And so it Goes

 

Me: OK that review wasn't bad and the movie looks like it probably does really suck

Me: but a lot of what he said isn't really applicable to the book so I call BULLSHIT.

Ben: How bad were these tears, was it like a gentle rain or a deluge of weeping?

Me: They weren't like streaming down my face but they actually left my eyes.

Ben: I think that's referred to as "misty."

Me: No, when tears build up in your eyes but don't actually overflow it's misty.

Me: When they come out of your eyes it's crying.

Me: When they continuously stream down your face for an extended period it's weeping.

Ben: Brb, I need to consult with urban dictionary on the matter.

Me: I think you need to consult with your mom's dick.

Ben: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=misty

Me: I love you Misty, forever and ever.

Me: "Whoa, wait a minute. I'm gettin' all misty! I do not need you to see me like this!"

Ben: by Your one and only Dan Dec 9, 2005

Ben: Oh my god Dan.

Me: RIP

Ben: They served hot wings at the viewing.

Me: He loved them.

Ben: I covertly stuffed one in his coffin for his journey into the Egyptian afterlife.

Me: If only he'd had his bird book with him at the end.

Ben: He died as he lived.

Me: Miserably.

Ben: Well I am glad you enjoyed it.

Ben: The ending was too preposterous for Gabrielle, and even though she loved the rest of the book it turned her off of Stephen King forever.

Me: The ending ending was great, so I assume you mean the final confrontation with IT.

Ben: I don't think she was a fan of the prepubescent gangbang either.

Ben: Honestly I've never read the book so I don't know what any of this means.

Ben: I didn't even watch the review of the movie.

Me: Why did you keep telling me to watch it then?

Ben: Just to be an ass, I suppose.

Me: The only reason I started reading the book was because you said the review made you not want to read any of the DARTOWER books.

Ben: Pics or it didn't happen.

Ben: Oh wait, I do remember saying something like that.

Ben: But that's because all I heard of the review was the Nostalgia Critic saying that Stephen King sucked over and over again.

Ben: Not any story specifics.

Me: Some of the stuff he made fun of was fair, like Stephen King's love of the Magical [African American] and one-dimensional bullies.

Me: But then he'd just make fun of him for writing about the same themes in multiple books lol.

Ben: Did you actually read the article about the Dark Tower game?

Ben: Are you psyched about the accompanying major motion picture trilogy and tie-in television series?

Me: That seems like it could be either really cool or really terrible.

Me: I can't imagine a straight film adaptation not sucking

Me: because there's just so much they'd have to leave out.

Me: I've never heard of this kind of mixed media project before though.

Me: Then again, Ron Howard is directing, so...

Ben: So...?

Ben: He was Ralphie in HAPPY DAYS.

Me: No he wasn't.

Me: He was Richie.

Ben: What does that have to do with anything?

Me: Ralph Malph was a different character, you shit.

Everyone Calls it the Ice Cave

Me: Did you finish those cookies yet?

Ben: Yeah like a hundred years ago.

Me: Okay I need that Tupperware back.

Ben: lol

Me: Did you give it to a hobo?

Ben: His need was more than mine.

Me: This is why I never lend out Tupperware.

Ben: I just got to the part in SALEM'S LOT where all the main characters except the woman now believe in vampires.

Me: Is that after the part where the vampire is in the English teacher's house?

Ben: Yes.

Ben: It's just before the part where the doctor who believes in vampires gets his throat ripped out.

Me: That was the scariest part I thought, where he knows there's something upstairs and he has to go investigate or whatever.

Ben: Of the entire book

Ben: ?

Me: From what I remember.

Me: Because there's nothing happening.

Me: It's all psychological.

Ben: I still thought the part in the graveyard burying the kid was scarier.

Me: How is the book so far?

Ben: Okay, although recently I've been irked at the behavior of the characters.

Ben: Like, they neither outright accept vampires without a thought nor are they as skeptical as rational people.

