Day 1670: Jul 28, 2026

It’s a glorious day when I get to begin the next tome in my Stephen King journey! And I’ve finally, after 2 years, reached the end of The Dark Tower main saga. This ranks as the fifth longest book (by page count) in King’s bibliography, so I’ll be here for a while.

Like many, I nabbed this when it first came out in 2004, raced through to the end, and other than that now infamous ending, I remember none of it. So a new experience awaits!

𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘵𝘦.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦

𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶.

𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴.

What is this? King & sons? Or a gaggle of Kings from different ages?

The previous Dark Tower novels had R-themed subtitles:

Resumption (The Gunslinger)
Renewal (The Drawing of the Three) Redemption (The Waste Lands)
Regard (Wizard and Glass)
Resistance (Wolves of the Calla)
Reproduction (Song of Susannah)

And here is what the 7th book has drawn. Interesting… Multiple subtitles and several repeats?

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘢 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘸 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

The book opens up with Father Callahan, Jake and Oy about to enter into The Dixie Pig to save Susannah.

𝘖𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦’𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘭, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘧𝘰𝘹𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘵.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘬.

I’ll have to refer you to the end of Song of Susannah for the gruesome description of what was ACTUALLY cooking in The Dixie Pig!

“𝘎𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯,” 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. “𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘩. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦.”

“𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵—”

“𝘎𝘰, 𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦!”

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘹𝘪𝘦 𝘗𝘪𝘨, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘰̈𝘭𝘥𝘱𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘢 𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘵, 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘯’𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘯’𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩.

“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵! 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳! 𝘈𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘩 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶!”

Pere Callahan was holding the vampires and low-men at bay with his ceramic hypnotizing turtle and Roland’s voice booms out of his mouth.

Yep – a typical beginning to a Dark Tower Novel!

𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦́𝘫𝘢̀ 𝘷𝘶—𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵, 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘗𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦—𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘶𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘩-𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘴𝘵. 𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘴𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘻𝘻𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘧𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴.

“𝘎𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘦!” 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘥. “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶! 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶! 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘢 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘪𝘥-𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶! 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶!”

The redemptive arc of Father Callahan is so… satisfying!

𝘈𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘴𝘰. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘰̈𝘭𝘥𝘱𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘢 𝘵𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘨, 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 (𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳) 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳.

Whoa – this sudden fourth-wall breaking nod to IT was rather disruptive!

𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘯, 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘧 ’𝘚𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘮’𝘴 𝘓𝘰𝘵, 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘶𝘨𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘻𝘻𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘭 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯.

“𝘏𝘪𝘭𝘦, 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥!” 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸.

Fare thee well and see ye at the end of the clearing, Pere Callahan!

And with that explosive opening to The Dark Tower, I finish reading for today. I am now only 3% of the way through this novel.

Day 1671: Jul 29, 2026

Pere Callahan has met his fate at The Dixie Pig with faith and bravery while Jake and Oy ran on to rescue Susannah.

I continue reading The Dark Tower.

𝘖𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱-𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘯, 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘊𝘌𝘕𝘛𝘙𝘈𝘓 𝘔𝘈𝘐𝘕𝘌 𝘗𝘖𝘞𝘌𝘙 𝘔𝘈𝘐𝘕𝘛𝘌𝘕𝘈𝘕𝘊𝘌 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴.

The POV shifts over to Roland and Eddie who are in another time and another place. I’m glad we immediately go to them instead of having to wait 100 pages or so to get there.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦-𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵…𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘵𝘰𝘰.

I was just thinking: I hope I don’t have to wait a long time for those two to get back to where Jake and Susannah are! And here we are, just a few paragraphs into this chapter, and it looks like they are deus ex todashing. And I don’t mind it one bit.

𝘈 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘮, 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦. 𝘏𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥.

Heck of a fantasy you’ve got there, Roland! 🤣

𝘈 𝘺𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘶𝘯 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣 𝘪𝘵.

An eagle-eyed constant reader observed this word, “waseau”, and wrote:

𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥’𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘴 “𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘶,” 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘶, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘥.

