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By Root 703 0

in Roland’s world, and that was what Frank gave me. He gave me something more, as well, something wonderful and unexpected. It was a sense of newness and freshness that I had lost somewhere along the way; a sense of Roland and Roland’s friends as actual people, with their own vital inner lives. When I say in the dedication that Frank heard the voices in my head, I am speaking the literal truth as I understand it. And, like a rather more benign version of the Doorway Cave, he brought them fully back to life. The remaining books are finished (this one in final draft, the last two in rough), and in large part I owe that to Frank Muller and his inspired readings.

I had hoped to have Frank on board to do the audio readings of the final three Dark Tower books (unabridged readings; I do not allow abridgments of my work and don’t approve of them, as a rule), and he was eager to do them. We discussed the possibility at a dinner in Bangor during October of 2001, and in the course of the conversation, he called the Tower stories his absolute favorites. As he had read over five hundred novels for the audio market, I was extremely flattered.

Less than a month after that dinner and that optimistic, forward-looking discussion, Frank suffered a terrible motorcycle accident on a highway in California. It happened only days after discovering that he was to become a father for the second time. He was wearing his brain-bucket and that probably saved his life—motorcyclists please take note—but he suffered serious injuries nevertheless, many of them neurological. He won’t be recording the final Dark Tower novels on tape, after all. Frank’s final work will almost certainly be his inspired reading of Clive Barker’s Coldheart Canyon, which was completed in September of 2001, just before his accident.

Barring a miracle, Frank Muller’s working life is over. His work of rehabilitation, which is almost sure to be lifelong, has only begun. He’ll need a lot of care and a lot of professional help. Such things cost money, and money’s not a thing which, as a rule, freelance artists have a great deal of. I and some friends have formed a foundation to help Frank—and, hopefully, other freelance artists of various types who suffer similar cataclysms. All the income I receive from the audio version of Wolves of the Calla will go into this foundation’s account. It won’t be enough, but the work of funding The Wavedancer Foundation (Wavedancer was the name of Frank’s sailboat), like Frank’s rehabilitative work, is only beginning. If you’ve got a few bucks that aren’t working and want to help insure the future of The Wavedancer Foundation, don’t send them to me; send them to

The Wavedancer Foundation

c/o Mr. Arthur Greene

101 Park Avenue

New York, NY 10001

Frank’s wife, Erika, says thankya. So do I.

And Frank would, if he could.

Bangor, Maine

December 15, 2002

Table of Contents

The Final Argument

Prologue:

Roont

One

Two

Three

Four

Part One

Todash

Chapter I:

The Face on the Water

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Chapter II:

New York Groove

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Chapter III:

Mia

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Chapter IV:

Palaver

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Chapter V:

Overholser

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Chapter VI:

The Way of the Eld

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Chapter VII:

Todash

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Part Two

Telling Tales

Chapter I:

The Pavilion

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Chapter II:

Dry Twist

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Chapter III:

The Priest’s Tale (New York)

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve