# I am incredibly jealous of Stephen King right now

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-jealous-of-stephen-king-right-now/193982>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 9, 2003, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-jealous-of-stephen-king-right-now/193982 "2003-08-09T05:36:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-jealous-of-stephen-king-right-now/193982/21 "2003-08-10T02:24:42Z")

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Actually, _most_ of the Dark Tower material is below par. Weird and awkward rather than thrilling scary or fully entertaining. The best sequence was the flashback to when Roland was a young fellow and how he lost the love of his life.

Of course, “below par” for King is still decently good. Some more of the metaphysics of the Dark Tower’s world is fleshed out in the King/Straub collaboration book _Black House_.

What can Roland & Co. do about the beams? There’s a certain fatalism about them eventually failing and the tower eventually falling no matter what. I suppose the gunslinger(s) might disperse the forces trying to hasten the fall…I think the danger is one of anticlimax. We’ll see.

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**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-jealous-of-stephen-king-right-now/193982/22 "2003-08-10T04:57:36Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by AHunter3 \*  
> **Actually, _most_ of the Dark Tower material is below par. Weird and awkward rather than thrilling scary or fully entertaining. The best sequence was the flashback to when Roland was a young fellow and how he lost the love of his life.**

Hmmm… Having just read about half of _The Drawing of the Three_ this afternoon, I’d have to disagree with that. I found the early parts of the book, with Roland awakening on the beach and struggling with the “lobstrosities,” immensely entertaining, and pretty much the whole sequence where Roland meets Eddie Dean and his drug-running pals was pretty thrilling.

I’d agree that much of _The Gunslinger_ is pretty awkward reading, especially in its original form. However, other parts of the series stand out as some of King’s best work. YMMV, of course.

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**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-jealous-of-stephen-king-right-now/193982/23 "2003-08-10T15:08:42Z")

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[http://www.liljas-library.com/dtVI.html](http://www.liljas-library.com/dtVI.html)

According to Lilja, the books will all be out in hardcover by the end of 2004. Lilja is, like, King’s #1 fan, and it looks like these dates are direct from Simon & Schuster.

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**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-incredibly-jealous-of-stephen-king-right-now/193982/24 "2003-08-10T16:06:00Z")

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There’s also [Dork Tower](http://www.gamespy.com/comics/dorktower/)… \<gdrlf\>

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