When did you meet Roland? How many years ago? How old were you?

[Sai]

I started reading the series because I'm a huge fan of King and one of my teachers told me I'd love the series. I was fourteen.

[stone, rose, unfound door]

My opinion= As far as content goes...well first, I wouldn't forbid or even discourage ANY book to a child of any age.

As for the specific question about TDT...I'd wholeheartedly ENCOURAGE it.

I wouldn't. Just look at ourselves and the fascination this series has had on us; do you want him to feel this way too, although he's just turned 11? That's way too cruel, in my opinion, and I guess I'd hate my parent for making me read the best series ever before I knew what a really bad series is. So I would advise any parent to forbid the reading of the DT series until the child has read so many silly pointless books he's going to understand and appreciate the value of the DT series.

[ManOfWesternesse]

I wouldn't. Just look at ourselves and the fascination this series has had on us; do you want him to feel this way too, although he's just turned 11? That's way too cruel, in my opinion, and I guess I'd hate my parent for making me read the best series ever before I knew what a really bad series is. So I would advise any parent to forbid the reading of the DT series until the child has read so many silly pointless books he's going to understand and appreciate the value of the DT series.

That's certainly an interesting take on it.
I did have that nagging thought at the back of my mind - that he would appreciate DT a lot more in another few years. Though I have to say he loved LotR a lot, and same with Wheel of Time at the minute - & I consider them both to be good.
Thanks for this - I think I need to give it more thought.
I definitely want him to keep on reading if possible - but maybe fit in some other things before DT.... - HP would be one good next step, if I can just convince him...

[Rider_of_Discordia]

I remember buying THE GUNSLINGER in a large format TRADE paperback (that was what they were called back then!) in 1989... so 19 years ago!

I was in college studying for my diploma in Occupational Therapy in Liverpool. I had wandered into WATERSTONES Bookshop to search for some academic textbooks and was trying to avoid the fiction section because money was tight (ahhh student days!). I think I almost resisted going into the fiction section (narrrrr) and spotting this over-sized Stephen King book with the spooky sunset cover. Cowboy sat on a beach gazing across at a weird building that seemed to hover above the setting sun. I remember cursing because Trade paperbacks were huge beasts that cost about 3 times more than a regular paperback edition and you didn't usually get any extras for you money. (I hadn't noticed the lovely Michael Whelan illustrations at that point!) ... I was 26 years old at the time.

I loved the cover ... and flipped over to the back text (which reads...**SPOILERS** if you haven't read the GUNSLINGER back off now!!!)

"THE MAN IN BLACK FELD ACROSS THE DESERT, AND THE GUNSLINGER FOLLWED...
As the world moved on he followed, for a nameless time. Naked between the unforgiving sun and the sterile sand, blind in the bowels of the mountains where no light penetrates, shadowed by dangers both magic and physical, the gunslinger moved steadily on his destined path.
For beyond the hazards of the way- The crazed seer, the speaking demon, the slow mutants, the undead boy, and yet stranger sorceries- he would hear, on the night that was ten years long, of the Dark Tower. Nexus of Time and Space, the where he would one day come, winding his horn for some unimaginable final battle..."

As you can see the first publication text pretty much gives away the ending of the book!! It also gets a few things wrong (winding his horn??) and (some unimaginable final battle with a pencil eraser!), but the ending was still more than a decade and a half in the future! Not even Stephen King knew how it was going to end just then! The back cover blurb guy was just doing his or her best!

Anyway, it was a Stephen King book, and therefore I dipped into my overpunished bank account and bought it. Thankfully (though not for my bank balance) the second book appeared very soon after the first one (bigger and more expensive, say thankya!) and I imagined (ha ha ha ha ha ha) that the rest would appear in short order after that.... I never dreamed it would be 2004 until I got to read the final book.

[Letti]

19 years ago?
It was high time to find this site.

[kirin]

think i was about 10

[Gileadean Knight]

Two reasons:
1) I'm not a huge fan of steven king "horror" stories but when I read The Eyes of the Dragon I decided King had more to him then horror and so I gave it a go and
2) At the time everyone was reading and loving Lord of the Rings and, me being me, I didn't want to jump on the band wagon; I wanted my "own" epic adventure story that none of my circle of friends were reading and around that time I came across The Dark Tower and I thought "this is it, my original find that none of my friends have discovered yet". I know its kind of cheesy but that's how it was.... I was 16.

[BeDaN]

Had jus tried quitting to smoke for the first time, so I turned to books to fill the void. Went to the library and checked out "Odd Thomas" Koontz and King sections were close by. As I was walking back to the check-out I noticed DT VII, thought it sounded cool (Love the fantasy stuff). Thought to myself well King's a well known and respected author, I love a lot of the better movies based on his books, so I will give that a try when I'm done with "Odd Thomas".

Checked out The Gunslinger a few days later and I've been addicted ever since. Never has a book or series of books had such a profound impact on me. I will continue to re-read the series till the day I die. I just had to buy the series so i could re-read and share it with others. I currently have VII left to buy in paperback then it's complete. And I'm on the lookout for the hardcover, probably will keep an eye on ebay for a long time.

[sarah]

hey BeDaN! Welcome to the site. Congrats for finding Roland and gang in your local library. It is always fun to hear peoples stories of finding The Gunslinger and never looking back. You can always find some good book prices on ebay and overstock. good luck.

