Just got done reading 'Salem’s Lot for a few reasons:
- It had been AGES since I’d read it, and could officially consider it “unread”
- I recall reading in one of the Dark Tower books that the kid and the tall dude wind up in a town called Thunderclap, which is presumably where Roland’s ka-tet will wind up
and 3) I read the excerpt from Dark Tower V on stephenking.com, and saw Father Callahan was a character.
So, I read it. And got to the end. And Mark and Ben start the fire to kill the vampires. And that’s it. No epilogue, no nothing. "Hmmm… perhaps I skipped a page or two… Let’s see here… Los Zapatos… Portland… Fr. Callahan’s in Hartford getting booze… WHERE THE HELL IS THUNDERCLAP? Yeah, the vampire story is nice and all, and yeah, it’d be one fuckload of a fun movie, but, dammit! How the hell does Callahan get to End-World? I don’t recall seeing him in The Talisman, and I know he wasn’t in Black House, so I’m confused. Does anyone else know about Thunderclap? Where on earth did I get that notion in my head?
At the end of Salem’s Lot Father Calahan flees the town and gets on a bus for places unknown. I would assume that Father Calahan is in Thunderclap.
In Wizard and Glass, the ka-tet is in the Mid-West United States from The Stand. There was that strange bubble thing that they had to go through, I think that may be Thunderclap. That’s just my guess.
And yes, Father Callahan appears in the fifth book, Wolves of the Calla. He’s even in the prologue to the book, available on King’s site. He’s the one with a very recognizable scar…
In the current DT books, the fabric of reality is wearing thin in a whole lot of places. Space and time are getting funky. Hence Roland is running around in gather Eddie etc. in different worlds in different time periods. One could easily get on a bus and end up in Thunderclap.
From what I understand, the final DT books are going to be like a King family reunion. A whole bunch of people from other books will show up. We’ve already seen Randall Flagg and Father Callahan. (Side note, land called Calla, Father Callahan, coincidence?). Apparently the kids from Eyes of the Dragon will show up. Heck, IT might even make an appearance. The DarK Tower is the nexus of all realities.