When Stephen King announced his plan for a sequel to his smash hit, The Shining, the idea of psychic vampires perhaps scared some of King’s followers, especially in light of his criticism of Stephanie Meyer.

While the wave of relief concerning Dr. Sleep hasn’t completely fallen upon us, the chance to revisit the world of Danny Torrance is still a compelling one. As indicated by Geek Tyrant, the sequel focuses on an adult Danny, who still has command of his considerable psychic powers, and uses them to help elderly patients cross over to the other side. It’s Torrance’s powers that evidently attracts the attention of the aforementioned vampire crew.

Aside from that, the rest is speculation. Until now.

To help build the buzz for his new novel, as if that’s necessary, King appeared at the Savannah Book Festival and read the first chapter of Dr. Sleep for fans who just can’t wait until the book hits the shelves, or well, until the ebook is available on the Kindle. Naturally, there’s video of King’s chapter recitation:

• Holy shit, if this is only the first chapter I can’t imagine how amazing the rest is going to be!!!!uncageXtheXcolours
• Stephen King – The Walmart of Horror. Cheap writing you forget minutes after reading. Once great, now just a “product” put out a few times a year to appease fans and people who read at a grade 5 level. Sort of sad… he has become the very ghosts and ghouls he wrote about. Childhood fright that barely entertain adults these days. Good thing greater writers today can be found. Too bad so many don’t go looking for them and instead grab King’s latest pulp offering on sale, at Walmart.rollstuhlwolf

Any thoughts or reactions about King’s upcoming return trip to the world of Danny Torrance? Did the psychic vampires scare you off? If so, did the first chapter bring you back?