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I was 18 years old in 1982, and I visited an antiquarian book store on Newbury Street in Boston called Avenue Victor Hugo. What a great treasure trove of books. I was able to get a first edition hardcover copy of The Gunslinger for $149 - a few years later I won a lottery to purchase a Wastelands limited edition and I was on my way to collecting. Turns out that the attic space above the bookstore was used by a number of the artists who were producing work for Grant's version of The Talisman. Alas they succumbed to the big box book stores.
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According to the note inside my paperback copy, I bought The Gunslinger at the Stars & Stripes Bookstore, Clark Air Base, Republic of the Philippines, Christmas 1989 ... that means I was 23 at the time. My mother had sent me a copy of The Drawing of the Three for Christmas, and since it was the second book in the series I was forced to go out and buy the first.
I guess it all worked out.:rose: (<--- Also my mother's and grandmother's name)
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For me it was just recently in early 2019 (45 years old) when I finally listened to the audio book of The Gunslinger after having purchased it two years prior after listening to and loving The Stand. I liked it but didn’t love it and a few months later I started The Drawing of the Three and quickly got more and more into the series. By the time I was done with Wizard and Glass I was completely obsessed and felt that I had a new favorite book.
I’m not sure why I never gave the series a try before. It could be because my dad didn’t have them and his books introduced me to King; I also kind of remember a feeling of “Stephen King is horror, what’s with this cowboy stuff?” going through my 13-14 year old head as I was getting into him shortly before the release of Book II and judged it by the name alone. I also remember seeing Book VII when it was released and not feeling like tackling something that I had fallen 7 books behind on. I also wasn’t reading at all in that time period.
Oh well, I’m firmly serving the beam now and getting ready to start Book VI for the first time soon 😃.
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In 1998, I think. I was 17 years old or so then. I didn't know it was a series BTW. So I was disappointed by the ending of The Gunslinger. Then everything changed for good. What a roller coaster it was, reading the series.