Stephen King, Stephen King: Gunslinger (2003, Hodder & Stoughton)
The opening chapter in the epic Dark Tower series. Roland, the last gunslinger, in a world where time has moved on, pursues his nemesis, The Man in Black, across a desert. Roland's ultimate goal is the Dark Tower, the nexus of all universes. This mysterious icon's power is failing, threatening everything in existence.
The five stories that constitute the novel were originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction:
"The Gunslinger" (October 1978) "The Way Station" (April 1980) "The Oracle and …
The opening chapter in the epic Dark Tower series. Roland, the last gunslinger, in a world where time has moved on, pursues his nemesis, The Man in Black, across a desert. Roland's ultimate goal is the Dark Tower, the nexus of all universes. This mysterious icon's power is failing, threatening everything in existence.
The five stories that constitute the novel were originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction:
"The Gunslinger" (October 1978) "The Way Station" (April 1980) "The Oracle and the Mountains" (February 1981) "The Slow Mutants" (July 1981) "The Gunslinger and the Dark Man" (November 1981) (source)
304 pages
English language
Published 2003 by Hodder & Stoughton.
This book feels like a prologue to The Drawing of the Three and the epic to follow. I'll be honest: I'm not certain readers would be missing much if they skipped The Gunslinger entirely and relied solely on "The Argument" at the beginning of The Drawing of the Three to catch them up 🤷♂️
