Stephen King – The Dark Tower Series: These sublime stories carry Old-West elements of science-fiction, fantasy, and horror all around.

The Series

“The Dark Tower Series” is a sequence of stories written by Stephen King, between 1970 and 2012, widely considered to be (and described by King himself as) his best work. It is a series of eight books and a novella that incorporates elements of fantasy, science fiction, horror, and Western stories.

They revolve around Roland Deschain’s quest to find and protect a fabled Dark Tower. Besides all novels that compose it, many of his other books relate back to it, introducing concepts and characters that come into play along this plot. After its final chapter, a series of prequel comics followed.

Inspired by a poem by Robert Browning, King introduced elements, taken from Lord of the Rings, King Arthur’s legends, and Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, as admitted influences and tributes. Stephen King recognizes Clint Eastwood’s “Man with No Name”, a recurrent character in many of Leone’s films, as a prime inspiration for his protagonist.

It is evident how King named places using Tolkien’s style. Also, a language developed specifically for these stories shows that influence.

Author

Stephen King is an American, well renowned, and highly prized author of popular horror, unusual and science fiction literature. (read mini-bio)

Overview

In The Dark Tower Series, Roland is a last remaining member of an order, some Gunslingers (some kind of cowboy templars) and a line of Arthur Eld (remember King Arthur? ). He lives in a parallel world similar, and, yet, quite different from ours. mixing scenarios between the Old West, European Dark Ages, High Technology, along with Magical elements that are fading away. Roland’s quest is to find and protect a mythical Dark Tower.