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The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
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==Background and publication== The novel was inspired by [[Robert Browning]]'s poem "[[Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came]]" (1855), which King read as a sophomore at the [[University of Maine]]. King explains that he "played with the idea of trying a long romantic novel embodying the feel, if not the exact sense, of the Browning poem." King started writing this novel in 1970 on a ream of bright green paper that he found at the library.<ref name="King">{{cite web|url=http://www.stephenkingshop.com/biography.htm|title=Stephen King Biography|access-date=2008-06-23|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025133430/http://www.stephenkingshop.com/biography.htm|archive-date=2012-10-25}}</ref> The five stories that constitute the novel were originally published in ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction]]'': <!-- See http://www.hycyber.com/SF/fsf_ka.html --> # "[[The Gunslinger (novella)|The Gunslinger]]" (October 1978) # "[[The Way Station]]" (April 1980) # "[[The Oracle and the Mountains]]" (February 1981) # "[[The Slow Mutants]]" (July 1981) # "[[The Gunslinger and the Dark Man]]" (November 1981) It took King twelve-and-a-half years to finish the novel. The finished product was first published by [[Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc.]] as a limited edition in 1982. The following year, because the ''[[Pet Sematary]]'' cover noted ''The Gunslinger'' among King's previous works, many fans called the offices of King, Grant, and [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] wanting more information on the already-out-of-print book. This led to another run of ten-thousand copies.<ref>{{cite book|title=Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King|first=Lisa |last=Rojak|date=5 January 2010 |isbn=978-1429987974|page=115|publisher=Macmillan }}</ref> In 1988, [[Plume (publisher)|Plume]] released it in [[paperback|trade paperback]] form. In 2003, the novel was reissued in a revised and expanded version with modified language and added and changed scenes intended to resolve inconsistencies with the later books in the series. It is dedicated to [[Edward L. Ferman]], long-time editor of ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Stephen King's THE DARK TOWER Book Profile: THE GUNSLINGER|url=https://letusnerd.com/2014/09/19/stephen-kings-the-dark-tower-book-profile-the-gunslinger/|date=19 September 2014|website=Let Us Nerd|access-date=17 July 2016|archive-date=16 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416072804/https://letusnerd.com/2014/09/19/stephen-kings-the-dark-tower-book-profile-the-gunslinger/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
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