My favorite bit of cross-pollination among King’s works occurred in It. Mike Hanlon’s dad, dying of cancer, tells his son about the fire at the Black Spot nightclub during WWII, and one of the people he mentions is Dick Halloran. Halloran, of course, grew up to become the chef at the Overlook Hotel in The Shining.
It’s subtle, and serves no purpose other than to give a bit of “validation” to the story. I can still recall the feeling of mild yet happy surprise when I made that connection. It was almost like meeting an old friend.
I think the same argument can be reasonably applied to any book written by an author who re-uses characters. Consider for example all the mystery series like Miss Marple, Sherlock Holmes, Perry Mason, and myriad others. We don’t expect any of them to come up with an entirely new universe with entirely new characters for every book.
The difference, as I see it, between your examples and King’s work is that King (except in the case of The Dark Tower series) is ostensibly publishing new material, not sequels or continuing series of older books.
This may be a strange idea, but I actually do expect him to come up with new ideas and new characters for every book. Maybe it’s an unreasonable expectation, but I’d kinda like some new insight or fresh characters if I’m gonna go through the trouble of reading one of his bi-annual behemoths.
I didn’t have trouble with his self-reflexive writing when it was just a brief line about character X’s favorite author being the author from Misery. That was kinda fun, a throwaway line. But when he starts lifting whole settings and storylines, it’s just sad. The fact that he’s stealing from himself doesn’t make it any less sad, and it certainly doesn’t make it anymore original.
The two cases that made me stop reading his stuff were the most recent book in the Dark Tower series and the 1,000 page train-wreck Insomnia. In Insomnia he tries to rescue the increadibly tired plot by throwing in a half-hearted tie-in to a future point in The Dark Tower series. To me it seemed like an admission from King: “Sorry, I know this ain’t so hot, but read on for a preview of the upcoming chapter of The Dark Tower!”
Which normally would have spurred me on, cause I still have high hopes for The Dark Tower series, even though the last two have been only so-so. The latest(?) Wizard and Glass made me groan with a totally superfluous visit to a Stand-like universe. “Hey kids! You remember The Stand, right? Wasn’t that cool? Well now you’ve got The Stand mixed in with The Dark Tower! Two great tastes that taste great together!”
I was quite dissapointed. But perhaps I read too much into it, maybe he’s just having fun, and I’m expecting too much from someone who gave us some pretty good summer reading a couple of decades ago.
It was my understanding that the Flagg who appears so
often is the same individual. He is a demon/sorcerer entity
on some sort of quest and very possibly stricken with amnesia. Doesn’t the unabridged The Stand have an extra section with Flagg waking up after the final showdown and almost remembering his real name?
I agree with earlier posters that the finale of the Dark Tower will likely link together all of King's work. It will probably reveal the truth about Flagg as well.
I for one really like the way King has tied together all his books, and especially what he’s doing with the Dark Tower. Critics have always blasted King’s work, and I don’t expect the future to be any different. But people enjoy it, and that’s why he writes.
If you’re interested in more info about the connections, etc, check out the Dark Tower Compendium. It’s pretty cool.
As an aside, if a Dark Tower movie was to be made, I think the best place to start would be the long backstory that the Gunslinger told in Wizard And Glass. That seemed to me to lend itself really well to a movie, and would introduce the series well.
Eyes of the Dragon is set in the same universe as The Talisman?
IIRC, Talisman was set in our universe (at least half the time!), while Dragon was his sword & sorcery story for his kids. I don’t recall anything about an alternate universe- I got the impression that it was just one of those “long ago, when magic…” type of stories. Of course, nothing he does is as simple as it seems ont he surface…
Who cares, I loved them all.
I don’t remember who asked, but hell yes, reread Talisman, even if you don’t see the movie.