The Dark Tower Companion

by Bev Vincent

  A mirror shop on Second Avenue between 48th and 49th streets. Eddie sees it in a dream and Jake passes it en route to the Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind.

  RIVERSIDE HOSPITAL (5)

  The hospital in Manhattan where Rowan Magruder is taken after the Hitler Brothers attack him. Father Callahan is hospitalized in the same room after Magruder dies.

  70 ROCKEFELLER PLAZA (3)

  Elmer Chambers’s office at “The Network.”

  SACRAMENTO BEE (5, 7)

  The newspaper where Father Callahan learns of the attack on Rowan Magruder. Ted Brautigan became a Breaker after answering a job ad in the same newspaper.

  ’SALEM’S LOT, MAINE

  See Jerusalem’s Lot.

  SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO (4)

  One of the destinations served by the train station in Topeka. Roland remembers a Santa Fe in the Barony of Mejis.

  SEVENTH AVENUE (2)

  Clements Guns and Sporting Goods is located at the intersection with 49th Street.

  SIR SPEEDY-PARK (7)

  Irene and David Tassenbaum rent two parking spots on a yearly basis at this lot on 63rd Street between Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue. Their apartment is nearby.

  SISTERS OF MERCY HOSPITAL (2)

  The hospital on 23rd Street where Odetta Holmes was taken after her accident.

  SIXTH AVENUE (2)

  Also known as the Avenue of the Americas. Jack Mort’s office is located here.

  ST. ANDREWS (5)

  Father Callahan’s church in ’Salem’s Lot, Maine. It rejected him after Barlow tainted him.

  STATION SHOES & BOOTS (5)

  Located on Second Avenue near 50th Street.

  ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI (3, 4)

  American city that corresponds to Lud. The beginning of Charlie the Choo-Choo’s run.

  SUNNYVALE SANITARIUM (3)

  The mental institute Jake thinks he will end up in after his memories double.

  SUNSET COTTAGE (7)

  The Tassenbaums’ cottage in East Stoneham at the south end of Keywadin Pond. They purchased the place in 1994. Known as the old John Cullum place to the locals.

  TAOS, NEW MEXICO (7)

  Location of a ranch where Tet Corporation employs a dozen telepaths and precogs to monitor Roland and his ka-tet in Mid-World and spy on Sombra Corporation/North Central Positronics.

  TIMES SQUARE (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

  Jake is stopped by a police officer here because he is truant on the day he crosses back to Mid-World. Odetta Holmes and Father Callahan used to frequent movie theaters here.

  TISHMAN BUILDING (5)

  Located at 982 Michigan Avenue in Detroit. One of the finest business addresses in the city. Sombra had offices on the thirty-third floor. Father Callahan leaped to his death from their conference room.

  TOM AND GERRY’S ARTISTIC DELI (3, 4, 5, 6)

  A small shop owned by Tommy Graham on the corner of Second Avenue and 46th Street. Party platters were their specialty. Calvin Tower, who owns the property, had the building torn down after it went out of business (between 1977 and 1981). Designated Lot #298, Block #19, it remained empty until sometime after Jake’s visit in 1987. 2 Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza was built at that location.

  TOPEKA, KANSAS (3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

  The terminus of Blaine the Mono’s route, as well as that of Charlie the Choo-Choo. The ka-tet finds the inspiration for Charlie the Choo-Choo in Gage Park. The Green Palace appears on its outskirts on Interstate 70. Father Callahan moved here in 1982, hit bottom and finally got sober.

  TOWER OF POWER (3, 5)

  A record shop on Second Avenue and 51st Street.

  TURTLEBACK LANE (6, 7)

  The road in Lovell, Maine, that appears to be the center of walk-in activity. It’s a hilly road off Route 7 that’s only one lane wide in places. Stephen King moved here to a house called Cara Laughs at #19 in the mid-1980s. It is also the site of a magic door.

  TURTLE BAY (3)

  A Manhattan neighborhood that comprises an area between 41st and 54th streets from Lexington Avenue to the East River. It is under the umbrella of ka.

  TURTLE BAY LUXURY CONDOMINIUMS (3, 5, 6, 7)

  Building announced by Sombra Corporation for the empty lot containing the rose but never constructed.

  TURTLE BAY WASHATERIA (5, 6, 7)

  Out-of-business laundry on 47th Street between First and Second avenues. The Hitler Brothers took Callahan here to kill him, but Calvin Tower and Aaron Deepneau interrupted them. There is a doorway between various versions of New York here.

