As with last time, the readthrough and my commentary follows in the replies to this post, one reply per part of the story. The story is fully spoiled as I go through it, so read on. First the introduction and some background information about the book.

The Shining (January 1977)

Most people know The Shining best through the 1980 movie by Stanley Kubrick, which is considered a classic horror film. But the book came first, the third in Stephen King's career. It's a little different from the movie, though the central idea is the same.

This one is a bit of a change for King, who got tired of writing books set in small Maine towns and wanted inspiration for something new. So he and his family packed up and moved to Colorado for a year. During their stay in that state, they took a vacation to a big old hotel. They arrived right at the end of the season and were the only guests in the whole place that night, so King got to walk around a big empty hotel, and thus the Overlook Hotel, which would become the setting and villain of his next novel, was born. They stayed in Room 217, which became a major part of the story we're about to read. While in the hotel that night he had a dream about his young son running through the hotel being chased by a fire hose, which also became a scene in the book. Combining all this with some psychic mumbo-jumbo and his own dark thoughts of occasionally wanting to physically and angrily discipline his children, King had his new book. The Shining was also influenced by Shirley Jackson and Edgar Allan Poe.

As an interesting note, King wrote the first draft of The Shining in only four months. I think I just turned green with envy.