Stephen King's Dark Tower

[tunghaichuan]

I used to be a huge SK fan, I read most of his stuff up until the early 90s. I even have a autographed copy of Firestarter. An English teacher got it for me when I was in the 9th grade. She escorted SK around an English convention somewhere in New England. SK signed it to my dad and me.

I also have a second edition of the Dark Tower. It is the only one I have read in the series.

i've Officially died and gone to heaven. a forum where i can talk about SK AND GUITARS??!?!!?!:drool:

i think i've read every King book ever written. my mom lives in the NE part of the country... she visited Bangor, and for my last bday i got pictures of Bangor and his house. tres cool...

the Dark Tower is the best of anything he's ever written other than the Stand, IMHO.

are they actually going to attempt to film it?!

i also adored tolkien and cs lewis...

sheesh, i have to be careful. this is cutting into my guitar playing!!!:spank:

 

[Childbride]

Ka is the Wheel.

19$ ?! why would he do that? the only way that he would agree to let the Stand be done was if he was involved?

that disturbs me. deeply.

and i cannot fathom how you would tell the story accurately without the requisite number of films.

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

Ka is the Wheel.

19$ ?! why would he do that? the only way that he would agree to let the Stand be done was if he was involved?

that disturbs me. deeply.

and i cannot fathom how you would tell the story accurately without the requisite number of films.

$19 is the appropriate amount, whether the choice was true you'll see a few wheels up the road.

I was at the airport last night waiting for my son to arrive & was reading Dark Tower 5: The Wolves of Calla.

I had just finished reading:

"He hadn't even seen Calla Bryn Sturgis yet, and it already reminded him of Mejis. In some ways that seemed perfectly reasonable--farming and ranching towns the world over bore similarities to each other--but in other ways it was disturbing. Disturbing as h3ll. The sombrero that Slightman had been wearing, for instance. Was it possible that here, thousands of miles from Mejis, the men should wear similar hats? He supposed it might be. But was it likely that Slightman's sombrero should remind Roland so strongly of the one worn by Miguel, the old mozo at Seafront in Mejis, all those years before? Or was that only his imagination?"

When I absent mindedly glanced up (as one is occaisoned to do so as to ponder a passage while reading) & I saw a white man in his forties going up the escalator wearing a sombrero. I kid thee not. I do not ever think that I have seen someone wearing a sombrero like that. I had one as a kid in my "dress-up box" where old halloween costumes & hats from my grandpa went to die, but--no--never saw one in public.

Must'a just got off the plane from Mejis, I mused, and went back to reading.

 

[R_of_G]

Back on the Path of the Beam

Started another re-read of the series this weekend. Getting the hardcover edition of the first arc of the comic series put Roland and his two ka-tets back at the top of my consciousness. I have lost count as to how many times this will be for me in reading the series, but I re-read The Stand every year as well and it never gets old. Besides, once the baby is born in June, I won't have too much time for reading for awhile so I thought once more with Roland along the path of the Beam would be a nice treat right now. If ka wills it, so be it.

 

[Childbride]

i, too, re-read my King books Constantly.

they are my favorite travel books... i never get tired of them, and every time i read them, i catch a little nuance that i missed before... i like that, especially.

 

[R_of_G]

i, too, re-read my King books Constantly.

they are my favorite travel books... i never get tired of them, and every time i read them, i catch a little nuance that i missed before... i like that, especially.

I agree CB. I am a long-time and loyal "Constant Reader" and the more of us I meet, the more of us I find read our favorites of Sai King's stories over and over again. Each time I re-read the DT novels particularly, I have a moment where I think "ok, well I never really thought about it like that before." I also think a lot of the DT stuff is subject to interpretation, and therefore can change subtly with different readings.

All I know is, the comics have been spectacular so far, and put me right back in my Tower-junkie mode [which is never a bad thing for me]. Keep reading people!

 

[Childbride]

the other thing, is after years and years of reading them over and over, you catch references to other books... and things made sense where he was making a hidden reference that you didn't catch before.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

I have been more like that with the Tolkien Trilogy. I have put a boxed set of the Tower books on my Christmas list as I can't find any more of the books in the library and esp. after reading your comments, want to pick it back up after the first that I read some months ago.