Ben: They're like half-skeptics, which I find even more implausible.

Me: Yeah I noticed that too.

Me: I guess if they acted like rational people they would still refuse to believe in vampires even as they were being murdered by vampires.

Ben: Right, or at the very least they would be doing the same things that they do in the book, but for the purpose of attempting to *disprove* vampires rather than affirm their suspicion that VAMPIRES ARE REAL.

Ben: Once you've seen a dead body rise, rend asunder a man's throat, and then sink through a solid wall (btw, wtf), *then* you are allowed to believe in vampires.

Me: Wasn't the doctor a skeptic until that happened?

Ben: No.

Ben: He wanted to prove vampires.

Ben: It took an hour for a stranger to convince him that vampires were real.

Me: Hahaha.

Ben: Only the woman refuses to believe.

Ben: Okay, so I guess the English teacher is allowed to believe.

Ben: He actually saw a dead dude fly around and stuff.

Me: Is the ka-tet assembled yet?

Me: I dont rember when they all get together.

Ben: No we haven't seen Callahan in a while.

Ben: I left off just after the vampire escaped and the doctor is clutching his torn throat, screaming.

Ben: Also, wtf sinking through walls.

Ben: I thought we were playing vampires straight here.

Me: Vampires can turn into bats, wolves, and clouds of mist according to the lore.

Ben: Clouds of mist cannot sink through walls.

Ben: And by "according to lore" you mean "according to CASTLEVANIA: SYMPHONY OF THE NIGHT (PS1)."

Me: That's in the same canon as BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, so yes.

Me: But since I've never read that book, I don't know why I know that trivia is from there.

Ben: It's a good book.

Me: Isn't Dracula only in like a tenth of it and the parts he isn't in are really boring and Gothic?

Ben: I don't really remember.

Ben: The first chapter is all that I remember.

Ben: It is a good chapter, at the very least.

Me: Oh good.

Me: I bought it years ago so maybe I'll look into it after JORGE LUIS BORGES, reputedly the best writer of South America.

Ben: Being the best writer in South America is like being the best chef in England.

Me: Uh, Gordon Ramsey.

Ben: "...the Gordon Ramsey of South American literature..." ~ THE NEW YORK TIMES

Me: Hahahaha.

Me: Who went through a wall?

Ben: The mother of the two kids.

Ben: Where the first kid disappeared and the second one became a vampire.

Me: Well I've consulted Google and there don't seem to be any ready made examples of vampires going through walls.

Me: Maybe they can vibrate their molecules really fast like the Flash to go through walls.

Ben: Maybe I read the scene wrong

Ben: and merely presumed that she sank through the wall.

Me: No it probably happened.

Me: There's a scene later after it's established vampires need permission to enter a house where one just breaks in through the window.

Me: Maybe it was a special circumstance though.

Ben: Haha.

Ben: I'll have to evaluate the scene in context.

Me: Maybe it's like that scene in Jurassic Park where they spend ten minutes hacking the Unix system to lock the raptors out of the room, then they just come in through the window two seconds later.

Ben: Later, it is revealed that the woman was right and that there aren't actually any vampires, just an elaborate plot to steal the cache of Mayan gold buried under the Marsten House.

Me: Is that her theory?

Ben: No.

Ben: Her actions make no sense.

Ben: She has no theory.

Ben: She's never heard of science.

Me: She's an artist.

Ben: She sells paintings.

Ben: Or something.

Ben: Chapters ago, before anyone believed in vampires, the teacher suggested to the main character that the two of them and the woman should drive up to the house to meet the new neighbors.

Ben: Chapters later, the woman still demands to go to the house even though nobody else wants to go and nobody ever really invited her in the first place and that now there might be vampires.

Ben: So she drives up there to prove that they're not vampires, and on the way she buys a crucifix and wrenches a stake from a fence, and then parks her car at the bottom of the hill and army-crawls up to the house.

Ben: All in the name of proving that vampires don't exist.