A Read of the Dark Tower: Constant Reader Tackles The Dark Tower, The Little Red King, Chapter 2 – Reactor

https://reactormag.com

“There they stood, ranged along the hillsides, met To view the last of me, a living frame For one more picture! In a sheet of flame I saw them and I knew them all.” —Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” Welcome to A Read of the Dark Tower series.

Roland and Eddie rode a beam wave to witness (and to some extent, interact) with Susannah, Jake and Pere Callahan over in the Dixie Pig.

It was a weird encounter, but in a huge tome of weird, I just accept it and move on.

I finish reading for today, 5% of the way through The Dark Tower.

Day 1672: Jul 30, 2026

It turns out that an astral-projected Roland was actually communicating with Pere Callahan during his final moments as he and Eddie got caught up in some sort of todash wave.

I continue reading The Dark Tower at Part One, Ch III “Eddie Makes a Call”.

𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭-𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘺 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮—

Makes me wonder… Did anyone ever just walk into The Dixi Pig looking for a lunch to go? I mean, I stop into new places all the time.

𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥. “𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘵. 𝘞𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘋𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦? 𝘞𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸.”

We’re back in 1977 with the physical forms of Eddie and Roland. They’ve got this document claiming ownership of the lot with the rose and now they have to… file it?

𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘳—𝘪𝘧 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦—𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘣𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰-𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘛𝘦𝘵 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 (𝘰𝘳 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦-𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢). 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘦! 𝘏𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 (𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘈𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘯 𝘋𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘶’𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘸) 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘗𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯.

From vampires to Succession, this book has got something for everyone!

𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥, 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵. 𝘗𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘶, 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳, 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘪, 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘊𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 (𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳, 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺). 𝘈𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴—𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬—𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯?

“𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵,” 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥. “𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘵.”

I thought that John Collum was a rather convenient plot contrivance in Song of Susannah. Looks like King is leaning into that fact in order to help his heroes out!

I halt here mid-chapter with Eddie about to call John Cullum from a pay phone.

I am now 6% of the way through The Dark Tower.

Day 1673: Jul 31, 2026

I’m on my fourth day with The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower.

I finish off Part One, Ch III “Eddie Makes a Call” where Eddie & Roland, who are back in Maine 1977, decide to give their old pal John Cullum a call to help them out with a real estate transaction.

𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘊𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘮’𝘴 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥-𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘵 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦—𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘰’𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵-𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵-𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵-𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵-𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵-𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘩𝘢𝘱—𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘤𝘬. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥.

Did they have digital voices back in 1977?

“𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩,” 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥. “𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘰, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴. 𝘐’𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦, 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦.”

Slightly out of character for Roland, but okay… Made my eyes stick right out of my head reading that!

𝘐𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘙𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘈𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦-𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘏𝘦’𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦—𝘢 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘦 𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦—𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳.

Eddie and Roland encounter a strange figure crossing the road.

“𝘚𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶.”

“𝘈𝘩, 𝘨𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥.”

“𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘯𝘰𝘵. 𝘚𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘵.”

“𝘍𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤!” 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘺𝘷𝘦𝘯, 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘳, 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦—𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘪𝘥-𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘥, 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥. 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥.

“𝘍𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘱, 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘮! 𝘖𝘯 𝘝 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘬, 𝘝 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘛—”

𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥’𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦.

Wow.

“𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦. 𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩.”

And with Roland’s mournful words, I stop reading here for the day. I am now 7% of the way through The Dark Tower.

Day 1674: Aug 01, 2026

I take a short break from reading The Dark Tower to listen to Two Guys from the Dark Tower Came review these first three chapters.

The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower — Part 1, Chapters 1-3

http://twoguysdarktower.blubrry.com

In this episode of Two Guys to the Dark Tower Came, we explore The Dark Tower, Book VII, The Dark Tower, Part 1, chapters 1-3.

In this episode, I also heard the word “tintinnabulation” for the first time!

Definition of TINTINNABULATION

https://www.merriam-webster.com

the ringing or sounding of bells; a jingling or tinkling sound as if of bells… See the full definition

Day 1675: Aug 02, 2026

Returning to the text of The Dark Tower.

While Pere Callahan was ending his life while being swarmed by vampires and low-men in 1999, Eddie & Roland, who are back in Maine 1977, decide to phone-a-friend in to help complete a real estate transaction.

