| "The Way Station" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Stephen King |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| Published in | The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction |
| Publisher | Mercury Press |
| Media type | Print (Magazine) |
| Publication date | April 1980 |
| Preceded by | "The Gunslinger" |
| Followed by | "The Oracle and the Mountains" |
"The Way Station" is a novella by American writer Stephen King, originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in April 1980.[1] In 1982, "The Way Station" was collected with several other stories King published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction as The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. "The Way Station" formed the second chapter of the book, and was slightly revised for the inclusion.[2][3]
Plot summary[]
At a way station in the desert, Roland Deschain meets Jake Chambers for the first time. Under hypnosis, Jake remembers that he has recently been killed in his own world, the New York City of 1977, when someone pushed him into traffic. This event creates the series' first link of Roland's world to ours, and Jake's account leads Roland to believe that the man in black may have caused the death.
While searching the way station's cellar for usable supplies, Roland encounters a demon that speaks to him through a skeleton buried behind the wall. The demon warns him that the man in black will be able to use Jake as an asset against him as long as the two are traveling together. On impulse, Roland takes the skeleton's jawbone with him.
Roland and Jake set off into the desert, heading toward a mountain range where the man in black has gone. Along the way, Roland tells Jake about a training session under the severe regimen of his teacher Cort, who showed him how to use a hawk as a weapon; and how Roland and one of his best friends, Cuthbert Allgood, exposed the cook Hax as a traitor working for the Good Man and sent him to the gallows.
Among other changes made by King for the 2003 revised version of The Gunslinger, King altered the "Rain in Spain" nursery rhyme included in the opening pages.[4]
See also[]
- Short fiction by Stephen King
References[]
- ↑ "Bibliography". The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ "The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger". StephenKing.com. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ Peckham, Matthew. "The SF Site Featured Review: The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (2003)". SF Site. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ "The Gunslinger: A Side by Side Comparison". The Dark Tower.net. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
{{cite web}}:
| Stephen King | ||
|---|---|---|
| Main | Bibliography • Short fiction • Unpublished and uncollected • Awards and nominations | |
| Novels | Stand-alone | Carrie (1974) • 'Salem's Lot (1975) • The Shining (1977) • The Stand (1978) • The Dead Zone (1979) • Firestarter (1980) • Cujo (1981) • Christine (1983) • Pet Sematary (1983) • Cycle of the Werewolf (1983) • The Talisman (1984) • It (1986) • The Eyes of the Dragon (1987) • Misery (1987) • The Tommyknockers (1987) • The Dark Half (1989) • Needful Things (1991) • Gerald's Game (1992) • Dolores Claiborne (1992) • Insomnia (1994) • Rose Madder (1995) • The Green Mile (1996) • Desperation (1996) • Bag of Bones (1998) • The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999) • The Plant (2000; unfinished) • Dreamcatcher (2001) • Black House (2001) • From a Buick 8 (2002) • The Colorado Kid (2005) • Cell (2006) • Lisey's Story (2006) • Duma Key (2008) • Under the Dome (2009) • 11/22/63 (2011) • Joyland (2013) • Doctor Sleep (2013) • Mr. Mercedes (2014) • Revival (2014) • Finders Keepers (2015) • End of Watch (2016) • Gwendy's Button Box (2017) • Sleeping Beauties (2017) • The Outsider (2018) • Elevation (2018) • The Institute (2019) |
| The Dark Tower series | The Gunslinger (1982) • The Drawing of the Three (1987) • The Waste Lands (1991) • Wizard and Glass (1997) • Wolves of the Calla (2003) • Song of Susannah (2004) • The Dark Tower (2004) • The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012) | |
| Richard Bachman novels | Rage (1977) • The Long Walk (1979) • Roadwork (1981) • The Running Man (1982) • Thinner (1984) • The Bachman Books (1985) • The Regulators (1996) • Blaze (2007) | |
| Short fiction collections | Night Shift (1978) • Different Seasons (1982) • Skeleton Crew (1985) • Four Past Midnight (1990) • Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) • Hearts in Atlantis (1999) • Everything's Eventual (2002) • Just After Sunset (2008) • Full Dark, No Stars (2010) • The Bazaar of Bad Dreams (2015) | |
| Non-fiction | Danse Macabre (1981) • Nightmares in the Sky (1988) • On Writing (2000) • Secret Windows (2000) • Faithful (2004) • "Guns" (2013) | |
| Screenplays | Creepshow (1982) • Cat's Eye (1985) • Silver Bullet (1985) • Maximum Overdrive (1986; also director) • Pet Sematary (1989) • Sleepwalkers (1992) • A Good Marriage (2014) • Cell (2016) | |
| Teleplays | "Sorry, Right Number" (1987) • Golden Years (1991) • The Stand (1994) • The Shining (1997) • "Chinga" (1998) • Storm of the Century (1999) • Rose Red (2002) • Kingdom Hospital (2004) • Desperation (2006) • "Heads Will Roll" (2014) • Lisey's Story (TBA) | |
| Comics | Heroes for Hope (1985) • American Vampire (2010) | |
| Musical collaborations | Michael Jackson's Ghosts (1997) • Black Ribbons (2010) • Ghost Brothers of Darkland County (2012) | |
| Anthologies edited | The Best American Short Stories 2007 (2007) • Six Scary Stories (2016) • Flight or Fright (2018) | |
| Worlds and concepts | Dollar Baby • Fictional books • Fictional locations in Maine (Castle Rock • Derry • Jerusalem's Lot) • Multiverse (All-World) | |
| Family | Tabitha King (wife) • Joe Hill (son) • Owen King (son) | |
| Related articles | List of adaptations • Bibliography of works on Stephen King • Rock Bottom Remainders • Philtrum Press • Six Stories • Stephen King Goes to the Movies • Charlie the Choo-Choo • Hearts in Suspension | |