The Dark Tower By Stephen King.

[LittleFly]

.....when compared to works of Eddings and Tolkien and the like.....

Holy shit! Someone else knows about Eddings!  I started my fantasy reading with him when I was very young. Great books.

I recently got to the end of the Tower series.  I had to listen on audiobook because I work between 65 and 70 hours a week.  Believe it or not, it actualy helps, especially when it comes to the funky accents some of the characters use.  Less trying to figure out what the hell their saying and more trying to understand their meaning.  Unexpected ending, but then you think about it and it fits RIGHT in.

I think the last few books of that series are going to make onto my "have to read/listen at least once a year" list.  Mr. King's "It" has been on that list for that last 20 years or so

[Back Off Bitch]

The comic that just came out 8 days ago is supposed to be awesome...

[Jackamo!]

Urm... Yeah.

It?s a good time to be a Stephen King fan right now. Frank Darabont is limbering up to shoot The Mist ? King?s greatest novella, bar none ? in Lousiana, Eli Roth will move onto fun zombie tale Cell right after he finishes Hostel Part II and ? if IGN Filmforce?s Stax is to be believed, we?re about to see King?s magnum opus, The Dark Tower, on the big screen.

JJ Abrams ? a huge King fan who has studded many references to the Tower series into his TV show, Lost ? is reportedly in talks to do what many thought impossible, and turn the apparently unfilmable seven-book series into a movie. Or series of movies. Or maybe even a mini-series.

Of course, given the size of The Dark Tower series, a fantasy epic that dwarves The Lord Of The Rings in page count and scope, the latter two options would seem to be the way ahead. However, the truth is, nobody really knows what Abrams? plans are at the moment, but IGN believe that an imminent announcement is due any day now, which should lend clarification. What is believed, though, is that The Dark Tower may be lodged with Paramount and could be the reason why Abrams won?t direct the next Star Trek film, but will merely produce it instead.

Now, for those of you who are slightly lost, a quick recap of what The Dark Tower is all about. Simply put, it?s King?s masterwork, a series of seven books of increasing length and complexity that he began at the start of his career and finally finished just a couple of years ago. Essentially the bastard child of King, Sergio Leone and J.R.R. Tolkien, the books tell the tale of Roland Deschain (a role that someone like George Clooney should be campaigning for right now), the last Gunslinger (like a knight, only with guns instead of swords) making his way through the ruins of Mid-World on a quest to find The Dark Tower, a fabled building that may or may not be the nexus of all life.

Along the way, he is joined by travelling companions including a disabled schizophrenic black lady, a recovering heroin addict, and a young boy who just won?t stay dead, while their quest takes them back and forth between the modern-day and the past, Mid-World and our own Earth and, bizarrely, connects them with the life and work of a certain Maine author, Mr. Stephen King?

The seven books are The Gunslinger, a dark and existential fantasy Western; The Drawing Of The Three, a fast-moving action piece in which Roland picks up his travelling companions, while losing something very dear to him; The Waste Lands, which veers into pure sci-fi; Wizard And Glass, the most overtly Tolkien-esque of the novels; Wolves Of The Calla, which is essentially The Magnificent Seven with a post-modern twist; Song Of Susannah, a mind-twisting thriller spanning several time periods, and featuring an appearance by King himself; and the final book, The Dark Tower in which? well, we won?t spoil it.

Fans of the Tower series will have long bandied around the term, ?unfilmable?. But if the last few years have proved, it?s that there?s no such thing as an unfilmable book, what with Tom Tykwer?s bang-up job on Perfume, and of course Peter Jackson?s work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy. So we?re going to be cautiously optimistic about this: Abrams, after all, is a King fan and, while he may not have anything on his CV that suggests that he can pull off an epic of this kind, visually or otherwise, well we all said the same thing about Mr. Jackson when he announced his ambitious plans to make the Rings trilogy?

Source: www.empireonline.com

... I don't know what to make of it.

Oh my thanks for that- my fave show LOST's creator might be making my favorite book into a movie!

