Is King a Donaldson Fan? (possible Dark Tower spoilers)

[duchess of malfi]

Just wondering...started reading The Drawing of the Three tonight, and the first chapter, with Roland on the beach, and the lobster monster, and Roland

Spoiler

becoming a halfhand -- I think they are even the same two fingers Covenant loses, but on the other hand?

Also, Donaldson is mentioned in the foreward of my trade paperbacks of the first two DT books (and possibly the others, but I am only on the second book).

Is Stephen King a Donaldson/Covenant fan?

[Zahir]

You know, I've got to point out...

Spoiler

...there are so very many echoes of other fiction in The Dark Tower, deliberately so. Look at how the Gunslingers and Oy resemble Dorothy's company en route to the Emerald City, for example. And doesn't the Crimson King's sigil remind you of Sauron's?

[birdandbear]

Actually Stephen King is a Donaldson fan, or was, 25 years ago.
In the back of Danse Macabre, he gives readers a long list of his own personal reading recommendations - The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, by Stephen R. Donaldson, is #1 on that list.

[CovenantJr]

I think it's mentioned in the Foreword (or something) to my copy of The Gunslinger that SK is a fan of SRD.

Spoiler

For the sake of factual correctness, it's the same hand, but the first two fingers rather than the last.

[duchess of malfi]

Yes, having read further:

Spoiler

TC loses his ring finger and little finger. Doesn't Roland lose his trigger finger and middle finger??? And one of his big toes, too?

I've made it near the end of the Waste Lands now, and am really getting into it. I wasn't entirely sure about the first book, but King now has completely hooked me.

I'm just glad my son is starting to feel a bit better, so I can actually concentrate enough to be able to sit down and read.

[SkyDreams]

He also mentions being a fan of Donaldson in his non-fiction "On Writing".

My 2 favourite all time book series are TC and DT, so I was really happy when I found out SK liked SRD too.