Stephen King Finishes A New Book In The Dark Tower Series

Back in November of 2009 Stephen King announced he’d start writing another book in the Dark Tower series in July of 2010.  That announcement came about six months before Universal bought the rights to adapt the series for TV and feature films, which was plenty of motivation to stick to the original plan and fill any gaps in the story (cha-ching).  Now King has posted at his website that The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole is done and should be published in 2012.  It’s shorter than books two through seven and covers events taking place between books four and five.  We’ll let King himself describe it:

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)?

There was a storm, I decided. One of sudden and vicious intensity. The kind to which billy-bumblers like Oy are particularly susceptible. Little by little, a story began to take shape. I saw a line of riders, one of them Roland’s old mate, Jamie DeCurry, emerging from clouds of alkali dust thrown by a high wind. I saw a severed head on a fencepost. I saw a swamp full of dangers and terrors. I saw just enough to want to see the rest. Long story short, I went back to visit an-tet with my friends for awhile. [StephenKing via TDW]

I also saw a severed head on a fencepost and a swamp full of dangers and terrors, but then I moved out of Missouri.

[Picture via Roflrazzi]