So, has anyone picked up the “new and improved” Gunslinger yet? I just saw it in paperback at the bookstore. I’m very curious to see if it’s worth the $15.95.
Didn’t even know it existed, but here’s what Big Steve had to say about it. The reissued book is not due out for another couple weeks, so what you say at the bookstore is almost certainly the original version.
Also, the new edition (when it comes out) is hardcover-only until (I think) later this year or next year. The PB you saw is just a reissue of the same old one.
I’m thinking the new one might actually be worth it. For the most part, while The Gunslinger is good work, King’s a better writer now than he was then. I’ll be interested to read what changes, and will likely read the old and new versions back-to-back.
They’ve “re-issued” the entire Dark Tower series, but, yeah, the new version of The Gunslinger won’t be out for awhile.
Slight hijack – am I the only one who collects a specific edition of a series? I get the Plume trade-paperback version of Dark Tower books.
I think it’s for the best. It will help fix the plenty of continuity errors that comes with writing a few thousand page epic. I enjoyed both the first one and the second one, because of the interesting meld between the fantasy and reality, for the questions it gave us such as why Roland knew “Hey Jude” as song, or why he had guns and remnants of cars, which we didn’t get as much in number three. And number 4 was impossible for me to read- IIRC the dialogue was somewhat of a mix between modern and western english. Quite a conversion from the dialogue he had in the first three.
Oh, I’ve got a couple soft cover ones, plume I believe. The ones with the big beautiful color illustrations, and the binding/page size resembled that of a magazone rather than a paperback. Much more beautiful looking than those paperback editions, the ones where a element of a story is illustrated like a logo(fiery eye for firestarter, crow for the stand).
See
here for the “logo” type covers that I’m talking about.
No, I’m positive the cover says, “newly revised edition”. I read the last couple pages, and went home and checked - they’re different, very much so. I can’t imagine they’d print up old versions of the Gunslinger only to replace them a few weeks later.
Actually, I went down and checked. It says, “revised and expanded throughout,” and the new introduction has King mentioning that “the added material in this version amounts to a mere thirty-five pages.”
And since it appears I’m in on something that shouldn’t be sold, I purchased it about 5 minutes ago. I told the clerk I didn’t think that the book was due out for another couple weeks, and she said that they got a new shipment of the new releases of books 1-3, and they put them all out.
Anyone want me to buy them a copy and send it to them (expecting to be paid back, of course)?
I had no idea he was going to rewrite the thing! In the interview he says you probably don’t need to buy it again unless you’re a completist if you’ve already read the original… but heck, if he rewrote it…
Where are you, Munch?
Indianapolis. And it’s in the nice tradeback edition, with the pretty pictures. All I have is a regular ho-hum paperback, so this is a nice upgrade.
I generally do collect specific editions of a series, but I don’t like the new Plume editions… the covers are kind of ugly, I actually prefer the old Plume covers, so I have those for the first three. However, the trade paperback edition of Wizard and Glass only has about half of the Dave McKean illustrations for the book, so I kept the hardback for that one, which includes all of the original art.
Of course, I once had all of the original Donald Grant hardcover editions of the Dark Tower series… I sold the first three a while back, though, when money was tight.
Dammit, Munch, now I’m gonna have to go check at my local bookstore to see if it’s out yet. 
I just put them out in my Borders in Georgia. They just say ‘new intro by author’ on them, though. But the pictures were awesome.
Okay, finished reading it this weekend. I wasn’t a big fan of this whole “newly revised” business before, but I have to say that this book is now a Dark Tower book. It isn’t a drastic difference, but there are large chunks that have been added that just fit so well into the grander story.
In addition, everyone needs to check out the new forward SK has written. He’s made reference to the number “19” and it’s importance in The Dark Tower books - a number I had not noticed before. One of the new sections in “The Gunslinger” has a “19” reference, but doesn’t have any specifics.
Things to look for in the new version:
Allie’s letter from the man in black
The man in black’s palaver with Roland - lots of insights regarding how the world is moving on
The ending
Cool… I bought my copy a couple weeks ago, and I’m hoping to start reading it soon… I love the photos on the back, King when he was very young and now. Quite a comparison.
Really, really looking forward to reading it.