The Complete Stephen King Universe

by Stanley Wiater

“Flipping” back and forth between his own world and the Territories, Jack travels across the United States until he reaches a place referred to as “the black hotel,” wherein the Talisman is kept. He has many and grand adventures on the way, and eventually retrieves the Talisman. With it, he saves the lives of both his mother and Queen Laura of the Territories.

  LILY CAVANAUGH: B-movie queen Lily Cavanaugh married Phil Sawyer, an aspiring Hollywood agent. They become the parents of a boy named Jack. After her husband’s death, Lily must raise Jack and thwart the interests of her late husband’s sleazy former business partner, Morgan Sloat. When Lily discovers she is dying of cancer, she takes Jack to the Alhambra Hotel in New Hampshire, after the summer tourists have gone home.

  Lily remains there for some time. Despite her fatal disease, there is always a spark of hope in her. She doesn’t really understand about the Territories, and what her husband and Sloat had been up to, but she knows it was something incredible. She also knows that Jack is linked to it somehow. So when he tells her that he’s leaving to find a way to cure her, somehow, she has faith. Or at least she has hope.

  However, in Jack’s absence, Morgan Sloat does his best to break Lily down. She refuses to give in. Eventually, Jack brings the Talisman back and heals her cancer.

  WOLF: A werewolf from the Territories, he is a gentle soul save for the times when the full moon is upon him. Even then, however, his instinct is always to protect the “herd.” In the Territories, the “wolfs” are all almost all shepherds, and the herd is sacred. To this particular Wolf, Jack becomes the herd.

  Wolf dies to protect him.

  MORGAN SLOAT: A Hollywood agent, Sloat once was the business partner of Phil Sawyer. Sloat is an envious, insidious man who discovers the mystery and magic of the Territories and does his best to abuse that knowledge and turn the Territories into his own kingdom. He has even greater ambitions, including the proprietorship of the Talisman and the total control of infinite reality. He kills Phil Sawyer and several other people along the way, and would have liked to have done in young Jack Sawyer if he’d had the chance.

  Sloat dies in final battle with Jack over the Talisman on a stretch of California beach.

  MORGAN OF ORRIS: Also known as Morgan Thudfoot, this vicious man is the twinner of Morgan Sloat. In the Territories, he is very powerful, and intends to overthrow Queen Laura.

  He dies when his twinner does.

  RICHARD SLOAT: The son of Morgan Sloat, Richard was Jack’s best childhood friend. He also saw strange things as a boy, but rather than pursue them, as Jack has, he closes his mind off to such things and becomes an ultrarealist, until Jack draws him into his adventures in the Territories. There, Richard aids Jack in his quest. Eventually, parentless, Richard is taken in by Lily Cavanagh. In 2001’s Black House, readers were informed that Richard went on to found his own law firm, Sloat & Associates, Ltd.

  LESTER “SPEEDY” PARKER: Speedy, whose twinner is a man responsible for law and justice in the Territories, is a figure of some mystery. He plays an important role in finding Jack in New Hampshire and clarifying his quest, and gives him the potion that allows him to “flip” between worlds at first. He later aids Jack with advice during the journey.

  PARKUS: The twinner to Speedy Parker, Parkus is essentially the marshal in charge of peace and justice in the Territories. It is presumed that he remains there, and still retains that position.

  PHIL SAWYER: Jack Sawyer’s father, he is one of the first to discover the Territories. Phil is murdered on the instructions of his business partner, Morgan Sloat. His twinner is Prince Philip Sawtelle, who dies in the Territories at about the same time.

  OSMOND: The right-hand man of Morgan of Orris, he is the twinner of Sunlight Gardener. Osmond is a vicious, sadistic man. He dies in the final battle on the beach in California.

  QUEEN LAURA DELOESSIAN: The Queen of the Territories, Laura DeLoessian is much loved by her people. Thanks to the machinations of Morgan of Orris, she falls ill and would have died if Jack Sawyer, the twinner of her dead son, had not saved her by fetching the Talisman.

  It is presumed that Queen Laura still rules the Territories.

