The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger.
$24,999 · Offered by Biblio
West Kingston, Rhode Island: Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc.,, 1982. Because he taught me everything I know... because I idolize him Inscribed copy of the first instalment in King's self-proclaimed magnum opus, the Dark Tower series. King has inscribed the front free endpaper, "For John - welcome to the weird, weird west - Stephen King 4/10.84". This is the second edition, published shortly after the first. The recipient, John D. MacDonald (1916-1986), was a veteran pulp writer whom King idolized. While King prepared to publish his first short story collection in 1978, his editor asked who he'd like to write the introduction, if he could choose anyone in the world. King said John D. MacDonald, "because he taught me everything I know... because I idolize him". King had already published Carrie, Salem's Lot, and The Shining, but he worried that his stories weren't good enough to interest MacDonald. His fears were assuaged: MacDonald introduced him as an author of "stupendous diligence [and] empathy" in his introduction to Night Shift (1978). It was the beginning of a fruitful friendship, and they corresponded frequently until MacDonald's death in 1986. "I cut my teeth on his stories", said King in 1987, "I still think that of all the people doing top fiction today, he is the best. He was my model as a kid. If there are people out there that want to write, all you need to do is read 20 of his stories to get an idea what it takes to make a story kick over". The text of The Dark
- Year: 1982
- Binding: hardcover
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