King's Dark Tower Series - For those who have completed it *SPOILERS*

[bob 5000]

I never read The Talisman, but heard it might actually be a good story, DT connected or not. do you suggest I read that after I finished INSOMNIA or would you rather recommend another book for me?

 

[lenny nero]

I would highly recommend The Talisman and its sequel, Black House. Very good stuff. There is also a Dark Tower related story in Everything's Eventual.

 

[Libra6Poe]

Libra, I see you are reading Delta of Venus next. I read that years ago. I think my fave story was called Basque and Bijou.

Cool, Thanks Lenny, I'll definitely keep that in mind when I read it.

The Talisman, I haven't read that yet. I really do want to read that and "The Eyes of the Dragon" too. Oh, and "Insomnia" & "Black House"

What books have you guys read that are connected to The Dark Tower? I've read The Stand, Desperation, Hearts in Atlantis, It, and the two stories in Everything's Eventual.

Yeah, actually it's two stories that are DT related in Everything's Eventual. Dinky Earnshaw (a breaker) who appears with Ted and Sheemie in DTVII was in the story "Everything's Eventual"... but it's not like majorly related... Just showing that Sombra (evil) corporation or whatever & how it works in the world... And "Little Sisters of Eluria" was really nice. It was like a prequel.

 

[bob 5000]

I think there's tons of connections in many books. I guess there's even a chart on some website or so. I bet a google for connections will show up many results.

anyways, as for Insomnia and Eyes of the Dragon...
I have alsmot finished Insomnia and while it's finally going toward a somewhat decent climax, I found the book for the most part a big drag. The first two thirds were boring and I just read on because I rarely lay down an unfinished book. but oh boy has it been a bore all the way. I don't think the connections make it worthwile either. Yes, they talk about ka, ka-tet and the crimson king, but so far that's been it. *yawn*. I read eyes of the dragon 500 years ago when I was a kid and found it somewhat interesting. of course back then, I didn;t even know about the Dark Tower so maybe rereading it would be cool. It's short and that's probably the only reason I;d re-read it, I don;t think it;s that great and has that many connections either. Sure, Randal Flagg lurks around but as far as my bad memory recalls, that's abou it.

anyways, didn;t want to keep you away from reading those, just posting my thoughts on them books.

 

[Libra6Poe]

It's true, a lot of the books that are connected to DT don't really have a lot of connections. "It" is an example. The only connection for awhile was the turtle, then there was the robot "Stuttering Bill" (only thing in common is the name), and Dandelo is supposed to be Pennywise The Clown.

You can find the connections list on King's official Dark Tower website or in the beginning of your copy of DT 7. They're highlighted in bold print. (The page that's titled, "also by Stephen King")

*'Salem's Lot
*The Stand
*DT 1
*The Talisman
*It
*The Eyes of the Dragon
*DT 2
*DT 3
*Insomnia
*Rose Madder
*Desperation
*DT 4
*Bag of Bones
*Black House
*From a Buick 8
*DT 5
*DT 6
*The Regulators
*Skeleton Crew
*Hearts in Atlantis
*Everything's Eventual (2 stories related)

There ya go, that's all of 'em. Which have you read?

 

[lenny nero]

I've read every King book except for Rose Madder and Desperation.

 

[nighthawk]

Hi. Would just like to say how much I enjoyed the Tower. In my opinion it is King's finest work. Has anyone else wondered if he was trying to equal Tolkien *Lord of the Rings*?
I loved the ending; the fact that he ended with the same brilliant line to complete the loop was a stroke of genius. I was very disappointed at the deaths of Jake and Oy as my guess, until Mordred, was that Jake would succeed, as Roland's son. Best book; torn between the Gunslinger and Wizard & Glass, his romance with Susan was so touching but liked the Arthurian boy and hawk of V.I. Loved the part when Roland danced. So many moving moments though, the ka-tet falling,the deaths of eddie, Oy and Jake; Rolands run to the door of the Tower. Favourite character; has to be old, long tall and ugly himself. Ah! Roland I shall have to read it all over again.. *Hail Gunslingers! Long days and pleasant nights!*

 

[Libra6Poe]

I know that DT is constantly being compared to LOTR. I'm not sure if he was trying to "equal" the stories though. But I'm sure there's definitely some LOTR influence in his work (DT & The Stand specifically).

I was watching "It" today... and there's this great commentary with John Ritter (& other members of the cast). John Ritter said that he's always read Stephen King's books as soon as they came out. That made me think about how he's followed Roland since the beginning & I started to feel sad because he passed away before Roland reached the tower.

When I was reading Wizard & Glass... I was telling someone that my biggest fear was dying before finding out how the DT ends. (King has a bunch of stories about this - it's in the introduction of the 2003 paperback DT editions)

 

[bob 5000]

Libra, I know the feeling. When I was reading DT 7, I was kinda slow on it, savoring the last pages that King had ever written on DT, although the suspense was killing me. but hey, I lived at the beach and had almost better things to do than read DT (I know, it sounds like blasphemy, but trust me: californian girls and surfing is somewhat preferrable to reading ;-P ). anyways, when I read, re-read and thought about how King was eager to finish his epic, realising after his accident how short life could be, I suddenly told myself "hey, what if I somehow don;t manage to finish DT????" and swoosh, there went the beach and I spent a few days reading straight thorugh... haha, and after that, the beach felt a little bit nicer. and no lobstrosities either ;-)

 

[Libra6Poe]

ha ha, I'm glad you had a lobstrosity-free, californian chick filled time at the beach But totally understandble... I was conflicted with going out for the summer or staying in with DT...

