by Rocky Wood
There are revisions, including both the deletion and addition of material for its appearance in The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla. These changes were clearly made to avoid giving away plotlines in the novel ahead of its publication. The short story is more of a variation to, than a version of, the tale.
In this Dark Tower story a woman takes revenge on her father’s killer while using an innovative weapon. Roland Deschain and Jake Chambers talked to Vaughn Eisenhart and his wife Margaret at their Lazy B ranch near Calla Bryn Sturgis. Roland examined Vaughn’s three guns, finding that only one rifle was of any value.
In the ensuing discussion Roland was told the story of Lady Oriza and her weapon. Gray Dick, an outlaw prince, had killed Lady Oriza’s father Lord Grenfall and she sought revenge. Expertly learning how to throw a sharpened plate she took dinner with Gray Dick, who was suspicious of her motives but could not resist the offer to dine with her naked. During the meal she threw one of her plates, decapitating her victim.
Roland was also told that the plates were still made in a town far to the north, Calla Sen Chre. Most of the women in Calla Bryn Sturgis could throw the plates and Margaret Eisenhart reluctantly demonstrated her amazing accuracy with the weapon for Roland’s benefit.
Copies of McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales are available at second-hand bookshops, specialist King booksellers and such sources as eBay. An unabridged version of this story is also available as a Random House Audible download as part of McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, read by Kevin Gray.
131 The Road to the Dark Tower, Bev Vincent, p.332
132 He later appeared as Clark Rivingham (in the You Know They Got a Hell of a Band episode of Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King); and Steve Ames in Desperation
Sword in the Darkness (1970)
The manuscript for Sword in the Darkness is held in Box 1010 at the Special Collections Unit of the Raymond H. Fogler Library at the University of Maine, Orono. Written permission from King is required to access this work. Dated April 30, 1970 it contains 485 double-spaced typed pages and is on the order of 150,000 words.
King recalls writing Sword in the Darkness during his senior year at the University of Maine, in Section 14 of the second part of On Writing:
…back in my dorm room was my dirty little secret: the half-completed manuscript of a novel about a teenage gang’s plan to start a race riot. They would use this for cover while ripping off two dozen loan-sharking operations and illegal drug-rings in the city of Harding, my fictional version of Detroit (I had never been within six hundred miles of Detroit, but I didn’t let that stop or even slow me down). This novel, Sword in the Darkness, seemed very tawdry to me when compared to what my fellow students were trying to achieve; which is why, I suppose, I never brought any of it to class for a critique. The fact that it was also better and somehow truer than all my poems about sexual yearning and post-adolescent angst only made things worse. The result was a four-month period in which I could write almost nothing at all.
Sword in the Darkness is both an America Under Siege story and a Maine Street Horror tale, this last due to a significant Maine back-story, more of which later.
In the novel a gang of crooks is planning a race riot in the mid-Western city of Harding, whose residents are unsuspecting of the upcoming mayhem. The death of Rita from a brain tumor and the subsequent suicide of her daughter Miriam, who was unwed and pregnant, shatter the Kalowski family. The son and brother, Arnie, tries to deal with the losses as well as organize his love life with girlfriend, Janet Cross and sometime lover, Kit Longtin. Meanwhile, Longtin and a gang friend blackmail the Harding High School principal, her uncle Henry Coolidge, who is something of a sex fiend.
Two teachers at Harding High, Edie Rowsmith and John Edgars, are slowly building a relationship despite the fact that Edie is at least two decades older. Rowsmith and Edgars also try to help Arnie Kalowski.
Marcus Slade, a radical African American, is to speak in Harding on 29 June 1969. Webs McCullough, a psychopathic criminal, plans to start a race riot during Slade’s visit and use it as a cover for a series of robberies.
Slade arrives and McCullough’s men start the riot through a series of violent acts. A massive fire breaks out as blacks and whites fight across the city. Cross is raped by an African American and seriously injured. McCullough’s men undertake a number of robberies and proceed to stash their loot at the High School. Coolidge is in his office and shoots one of the gang before being killed himself. Finally realizing the psychopathic nature of their leader one of the gang shoots McCullough and the survivors escape the city.
In the aftermath of the riot Kalowski discovers Cross has died from injuries sustained during the rape and runs into the night. The next morning he agrees to meet with Rowsmith and Edgars who now appear to have formed a more permanent relationship.
