Kevin's Watch

On the Stephen King message board, someone wrote:Stephen has given me permission to pass along that he has an idea for a new Dark Tower book, the working title of which will be THE WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE. He has not yet started this book and anticipates that it will be a minimum of eight months before he is able to begin writing it.

I'm not the worlds biggest DT fan... but it strikes me that this news could be viewed as bad as well as good.

If it's a set-in-the-Dark-Tower-universe story, then that's probably something I would enjoy.

If it's a continuation of the story as it proceeds after DT7... well... that sounds like something to throw bad words at.

If it's a story about the characters from Needful Things coming over to Delores Claiborne's house for tea with Stephen King, Peter Straub, and Cujo ... well ... I'll pass.

Maybe he's found a way to negate everything that's happened in the previous DT books

I think he should be fine... just so long as it's not a prequel... I think we have plenty of info on Roland's backstory, thank you very much!



Edited: Forgot the italicized 'not.' Boy, did that change the meaning of what I wanted to say!

I'm not excited about this one bit.

Yes, I think he's writing better now than he has in a while, but I also think he boned up the DT series after his accident. A further boning won't help.

Interesting. I didn't think of redemption as a possible motive. It might be he thinks he can fix it.

Sheesh, whatever else, I hope he doesn't try and fix it.

I haven't enjoyed a lot of his more recent books, (since Desperation maybe), but I did enjoy Cell a lot, and Cail says Duma Key is very good too.

I'll read it, but I hope like hell it's not a sequel or a parallel world or something. Set in that world, fine. And personally, I'm fine with prequels too. Can't get enough of Roland's backstory.

But not a sequel.

--A

Hey...if he breaks the loop..which is exactly what the Dark tower Series ended as i guess I will be getting what i wanted. could this book be an expansion on so much of Rolands unexplained past? or something Roland Does right so he doesnt have to continue the loop and can RIP. that i could live with.

Cail is right though... Kings Accident really changed and IMO ruined the DT series... im not saying i wish i never read from Wolves of the Calla on but I wish it had been different.

well... am i the only one who thinks this might be a good thing?

honestly, DT ended (and there were PLENTY of clues this was how
it would end) the only way it could have (imo) but it was, at the same
time, somewhat unsatisfying.

it's just like life. so...say you're going along in your life thinking this is
the only one you've got and that death ends it and there's something else
afterward (or not.) you conduct yourself accordingly.
but say, after a few years of this life stuff you come to believe that
maybe it's not all as simple as that. maybe you come to believe that
you're riding around in a mortal vehicle for a purpose and it's possible
that if you don't successfully achieve your purpose, you may have to
conTINue riding around in mortal vehicles until you DO complete your
mortal mission so to speak.
what then.

to me, it (life) becomes sort of like that old autobiography poem

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in.
I am lost... I am hopeless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I'm in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in... it's a habit
My eyes are open
I know where I am
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

I walk down another street.

i mean...all through the entire DT series i kept thinking that Roland
was becoming more and more aware that he was walking down the
same street over and over again. in the end, he absolutely knew
he'd been falling in the same hole.
i was sure that in the end he'd changed some important things.
but the book ended on that note.

doesn't anyone besides me want to see Roland walk down a different
street?

Thats one of the worst book titles i have ever heard.

Shorthand: "Go then, there are other worlds than this"

lucimay wrote:well... am i the only one who thinks this might be a good thing?


doesn't anyone besides me want to see Roland walk down a different
street?

Based on what the comic series has done, I totally agree with you. Telling King to not do another Dark Tower book would be like going back in time and telling Clint Eastwood to not do Unforgiven.

Warmark wrote:Thats one of the worst book titles i have ever heard.

Really? I think it's tons better than Against All Things Ending.

dANdeLION wrote: Based on what the comic series has done, I totally agree with you. Telling King to not do another Dark Tower book would be like going back in time and telling Clint Eastwood to not do Unforgiven.