  UNITED NATIONS BUILDING (3, 5)

  Located on First Avenue and 46th Street in Turtle Bay.

  UNITED NATIONS PLAZA HOTEL (5, 6)

  Located on First Avenue and 46th Street in Turtle Bay. It became the Plaza-Park Hyatt and was destined to become the Regal U.N. Plaza Hotel owned by Sombra/North Central in July 1999. Mathiessen van Wyck reserves a room for Susannah/Mia in this hotel so she can wait for a call from Richard Sayre. Jake and Father Callahan retrieve Black Thirteen and the Orizas from the safe in room 1919.

  VASSAR COLLEGE (3, 7)

  Laura Chambers and Elvira Toothaker attended this school.

  VIETNAM (2, 4, 5, 6, 7)

  Henry Dean was injured fighting in the war there, which began his trouble with drugs.

  WARRINGTON’S (7)

  A restaurant in East Stoneham, Maine, where the Tassenbaums sometimes dine.

  Crossover to Other Works: Warrington’s also appears in Bag of Bones.

  WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK (5)

  Father Callahan spent his first night in New York here after fleeing from ’Salem’s Lot. It becomes one of his favorite haunts. He sees the first signs of low men looking for him there.

  WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK (7)

  Hometown of Eddie and Jake Toren.

  WORLD TRADE CENTER (3, 6, 7)

  Father Callahan and Jake put Black Thirteen in a coin-op storage locker in the basement of this building, where it would be safe for thirty-six months, until 2002. Rowan Magruder told Callahan it was the safest storage location in New York.

  THINGS

  A TRAIN (2, 3)

  One of the trains in the New York subway system, made famous by a Duke Ellington song as a way to get to Harlem. A train from this line cut off Odetta Holmes’s legs after Jack Mort pushed her at the Christopher Street station, though in our world the A train does not go there.

  AIR DANCE (5)

  A book by Ben Mears, a character in ’Salem’s Lot, about a man who gets hung for the murder his brother committed. Eddie Dean read the novel.

  Crossover to Other Works: Susan Norton is reading this book when Ben Mears meets her in ’Salem’s Lot.

  BOING BOING BURGER (4)

  A fast-food chain in the version of Earth ravaged by the superflu.

  BULLET (7)

  One of Bryan Smith’s rottweilers.

  CAPTAIN TRIPS (4)

  Name for the superflu in California.

  CHARLIE THE CHOO-CHOO (3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

  A children’s book written by Beryl Evans in 1927 in one version of reality and by Claudia y Inez Bachman in 1936 in another. Jake buys a copy at the Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind. Greta Shaw, Eddie and Susannah owned the book when they were kids and all three lost their copies. It contains clues to handling Blaine the Mono. The cover features an anthropomorphic locomotive with a pink cowcatcher. The story mentions a girl named Susannah, a man named Martin (Marten) and a train that runs between St. Louis (Lud) and Topeka. Charlie is a 402 Big Boy Steam Locomotive, the best train in the Mid-World Railway Company until a diesel locomotive replaces him. His operator is Engineer Bob Brooks.

  DOGAN, THE (5, 6, 7)

  The misprinted title of The Hogan, a Western written by Benjamin Slightman Jr.

  FORSPECIAL PLATE (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

  A blue plate that was part of a wedding gift to Sophia Walker, Odetta Holmes’s aunt. To Detta it is an avatar for her hatred because Odetta was injured after attending Sophia�
��s wedding. Similar white plates with delicate blue webbing are found in the banquet hall at Castle Discordia. The Orizas of the Callas resemble this plate.

  GARDEN OF THE BEAM (7)

  A shrine in the lobby of 2 Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza. The marble floor gives way to a patch of earth surrounded by velvet ropes. The garden contains dwarf palms and other plants. In the middle of the square is the rose that represents the Dark Tower in Keystone Earth. The building was built around the rose—it wasn’t transplanted from the vacant lot. The sign over it reads, “Given by the Tet Corporation, in honor of Edward Cantor Dean and John ‘Jake’ Chambers. As White over Red, thus Gan wills ever.”

  HOGAN, THE (5, 6, 7)

  See The Dogan.

  HOLMES DENTAL INDUSTRIES (CORPORATION) (2, 5, 6, 7)

  The company formed by Dan Holmes to exploit his inventions pertaining to capping teeth. It also produces dental floss, toothpaste and mouthwash. Holmes handled the financial side of the business until his first heart attack in 1959, when he gets his accountant, Moses Carver, more involved. Eddie comes up with a plan to merge the company with Tet Corporation and use its assets to thwart Sombra and North Central Positronics.

