The Road to the Dark Tower: Exploring Stephen King's Magnum Opus

Description

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.

Bev Vincent has been a contributing editor with Cemetery Dance magazine since 2001, writing the News from the Dead Zone column that appears in every issue. He is the author of The Road to the Dark Tower, the Bram Stoker Award-nominated com-panion to Stephen King's Dark Tower series, The Dark Tower Companion, and The Stephen King Illustrated Companion. His short fiction has appeared in places like Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, From the Borderlands, and The Blue Religion. He is a member of the Storytellers Unplugged blogging community. He also writes book reviews for Onyx Reviews.Vincent lives in Texas with his wife.

Praise for The Road to the Dark Tower "Wonderful...opens doors to Roland's world that not even I knew existed. If you like The Dark Tower books, you'll like this one. Enthusiastically recommended."-Stephen King "Bev Vincent is a true King insider....His book is essential to every reader of Stephen King's magnificent work."-Peter Straub "Vincent proves himself a master of the Dark Tower world."-Publishers Weekly "An excellent and maybe even vital guide to King's grand opus."-Locus