Did He?

[Darkthoughts]

Yes, you're right. When I reread The Dark Tower, things that jarred first time round (King's insertion of himself as a character and the consequent deus ex machina) seemed more acceptable and even, in some parts, essential.

[theBeamisHome]

Generally I am NOT a fan of the use of deus ex machina, and I will admit the first time I read about King inserting himself into the story I was a bit pissed off. After thinking about it awhile and rereading the story, I think it does make a lot more sense. So much of him is IN the story, it's almost impossible to keep himself OUT of it.

I felt the same what at first. I was like 'wtf? does King have some sort of God complex?'. Then I felt better about it when he admitted that he's not Gan. Then I was mad again because he was hard-headed and Jake had to save his life. But *sigh* I figure he has to be there... I keep wondering if he was really afraid to write it... and that's why it took so long. I feel awful for the people who started but didn't get to finish. Lucky for me I just started the series and I'm on book 7 now.

[Adumbros]

As far as the Dark Tower set is concerned, well, the first four volumes were excellent. However, I have to agree wholeheartedly with the assessment that King panicked after the accident and rushed to finish up. Hell, he blatantly admitted it in the 11th stanza of Song of Susannah. "The Tower scares me, I don't wanna start again, I feel like something's out to get me, blah blah blah." and in so doing, made a mockery of his so-called magnum opus. If not for the accident, I have to believe that large portions of the last three books would've come about differently, not to mention we would be about 3-4 years away from the release of DT 6. The concept of turning his entire library into a Tower-themed uber-tale is perfectly fine; he wouldn't be the first. Tolkien accomplished this feat beautifully. It was how he just churned out mindless drivel repeatedly in the last three books. Some of the shit made no sense at all. You can't tell me the original script to DT 5 had the Harry Potter references, for instance. If I'm not mistaken, he admitted having large portions of the first draft of that one completed before '99. HP 1 wasn't released in America until '98, and although he could've picked up a copy, it sure as fuck didn't have enough fanfare to be worthy of putting in the script. Altho, to be fair, the overall plot construction of WotC was brilliant.

I guess, in the end, however, sai King manages to drive home my absolute favorite point: writers write for themselves. It is a purely sanctimonious and selfish task. We don't give a fuck if you like it, or read it, or buy it, or sell it, or burn it, or wipe your ass with its pages. We certainly don't mean that dedication page bullshit. I mean, yeah, sure, This is for Horton, who always heard a Who, it's sincere in a way. But what it really means is this: Dear Horton, I really don't give a fuck about you right now, 'cause I'm lost in Imaginationland. You don't live here, and you're too damn stupid to earn a passport. However, you are a valuable part of what i tentatively refer to as my "real" life, and although I could technically thank you anywhere in the book, and normally would relegate you to such an afterthought, you have finally, after many attempts, broken through my little addiction enough to get your many contributions noticed, and thus duly awarded by having me proclaim your meaningless name across this front page. Trust me when I say meaningless, buddy; nobody's buying a book called "Wonkers for Wieners" unless I'm the author.

We honestly have our own agendas. If we think it sucks, we'll burn it on the grill out back before we let our own wives see the shit. For making all this poignant demonstrations, therefore, I must give sai King a rousing