172-560: The Dark Tower is a series of eight novels, one novella, and a children's book written by American author Stephen King . Incorporating themes from multiple genres, including dark fantasy , science fantasy , horror , and Western , it describes a "gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. The series, and its use of the Dark Tower, expands upon Stephen King's multiverse and in doing so, links together many of his other novels. In addition to
344-592: A psychic skill referred to as "the touch." Alain is described mostly by his time with Roland as a teen in Wizard and Glass . Oy is a "billy-bumbler," a strange creature found in Roland Deschain 's world. King describes Oy in the "Argument", or foreword, of the fourth book, Wizard and Glass —"Bumblers, which look like a combination of badger, raccoon, and dog, have a limited speaking ability". Elsewhere, bumblers are described as "a combination raccoon and woodchuck, with
516-434: A Speaking Ring, where Eddie draws another door into the ground, this one guarded by an invisible demon. Susannah distracts the demon by allowing it to copulate with her, while Eddie perfects the key and uses it to open the door. On the other side, Jake has been led by the younger version of Eddie who lived in that when to a haunted house (indeed, Eddie has vague memories of the encounter himself), filled with evil spirits and
688-520: A Washington, D.C. bookstore clerk who noticed stylistic similarities between King and Bachman and located publisher's records at the Library of Congress that named King as the author of Rage . King announced Bachman's death from "cancer of the pseudonym". King reflected that "Richard Bachman began his career not as a delusion but as a sheltered place where I could publish a few early books which I felt readers might like. Then he began to grow and come alive, as
860-476: A West Virginia women's prison. King and Richard Chizmar co-wrote Gwendy's Button Box (2017). A sequel, Gwendy's Magic Feather (2019), was a solo effort by Chizmar. In 2022, King and Chizmar rejoined forces for Gwendy's Final Task . King made his screenwriting debut with George A. Romero 's Creepshow (1982), a tribute to EC horror comics . In 1985, he wrote another horror anthology film, Cat's Eye . Rob Reiner , whose film Stand by Me (1986)
1032-466: A book of short fiction including " The Reach " and The Mist . He recalls: "I would be asked, 'What happened in your childhood that makes you want to write those terrible things?' I couldn't think of any real answer to that. And I thought to myself, 'Why don't you write a final exam on horror, and put in all the monsters that everyone was afraid of as a kid? Put in Frankenstein, the werewolf, the vampire,
1204-521: A catastrophic brain injury in a motorcycle accident in 2001. The narration task then fell to George Guidall, who recorded the final three books in the series in quick succession in 2003 and 2004. George Guidall was also called upon to re-record The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, the first book in the series, in 2003, as the author made significant changes to that story to better match what came later. Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947)
1376-463: A cave, a mirror and a mirage—we are sometimes able to see an old thing in a new and vivid way. Even if the result is mere clarity instead of beauty, I think writer and reader are participating together in a kind of miracle. Maybe that's drawing it a little strong, but yeah—it's what I believe." When asked if fear was his main subject, King said "In every life you get to a point where you have to deal with something that's inexplicable to you, whether it's
1548-552: A character until Song of Susannah , he is alluded to as early as The Drawing of the Three when Eddie recalls having seen The Shining in movie theaters. Stuttering Bill is a robot (full name William D-746541-M Maintenance Robot with many other functions) appearing in The Dark Tower . He plowed Tower Road all the way up to the edge of the white lands, where the snow ended and the roses began. He gave Roland, Susannah and Patrick
1720-414: A collection of four novellas, was his first major departure from the genre. Among the films adapted from King's fiction are Carrie (1976), The Shining (1980), The Dead Zone (1983), Christine (1983), Stand by Me (1986), Misery (1990), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Dolores Claiborne (1995), The Green Mile (1999), The Mist (2007) and It (2017). He has published under
1892-623: A concubine, or "gilly", for Mejis' mayor, Hart Thorin. Although Susan is to be paid for her services, she is a recognized consort and any heir she bears to the heretofore-childless Thorin will be considered legitimate. Before consummating her relationship with Thorin, however, she falls in love with Roland and becomes involved in the young gunslinger's plans to prevent John Farson from using an oilfield near Hambry to supply his troops with crude oil. When Roland and his friends are framed for Thorin's murder and arrested, she breaks them out of jail and helps them escape Hambry. Before she can flee, however, she
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#17330861621252064-467: A copy of Salem's Lot , after first meeting Father Callahan in the fifth book Wolves of the Calla . Roland and Eddie later confront King in his Maine home at a time when he has written 'Salem's Lot and The Gunslinger but no further Dark Tower books. Roland hypnotizes King and it is revealed that the author did not in fact "create" the characters of Father Callahan, or Roland, nor any others involved with
2236-412: A deranged resident of the city. He allows himself to be taken in exchange for the rest of the group's safe passage, and Roland promises to come for Jake, despite having to abandon him temporarily. Despite the danger it poses, he rescues Jake with the help of Oy, reaffirming the father-son bond that has grown between them. Like Eddie and Susannah, Jake shows amazing aptitude to the way of a gunslinger. Jake
2408-603: A detailed synopsis of the novels, see the relevant article for each book . The series has become a linchpin that is interwoven with, and ties together, much of King's body of work . The worlds of The Dark Tower are in part composed of locations, characters, events and other various elements from many of King's novels and short stories. Some of the principal books that are tied to this series, or that this series references, include It , The Stand , 'Salem's Lot , Insomnia , Hearts in Atlantis , Black House , The Eyes of
2580-483: A fabled building said to be the nexus of all universes. Roland's world is said to have "moved on", and it appears to be coming apart at the seams. Mighty nations have been torn apart by war, entire cities and regions vanish without a trace and time does not flow in an orderly fashion. Sometimes, even the sun rises in the north and sets in the east. As the series opens, Roland's motives, goals, and age are unclear, although later installments shed light on these mysteries. For
2752-458: A hat, and that it would include the "lobstrosities" from The Drawing of the Three . In an interview with ComingSoon.net , Nikolaj Arcel confirmed that The Drawing of the Three would form the basis for the sequel, and that yet-to-be-cast actors who will play Eddie and Susannah Dean would appear alongside Elba, McConaughey, Taylor, and Haley reprising their roles as Roland, Walter, Jake and Sayre respectively. In February 2018, Amazon bought
2924-558: A haunted 1958 Plymouth Fury ." Later that year, he published Pet Sematary , which he had written in the late 1970s, when his family was living near a highway that "used up a lot of animals" as a neighbor put it. His daughter's cat was killed, and they buried it in a pet cemetery built by the local children. King imagined a burial ground beyond it that could raise the dead, albeit imperfectly. He initially found it too disturbing to publish, but resurrected it to fulfill his contract with Doubleday . In 1985, King published Skeleton Crew ,
3096-516: A homeless shelter. Callahan made it a goal to get even with the vampires for what they did to him and his friend, who contracted HIV after being bitten by a vampire. He is aided in this by his ability to spot the vampires; since Jerusalem's Lot (and the forced ingestion of some of the vampire Barlow's blood) he has been able to recognize vampires on sight. Like Jake Chambers, Callahan enters Mid-World after dying in his own world, although in Callahan's case
3268-454: A horrendous gate-keeper. Jake, with some timely assistance from Roland, fights through them to reach the door. Once the boy is in Mid-World again, Roland's and Jake's memories are merged and their descent into insanity abated. On the journey, Jake befriends a billy-bumbler who he calls Oy, who provides comfort for the boy on his quest. While crossing the desolate city of Lud, Jake is kidnapped by
3440-450: A life of his own. In the author's note, King writes that "I am indebted to the late Richard Bachman ." In 1990, King published Four Past Midnight , a collection of four novellas with the common theme of time. In 1991, he published Needful Things , his first novel since achieving sobriety, billed as "The Last Castle Rock Story". In 1992, he published Gerald's Game and Dolores Claiborne , two novels about women loosely linked by
3612-656: A limited edition of 250 by the Library Fellows of the Whitney Museum of American Art . Alfred A. Knopf released it in a general trade edition. King co-wrote Throttle (2009) with his son Joe Hill . The novella is an homage to Richard Matheson 's "Duel". Their second collaboration, In the Tall Grass (2012), was published in two parts in Esquire . King and his son Owen co-wrote Sleeping Beauties (2018), set in
