Something stirred in the wind and whispered 'If not now, when?'

 Hi

Remember me?

It's ok if you don't. I don’t, either. Not really. It’s been nine years since I left this trail. Nine years of long days and not-so-pleasant nights, if you will. Almost 12 years since I'd honestly invested any real energy into it. Life has a funny way of distracting you, making you lazy.

Every so often, I’d think about coming back around to this project. This mission. This fool’s escapade. I’d get as far as rereading my old posts, laughing at some of my own jokes, groaning at others, and finding curious glimpses into the mind of who I was at the time I wrote those entries and read those books. A man on the uphill side of 40 who had spent many hours reading and rereading some of the works of Stephen King. A man who, for whatever reason, lost the mojo to keep reading. 

Well, that's not true. I kept reading all along. I just didn't read for this. I'd think about it, and then I just... wouldn't. 

Hollywood got me. In 2025, after a lifetime of never expecting it to happen, ‘The Long Walk’ became a movie, and a fairly damned good one in my opinion. I’d recommend giving it a watch. Same goes for the new version of ‘The Running Man’. I’ll always have a spot in my heart for Arnold’s Ben Richards, but the new movie is SO MUCH CLOSER to the actual book in terms of storyline and tone. The previews made it look silly enough to worry me, but my fears were assuaged. After two solid movies (both from Bachman books, by the way), I found myself moving from pre-contemplation to contemplation in my phases of change.

Now we find ourselves in the fresh, powdery snow of 2026. New year, new me, and all that. On Jan 2nd, wrestling with a cold and a myriad of other life complications that have historically kept me from coming back to the project, I decided that the time wasn’t right for it. I then told myself that the time would never be right for it and to just do it anyway.

So I am.

I grabbed my copy of ‘The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger’ (the original 1982 version, not the ‘revised’ post-accident later edition), and took a deep breath, then read those mythical and beautiful opening words aloud.

“The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed.”

(Don't get excited about my taste in decorating. It's this version of the book, but I stole this photo from the internet.)

If Helen of Troy had the face that launched a thousand ships, Stephen King wrote the opener that launched a million nerds. I don’t say that derogatorily, because I count myself among the million. Every generation has some anthemic adventure tome that develops fervent and obsessive followings.

Lord of the Rings

Dune

Star Trek

Star Wars

Harry Potter

And COUNTLESS others.

I became a Tower junkie. At a young age, too, when I was ripe for it. I’ll talk about all of that in the actual entry for the book, lest I get any further ahead of myself.

I’m excited to go back to Mid-World. I’m excited to go back to the mind of Stephen King and his universes. (Universii?)  I’m excited to explore how I perceive the books as a man on the downward side of the hill. Plenty of years and adventures left in me, but the statistics say that halftime is already over and we’re in the second half now.

And that’s why. We’re in the second half now, and there ain’t no time to hate, barely time to wait, so I’d better get back to reading and working my brain muscle.

Shall we go, you and I, while we can?