Ben: AND THEN A HAND FALLS ON HER SHOULDER FROM BEHIND AAAAAHHHHH and then the scene changes.

Ben: It's like reading Goosebumps.

Me: The cave is cut in ice. Everyone calls it the ice cave.

Ben: Hahaha.

Ben: Why would anyone call it anything, who would give a shit about the cave for any reason?

Me: Because they have to beware, the snowman, yo, didn't you fucking listen?

Ben: Obviously not.

Ben: I think that book had the most complex plot of any Goosebumps book.

Ben: Like, her mom was a witch or something.

Ben: And also a snowman.

Ben: But it was a trick and her mom was evil.

Ben: And her dad was the snowman?

Ben: But then she was the snowman?

Ben: I don't even know.

Things You See in a Graveyard

Me: Did you finish that vampire book yet?

Ben: I've actually read three chapters today.

Ben: I just finished BOOK ONE.

Me: What happened?

Ben: Father Callahan invited the gravedigger to sleep over at his house and he heard the vampire child coming through the window and feeding.

Ben: END OF ACT

Me: What the hell.

Me: I don't remember that at all.

Me: Who's the gravedigger?

Ben: Mike something.

Ben: Remember the scene where he's mesmerized by the child looking at him from inside the coffin as he tries to bury it before sundown.

Ben: It was like the best scene so far.

Me: Oh yeah.

Me: That was creepy.

Me: I thought you might have meant a different scene but that's not till later.

Ben: No spoilers!

Me: Hurry up and finish it so you can get back to the hunt for the DARTOWER.

Stephen King's Dracula

 

Me: How is the vampyre book?

Ben: I am on page 169.

Me: lol 69

Ben: I don't think that DRACULA took this many pages to reveal that the story involves vampires.

Me: Which is better?

Me: Also it's right on the cover

Ben: Man, DRACULA is a pretty fucking good book

Me: right in front of your damn eyes.

Ben: from what I remember when I was young.

Me: I thought you said it was boring as shit except for the parts with Dracula, which was like one fifth of the book.

Ben: You must be thinking of someone else.

Me: Yeah, I must be thinking of one of my other friends who's read DRACULA.

Ben: So like all of them.

Me: Oh wait, I am.

Ben: So far it is okay.

Ben: I'm still trying to figure out which child in the town is supposed to be the child from the beginning of the book.

Ben: My bet so far is on that kid who beats up the bully.

Me: But who is the man from the beginning of the book?

Ben: It could be any of the characters in this book who are authors.

Ben: That narrows it down to 90% of Stephen King's main characters.

Me: It's actually the clown from IT.

Ben: Have you finished IT yet?

Me: No.

Ben: Damn you.

Me: IT is so depressing, I can't bring myself to marathon it.

Ben: I thought we were in this together.

Me: In what?

Ben: Stephen King buddies.

Me: I've already read all his primary DT works, you need to keep reading them so I have someone to talk about that world with.

Me: What has happened in Dracula so far?

Me: Isn't it like 600 pages?

Ben: Yeah.

Me: Excuse me?

Ben: Yeah.

Ben: As in

Ben: yeah, it's like 600 pages

Ben: so far

Ben: Hmm.

Ben: So far, the author has gotten to the town and eaten dinner at the female love interest's house twice and the vampires just opened up their shop and have already sacrificed one little boy to Satan.

Ben: Their coffins were just delivered.

Me: That is a spooky scene.

Ben: Yeah.

Ben: With like the ambiguous bundle of clothes in the corner.

Ben: Which, if they really are the little boy's clothes, means the vampires are retarded.

Me: Hahaha.

Ben: Maybe the twist is that they were really just creepy old dudes, and the author was the demons all along.

Me: Does anyone know that they are vampires yet?

Ben: No.

Ben: The word "vampire" hasn't been mentioned outside of the introduction by Stephen King.

Me: It's a pretty good book.

Ben: I like his description of the town.