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#17330861621253784-416: A little dachshund thrown in." At one point, Eddie calls Oy "a fucked-up weasel". Oy's voice is described as "low and deep, almost a bark; the voice of an English footballer with a bad cold in his throat." Regarding Oy's appearance, by far the most frequently described feature throughout the series is his large, "bright" almost glowing, "intelligent, gold-ringed eyes", though King also frequently refers to
3956-449: A lot and write a lot." He emphasizes the importance of good description, which "begins with clear seeing and ends with clear writing, the kind of writing that employs fresh images and simple vocabulary. I began learning my lessons in this regard by reading Chandler , Hammett , and Ross Macdonald ; I gained perhaps even more respect for the power of compact, descriptive language from reading T. S. Eliot (those ragged claws scuttling across
4128-459: A modern context. He recalls that while writing 'Salem's Lot , "I decided I wanted to try to use the book partially as a form of literary homage (as Peter Straub had done in Ghost Story , working in the tradition of such 'classical' ghost story writers as Henry James , M. R. James , and Nathaniel Hawthorne ). So my novel bears an intentional similarity to Bram Stoker 's Dracula , and after
4300-555: A novel. She told him: "You've got something here. I really think you do." Per The Guardian , Carrie "is the story of Carrie White, a high-school student with latent—and then, as the novel progresses, developing—telekinetic powers. It's brutal in places, affecting in others (Carrie's relationship with her almost hysterically religious mother being a particularly damaged one), and gory in even more." The review of Carrie in The New York Times noted that "King does more than tell
4472-545: A pandemic and its aftermath. King recalls that it was the novel that took him the longest to write, and that it was "also the one my longtime readers still seem to like the best". In 1977, the Kings, with the addition of Owen Philip , their third and youngest child, traveled briefly to England. They returned to Maine that fall, and King began teaching creative writing at the University of Maine . The courses he taught on horror provided
4644-521: A parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death" while The Dark Half "is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes." Introducing King at the National Book Awards , Walter Mosley said "Stephen King once said that daily life
4816-417: A recently widowed novelist. Several reviewers said that it showed King's maturation as a writer; Charles de Lint wrote "He hasn't forsaken the spookiness and scares that have made him a brand name, but he uses them more judiciously now... The present-day King has far more insight into the human condition than did his younger self, and better yet, all the skills required to share it with us." Bag of Bones won
4988-619: A ride on his snowplow for many miles, taking them closer to the Dark Tower. Stuttering Bill was also the nickname of William Denbrough , one of the central characters in King's novel It . Calvin Tower is the lease holder of the Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind bookstore in the series. He makes his first appearance in The Waste Lands , where he sells Jake two books which later prove vital to
5160-399: A sequel to The Shining. During his Chancellor's Speaker Series talk at University of Massachusetts Lowell on December 7, 2012, King said that he was writing a crime novel about a retired policeman being taunted by a murderer, with the working title Mr. Mercedes . In an interview with Parade , he confirmed that the novel was "more or less" completed. It was published in 2014 and won
5332-474: A sequel to the events of The Dark Tower was released in August 2017. Stephen King saw The Dark Tower series as a first draft, initially planning to rewrite it. However, after revising The Gunslinger , "he is trying to decide how much he can rewrite." The series is referred to on King's website as his magnum opus . In the story, Roland Deschain is a member of a knightly order known as gunslingers and
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5504-452: A short while) and runs in it to yet another when of New York, this one circa 1999, to give birth to the demon child. Susannah is the last member of Roland's ka-tet to leave him (and the only one to survive in a Keystone world), having been given the chance to return to another form of Eddie and Jake in a parallel world. Jake Chambers is an eleven-year-old boy from the New York of 1977, and
5676-401: A single illustrator only. Subsequent printings of each book in trade paperback format usually preserve the illustrations in full, except for books I and IV. Pocket-sized paperback reprints contain only black-and-white chapter or section header illustrations. The illustrators who worked on each book are: Bill Sheehan of The Washington Post called the series "a humane, visionary epic and
5848-456: A solar eclipse. The latter novel is narrated by the title character in an unbroken monologue; Mark Singer described it as "a morally riveting confession from the earthy mouth of a sixty-six-year-old Maine coastal-island native with a granite-hard life but not a grain of self-pity". King said he based the character of Claiborne on his mother. In 1994, King's story " The Man in the Black Suit "
6020-402: A story. He is a schoolteacher himself, and he gets into Carrie's mind as well as into the minds of her classmates." King was teaching Dracula to high school students and wondered what would happen if Old World vampires came to a small New England town. This was the germ of 'Salem's Lot , which King called " Peyton Place meets Dracula ". King's mother died from uterine cancer around
6192-597: A strong bond along the way. However, in order to reach the Man in Black, Roland lets Jake fall to his death. The person Roland allowed to die reappears in Roland's mind in The Waste Lands resulting in a paradox . Since Roland (in The Drawing of the Three ) prevented Mort from shoving Jake into traffic, he never died, therefore he never appeared in Mid-World and was never left to die under
6364-400: A tendency to write in images because that was all I knew at the time." Regarding his interest horror, he says "my childhood was pretty ordinary, except from a very early age, I wanted to be scared. I just did." He recalls showing his mother a story he copied out of a comic book. She responded: "I bet you could do better. Write one of your own." He recalls "an immense feeling of possibility at
6536-418: A tin roof and rusty screen door: "No matter what time of day you looked out that screen door, it looked like sunset... When it rained, being inside the club was like being inside a Jamaican steel drum." King writes that "The use of simile and other figurative language is one of the chief delights of fiction—reading it and writing it, as well. [...] By comparing two seemingly unrelated objects—a restaurant bar and
6708-540: A tree limb while the bumbler is defending his friend, but Oy finds enough strength to lick Roland's hand one time before he dies. Stephen King hints that Oy will be found in the same universe that Susannah travels to and will be in some form of a dog with "odd, gold-ringed eyes and a bark that eerily resembles human speech." Cuthbert is Roland Deschain's childhood best friend, and a member of his original ka-tet. Roland and Cuthbert are described as having been playing together since they were toddlers. Cuthbert, often called Bert,
6880-477: A true magnum opus" that stands as an "imposing example of pure storytelling," "filled with brilliantly rendered set pieces... cataclysmic encounters and moments of desolating tragedy." Erica Noonan of the Boston Globe said, "There's a fascinating world to be discovered in the series" but noted that its epic nature keeps it from being user-friendly . Allen Johnston of The New York Times was disappointed with how
7052-403: A week in a coma, being tended by two nurses. Cort was often rough handed with his students, using physical punishment and denial of food to punish mistakes. He also fancied calling the prospective gunslingers "maggots". According to Roland, he is murdered soon after Roland's class graduates. He acts as a sort of a spiritual guide to Roland throughout the series, his voice and teachings popping up in
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7224-415: A while it began to seem I was playing an interesting—to me, at least—game of literary racquet-ball: 'Salem's Lot itself was the ball and Dracula was the wall I kept hitting it against, watching to see how and where it could bounce, so I could hit it again. As a matter of fact, it took some pretty interesting bounces, and I ascribe this mostly to the fact that, while my ball existed in the twentieth century,
7396-528: Is Calvin Tower's best—and only—friend. He serves as Tower's conscience, and steadily leads his friend to the gunslinger's cause. He later joins the board of Tet Corporation, and proves to be one of the rose's most ardent defenders. His grand-niece Nancy, a gunslinger in her own right, works for the Tet Corporation. Deepneau dies of cancer in 1992. Met Roland and Eddie during the ambush in Stoneham, 1977. He leads
7568-435: Is Eddie Dean, a drug addict and a first-time cocaine mule . Eddie lives with his older brother and fellow junkie Henry, whom Eddie reveres despite the corrupting influence Henry has had upon his life. Roland helps Eddie fight off a gang of mobsters for whom he was transporting the cocaine, but not before Eddie discovers that Henry has died from an overdose of heroin in the company of the aforementioned mobsters (after which
