by Jay Wilburn

The plan is to reread all of Stephen King’s works in the order that they were published. Richard Chizmar of Cemetery Dance had the vision. I’m doing it because I am a writer and I want to improve my fiction. I think there is something to be learned through this challenge. As Richard Chizmar and Bev Vincent put up their posts on the official site, I will link those in the corresponding ones of mine on this blog, typically with the “After” posts.

You can go back and read the previous post After The Running Man or go back to the beginning for Before Carrie to follow them all through.

Here is the link the Master List of all my #StephenKingRevisited posts.

Let us aim with our eyes …

I’m really excited to get back to reading this one. I really wish the movie had been better. The actors should have had everything it took to pull off this universe. I’m hoping the series will do the world between worlds better justice.

I can’t remember when I read this. I know I read the Wastelands, book three in The Dark Tower series, while in junior college walking back and forth to the used bookstore in town on lonely weekends when I was there alone and without a car or a place to go. That leads me to believe I read The Gunslinger, book 1, and The Drawing of the Three, book 2, while I was in high school.

The story as I recall was straightforward in its trajectory. The first line in essence tells the whole story. They chased across the desert. This world where gunslingers served as other worldly knights unfolded wider than the basic tale though. It captured me.

I devoured the first three books. I stalled on book 4, Wizard and Glass, though. I didn’t finish it and didn’t read any of The Dark Tower books which followed 4. The story within a story format of the later books threw me as a reader. I read the prelude with the characters I had been following faithfully for three books and then when we got to a different story, I kept waiting impatiently to get back to what I considered “the real story.” I’m interested in following the story through the entire series now in the revisit. Just fifty more books to read as I go through in order. No problem.

The Stand is my favorite book and, of course, The Dark Man plays prominently in this series as well. I was asked recently to pick my favorite Stephen King character from any novel. That was tough. While I like his characters and there are ones who stick with me, I didn’t really have a preset favorite. I love the characters in The Stand, but no one outshined every character I have loved in other books. I ultimately settled on Roland from The Dark Tower. We spend more time with him. Maybe I’ll grow attached to characters in a later series of his as well, after spending more time with them. We’ll see.

I suppose it is time to flee across the desert.

My next post will be After The Gunslinger.

— Jay Wilburn, I have not forgotten the face of my father.

Jay Wilburn

Jay Wilburn has a Masters Degree in Education that goes mostly unused since he quit teaching to write about zombies. Jay writes horror because he tends to find the light by facing down the darkness. His is doing well following a life saving kidney transplant. Jay is the author of Maidens of Zombie Kingdom a young adult fantasy trilogy, Lake Scatter Wood Tales adventure books for elementary and middle school readers, Vampire Christ a trilogy of political and religious satire, and The Dead Song Legend. He cowrote The Enemy Held Near, Yard Full of Bones, and The Hidden Truth with Armand Rosamilia. You can also find Jay's work in Best Horror of the Year volume 5. He is a staff writer with Dark Moon Digest, LitReactor, and the Still Water Bay series with Crystal Lake Publishing.

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