Douglas Winter states133 that Sword in the Darkness was rejected for publication “an even dozen times.” King told Winter, “I had lost my girlfriend of four years, and this book seemed to be constantly pawing over that relationship and trying to make sense of it. And that doesn’t make for good fiction.” One presumes this explains the complicated love triangle between Arnie Kalowski, Janet Cross and Kit Longtin.
In an apparent reference to this manuscript King told David Bright, in an interview published in Portland Monthly and reprinted in the Castle Rock newsletter, “I wrote one big-city book when I was in college. I looked at it two years later and was amazed at how bad it was. It was a big-city book written by a kid from the country.”
As few readers will ever have the opportunity to read the novel let’s take this opportunity to present a brief summary of each Chapter. The novel is split into four parts, containing a total of 93 numbered Chapters. One can see that the average chapter length is only 5 pages. In fact only Chapter 71 is lengthy. As a result the story has an overly frenetic quality. Within a few years of writing Sword in the Darkness King had clearly learned to manage his overall pace and only lend speed to the story as required.
Part One is the Prologue and Chapter One, titled Good Day, Sunshine. Early morning takes the reader on a tour of the city of Harding.
Part Two is titled Late Afternoon. In Chapter Two Miss Edie Rowsmith heads detention hall at Harding High School. In Three Earl Neiman gets himself into trouble and is thrown out of the detention hall. In Four Earl Neiman and Pete Venness report to Webs McCullough at “The Club,” the headquarters of McCullough’s gang, previously known as the Turner Street Oligarchs. Webs tells Earl that if he is suspended from school he will be kicked out of The Club. In Five Arnie Kalowski arrives home and finds his mother with a migraine and his sister, Miriam, in a foul mood. In Six Rowsmith and another teacher, John Edgars speak about Neiman and the upcoming Civic Board meeting. In Seven Rowsmith remembers her lost love, Don, now dead and buried.
In Chapter Eight Neiman remembers that another student, Kit Longtin had once told him that the school headmaster Henry Coolidge had molested her. We are told that Coolidge is also her uncle. In Nine the Kalowski family argue over dinner in their apartment. Rita, the mother, has a migraine and Frank, the father has had a bad day. In Ten Neiman calls Longtin and asks for her assistance putting the screws on Coolidge. They agree to meet at Mike’s Pizza.
In Chapter Eleven, set in San Francisco, radical African American leader Marcus Slade and his elderly assistant, Roy talk of their upcoming visit to Harding. In Twelve Neiman and Longtin meet at Mike’s Pizza and plan to blackmail Coolidge by catching him in compromising photographs with Kit. In Thirteen Neiman and Arnie Kalowski fight outside Mike’s but Neiman stops when he realizes that Arnie had talked Rowsmith out of suspending him from school. In Fourteen Coolidge is revealed as something of a pervert who constantly fantasises about sex, even with his female students. His father had also been a womanizer.
In Chapter Fifteen Rita Kalowski considers her life and wonders why she is getting migraines. She feels her fami
ly is drifting away from her. Her daughter, Miriam, rings from The Arcade on an amusement park pier, and tells her that she has allowed two strangers to have sex with her for money. Rita collapses and strikes her head. In Sixteen Miriam Kalowski remembers telling Bill Danning, her boss, that she was pregnant with his child. He suggested an abortion and subsequently fired her. Miriam considered suicide but could not go through with it. In Seventeen Arnie Kalowski finds his mother and calls the doctor, who immediately leaves for their apartment.
In Chapter Eighteen McCullough and two associates, Jigs and Bull-Run, burgle the Chase and Allen Western Auto, stealing a shotgun and ammunition. In Nineteen Rita Kalowski is admitted to the Harding Memorial Hospital. She is immediately diagnosed with a brain tumor and operated upon. Arnie rings home and finally gets on to his father, who is drunk. Dr. Cassidy tells Arnie his mother died at 1:17am. In Twenty, at about 2 am, and while considering suicide, Miriam Kalowski falls off the pier into the lake and drowns. In Twenty One the Harding High School teachers discuss the impact of his mother’s death on Arnie, who does not yet know of Miriam’s demise.