[redarmy76]

At Christmas, my wife and I bought a new bookshelf, and I happened to be going through some boxes and ran across my Dark Tower books and thought I should pick them up again.  Not two days later, I was hunting around and came across all 7 books on mp3, and since I had just got a mp3 player, decided to throw the Gunslinger on there and see if I could enjoy listnening to it instead of reading it.  Needless to say, I am now on #7, about halfway through, and I am finding activities I can do with my mp3 player so I can listen more and more.  Whomever the poster was that said that you get a new appreciation of the books by listening to them was certainly right, I gathered alot more from it this way.  I also plan to pick up the comic book and am definately looking forward to an on-screen adaptation, but it will probably be a good many years away still.

I thought I would share the bizarre coincidences that got me back into the series, it was definately "19"

[Jim]

I've gone mad since reading the books, everything is nineteen to me. I'm watching a DVD, I glance at the time gone by and it's on 19, my phone is a frequent nineteen minutes past the hour, and every time I count people, like in my first day of my new class... It's all nineteen.

I've gone mental. 

[Stonerose]

I've gone mad since reading the books, everything is nineteen to me. I'm watching a DVD, I glance at the time gone by and it's on 19, my phone is a frequent nineteen minutes past the hour, and every time I count people, like in my first day of my new class... It's all nineteen.

I've gone mental. 

I know the feeling!

[Jim]

Stephen King speaks about DARK TOWER from the NYCC... And yes, this includes new info on the JJ Abrams rumor!!!

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here at the tail end of an incredibly busy day. My flight out of New York is very early in the morning, so I'm going to sleep and work on transcribing my one on one interview with King while traveling to post Monday... It's a good one. In the meantime, I thought I'd run down the panel discussion a bit for you Tower junkies.

The panel included King, Jae Lee (artist), Joe Quesada (head honcho/artist), Robin Furth (Queen of Dark Tower knowledge), Peter David (writer), Ralph Macchio (Marvel man, definitely not Daniel LaRusso), Richard Isanove (colorer) and Chris Eliopoules (letterer), although King was the one people wanted to talk to the most.

He came out wearing a SHAUN OF THE DEAD t-shirt and the audience just went nuts for him. They were all there to talk about the comic, but the geeks, of course, wanted to know a little bit about everything. Here's a rundown of what was discussed:

-Right now there are no plans to bring on any other artist for the Dark Tower comics. King loved Jae Lee's work and says that these books are firmly Lee's, Furth's and David's vision.

-The comics will follow Roland through Mejis (all Book 4 stuff), but it definitely WILL go past Book 4 and all the way up to Jericho Hill, which King demanded a giant splash page from Lee.

- Regarding further Dark Tower comics, King said, "There's always more stories."

- Hal from 2001 inspired Blaine the Mono (and that is the truth).

- When King writes, he doesn't see his characters, he doesn't tend to visualize them. "It's like I'm behind their eyes... maybe if they looked in a mirror..."

- King views the Dark Tower series as a first draft and plans to rewrite the entire series, but he promises he won't make them the Special Editions. The originals will always be out there.

Now for the two biggest newsworthy bits to come out of the panel:

- When asked if he'd turn another one of his books into a comic series with Marvel, King said he and Quesada were just beginning to talk about doing a version of The Stand as a Comic series. That made me perk up. How cool would that be?

- And the JJ Abrams bit. King said that Damon Lindelof and JJ Abrams did express interest, especially Damon, and wanted to develop the project. King said he was resistant to everybody in the past, but trusted Abrams and Lindelof. He said he trusted Frank Darabont, too, but he felt Frank always had too much on his plate. When Abrams and Lindelof approached King about trying to make the project work, King responded, "I'll tell you what... you can option the books and see what you can do with it." Nothing is set up, but they have the option... and if it doesn't work out, then no harm no foul, yeah? How much did Abrams and Lindelof pay for the option? $19, of course.

So, yes. They have the option. I talked with King an hour or so after the panel (a true geek out moment if there ever was one) and got more out of him about Abrams' plan. I'll have that out to you in less than 2 days, so keep an eye out for that in the very near future.

Source: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31690

[Back Off Bitch]

I just read the comic today... it was okay... next issue looks like it'll be better...

[eddie_dean]

I just read the comic today... it was okay... next issue looks like it'll be better...

Please don't judge this masterpiece on one comic.  That comic was just the head of a needle situated on the tip of an iceberg, say thankya.