Me: It starts out slow but he has to get you acquainted with the town because it's like an analogy of the evils of Smalltown America and vampires.

Me: Has Father Callahan even shown up yet?

Ben: Nope.

Ben: He is too busy climbing the Dark Tower, I suppose.

Me: Spoiler alert.

Ben: Wait is he the old guy from the beginning of the book, the Mexican preacher dude?

Me: No, he's the priest in 'Salem's Lot.

Me: There's a newspaper excerpt at the beginning that lists the names of a bunch of people from the town who are missing and he's one of them.

Ben: Because just as he was about to be eaten by vampires a two-dimensional doorway appeared and he vanished through it.

Ben: Also what "evils" of Smalltown America are we talking here, aside from the abrupt and short scene where a random character repeatedly punches a baby the only evils are an abundance of gossip and a resistance to change.

Me: That's like one of King's top themes across his books, how these quaint little towns can hide these terrible people and things.

Me: IT is all about that.

Ben: As far as you know.

Me: Shut up.

Ben: I can't tell you what IT is really about, because you've never read to the end.

Me: Shhhh.

Me: Like there's the teenage girl who got knocked up and she had to marry the guy because that's conventional morality and he abuses her and she abuses the baby and their lives are miserable.

Ben: Yeah that was a pretty good scene, but it's the only instance of evil in this town that is not directly perpetrated by vampires.

Ben: Well.

Ben: The real estate guy is kind of sleazy.

Me: It's mostly about the vampires.

Ben: Haha.

Me: But it's a definite analogy.

Me: This is only the second book he wrote so it's not as pronounced as it will be.

Ben: We'll have to compare book reports after this is through.

Ben: What was his first book?

Me: Carrie.

Ben: O rly.

Ben: And his last female protagonist.

Me: I think Rose Madder is about a woman.

Me: But apparently that's one of his worse books.

Ben: And maybe that one with the author.

Ben: lol

Me: lol

Ben: I mean the one with the author that gets his legs broken.

Me: Isn't the author the main character?

Me: Whatevs.

Ben: I don't know.

Ben: I've only ever seen the FAMILY GUY spoof.

Me: King isn't very good at writing women most of the time so I don't care.

Me: The girl in 'Salem's Lot is one of his better female characters I think.

Ben: Yeah so far she is not bad.

Ben: Of course she probably gets horribly killed.

Me: There's another domestic abuse with another couple in the book I think, I don't know if you got there yet.

Me: But anyway, shit like domestic abuse, homophobia, racism, violence begetting violence, the sins of the father, etc. show up a lot in his "Smalltown America" stories.

Me: Then these kinds of settings of mundane evil attract a more visible, supernatural evil, like the vampires or the clown or the demon in Storm of the Century.

Ben: Spoiler alert.

Ben: But yeah that is cool.

Into the Lot

 

Ben: Jegus Christ, exactly what proportion of Stephen King’s main characters are writers? Also the back cover of ’SALEM’S LOT already gave away its relation to DARTOWER

Me: It also spoiled that the book is about vampires :(

Facing High School Fears

 

Ben: lol I used to love Seinfeld, one of the few memories that I retain from high school involves me loudly professing my love for Seinfeld just before biology class at which point a girl made fun of my enthusiasm.

Ben: In reality I had never seen that many episodes of Seinfeld, I just liked it because my parents said it was funny.

Me: Hahahahaha.

Me: What did she say?

Ben: To paraphrase what I remember of the exchange:

Ben: [something is said about television or something amongst the two friends that I had in biology class]
BEN: "Omg Seinfeld is the greatest show ever. The greatest!"
GIRL: "Seriously? Is it the greatest?"
BEN: "Yeah!!" [spoken with sincerity, it is not until later that I realize that I was being made the fool]

Me: What a cunt.

Ben: I know right.

Me: Is it too much to ask that if someone makes fun of you they at least say something funny?

Ben: Are you more mad at that or mad that she made an oblique insult towards Seinfeld fans?