I start on Part One, Chapter IV: Dan-Tete.

𝘈𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺’𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘩 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥, 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳.

I’m glad we’re back to Susannah, laying next to Mia, in that creepy birthing room in the back of The Dixie Pig.

𝘔𝘪𝘢 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦—𝘈𝘭𝘪𝘢, 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦’𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘈𝘭𝘪𝘢—𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘤𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵, 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘤𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘏𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘴 𝘩𝘦’𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨.

This horrifying depiction of labor reminds me of a recent movie which also had really disturbing scenes of childbirth.

“𝘋𝘢𝘯-𝘵𝘦𝘵𝘦,” 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘑𝘦𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘸𝘬-𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳: 𝘋𝘢𝘯-𝘵𝘦𝘵𝘦…𝘥𝘢𝘯-𝘵𝘦𝘵𝘦…𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘯-𝘵𝘦𝘵𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘥.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺’𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥.

The “coming of the little god” – what is it that Mia just gave birth to???

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺’𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯, 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘢𝘸. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩—𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩—𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭, 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭. 𝘚𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱’𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘴, 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵. 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘩 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳.

The hell?

𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘩 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥’𝘴 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯, 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘩 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩, 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵: 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘪𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘔𝘪𝘢’𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘦, 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘔𝘪𝘢’𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘣.

A King-fueled nightmare!

𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘔𝘪𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳—𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴, 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢’𝘴 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭-𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘺 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘶𝘵.

“𝘐𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭?” 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥. “𝘐𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘯?”

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴.

This seems as good a place to stop as any. Let’s let that spider-baby image simmer overnight!

I am now 9% of the way through The Dark Tower.

Day 1676: Aug 03, 2026

Finishing off Part One, Chapter IV: 𝘋𝘢𝘯-𝘛𝘦𝘵𝘦 in The Dark Tower.

Mia has finally given birth to the hideous spider-baby while Susannah looks on from the bed next to her.

“𝘐𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭?” 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥. “𝘐𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘯?”

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴.

I think Mia’s last words would’ve been the perfect ending to Song of Susannah, but who am I to question King’s editorial decisions?

…𝘔𝘪𝘢’𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘯-𝘵𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘭. 𝘐𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥-𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘣𝘰𝘹 𝘢𝘵 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘩.

𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘩…

What a delightful little chap Mordred is!

𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥—𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘔𝘪𝘢, 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘯. 𝘚𝘢𝘺𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘴𝘬𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴. 𝘏𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥.

Susannah grab a gun off of one of the creatures and is tearing into all the monsters in the room. She ended minor baddie Sayre – but she hasn’t turned the gun on spider-baby yet. Interesting…

𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘸𝘬𝘮𝘢𝘯’𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘳𝘺, 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥. 𝘈 𝘺𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩-𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘪𝘥, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦.

OK – she turn her attention to it. But throughout all of this, Susannah is legless again, right? Incredible gun battle given that challenge!

“𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥?” 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘩 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮.

“𝘕𝘰, 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘮, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘰 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥,” 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘺 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦. “𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳, 𝘕𝘌𝘞 𝘠𝘖𝘙𝘒 #𝟩/𝘍𝘌𝘋𝘐𝘊, 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦-𝘸𝘢𝘺.”

Ah yes, they’re not at The Dixie Pig any more.

A quick reminder of where Fedic is in the world.

𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘏𝘈𝘕𝘎𝘏𝘈𝘐/𝘍𝘌𝘋𝘐𝘊 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘖𝘔𝘉𝘈𝘠/𝘍𝘌𝘋𝘐𝘊 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘋𝘈𝘓𝘓𝘈𝘚 (𝘕𝘖𝘝𝘌𝘔𝘉𝘌𝘙 𝟣𝟫𝟨𝟥)/𝘍𝘌𝘋𝘐𝘊. 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘈𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥.

𝘕𝘖𝘙𝘛𝘏 𝘊𝘌𝘕𝘛𝘙𝘈𝘓 𝘗𝘖𝘚𝘐𝘛𝘙𝘖𝘕𝘐𝘊𝘚, 𝘓𝘛𝘋.
𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘬/𝘍𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤
𝘔𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘮𝘶𝘮 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺

That 𝘋𝘈𝘓𝘓𝘈𝘚 (𝘕𝘖𝘝𝘌𝘔𝘉𝘌𝘙 𝟣𝟫𝟨𝟥) gave me chills.

𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘩 𝘯𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘥. 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘬. 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦. 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦.

𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘺, 𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘻𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴.

I leave off here at the end of this chapter. I am now 10% of the way through The Dark Tower.

Day 1677: Aug 04, 2026

The Kingslingers are overjoyed to review the first four chapters of The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower.

Day 1678: Aug 05, 2026

Finished off this episode from the Kingslingers about the first four chapters of The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower.

Day 1679: Aug 06, 2026

I crack open The Dark Tower at Part One: Ch V: 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘺 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦.

I don’t know who the lion is that’s sleeping tonight, but I bet I’m about to find out! So far, we’ve spent final moments with Pere Callahan, Eddie & Roland in Maine and Susannah watching Mia give birth to a demon spider baby. The only major ka-tet member we haven’t seen yet is Jake (and Oy!)

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘖𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘦.

Good – as predicted, we’re back to Jake!

𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘢 𝘩𝘦’𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥. 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘵-𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨’𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘬𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘥.

The first thing we see Jake do is kill a cat?

…𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯. 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯. 𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘐𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘺, 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘢𝘮’𝘴 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦.

Jake Chambers, Riza-slinger.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘬𝘪𝘰𝘴𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘣𝘺-𝘷𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘵, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘸 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘓𝘈𝘚𝘛 𝘊𝘏𝘈𝘕𝘊𝘌 𝘍𝘖𝘙 𝘕𝘌𝘞 𝘠𝘖𝘙𝘒 𝘚𝘖𝘜𝘝𝘌𝘕𝘐𝘙𝘚 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘝𝘐𝘚𝘐𝘛 𝘚𝘌𝘗𝘛𝘌𝘔𝘉𝘌𝘙 𝟣𝟣, 𝟤𝟢𝟢𝟣! 𝘛𝘐𝘟 𝘚𝘛𝘐𝘓𝘓 𝘈𝘝𝘈𝘐𝘓𝘈𝘉𝘓𝘌 𝘍𝘖𝘙 𝘛𝘏𝘐𝘚 𝘞𝘖𝘕𝘋𝘌𝘙𝘍𝘜𝘓 𝘌𝘝𝘌𝘕𝘛! 𝘈𝘚𝘛𝘏𝘔𝘈𝘛𝘐𝘊𝘚 𝘗𝘙𝘖𝘏𝘐𝘉𝘐𝘛𝘌𝘋 𝘞/𝘖 𝘋𝘙’𝘚 𝘊𝘌𝘙𝘛𝘐𝘍𝘐𝘊𝘈𝘛𝘌! 𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝟣𝟣𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝟤𝟢𝟢𝟣 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸.

No words.

𝘖𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴.

“Furry little buns” was not a phrase I’d ever expect from a King novel. And this is the same guy who once wrote “delectable set of jahoobies”.

𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘪. 𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘈𝘓𝘓 𝘏𝘈𝘐𝘓 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘊𝘙𝘐𝘔𝘚𝘖𝘕 𝘒𝘐𝘕𝘎, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘺𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐’𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘉𝘈𝘕𝘎𝘖 𝘚𝘒𝘈𝘕𝘒, ’𝟪𝟦. 𝘔𝘢𝘯, 𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥.

Was recently listening to a King podcast where the hosts were trying to recall every instance where “Bango Skank” popped up.

𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘪𝘥, 𝘴𝘰𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺. 𝘈 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴. 𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘺. 𝘈𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺, 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵.

As they follow Susannah’s scented trail, Jake notices a distinct change in the subterranean city tunnel they’ve been traveling.

𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘏𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 (𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘦), 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵. 𝘈 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 (𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘺 𝘫𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦), 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨.

A dinosaur? What the hell???

And with that record-scratch of a drop, I end reading today and will have to learn more about the dinosaur in this book tomorrow.

I am now 12% of the way through The Dark Tower.

Day 1680: Aug 07, 2026

I spend some quality time with The Dark Tower today as I finish off this lengthy chapter, Part One: Ch V: 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘺 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦.

When we last left Jake, he had just walked out of a lengthy, fluorescent-lit tunnel under New York City and into a jungle with a FREAKIN’ DINOSAUR!

This chapter opens with a stream-of-consciousness flashback into Jake’s earlier childhood of watching dinosaur movies on TV and being terrified of them, especially this one that he watched almost daily.

𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙-𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙥, 𝘑𝘰𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘳—𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯—𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥-𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘱.

And disappointingly, we discover that this was all in his mind.

“𝘖𝘺, 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦?”

𝘐𝘵 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥.

Now THAT’S interesting! Body-swapping with a billy-bumbler!

𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥, 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦-𝘸𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘚𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘬𝘦’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘺.

A real dinosaur would’ve been more practical than this Freaky-Friday plot device.

𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘥. 𝘈 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥-𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘱. 𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳. 𝘠𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺? 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘦?

“𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳,” 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥. “𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.”

𝘐𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥. “𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘩, 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵.”

Reminds me of the South Park “Imagination” song.

𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘰𝘳. 𝘈 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳. 𝘈𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵, 𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦’𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘧 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦. 𝘖𝘳 𝘪𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘩𝘪𝘮.

I bet ka-to-donuts that Susannah is indeed on the other side of this door.

“𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦! 𝘐𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘱𝘪𝘦?”

Knew it!

…𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯-𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳-𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘧𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳.

Jake gets the password-locked door open and is pulled through by Susannah into Fedic. And that is where I leave the story today.

I am now 14% of the way through The Dark Tower.

Day 1681: Aug 08, 2026

I continue reading The Dark Tower today as I turn to Part One: Ch VI: 𝘖𝘯 𝘛𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘦.

We switch back to Eddie and Roland who are in Maine, 1977, on a quest to complete a real estate transaction.

𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘉𝘌𝘊𝘒𝘏𝘈𝘙𝘋𝘛, 𝟣𝟥, 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘳 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘬’𝘴 𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵-𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘣𝘦𝘥, 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘫𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥, 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬.

The obligatory “blue chambray shirt” reference!

“𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘚𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘧 𝘌𝘭𝘥𝘰𝘯 𝘙𝘰𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘶𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰. 𝘚𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦… 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘐 𝘣’𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥—𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘪?”

I’m really starting to get tired of hearing this guy’s name pop up in this series.

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘮. 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨’𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 ’𝘶𝘯. 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬.”

𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, “𝘏𝘦’𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯—𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘴—𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥’𝘴 𝟣𝟫𝟩𝟩, 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮.”

“𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥𝘴?” 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥.

“𝘈𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵,” 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥.

Old Mainer, John Cullum, gets an earful from Eddie of their entire story so far.

I finish reading for today of what was a rather chatty chapter, consisting primarily of Eddie and Roland debriefing their buddy John Collum on his mission to deliver the deed to the lot with the rose to Susannah’s uncle Moses in NYC.

I am now 16% of the way through The Dark Tower.

Day 1682: Aug 09, 2026

Finishing off Part One: Ch VI: 𝘖𝘯 𝘛𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘦 in The Dark Tower.

Roland and Eddie talk to their Maine buddy John Cullum about the quest to NYC they want him to take. Roland even gives him the necklace sigul that he received from the old fold of the River Crossing back in The Waste Lands.

“𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴.” 𝘏𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘧𝘧. “𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵. 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴. 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘯’𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸—𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵—𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘫𝘰𝘣𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦: 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘦’𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢. 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴…” 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘗𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘴.”

John Cullum understood the assignment!

𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳. 𝘏𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝟣𝟫𝟪𝟫—𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 (𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘦𝘵’𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘐𝘉𝘔, 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳-𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘗𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘴) 𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 (𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢 𝘌𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘋𝘦𝘭𝘩𝘪, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥).

I think there’s a whole series of novels to be had detailing the business growth and various plotlines of the growth of the Tet Corporation.

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦-𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘦. 𝘈𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 (𝘊𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘮’𝘴 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘶𝘱 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨), 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦: 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦. 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘮’𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥, 𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦.

𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘳𝘶𝘯. 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.

