When I first heard that King was going back to the Mid-World and the cast from 

the Dark Tower books, I was skeptical.  First and foremost I love, love, the first four books in the series.  He took his time and made sure that they were dense with imaginings.  

Then he took some time off from Mid-World and our Ka-Tet.  

Then he got hit by a van.

From there it was a mad dash to the finish line for Roland, Jake, Eddie, Susannah and Oy, can’t forget Oy.  Three books in a year, if I remember correctly, or year and a half, let’s say I don’t.  And, to me, those last three books are not indicative of the first four.  You can tell in the writing and in the story telling, as well, that the last three books were rushed.  The series is worse for it, sadly.

But, it is what it was.  They’re printed and they’ll be read by millions for decades and decades to come.

Enter Stephen King and his announcement that he was working on another book featuring the Ka-Tet, the last Dark Tower book was released in 2004.  I was worried.  Already I had thought that the whole series was flawed due to the fear of not finishing it before another van had another try.

I’ve read the book and I can say it’s brought the Dark Tower series up a notch or two.  It’s a pretty brilliant read.  One of those books that you’ll regret reading because you know that the next book you pick up won’t be able to compare.

The Wind Through The Keyhole isn’t really a continuation of the main story in the other novels, it’s just a slight reprieve in a storm…seriously.  The MC’s get caught in a Starkblast, nothing to do with Ironman, and Roland tells them a couple stories.

The main story, The Wind Through The Keyhole, introduces us to Tim and I think we’ll be reading more about Tim in the next few years.  Or, at least, I hope so.

I’ve gushed enough, methinks, so I’ll let you read the book on your own and enjoy it, like I did, without knowing much about it’s plot or how it fit into the main story arc.  

I do have to cap this off with the realization that Stephen King is in the middle of a  great little string of novels Cell, Under The Dome and 11/22/63.  Good to see King get his groove back.

Although this isn’t a book, it’s only a 100+ short story/novela, it feels as if it could have, should have, been stretched out a bit and given the ‘book’ status the story feels it deserves.  (If that makes any sense.)  And it’s kind of surprising that King didn’t push for that, considering how verbose he can be.  Maybe this is the mark of Joe Hill (S.K.’s son) and maybe we should be happy that the story and plot are all curt and contained.  Who knows, really?

I truly enjoyed this little wing ding, yep, I said wing ding, of a story about a biker gang being hunted down by semi truck.  There’s more to it than that, of course, and that’s the blessing and curse of this story.  Blessing, again, because it’s not short of momentum.  Each page pushes the other one on, egging the story to a climax.  Curse because the back story and characters history actually makes you feel as if this is a section out of a larger narrative, and that you’ve missed something.

One of the big things that I took away from this was that I couldn’t determine where Hill’s writing ended and King’s took over.  I’ll definitely have to check out some of Hill’s other work, seeing as how their styles and subject matter seem to be so similar.

Off topic a bit….

This, I believe, has only been released as and ebook, or eshort, in this case.  At what point, do you wonder, will authors simply begin selling these things from their own, personal, websites?  King has tried that before with ‘The Plant’ and made a bit of $$$, if I remember correctly.

I understand if you’re an unknown author but when you’re Stephen King, or the son of Stephen King, when do you drop the publisher and start peddling your own work?  J.K. Rowling’s doing it….when do these other ‘big’ name authors begin to do the same?

Highly recommended.

A little thing I’m doing that needs sponsors.  If I have any readers out there, that have a few extra dollars, or hundreds, or spare change, please lend them to this cause.  Thanks.

Your donation helps PWA to fund services for thousands of men, transmen, transwomen, women and children living with HIV/AIDS.

All donations over $20 will receive a charitable tax receipt.           

Been a while since I posted something booky….right now I’m reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.  I’m not gonna review it here, not yet, I’m still only in the first hundred pages or so.  But I had to share the geekgasm of a book it is.  If you were a geek in the 80’s then this book is right up your alley.

To top it off, they have a game that goes along with the book.

http://www.readyplayerone.com/game

It’s called ‘Stacks’, and it’s created by the MC of the book.  In the future, after an energy crisis and depression that goes on for decades people live in trailer parks, where the trailers are stacked one upon the other, with supports, hence the title of the game.  Love the donkey kong-esque feeling of the game.   

Check it out. :)