| The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole |
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First edition cover |
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| Author(s) | Stephen King |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Dark Tower |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy, Horror, Science fiction, Western |
| Publisher | Grant |
| Publication date | February 2012 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 336 |
| ISBN | 9781451658903 |
| Preceded by | The Dark Tower |
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole is an upcoming novel by Stephen King, scheduled to be published in February 2012.[1] As part of The Dark Tower series, it will be the eighth Dark Tower novel, but chronologically set between volumes four and five.[2] First mentioned by King in 2009, after the series had been proclaimed as concluded in 2004 with the publication of the seventh novel, it was announced on the author's official site on March 10, 2011. A short excerpt was released online on December 19, 2011, the day the limited edition of the novel became available for pre-order.[3]
Contents |
The book will, like its predecessors in the series, contain a number of illustrations. The artwork for this volume is provided by Jae Lee, the main illustrator for Marvel Comics' adaptations of King's other work, The Dark Tower. As with the previous three volumes in the series, Grant will publish a limited edition of the novel, followed by a mass market edition by Scribner. Grant's limited edition will be available in two variants: a traycased Deluxe Edition signed by Stephen King limited to 800 copies, and a slipcased Artist's Edition signed by Jae Lee limited to 5,000.[4] The Grant edition is scheduled to be published in February 2012, with the Scribner edition following on April 24, 2012.[5]
Initially, the first cover artwork released for the book was a preliminary cover for the Scribner mass market edition, which was labeled as "not final". It was available at online retailers, such as Amazon, in early September 2011. Later, when the Grant edition was first made available for pre-order on December 19, the covert artwork for the limited edition was revealed, followed by the final cover artwork for the Scribner edition on December 22.[6]
In an interview in March 2009, King stated, describing an idea for a new short story he recently had: "And then I thought, 'Well, why don't I find three more like this and do a book that would be almost like modern fairy tales?' Then this thing started to add on bits and pieces so I guess it will be a novel." According to King, the idea is a new Dark Tower novel. King said, regarding the Dark Tower series, "It's not really done yet. Those seven books are really sections of one long über-novel."[7]
While promoting his novel Under the Dome, King confirmed this during his TimesTalk event at The TimesCenter in New York City on November 10, 2009, and the next day King's official site posted the information that King will begin working on this novel in about eight months, with a tentative title being The Wind Through the Keyhole.[8]
On December 1, 2009, Stephen King posted a poll on his official website, asking visitors to vote for which book he should write next:
I mentioned two potential projects while I was on the road, one a new Mid-World book (not directly about Roland Deschain, but yes, he and his friend Cuthbert are in it, hunting a skin-man, which are what werewolves are called in that lost kingdom) and a sequel to The Shining called Doctor Sleep. Are you interested in reading either of these? If so, which one turns your dials more? [We] will be counting your votes (and of course it all means nothing if the muse doesn't speak).[9]
The voting ended on December 31, 2009. The following month it was revealed that Doctor Sleep received 5,861 votes, while The Wind Through the Keyhole received 5,812.[10]
However, King's previous description of the premise seems to contradict his own statement announcing the release of the book:
The major story of Roland and his ka-tet was told, but I realized there was at least one hole in the narrative progression: what happened to Roland, Jake, Eddie, Susannah, and Oy between the time they leave the Emerald City (the end of Wizard and Glass) and the time we pick them up again, on the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis (the beginning of Wolves of the Calla)? [11]
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