7740-497: Is a black woman (although as a woman of 1964, she prefers the term " Negro " over the term considered appropriate in Eddie's time, " Black ") with two major afflictions: her legs below the knees were severed in a subway accident, and a childhood head injury left her with dual personalities , which Eddie incorrectly labels schizophrenia . She is "The Lady of Shadows", the second companion predicted by Walter to be drawn into Roland's world via
7912-476: Is a continuation of the original Dark Tower story, following the war between the Tet Corporation and Sombra/NCP in New York, and it has been supervised by both Stephen King and Robin Furth . From the website: "Exploring the behind-the-scenes conflict between the two companies, Discordia introduces long-time Dark Tower fans to new characters and numerous mechanical/magical items developed by Mid-World's Old Ones. Over
8084-412: Is a nod to Richard Stark, the pseudonym Donald E. Westlake used to publish his darker work. The Bachman books are grittier than King's usual fare; King called his alter-ego "Dark-toned, despairing...not a very nice guy." A Literary Guild member praised Thinner as "what Stephen King would write like if Stephen King could really write." Bachman was exposed as King's pseudonym in 1985 by Steve Brown,
8256-481: Is a skill that comes in handy on many occasions in Mejis when the boys cannot openly carry their guns. Cuthbert is quick-witted and sometimes has a way with words—his proclivity for words can be noticed as he often stops to repeat and muse over phrases he finds to be nice and 'round'. Physically, Cuthbert is described as being trim and tall with shoulder-length dark hair and dark eyes. During the battle of Jericho Hill, Cuthbert
8428-705: Is about coming of age , a theme he has returned to several times, for example in Joyland . King often uses authors as characters, such as Ben Mears in 'Salem's Lot , Jack Torrance in The Shining , adult Bill Denbrough in It and Mike Noonan in Bag of Bones . He has extended this to breaking the fourth wall by including himself as a character in three novels of The Dark Tower . Among other things, this allows King to explore themes of authorship; George Stade writes that Misery "is
8600-447: Is an American author. Widely known for his horror novels , he has been crowned the "King of Horror". He has also explored other genres, among them suspense , crime , science-fiction , fantasy and mystery . Though known primarily for his novels, he has written approximately 200 short stories , most of which have been published in collections. His debut , Carrie (1974), established him in horror. Different Seasons (1982),
8772-421: Is an adaptation of King's novella The Body , named his production company Castle Rock Entertainment after King's fictional town. Castle Rock Entertainment would produce other King adaptations, including Reiner's Misery (1990) and Frank Darabont 's The Shawshank Redemption (1994). In 1986, King made his directorial debut with Maximum Overdrive , an adaptation of his story " Trucks ". He recalls: "I
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#17330861621258944-462: Is captured, brought back to town, and publicly burned at the stake as an alleged accomplice in the murder. At the time, she is already pregnant with Roland's first child. Roland is devastated by her death—not just because of his love for her—but because, when confronted with the choice of returning for her or setting out for the Dark Tower and thus saving all of creation, he chose the Tower, thus condemning her to death. Roland believes that Susan Delgado
9116-417: Is considered by Roland to be his "true son". Jake's given name is John, but he prefers to be known by Jake, and is called "'Bama" by his housekeeper, who is far closer to him than his parents. In his home world, he dies at the hands of Jack Mort (who Jake initially believes is Walter ) and ends up in Roland's world as a result. The gunslinger and the boy travel together in pursuit of the Man in Black, developing
9288-469: Is first featured in The Gunslinger, but he does not play a major role in the series until Wizard and Glass, the fourth volume in the series. Cuthbert is characterized by his outwardly flippant, care-free view of the world. He constantly makes jokes, often testing the nerves of his companions. He is notably skilled with a sling-shot: it is said that he could 'take a bird on the wing at 50 yards' with it. This
9460-403: Is intuitive and emotionally present. Initially mistaken for a lack of seriousness, Eddie's frequent joking, emotional outbursts, and pop culture references irritated Roland; however, he earns Roland's respect by asserting his quick thinking and imagination to defeat Blaine the monorail during their 'riddle' duel in Wizard and Glass . In the final novel, during the attack on Algul Siento, Eddie
9632-499: Is just fabulous at that, and also I tried to write more colloquially." Straub said the only person who could correctly identify who wrote which passages was a fellow author, Neil Gaiman . King and the photographer f-stop Fitzgerald collaborated on the coffee table book Nightmares in the Sky: Gargoyles and Grotesques (1988). He produced an artist's book with designer Barbara Kruger , My Pretty Pony (1989), published in
9804-472: Is mentioned that he walks with the assistance of a black ironwood cane. His only known relative was his son Wallace, who played with Roland as a toddler; however, he died very young of an illness. Vannay would become one of the many victims to fall prey to the forces of John Farson in the battle for Gilead . Stephen King (as a fictionalized character) appears in the final two Dark Tower books. Roland and his ka-tet learn of his existence when Roland comes across
9976-553: Is one of the stated reasons for his survival against all odds: he can not imagine anything other than surviving to find the Tower. Edward Cantor "Eddie" Dean first appears in The Drawing of the Three , in which Roland encounters three doors that open into the New York City of our world in different times. Through these doors, Roland draws companions who will join him on his quest, as the Man In Black foretold. The first to be drawn
10148-593: Is set around the time of the flashbacks in The Gunslinger and Wizard and Glass . The first issue of this first arc was released on February 7, 2007. A hardcover volume containing all seven issues was released on November 7, 2007. The second arc in the series, The Long Road Home , began publication on March 5, 2008. A hardcover volume containing all five issues was released on October 15, 2008. The third arc, The Dark Tower: Treachery , began publication on September 10, 2008. A hardcover volume containing all 6 issues
10320-651: Is shot and killed by Pimli Prentiss, the master of the establishment. Roland also notes that Eddie's character strongly resembles that of Cuthbert, a gunslinger of Roland's past, and one of Roland's greatest friends. The character of Cuthbert is mentioned in Browning's poem and is described most fully in The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass , although he is first mentioned in The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger . Also hailing from New York City, Susannah
10492-403: Is shot through the eye by an arrow fired by Randall Flagg. In Song of Susannah, Eddie Dean is revealed to be a reincarnation, or at least a "twinner" of Cuthbert Allgood. Alain is one of Roland's original ka-tet , and along with the gunslinger and Cuthbert is evacuated to Mejis in Wizard, and Glass for safety, due to the ongoing war against John Farson . Alain is strong in the 'touch', which
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#173308616212510664-416: Is small, a seashell. Sometimes it's enormous, a Tyrannosaurus Rex with all those gigantic ribs and grinning teeth. Either way, short story or thousand-page whopper of a novel, the techniques of excavation remain basically the same. King often starts with a "what-if" scenario, asking what would happen if an alcoholic writer was stranded with his family in a haunted hotel ( The Shining ), or if one could see
10836-439: Is small-town American life, often set in fictitious Derry, Maine; tales of family life, marital life, the lives of children banded together by age, circumstance, and urgency, where parents prove oblivious or helpless. The human heart in conflict with itself—in the guise of the malevolent Other. The ' gothic ' imagination magnifies the vicissitudes of 'real life' in order to bring it into a sharper and clearer focus." King's The Body
11008-449: Is the frame that makes the picture. His commitment, as I see it, is to celebrate and empower the everyday man and woman as they buy aspirin and cope with cancer. He takes our daily lives and makes them into something heroic. He takes our world, validates our distrust of it and then helps us to see that there's a chance to transcend the muck. He tells us that even if we fail in our struggles, we are still worthy enough to pass on our energies in
11180-402: Is the last surviving gunslinger, a man whose goal is finding and climbing to the top of the Dark Tower, purported to be the very center of existence, so that he may right the wrongs in his land. This quest is his obsession, monomania and geas to Roland: In the beginning the success of the quest is more important than the lives of his family and friends. He is a man who lacks imagination, and this
