The Dark Tower is doing weird things to my head.

[Dartz]

I've been reading through The Dark Tower series of books lately, the ones by Stephen King, and while reading them, I've gotten myself an odd sense of Deja-vu.

Literally, I got the feeling that I'd read the entire thing before. That's not a way of saying to book was predictible in anyway... it's just... I could see the words on the next page, or a few pages ahead. Sometimes, I'd read a scene and find myself wondering when it was the last time that I'd read it.

Twice now, I've read a whole book through over one night... just trying to shake this strange feeling. No sense of time or space, just reading through it to find a part that's unfamiliar.

And then... I see the same thoughts being echoed in the book... Remembering things that you've never done. A slight surrealism and a compulsiont to go forward.

It may be the sleep deprivation.
It may just be that it's a damned good book..
Or it could be ka

Still, I'd recommend it for a read, even though I'm only halfway through the lot.

[The Bastard King]

Foreshadowing, perhaps?

[BEsERk EVA01]

Yeah, I've heard countless times how Stephen King's books give people nightmares...and that includes my friends. I've read a few of them, but I have to admit, it wasn't all that interesting. Still, I shouldn't judge a book by its cover too much because that's what made me wanna read it...the cover design makes it look scaary.

Although I don't remember the book's title I read, (something, piles of bones, forgot?) but all the descriptions of ghosts, hallucinations made me feel more alert to my surroundings. I was alone in the house, though.

[CorporalChaos]

Yeah, its a strange feeling. It's happened to me several times when I've read Lovecraft stories, most notably "The Outsider".

[Dartz]

It seems then, that it is something a good story should do. Those are the sort of stories you remember reading... I mean, I wouldnt call the Tower a horry story by a long way (even though King returns to his roots from time to time).... but it managese to get under your skin in a very unsettling way. It gets inside my head, and plants itself.

I'm not normally a Stephen King reader....except for Cell and The Bachmann books.... but this is a damned entertaining read.

[The Bastard King]

Once you read the Dark Tower books, you'll want to read Insomniac, The Stand, Salem's Lot, Hearts in Atlantis, and a shit load of his other stories that are all indirectly part of the Dark Tower series. Not to mention Little Sisters of Eluria being a prequel to the series and The Eyes of the Dragon being an AU. Hell, Pennywise from It is supposed to be the natural enemy of the Turtle that is mentioned a bajesus amount in the Dark Tower books.

To enjoy the series to the fullest, it probably wouldn't hurt to pick up some of his other novels. After reading the Dark Tower books, they become less stand-alone horror books and more side stories to the Dark Tower series.

[Mr. Tines]

I've been reading through The City At The End of Time lately, the one by Greg Bear, and while reading it, I've gotten myself an odd sense of Deja-vu.

I liked it better when it was called Weaveworld and The Night Land.

[SeanTucker]

The Night Land

Do you go by the name "Illogically.Inclined" on FF.net?

[Mr. Tines]

No, that's not one of my manifestations. Why?

[Dartz]

I'll finish the Tower first.... Need to buy the next book. The most irritating thing about buying a series of books is that when you go in to buy the next in the series, it's always the one the shop doesn't have in stock...

Always

Trains are great things for reading books on, and I'll have a chance at picking it up on the way home this evening as I head through town. It's kind of Ironic, given that I'm at Blaine the Mono right now after finishing the Third book....

And the tower is closer....

[Evangelion__x]

My Dad bought this book off eBay. I'm going to check it out.

[Enki v.2]

Dartz, I know of the feeling that you are talking about. It's not deja vu per-se, but a feeling that the book is in fact repeating things you thought but didn't express? I have to say, that's just the definition of art (especially literature). Stephen King, HP Lovecraft, &c are known not necessarily for having excellent prose, but instead for being able to tap into the cultural main vein and exorcise some of our semantic ghosts just by bringing them into the open. I get the same thing from Gibson and Vinge and Doctorow -- the feeling that these guys are taking something I've felt or considered, extending it in ways that I was afraid to think about, and put it out there. The truth is, a lot of these cultural undercurrents are out there, semi-ubiquitous, and the function of art is to take the undercurrents and make them overcurrents. In other words, a lot of people (yourself included) considered a lot of situations like the ones in that series, and Stephen King tapped into it and wrote it down and sold it.

[Space Penis]

Has anyone been reading the comic series recently?

They're scripted by Peter David, with King as the main producer. The art is done by the incredibly talented Jae Lee, who doesn't get nearly enough work.

The first one, Gunslinger Born, wasn't particularly stand-out as it was basically just the flashback parts from The Gunslinger and Wizard and Glass, but the next two stories, Long Road Home and Treachery have been really good. They claim they've got basically all of Roland's history right up to the beginning of The Gunslinger planned, which is interesting, as I don't think we ever learned what happened to Roland's first Ka-tet, aside from vauge hints.

There's also a comic adaption of The Stand in the works, I believe, but I probably won't be reading that. I wasn't a big fan of The Stand.

[SeanTucker]

No, that's not one of my manifestations. Why?

He whores out that story at damn near every opportunity, even going as far as to cross it over with Eva in his own fic.

[The Bastard King]

They claim they've got basically all of Roland's history right up to the beginning of The Gunslinger planned, which is interesting, as I don't think we ever learned what happened to Roland's first Ka-tet, aside from vauge hints.

Well, All that they really leave unknown is the war of the kingdom. Starting from the death's of Cuthbert, Alain, and Jamie at the battle of Jericho Hill, everything is pretty solidly described up into The Gunslinger via The Little Sisters or Euleria. It doesn't take place very distant in the future from the battle, and at the end of it Roland picks up the donkey that dies in the first book.