Me: It doesn't sound like she was belittling Seinfeld so much as she was belittling you for being enthusiastic.

Ben: I had always imagined that the thrust of her possibly misremembered point was not only to belittle enthusiasm, but specifically enthusiasm toward Seinfeld.

Me: That's even worse.

Me: Who was she?

Me: Are you fb friends?

Ben: I don't even rember anymore.

Ben: Probably not, I am not as loose on Facebook as thou.

Me: You are like the kids from IT.

Ben: How far are you?

Ben: My retort depends on your answer.

Me: ~Halfway.

Me: My progress has slowed to a crawl.

Me: It's so depressing.

Ben: Okay so I can't tell you why exactly we are not like the kids from IT.

Me: Well I was referring specifically to how after they leave their childhood hometown they somehow completely forget about that part of their lives until called upon to face evil once again.

Ben: Stephen King needs to rewrite IT for the Facebook generation.

Me: Well he did write that book where people were being killed by their cell phones or something.

Me: Are you reading anything right now?

Ben: No, I have yet to open SALEM'S LOT.

Me: Too spooky?

Ben: Is it one of his spooky novels?

Me: There are a couple spooky scenes.

Me: More than in any other ones you have, I think.

Ben: I thought that the disease book was supposed to be spooky throughout.

Me: THE STAND?

Me: There are some spooky parts but it's like when you're exploring subways tunnels in Fallout 3 and ghouls attack you.

Me: It's more a story about life after the apocalypse than classic horror like 'Salem's Lot.

Ben: What about HEARTS IN ATLANTIS, is that a scary one?

Ben: Because I have no idea what to think.

Ben: It could be horror or it could be a chick flick.

Me: It's about growing up during Vietnam.

Me: Hearts is my favorite King book.

Me: Also pretty depressing, though.

Ben: That sounds pretty cool.

Ben: Although it's sad that the high point of my DARTOWER experience will be at the eighth book of the eighteen-book septology.

Me: If not for the Dark Tower tie-ins you woudn't know it was written by Stephen King, it's pretty much just a normal good book.

Me: Why will that be your high point?

Ben: Because you said it was King's best book, so unless some of the series was not written by King it is, in your opinion, the high point of the series.

Me: I said it was my favorite of his books that I have read.

Me: Popular opinion is that The Stand is his best book.

Me: Although there might be some confusion there between "best" and "longest."

The Eye of Dagron

Me: LOOK AT ME!!

Ben: HE WAS THEIR FRIEND!!

Me: THERE'S NO HOGWARTS WITHOUT YOU, HAGRID!!

Ben: What are you talking about?

Ben: Is this a fanfic?

Me: No.

Me: This is real life.

Ben: Real Hogwarts or real literature?

Me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MQMh3t0LhI

Ben: I'm laughing so hard that I'm crying, and my roommate is gagging. I love you and your video.

Ben: This is awful, I'm not listening to the rest of this.

Me: CEDRIC?! CEDRIC?!

Me: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Me: MEH BOIIIIIIIIII

Ben: That's not even the same movie.

Me: You just ruined the punchline of my Japanese golfer joke.

Ben: I know because I was at home this weekend and my mom never misses a chance to put on the Harry Potter marathon.

Ben: I ABANDONED MY SON. I ABANDONED MY BOIII!!

Me: Not bad, Potter.

Me: You'd make a fair beater.

Ben: Are you psyched for HP7p1?

Me: It's like trying to catch smoke.

Me: Trying to catch smoke with your bare 'ands.

Ben: I can't recall what that's from.

Ben: Is it ROLAND DARTOWER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN?

Me: Did you finish those books yet?

Ben: Every one.

Ben: Except for the latter five.

Ben: I figured those weren't important.

Me: How many did I give you?

Ben: Eight.

Ben: Just finished THE DRAWING OF THE THREE yesterday.

Me: How was it/Eyes of Dargons?

Ben: Eye of Dagron was okay.

