For my independent reading project, I’m still reading Stephen King’s first installment of the Dark Tower series, The Gunslinger.  So far it’s pretty awesome.  It follows a gunslinger in a fantasy old west-esque world as he follows a sorcerer clad all in black known as the man in black for as yet unknown reasons.  One thing I can say that King is a master of is gripping the reader from the very beginning by throwing them right into the middle of the action.  Even forty pages into the book, I have very little idea of what’s going on, and yet I find it very hard to put down. 

One of the ways King is able to achieve this is by creating constant undertones of tension.  In other words, you always get the sense while reading that something big and bad is brewing.  An example of how he does this in this particular book stems from the environment the gunslinger inhabits.  It’s a harsh, unforgiving world.  A town that he spends much of his time at is inhabited by mistrusting, inbred hillbillies and junkies jacked up on a plant called devil grass (basically weed on steroids).  This kind of thing being the general theme of the book creates a constant sense of unease in the reader.

I guess that’s the main reason I like Stephen King novels.  You never know what’s going to happen next, but you always know that something is going to happen.  This book has just done more to convince me that King is the master of subtext.  I suppose part of the reason that one always wonders what’s going to happen next is King’s reputation as one of the best horror author’s in the business.

But yeah, I digress.  This book is dope, so if you like Stephen King/horror/surreal westerns (kind of a specific category, I know) check it out, you won’t regret it.  I can’t wait to update the interwebs on what happens next on the journey of the gunslinger.