11352-467: Is the mid-world term for a combination of telepathy, precognition, and hypersensitivity to the guiding hand of Ka. Alain is described as being stout with blond hair. He is calm, reserved and often plays the role of level-headed mediator between ever pragmatic Roland and ostensibly care-free Cuthbert—particularly when Susan Delgado is seen to be interfering with Roland's decision making. After Mejis, Alain joined Roland, Cuthbert, and Jamie on their quest for
11524-510: Is the psychic assassin from Stephen King's short story " Everything's Eventual ." He was hired by a man named Mr. Sharpton who was the head of a North Central Positronics subsidiary. However, when Dinky discovered what Sharpton was truly using him for, he killed Sharpton. Unfortunately, the low men captured him and transported him to the Devar-Toi, where he later met Ted Brautigan and Sheemie Ruiz. The three joined forces with Roland and his ka-tet in
11696-533: Is the second member of the ka-tet to die, when he sacrifices himself to save Stephen King (as a character in the series) from certain death by putting himself between King and the van meant to take his life. By the end of the tale Jake has died a total of three times. An alternate version of Jake is encountered later by Susannah Dean; in this world, he and Eddie are brothers, with the last name Toren. Roland also notes that Jake strongly resembles Alain, another gunslinger, in his stable, reserved personality and talent with
11868-471: The Bram Stoker and August Derleth Awards. In 1999, he published The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon , about a girl who gets lost in the woods and finds solace in listening to broadcasts of Boston Red Sox games, and Hearts in Atlantis , a book of linked novellas and short stories about coming of age in the 1960s. Later that year, King was hospitalized after being hit by the driver of a van. Reflecting on
12040-542: The British Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction. King recalls "I got the best reviews in my life. And that was the first time that people thought, woah, this isn't really a horror thing." King struggled with addiction throughout the decade and often wrote under the influence of cocaine and alcohol; he says he "barely remembers writing" Cujo . In 1983, he published Christine , "A love triangle involving 17-year-old misfit Arnie Cunningham, his new girlfriend and
12212-530: The Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel . He returned to horror with Revival , which he called "a nasty, dark piece of work". King announced in June 2014 that Mr. Mercedes was part of a trilogy; the sequel, Finders Keepers , was published in 2015. The third book of the trilogy, End of Watch , was released in 2016. In 2018, he released The Outsider , which features the character Holly Gibney , and
12384-577: The Ka-tet of the Nineteen and Ninety-nine , consisting of Jake Chambers , Eddie Dean , Susannah Dean , and Oy . Among his many enemies on the way are The Man in Black , Mordred, and The Crimson King . King created a language for his characters, known as the High Speech. Examples of this language include the phrases Thankee, Sai ("Thank you, Sir/Ma'am.") and Dan-Tete ("Little Savior"). In addition, King uses
12556-475: The anti-war novel Sword in the Darkness , still unpublished. King recalls the origin of his debut , Carrie : "Two unrelated ideas, adolescent cruelty and telekinesis, came together." It began as a short story intended for Cavalier ; King tossed the first three pages in the trash but his wife, Tabitha , recovered them, saying she wanted to know what happened next. He followed her advice and expanded it into
12728-522: The 2003 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters , the 2007 Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and the 2014 National Medal of Arts . Joyce Carol Oates called King "a brilliantly rooted, psychologically 'realistic' writer for whom the American scene has been a continuous source of inspiration, and American popular culture a vast cornucopia of possibilities." King
12900-474: The 6th book, this is commemorated when the Tet Corporation forms as the association of "Deschain, Dean, Dean, Chambers, and Oy." Oy develops emotions and even a sense of humanity beyond that of his ability to replicate some words that the others speak. Oy is often referred as the smartest bumbler that characters have seen since the world had moved on. Oy provides a much-needed shelter from the harsh nature of
13072-961: The American Wild West as depicted by Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone in their spaghetti Westerns . The first story, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger , was initially published in five installments in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction under the editorship of Edward L. Ferman , from 1977 to 1981. It grew into an eight-volume epic, The Dark Tower , published between 1978 and 2012. King co-wrote two novels with Peter Straub , The Talisman (1984) and Black House (2001). Straub recalls that "We tried to make it as difficult as possible for readers to identify who wrote what. Eventually, we were able to successfully imitate each other's style... Steve threw in more commas or clauses, and I kind of made things more simple in sentence structure. And I tried to make things as vivid as I could because Steve
13244-506: The Battle of Jericho Hill he is a Gunslinger, like the rest of Roland's ka-tet. Jamie figures prominently in the novel The Wind Through the Keyhole , traveling with Roland to investigate rumors of a shape-changing "skin-man" that is attacking a frontier town. In this novel, his birthmark is described as being a deep red one on his hand, making it appear as if it has been dipped in blood, and he has
13416-457: The Bullet , "the world's first mass e-book, with more than 500,000 downloads". Inspired by its success, he began publishing an epistolary horror novel, The Plant , in online installments using the pay what you want method. He suggested readers pay $ 1 per installment, and said he'd only continue publishing if 75% of readers paid. When The Plant folded, the public assumed that King had abandoned
13588-531: The Choo-Choo is a "children's book" by Stephen King released in 2016, published under the pseudonym Beryl Evans. It is adapted from a section of King's previous novel The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands . It was illustrated by Ned Dameron. Several Dark Tower series arcs were published by Marvel Comics . A prequel , The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born is plotted by Robin Furth, scripted by Peter David , and illustrated by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove , and
13760-528: The Dark Tower series#Ka-tet of the Nineteen and Ninety-nine The Dark Tower is a series of eight novels written by American author Stephen King , which incorporate multiple genres including fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western. Below are The Dark Tower characters that come into play as the series progresses. Roland Deschain, son of Steven Deschain, was born in the Barony of Gilead, in In-World. Roland
13932-651: The Dark Tower, but Stephen King is in this reality a channel (another servant of the Beam / ka / Gan) that records their ongoing quest. It is also revealed that at a very young age, the Crimson King attempted to claim Stephen King as one of his own. King fears death and retaliation from the Crimson King if he continues to write Roland's tale but the Gunslinger's hypnosis encourages him to continue. The eventual attempt on King's life that would end his chronicling of Roland's quest comes in
14104-533: The Dark Tower. Shortly before the battle of Jericho Hill, the last stand by the gunslingers of Gilead against Farson's men, Alain was accidentally killed by Roland and Cuthbert, who mistook him for an assassin in the night. Jamie De Curry was a member of Roland Deschain's original ka-tet. He grew up and trained with Roland under Cort and Vannay in Gilead. He was the first to discover Roland's plan to attempt to finish his training (by fighting Cort, their veteran teacher) at
14276-618: The Devar-Toi and enters the Connecticut of 1960, which is when the story of "Low Men in Yellow Coats" takes place. After his adventure in Connecticut, the low men capture and smuggle him back to the Devar-Toi via the Dixie Pig and Thunderclap Station. Ted meets Roland and his ka-tet in the final novel of the series, and he, Dinky Earnshaw, and the newly revealed psychic Sheemie assist the ka-tet in
14448-582: The Doorway Cave. Stanley "Sheemie" Ruiz, introduced in Wizard and Glass , was a mildly mentally handicapped tavern boy at a saloon in Hambry. Sheemie assisted Roland and his first ka-tet in preventing the followers of John Farson , and more specifically, the Crimson King, from reviving the Great Old Ones' war machines, later following the group back to Gilead. Sheemie joined Roland's ka-tet briefly and helped
14620-485: The Dragon , The Shining , and Cell . The TV miniseries Kingdom Hospital takes place in a world in which Nozz-A-La is the most popular beverage in the world, possibly meaning those events take place in the same universe as books 4 and 5 are set. Along his journey to the Dark Tower, Roland meets a great number of friends and enemies. For most of the way, he is accompanied by a group of people who, together with him, form
14792-580: The Flies . It proved formative: "It was, so far as I can remember, the first book with hands—strong ones that reached out of the pages and seized me by the throat. It said to me, 'This is not just entertainment; it's life or death.'... To me, Lord of the Flies has always represented what novels are for, why they are indispensable." He attended Durham Elementary School and entered Lisbon High School in Lisbon Falls, Maine , in 1962. He contributed to Dave's Rag ,
