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Nineteen (19)
Subtitles
the Robert Browning poem |
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Tian was blessed (through few farmers would have used such a word) with three patches: River Field, where his family had grown rice since time out of mind; Roadside Field, where ka-Jaffords had grown sharproot, pumpkin, and corn for those same long years and generations; and Son of a Bitch, a thankless tract which mostly grew rocks, blisters, and busted hopes.
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Influences
- Stephen King has acknowleged multiple sources of influence for this story, including Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai, its stepchild The Magnificent Seven, Sergio Leone's "Man with No Name" trilogy, and other works by Howard Hawks and John Sturges, among others.
The weapons used by the Wolves, "Lightsticks", appear to be working versions of the Lightsabers of Star Wars. "Sneetches" are diabolical conglomerations of the Golden Snitch and bludgers of the Harry Potter books and the knife-wielding silver orb of the Phantasm (film) movies. The Wolves themselves appear to be based on Doctor Doom's Doombots.
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RESISTANCE
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Roland
Eddie Dean of New York
Susannah Dean of New York
Jake Chambers of New York
Oy
Pere Callahan
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The Wolves
Mia
The Crimson King
Walter O'Dim
Andy The Robot
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Calla Bryn Sturgis
Thunderclap
New York
The Dogan
Door way cave
Home
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Written : Bangor, Maine - December 15, 2002
Intended original title : The Crawling Shadow
Synopsis : After escaping the perilous wreckage of Blaine the insane Mono and eluding the evil clutches of the vindictive sorcerer Randall Flagg, Roland and his ka-tet find themselves back on the southeasterly path of the Beam. Here, in the borderlands that lie between Mid-World and End-World, Roland and his friends are approached by a frightened band of representatives from the nearby town of Calla Bryn Sturgis. In less than a month, the Calla will be attacked by the Wolves-those masked riders that gallop out of Thunderclap once a generation to steal the town's children. The Calla folken need the kind of help that only gunslingers can give, and if the tet agrees to help, the town's priest-Father Callahan, once of 'Salem's Lot, Maine-promises to give them Black Thirteen, the most potent and treacherous of Maerlyn's magic balls. He used it to enter Mid-World, and now it sleeps fitfully beneath the floorboards of his church. Meanwhile, in the New York of 1977, the Sombra Corporation plots to destroy the lot at Second Avenue and Forty-Sixth Street. How can Roland and his friends both save the rose and fight the Wolves? Only by using the magic of Black Thirteen, but how can anyone trust this sinister and treacherous object which is, in actuality, the eye of the Crimson King himself? Time is running out on all levels of the Tower, but unless our ka-tet can defeat the minions of Thunderclap both in our world and in Mid-World, they will never reach that great lynchpin of the time/space continuum which, even now, begins to totter . . .
"Time is a face on the water," stretching and contorting reality as gunslingers Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake and their talking pet "billy-bumbler" Oy continue their quest to prevent the destruction of the Dark Tower and, consequently, save all worlds from Chaos and the Crimson King's evil, red-eyed glare. Roland-the primary hero of King's epic tale, the first volume of which appeared in 1982-and company momentarily fall off the "Path of The Beam" to help the residents of Calla Bryn Sturgis, a farm town. But as Dark Tower fans know, everything follows The Beam, so what looks like a detour may really serve the will of "ka" (destiny). Roland and his posse learn that every 20-odd years the "Wolves" kidnap one child from each set of the Calla's twins, bring them to the Tower and, weeks later, send them back mentally and physically impaired. Meanwhile, back in 1977 New York City (the alternate world of Roland's surrogate son, Jake), bookstore owner Calvin Tower is being threatened by a group of thugs (readers will recognize them from The Drawing of the Three, 1987) to sell them a vacant lot in midtown Manhattan. In the lot stands a rose, or rather the Rose, which is our world's manifestation of the Dark Tower. With the help of the Old Fella (also known to `Salem's Lot readers as Father Callahan), the gunslingers must devise a plan against evil in both worlds. The task, however, is further complicated as Roland and his gang start noticing behavioral changes in wheelchair-bound, recovered schizophrenic Susannah.As the players near the Tower, readers will keep finding exciting ties between the Dark Tower universe and King's other books, with links to Black House, Insomnia, The Eyes of the Dragon, The Stand, `Salem's Lot and Hearts in Atlantis. The high suspense and extensive character development here (especially concerning Jake's coming-of-age), plus the enormity of King's ever-expanding universe, will surely keep his "Constant Readers" in awe.