[KaLikeAWheel]

I met Roland when the first mass market edition came out in, I believe 1987. Wow, 21 years ago! Hard to believe. I was not quite 19 at the time. I've known Roland longer than any of my children or my husband. It was really hard to read The Waste Lands and then have to wait 6 years

Spoiler:

to find out how they got off that damned mono!

and another 6 for Wolves of the Calla! I know people who gave up on the series during those times and I'm just so thankful I wasn't one of them. It was definitely worth the wait!

Donna

[BeDaN]

hey BeDaN! Welcome to the site. Congrats for finding Roland and gang in your local library. It is always fun to hear peoples stories of finding The Gunslinger and never looking back. You can always find some good book prices on ebay and overstock. good luck.

Thanks for having me! I've had nothing but fun since I joined, and the slough of info on here is amazing. This site now occupies about 85% of my online time.

[Letti]

hey BeDaN! Welcome to the site. Congrats for finding Roland and gang in your local library. It is always fun to hear peoples stories of finding The Gunslinger and never looking back. You can always find some good book prices on ebay and overstock. good luck.

Thanks for having me! I've had nothing but fun since I joined, and the slough of info on here is amazing. This site now occupies about 85% of my online time.

And it will increase.
Good to have you here, sai.

[sarah]

hey BeDaN! Welcome to the site. Congrats for finding Roland and gang in your local library. It is always fun to hear peoples stories of finding The Gunslinger and never looking back. You can always find some good book prices on ebay and overstock. good luck.

Thanks for having me! I've had nothing but fun since I joined, and the slough of info on here is amazing. This site now occupies about 85% of my online time.

sweet!

[stone, rose, unfound door]

hey BeDaN! Welcome to the site. Congrats for finding Roland and gang in your local library. It is always fun to hear peoples stories of finding The Gunslinger and never looking back. You can always find some good book prices on ebay and overstock. good luck.

Thanks for having me! I've had nothing but fun since I joined, and the slough of info on here is amazing. This site now occupies about 85% of my online time.

And it will increase.
Good to have you here, sai.

This gets kinda scary after some time. Everytime you're online, you feel drawn to TDT.com... must be the attraction of the Tower itself

[Letti]

The Beams are working.

[Chap]

I first found out about The Dark Tower 2 years ago when I stumbled upon The Gunslinger in a book store. The cover design was great, everything about it pulled me towards the book.
I was about 2 years younger than I am now (somewhere in my twenties in other words)

At first I didn't get too hooked on it, didn't even finish The Gunslinger at first. But perhaps a year ago I picked it up again because I didn't have anything else to read.
Loved it that time, and quickly moved on to the next books, haven't looked back since. even had to buy the last 3 in english (not my native language) because I couldn't wait for the translations to finish!

edit:
Oh, I just finished the last book yesterday. Thankfully I bought the comic some days ago so the "cut-off" wasn't that hard.

[~Unfound~]

For me it was kind of a legend before i picked it up, My older brother and his friends were reading the Gunslinger and Drawing of the Three and i picked up on some of there conversations and the imagery blew me away, like roland shooting everyone in town and loosing his fingers to a lobstrosity (how could i not check it out). It sent my imagination in a thousand different directions, it does however sadden me that King is not writing anymore direct DT stories(In Novel Form), although I'll always find DT strings in anything he writes now.

[William50]

I first found the DT books last year at age 14. I was in the Library, and I noticed a quite large hardcover in the SK section. I pulled it out and it was DT 7. I then took out Gunslinger that day, and later that night i joined tihs site.

[Letti]

Really good to have you all here, my friends.
The more DT junkies we have here the better the site becomes.

[Lady_Macbeth]

I met Roland last year when I was 18. I was actually turning 19 as I was reading the book, an uncanny coincidence indeed O_O. Anywho, I was going to be bed-ridden for like 2 months because I was going to have foot surgery done and I needed some good, long, reading material. Needless to say, The Dark Tower kept me more than entertained during my recover. Nothing like immersing yourself in the land of Mid-World while high as hell on vicodin. Good times, man, good times.

[Wuducynn]

Really good to have you all here, my friends.
The more DT junkies we have here the better the site becomes.

Strongly seconded!

I met Roland last year when I was 18. I was actually turning 19 as I was reading the book, an uncanny coincidence indeed O_O.

Maybe it's not a coincidence? Like V says "There are no coincidences, there is only the illusion of coincidence".

[sarah]

BUMP!

With lots of new members posting in Gilead, I would love to hear how you first met Roland

[Mark]

August 2007, Dean (Ka-tet on here) introduced me, I was just 14.

[candy]

looking at the posts, its surprising and scarey how many where 19 or just shy of 19 years old. scarey because thats the age that i was (i think -it so long ago)

i remember going to a second hand book store, i couldn't afford brand new in those days, and i was a huge SK reader. I saw this tiny little book hiding away at the back of the store, it wasn't even in the main King / horror section. It was some crazy price even though it wasn't that old (50p i think - they just didn't think it would sell)

Anyways, i read it and loved it. I then moved house and it got lost along the way.

But because i had read this book when i found drawing of the 3 i was so excited, i then went on a hunt for the books and had to wait years in between (the same as you all i suppose) but for some reason i missed the Wastelands and ended up reading W&G instead.

Anyway, i could go on, but suffice to say i loved it and when the last 3 came out i was ecstatic as i had never been able to read a new one so soon after the current one

[Brice]

I was walking through the desert and suddenly a door appeared...