They reach the shelter just in time, and while they wait out the storm, Roland tells them of an adventure in his youth to keep them occupied: 'The Skin-Man.'įollowing the death of Roland's mother, his father sends him and his friend Jamie De Curry west to the town of Debaria on a mission to capture the Skin-Man, an apparent shape-shifter who terrorizes the town and surrounding areas by transforming into various animals at night and embarking on murderous rampages. An elderly man who operates a ferry gets them across the river, and warns them that a severe depression (starkblast) is coming, and that they can find shelter in a building a few miles ahead. The novel begins with Roland and his ka-tet arriving at a river on their journey to the Dark Tower. The preliminary version was simpler than the final version, which was designed to 'give the cover a little more drama'. The design of the Scribner edition cover was done by Platinum Fmd, the creators of the cover for King's 2009 novel Under the Dome, and Rex Bonomelli, Scribner's art director and designer. in February 2012 and in a mass market edition by Scribner in May. It was published in various editions by Donald M. The artwork for the volume was provided by Jae Lee, the main illustrator for Marvel Comics' adaptations of King's other work, The Dark Tower. Both books were published several years later, anyway.

On December 1, 2009, Stephen King posted a poll on his website, asking visitors to vote for which novel he should write next and it was announced at the start of 2010 that The Wind Through the Keyhole had not received most votes, though it was a close call with Doctor Sleep. In an interview in March 2009, King stated, describing an idea for a new short story he recently had: 'And then I thought, 'Well, why don't I find three more like this and do a book that would be almost like modern fairy tales?' Then this thing started to add on bits and pieces so I guess it will be a novel.' While promoting his novel Under the Dome, King confirmed this during his TimesTalk event at The TimesCenter in New York City on November, 2009, and the next day King's official site posted the information that its tentative title was The Wind Through the Keyhole. First mentioned by King in 2009, after the controversial ending of the seventh novel in 2004, the book was officially announced on King's official website on March 10, 2011.

As part of the Dark Tower series, it is the eighth novel, but it is set chronologically between volumes four and five. The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole is a 2012 fantasy novel by American writer Stephen King.

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