 

[R_of_G]

I have been more like that with the Tolkien Trilogy. I have put a boxed set of the Tower books on my Christmas list as I can't find any more of the books in the library and esp. after reading your comments, want to pick it back up after the first that I read some months ago.

The Tolkien books were my first literary obsession. I began reading LotR when I was 12 and have re-read at least once every couple of years in the 25 years since. Started the Dark Tower series around 16 or 17. Add in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series and you have a good representation of my most read list.

 

[R_of_G]

the other thing, is after years and years of reading them over and over, you catch references to other books... and things made sense where he was making a hidden reference that you didn't catch before.

Absolutely CB. After this many times through the series, I have come to the conclusion that ALL of Sai King's books are related to the series in that they all happen on some level or another of the Tower. ALL things serve the Beam.:AOK:

 

[Childbride]

R_of_G!!! Sai King is coming out w/another book! Duma Key!

 

[R_of_G]

R_of_G!!! Sai King is coming out w/another book! Duma Key!

Oh, I know he is fellow Constant Reader . I check SK sites maybe a little too often to see what new material is coming. Duma Key sounds very interesting from the summary I have seen posted [see below].

---------------------------
www.Stephenkingnews.com

Duma Key: A Novel
by Stephen King

Coming in January (2008 )!

Edgar Freemantle is a regular guy, a construction worker who suffers a terrible accident—he loses an arm, sustains head injuries, and is not expected to live... but he does live, emerging from his coma as a very changed man.

Here is how King described the novel in his own words during his long interview with Lilja of Lilja's Library:

"It's about a construction worker who is involved in a terrible accident... he's hurt very badly and loses an arm, sustains head injuries and is not expected to live but he does and he comes out of a coma and because of the head injuries he has uncontrollable rages and memory lapses.

It's very difficult and his wife divorces him so he decides he's going to move to Florida but he's also thinking about suicide just because of his pain and because he doesn’t like being angry all the time and this psychiatrist kind of talks him out of it and one of the things he says is, "Is there anything that you do that you can use as a kind of buffer against this depression? Is there any kind of new life for you besides working on buildings?" and this guy says, "I used to draw, I used to paint a little bit" and the (psychiatrist) says, "Well, try that" and he discovers that, after this injury, that he is really a very talented painter...

...and he moves to Florida and he starts to paint these pictures and then strange things start to happen with the pictures.

They have this power so that sometimes if he paints things into the world they kind of appear and if he paints things out they disappear, including people.

And there is something going on, on this island, this Duma Key that is actually amping that talent up and making it stronger because there is something wrong there.

That's the real basis of the story."

 

[Childbride]

already pre-ordered it. :beer:

 

[R_of_G]

In the summary alone I find at least two VERY intriguing elements for Tower junkies like ourselves...

1. "...if he paints things into the world they kind of appear and if he paints things out they disappear, including people."

Without spoiling anything for those who are still reading, does this remind you of anybody?:rotflmao:

2. The other is that the character's last name is Freemantle. As in Abigail Freemantle. As in Mother Abigail? Coincidence, or has coincidene been cancelled again?

 

[Robert]

Sounds great, I'm gonna have to get that one.

I'm just finishing up the Wizard and the Glass, man it is riveting! I'm in the part where Reaping day is just coming up... very good stuff.

 

[Childbride]

R_of_G... amazon emailed me and my Duma Key is on the way. now the ultimate conundrum. get up an extra two hours early to read, or sacrifice guitar time.

[...]

Shiner... honey...

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

Sounds great, I'm gonna have to get that one.

I'm just finishing up the Wizard and the Glass, man it is riveting! I'm in the part where Reaping day is just coming up... very good stuff.

Wizard & Glass is great.

I've stopped reading Wolves of the Calla due to being very busy--guitar first, novels second. But, I look forward to going back through the door.

 

[Robert]

I am just starting Wolves of the Calla now. Wizard and Glass was fabulous.

"To me, Gunslingers, to me!"

 

[R_of_G]

R_of_G... amazon emailed me and my Duma Key is on the way. now the ultimate conundrum. get up an extra two hours early to read, or sacrifice guitar time.

[...]

