Wolves of the Calla
Locus Award nominee 2004.
Roland Deschain and his ka-tet are bearing southeast through the forests of Mid-World, the almost timeless landscape that seems to stretch 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 been drawn to his quest for the Dark Tower: Eddie 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, Eddie, 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 cunning. Their guns, however, will not be enough.
Stephen King
Stephen King (born 1947) is an American writer of contemporary horror fiction, science fiction, and fantasy literature. An estimated 300-350 million copies of King's novels and short story anthologies have been sold, and many of his stories have been adapted for film, television, and other media.
Stephen King has written a number of books using the pen name Richard Bachman.
In 2003 the National Book Foundation awarded Stephen King the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
The Dark Tower
The Dark Tower tells the story of Roland Deschain, a lone gunslinger on the search for the elusive Dark Tower. Why he's looking for the Tower, no one knows. What he expects to find there, even he doesn't know. All he knows is that he must get there, at any cost.
Along the way Roland meets up with many characters, and encounters many strange places. Roland's world is moving on, and he with it, a remnant of the past. Drawn to the brink of death, he draws three people from a very familiar world to aid him in his quest: Eddie Dean, a former New York junkie; Jake Chambers, a boy who has inexplicable ties to Roland; and Detta Walker, a woman who could be their damnation, or their salvation.
The Dark Tower consists of seven primary books, and includes one additional book that complement the series but is not considered mandatory reads. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
Related series The Dark Tower Graphic Novels