New Dark Tower book

[chaosrage 0]

It's coming out November 4th. Does anybody else give a shit besides me?

 

Only 6 years since the the last one...

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

I've written Stephen King many times in the past in an attept to get these books released faster. Hell, I even think I wrote a couple to Rodney and Don just to see if it would help. That being said, I am as phsyched as a mother f'r for these books.

 

Btw Did you ever check out the Darktower faq or one of the other fan sites that deals with theories about these books? The connections between almost every one of his books is great.

[chaosrage 0]

Yeah, it's cool how he plans to tie everything together at the end.

 

I wonder if that means it'll be his last book.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I read 1-3...then 4 came out and I had forgotten a lot of stuff...so I read 1-4...and now I've forgotten so much again I'm not going to start again till the next to last book is out.

[chaosrage 0]

They're all finished now and they're supposed to come out right after the other. So you might want to start again. I'm just gonna try and read the fourth book before it comes out.

 

Anybody read the revised Gunslinger? I heard it wasn't as good. ...And that's not a good sign. Sounds like he took out some of the ambiguity to whether Roland was good or bad. I mean, I know it made the book hard as hell to read on the first time because he's all emotionless and you don't know why you should care about him, but that's better for the way the series ends up. He's supposed to be mysterious in the beginning. Now when I read the old Gunslinger and I know how everything's going to go, I think it's awesome just like the rest. It is a little wordy sometimes, but it wasn't a big deal. I don't know why he felt like he had to go and change it.

Edited October 16, 2003 by chaosrage

[Vyce 0]

Yeah, it's cool how he plans to tie everything together at the end.

 

I wonder if that means it'll be his last book.

The word coming from King himself is that after he publishes the final volume of the Dark Tower series (the 7th book, sometime in late 2004 I believe), he will officially retire from writing.

 

I don't believe him.

 

Anyone who's ever taken up writing as a hobby, either poetry or prose, knows that it's something that's in your blood & soul, and not exactly an easy thing to give up. My prediction is that he'll take a few years off, but in the end we'll see more from King before his time is up.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

I have reserved my copy - so freaking pumped.

 

Hey frozen, got a link for any of those sites you mention? Would love to check that stuff out.

[Vyce 0]

I have reserved my copy - so freaking pumped.

 

Hey frozen, got a link for any of those sites you mention? Would love to check that stuff out.

I personally like the Dark Tower Compendium.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

My good man Vyce already listed the best but here's the Darktower faq itself.Dark Tower Faq

 

I recall hearing about some famous author whose name escapes me right now, who every 6-10 months brought a large bundle of papers to a safety deposit box. He could not shake the writing bug, but he continued despite himself, writing books for an audience of one, brilliant thoughts put to paper for the pure joy of it, all whilst never being free of his obsession.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

Both nice sites.

[chaosrage 0]

So only 3, possibly 4 people are waiting for DT 5? What's the deal there?

 

By the way, iif you want another series to hold you over in between DT 5 and 6, take a look at the Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin. If you like Dark Tower, you'll like that. Just think of the whole series as something along the lines of Wizard of Glass. Both own the pants off of LOTR anyway. I'm in the middle of it now, I hope I can finish by November 4th.

[Youth N Asia 0]

He's said to have them all out by the end of 2004, so I'll wait.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

While the Dark Tower and SFI are both excellent series, to say they own LOTR is just silly. JRR was able to craft a whole world is just a few books and inspire millions. His works will continue to endure through the future.

 

Dark Tower does give the visage of being a whole seperate reality but for King, it has taken all his books(non-Tower) leading up to this series to do so. His need for being to clever and adding connections that are not needed does detract the experience slightly for me. I must say the relief that I felt hearing the series is complete was a moment of joy. I had seriously expected at the pace he was going, and with the recent car accident, that this series was never to reach the climax it deserves.

 

SFI is probably the best scifi book series that we will get for a modern age, if only for the fact that he is not afraid to pull punches and will kill off characters as needed. The unique characters (Tyrion and little sword girl) does allow some situatons that have been rarely, if ever, done before. Only problem is that it does already start showing the minor cracks that will, in all likelyhood, cause the series to collapse as it nears its end(i.e. Wheel of Time).

[rising up out of the back seat-nuh 0]

I'm definately pumped. My housemate got the Gunslinger in America, so if I can find them all, I might try and work through the series before November.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

Try to find the updated Gunslinger if you don't think you have enough time to read both versions. While it does remove some of the more elaborate english for more common structure, it does help those new to the series connect a little bit more with the series as a whole. Plus King does add some new concepts to it which will be focused on more in later books.

[Vyce 0]

NOBODY owns Tolkien. Nobody. Especially not King.

 

I've defended King before, against assertions that he's overrated. I think the Dark Tower series is something that will ultimately put him down in the annals of literary history as the milestone of his career, but even so, he doesn't touch Tolkien. No one does.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

NOBODY owns Tolkien. Nobody. Especially not King.

 

I've defended King before, against assertions that he's overrated. I think the Dark Tower series is something that will ultimately put him down in the annals of literary history as the milestone of his career, but even so, he doesn't touch Tolkien. No one does.