14964-471: The Gunslinger's mind every so often as Roland needs to reflect upon his training. Also known as "Vannay the Wise", he was the other primary tutor of Roland's ka-tet and of apprentice gunslingers. Known mostly for his wisdom and forbearance, Vannay's analytical method of instruction and pacifistic nature serve as strong counterpoints to the ruthless application of force and cynical thought process exercised by Cort. It
15136-456: The Ka-tet's efforts on several occasions. His eventual—and reluctant—decision to do the right thing comes largely thanks to the influence of his much more selfless, heroic friend, Aaron Deepneau. In the end, he sells the lot to Tet Corporation, and serves on the board for many years. With Deepneau, he saves Father Callahan from knife-wielding thugs. Tower dies of a heart attack in 1990. Aaron Deepneau
15308-602: The Ka-tet's survival of their encounter with Blaine the Mono. In later volumes, it is revealed that Tower owns the lot containing the rose, and is being pressured by mobsters to sell the property to the Sombra Corporation. Eddie saves Tower from a beating, and convinces Tower to sell the land to the ka-tet in the guise of the "Tet Corporation". Tower is an extremely reluctant recruit to the Ka-tet's cause; his selfishness and single-minded obsession with acquiring rare books nearly derail
15480-446: The Keyhole . King noted that this novel would likely be set between the fourth and the fifth books of the series. The book, titled The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole , was announced on Stephen King's official site on March 10, 2011, and was published on April 24, 2012. Each book in the series was originally published in hardcover format with a number of full-color illustrations spread throughout. Each book contained works by
15652-561: The Rings , Arthurian legend , and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as inspirations. He identifies Clint Eastwood's " Man with No Name " character as one of the major inspirations for the protagonist, Roland Deschain . King's style of location names in the series, such as Mid-World, and his development of a unique language (High Speech), are also influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien 's work. A film serving as
15824-588: The University of Maine, King earned a certificate to teach high school but was unable to find a teaching post immediately. He sold short stories to magazines like Cavalier . Many of these early stories were republished in Night Shift (1978). In 1971, King was hired as an English teacher at Hampden Academy in Hampden, Maine . He continued to contribute short stories to magazines and worked on ideas for novels, including
15996-472: The World of The Dark Tower was published in 2016 under the pseudonym Beryl Evans and illustrated by Ned Dameron . It is adapted from a fictional book central to the plot of King's The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands . In the late 1970s, King began a series about a lone gunslinger, Roland , who pursues the " Man in Black " in an alternate universe that is a cross between J. R. R. Tolkien 's Middle-earth and
16168-512: The attack on the Devar-Toi and ultimately succeed in obliterating the low men and the taheen. After Roland, Jake, and Oy travel to the Maine of 1999 to prevent Stephen King from dying, Ted and his friends escort Susannah Dean to Fedic Station, and Ted, along with a handful of the other Breakers depart for the Callas, where they hope to first find redemption from the Calla folken and then return to America via
16340-473: The base of the Dark Tower. It was given to John Cullum to act as a sigul and was later returned to Roland by Moses Carver. When Roland came to the Dark Tower, he called Talitha's name among those of his friends and loved ones and laid her cross at its base as he had promised. Teacher of Roland's original ka-tet. Roland earned his guns by defeating him with the hawk David, who was mortally wounded in that battle. After Roland's challenge, Cort laid in his cabin for
16512-466: The basis for his first nonfiction book, Danse Macabre . In 1979, he published The Dead Zone , about an ordinary man gifted with second sight . It was the first of his novels to take place in Castle Rock, Maine . King later reflected that with The Dead Zone , "I really hit my stride." In 1982, King published Different Seasons , a collection of four novellas with a more serious dramatic bent than
16684-479: The can-toi (low men) and vampires. For the second time, Callahan kills himself before allowing himself to fall at the hands of the vampires. Patrick appears in Insomnia as a promising child artist, then again at the end of the Dark Tower series as a young adult artist with enough talent to shape the real world as he sees fit. As a young boy, he was prophesied to save two men in the future. He drew pictures of Roland and
16856-486: The character over Superman . In 2010, DC Comics premiered American Vampire , a comic book series co-written by King and Scott Snyder and illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque . King wrote the backstory of the first American vampire, Skinner Sweet, in the first five-issues story arc. In On Writing , King recalls: When, during the course of an interview for The New Yorker , I told the interviewer (Mark Singer) that I believed stories are found things, like fossils in
17028-463: The collection Just After Sunset . In 2009, it was announced he would serve as a writer for Fangoria . King's novel Under the Dome was published later that year, and debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Bestseller List . Janet Maslin said of it, "Hard as this thing is to hoist, it's even harder to put down." In 2010, King published Full Dark, No Stars , a collection of four novellas with
17200-453: The common theme of retribution. In 2011, he published 11/22/63 , about a time portal leading to 1958, and an English teacher who travels through it to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination . Errol Morris called it "one of the best time travel stories since H. G. Wells ". In 2013, he published Joyland , his second book for Hard Case Crime. Later that year, he published Doctor Sleep ,
17372-453: The contrary, I want them to do things their way. In some instances, the outcome is what I visualized. In most, however, it's something I never expected." Joyce Carol Oates called King "both a storyteller and an inventor of startling images and metaphors, which linger long in the memory." An example of King's imagery is seen in The Body when the narrator recalls a childhood clubhouse with
17544-524: The course of our adventure we will visit many locations, both those familiar to Dark Tower fans and others which we only glimpsed in the Dark Tower novels. While we may not see Roland and his ka-tet in this adventure, the development team has remembered the faces of its fathers. We have done our best to honor the original Dark Tower series while simultaneously mapping new and exciting Dark Tower territory." Sony Pictures and Media Rights Capital adapted
17716-482: The creature's "disproportionately long, " "surprisingly graceful neck". The creature has "black- and grey-striped fur " and a "furry corkscrew tail". At the time of their meeting, Roland concedes that Oy may quite possibly be meant as another member of their ka-tet. This is confirmed in Wizard and Glass , when the ka-tet cannot enter "The Emerald City" until all of them -- including Oy -- are wearing ruby slippers. Later, in
17888-471: The creatures of a writer's imagination so frequently do... He took on his own reality, that's all, and when his cover was blown, he died." Originally, King planned Misery to be released under the pseudonym before his identity was discovered. When Desperation (1996) was released, the companion novel The Regulators was published as a "discovered manuscript" by Bachman. In 2006, King announced that he had discovered another Bachman novel, Blaze , which
18060-591: The death is his own doing; he jumps from a window to escape agents of the Crimson King, then arrives at the Way Station from The Gunslinger , shortly after Jake & Roland left it. He becomes a partial member of the ka-tet, assisting the ka-tet in the Battle against the Wolves and Susannah's rescue mission from 1999 New York, and sacrificing himself so that Jake may live in the final stand in The Dark Tower VII against
18232-517: The doctor saying you have cancer or a prank phone call. So whether you talk about ghosts or vampires or Nazi war criminals living down the block, we're still talking about the same thing, which is an intrusion of the extraordinary into ordinary life and how we deal with it. What that shows about our character and our interactions with others and the society we live in interests me a lot more than monsters and vampires and ghouls and ghosts." Joyce Carol Oates said that "Stephen King's characteristic subject
18404-532: The eight novels of the series proper that comprise 4,250 pages, many of King's other books relate to the story, introducing concepts and characters that come into play as the series progresses. The series was chiefly inspired by the poem " Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came " by Robert Browning , the full text of which was included in the final volume's appendix. In the preface to the revised 2003 edition of The Gunslinger , King also identifies The Lord of
18576-566: The end of World War II , living in a modest house in Scarborough. He is of Scots-Irish descent. When King was two, his father left the family. His mother raised him and his older brother David by herself, sometimes under great financial strain. They moved from Scarborough and depended on relatives in Chicago, Illinois ; Croton-on-Hudson; West De Pere, Wisconsin ; Fort Wayne, Indiana ; Malden, Massachusetts ; and Stratford, Connecticut . When King
