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Stephen Kings 'Dark Tower'

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dirtybob2

Gone But Not Forgotten
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Im trying to get my head around the connections between the dark tower series and the rest of his work. There seems to be small reference in pretty much everything he has written.
Does anyone know about this or have anyviews on it?
 
Never actually read the Dark Tower books, but have read 'Black House'. This I guess could be classed as a Dark Tower book, as it involves the wastelands and Jack Sawyer as the centre of attention.
 
Is the non obvious connections that are also interesting, things like the connections between 'IT' and the aliens in dreamcatcher.
etc.
 
Dirtybob said:
Is the non obvious connections that are also interesting, things like the connections between 'IT' and the aliens in dreamcatcher.
etc.
Click to expand...

Never thought about that? You been along the lines of they are both created by the imagination? The subconsious so to speak?
 
Is the non obvious connections that are also interesting, things like the connections between 'IT' and the aliens in dreamcatcher.
etc.
 
Yeah I've noticed how he is linking the Wastelands with all his other books now.

'Hearts in Atlantis' and 'From a Buick 8' being a good example as well as 'The Blackhouse'. (I loved The Talisman and the sequel was great)

IIRC it's not the for the first time either, the character 'Flagg'[?]who appears in 'The Stand' is also a character in 'The Eyes of the Dragon' set in an alternate fantasy land.

BTW has anyone else heard of the rumour that Tabitha King (his wife) wrote some of his books and was published with his name in the '80's/ early '90's. Such as 'Dolores Claiborne' and 'Madder Rose'? explaining the shift away from his previous stuff. I have never been able to find any reference to it, just FOAF tales.
 
I wasnt aware of the link with 'From a Buick 8', I missed it when I read that as well.
Im not sure about the Tabitha King thing, especially as I believe the Madder Rose is linked quite heavily into the Dark Tower.

Hopefully, when he finishes writting a guide will be published.
 
Quixote said:
Yeah I've noticed how he is linking the Wastelands with all his other books now.

'Hearts in Atlantis' and 'From a Buick 8' being a good example as well as 'The Blackhouse'. (I loved The Talisman and the sequel was great)

IIRC it's not the for the first time either, the character 'Flagg'[?]who appears in 'The Stand' is also a character in 'The Eyes of the Dragon' set in an alternate fantasy land.

BTW has anyone else heard of the rumour that Tabitha King (his wife) wrote some of his books and was published with his name in the '80's/ early '90's. Such as 'Dolores Claiborne' and 'Madder Rose'? explaining the shift away from his previous stuff. I have never been able to find any reference to it, just FOAF tales.
Click to expand...

Not being picky, but wasnt it called 'Rose Madder', or am I thinking of a different King book?
 
:D

No you are right, I always get the band 'Madder Rose' and the book 'Rose Madder' mixed-up.

Now I aint even sure which is which :(
 
Rose Madder is def the book. I read it and didnt reckon much to it. Never heard of the band Madder Rose so saved from confusion!
 
IIRC it's not the for the first time either, the character 'Flagg'[?]who appears in 'The Stand' is also a character in 'The Eyes of the Dragon' set in an alternate fantasy land.
Click to expand...

Yup. And Flagg is also a fairly important character in the Dark Tower series too.

I believe that the character of Ted Braudigan from the first tale in Hearts in Atlantis will make an appearance in a later Dark Tower book.
Blackhouse is brilliant too! It answers quite a few Dark Tower questions.
My problem is, the onlt other person I know who reads the Dark Tower books is my mum, and she's not a fan boy obsessive like I am...
 
Having only read Black House in this series, I thought it had a pretty shocking ending (in which you are given the choice whether to read on or not).
If you have read the book and remember the ending, I take it he wont be writing anymore with "that" character in it, set after black house?
*trying desperately not to spoil the ending for anyone!*

Also, is the Black House mentioned in any of the other Dark Tower books?
 
I remember reading an interview with him in which rumors that others were writing his books were harshly dismissed. Perhaps he dragged out a couple old manuscripts...
 
Just picked up book six in this series, Song of Susannah, and was leafing thru it, when I noticed that on the 'Also by Stephen King' page it listed the Dark Tower-related works in bold, so here's the list:

'Salem's Lot
The Stand
The Talisman
It
The Eyes of the Dragon
Insomnia
Rose Madder
Desperation
Bag of Bones
Black House
From a Buick 8
The Regulators
Skeleton Crew
Hearts in Atlantis
Everything's Eventual

One other thing that intrigued me was that on the book jacket description of the story, I read that the characters find themselves in 1977 Maine and meeting an author who is writing a novel called 'Salem's Lot! He has put himself into the novel! Sounds interesting.....