Ben: The pseudo-framing narrative was weird, what with the storyteller intermittently referring to himself in the first person and breaking the fourth wall and whatnot.

Me: Did you realize that Flagg is the man in black?

Ben: No he isn't.

Ben: They say as much in THE DRAWING OF THE THREE.

Ben: At least, that's what Roland thinks.

Ben: I guess he could secretly be the man in black.

Me: Do you mean in the "argument" or when he remembers Flagg turning a guy into a dog?

Ben: That's what I figured until the main character contradicted me.

Ben: When he is talking about demons in general and then offhandedly mentions a demon named Flagg being pursued by two haggard fellows named Dennis and Thomas, a year before Gilead fell.

Me: Oh right.

Me: Well they are the same person, it is directly confirmed in later books.

Me: He changes his appearance via magic.

Ben: Okay.

Ben: The man in black seems less composed in I, DRAGON.

Ben: Also he has two eyes.

Ben: Like he is more chill in THE GUNSLINGER.

Me: Flight of Dragons happens first.

Ben: Is FLIGHT OF DRAGONS the sequel to EYE OF DRAGONS?

Me: No, it is the same book.

Ben: Stephen King has sunk to new lows.

Me: There is no sequel to Eye.

Ben: :( 

Ben: I felt like it could have been a better book if it wasn't standalone.

Ben: Like I might have liked the world better if I had known there was more to it.

Me: It is the same world as the Dark Tower books, just earlier in the history of that world.

Me: I'm pretty sure.

Ben: But Roland met the dudes, it must be coterminous with Roland's era.

Ben: Or I guess time is weird or something.

Me: I think people mention events, characters, and locations from Eyes as if they're a part of history/geography, not extradimensional shit from another universe.

Me: Also Flagg still has two eyes because magic.

Ben: Wrong, you can't cure wounds imparted by weapons of fate.

Ben: This is Fantasy 101.

Me: Maybe a phoenix cried on him.

Ben: Phoenix tears only cure the wounds of the pure-hearted and righteous.

Me: How was DRAWING OF 3?

Ben: I liked the beginning part.

Ben: I enjoyed his comedic disorientation with our world and his experimentation to figure out these dimension door things.

Ben: I don't like crippled black racist bitch, she's like the BK Kids Club all rolled into one.

Ben: Which is to say, crippled black racist psychotic bitch.

Me: h8 Susannah

Me: Then again most of King's female characters are lousy.

Ben: Also I'm having a hard time believing how convenient it is that all of these doors are opening into our universe, or reasonable facsimiles thereof.

Ben: I liked the beginning with him getting his fingers bitten off and all his shit ruined.

Ben: I had forgotten that was foreshadowed in the first book.

Me: Did-a-chick?

Ben: Lobstrosity.

Me: <3 lobstrosities

Me: What was foreshadowed?

Ben: Right before he enters the dark cave to follow the MiB (or somewhere around there) he grasps something with his hand (or something like that) and says something about "the fingers that would soon be gone."

Me: Oh cool.

Me: I dont rember that.

Me: Maybe that was the foreshadowing your friend didn't like.

Ben: Maybe, although like I said I kind of forgot about it even though it made me really queasy at the time.

Ben: And then when it happened in like the first three pages it was pretty gut-wrenching.

Ben: I'm not accustomed to authors brutally maiming and crippling their characters, especially so early into a series.

Ben: I liked the ending of THE DRAWING OF THE THREE, although I feel like authors don't realize that readers are aware of the fact that "mort" is a latinate root for "death" and thus keep using it as names for characters related to death.

Me: He brought death to others before experiencing it himself!

Me: How ironic.

Me: How did it end?

Ben: With the death guy running naked and aflame through a subway station and leaping in front of a subway train

Me: Oh lol.

Ben: with Roland inside hoping that the black chick is watching this

Ben: and somehow the black chick sees herself and that fixes her but w/e it was sweet.

Ben: And there being new gunslingers and all was a cool idea.

