The plan is to reread all of Stephen King’s works in the order that they were published. Richard Chizmar of Cemetery Dance had the vision. I’m doing it because I am a writer and I want to improve my fiction. And I love Stephen King’s stories. I think there is something to be learned through this process.

You can also go back to the beginning and read Before Carrie or any of my other posts up through this one and beyond by checking out this link to the Master List of all my #StephenKingRevisited posts.

I’ve read The Shining twice now. Once was before a road trip between my junior and senior years of college. The second was way back at the beginning of this revisiting process. My opinion of that book has wavered greatly over the years. Is it as good as people think or better? Is it overhyped? Is it greatly flawed, but benefits from its hallowed place in horror lore? I haven’t settled on an answer to any of these questions for long.

I’ve thought a lot about this sequel, Doctor Sleep, over that time. I remember, after Rocky Wood’s passing, Stephen King talking about the former Horror Writers Association president helping with research for this novel.

I haven’t seen the movie prior to writing this and getting ready to read the novel for the first time. I’ve avoided that hype as much as possible and have gotten far enough past it that I think I can take the work in for what it is and enjoy it.

I believe this is the first Stephen King novel I bought new as it was released and then set it on the shelf until I got to it in my revisiting reading which is now. This is one novel I’ve been looking forward to reading as it approached in King’s catalog of work.

My next post in this series will be After Doctor Sleep which will be linked on the Master List of all my Stephen King Revisited posts.

Jay Wilburn

Jay Wilburn has a Masters Degree in Education that goes mostly unused since he quit teaching to write about zombies. Jay writes horror because he tends to find the light by facing down the darkness. His is doing well following a life saving kidney transplant. Jay is the author of Maidens of Zombie Kingdom a young adult fantasy trilogy, Lake Scatter Wood Tales adventure books for elementary and middle school readers, Vampire Christ a trilogy of political and religious satire, and The Dead Song Legend. He cowrote The Enemy Held Near, Yard Full of Bones, and The Hidden Truth with Armand Rosamilia. You can also find Jay's work in Best Horror of the Year volume 5. He is a staff writer with Dark Moon Digest, LitReactor, and the Still Water Bay series with Crystal Lake Publishing.

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