The novel was inspired by Robert Browning's poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" (1855), which King read as a sophomore at the University of Maine.

King explains that he "played with the idea of trying a long romantic novel embodying the feel, if not the exact sense, of the Browning poem."

[2] The five stories that constitute the novel were originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction: It took King twelve-and-a-half years to finish the novel.

In 2003, the novel was reissued in a revised and expanded version with modified language and added and changed scenes intended to resolve inconsistencies with the later books in the series.

The main story takes place in a world somewhat similar to the Old West but in an alternate timeframe or parallel universe.

As Roland travels across the desert in search of the man in black, whom he knows as Walter, he encounters a farmer named Brown and his raven, Zoltan.

Roland hypnotizes Jake to determine the details of where he came from and discovers he died in a different universe that appears much closer in nature to our own.

Roland rescues Jake from an encounter with a succubus and after they've made camp, tells him to hold on to the jawbone as a protective charm.

Roland leaves him at camp and couples with the succubus, who is also an oracle, to learn more about his fate and the path to the Dark Tower.

As the track on which they are traveling begins to break, Roland lets Jake fall into an abyss and continues his quest.

The man in black reads Roland's fate from a pack of cards, which includes such omens as "the sailor," "the prisoner," "the lady of shadows," "death," and the Tower itself.

In his introduction to the new edition, King stated that he felt the original version was "dry" and difficult for new readers to access.

[9] The film has been stated to be a combination of the events of The Gunslinger and of the third novel The Waste Lands, while also incorporating significant story points from The Dark Tower.