So... Stephen King had his accident on June 19. On the message board on the official King website, people talk about their 19 experiences... do you guys have any? I don't think I do...

In Creepshow, the story, "The Crate"... printed on the crate is the date "June 19"... I thought that was weird...

Did you guys know that the guy that hit Stephen King was found dead in his trailer? (go to horrorking.com)

 

[Libra6Poe]

Oh yeah, I wanted to know what version of The Gunslinger you guys read. The original or the revised/updated 2003 version?

I read the original. I didn't start reading them until May 2004 & I had no idea about the new one. King said that if you've read the original and not the revised one it's okay. He said that you should read the new one if you're a "completist".

 

[lenny nero]

I read both versions. But I read the original version back in the 80's. So I barely remembered it. So last summer I bought the new version in paperback and read all 7 back to back, cause it had been so long since I read the early volumes. I highly recommend reading them all as one volume. So basically, I have been reading this series off and on for about 20 years of my life. Ugh, that makes me feel old!

 

[Libra6Poe]

hee hee! don't feel old!

Yeah, I've been dying to read the new version ('coz I am a "completist" )

I really can't believe I got into the series soo late (on the plus side I didn't have to wait decades for the next book to come out - sorry!).. But I remember when I was reading The Shining (my first King book) I saw the advertisement for DT, and I just dismissed it as a western! Once I got into college though, I met soo many people that were into King and they all highly recommended DT. I still put it off, then I read Hearts in Atlantis and had to get it. I remember buying the first four at a used book shop. I read them all (including DT V) in the month of May 2004 and having withdrawals before SOS came out.

Good stuff. Can't believe it took me so long to read it.

 

[bob 5000]

so what is the fuss about that new version of Gunslinger? Is it worth to read it? what has been added, what is there that makes me have to buy this book. I am not so much of a completist, so I wonder...

there I go and finished Insomnia. What a bore! the story is not so bad actually, I mean it's nice seeing that being old isn't bad at all, if you're old ralph roberts. I mean seriously, better than james bond: he gets them powers, saves the world and scores the chicks. 007 for seniors. 0070 or something. nah, I had a hard time finishing it, cause I thought it boring. it's nothing special and King has written better. the connections to the DT are quite nice but nothing essential. it's a "nice to know" thing.

any opinions?

and now I need a new book.

 

[lenny nero]

'The Gunslinger Redux'

Go to the bookstore and read the foreword to the new version of The Gunslinger, King tells about the changes in it. I think it's only essential reading if you are a completist. If your not, I wouldn't worry about it.

Read The Talisman next. You won't be disappointed.

 

[bob 5000]

akright, will do. but I guess The Talisman has to wait. I just bought a book called "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People" by Toby Young. Somehow the title just appealed to me ;-)

 

[Libra6Poe]

Bob, i hope the Young book turns out to be good, sounds interesting.

In preperation for the release of Wolves of the Calla, King rewrote The Gunslinger and published a "revised" edition in June of 2003. King wrote a wonderful forward (titled "On Being Nineteen") for the new edition which explains why he rewrote it. To paraphrase: He felt that because The Gunslinger was written such a long time before the other six volumes, it had a different feel to it and didn't quite "flow" with the other books. Also, the original edition wasn't quite reader-friendly enough. Many first time Tower readers became discouraged while reading The Gunslinger and never made it past the first book. The revised novel is a lot more open to new readers.

(thedarktower.net)

In the old one, Roland tells Jake about his friends: Cuthbert & Allen, in the new one, King changes "Allen" to "Alain" (that's one example).

Lenny, I'm in the middle of Delta of Venus. Right now I'm reading Elena (the story right before Basque & Bijou). I can't wait to read B&B. My reading is going slow though 'coz of school work.

 

[lenny nero]

'The Basque and Bijou'

I think that's the longest story in Delta of Venus. Let me know what you think!

 

[Libra6Poe]

As for Oy, I think that animal is another character that had absolutely no point besides being all cuddley cute! He drag that beast along through 5(6?) books and then again, it died somewhat pointlessly.

5. Oy made his first appearance in The Wastelands (my favourite one).

People need to learn how to read. Sorry, not you guys. I was just looking at the DT message board on stephenking.com... and there are soooo many people asking if there's going to be a movie when they should just look at the FAQs where it says that there are no plans for a movie.

I've always resisted that idea because movies have a way of freezing characters and places in the audience's mind whereas in books everybody has their own different idea of, for instance, how Roland or Susannah looks but if you do it as a movie, immediately that kind of gets frozen in place and you say 'Oh, Billy Bob Thornton is what Roland Deschain looks like.' Or you say 'Brad Pitt, that's what Eddie Dean looks like.' You know what I'm saying, or you can say 'Calla Bryn Sturgis from Wolves of the Calla looks like maybe the Universal back lot', and I've always resisted that. The issue with The Dark Tower books is there's so much story, so many incidents, that it couldn't be done in one movie alone. It would have to be done at least as a trilogy the way The Lord of the Rings movies were done or it would have to be done as a TV series, probably on HBO because of the violence, the way The Sopranos was done. I haven't entirely ruled that idea out but for the next two or three years while the books have their initial run, I think that if you want the story of Roland, you'll have to get it at your bookstore rather than the local movie theater.

-Stephen King (www.stephenking.com)

<sigh> sorry, just annoys me. I feel sorry for the moderator. But it would be nice to see this as an HBO series.

 

[Libra6Poe]

Delta

I'm still on Elena (60 pages). There are too many tests coming up in school that I have to study for. But I'm really excited about Basque & Bijou (36 pages). So far though, Marianne is my favourite. What did you think of that one, Lenny?