A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO STEPHEN KING'S BESTSELLING DARK TOWER SERIES. “A valuable tool for exploring the series. Both newcomers and frequent visitors to Mid-World will be informed and delighted.”—Stephen King The story of Roland Deschain of Gilead, the last gunslinger, and his lifelong quest to reach the tower and save humanity across infinite parallel worlds is one that has consumed Stephen King throughout his career as characters and concepts crossed back and forth between the series and the rest of his fictional universe. The Dark Tower Companion is the ultimate compendium to King’s evolving magnum opus, presenting the mythology, history, and geography of this epic fantasy that has captivated generations of readers. Featuring interviews with Stephen King, Ron Howard, Dark Tower expert Robin Furth and others, Bev Vincent reveals The Dark Tower’s influential literary origins, examines its connections to the vast majority of King’s other novels, explores the expanded universe, catalogs the major characters, locations and concepts, and includes a travel guide to the story’s real-world locations, giving fans who have followed Roland’s journey—or those who are discovering it for the first time—a fascinating overview of the series and an inside look at the creative process of one of the world’s most popular authors.
This companion provides a two-part introduction to best-selling author Stephen King, whose enormous popularity over the years has gained him an audience well beyond readers of horror fiction, the genre with which he is most often associated. Part I considers the reception of King’s work, the film adaptations that they gave rise to, the fictional worlds in which some of his novels are set, and the more useful approaches to King’s varied corpus. Part II consists of entries for each series, novel, story, screenplay and even poem, including works never published or produced, as well as characters and settings.
AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE DARK TOWER SERIES—INCLUDING BOOK-BY-BOOK ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT INTO STEPHEN KING'S CREATIVE PROCESS. In 1970, Stephen King embarked on what would become the crowning achievement in his literary career-the Dark Tower. The seven-volume series, written and published over a period of 30 years, was inspired by Robert Browning's poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," as well as J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and the spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone. With the full cooperation of Stephen King himself, The Road to the Dark Tower examines the epic journey of the author to complete a story that threatened to overwhelm him. In this indispensable companion, Bev Vincent presents a book-by-book analysis of each volume in the series, tracing the Dark Tower's connections to King's other novels including The Stand, Insomnia, and Hearts in Atlantis, and offering insights from the author about the creative process involved in crafting his lifelong work-a work that has consumed not only Stephen King, but his legion of devoted readers. This is essential reading for any Dark Tower-or Stephen King-fan.
A sprawling epic that encompasses many worlds, parallel and alternate timelines, and the echoes between these disconnects, Stephen King's Dark Tower series spans the entirety of King's career, from The Gunslinger (limited edition 1982; revised in 2003) to The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012). The series has two distinctive characteristics: its genre hybridity and its interconnection with the larger canon of King's work. The Dark Tower series engages with a number of distinct and at times dissonant genre traditions, including those of Arthurian legend, fairy tales, the fantasy epic, the Western, and horror. The Dark Tower series is also significant in its cross-references to King's other works, ranging from overt connections like characters or places to more subtle allusions, like the sigil of the Dark Tower's Crimson King appearing in the graffiti of other realities. This book examines these connections and genre influences to consider how King negotiates and transforms these elements, why they matter, and the impact they have on one another and on King's work as a whole.
The Stephen King Companion is an authoritative look at horror author King's personal life and professional career, from Carrie to The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. King expert George Beahm, who has published extensively about Maine's main author, is your seasoned guide to the imaginative world of Stephen King, covering his varied and prodigious output: juvenalia, short fiction, limited edition books, bestselling novels, and film adaptations. The book is also profusely illustrated with nearly 200 photos, color illustrations by celebrated "Dark Tower" artist Michael Whelan, and black-and-white drawings by Maine artist Glenn Chadbourne. Supplemented with interviews with friends, colleagues, and mentors who knew King well, this book looks at his formative years in Durham, when he began writing fiction as a young teen, his college years in the turbulent sixties, his struggles with early poverty, working full-time as an English teacher while writing part-time, the long road to the publication of his first novel, Carrie, and the dozens of bestselling books and major screen adaptations that followed. For fans old and new, The Stephen King Companion is a comprehensive look at America's best-loved bogeyman.
Stephen King is one of the most successful authors in the history of American literature. His books—including 55 novels, 12 novellas, nine short story collections and a children's book—have sold 350 million copies worldwide. Over the past five decades his broader impact on popular culture has been immense. Most of his works have been adapted for film or television (some of them by King himself) and he may fairly be credited with single-handedly reinventing horror, once considered a B movie genre, for mainstream audiences. This collection of original interviews with fellow authors, collaborators and critics covers all things King, from analysis of his best writing to his many screen adaptations to recurring themes in his stories.
Each chapter deals with one novel and includes sections on plot and narrative structure, character development, and thematic concerns. Russell also draws comparisons to other novels in King's canon. She shows how King uses horror, science fiction, and suspense to explore human relationships, how he expands traditional approaches to the genre by combining elements of the various genres in his fiction, and how he has continued to grow as an artist throughout his career.
Explore the evolution and influences of Stephen King's body of work over his nearly 50-year career, and discover how the themes of his writing reflect the changing times and events within his life. Timed with Stephen King's 75th birthday on September 21, 2022, Stephen King features archival photos and documents from King's personal collection alongside the stories behind how his novels, novellas, short stories, and adaptations came to be. With critically acclaimed titles that have also been turned into blockbuster sensations like It and Carrie, King's work has stood the test of time across decades. This history of the writer's struggles, triumphs, bestsellers, lesser-known stories, collaborations, and more makes the perfect addition to any Stephen King fan's collection. Celebrate the beloved King of Horror with this informational and entertaining look inside King's most iconic titles and the culture they have created.
This deluxe, illustrated official companion to the Dark Tower movie—based on Stephen King’s bestselling eight-volume series—explores the art and creation of this extraordinary film, starring Idris Elba as The Gunslinger and Matthew McConaughey as his nemesis, The Man in Black. A gorgeous celebration of the art and creation of the Dark Tower movie, Dark Tower: The Art of the Film includes interviews with actors and the director, the costume designer, and the set designer. From revealing how casting found the stars and the photography team scouted key locations, thoughts on where the Dark Tower can go from here, the book is organized into five parts. -Part I: The Path to the Tower discusses the origins of the saga and its thematic and cultural influences. -Part II: The Gunslinger and the Man in Black profiles the two characters as two opposing forces. -Part III: Mid-World is a journey through the bizarre wasteland of interdimensional detritus that is Mid-World. -Part IV: Keystone Earth might be our Earth, but the Keystone Earth of the Dark Tower universe is also rocked by quakes and stretched thin by interdimensional stress. -Part V: The Dark Tower is the wrap-up section collecting insights from the film’s major players, sharing their favorite memories and looking back on the journey that led them to this point. Over three decades ago Stephen King introduced readers to Roland Deschain, the last Gunslinger. In 2003 King wrote the last of seven novels in the Dark Tower series. Now fans of the book and of the movie will welcome this big, beautiful, full-color book that they’ll need for their collections.
Stephen King is no stranger to the realm of literary criticism, but his most fantastic, far-reaching work has aroused little academic scrutiny. This study of King’s epic Dark Tower series encompasses the career of one of the world’s best-selling authors and frames him as more than a “horror writer.” Four categories of analysis—genre, art, evil, and intertextuality—provide a focused look at the center of King’s fictional universe. This book reaches beyond popular culture treatments of the series and examines it against King’s horror work, audience expectations, and the larger literary landscape.
