If there was a silver lining to my unsuccessful first stint in college, it was that it reignited my love of reading.

Six months after graduating, I found myself working in a factory where my sole responsibility was to change a roll of vinyl on a machine ever 20-30 minutes, leaving me with a ton of time on my hands. After reading 40-ish shitty Star Wars book and the complete works of Anne Rice up to that point, I latched on to Stephen King and eventually, The Gunslinger.

Now, the Gunslinger didn't sound like something I'd enjoy at the time. A Western? With magic? And kind of a post-apocalyptic feel? Fortunately, I exhausted Wal-Mart's Stephen King reserve and had to strike out on the Path of the Beam. Within ten pages of The Gunslinger, I was hooked.

My mom had this wicked collection of books with comic book pictures in them. I flipped through the pictures LONG before I ever read the books. My first King book was DOLORES CLAIBORNE, but it wouldn't be until I was sixteen before I started my path along the beam. I remember WIZARD AND GLASS coming in the mail through my Mom's SK Bookclub, and I devoured it. When I asked my mother when the next one was coming out and she just laughed and patted my head. She never did answer me. I was married and planning my family before WOLVES OF THE CALLA released.