Gwendy’s Final Task

Alan Peterson pulls out the small white feather from the pocket of his robe. It’s never far from him these days. He stares at it, remembering, and then places the feather upon the windowsill beside him. It’s immediately bathed in moonlight. His eyes are once again drawn to the night sky outside the window. There are so many stars tonight. Even with the oak tree blocking much of his view, he can spot the Milky Way and Taurus the Bull. High above its tallest branches, Orion the Hunter peers down at him. The words suddenly slip into his head unbidden. Mr. Peterson has no idea where they came from or what they mean, but he likes the sound of them so much he says them out loud: “There are other worlds than these.” Sitting there, staring up at the infinite darkness, he thinks they are easy words to believe.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

IT’S USUALLY PLURAL, AS in acknowledgements, but the authors decided not to do the whole Academy Awards shtick, since there’s no music to play us offstage. Lots of people helped, including our families, who give us the time and space to do this crazy job, and all those helpers know who they are. But Robin Furth, who aided Steve on the last three volumes of the Dark Tower books, deserves special mention. All that stuff about prepping for takeoff, the takeoff itself, the docking with our (decidedly fictional) space station? That’s all Robin. She sent us fact sheets, she sent us videos, and when we got things wrong, she corrected us (gently, lovingly). If it feels real, that’s because most of it really is. Gwendy’s Final Task—and her final adventure—isn’t dedicated to Robin, but it could have been; her help was enormous.

Oh, and before we let you close the book (assuming you haven’t already), we want to thank you, Constant Reader. We’re so happy you invested your time, money, and imagination in our little story.

—Stephen King & Richard Chizmar