18748-463: The ending "a valediction" that "more than delivers on what has been promised." Joshua Rothman of The New Yorker praised the series, feeling that "the novels were better and weirder than [he'd] hoped." Because it features several of his classic tropes, Rothman claimed, "If you really like Stephen King, you owe it to yourself to give the series a shot." The series has prompted related non-fiction books by authors besides King. Robin Furth has published
18920-534: The final novel of the series and they helped to defeat the Devar-Toi's guards. Donald Frank Callahan is the "damned" priest who first appeared in the novel 'Salem's Lot . He makes his first appearance in the Dark Tower series in Wolves of the Calla , although his involvement in the series was hinted at in the afterword to Wizard and Glass . After being marked by the vampire Kurt Barlow , and therefore forced out of his church, Father Callahan spends time volunteering in
19092-411: The form of his 1999 automobile incident . Many elements of Stephen King's real life are presented through his character (such as his 1999 accident) but are further fictionalized; King notes in the afterword to The Dark Tower that he took particular liberties with the geography of Maine to obscure the real-life location of his home and preserve what privacy he still has. Although he does not appear as
19264-418: The fourth book of The Dark Tower series. She is a resident of Hambry, in the Barony of Mejis, where the 14-year-old Roland and his ka-tet have been sent for their own safety. Susan's father was purportedly killed in a horseback riding accident, which Susan later learned was a murder premeditated by the town's leadership. Shortly before Roland's arrival, Susan has been cajoled by her aunt Cordelia into becoming
19436-399: The ground, he said that he didn't believe me. I replied that that was fine, as long as he believed that I believe it. And I do. Stories aren't souvenir tee-shirts or GameBoys. Stories are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world. The writer's job is to use the tools in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground intact as possible. Sometimes the fossil you uncover
19608-458: The gunslingers ward off the Crimson King's followers until he and his mule Capi mysteriously disappeared. However, while Roland assumes Sheemie is dead, he is not; he had been captured by the low men and taken to the Devar-Toi, the Breaker prison, because of his telepathic abilities, which remained unknown to Roland's ka-tet. He reappears in the series' final novel and assists the new ka-tet in defeating
19780-451: The horror fiction for which he had become famous. Alan Cheuse wrote "Each of the first three novellas has its hypnotic moments, and the last one is a horrifying little gem." Three of the four novellas were adapted as films: The Body as Stand by Me (1986); Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption as The Shawshank Redemption (1994); and Apt Pupil as the film of the same name (1998). The fourth, The Breathing Method , won
19952-492: The idea was a new Dark Tower novel. King said, regarding The Dark Tower , "It's not really done yet. Those seven books are really sections of one long über-novel." King confirmed this during his TimesTalk event at The Times Center in New York City on November 10, 2009, and the next day King's official site posted that King would begin working on this novel in about eight months, with a tentative title being The Wind Through
20124-425: The idea, as if I had been ushered into a vast building filled with closed doors and had been given the key to open any I liked." King was a voracious reader in his youth: "I read everything from Nancy Drew to Psycho . My favorite was The Shrinking Man , by Richard Matheson —I was 8 when I found that." King asked a bookmobile driver, "Do you have any stories about how kids really are?" She gave him Lord of
20296-401: The incident, he said "it occurs to me that I have nearly been killed by a character out of one of my own novels. It's almost funny." He said his nurses were "told in no uncertain terms, don't make any Misery jokes". In 2000, King published On Writing , a mix of memoir and style manual which The Wall Street Journal called "a one-of-a-kind classic". Later that year he published Riding
20468-473: The last of the line of "Arthur Eld", his world's analogue of King Arthur . Politically organized along the lines of a feudal society, it shares technological and social characteristics with the American Old West but is also magical . Many of the magical aspects have vanished from Mid-World but traces remain, as do relics from a technologically advanced society. Roland's quest is to find the Dark Tower,
20640-449: The low men and the taheen. However, during the battle, he steps on a piece of glass, causing an infection (accelerated by the "poison air" around Thunderclap). While escorting Susannah to Fedic on the train, he dies of blood poisoning. Although Susannah never learns this, she is indirectly responsible for his death, as it is her bullet that breaks the glass out of his window, causing it to be there for him to step on. Richard "Dinky" Earnshaw
20812-532: The memories and personalities of both Holmes and Walker, and can call upon their skills and temperaments at will. During the drawing of Jake, she submits to sex with the demon of the doorway, in order to distract it, and afterwards, she becomes pregnant. Susannah shares the experience of her pregnancy with a demon-turned-mortal named Mia, resulting in Susannah housing yet another personality in her mind. Mia takes over Susannah's body (and melds with it, giving her legs for
20984-400: The miniseries Rose Red (2002); The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red (2001) was written by Ridley Pearson and published anonymously as a tie-in for the series. He also developed Kingdom Hospital (2004), based on Lars von Trier 's The Kingdom . King collaborated with Stan Winston and Mick Garris on the music video Michael Jackson's Ghosts (1996). He co-wrote
21156-457: The mobsters decide to chop off Henry's head). It is because of Eddie's heroin addiction that he is termed 'The Prisoner' (the inscription above the door Roland draws Eddie from). Roland also acquires medicine for his infection during the trip to Eddie's world, but this only temporarily quells the fever. Eddie passes through the door into Roland's world, and faces heroin withdrawal symptoms, but despite his suffering, he also shows an affinity for
21328-416: The mountains. Jake and Roland, however, can remember both timelines, and the knowledge is slowly driving them insane. In the first half of The Waste Lands , Roland's ka-tet figure out a way to draw Jake into Mid-world, where he belongs (an action which finishes the real Drawing of the Three, Jack Mort never having been intended to join the ka-tet). Eddie is driven to whittle a key out of wood as they approach
21500-490: The mummy, the giant creatures that ate up New York in the old B movies. Put 'em all in there." These influences coalesced into It , about a shapeshifting monster that takes the form of its victims' fears and haunts the town of Derry, Maine. He said he thought he was done writing about monsters, and wanted to "bring on all the monsters one last time…and call it It." It won the August Derleth Award in 1987. 1987
21672-476: The musical Ghost Brothers of Darkland County (2012) with T. Bone Burnett and John Mellencamp . A soundtrack album was released, featuring Taj Mahal , Elvis Costello and Rosanne Cash , among others. In 1985, King wrote a few pages of the benefit X-Men comic book Heroes for Hope Starring the X-Men . He wrote the introduction to Batman No. 400, an anniversary issue where he expressed his preference for
21844-435: The mysterious doors. Initially, her dominant personality is that of Odetta Susannah Holmes, a well-mannered but priggish woman active in the civil rights movement. At times, however, she is taken over by Detta Susannah Walker—murderously psychotic, incredibly crafty, completely unbreakable—whom neither Eddie nor Roland can control. Neither Odetta nor Detta are aware of the existence of the other, and confabulate memories for
22016-460: The narrators. The French audiobooks are published by Éditions Gallimard and narrated by Jacques Frantz . In Russian, The Gunslinger , as narrated by Igor Knyazev, does not have any music or sound effects The first two novels in the series, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger and The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three, were produced on audio cassette by New Audio Library (NAL) in 1988 and 1989 respectively. The Waste Lands, The Dark Tower Part III,
22188-411: The newspaper his brother printed with a mimeograph machine , and later sold stories to his friends. His first independently published story was " I Was a Teenage Grave Robber ", serialized over four issues of the fanzine Comics Review in 1965. He was a sports reporter for Lisbon's Weekly Enterprise . In 1966, King entered the University of Maine at Orono on a scholarship. While there, he wrote for
22360-516: The nickname "Jamie Red-Hand." Not much is known about Thomas Whitman. He is only briefly mentioned in The Gunslinger as one of Roland Deschain's childhood friends who studied under Cort. He is shown in several installments of The Gunslinger comic series. He is shown to have a lean build with short, black hair. In the Battle of Jericho Hill, he and several other Gunslingers are killed by a flamethrower. Susan Delgado appears in Wizard and Glass ,
