Time for another artistic alphabetical foray. I am drawing characters from literary sources every week for AlphaBooks!
J is for Jack Torrance, from Stephen King's The Shining. He is a former teacher and a struggling writer who has accepted a job looking after the Overlook, a hotel high in the Rockies, during its off season in the winter. His wife, Wendy, and his son, Danny, join him.
The massive structure is haunted and malevolent. Jack begins seeing things and is influenced by apparitions which convince him he must murder Danny and Wendy. Through a series of events he obtains a roque mallet with which to enact his bloody plan.
The novel was adapted into a brilliant movie directed by Stanley Kubrick, with Jack Nicholson playing Jack Torrance. Much of the movie differs from the book; in the movie Jack stalks the halls of the Overlook with an axe, not a roque mallet; there are topiary animals that come to life and attempt to harm the child, Danny; the head chef, Hallorann, is killed in the movie but lives in the book; and most obviously, the Overlook burns to the ground from a boiler explosion in the book but is abandoned in the movie.
Even with all the differences, the movie is outstanding. Nicholson turned in one of the most iconic performances of his career. I would recommend reading the book as well, as it is a masterpiece of horror and a great read.
Pencil sketch.
Make sure you check out the other great submissions at the AlphaBooks tumblr.