Susannah (novel)

Susannah (Original title: The Dark Tower VI - Song of Susannah ) is the title of a novel by the writer Stephen King published in 2004 and forms the sixth volume of the eight-volume, dark fantasy saga known as the Dark Tower Cycle . The background to this novel cycle is presented in detail in the article there.

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With the help of ancient magic of the Manni (a group within the residents of Calla Bryn Sturgis), the Ka-Tet succeeds in opening the door. Contrary to the original plan, Jake and Pere Callahan land in New York in 1999 (the year and place Susanna-Mia landed in), while Eddie and Roland land in 1977 (the year and place in and on Calvin Tower escaped from Balazar). The following three events take place more or less simultaneously:

1.) Susannah-Mia is in New York in 1999, sometime in the afternoon. In the red bowling bag she finds a little turtle sewn into it, which seems to have a hypnotic effect on everyone. With the help of the turtle, she lets a stranger book a hotel room for her and give her some cash. Susannah receives a telepathic message from Eddie to delay Mia because Eddie has seen that Jake and Callahan won't "arrive" until it's dark. Susannah promises Mia, who is afraid of the many people in this unknown modern world, to help her if Mia reveals the truth to her in return: the truth about whose baby she is carrying and how it came about that Mia possessed has seized her. One of the six elementary demons associated with Roland Deschain in female form, stored his sperm and passed it on in a changed form (as the reader later learns) in male form to Susannah when she was raped in the stone ring. Mia used this circumstance to approach Susannah. So the baby is actually Roland's child. Mia's desire to have a child was so strong that she was used by Sayre, a servant of the Scarlet King, who betrayed her with the promise that she could raise the child. Roland's child is supposed to kill Roland and become the biggest crusher that can bring the last existing beams to collapse. Although Susannah keeps telling Mia that Sayre has cheated on her, she doesn't believe her and goes to the Dixie Pig, the place where she is supposed to give birth to her child, in the early evening. When she gets there, the place is full of menial men (see Stephen King's "Atlantis" ) and vampires. Mia leaves Susannah's body and both women are laid on beds and mentally connected to one another with metal caps. In the end, the contractions get worse and the baby is born.

2.) At the same time, Jake and Callahan land in New York and meet the priest whom Susannah has already met before. He tells them to go to the hotel where Susannah-Mia has rented a room. Once there, they open the room safe and find the bag with The Black Thirteen . Only Callahan's faith can save them from succumbing to the power of The Black Thirteen . They take the bags with the ball and the orizas (the throwing plates that Susannah received before the fight against the wolves) with them. To prevent anyone from finding the bullet, they lock the bag in a locker on the ground floor of the World Trade Center (although King admits in the epilogue that there were never any lockers there) and then drive to the Dixie Pig. In the gutter in front of the restaurant they find the little turtle that Susannah left them in a moment of Mia's inattention. Pere Callahan with Jakes Ruger and Jake, armed with the plates, decide to storm the Dixie Pig and free Susannah.

3.) Eddie and Roland are expected by Balazar's men as early as 1977, betrayed by Mia, who, from reading Susannah's thoughts, knew exactly what when and where they were going. After a shootout against Balazar's men, which they win with the help of a local, they are taken to his house by him. He's kind of a caretaker for all the vacation homes and can tell the gunslingers where to find Calvin Tower. He also confirms their suspicions that the then not particularly famous writer named Stephen King really exists and that he lives nearby. Eddie and Roland make their way to Calvin Tower, where after much back and forth they draw up a purchase agreement that makes the "Tet Corporation" the owner of the vacant property in New York. Then the gunslingers go to Stephen King. When he sees the two of them, recognition flickers in his eyes before he faints. After he has slowly regained his composure, Eddie and Roland ask him about his books. King tells them he started writing a story, but that story ends where Roland drops Jake. King admits to the gunslingers that he didn't make the story up, just wrote what "flowed through him" and stopped writing the story because he was scared of it. Roland hypnotizes King and tells him to keep working on the story and forget about Roland and Eddie visiting.

Attached are excerpts from Stephen King's diary, some of which explain how King got his stories, where he got his inspiration from and how they are related to "The Dark Tower". The book ends with a fictional newspaper article reporting on King's accident in which the writer was killed.

Literature and web link

• Stephen King, Susannah, (Original title: The Dark Tower VI - Song of Susannah) , Heyne, ISBN 3-453-87928-7
• Detailed table of contents in KingWiki