@Guitarman, Yep, I remember the first time I read the gunslinger very well, sinse even though that was 1995, and the second and third books were out the Rnib didn't have them, indeed I'd read The gunslinger twice before I read drawing of the three, and read the first threee books twice before I read the fourth. Books 5-7 I only read once back in 2008, and even then I had to get them from America which took a lot of politics on my part.
Luckily I have them all now and have been thinking of doing a major reread at some point just to see where things went.
So yes, I remember The Gunslinger very well, and mentions of The beast as well as the ageless strangerBeware! dark tower spoilage ahoy, read no more lest yee be spoiled by the spoilers!
I didn't think the Crimson King was The Beast, sinse i recall in that original copy it's mentioned that there is one above Walter, The Ageless stranger (who it strongly implies is both Flag and MArtin Broadcloak, the one who had the affair with Rowland's mother and caused the shenanigans in Gilliad), then one above him just called "the beast" and one more above the beast who isn't mentioned accept that he's extremely evil and bound up with The Dark Tower. That I took to be The Crimson King.
So yes, I was quite sorry King Compressed things and then retconed and rewrote parts of The Gunslinger to fit. I do agree on The Horn implying though that things would end up differently being a symbol of hope for the future, indeed my friend Sam said if King hadn't included The Horn he'd have been mightily pissed off (sinse Sam is a huge Steven King fan and has been reading King's books even longer than I have).
Btw, ever heard the original song "in the court of the crimson King" by the prog rock band King crimson? The song itself is awesome, but has so many references which king obviously used for The Dark Tower, not just the Crimson King himself, but also the firewitch and the black queen.
Brent Weeks I'll have to check out, though I've got a lot of stuff to read currently and after Kay I might have a break from fantasy, maybe do some China Meieville as I loved perdido street station.
@steve, hope the storms aren't too severe .
Actually Bobby dollar is imho Williams worst, though his take on hell is pretty awesome as I said. I'd personally though recommend his Otherland series, indeed if you like long books give those a go.
I don't know if Kay is as much people's thing, though one thing Kay does which I really like is manage to combine very epic and poetic writing with very realistic characters and a comparatively fast moving plot.
Check out my review of The summer tree here though note that I obviously enjoyed it far more than the other chap who wrote a review for the website.
I'm just writing a review for the second book, which wasn't quite as good though very much picked up at the end, indeed i'm into The Darkest road which is the third book of the series right now, and that is proving very awesome indeed!
Other than that things are comparatively quiet, albeit lots of stuff going on with sorting out Mrs. Dark's visa and things, also work I have to do.
I'm really enjoying playing Altereon when I have time, Druid mage is a good combo I think and so much easier than clerric warrior. I am also thinking about giving Avalon another go, snse I sort of stopped in the middle of what I was doing, though as I can't recall where my character was I might just have to create a new one and go from scratch as there is quite a lot of avalon to get into. I did buy some lessons at the time, but hay never mind.
With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)