The Dark Tower - Volume 1: The Gunslinger

[Varangian]

I am currently reading this book and am enjoying it! It's an old illustrated version (illustrated by Michael Whelan) that I picked up at a second hand book shop ages ago. It's very tatty and on the verge of falling apart, but it's a great read.

His characters sometimes interact with each other and the world in which they find themselves in sometimes odd ways, and some of the metaphors he uses are strange, but it works!

[biodroid]

A lot of people forget that this book he wrote when he was 19, way before Carrie which is his first published novel. I also found The Gunslinger a bit odd until I realised he wrote it at an early age before he really became the King we know today. It does setup the rest of the series very nicely (still got to read the rest).

[Varangian]

Ah ok I didn't know that. That actually shows the talent of the bloke, considering he could write that story at age 19.

[The Imp]

Originally Posted by biodroid

A lot of people forget that this book he wrote when he was 19, way before Carrie which is his first published novel. I also found The Gunslinger a bit odd until I realised he wrote it at an early age before he really became the King we know today. It does setup the rest of the series very nicely (still got to read the rest).

It's not clear that he wrote The Gunslinger at 19. It was first published in serial form (5 parts) in 1977. The official DT website say this

At the age of 19 Stephen decided he would like to write an epic similar to The Lord of the Rings. The “spaghetti Westerns” of that time and a poem written by Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,” became the inspiration for his magnum opus. The series written and published separately over a period of 22 years consists of seven books and the short story, “The Little Sisters of Eluria” published in his short story collection, Everything’s Eventual.

[The Imp]

Originally Posted by Varangian

I am currently reading this book and am enjoying it! It's an old illustrated version (illustrated by Michael Whelan) that I picked up at a second hand book shop ages ago. It's very tatty and on the verge of falling apart, but it's a great read.

His characters sometimes interact with each other and the world in which they find themselves in sometimes odd ways, and some of the metaphors he uses are strange, but it works!

Just as an FYI, King "re-wrote" The Gunslinger. There was a bit of material added and the book remained mostly the same as i remember, but you may want to check the newer one as well.

[biodroid]

The Imp - Ok, I thought he wrote it at 19 but never published it. But you can still see the style difference in his later works at least.

[The Imp]

Originally Posted by biodroid

The Imp - Ok, I thought he wrote it at 19 but never published it. But you can still see the style difference in his later works at least.

I agree completely, and he very well may have started work on the book when he was 19, given he had the idea then. I'd love to be able to aqsk him that question.

[biodroid]

The Imp - Oh yes I fully agree, it's one of my dreams to sit down with SK and just chat. He has been very influential in my reading, if it wasn't for Pet Sematary and The Shining I would not be talking about books on this forum with you wonderful people

[The Imp]

Originally Posted by biodroid

The Imp - Oh yes I fully agree, it's one of my dreams to sit down with SK and just chat. He has been very influential in my reading, if it wasn't for Pet Sematary and The Shining I would not be talking about books on this forum with you wonderful people

Until i discovered GRRM, King was my all time favorite writer, eclipsing people such as Tolkien, Asimov, Herbert, Clarke, etc. in my personal estimation. I still think that King is a tremendously underrated writer who has not been taken complately seriously by some in the writing community.