Frank Herbert.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

Frank Herbert

 

Thanks Zsasz, I needed a good laugh.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Frank Herbert

 

Thanks Zsasz, I needed a good laugh.

Eh, he created a more thought-provoking and complex story, IMO.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

Sorry if I came off as harsh, I enjoyed a couple of the Dune series, but overall the story of the Atreides clan, was just that, a story, while Tolkein's, was an EPIC.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Sorry if I came off as harsh, I enjoyed a couple of the Dune series, but overall the story of the Atreides clan, was just that, a story, while Tolkein's, was an EPIC.

The Dune series is galaxy-spanning and it's about as epic as epic gets.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

It always came off, to me, as trying to be epic. It just wasn't my cup o' tea but it's not like I hate it. To each his own and all that. I think we can both agree that your namesake kicked monster booty though.

[chaosrage 0]

NOBODY owns Tolkien.  Nobody.  Especially not King.

 

I've defended King before, against assertions that he's overrated.  I think the Dark Tower series is something that will ultimately put him down in the annals of literary history as the milestone of his career, but even so, he doesn't touch Tolkien.  No one does.

LOTR is boring. I don't want to read pages and pages of Tolkien describing a forest or a mountain or 50 pages of them just walking in silence with nothing happening. I prefer character depth to how detailed and big the world is and all the history behind it. All of LOTR's characters are flat. I would be lying if I said I gave a shit if Frodo, Pip, or Legolas died, whereas with DT and I&F if something bad were to happen to say, Tyrion, Arya, or Roland, I could possibly turn into the girl on Misery. I love the way King and Martin let you see the point of view of each character. It lets you know how they feel about everything, lets you get in their head and figure out what makes them tick. Including the villains. Nobody is pure evil or good, everybody usually has reasons for doing stuff. Well Flagg might not, but who knows, there's still a long way to go.

 

Not to say that LOTR is bad. LOTR is a nice adventure story, but I don't think anyone is as good as King in building tension, not even Tolkien.

 

Critics worship age however. So King will probably have to die before he gets any real respect. I think in 100 years though, people will look at Dark Tower and Ice and Fire on the same level as LOTR.

[Vyce 0]

I'm a King fan, but with all due respect, King won't get the love Tolkien gets after he dies because frankly the Dark Tower series is not now nor will it ever better than LOTR, or Tolkien's work in total.

 

If you're a huge Dark Tower fan, though, be careful in your critique of Tolkien's masterpiece - it's Kings greatest inspiration for Dark Tower. At least HE seems to think there's something special about the adventures of Frodo.

 

Herbert doesn't trump Tolkien either. Herbert actually gives me a headache......or maybe that's just from the original Dune movie......

[chaosrage 0]

I said I didn't think it was bad, so I don't know what you're talking about. Tolkien was very creative and it's amazing how much effort he put into making the world of LOTR. That said, a lot of it was slow and it got boring after awhile. Tolkien was a little bit too descriptive. I think it makes a better movie.

 

He inspired King (and Martin), but DT isn't like LOTR. King doesn't bog the reader down with useless details. I always liked how he didn't have to write 4 pages of description on the scenery to get you in the story. He writes just enough so you know what's happening. A lot of people actually look down on him for that though because he's easy to read, as if that could be a bad thing.. There's a lot of genius in simplicity.

 

I still say King will get close to the same amount of respect as Tolkien after we're dead. Because frankly, not only does DT kick LOTR's ass, it rips it's head off and rapes it's skull. ......but they might not go that far.

[chaosrage 0]

So back to DT....

If there's one thing I'm worried about with the series, it's how King's going to finish it. King's always been real spotty on endings, that's one mark against the guy. He's so good at making the suspense that often he can't deliever on the hype. That's when you'll get things like "Oh noes, it's the deadlights! Wait, what, it's a giant turtle?" or "The hand of God" coming down to save the day or something like Shadow Puppets. That doesn't happen on his short stories or small books. Books without a lot of characters or complicated plots. Shawshank Redemption and Misery had pretty good endings. But obviously he's got more riding on his shoulders with DT than anything he's ever written before. Can he live up to that hype? I hope he doesn't do anything stupid.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

Anybody else pick it up yet? I'm not too far into it yet, but i am digging what I've read so far.

[Betty Houle 0]

he will officially retire from writing.

 

I don't believe him.

 

Anyone who's ever taken up writing as a hobby, either poetry or prose, knows that it's something that's in your blood & soul, and not exactly an easy thing to give up. My prediction is that he'll take a few years off, but in the end we'll see more from King before his time is up.

He said he would retire from PUBLISHING, not writing.

[Betty Houle 0]

NOBODY owns Tolkien. Nobody. Especially not King.

 

I've defended King before, against assertions that he's overrated. I think the Dark Tower series is something that will ultimately put him down in the annals of literary history as the milestone of his career, but even so, he doesn't touch Tolkien. No one does.

Just your opinion.

 

My opinion is that Tolkein's book are a little derivitave, somethimes too slow-moving, and a little overrated overall.

 

I could name ten writers off the top of my head that I enjoy more.

[chaosrage 0]

Heh, I made the thread and I can't even get it yet. I'm on my way to go fail an exam right now. Maybe I'll pick it up when I get back. Or maybe I'll stick my head in an oven instead. One of the two.