The Gunslinger, Stephen King
One of my oldest and still best friends gifted me the revised edition of Stephen King's first book "The Gunslinger" which King wrote when he was 19. It is the first in the epic Dark tower series (there are eight in all).
My friend really loves these books because they are stories of epic proportions (and we are all about epic, let me tell ya', hallelujah!).
I have always had the greatest respect for King's writing skills and his portraits of both characters and society. Like all King's books he excels at peeling off one layer at a time of his main characters. You feel you slowly get inside their head and learn what makes them tick.
I sometimes like the mix of different genres, like pulp or Science Fantasy, so I will likely end up buying the rest of the series, and my friend tells me they are good.
Missing link
I know he became a better writer later in his career, but this early book has a raw charm which must have been groundbreaking when it came out. I have come to think of "The Gunslinger" as "a missing link" of sorts.
What was most fun for me in this first book, was thinking about all the things that unknown to me has been inspired by this series (or at least could have been, what do I know).
What came first to mind was the post-nuclear-war universe of Bethesda Softworks Fallout games, with their irradiated "what-if" or "parallel-world" set in something like the fifties USA but with flying cars and robots. It’s a place filled with mutants, robots, horrific monsters, wonder, tough heroes and heroines, and the games are all about a journey of discovery and survival through the remnants of a broken country seemingly familiar yet alien and scary at the same time.
I can't say for certain off course, that Fallout were inspired by King, and I admit I have not researched this at all, the idea just came to me while reading, but my guess is that the Fallout would have been a lot different, or not at all, without King's The Dark Tower.
I do not mean this as a criticism though! I love Fallout, and I don't mind if people gets inspired by others if they make what they create their own.
Few of us would be writing Fantasy if it was not for Tolkien and the other early Fantasy writes, who again would not be there without King Arthur and ancient mythology, I'm quite sure of that. Harry Potter is quite unique, then again t was inspired by other things. All stories are inspired by something else. The important thing is to find your own style and take on the genre and write some new compelling stories.
My friend who gifted me The Dark Tower is thinking about writing a book of his own - and I hope he does, as he has so many GREAT stories within him. He has co-written a musical once, so why stop there? He and I have always shared a passion for stories especially anything we consider Epic in nature.
Like me, he used to be Dungeon Master, back in the day, and our shared background is coming up with stories for small groups of players to enjoy in a armchair Roleplaying game setting.
I must admit that much of what I know about writing Fantasy is from writing adventures (or scenarios if you like) for armchair Roleplaying Games, not so much the "physical, run around in the forest" type - though I did that also on occasion - but mostly the "sit with some friends in the living room and talk" kind of games. Though I gave this hobby up ears ago, it is still a big influence on my thinking and writing plots.
When I was in high school I wrote games reviews for national magazines, and so I played all sorts of armchair Roleplaying and Computer games for review purposes besides the ones I "only did for fun" (meaning it was also fun doing the reviews). I was a GM and/or player in countless campaigns and played every week for close to 15 years.
With my friends I explored the amazing worlds of Fighting fantasy, Warhammer, D&D, AD&D, Shadowrun, Mega Traveler, Palladium, Cthulhu, Vampire, Endless Pain and about thirty other games I would play anything from Marvel Superheroes to homeless losers, from humans to aliens, from men to women, from children to old people or from monsters to saviors.
/Rune S. Nielsen