  SUNLIGHT GARDENER: Osmond’s twinner, Gardener is an evangelist who runs a home for wayward boys that in reality is nothing more than a slaving operation. The sadistic preacher dies during the final conflict on the beach in California.

  JASON: The late son of Queen Laura of the Territories, Jason was Jack Sawyer’s twinner. It was widely considered that he would return to live again, in messianic fashion, to save the Territories. Those who met Jack during his quest often thought he was Jason reborn.

  THE BLACK HOTEL: The structure that houses the Talisman before Jack removes it, the black hotel might also be an alternate-reality version of the Dark Tower.

  THE TALISMAN: TRIVIA

  • The two-headed parrot, called EAST-HEAD and WEST-HEAD in The Talisman, might well be the same creature owned by Flagg in The Eyes of the Dragon (1987). Just a thought.

  • Filmmaker Steven Spielberg has held the screen rights to the novel almost since its publication. As of this writing, the film version is in preproduction with Spielberg as producer.

  10

  BLACK HOUSE

  (2001)

  At the end of 1984’s The Talisman, the then-thirteen-year-old Jack Sawyer had just successfully completed his quest to save his dying mother’s life by obtaining the Talisman, the axis of all possible worlds. There ended, as the coauthors of that book indicated, the history of Jack the boy, as he had just taken the first steps on the road to becoming a man.

  Over the next several years, fans often raised the topic of a sequel, but answers about Jack’s life subsequent to 1984 were not forthcoming until April 1999, when Stephen King and Peter Straub met to begin outlining a new Jack Sawyer adventure. Although plans to commence the writing of the book were interrupted by King’s accident in June 1999, the duo was able to begin writing in February 2000. Black House was finally published in the late summer of 2001, four days after 9/11.

  Structurally, Black House is more reminiscent of Insomnia than The Talisman because of its slow movement from the “real” to the fantastic, and in the fact that its characters (who, like Ralph Roberts and Lois Chase, face off against King’s major villain, the Crimson King) are merely pawns in a much larger cosmic chess game. It also differs from The Talisman in that the writing is more seamless—the authors have stated publicly the great lengths they went to to conceal their specific contributions to the text, and it shows. The book also has the advantage of being written by two more mature, more seasoned authors. Despite their already immense talents, and their considerable success, they continued to mature as writers. A good example of this is their use of an omniscient narrator for certain portions of the book, another tip of their hat to Charles Dickens’s Bleak House—somewhat distracting at first, it turns out to be a wise choice, even providing the authors with a chance to engage in some self-deprecating humor.

  Although serial killers in Wisconsin are squarely in Straub territory, it’s clear that the book is set in the Stephen King universe. (Per publicity materials, the ties to the Dark Tower novels were Straub’s idea.) Besides the Crimson King, there are mentions of Breakers and of Ted Brautigan, a concept and character introduced in King’s Hearts in Atlantis. Interestingly, a link is forged between King’s and Straub’s realities when Milton Wanderley, brother of Don Wanderley from Straub’s novel Ghost Story, is mentioned in passing. So Black House settles some questions about continuity in the Stephen King universe, and raises others.

  Might another sequel be in the offing? Well, Peter Straub has said that “Given the tendency of fantasy novels to parcel themselves out in units of three, it would be entirely reasonable to propose a third part to the Talisman series.” Indeed, Straub has publicly expressed his willingness to work with King on a third book. Whether such a book will appear in the future seems to depend mainly on King’s desire to tackle such a project.

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nbsp; BLACK HOUSE: PRIMARY SUBJECTS

  JACK SAWYER: Although still drawn to adventure, the Jack Sawyer readers first encounter in Black House remembers nothing of the time he spent in the Territories—a true child of the seventies and eighties, the adult Jack has thoroughly repressed all memories of his harrowing adventures in that strange land. In the ensuing years, Jack has become, to use his own term, a famous “coppiceman,” an LAPD detective whose exploits have garnered him considerable attention in the national press. At several points in the novel, it’s made clear that his success has everything to do with the time he spent in the Territories, and with his experiences with the Talisman itself.

