, Stephen King has confirmed what has long been rumoured: he is indeed writing a sequel to his early classic The Shining.
Obviously this isn't strictly movie news, but given the fame and infamy of Stanley Kubrick's 1980 Shining adaptation (King has never been a fan, and oversaw his own TV miniseries in the 1990s), it's as near as dammit. Watch how quickly the new novel gets picked up for the screen.
The original involved young Danny Torrance and his imaginary friend Tony ("the little boy that lives in my mouth") spending a hellish winter at the Overlook Hotel with his writer father Jack, who's gradually losing his mind: the great question is whether the hotel is haunting Jack or Jack is haunting the hotel. Either way, it doesn't end well.
Danny does survive the ordeal though, and its his story that the new book, Dr Sleep, picks up in adulthood. Few details have been revealed so far, but the excerpt that King read at the George Mason event featured a roving troop of psychic vampires called The Tribe.
Danny vs. vampires? It seems initially like an idea from way out of leftfield, but we'd suggest that what's likely is that this is another post-Dark Tower example of King tying his universe together: not a Shining sequel per se, but simply a new novel that happens to include Danny Torrance.
Much to be learned then, but it's OK, King writes fast. A new e-book, Mile 81, is just out, and his next proper novel, 11/22/63, is published in November.