That’s Book Happenings Under Development. I chose that over Literary Happenings because it reminds me of C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud. Anyway…

Stephen King was the first adult author I got into when I made the bold transition from reading kids books to big boy books. Despite devouring the vast majority of his pre-90’s material, I’ve never read any of King’s sprawling Dark Tower series. I’m always wary to jump into a long book series, and for every person who has told me the series is great, another has told me that the final few books are turds, hurriedly rushed to completion so King could finish the series. I just don’t know who to believe!

Well, my wariness just got warier. Because King has announced on his website that he has readied the newest installment to the series, The Dark Tower: The Wind Through The Keyhole. The man is a machine.

Quoth the King:

Dear Constant Readers,

At some point, while worrying over the copyedited manuscript of the next book (11/22/63, out November 8th), I started thinking—and dreaming—about Mid-World again. 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. The result is a novel called The Wind Through the Keyhole. It’s finished, and I expect it will be published next year.

It won’t tell you much that’s new about Roland and his friends, but there’s a lot none of us knew about Mid-World, both past and present. The novel is shorter than DT 2-7, but quite a bit longer than the first volume—call this one DT-4.5. It’s not going to change anybody’s life, but God, I had fun.

— Steve King