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FIRST EDITION/MY EDITIONS
Donald M. Grant/Scribner 2003.
Hardcover.
ISBN 1 880418 56 8.
714 pages.
"First Trade Edition"
on copyright page.
"1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" on copyright page.
Copyright © 2003 by Stephen King.
Illustrations © 2003 by Bernie Wrightson.
Fiction: General. |
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DEDICATION
This book is for Frank Muller,
who hears the voices in my head.
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BOOK BREAKDOWN
Prologue
ROONT
Part One
TODASH
I: The Face on the Water
II: New York Groove
III: Mia
IV: Palaver
V: Overholser
VI: The Way of the Eld
VII: Todash
Part Two
TELLING TALES
I: The Pavilion
II: Dry Twist
III: The Priest's Tale (New York)
IV: The Priest's Tale Continued (Highways in Hiding)
V: The Tale of Gray Dick
VI: Gran-Pere's Tale
VII: Nocturne, Hunger
VIII: Took's Store; The Unfound Door
IX: The Priest's Tale Concluded (Unfound)
Part Three
THE WOLVES
I: Secrets
II: The Dogan, part 1
III: The Dogan, part 2
IV: The Pied Piper
V: The Meeting of the Folken
VI: Before the Storm
VII: The Wolves
Epilogue
THE DOORWAY CAVE
AUTHOR'S NOTE
AUTHOR'S AFTERWORD
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INNER SLEEVE
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
with 12 full-color illustrations by Bernie Wrightson
Roland Deschain and his ka-tet are bearing southeast through the forests of Mid-World, the almost timeless landscape that seems to strech from the wreckage of civility that defined Roland's youth to the crimson chaos that seems the future's only promise. Readers of Stephen King's epic series know Roland well, or as well as this enigmatic hero can be known. They also know the companions who have drawn to his quest for the Dark Tower: Eddir Dean and his wife, Susannah; Jake Chambers, the boy who has come twice through the doorway of death into Roland's world; and Oy, the Billy-Bumbler.
In this long-awaited fifth novel in the saga, their path takes them to the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis, a tranquil valley community of farmers and ranchers on Mid-World's borderlands. Beyond the town, the rocky ground rises toward the hulking darkness of Thunderclap, the source of a terrible affliction that is slowly stealing the community's soul. One of the town's residents is Pere Callahan, a ruined priest who, like Susannah, Eddir, and Jake, passed through one of the portals that lead both into and out of Roland's world.
As Father Callahan tells the ka-tet the astonishing story of what happened following his shamed departure from Maine in 1977, his connection to the Dark Tower becomes clear, as does the danger facing a single red rose in a vacant lot off Second Avenue in midtown Manhattan. For Calla Bryn Sturgis, danger gathers in the east like a storm cloud. The Wolves of Thunderclap and their unspeakable depredation are coming. To resist them is to risk all, but these are odds the gunslingers are used to, and they can give the Calla-folken both courage and cunnong. Their guns, however, will not be enough.
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ALSO KNOWN AS
Ulvene (Det Mørke Tårn V) (Denmark)
Der Dunkle Turm V: Wolfsmond (Germany)
A Setét Torony V: Callai farkasok (Hungary)
I lupi del Calla (Italy)
De Donkere Toren V: De Wolven van de Calla (The Netherlands)
Mroczna Wieza V: Wilki z Calla (Poland)
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