Day 25 : A World That Has Moved On

As mentioned in my previous post here I had just started on the epic Dark Tower series of fantasy books by Stephen King. It is an amazing tale, and is already becoming by favorite fantasy series of all time (Harry Potter will always be 'the one' for me yet. Can't help there, I grew up with it.)

This post is not really for showering praises on the Tower. That would probably come later. This here is regarding a specific phrase that sees repeated use in the book.

"The World Has Moved On"

This phrase is used by the hero in the book show how everything around him has been bespoiled and corrupted. The world is not what he knew once. None of the purity and innocence survives now. He is the only one that survives from the old world. And all that he has are memories of the times gone by. Sure, all this sounds very poetic and artistic and fantastical. How does this mean anything to anyone not reading this book. Well it does.

The world that we live in and the world that is depicted in the book, is not that different. We all have that something that has now firmly placed in the past. Something that is dear to us and now exists only in the past. All we can do is go back to those memories now and then and mournfully think of how things were. That is morose yes, on a personal level yes. But then when you come to think of it on a grander scale. Everything has moved on. The world we see now what our forefathers witnessed, nor would be what our children would live in. The world moves on. Nothing is constant, everything is fleeting. We get used to something in life, and soon we see it evolve into something else, or something take its place.

Sometimes it maybe a good thing. To welcome something new into our lives, we must say goodbye to something else. Our destinies are shaped by the choices that we make to change/better our lives. Or by not choosing to make those changes. But changes will happen, either you choose to make them happen, or they happen to you. The world has a tendency to not stay fixed to your needs or desires. It is a river that flows on, that moves on to deeper valleys. Most of these valleys are deep in sorrows, but now and then they raise to unfathomable heights and take you along with it.

Our destiny is not what you see. It is much beyond our own comprehension. It is not that next promotion, or that six digit salary, or that unattainable lover. Our destiny, our ka, reaches further than all of that. And most of our lives we never really understand what it is ourselves. Most of us know more about the sum total of our lives after we've passed on. We are remembered by the memories we leave behind of us. That is the only world where we survive eternally.

Memories have longer shelf life than anything else that we can create in a life time. I don't suppose there aren't anyone anymore who knows what the heroes in all of those legends and fables look like. But they survive still. Their memories survived ages even after their descendants withered away. This world is theirs too now, even though their doesn't exist any more. That is what I hope for. A world of mine that hasn't moved on yet.

For, my friend, there are other worlds than these.

Day 24 : The Gunslinger - Book Review

I think I have mentioned this here once before as well. I am a big fan of the writer Stephen King. He is one of the first writers whose work I became addicted to. Over the years I have discovered more writers and genres that I've liked and enjoyed immensely. But King would always be the one writer who I can honestly showed me how you can pick up just about any book and see yourself disappear into a world of your own. A secret world only know to you and the writer himself.

King's books are mostly him picking up one freakish camp fire horror story and giving it a tale of its own. And with the extensive writing chops as his. Any story he touches become a classic in itself, creating legions of fans with every new book. He has written extensively in horror, thrillers, drama, with hordes of fans reading everything that he output. I am glad to call myself one such fan, a Constant Reader as he calls his fans. And as a loyal Constant Reader I suppose, I shouldn't be putting of reading the work that King himself considers his best work - THE DARK TOWER

THE DARK TOWER is fantasy series of books writer by King over a period of nearly three decades. He came up with this idea when he was at the young age of 19. Yes, the age when you and I were taking long showers and getting rejected/ignored by every hot girl you come across. King was coming up with ideas that would mesmerize of thousands of readers in coming years. Has written in detail about the discovery of this book concept in the Introduction of the book. This book is the revised 2003 edition of the book, in which King polishes a few plot points and hints at the upcoming story events and better portrays the character of the protagonist of the series - the awesome gunslinger - Roland of Gilead.

The story revolves around Roland's epic search for the Tower, a mystical place that acts like a linchpin that holds all of creation in order. The one who hold the Tower holds shapes the destiny of the Universe. In the book, the world has "moved on", things are not the way that you and I, or Roland himself, has known. His voyage into the Mid-World and Out-World in search of this elusive Dark Tower is jam packed with lore and magic and mind-twisting realism. There are parts in the prose that you begin to feel the thirst and heat that Roland has to ride through. The desert is barren, dry and cruel. Our gunslinger has to face through with grit, for that is his duty. That is his ka.

At the begin of this book, we find the gunslinger making/dragging his way through the immense desert in pursuit of the Man in Black. A man of magical craft, and guile. Someone who could give him the directions to the Tower he seeks. But the gunslinger knows information like this wouldn't come easy. He has rode for eons, picking up scraps of information and trail of campfires that the Man in Black leaves behind.

Then we meet Allie, a bartender who works in a broken down drinking hole in a nearly deserted crap hole of a town called Tull. She is smitten by the rugged gunslinger. She gets closer to him. He acknowledges her affections, with thoughts of the Tower and the Man in Black always in the back of his mind. In the end, she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Then we meet Jake, a kid of 12. A kid who does not belong this world in between worlds. He is a smaller blonde version of the gunslinger himself. And infinitely more innocent. Roland likes this kid a lot. He refuses to choose between the kid and the Tower, but in the end he is made to choose. Unfortunately.

Then we meet the Man in Black himself. He is lean and tall and conniving. He knows Roland has been pursuing him for years. He knows more about Roland than the gunslinger himself cares to remember. And with his magic, he even knows of the ka-tet Roland would band together in his pursuit of the Tower. He introduces Roland to the tarot cards and the prophecies they hold for him. He tells Roland about the true significance of the Tower. Of how Tower holds supreme over Time and Size. The universe is shaped by the size and time of contemplation. The Tower is bridge that connects and control it all.

The Tower is where he will meet his destiny. His ka.

This is an amazing book. A solid build up for the origins of what looks to be a mind blowing journey ahead. I blitzed through this book, hungry for more.

I agree with King. This has got to be his best work. Thank you, Steve-o.