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Soylent Green is people!
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Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/19/2010 11:10:08 AM
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OK...so I'm almost done with The Gunslinger and I just found out that there's a short story called The Little Sisters of Eluria which is in King's Short story collection Everything's Eventual. It's a Roland prequel appaerntly.
For those who may have read all this already, would it hurt to read Little Sisters before The Drawing of Three?
No matter how cold the Winter, there's a Springtime ahead.
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/19/2010 11:15:02 AM
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I think that would be okay. The events in Little Sisters of Eluria take place earlier in Roland's life.
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Soylent Green is people!
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/19/2010 11:38:47 AM
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Thanks. So long as it doesn't spill any plot points.
Also, I'm reading the "revised" Gunslinger. Are any other Dark Tower books "revised." I bought an older used copy of The Wastelands for like $3 at a bookstore and wanted to make sure it hadn't been "revised" like the Gunslinger. Mine looks like this:
Thanks
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I'm gonna get dat turdy point buck.
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/19/2010 12:24:38 PM
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I THINK the only entry into the series that was revised was The Gunslinger...so i think you should be ok.
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Bush League Critic
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/19/2010 12:28:04 PM
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Did I miss out on something by reading the un-revised version?
- Doug
"Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man, otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. For as the material of the carpenter is wood, and that of statuary bronze, so the subject-matter of the art of living is each person's own life."
The Bush League Critic - Speculative Fiction News and Reviews
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When Cameron was in Egypt land, let my Cameron go
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/19/2010 12:32:46 PM
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If I remember correctly, King just rewrote the first one so that it wouldn't suck. Because let's be honest, it did. I don't believe that any of the plot points changed.
You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
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Bush League Critic
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/19/2010 12:42:10 PM
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I'll have to check to be sure, but I'm guessing I read the sucky version - that I rather enjoyed. 
- Doug
"Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man, otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. For as the material of the carpenter is wood, and that of statuary bronze, so the subject-matter of the art of living is each person's own life."
The Bush League Critic - Speculative Fiction News and Reviews
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/19/2010 2:17:27 PM
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Doug, I read both. King basically made minor revisions to be more consistent in style with the later volumes. He also tried (moderately successfully, IMHO) to make the breaks in the story a little smoother. Because originally the stories in The Gunslinger were published separately in magazine form, and then were cobbled together to make the first "novel."
In the revised version, it seems slightly more like one long tale rather than four or five short stories.
And although I don't agree with the poster that it even remotely sucked, I do believe it's the weakest of the seven volumes, in either format.
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Forum Man Wh0re, Mostly Harmless & Trustworthy Clown
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/19/2010 8:51:11 PM
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I actually read The Little Sisters of Eluria before starting the Gunslinger...it was almost like a teaser trailer to a movie...drew my attention and made me want more.
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The Dude abides
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/20/2010 5:57:33 AM
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I really prefer the un-revised version of The Gunslinger to the one King revised.
He mostly revised it, I think, so that plot points would match up with stuff later in the series.
I don't think it would matter if you read The Little Sisters of Eluria before or after The Drawing of Three. I'd say read it after Wizard & Glass, as that's when it was written. But it's mostly a stand-alone story from earlier in Roland's quest.
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Soylent Green is people!
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/20/2010 6:14:27 AM
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Thanks guys. Also, while reading Gunslinger, I saw the Wiki entry on the original vs. revised versions.
Also, I loved King's "New Introduction." It's the 1st time I read an intro all the way through.
Here's the link to the differences:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Tower:_The_Gunslinger#Revised_and_Expanded_edition
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/20/2010 6:36:47 AM
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Also, I loved King's "New Introduction." It's the 1st time I read an intro all the way through
I love author intros myself. I gives you a little insight into a writer's thought processes and personality.
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Bush League Critic
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/20/2010 9:22:24 AM
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Hell, I feel like I'm slacking if I don't read every single word printed between the two covers. Intros, afterwords, glossaries, and acknowledgments included. 
- Doug
"Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man, otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. For as the material of the carpenter is wood, and that of statuary bronze, so the subject-matter of the art of living is each person's own life."
The Bush League Critic - Speculative Fiction News and Reviews
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/20/2010 10:00:05 AM
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I pretty much do that as well, Doug.
The readers I really can't understand, though, are the ones who skip forewards.
Sure, the foreward may be set in an entirely different part of the world, or take place hundreds of years prior to the main action, or concern characters who don't turn up again for hundreds of pages . . . but that's still actually part of the plot of the story, and if you skip that, you could be clueless down the road.
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Scrumtrilescent
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/26/2010 12:10:49 PM
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Speaking of Dark Tower...have any of you guys picked up the graphic novels? I'm currently going through the 3rd one at leisurely pace. Just a few pages a night.
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The Dude abides
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/26/2010 12:18:43 PM
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I read the first two in individual issues, and they were quite good. Beautiful art.
But then all comics seemed to hit the $4 per issue mark, and I stopped buying.
I'll try to catch up when I can afford to.
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Scrumtrilescent
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/26/2010 12:28:02 PM
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I found the Jae Lee artwork to be standout. I don't think he worked on the later half of the series.
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The Dude abides
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/26/2010 12:30:49 PM
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He took a break for the "Fall of Gilead" series, but finished out the climactic "Battle of Jericho Hill." I think Richard Isanove--who colored the whole series--did pretty good on his own, just from the preview art I saw.
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/27/2010 6:13:27 AM
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I buy the new issue every month. Robin Furth has done a pretty good job of taking little hints from the novels and turning them into new stories and adding to Roland's background.
Writer Peter David does okay, but his "voice" never quite sounds like King's. The slang and flavor of the Dark Tower language seems a little forced at times.
The artwork is pretty good.
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Yeah, Yeah. Look It Up.
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/27/2010 12:11:38 PM
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My question is why they made a copy of Wolves of the Calla that costs $10.
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Soylent Green is people!
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/28/2010 6:01:32 AM
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My question is why they made a copy of Wolves of the Calla that costs $10.
Are you talking about the novel or is there a comic?
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Yeah, Yeah. Look It Up.
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/29/2010 5:08:27 AM
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The novel; most of the others are in smaller editions that cost $8, but Wolves is in a slightly larger edition that costs $10.
Wren Ohmsford's (Yes, Ohmsford) #1 Fan.
Member of the C-R Society, ARRA, EDRS. Founder of Wren-Ohmsford-Elessedil's Really Extremely Neat (WREN), which is an organization for all fans of Wren in all her incarnations.
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/29/2010 10:58:20 PM
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Up in Canada, books 5-7 came out in the new "designed for comfort" books which are slightly taller, possibly bigger print, etc.
$12-$13 each.
I'm honestly surprised the 1st 4 books haven't been re-released in the new format.
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/30/2010 6:35:29 AM
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I'm against these new larger paperbacks for several reasons, but I'm still buying them because I don't have much of a choice.
One, it's just an excuse for the publisher to charge a couple of bucks more for a mass market paperback.
Two, I now have books by certain authors (Lee Child, James Rollins), with some regular size paperbacks and some "super-size" paperbacks, and it just looks wrong on the shelf. 
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The Dude abides
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RE: Dark Tower question
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Posted:
7/30/2010 8:00:40 AM
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I almost always prefer mass market paperback formats, simply because they fit in your pocket better.
In the case of The Dark Tower books, though, I'm willing to pay more for illustrated versions.
I've got hardcovers of all but the first book. Got most of them used at reasonable prices.
(Cheers?)
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