  INSOMNIA (7)

  A novel by Stephen King published in 1994. The Calvins believe it is King’s most important book outside of the Dark Tower series. Its red-and-white cover indicates its significance. It mentions the Crimson King, Ed Deepneau and Patrick Danville. Moses Carver gives Roland a copy, but he passes it on to Irene Tassenbaum, afraid that it might be a mind-trap.

  JAFFORDS RENTALS (6)

  Realtor who leases lakefront cabins in Bridgton, Maine.

  KANSAS CITY MONARCHS (4, 5)

  A major league baseball team in the world ravaged by the superflu.

  KEFLEX (2, 3)

  An antibiotic. Eddie takes some from Balazar’s stash and Roland takes more from Katz’s Drug Store. They use it to rid Roland of the infection from the lobstrosity wounds and to rid Jake of the infection from the spider bite he received while crossing back to Mid-World. Roland pronounces the word “cheflet.”

  KEYSTONE YEAR (7)

  1999—the year when Stephen King is supposed to die and the year where Mia goes to have her baby. Also the year John Kennedy Jr.—the son of the last gunslinger in Keystone Earth—died and the year that King wrote Ted Brautigan into the Dark Tower story.

  LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL (1, 5)

  A novel by Thomas Wolfe. The ghostwood box containing Black Thirteen contains symbols from this book: a leaf, a stone, an unfound door.

  MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, THE (5, 6)

  An MGM movie directed by John Sturges, an Americanized version of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. Eddie makes the connection between the movie and their adventures in Calla Bryn Sturgis.

  “MAN/MAID OF CONSTANT SORROW” (5, 6)

  A traditional American folk song. Susannah Dean sings it at Calla Bryn Sturgis and hears a busker singing it near the Dixie Pig. She first heard it in the Hungry i in 1962, sung by a white blues-shouter named Dave Van Ronk.

  MARLOWE (7)

  Stephen King’s Welsh corgi. Also known as the Snoutmaster.

  MICROSOFT (5, 6, 7)

  A computer hardware and software company started by Bill Gates. Jake sees its logo in the Dogan near Calla Bryn Sturgis. Eddie tells Calvin Tower and John Cullum to invest in their stock to grow Tet Corporation’s assets. Shares that cost fifteen dollars in 1982 are worth more than thirty-five dollars in 1987.

  MID-WORLD RAILWAY COMPANY (3)

  The company that owns and operates Charlie the Choo-Choo in the book of the same name.

  MILLS CONSTRUCTION (3, 4, 5, 7)

  A construction partner of Sombra Real Estate. They plan to build Turtle Bay Luxury Condominiums on the vacant lot.

  MY UNDERSTANDING OF TRUTH (3, 4, 5)

  The theme for Jake Chambers’s final essay in his English Composition class. It counts twenty-five percent toward his grade. The paper, which Jake does not remember writing, contains many Mid-World references, including things that will happen in the future, called forth by the touch. Mrs. Avery gives him an A+ and provides a detailed (but misguided) interpretation of the essay’s allusions. When Stephen King sends Jake a message, he labels it “This is the truth.”

  PIMSY (7)

  Odetta Holmes’s pet. Eddie uses the fact that Moses Carver told her she could visit the grave so that John Cullum can convince him to join Tet Corporation.

  PISTOL (7)

  One of Bryan Smith’s rottweilers.

  RIDDLE-DE-DUM! (3, 4, 5, 7)

  A book of riddles that Jake Chambers gets at the Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind. Its subtitle is Brain-Twisters and Puzzles for Everyone. No author is credited. The cover is torn and mended with tape and features a boy and a girl with question marks over their heads. The answers have been ripped out of the back of the book.

  ROSE IN THE VACANT LOT, THE (3, 5, 6, 7)

  The Dark Tower’s representation on Earth. Though it is fragile, if properly protected it can be immortal. When Jake first sees it, it is growing near a clump of alien-looking purple grass that may be splashed with paint. Though the rose opens for Jake, he can tell it is ailing. Inside, he sees a sun glowing and then realizes that it is not just one sun but many—perhaps every sun. Eddie sees all the great things that have ever happened and every near miss. Its singing voice promises that all things might be well again. As the Tower weakens, it is what holds everything together, although it is weakening, too. If it dies, the Dark Tower will simply fall. To protect it, Tet Corporation builds a roped-off garden in the lobby of 2 Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza where it can receive direct sunlight. It sings and makes people happy. Eddie theorizes that the rose is Stephen King’s twin and that it is taking care of one of the two remaining Beams.

