The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly — Bev Vincent

Meet 8 secondary characters from The Dark Tower series who didn't make it into Bev Vincent's acclaimed The Road to the Dark Tower, the world's most in-depth look into Stephen King's epic series! This is a supplemental update to Bev's book and does not contain the complete text of The Road to the Dark Tower. You can find the complete text elsewhere on Amazon.

From Bev Vincent's introduction:
"My contract with NAL (New American Library) for The Road to the Dark Tower stipulated that I would deliver to them a 70,000-word manuscript. Ron Martirano, my editor, said I could probably go as high as 80,000, but my publisher wanted to keep the book from appearing too thick and daunting on the shelf.

Early on, I had an idea I was going to have a hard time keeping it under 100,000 words. What I ultimately submitted ran slightly over 130,000 words, including footnotes and appendices. I fully expected to be told I'd have to cut some -- or a lot -- of material, a process I did not relish.

Fortunately, my editor is as big a fan of the Dark Tower series as I am and he made no mention of the fact that I'd delivered nearly double what my contract specified, concentrating instead on the content.

However, I had already removed some material before I submitted the manuscript. The Dramatis Personae chapter was by far the longest in the book and my first draft featured not only the principle characters but subsidiary characters who either made repeat appearances throughout the series or who I considered pivotal for other reasons.

Rather than reduce the space devoted to the major characters, I decided, after much soul-searching and regret, to delete some of the lesser players. Now, thanks to this Cemetery Dance chapbook, I have the opportunity to reintroduce readers to eight characters worthy of scrutiny.

Here, then, are the good, the bad, and the ugly."