In Chapter Twenty Two Slade meets an NAACP lawyer, Stanley Frobisher, who tries to talk him out of going to Harding. In Twenty Three McCullough’s history is revealed. Aged only 14 he had killed a boy with a piece of rusty pipe and he’d killed twice more before arriving in Harding. In Twenty Four Arnie and Frank Kalowski discuss Rita’s funeral arrangements. They believe that Miriam has run off but the police arrive and tell them that she has drowned. Arnie goes with them to the morgue to identify the body. In Twenty Five Arnie wanders South Harding and, in rage, smashes a shop window.
In Chapter Twenty Six Mayor Cox addresses the Civic Board and denies that the city has a race problem. Edgars, a member of the Board, also speaks, declaring the extent of the gang and race problem in Harding and advising that Marcus Slade will be speaking in the South City part of Harding on June 29. In Twenty Seven Neiman and Longtin make love in a motel room and work out their plan to get compromising photographs of Coolidge. In Twenty Eight, at the joint funeral of Rita and Miriam Kalowski, Frank jumps into his wife’s open grave.
In Chapter Twenty Nine, on 30 April, Meg DeClancy, a student at Harding, tries to seduce Edgars in the classroom. As he pushes her off, Janet Cross enters the room, briefly sees what is happening and runs off. In Thirty Janet Cross runs from Edgars’ classroom and remembers being caught spying on her prostitute mother, as she turned tricks. She runs into the arms of Arnie Kalowski and cries. In Thirty One Meg DeClancy refuses Edgars’ instruction to go with him to the headmaster’s office. She yells “Rape” and Edgars slaps her. He then forcibly takes her to Coolidge’s office. Coolidge interviews both while enjoying the salacious aspects of the drama. Edgars leaves DeClancy with Coolidge and goes in search of Cross. In Thirty Two, Kalowski drives Cross home. She tells him of her dream to become an obstetrician. In Thirty Three Coolidge fires Edgars, by telling him his contract will not be renewed in June. Edgars then goes to Rowsmith’s apartment to discuss the decision with her.
In Chapter Thirty Four Longtin arrives at Coolidge’s home. As she and Coolidge undress Neiman is perched outside a window with a camera. He proceeds to take four shots, catching Coolidge in compromising positions. In Thirty Five, after realizing he has been photographed, Coolidge attacks Longtin with a lamp but soon desists and she escapes. In Thirty Six Arnie Kalowski visits the police to discuss his sister’s death. Detective Lt. Proby mentions that he is investigating what he calls the “Hardware Gang” (actually McCullough and his associates) who have been stealing guns and ammunition. Proby tells Arnie that Miriam had quit her job before her death.
In Chapter Thirty Seven Slade dreams of the night he was beaten by three rednecks for refusing to leave a white’s only bar. His spine was broken and he was left wheelchair-bound (this scene reminds the reader of Odetta Holmes/Detta Walker/Susannah Dean of The Dark Tower cycle). In Thirty Eight Neiman, who assists the school janitor, has a copy of the Harding High School keys made. In Thirty Nine it is now the first Friday in June and summer has arrived in Harding. Arnie Kalowski calls Janet Cross and asks for a date. She reluctantly agrees, stating it will be her first real date. The night before Arnie had driven to Bill Danning’s house. In Forty Rowsmith goes to Meg DeClancy’s house and convinces her to tell the truth about the Edgars incident.
In Chapter Forty One, during a meeting at the Club, McCullough outlines his plan for June 29 to his associates – Jigs, Neiman, Venness, Bull-Run, Hash, Marty and Spooner. The basic plan is to start a race riot during Slade’s visit and, while the police are dealing with it, rob various banks and stores in the city, stashing the loot at Harding High School. In Forty Two Arnie Kalowski and Janet Cross leave on their date. In Forty Three Neiman gives copies of the blackmail photos and two of the negatives to Longtin. They discuss how to extract money from Coolidge. In Forty Four summer builds in Harding. On 13 June the Harding High School Senior class graduates, Arnie Kalowski and Janet Cross among them.