  ROSSCO (7)

  A brand of appliance in worlds other than Keystone Earth. Joe Collins’s electric stove is this brand.

  ’SALEM’S LOT (5, 6)

  A book written by Stephen King and published by Doubleday in 1975. Roland finds a copy on Calvin Tower’s shelf of valuable books with a penciled price of $950 on the flyleaf. The church on the cover reminds him of Our Lady of Serenity in Calla Bryn Sturgis. Tower says it is valuable because the name of the priest is misprinted on the price-clipped dust jacket. There are only 7,500 copies of the first edition, most sold in Maine. The book is the key to one of the biggest mysteries the ka-tet faces.

  SERGIO (5)

  The store cat at Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind. Probably named for Sergio Leone, director of spaghetti Westerns starring Clint Eastwood.

  SHOOTER’S BIBLE (2)

  A catalog of guns and ammunition. Roland consults a copy at Clements Guns and Sporting Goods to determine what kind of bullets to buy for his revolvers.

  SKÖLPADDA (5, 6, 7)

  The Swedish name given to the scrimshaw turtle, a can-tah that Susannah finds in a secret pocket of the bowling bag from the empty lot. It is identical to the metal sculpture in the pocket park near the Black Tower. It has the power to mesmerize and hypnotize people. The turtle’s head pokes halfway out of its detailed shell, which is marred by a scratch that looks like a question mark. Its eyes are tiny black dots that look alive. Its beak has a wedge-shaped crack and the carving has a feeling of age. Susannah dropped it outside the Dixie Pig for Jake and Callahan to find. After using it to enchant the low men and vampires, Father Callahan drops it. What happens to it afterward is unknown. Roland senses that it’s gone by the time he passes through.

  SOMBRA GROUP, THE (3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

  A closed corporation that includes Sombra Corporation, Sombra Enterprises and Sombra Real Estate Associates. A branch of North Central Positronics in Keystone Earth, incorporated in the Bahamas, with offices in New Delhi, New York, Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco. They specialized in high-tech, real estate and construction. Their Real Estate Division wants Calvin Tower to sell them the vacant lot, supposedly to build Turtle Bay Luxury Condomi
niums. Their Detroit division, with offices on the thirty-third floor of the Tishman Building, uses a promise of grant money to the Lighthouse Shelter to lure Father Callahan out of hiding. Tet Corporation was created to drive them out of business, which they hope to do by 2030.

  “SOMEONE SAVED MY LIFE TONIGHT” (5, 7)

  A hit single by Elton John. Father Callahan hears it repeatedly after he leaves ’Salem’s Lot.

  TAKURO SPIRIT (4, 5, 6, 7)

  Automobile brand in the non-Keystone versions of Earth.

  TET CORPORATION (5, 6, 7)

  A company that Eddie Dean invents in 1977 to represent the ka-tet’s interest in the vacant lot. Also known as the firm of Deschain, Dean, Dean, Chambers & Oy. Eddie and Roland get John Cullum to enlist the help of Moses Carver and Aaron Deepneau to merge Tet with Holmes Dental to create a company with sufficient resources to go head-to-head with Sombra Corporation and North Central Positronics. Their headquarters are on the ninety-ninth floor of 2 Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza. Marian Carver became president in 1997 after Moses Carver retired, at which time the corporation was worth ten billion dollars. The corporation believes its work will be done by 2030. Susannah Dean and Eddie Toren join Tet in 1987.

  TODASH TURNPIKES (5)

  Eddie’s name for the roads that take Father Callahan from one version of America to another.

  TOPEKA CAPITAL-JOURNAL (4)

  Newspaper in Topeka in the reality where the superflu devastated the world.

  TUBE-NECK (4)

  Name for the superflu in the Midwest.

  WATERSHIP DOWN (3, 7)

  A novel about rabbits by Richard Adams, who also wrote a book about a bear named Shardik.

  THE HISTORY OF MID-WORLD

  The history of All-World—sometimes called Mid-World, though that is technically just one region of Roland’s planet—is steeped in mystery. One reason for this is the scarcity of paper and books. Very little of Mid-World’s history has ever been written, and much of what has been recorded is regarded as legend rather than fact. The Dark Tower, the most important part of creation, is thought to be a fairy tale. Residents of Mid-World are blind to the presence of the Beams that support it, even though one runs through Gilead.

  Much of what is “known” about Mid-World’s history comes from the mouths of demons who have existed since creation. Considering the source, some of this can be considered suspect. However, here is what is generally believed to be true.