  One of Jack’s greatest professional triumphs occurred in the small Wisconsin town of French Landing, where he uncovered a killer who had slaughtered a prostitute in Los Angeles. Jack’s visit to the town left a deep impression on him, so deep that he retired there shortly after the case was solved. Jack looked forward to a peaceful retirement, but, alas, that was not to be.

  French Landing is being terrorized by the Fisherman, a serial killer who preys on young children, dismembering and cannibalizing them. Baffled by the lack of leads, local law enforcement asks Jack for his assistance. Initially reluctant, Jack is finally convinced to help by an innate sense of responsibility and by the prodding of his friend Henry Leyden, a blind DJ who fills the role of Jack’s guide and mentor in the physical absence of The Talisman ’s Speedy Parker. Immersing himself in the case, Jack realizes that the killings are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the evil present in French Landing. Discovering this, he once again finds himself involved with the Territories, where the Fisherman, who serves the cosmic villain known as the Crimson King, disappears with his victims. Jack’s quest leads him to the mysterious Black House, a portal to the Territories, where he will embark on the next phase of his life.

  LILY CAVANAUGH: Jack’s mother, actress Lily Cavanaugh, has been dead for several years as of the time the events described in Black House occur. Jack’s musings in the novel reveal that Lily died approximately five years after the events described in The Talisman, from a relapse of her cancer.

  CHARLES BURNSIDE: Also known as “the Fisherman,” “Burny” is an aging serial killer who resides in the Maxton Elder Care facility in French Landing. Although infirm, the killer is imbued with new vigor and talents when he is possessed by Mr. Munshun, a servant of the Crimson King. One of these talents is teleportation, which allows Burnside to leave Maxton undetected in search of his chosen prey, young children whom he kidnaps, dismembers, and devours.

  Through Munshun, Burnside finds himself in the employ of the Crimson King, who is always in the market for breakers, children whose wild talents can be used to weaken the beams of the Dark Tower. Burnside finds a particularly powerful breaker in French Landing, a young man named Tyler Marshall. Burnside’s kidnapping of Tyler causes Jack Sawyer to become more involved in the Fisherman murders, ultimately leading to Burnside’s demise. Burnside manages to wreak a good amount of havoc before he passes on, however; he is responsible for the deaths of several children, and for the murder of Henry Leyden.

  HENRY LEYDEN: Alias George Rathburn, alias the Wisconsin Rat, alias Henry Shake, alias Symphonic Stan, Leyden is a blind man with an affinity for music of all kinds. He also is Jack’s best friend in French Landing. Henry is a parental figure for Jack, filling the roles formerly played by Jack’s mother, Lily, and Lester “Speedy” Parker, Jack’s mentor from the Territories.

  Henry, who encounters Charles Burnside when he DJs an event at the Maxton Elder Care facility, eventually realizes that Burnside is the killer after listening to a tape of the killer’s voice provided to him by Jack. Henry is killed by Burnside, but not before he wounds the killer. Ty Marshall later exploits that wound to dispatch Burnside in a truly grisly manner.

  DALE GILBERTSON: The chief of police of French Landing, Dale is Henry Leyden’s nephew. Dale becomes friendly with Jack after working with him on the Thornberg Kinderling murder case, eventually selling him his family homestead when Jack decides to settle in French Landing. It is partly a desire to help Dale, who is in way over his head, that draws Jack into the Fisherman case.

  JUDY MARSHALL/SOPHIE: In Jack’s world, Judy Marshall is the distraught mother of Tyler Marshall, the Fisherman’s last kidnapping victim. Judy is being driven crazy by her son’s disappearance, and by her connection to her twinner in the Territories, Queen Sophie, successor to Queen Laura DeLoessian. Trying to warn Judy, Sophie has instead brought her to the brink of insanity.

  When Jack first meets Judy, he is strangely drawn to her; when he meets her twinner, Sophie, he instantly falls in love with her. As Black House concludes, Jack is convalescing in the Territories under the care of Sophie and Speedy Parker.

