Getting Darker

The center cannot hold as we get close to the end...

Where The Breakers Are

I am putting together my next write-up on Stephen King's THE DARK TOWER VII that will appear on Macmillan's Criminal Element blog around noon tomorrow. For the most part a solid section that includes our heroes preparing their next move.

"We go through the door to Thunderclap station," Roland said, "and from the station to where the Breakers are kept. And there ..." He looked at each of his ka-tet in turn, then raised his finger and made a dryly expressive shooting gesture.
"There'll be guards," Eddie said. "Maybe a lot of them. What if we're outnumbered?"
"It won't be the first time," Roland said.

Our passages for the week included Part Two, I: The Devar-Tete – VII: Ka-Shume and I hope you will join us to discuss or just stop by and listen to our palaver. A lot transpired including the return of Randall Flagg, Mordred Deschain hunting Roland and company, and our team wandering through the eerie chamber where the now quieted remains of the wolves of the Calla are suspended. 

And the Tower looms...

The Tower Looms

We begin our reread of The Dark Tower VII at Criminal Element. An excerpt:

The Dark Tower is very close, but our ka-tet is spread far and wide. Roland and Eddie are in 1977 where they have just finished meeting with the author Stephen King. In 1999, Father Callahan and Jake are about to storm The Dixie Pig lounge where Susannah is being held along with Mia, who is about to give birth to an unholy demon: this child has the DNA combo of Roland and Susannah and a “co-father” in the Crimson King. So, we are very close to our destination, the stakes are high, and it’s anybody’s guess who will live to see The Dark Tower. 

The Dark Tower looms on the horizon for both our ka-tet and you, our loyal readers, as we count down the days to the premiere of The Dark Tower film. The plan is to finish the series on the Tuesday before the premiere, so we'll be splitting The Dark Tower into four sections (about 200 pages each) and meeting here at our usual time (Tuesday at 12 p.m. ET) to discuss major themes, motifs, and reactions.

My New Gig

I'm very pleased to say my first article for LitReactor is now live. Big deal for me because I've admired the high quality output that is their standard. Please take a look when you get a chance.

At Outpost 16

Jake is feeling unsettled about spying on Ben Slightman The Elder and Andy while they’re conversing in private. After Ben Slightman the Younger falls asleep, Jake slips away with Oy—sniffing like a bloodhound—to follow their trail to a seemingly abandoned building. It’s labeled Outpost 16, which Jake assumes was erected by the Old Ones. There, he finds more North Central Positronics, LTD signs and tech. On the door itself: WELCOME TO THE DOGAN. Uh-oh. Here we go, as they say.

Inside, fluorescent lights snap to life, revealing skeletons in tattered brown uniforms—soldiers of sorts who’ve long since given a damn about what they were guarding. More shocking than the gruesome remains are the 31 screens monitoring various locations in the region, including Calla high street, Our Lady of Serenity Church, and Took’s General Store.

Rest of my reread of Wolves of the Calla can be found at Criminal Element.

I'm Talking Wolves...

Just a quick refresher: the wolves are on their way, and our ka-tet are not a unified force. Roland calls them broken. Mostly because of Susannah, who isn’t aware that she has a new personality lurking within named Mia who has a baby on the way. This happened, as you remember, because Susannah got pregnant while having sex with a demon to hold open a transom that allowed Jake to cross over. Roland and Eddie know, and now Jake has seen his comrade dining on a rat like it was fine cuisine.

Read The Dark Tower: Wolves of the Calla Part V, by, you guessed it, me. Right here.

Black Thirteen

Callahan stops his traipse down the bloody memory lane to show Roland the crystal ball. Roland has Callahan take him to Black Thirteen without Susannah present, afraid that the demon in her belly will grow stronger.

Faintly, Roland heard the chime of bells—a sound so beautifully hideous it made you want to grind your teeth against it. For a moment the walls of Pere Callahan’s church wavered. It was as if the thing in the box had spoken to them: Do you see how little it all matters? How quickly and easily I can take it all away, should I choose to do so? Beware, gunslinger! Beware, shaman! The abyss is all around you. You float and fall into it at my whim.

Our ka-tet continues forward at Macmillan's Criminal Element. 

Wolves At The Door

The ka-tet dine with their perspective employers, feeling out the sharecroppers and the mysterious Father Callahan and learning that Thunderclap is somewhat of a dead zone populated by the wolves. When Eddie excuses himself to take a dump in the woods, he discovers Andy is quite the stealthy robot. Startled while still squatting, the gunslinger has a couple of questions for the apologetic machine—the most troubling of which regards the wolves: “... how do you know when they’re coming?”

The normally genteel machine turns haughty, “What’s your password, sai Eddie?” Turns out the bot is restricted from divulging this information under directive nineteen (there’s that damn prime). So, I’m making the call early: Andy is in cahoots with the wolves. Agreed? Of course, I’ve come to not trust any machine with a North Central Positronics, LTD label.

Here's a link to follow for the rest of my article on Stephen King's Wolves of the Calla.

Reading...

I'm eighty-six pages into Stephen King's WOLVES OF THE CALLA (2003). It's part of his epic The Dark Tower series and influences for this entry include THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) and SEVEN SAMURAI (1954). Biggest shocker is a character from King's SALEM'S LOT (1975) makes a return and looks to be an ongoing character.

Well, anyway, that's why I'm up at 4:26 a.m.

“You know my name..."

Here's a sample of my latest article (and excerpt) on WIZARD AND GLASS:

Back in town, Jonas learns an emissary from John Farson has arrived and goes to meet him. The encounter startles Jonas, but, perhaps even more us the reader.

Jonas whirled on his heels, suddenly feeling old and slow. Standing there was a man of medium height, powerfully built from the look of him, with bright blue eyes and the rosy cheeks of either good health or good wine. His parted, smiling lips revealed cunning little teeth which must have been filed to points—surely such points couldn’t be natural. 

[…]

“You know my name; I would know yours.”

“Call me Walter,” the man in black said, and the smile suddenly fell off his lips. “Good old Walter, that’s me. Now let us see where we are, and where we’re going. Let us, in short, palaver.”

Communication Breakdown

I've had almost zero internet for two weeks, and after several days of junkie withdrawals I found myself reading more of the daily newspaper which was a '17 goal, but on the downside my television viewing spiked. Not quality TV, mind you, but binging on fatuous comedy shows. Biggest issue has been not connecting with all my fellow Bloggers, though hopefully by week's ends I will be able to make the rounds.

In the meantime, if you get a moment, here's my latest article on Stephen King's Wizard and Glass.

Part II of The Drawing of the Three.

After being deformed and disfigured and finally meeting the prisoner in Part I, we make contact in Eddie Dean's when—and there's gonna be a showdown. Join our discussion of Part II of The Drawing of the Three.