TO ED FERMAN, who took a chance on these stories, one by one

First Line

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.

About the Book

This heroic fantasy is set in a world of ominous landscape and macabre menace that is a dark mirror of our own. A spellbinding tale of good versus evil, it features one of Stephen King's most powerful creations - The Gunslinger, a haunting figure who embodies the qualities of a lone hero through the ages, from ancient myth to frontier western legend. The Gunslinger's quest involves the pursuit of The Man in Black, a liaison with the sexually ravenous Alice, and a friendship with the kid from Earth called Jake. Both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike, here is stunning proof of Stephen King's storytelling sorcery.

Media Reviews

AudioFile - Ruth P. Ludwig
In a re-issued collection of the first three books of King's fantasy saga, Frank Muller revisits the world of Roland of Gilead, Jake Chambers, and Eddie and Susanna Dean. King himself originally recorded the three books as he wrote them over a period of ten years. Muller recorded book four, Wizard and Glass, in 1997. The series centers around Roland of Gilead, the last gunslinger to walk the earth since the world "moved on." Roland travels in search of the dark tower, a mysterious, never-seen entity he believes holds the key to the world's having moved on. In a series that provides 36 hours of listening to the same voice (with no special effects), one expects a lapse in interest. But Muller, the master of narration, pulls out all the stops here. He makes characters unmistakable through dialogue and timing. In fast-paced conversation, dreams or breakneck bursts of action, he moves effortlessly among dozens of people. Narrative passages flow with equal grace and fluidity. Muller uses tricks, such as dragging out words and phrases, singing when the characters sing, and contriving animal and mechanical voices. Even his Foreword and Afterword sound like Stephen King . . . with one exception: The author would never pronounce his home city "Bang-er," rather than the "Bang-gore" of a native Mainer. R.P.L. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine