The Road to the Dark TowerBy: Bev Vincent AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE DARK TOWER SERIESINCLUDING BOOK BY BOOK ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT INTO STEPHEN KING'S CREATIVE PROCESS. In 1970, Stephen King embarked on what would become the crowning achievement in his literary career the Dark Tower. The seven volume series, written and published over a period of 30 years, was inspired by Robert Browning's poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," as well as J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the