19th Level

Tull from "The Gunslinger" by Stephen King; Art by Michael Whelan Games like Dungeon Crawl Classics make the suggestion that one should strive for a smaller scale world - a world where the way to find out what is in the next valley is to go to that next valley. Maybe there's travelers who can give you some hints of what is out there if you're lucky, but if you want to be sure, you need to go there. I'm a big fan of works like A Song of Ice and Fire  which deals with large nation-states, battles for the throne, long distance travel, worldwide threats and organizations. That's pretty far in the opposite direction. I got to thinking what are some examples of works that focus on a smaller world. Worlds where when you go into a new village it feels different, with a whole new set of traditions. It's been a while since I read Jack Vance's Dying Earth series but that is one inspiration that came to mind quickly. It's also something you see in his...

1960: It was his first real kiss, too, and Bobby never forgot the feel of her lips pressing on his his - dry and smooth and warmed by the sun. It was the kiss by which all the others of his life would be judged and found wanting. 1999: "Sometimes a little of the magic sticks around," Bobby said. "That's what I think. We came because we still hear some of the right voices. Do you hear them? The voices?" Hearts in Atlantis can be considered his writing on his own generation, the one that came of age in the 1960s. Being born in 1971 I have to confess to not having any personal connection to the 1960s. But, one of King's greatest strengths is in his characters - they are real people with real wants and needs. I think that is what makes his addition of the supernatural to his stories so effective - even in the face of the supernatural we are still dealing with real people. Hearts in Atlantis  is a collection of novellas and short stories. I'll b...

Cover art to the revised edition of the Gunslinger "The man in black crossed the desert and the gunslinger followed."  - Opening line to The Gunslinger "You want to know about death. I left him a word. That word is NINETEEN. If you say it to him his mind will be opened. He will tell you what lies beyond. He will tell you what he saw.  The word is NINETEEN. Knowing will drive you mad. But sooner or later you will ask," - Letter form the Walter o'Dim to Allie, The Gunslinger "My first thought was, he lied in every word, That hoary cripple, with malicious eye Askance to watch the working of his lie On mine, and mouth scarce able to afford Suppression of the glee, that purs’d and scor’d Its edge, at one more victim gain’d thereby." - Opening lines of "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" by Robert Browning I first encountered The Gunslinger in my junior year of high school, in spring of 1988. I borrowed it from a fr...