Ben: Although I'm not sure how effective a wheelchair-bound gunslinger will be.

Me: You don't shoot with your feet, Ben!

Ben: Yeah but if you're getting shot at it helps to be able to dodge and such.

Ben: Like imagine that bitch in the shootout at Tull.

Ben: Where is she gonna go as the wave of townsfolk descends upon her?

Me: I guess she'd be stumped.

Me: Ba-dum-chhhhh.

Ben: Nice use of italics.

Me: So how is the series+related books overall so far?

Ben: I think SALEM'S LOT is next.

Ben: The one related book that I have read I thought was pretty meh.

Me: But the word penis only appears once and no one says fuck at all!

The Gunslinger

Ben: Finished THE GUNSLINGER. 

 

Ben: Currently on EYES OF THE DRAGON, chapter 4, page 11.

 

Me: How was it/how is it?

Ben: I liked The Gunslinger.

Ben: I liked it more as I got further in.

Me: I was gonna say, seems like you finished it a lot faster than you started it.

Ben: Well my reading speed isn't entirely correlated by how much I like it.

Ben: But yeah it seemed a lot less rambling once they started into the mountain.

Me: I like the part where he murders the whole town.

Ben: Also I was afraid when I began THE GUNSLINGER that the ending had been ruined due to my foreknowledge that the child died.

Ben: But fortunately it was foreshadowed.

Ben: And by foreshadowed I mean it was repeatedly and clearly hammered into the reader's head that the kid was going to die.

Me: Oh how did you know that?

Ben: Gabrielle read THE GUNSLINGER years ago and told me.

Ben: She hasn't read any of the other books though so I don't have to worry about spoilers.

Me: Oh good.

Ben: Although your repeated insistence that KA IS A WHEEL has caused me to wonder whether the series will climax with Roland finding a big rusty wheel at the room at the top of the tower and lubricating it in order to fix the universe or something.

Me: Actually he turns a frozen donkey wheel and the tower disappears.

Ben: LOSTOWER

Ben: PRODUCED BY FRANK GRCE

Me: It's just a repeated phrase/theme that runs through a lot of his books.

Ben: Oh is KA not exclusive to THE DARK TOWER?

Me: I think it's mentioned in a few of his books whose stories intersect with TDT but otherwise it's like life or destiny or another word.

Ben: How directly do any of his other works intersect? Which is to say I got to the first page of EYES OF THE DRAGON and lol'd at King Roland.

Me: No relation, I guess he just liked the name a lot.

Me: I think Eyes of the Dragon actually takes place in the same world as The Dark Tower, just sometime in the past before the series proper starts.

Ben: Oh that is cool.

 

Ben: Hahahaha, oh my god, I'm sitting here because the internet at my house is dead and Oprah is like twenty feet away and the person sitting next to her just said "TONIGHT ON MYTHBUSTERS, TAKING CANDY FROM A BABY!" and she did that thing where she slaps her forehead.

Ben: Anyway, even though I knew what the eponymous Dark Tower was supposed to be I still really enjoyed his description of it.

Me: What was the description?

Ben: Like the whole part with the man in black telling the gunslinger about an infinity of infinities and worlds on a blade of grass and all that.

Me: Oh yeah.

Me: Pretty trippy imagery in that chapter.

Ben: One of my friends who has read both the original DARTOWER series and the new revised DARTOWER series says that the foreshadowing in the new THE GUNSLINGER is too obvious, but I'm not sure if he just meant the foreshadowing about Jake dying or the foreshadowing about the greater series.

Ben: If there was any foreshadowing about the rest of the series going on, I didn't really pick it up.

Me: I haven't read the original version but from the Wikipedia description of the changes, it doesn't seem like the revised one gives away future plot development so much as it sets up elements in advance that will become important later.

Me: Normally I don't approve of artists revising their work after the fact (via Star Wars special editions) but from the list on Wikipedia there are only two changes King made that I thought were for the worse.

Me: Don't read that article in advance, though