22532-472: The novel was influenced by his experiences with addiction: "Annie was my drug problem, and she was my number-one fan. God, she never wanted to leave." He published The Tommyknockers , a science fiction novel filled, he says, with metaphors for addiction. After the book was published, King's wife staged an intervention, and he agreed to seek treatment for addiction. Two years later, he published The Dark Half , about an author whose literary alter-ego takes on
22704-519: The novella Elevation . In 2019, he released The Institute . In 2020, King released If It Bleeds , a collection of four novellas. In 2021, he published Later , his third book for Hard Case Crime. In 2022, King released the novel Fairy Tale . Holly , about Holly Gibney was released in September 2023. In November 2023, the short story collection You Like It Darker , featuring twelve stories (seven previously published and five unreleased)
22876-507: The ocean floor; those coffee spoons), and William Carlos Williams (white chickens, red wheelbarrow, the plums that were in the ice box, so sweet and so cold)." King has called Richard Matheson "the author who influenced me most". Other influences include Ray Bradbury , Joseph Payne Brennan , James M. Cain , Jack Finney , Graham Greene , Elmore Leonard , John D. MacDonald , Don Robertson and Thomas Williams . He often pays homage to classic horror stories by retelling them in
23048-425: The outcome of future events ( The Dead Zone ), or if one could travel in time to alter the course of history ( 11/22/63 ). He writes that "The situation comes first. The characters—always flat and unfeatured, to begin with—come next. Once these things are fixed in my mind, I begin to narrate. I often have an idea of what the outcome may be, but I have never demanded a set of characters that they do things my way. On
23220-422: The people in it may be make believe but I need to ask myself over and over if I've told the truth about the way real people would behave in a similar situation... We understand that fiction is a lie to begin with. To ignore the truth inside the lie is to sin against the craft, in general, and one's own work in particular." In On Writing , King says "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all: read
23392-538: The periods when they are not the dominant personality. Roland manages to resolve these personalities by forcing Detta to look through the third door while he himself looks out of it, forcing Detta and Odetta to see themselves for what they really are, and almost kill each other upon realising their presence. However, Odetta chooses to embrace Detta, and the personalities are integrated into a single, far more balanced individual, known as Susannah Dean, Eddie's wife, although they were never formally married. Susannah has access to
23564-760: The pilot, but production company MRC is shopping the pilot scripts elsewhere. In December 2022, director Mike Flanagan announced that he had acquired the rights to develop a television series based on the books and has plans for a multi-season release. Currently there exist five audio versions of The Dark Tower series – in English, Polish, German, French and Russian. The audio book in English published by Hodder & Stoughton features voices of George Guidall and Frank Muller and has neither music nor sound effects. The audio book in German published by Deutschland Random House Audio introduces Vittorio Alfieri and David Nathan as
23736-591: The project because sales were unsuccessful, but King later said he had simply run out of stories. The unfinished novel is still available from King's official site, now free. In 2002, King published From a Buick 8 , a return to the territory of Christine . In 2005, he published the mystery The Colorado Kid for the Hard Case Crime imprint. In 2006, he published Cell , in which a mysterious signal broadcast over cell phones turns users into mindless killers. That same year, he published Lisey's Story , about
23908-641: The pseudonym Richard Bachman and has co-written works with other authors, notably his friend Peter Straub and sons Joe Hill and Owen King . He has also written nonfiction, notably Danse Macabre (1981) and On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000). Among other awards, King has won the O. Henry Award for " The Man in the Black Suit " (1994) and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller for 11/22/63 (2011). He has also won honors for his overall contributions to literature, including
24080-406: The pseudonym Richard Bachman. He explains: "I did that because back in the early days of my career there was a feeling in the publishing business that one book a year was all the public would accept...eventually the public got wise to this because you can change your name but you can't really disguise your style." Bachman's surname is derived from the band Bachman–Turner Overdrive and his first name
24252-426: The quest for Jake, often playing with him or providing moments of lightheartedness to the ka-tet. His deep loyalty to his friend saves Jake's life several times, and he remains part of Roland's ka-tet even after the boy dies, as a final request from Jake. Oy is killed in the last Dark Tower book. He saves Roland's life by attacking Mordred, who came to kill Roland in his sleep. Mordred snaps Oy's back and impales him on
24424-474: The rights to The Dark Tower books for a series adaptation, though it was not made clear at first if anyone from the film would be involved. It was later confirmed that the series would serve as a reboot, with Sam Strike and Jasper Pääkkönen being cast as Roland Deschain and The Man in Black, respectively. In June 2019, Michael Rooker , Jerome Flynn and Joana Ribeiro were also believed to be cast members. In January 2020, Amazon decided not to move forward with
24596-402: The roses as well. In the Dark Tower series, he was kept imprisoned for an unknown amount of time by the psychic vampire Dandelo and was rescued by Susannah and Roland. Patrick draws a door that allows Susannah to enter a parallel world, and later draws and erases a picture of the Crimson King, causing him to disappear from the Tower so that Roland can safely enter it. Roland then sends Patrick back
24768-584: The series for film. The film is directed by Nikolaj Arcel, and stars Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey , cast respectively as Roland Deschain and Walter O'Dim. The film was released on August 4, 2017. Critics panned the film with it receiving a score of 16% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film combines elements from several novels in The Dark Tower series, serving as a canonical sequel to the novel series. Stephen King has indicated that The Dark Tower film and television series will follow Roland's "last time round" to
24940-476: The series progressed; while he marveled at the "sheer absurdity of [the books'] existence" and complimented King's writing style, he said preparation would have improved the series, stating "King doesn't have the writerly finesse for these sorts of games, and the voices let him down." Michael Berry of the San Francisco Chronicle , however, called the series' early installments "highfalutin hodgepodge" but
25112-464: The series was declared finished with the publication of the seventh volume in 2004, Stephen King described in an interview in March 2009 an idea for a new short story he'd recently had: "And then I thought, 'Well, why don't I find three more like this and do a book that would be almost like modern fairy tales?' Then this thing started to add on bits and pieces so I guess it will be a novel." According to King,
25284-399: The student newspaper, The Maine Campus , and found mentors in the professors Edward Holmes and Burton Hatlen . King participated in a writing workshop organized by Hatlen, where he fell in love with Tabitha Spruce . King graduated in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, and his daughter Naomi Rachel was born that year. King and Spruce wed in 1971. King paid tribute to Hatlen: "Burt
25456-448: The survival of humanity." In his acceptance speech for the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, King said: " Frank Norris , the author of McTeague , said something like this: 'What should I care if they, i.e., the critics, single me out for sneers and laughter? I never truckled, I never lied. I told the truth.' And that's always been the bottom line for me. The story and
25628-491: The term Ka , which is the approximate equivalent of destiny, or fate, in the fictional language High Speech (and similarly, Ka-tet, a group of people bound together by fate/destiny). This term originated in Egyptian mythology and storytelling, and has figured in several other novels and screenplays since 1976. The term also appears in King's short story, "Low Men in Yellow Coats", in which Ted describes its meaning to Bobby. While
25800-519: The time ' Salem's Lot was published. After his mother's death, King and his family moved to Boulder, Colorado . He paid a visit to the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park which provided the basis for The Shining , about an alcoholic writer and his family taking care of a hotel for the winter. King's family returned to Auburn, Maine in 1975, where he completed The Stand , an apocalyptic novel about
25972-414: The titular Dark Tower. In July 2016, director Nikolaj Arcel confirmed that The Dark Tower film would be a sequel to the novels as well as a direct adaptation, with Roland in the next cycle of his journey to the Tower. In a 2017 interview with Collider , Stephen King expressed hope for a sequel film in addition to the upcoming television series, suggesting that it should be R-rated , with Roland wearing