I don't understand the comparison... not only is Unforgiven not connected to any of Eastwoods movies besides the fact that it's a western, but most of those westerns weren't considered bad. A better analogy, in my opinion, would be if George Lucas wanted to do more Star Wars prequels... in that case, you'd expect a lot of people to anticipate a crap-fest. Then again, I haven't read the comic series...

dANdeLION wrote:

Warmark wrote:Thats one of the worst book titles i have ever heard.

Really? I think it's tons better than Against All Things Ending.

Them's fighting words! Put 'em up, put 'em up!


Yeah, they're both seemingly lame titles, if they happen to be good books, though, I don't think anyone's going to think they are bad titles... Like White Gold Wielder, or the Illearth War, or Lord Foul's Bane

Orlion wrote: I don't understand the comparison... not only is Unforgiven not connected to any of Eastwoods movies besides the fact that it's a western, but most of those westerns weren't considered bad. A better analogy, in my opinion, would be if George Lucas wanted to do more Star Wars prequels... in that case, you'd expect a lot of people to anticipate a crap-fest. Then again, I haven't read the comic series...

There's no need to insult King by comparing him to Lucas! As for the comics, the first two series retold the back story in Wizard & Glass, then told about the fall of Gilead, and now they're telling the story of the battle that I suspect ends with Allain and Cuthbert dying. So, basically, it's covering the escapades of Roland's original Ka-Tet. That may be what King wants to do in this new book; who knows. As long as there are no more giant robot bears with radar arrays in their heads, or Doctor Doom robot armies, I'll be okay with it.

dANdeLION wrote: As long as there are no more giant robot bears with radar arrays in their heads, or Doctor Doom robot armies, I'll be okay with it.

well said!

You folks are slagging on Shardik? Any of you read the Richard Adams book that SK is alluding to?

I have. Didn't think it was that great, although it's probably worth a re-read. Prefered Maia in fact. (And that's probably saying something. )

--A

Concerning the comments on Roland's backstory, have any of you been reading the Peter David graphic novels? I've enjoyed the representations of what the city of Gunslingers was like before the fall and of what actually happened at Jericho Hill.

But it seems that the next set will jump to Roland chasing Walter that we saw at the beginning of The Gunslingers. The question I always wanted to answer was what happens to John Farson?

Cail wrote:

A further boning won't help.

'nuf said

Cagliostro wrote:You folks are slagging on Shardik? Any of you read the Richard Adams book that SK is alluding to?

of course i did. that didn't make me like the bear any better!

and i'm still of the opinion that if King feels he has more to write in the DT world he should do it.

in an interview in March 2009, King stated, describing an idea for a new short story he 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, the idea is a new Dark Tower novel. King said, regarding the Dark Tower series, "It's not really done yet. Those seven books are really sections of one long über-novel."

Stephen King confirmed this during his TimesTalk event at The TimesCenter in New York City on November 10, 2009, and the next day King's official site posted the information that King will begin working on this novel in about eight months, with a tentative title being The Wind Through the Keyhole.[8] King noted that this novel should be set between the fourth and the fifth books of the series.

The book, entitled The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole, was announced on Stephen King's official site on March 10, 2011, with the publication date set for some time in 2012.

i've always thought it was apparent that his accident and subsequet recovery process affected his writing. how could it not? it was a serious serious ordeal. the recovery process was long and very painful. and imagine the urgency he must have felt to finish DT.

but you know i'm always going to cut him slack.

I don't care about cutting him slack. But I will read any other DT books he writes.

--A

Avatar wrote:I don't care about cutting him slack. But I will read any other DT books he writes.

--A

Books 5-7 were awful rush jobs. And put me down as not liking Wizard and Glass much, either.

The Waste Lands, is, however, right up there with It and The Stand as one of the best things he's ever written.

I'd love to see him write something - anything - to remove the sour taste from books 5-7 of the Dark Tower from my mouth.