John Cullum brough them to a magic door in the woods of Maine and headfirst Roland and Eddie went.

I now enter into Part One, Ch VII: 𝘙𝘦𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘢𝘴𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘱𝘭𝘺. 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺’𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘢𝘮𝘭𝘢’𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘥. 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺’𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘷𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯. 𝘚𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘢 𝘷𝘢𝘮𝘱 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘈𝘭𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘵, 𝘴𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥, 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘫𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘴.

Eddie and Roland dropped right into the hallway in which the bad guys were chasing Jake!

𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦-𝘵𝘰-𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘢. 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦.

“𝘏𝘪𝘭𝘦, 𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦,” 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥.

“𝘏𝘪𝘭𝘦, 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.”

“𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰?”

𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘥. “𝘠𝘦𝘴, 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘺.”

“𝘚𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳,” 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥.

Beautiful!

𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥.

𝘌𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘔𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦.

And with those beautiful words, I finish reading for today. I am now 17% of the way through The Dark Tower.

Day 1683: Aug 10, 2026

Two Guys to the Dark Tower Came review Part One of The Dark Tower.

The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower — Part 1, Chapters 4-7

http://twoguysdarktower.blubrry.com

In this episode of Two Guys to the Dark Tower Came, we explore Book VII of the Dark Tower, The Dark Tower, Part 1, Chapters 4-7

Day 1684: Aug 11, 2026

Kingslingers delivers a second episode in their read-along series of The Dark Tower.

Day 1685: Aug 12, 2026

Finished off this Kingslingers episode about The Dark Tower.

Day 1686: Aug 13, 2026

Radio Free Mid-World had a rather humorous episode regarding Part One of The Dark Tower. They made a very valid point questioning why Roland and Eddie lost their clothes when they got caught up in the Beam wave, while all the crap in the car (peanuts, coins, etc) floated around them. What happened to their own belt buckles, pocket lint, etc??? 😂

Day 1687: Aug 14, 2026

I am back to the text of The Dark Tower. The ka-tet has reunited at long last in the dead city of Fedic. Spider-baby Mordred is running around. And the story now stands at a great reset with no obvious challenge to overcome or situation to shoot their way out of.

Now the quest to the titular Dark Tower continues.

𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. “𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘳-𝘵𝘦𝘵𝘦. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦, 𝘐’𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶.”

“𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘳-𝘵𝘦𝘵𝘦,” 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥. […] “𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵?”

𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘴, 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘮𝘦𝘵-𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘨𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦; 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥. “𝘐𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦-𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳.”

Oh yeah – I bet they have a lot of catching up to do!

𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦’𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘔𝘪𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘻𝘢-𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘏𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘹𝘪𝘦 𝘗𝘪𝘨. 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦’𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘫𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘖𝘹𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘔𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘛𝘝 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘵 𝘏𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘺, 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘦, 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘔𝘤𝘎𝘦𝘦: 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘒𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘥𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘦𝘮 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘴𝘩𝘦’𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢 𝘔𝘤𝘈𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨’𝘴, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵.

Song of Susannah ended with the obituary of Stephen King. So we know that saving him is going to be at least one plotline in this story.

𝘏𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, “𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘸𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵?”

After a couple of subsections of catching up, they arrive at the question I opened up with today.

“𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘱 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳. 𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦. 𝘞𝘦’𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘰𝘳 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘨, 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭, 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘦?”

“𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘢?” 𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘦’𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳. “𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭, 𝘸𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘦?”

“𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘴𝘰, 𝘺𝘦𝘴,” 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥. “Le Casse Roi Russe, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘵. 𝘞𝘦’𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘬𝘢-𝘵𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.”

“𝘍𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤,” 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝟣, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝟤. “𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘢, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩.
[…]
“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢 𝘰𝘯𝘦-𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦,” 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝟤 𝘵𝘰 𝟥, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘑𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘥𝘶𝘣𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘱 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.
[…]
“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘱 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘍𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳’𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.”

“𝘈𝘺𝘦, 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵,” 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥. “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘺𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘳-𝘵𝘰𝘪—𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘦’𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝟪—𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨.”

“𝘞𝘦 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘱 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯,” 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, “𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦…”

With the next plotline established, I end reading for today. I am now 19% of the way through The Dark Tower.