The Dark Tower.

Many years ago, I gave up Steven King and moved on to more serious material. A decade ago somebody suggested that I try the more mature books that he was producing, and I went on to "The Dome" and the oddly named "11/22/63".

What I found was indeed a more "mature" King who had developed an irresistible voice. The language was delicious and I found I could listen to him for hours. Just revelling in the way he used words. Much like the way I appreciated music.

Every time I read about the author, I found that he considered the "Dark Tower Series" his greatest work. His "Magna Opus", as he called it. So I tried it. And while it took ages to get started, and each book was a Tome, I eventually got sucked into the story.

Now almost 4 years later I just finished the seventh and last volume, and find myself alone, or at least missing a presence that I had grown accustomed to.

(remember each book was a Tome)

More intense than losing your favourite car, or couch. Something akin to moving house and finding yourself reaching out for familiar object in the new surroundings.

The thing that gets me; is that King claims to have begun this story in 1970 and added to it, on an off, over the years that followed. He completed the last volume in 2004, which would imply that the series took him 34 years!  

He would have fallen in love, gotten married, and had children, seen them grow up and leave the house; and through it all he was writing one story. He fought alcoholism, drug addiction, had really bad accident and lost loved ones; and through all of this he kept going, on this one story.

If I was to read the story again and try to establish the timeline of the Dark tower and Kings personal life, would I find how his life had shaped the story of the Gunslinger in his quest for the Dark Tower? King alluded to this in a bizarre plot twist, where he the author Steven King become a character in the series. What I am getting at is that the Dark Tower series might represent 34 years of a mans life. And it might have influenced his life as his life must have influenced the story. So why is it so difficult to grasp that the last 3 to 4 years I spend in the "Realm" had no effect on me and my life?  

Could all my reactions over the past half decade been subliminally influenced by the Crimson King?