  TYLER MARSHALL: Tyler is perhaps the most powerful Breaker ever to live, perhaps even more powerful than the legendary Ted Brautigan. His kidnapping by Charles Burnside, a serial killer possessed by a minion of the Crimson King, attracts Jack Sawyer’s interest, ultimately leading to the downfall of the Crimson King’s plans to use Tyler to break the Beams that hold reality together.

  Ty proves very resourceful, eventually bringing about the demise of his captor despite being shackled.

  THE HEGELIAN SCUM: A gang of highly educated bikers, also known as the Thunder Five, who live on the outskirts of French Landing. They become involved in the Fisherman case when the madman kidnaps the daughter of one of their number, Armand “Beezer” St. Pierre. The gang loses one of its members, Mouse, when they assist Jack in his assault on the Black House.

  THE BLACK HOUSE: In Random House’s promotional materials,

  Peter Straub says, “As Shirley Jackson would say, Black House is not sane.” Like the Black Hotel from The Talisman, the Black House is a portal to other worlds. The house is located on the outskirts of town, but is not easily located unless one is looking for it. Even then, it is difficult. Fortunately, Jack Sawyer and the Thunder Five locate the house, which they come to realize is a doorway to the reality where Mr. Munshun has taken Ty Marshall.

  THE CRIMSON KING: Also referred to as Abbalah in Black House, the Crimson King is the force behind the effort to bring down the Dark Tower.

  It is revealed in Black House that the king has spent the last two centuries gathering a massive group of “Breakers” (i.e., those who display wild talents such as precognition, telepathy, and telekinesis) together. The king uses them to hasten the destruction of the Beams that hold reality together. In Black House, the king seeks to secure the cooperation of Ty Marshall, potentially the most powerful Breaker besides Ted Brautigan.

  BLACK HOUSE: TRIVIA

  • Speedy Parker, Jack Sawyer’s old friend and mentor, is revealed to be a gunslinger from the world of Roland of Gilead.

  • Black House was heavily influenced by Charles Dickens’s Bleak House, from which Jack reads aloud to the blind Henry Leyden at one point in the novel.

  11

  HEARTS IN ATLANTIS

  (1999)

  Hearts in Atlantis is truly a milestone for Stephen King, coming at a point in his long career when many authors might no longer be capable of anything resembling a milestone.

  In this volume, King achieves something that might have seemed impossible upon conception: he has written his most ambitious literary novel—an exploration of the many facets of the Vietnam War era and the way it has tarnished America’s idea of itself—and yet this is also a novel filled with wonder and terror and a significant and tangible connection to his most fantastic and epic work, the Dark Tower series (1982–2004).

  Though still a novel in the sense that it does relate a singular narrative, Hearts in Atlantis is also experimental. It begins with a segment called Low Men in Yellow Coats which, at 243 pages, is a novel unto itself. Set in 1960, it deals with the coming of age of Bobby Garfield, a Connecticut boy who finds, much to his surprise, that his best pal, Carol Gerber, is, in fact, his girlfriend. But it is also the story of Ted Br
autigan, who takes a room on the upper floor of the boardinghouse where Bobby lives with his mother, Liz.

  Ted and Bobby form an odd friendship, based mainly around the fact that Ted doesn’t treat him like a kid as well as their shared love for books. Bobby also must keep the secret that Ted is on the run from the Low Men in Yellow Coats. At first Bobby isn’t sure if Ted is quite sane, and Liz wonders if Ted might be a pervert (because she is dealing with her own issues with a boss who is a sexual predator, her cynicism is perfectly understandable).

  Both Bobby and Carol are forced to grow up in this tale. Carol is hurt by local bullies, and Bobby pays them back in spades. After a horrible confrontation with Bobby’s mother, Ted is almost handed over to the low men and is forced to leave town.

  Tragically, the low men catch up to Ted anyway, and Bobby is given the choice of trying to help and being taken along with Ted, or standing by and doing nothing. He chooses not to fight, and his life is changed forever. His youthful spirit and faith in himself are taken away. He becomes a juvenile delinquent, his life on an ugly path. The Garfields move, and Bobby’s already-damaged relationships with Carol and with his best friend, Sully, wither. For some time, Bobby and Carol keep up writing to one another, but even that ends. Bobby believes that his destiny is a dark one.