The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
Novel by Stephen KingWikipedia
78
MENTIONS
23
EPISODES
15
PODCASTS
Search complete. 78 mentions across 23 episodes found for "The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger".
Oct 17, 2026
speaker_0HOST
It's mandatory reading
speaker_1HOST
It's a staggering eight book dark fantasy epic that began in 1982 with a strange, hypnotic little book called The Gunslinger
speaker_0HOST
The aesthetic of The Gunslinger is completely unique.
speaker_0HOST
It's Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly mashed up with Arthurian legend and surrealist horror
speaker_1HOST
The opening line sets the tone perfectly.
speaker_1HOST
"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed"
speaker_0HOST
It's so iconic
speaker_1HOST
That sentence dictates the next 30 years of King's writing.
speaker_0HOST
Starting right at the beginning.
speaker_1HOST
Starting at the absolute beginning with the 1982 novel, The Gunslinger.
speaker_1HOST
He actually referred to King's original structure as genius.
speaker_0HOST
I want to read his exact quote from the interview because the mechanics of what he's describing are crucial for you to hear.
speaker_0HOST
With almost nothing.
speaker_1HOST
Exactly.
speaker_1HOST
He places two characters, the man in black and the gunslinger, in a vague, desolate, featureless desert.
speaker_0HOST
Just a barren landscape.
JeremyHOST
I've never gotten into "The Dark Tower," and I don't even think that that is the n- the book's fault.
JeremyHOST
The problem with "The Dark Tower" is I started that series with-- I was, I was reading based on what was available in my school library, and they did not have "The Gunslinger" for some reason.
JeremyHOST
So I started with "The Drawing of the Three"-
LHOST
Mm
JeremyHOST
... and none of it made any sense to me, so I put it down about a third of the way through, and for whatever reason, that just kind of ruined the series for me.
JeremyHOST
I've tried to go back and read "The Gunslinger," and it's just eh.
JeremyHOST
It, it, it, it...
JeremyHOST
I recognize it's a decent book, but just have no connection to it.
speaker_4SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Five hours later.
Robert SmithHOST
Getting into the 80s, you have things like The Gunslinger, the first book of The Dark Tower, Running Man, Pet Sematary.
speaker_4SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Six and a half hours later.
Robert SmithHOST
It, The Tommyknockers.
S2E7: First Lines vs Last Lines: The Final Showdown
Oct 13 · 12 Mentions
Ivy T. WoodsHOST
Okay, so that brings us into round two.
Ivy T. WoodsHOST
So round two, our first matchup is Sunrise on the Reaping and The Gunslinger by S- or Sunrise on the Reaping by Su- Suzanne Collins and The Gunslinger by Stephen King.
Ivy T. WoodsHOST
So Sunrise on the Reaping starts with, "Happy birthday, Haymitch." And The Gunslinger, "The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed."
ZillaHOST
followed."This is unfair.
Anna HirschHOST
I think-
5 MINS LATER
Ivy T. WoodsHOST
When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold.
Anna HirschHOST
Yeah, I think that's like, it's, you know, it's not, like, the most banger of all bangers.
Anna HirschHOST
I think I'd still choose The Gunslinger, but you're like, "Oh, interest peak." And then, like, I know what she goes on to describe the rest of the page is super interesting 'cause you learn more about her family, and, like, the reaping, and, like, her love for her sister.
Joe RechtmanHOST
Going back to Jake and him losing his mind in the Piper school, I do personally feel like this is where, always in my rereads, this is the part of the book where I start to really connect with the story on a personal level.
Joe RechtmanHOST
Where the gunslinger and drawing of the three, it's like...
Joe RechtmanHOST
This is so cool.
Joe RechtmanHOST
This is such a thrill ride.
Joe RechtmanHOST
The aesthetics of the gunslinger are so, like, sweeping and entertaining.
Joe RechtmanHOST
And the pace of drawing of the three, like we've talked about so much, is so energizing.
Joe RechtmanHOST
But this is where I start to feel like this book and this series start to have an effect on me.
36 MINS LATER
Joe RechtmanHOST
...was using a gas pump, pretending it was his penis, and that is the truth.
speaker_2HOST
Exactly.
speaker_2HOST
Number seven is a signed first edition of Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, coming in at $4,500.
speaker_2HOST
Iglesias makes a very specific point about this one.
speaker_2HOST
He notes that the Dark Tower books are generally always expensive, but the single first book in the series is in a class all by itself.
speaker_3HOST
It really is.
speaker_2HOST
In fact, he points out that this one single book is as expensive as some entire sets of the series that aren't in as great condition.
speaker_3HOST
The Gunslinger holds a highly unique place in the King canon.
speaker_3HOST
It wasn't released like a normal novel.
speaker_1HOST
Yeah, the paranoia of the era just bled right into these secondary worlds.
speaker_2HOST
So instead of knights and castles, we get something totally different, which leads us perfectly into the first book on Castle's list, Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger.
speaker_1HOST
Published in 1982.
speaker_2HOST
Right.
speaker_0HOST
Let's talk about his longest, most agonizing commitment, The Dark Tower.
speaker_1HOST
This is an eight-book cycle that took decades for King to complete, beginning with The Gunslinger in 1982.
speaker_0HOST
It follows Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger of a world that has, quote, "Moved on." Reality is fraying.
speaker_1HOST
Roland is walking relentlessly toward a black tower that stands at the very center of all worlds, holding them all together.
CrosslandHOST
Well, and that's the thing, I haven't, but it's like...
JoshHOST
yeah like as far as the dark tower goes i have friends beyond you who are like that's my shit like dark tower best fantasy series like from high school and shit but i never read it but like they probably talked to me about it but i don't remember anything about it i never saw the bad movie that was made about it but like i was aware that it existed and i think i might have tried to watch it once and didn't make it very far i don't remember you know so it's like I know that opening line vaguely, not word for word, but you know, something about like the man in black ran across the desert and the gunslinger pursued him type.
CrosslandHOST
Flat and the gunslinger followed.
CrosslandHOST
You're so close.
CrosslandHOST
Yeah.
JoshHOST
Yeah.
JoshHOST
Flat across the
CrosslandHOST
desert and the gunslinger followed.
13 more episodes mention The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger.
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