[The Chad Cometh]

I remember waiting 5 years between The Waste Lands and Wizard and Glass and then another 7 odd years between W&G and Wolves of the Calah. I thought these books were fucking amazing, all the way up to the ending, which IMHO was one of the worst endings for a King book ever, let alone the hallowed Dark Tower books.  I have friends who really liked it, but for mine it was really weak.

What I love about King's work is the way there are so many little references to the Dark Tower books in so many other of his works ...

Insomnia
Hearts in Atlantis
The Stand
Eyes of the Dragon

come to mind.

[The Chad Cometh]

whoops

[Back Off Bitch]

I just read the comic today... it was okay... next issue looks like it'll be better...

Please don't judge this masterpiece on one comic.? That comic was just the head of a needle situated on the tip of an iceberg, say thankya.

I didn't say it sucked. I said it was okay and it looked like it set-up for a better next issue... god...

[freedom78]

I started reading this back in the early to mid 90s, when there were only three books.  So, I got through all three...and stopped.  I liked them, and want to finish, but I certainly have to go back and reread the first three, because all I remember is:

1: A really long (many chapters?) attempt to catch someone, in book one.

2: Some lady in a wheelchair(?) being raped by some demon and wanting to "melt that icicle"

3: An inability of a character to pronounce "Pepsi"


Yeah...looks like I'm starting over.

[GnFnR87]

i'm reading The Drawing of the Three right now. wasn't too impressed with The Gunslinger, hope the series picks up and gets better.

[Back Off Bitch]

Read the 2nd comic... wasn't too impressed...

[Jim]

i'm reading The Drawing of the Three right now. wasn't too impressed with The Gunslinger, hope the series picks up and gets better.

While the Drawing of the Three is a much better 'book' than the first, if you weren't too keen on The Gunslinger then I can't see you falling in love with the series like a lot of us have...

... With that said, the Gunslinger is a difficult book to read and, who knows, the Drawing of the Three is just so good that there is hope for you yet!

... Though, with that said, if you don't enjoy the Drawing of the Three, then I would advise not wasting your time with the rest of the series, even though the third is, in my opinion, the best book.

[GnFnR87]

i'm reading The Drawing of the Three right now. wasn't too impressed with The Gunslinger, hope the series picks up and gets better.

While the Drawing of the Three is a much better 'book' than the first, if you weren't too keen on The Gunslinger then I can't see you falling in love with the series like a lot of us have...

... With that said, the Gunslinger is a difficult book to read and, who knows, the Drawing of the Three is just so good that there is hope for you yet!

... Though, with that said, if you don't enjoy the Drawing of the Three, then I would advise not wasting your time with the rest of the series, even though the third is, in my opinion, the best book.

The Drawing of The Three is pretty good so far, i think ill stick with the series. i gotta know what happens at the end, if i stop then the suspense will kill me.

[eddie_dean]

i'm reading The Drawing of the Three right now. wasn't too impressed with The Gunslinger, hope the series picks up and gets better.

You probably read the revised version of the Gunslinger which references things that have yet to come.  So while I can read it now and get everything since I've read all 7 books, a good bit of names and dialogue are meaningless and forgotten the first time through.  I too was a little weary after finishing Book 1, but the battle in Tull had me hooked,  Book II is what got its hooks in me and I was stoke when I got to 3.  You'll enjoy the read and the journey, don't doubt that at all.  The ending....... I think about it often, and I'll leave it at that.

[GnFnR87]

i'm reading The Drawing of the Three right now. wasn't too impressed with The Gunslinger, hope the series picks up and gets better.

You probably read the revised version of the Gunslinger which references things that have yet to come.? So while I can read it now and get everything since I've read all 7 books, a good bit of names and dialogue are meaningless and forgotten the first time through.? I too was a little weary after finishing Book 1, but the battle in Tull had me hooked,? Book II is what got its hooks in me and I was stoke when I got to 3.? You'll enjoy the read and the journey, don't doubt that at all.? The ending....... I think about it often, and I'll leave it at that.

yeah i did read the revised version, alot of stuff was like "WTF???" cuz of all the references. the battle in tull was pretty cool. i'm around page 100 now in Drawing of The Three and i can hardly put it down. gonna try to read more tonite.

[eddie_dean]

Eddie is a badass.? Fucking Blue Heaven.

My favorite character besides Roland is Oy the brave of Mid-World.  You'll meet him soon enough.