I've been reading this series since I was a teen in the 80's and it's been so long since book 5, I'm going to start them all over and read them thru when the final book comes out later this year. I can't wait to see how this turns out!
 
Too bad they didn't get crackin' on a movie series sooner. James Remar in his younger days would have made a perfect Roland.
 
Well, I've just finished book 6.

What does everyone think of it? I thought it was great, and the ending was super. I can;t wait for the next one.

And then there's that section, where Roland and Eddie meet with... another character. I admit, I was worried that this was going to fail badly, but he pulled it of splendidly, and form the point of view of the story, logically.
 
I'm halfway through book VII at the moment.

Someone should start a support group for this!
 
Someone should start a support group for this!
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No kidding! I thought the ending was appropriate and after 20 years of reading this series, I'm glad to have this monkey off my back. It was a great ride. I'll miss those characters. Bring on the movie/mini-series/animated series!
 
I've just finished the series tonight, having read Wolves of the Calla, Song of Susannah and the last one since last Saturday. :shock: My gut reaction at the ending was a flash of disappointment, followed thereafter by the sense that it was the right ending (trying not to spoil it for anyone). Now I want to re-read the earlier books in the series to refresh my memory a bit. (and to see if I like the Susannah character any better...for some reason I never warmed to her; I think King sometimes stumbles with his female characterizations)
 
Ah-ha-ha-ha! I've done it! I've finally finished The Dark Tower! I started reading it back in the eighties, I remember going through the first one during study periods at school, and now, tonight, I actually got to the end. Mr King could have finished it with "And then they woke up and it was all a dream!" and I'd still feel a sense of achievement, so it's good that he didn't.

I was a bit put out that so much of it hinged on his previous novel Insomnia, which I thought was his worst at the time I read it fifteen years ago, but it's interesting that King acknowledged the connection between that and the World Trade Center destruction.

So much of it was about storytelling, to the extent that King was one of the characters and quite often someone will sit down and tell someone else their background, so it's appropriate it all went a bit "meta". Well, a lot meta.

So here I am, delighted to have completed the series, and then I read on Wikipedia he's writing another one! Flippin' 'eck! Guess the wait goes on... That and a wait for the film version.
 
"It's the Way of the Eld. We are of that an-tet, khef and ka, watch and warrant. Gunslingers, do ya. "

Roland Deschain is beyond awesome. 8)


Zoltar
 
OK, I really have done it this time, completed The Dark Tower because I finished The Wind Through the Keyhole, positively the final book even though it slots in the middle of the story somewhere. They're not my favourite SK books, but I like how they became more and more about the art of storytelling, and there are two here, one a werewolf tale not unlike Cycle of the Werewolf and in the middle of it a fairy tale which is like a mini version of the whole DT series.

Might be a good introduction, might not be, but I enjoyed the book for what it was, a by the way, one story before you go, sort of novel. Thankee-sai!
 
They've found a director and he's not Ron Howard (thank goodness):
http://deadline.com/2015/06/the-dar...ikolaj-arcel-dragon-tattoo-scribe-1201436229/

Nikolaj Arcel directed A Royal Affair, which was terrific but doesn't make me think Stephen King. However, according to the article he taught himself to read English as a kid specifically so he could read The Dark Tower, which are some credentials.

I'll believe it when I see it, but I said that about the latest Mad Max years ago...
 
So now we have Idris Elba as Roland and Aaron Paul as Eddie, but today the news arrives that Pimli will be played by Fran Kranz! Wait a sec, who the hell's Pimli? He's not in The Gunslinger.
 
Heeeere's... the trailer:

The rumour is this is more a sequel to the books than a straightforward adaptation, which in light of how the books ended, might be just as well. Music's a bit For a Few Dollars More. According to the comments, Idris Elba is black! Who have thunk it?
 
While I liked the DT series, I was not over-whelmed by them. I liked The Stand much better. One thing I noticed was that King is a very sloppy writer sometimes. The Stand is full of an extraordinary number of errors.

Even with that, he is still a great storyteller.
 
The movie reviews are in, and they're not good, everyone thinks they've simplified the books and rushed through them to get to what the studio thought were marketable bits. Doesn't bode well if it goes to a series, though it is apparently doing very successfully at the box office in the US. Akiva Goldsman on script duties I see *shudder*.
 
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