Shiner... honey...

Picked up my copy last night, as well as "20th Century Ghosts" which is a collection of short stories by Joe Hill [aka Joseph Hillstrom King, who is Steve & Tabitha's son. Looking fwd to this wknd when I have time to get into them.

 

[R_of_G]

Tot & Robert, yes W&G is among my favorites in the series [prob only Drawing of the Three moreso than that one]. I think the events told in W&G show Roland in a perspective his ka-tet had not previously seen much, that of a real human being. Robert, if you liked the action of W&G, you will enjoy Wolves quite a bit. I'm interested in hearing from you guys what you think of the last three novels as you read them. The style changed a bit, to some degree of controversy in some circles, but a lot of my favorite moments are in those books. Stay on the path of the beam.

 

[luvmyshiner]

Well, here's my Dark Tower story. I used to be a Stephen King fanatic. Read the first three books in the Dark Tower series, and to be honest I didn't like the way the last one ended. Blain the "friggin" dumb a** train????:thwap:

At any rate, I swore I wouldn't read another one in the series until he was finished. But by then, I couldn't remember what happened in the first three books, so I didn't want to start the fourth one until I had reread the first three.

When we went to the Bahamas, I took all seven books with us. I wasn't sure how far I would get, but I was determined to read as many as I could. I reread the first three, and I've got about 50 pages left on W&G, and I'm completely hooked. I'm afraid the next few months of my life will be filled with late nights until I'm finally finished with this damn series. But I'm enjoying the hell out of it.:beer:

 

[Childbride]

R_of_G... i've converted another. my master plan continues.

Bwahaahaa... :beer: ancake:

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

I finally finished Wolves of the Calla, it's my least favorite so far. I wasn't too interested in Callahan's backstory. It's probably great for King fans, but I could care less about his writing in general. It's the Beam, the Rose, & the Tower that I find intriguing.

The Song of Suzannah is starting out nicely...

 

[R_of_G]

I finally finished Wolves of the Calla, it's my least favorite so far. I wasn't too interested in Callahan's backstory. It's probably great for King fans, but I could care less about his writing in general. It's the Beam, the Rose, & the Tower that I find intriguing.

The Song of Suzanna is starting out nicely...

You are not alone Tot - a lot of people I know have found Callahan's story to be too long and consider it an interruption to the overall story. Personally I liked it, but you are definitely not the first person I've encountered to make that point. I think you will definitely find S.O.S. has much more of what you are looking for, and definitely DT-7. Glad you are still on the path of the Beam.

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

You are not alone Tot - a lot of people I know have found Callahan's story to be too long and consider it an interruption to the overall story. Personally I liked it, but you are definitely not the first person I've encountered to make that point. I think you will definitely find S.O.S. has much more of what you are looking for, and definitely DT-7. Glad you are still on the path of the Beam.

There is so much foreshadowing of the wolves that all that yada-yada about vampires & the home n' such just seems to bog the story down.

Some of the characters in the Calla are well-done,

 

[player]

R_of_G... i've converted another. my master plan continues.

Bwahaahaa... :beer: ancake:

glad I could make you smile/laugh in the other thread CB to keep on topic I disowned/stopped reading Stephen King after The Stand.now into reading Dean Koontz stuff.while some are out there the stories are interesting.his dog,lost love,crazy ailment his main character(Chris Snow) has to live with(XP),etc

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

I understand why Stephen King spent so much time with Callahan--for him it added to the myterious interconnections: the author's own literary world becomes a character in this grander drama & it plays with the boundaries between reality & fiction.

For me, however, the Callahan stuff was tedious. I much preferred the Calvin Tower portions.

 

[Childbride]

Callahan's story was a writer's indulgence, which i got, but i liked it ok. once i got past ole Blain, the series as a whole just took off for me.

 

[player]

aside from reading books I would like to take in some of Roberts dvds apparently now on sale but alas nothing from the IRS yet - dang it:thwap:
Dean Koontz's Fear Nothing kicks off the story that is picked up again in Seize the night.really Robert Warrens pancakes would have helped you out?

 

[Kodiak3D]

I was a fan for a long time, but stopped reading during the Song of Susannah. The story just wasn't as good anymore to me.