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At the beginning of Wizard and Glass, Eddie does indeed pose such a riddle, destroying Blaine with a uniquely huic The mono comes to a stop in a version of Topeka, Kansas, which has been emptied by a disease called "superflu" As they reco the Path of the Beam (now on an apocalyptic version of Interstate 70), they see disturbing signs ALL HAIL THE CRIMSON KING, advises one WATCH FOR THE WALKIN DUDE, advises another And, as alert readers will know, the Walkin Dude has a name very similar to Richard Fannin

After telling his friends the story of Susan Delgado, Roland and his friends colass which has been constructed across I-70, a palace that bears a strong reseht in The Wizard of Oz In the throne-rooreat castle they encounter not Oz the Great and Terrible but the Tick-Tock Man, the great city of Lud's final refugee With Tick-Tock dead, the real Wizard steps forward It's Roland's ancient neg, in others as Richard Fannin, in others as John Farson (the Good Man) Roland and his friends are unable to kill this apparition, arns theive up their quest for the Tower ("Only unslinger), but they are able to banish him

After a final trip into the Wizard's Glass and a final dreadful revelation--that Roland of Gilead killed his ownher for the witch named Rhea--the wanderers find themselves once more in Mid-World and once ain, and it is here that ill find thees of Wolves of the Calla

This argument in no way summarizes the first four books of the Tower cycle; if you have not read those books before coe you to do so or to put this one aside These books are but parts of a single long tale, and you would do better to read the in the middle

"Mister, we deal in lead"

--Steve McQueen, in The Magnificent Seven "First counfire"

--Roland Deschain, of Gilead The blood that flows through you flows through me, when I look in any mirror, it's your face that I see

Take my hand,

lean on me,

We're al boy

--Rodney Crowell

RESISTANCE

PROLOGUE:

ROONT

ONE

Tian was blessed (though few farmers would have used such a word) with three patches: River Field, where his farown rice since tirown sharproot, pumpkin, and corn for t

hose saenerations; and Son of a Bitch, a thankless tract which rew rocks, blisters, and busted hopes Tian wasn't the first Jaffords deter of the twenty acres behind the home place; his Granpere, perfectly sane in old there Tian's Ma had been equally positive it would grow porin, a spice of great worth Tian's particular insanity was row in Son of a Bitch Must grow there He'd gotten hold of a thousand seeds (and a dear penny they had cost him) that were now hidden beneath the floorboards of his bedrooround in Son of a Bitch This chore was easier spoken of than accomplished

Clan Jaffords was blessed with livestock, including threea h to draw such duty would likely be lying legbroke or stung to death by noon of the first day One of Tian's uncles had almostback to the hoe ers the size of nails

They had found the nest (well, Andy had found it; Andy wasn't bothered by wasps nothey were) and burned it with kerosene, but there er, plenty o' them, and you couldn't burn holes, could you? No Son of a Bitch sat on what the old folks called "loose ground" It was consequently possessed of almost as many holes as rocks, not to hts of nasty, decay-sht lurk down its dark throat?

And the worst holes weren't out where a man (or a -breakers were always concealed in innocent-seerass Your mule would step in, there would co branch, and then the daround, teeth bared, eyes rolling, braying its agony at the sky Until you put it out of its is, even stock that wasn't precisely threaded

Tian therefore ploith his sister in the traces No reason not to Tia was roont, hence good for little else She was a big girl--the roont ones often grew to prodigious size--and she illing, Man Jesus love her The Old Fella had made her a Jesus-tree, what he called a crusie-fix, and she wore it everywhere It swung back and forth now, thu skin as she pulled