King injects himself into science-fiction 'Song'

The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah, By Stephen King, Donald M. Grant/Scribner, 432 pages, $30

Reading "Song of Susannah," the penultimate novel in Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series, is rather like taking on the third leg of a triathlon.

The first two legs were getting through the first five "Dark Tower" books -- it wasn't easy, but most of us emerged somewhat invigorated by the effort. But this last phase, like any true endurance contest, brings bone-crushing fatigue, along with sore eyes and a swirling brain. If you finish, you'll be rewarded with bragging rights and a good, long sleep. If you quit now, you just weren't tough enough.

At least this series doesn't take as long to read as it did for King to write. King began the "Dark Tower" work in the early 1970s, when he was still scraping together stories for obscure science-fiction magazines. Inspired in part by J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the "Dark Tower" series -- set in a fictional land called Mid-World and following the adventures of a small band of travelers on a quest to save it -- has become King's abiding passion. It is no accident that the final volume, Book VII, is set for release on Sept. 21, King's 57th birthday.

If you dare, take a deep breath, grab a Gatorade, and dive into "Song of Susannah." The plot, which ends where Book V cliffhanger "Wolves of the Calla" teetered on the precipice, gets moving quickly by refusing to stay on one astral plane for too long.

First, the ragged Fellowship of the Dark Tower, led by Roland Deschain, defeats the wolves. Then the team is suddenly broken up through a series of time shifts. Roland and Eddie Dean wind up in Maine, circa 1977, while Eddie's pregnant wife, Susannah, finds a magic trap door to modern-day New York City. Susannah's been taken over by a demon alter ego named Mia, and the two spend the rest of the book struggling over the fate of their possibly monstrous in-utero spawn.

Roland and Eddie have the more interesting experience of encountering a certain struggling writer of "busted stories" with a drinking problem named Stephen King. King is a young father living in rural Maine who has just written a book called " 'Salem's Lot."

In one of the book's most amusing scenes, Roland questions his fickle father about why he stopped telling stories about Mid-World, and King levels with him. "You started to scare me, so I stopped writing about you," the author tells his creations. "Boxed you up and put you in a drawer."

King is soon abandoned, and Roland and Eddie leave in search of Susannah and their compatriot Jake Chambers, who is off on his own quest. But King won't stay out of the book -- now resembling an overstuffed family portrait -- for long.

In what may be the most entertaining 20 pages of the novel, King pens a series of quasi-fictional diary entries that closely mirror his real life. In a morbid wink-and-nod to faithful fans, King kills off his fictional alter ego in the 1999 traffic accident that very nearly ended King's own life.

This coda gives "Song of Susannah" a needed charge, and as the book draws to a feverish, page-turning ending, readers will find themselves well primed for the series finale, Book VII. It's enough to prompt one to keep reading; the finish line is finally in sight.

Erica Noonan can be reached at enoonan@globe.com.