Back in September while accepting the Mason Award, Stephen King personally read the first chapter of the latest book he was working on called ‘Doctor Sleep.’ He gave a little bit of background on how the idea of the book developed, but beyond that not much more was given.  Now thanks to the official Stephen King website, we have an official synopsis and a possible release date for ‘Doctor Sleep.’

If you recall, King had always wondered what ever happened to Danny Torrance, the little boy who was the caretaker’s son, after the events of ‘The Shining.’ From that conjecture came the plot of ‘Doctor Sleep.’ Here’s what the sequel to ‘The Shining’ will be all about:

On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and tween Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted readers of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.

If you’re already chopping at the bit to get your hands on the book, you’ll have to wait until next year as ‘Doctor Sleep’ is tentatively slated to be released on January 15, 2013. I’m sure before then we’ll be reporting that some studio snatched up the film rights for the book and will be making a movie soon. If not, they should be, don’t you think?