26144-507: The two-volume Stephen King's The Dark Tower: A Concordance , an encyclopedia-style companion to the series that she originally wrote for King's personal use. Bev Vincent has published The Road to The Dark Tower: Exploring Stephen King's Magnum Opus , a book containing back story, summary and analysis and The Dark Tower Companion , which includes interviews and coverage of the Marvel graphic novels. Stephen King has endorsed these books. Charlie
26316-402: The unprecedented age of 14. He is characterized by a birthmark on his face, leading some in Gilead to refer to him as "Jamie of the marked face." He was killed by a sniper at the Battle of Jericho Hill while pushing Roland from the line of fire. It's stated by Roland that as a child he excelled in archery—the use of a bow and 'bah' (crossbow)—far more so than Roland himself, although by the time of
26488-471: The wall was very much a product of the nineteenth." Similarly, King's Revival is a modern riff on Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein . King dedicated it to "the people who built my house": Shelley, Stoker, H. P. Lovecraft , Clark Ashton Smith , Donald Wandrei , Fritz Leiber , August Derleth , Shirley Jackson , Robert Bloch , Straub and Arthur Machen , "whose short novel The Great God Pan has haunted me all my life". List of characters from
26660-437: The way of the gun—and a good deal of what Roland calls 'steel'. Unwillingly at first, Eddie becomes Roland's companion through Mid-World, and he soon falls in love with Susannah, the next member of Roland's ka-tet . Eddie and Susannah consider themselves husband and wife, although they never formally marry. Roland and Eddie frequently clash due to their differing personalities; while Roland is often calculating and distant, Eddie
26832-435: The way they came, instructing him to either find or draw a door that will lead him to America, but his final fate is not revealed. "Aunt" Talitha Unwin is a resident of River Crossing, near the city of Lud. When Roland Deschain came to River Crossing, she was 105 years old. She and the people of River Crossing provided food and shelter for the ka-tet while they were on their way to Lud. Talitha gave her cross to Roland to lay at
27004-554: The widow of a novelist. He calls it his favorite of his novels, because "I've always felt that marriage creates its own secret world, and only in a long marriage can two people at least approach real knowledge about each other. I wanted to write about that, and felt that I actually got close to what I really wanted to say." In 2007, King served as guest editor for the annual anthology The Best American Short Stories . In 2008, King published Duma Key , his first novel set in Florida, and
27176-443: Was 11, his family moved to Durham, Maine , where his mother cared for her parents until their deaths. After that, she became a caregiver in a local residential facility for the mentally challenged. King says he started writing when he was "about six or seven, just copying panels out of comic books and then making up my own stories ... Film was also a major influence. I loved the movies from the start. So when I started to write, I had
27348-405: Was an unusually productive year for King. He published The Eyes of the Dragon , a high fantasy novel which he originally wrote for his daughter. He published Misery , about a popular writer who is injured in a car wreck and held captive by Annie Wilkes, his self-described "number-one fan". Misery shared the inaugural Bram Stoker Award with Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon . King says
27520-637: Was born in Portland, Maine , on September 21, 1947. His father, Donald Edwin King, a traveling vacuum salesman after returning from World War II , was born in Indiana with the surname Pollock, changing it to King as an adult. King's mother was Nellie Ruth King (née Pillsbury). His parents were married in Scarborough, Maine , on July 23, 1939. They lived with Donald's family in Chicago before moving to Croton-on-Hudson, New York . King's parents returned to Maine towards
27692-533: Was coked out of my mind all through its production, and really didn't know what I was doing." It was neither a critical nor a commercial success; King was nominated for a Golden Raspberry for Worst Director, but lost to Prince , for Under the Cherry Moon . In the 1990s, King wrote several miniseries: Golden Years (1991), The Stand (1994), The Shining (1997) and Storm of the Century (1999). He wrote
27864-541: Was produced on audio cassette by Penguin Highbridge Audio in 1991. Each of these early editions was narrated by the author. The Waste Lands includes musical accompaniment throughout. All of these editions were subsequently re-recorded in 1997 with Frank Muller as the narrator for continuity. Muller narrates the fourth book in the series, The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass. Stephen King selected Muller as his voice for all audio narrations at this time. Frank Muller suffered
28036-479: Was published by Scribner in May 2024. The book debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times fiction best-seller list for the week ending May 25, 2024. King announced an upcoming novel named Never Flinch on November 18, 2024. The novel is set to release on May 27, 2025. King published five short novels— Rage (1977), The Long Walk (1979), Roadwork (1981), The Running Man (1982) and Thinner (1984)—under
28208-588: Was published in the Halloween issue of The New Yorker . The story went on to win the 1996 O. Henry Award . In 1996, King published The Green Mile , the story of a death row inmate, as a serial novel in six parts. It had the distinction of holding the first, fourth, tenth, twelfth, fourteenth, and fifteenth positions on the New York Times paperback-best-seller list at the same time. In 1998, he published of Bag of Bones , his first book with Scribner , about
28380-526: Was published the following year. The original manuscript had been held at the University of Maine for many years and had been covered by numerous King experts. King rewrote the original 1973 manuscript for its publication. King has used other pseudonyms. In 1972, the short story " The Fifth Quarter " was published under the name John Swithen (a Carrie character) in Cavalier . Charlie the Choo-Choo: From
28552-464: Was released in 2008, and The Dark Tower: Guide to Gilead was released in 2009. All three books were written by Anthony Flamini , with Furth serving as creative consultant. End-World Almanac and Guide to Gilead feature illustrations by David Yardin. A five-issue adaptation of King's novel The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger , titled The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - The Journey Begins , began publication on May 19, 2010. The collected hardback edition
28724-463: Was released on April 21, 2009. Following the completion of the third arc a one-shot issue titled The Dark Tower: Sorcerer was released April 8, 2009. The story focuses on the history of the villainous wizard Marten Broadcloak . The fourth arc, The Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead , began publication on May 13, 2009. A hardcover volume containing all 6 issues, as well as the Sorcerer One-Shot
28896-450: Was released on February 2, 2010. The fifth arc, The Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill , began publication on December 3, 2009. A hardcover volume containing all 5 issues was released on August 17, 2010. Marvel Comics has also published three supplemental books to date that expand upon characters and locations first introduced in the novels. The Dark Tower: Gunslingers' Guidebook was released in 2007, The Dark Tower: End-World Almanac
29068-430: Was released on January 25, 2012. A third adaptation of King's novel The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger , titled The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - The Way Station , began publication on December 14, 2011. The collected hardback edition was released on June 27, 2012. December 7, 2009 saw the release of a spin-off online game titled Discordia , available to play free of charge on the official Stephen King website. The game
29240-473: Was released on January 26, 2011. An adaptation of King's novella " The Little Sisters of Eluria ", titled The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - The Little Sisters of Eluria , began publication on December 8, 2010. The collected hardback edition was released on June 8, 2011. A second adaptation of King's novel The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger , titled The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - The Battle of Tull , began publication on June 1, 2011. The collected hardback edition
29412-501: Was the greatest English teacher I ever had. It was he who first showed me the way to the pool, which he called 'the language pool, the myth-pool, where we all go down to drink.' That was in 1968. I have trod the path that leads there often in the years since, and I can think of no better place to spend one's days; the water is still sweet, and the fish still swim." King sold his first professional short story, " The Glass Floor ", to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. After graduating from
29584-656: Was the only true love of his life. Ted Stevens Brautigan was introduced in the Stephen King novella "Low Men in Yellow Coats" from Hearts in Atlantis . He is a powerful "Breaker", a psychic, whose extraordinary powers as a facilitator are sought by the Crimson King so he can hasten the destruction of the beams and Dark Tower. Ted arrives in the Devar-Toi , the prison camp where the Breakers are held, in 1955, and with help from Roland's old friend from Mejis, Sheemie Ruiz, soon escapes
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