Part Three is titled Full Dark. In Chapter Forty Five Cross cancels her date with Arnie for that Saturday but asks to meet him at the Library the next day. Frank Kalowski is grieving and slowly losing his connection with reality. In Forty Six Edgars and Arnie speak on Edgars’ last day at the school and Edgars is surprised that Arnie has decided not to apply to MIT. Arnie tells Edgars of his suspicions about his sister’s death and they debate Arnie’s future. In Forty Seven Edgars visits Edie Rowsmith’s home and tells her that even though Meg DeClancy had changed her story the School Board will not renew his contract. Then they make love. In Forty Eight Arnie Kalowski is sitting in a go-go joint when Longtin comes in and offers to have sex with him. He loses his virginity to her in his car.
In Chapter Forty Nine McCullough visits The Arcade, plays various games and seriously beats a boy. In Fifty Arnie and Janet meet at the Library. Janet tells him that her real mother was a prostitute; and that she and a pimp had tried to kill Janet for spying on the mother turning a trick. The pimp tried to force Janet into an oven and she suffered burns. As a result the City Welfare Department had taken Janet away and a year later Dean Cross and his wife had adopted her. In Fifty One Longtin rings Coolidge and demands $10,000 for the incriminating photos. In Fifty Two Frank Kalowski finally suffers a mental breakdown. Dr. Scott talks to Arnie and recommends that Frank be committed. Arnie becomes angry and demands his father be sent home. In Fifty Three Arnie determines to get drunk and meets a wino, Samuel Delaney. They drink together before Arnie wanders drunk and alone into the South City.
In Chapter Fifty Four a photographer, Galey Womack who had developed the photos of Longtin and Coolidge went to the Club and demanded money for copies of the photos. Neiman had told McCullough that the flash on the camera had not worked and there were no photos. McCullough paid Womack $30 but told Marty to follow him to Womack’s shop, beat him and trash the shop. In Fifty Five Slade meditates and remembers the power of the crowd – which he had first learned at a baseball game at Shea Stadium.
In Chapter Fifty Six it is Sunday 24 June. Arnie Kalowski takes Frank Kalowski home from hospital. Arnie rings Bill Danning’s house but hangs up after the phone rang for sixty seconds. In Fifty Seven Edie Rowsmith remembers that Edgars had apologized for having sex with her. She had replied, “I love you, John.” His last words to her had been, “Don’t, Edie, don’t.” She visits Paradise Park and finds Janet Cross at the Beach. They talk briefly. In Fifty Eight, Arnie Kalowski goes to Danning’s home, where Danning admits that he and Miriam Kalowski had had an affair. Arnie hits him and leaves, then calls Janet Cross and tells her what he has done.
In Chapter Fifty Nine it is now Monday 25 June. Henry Coolidge puts the blackmail money into in a gym bag at his office at Harding High. In Sixty Spooner, staking out Coolidge’s house follows him to Paradise Beach where Coolidge arrives to pay Neiman off. Jigs, Bull-Run, Marty and McCullough had followed Neiman and Longtin to the same location. In Sixty One Neiman and Longtin take the
blackmail money from Coolidge. McCullough and his men then jump them. Neiman tries to stab McCullough but Bull-Run breaks his wrist. Neiman is severely beaten but Longtin escapes in Marty’s Pontiac. In Sixty Two McCullough’s men throw Neiman’s body off the pier. Elsewhere, Coolidge remembers being in the Army in Germany, where a girl had jacked him off in a Berlin club.
In Chapter Sixty Three it is 26 June. Arnie Kalowski and Janet Cross make love in his apartment. He had told her everything the night before. In the afternoon they clean the apartment. In Sixty Four it is now Friday 29 June. Slade meets White at his San Francisco gym and gets a treatment in the steam room. He then flies out of San Francisco at 1pm Pacific time, headed for Harding. In Sixty Five, at 1pm that same day, Kenny Roth calls and invites Meg DeClancy to the dog races. In Sixty Six, still at 1pm, John Edgars rings to invite Edie Rowsmith to lunch but she decides they should go to dinner instead. In Sixty Seven, at 1pm, Webs McCullough calls a meeting of his men at The Club. He briefs everyone on the final plan for that night. In Sixty Eight, at 1pm, Kit Longtin rings Arnie Kalowski but the phone is not answered. In Sixty Nine and still at 1pm, Arnie Kalowski tells Janet Cross he wants to marry her but she replies that they are too young. They argue and she leaves. Kit Longtin gets through to Arnie by phone and they agree to meet at Uncle Pete’s that evening.
