Ur

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Rrty

Well-Known Member
Jun 4, 2007
1,394
4,588
This is the first story I am reading. I am not too far into it, but I have to say, even at this early stage, it's great. I love the main character and how he is dealing with his problems -- and what I mean by that is, I like his inner voice, his summations of what's going on around him. This is making me feel like I am about to read a story from one of the early collections. It also for some reason is giving me the same feeling I had when I read the tale "Everything's Eventual," which I enjoyed very much. Not sure what it is -- maybe it's the focus on one character and how said character deals with the complications in his life. What did you guys call that type of piece once, an innie as opposed to an outie, something like that? (Or is this a complete phantom memory? Fairly sure it isn't, but if it is, sorry for the random neologisms.) Anyway, I can't wait to read more of this tonight.
 

Pucker

We all have it coming, kid
May 9, 2010
2,906
6,242
62
Oh ... there's a lot here to like here (and a very specific thing to dislike).

I recognize Wesley, alright ... and who among us has not felt the cold burn of the magically disappearing relationship? If you haven't yet, you will. :eyebrow: And I find the notion of

buying and carrying the Kindle out of sheer spite

simply delicious. I have no doubt many here enjoy the Dark Tower connection, and I liked that, too. But as stand-alone I think it's interesting to look at the role
pure selfishness
plays in this story. I wonder how often any of us ever stop to consider the ripples we can create through even the smallest inconsideration; ripples that expand in directions we not only don't consider, but often can't imagine.

Of course, it is not possible to please (or protect) everyone, and so our worlds become insular. We want what we want and we damn the torpedoes. And I would further suggest that devices like the one Wesley uses in this story -- and indeed like the very ones sitting right in front of you and I as we speak -- enhance that insularity. We can narrow our worlds, each to our own satisfaction, but we cannot stop those ripples, can we?

I think more than anything I don't like the way
Wesley and Robbie get off scott free at the end of this, and they all presumably live happily ever after.
It's likely there will be a reckoning of some kind, and I do so love a story that stops before it's done. But ultimately this one left me thinking I would much rather have read the part we didn't get to see.
 

BeverleyMarsh

Well-Known Member
Jul 23, 2010
862
5,374
The Twilight Zone
This is the first story I am reading. I am not too far into it, but I have to say, even at this early stage, it's great. I love the main character and how he is dealing with his problems -- and what I mean by that is, I like his inner voice, his summations of what's going on around him. This is making me feel like I am about to read a story from one of the early collections. It also for some reason is giving me the same feeling I had when I read the tale "Everything's Eventual," which I enjoyed very much. Not sure what it is -- maybe it's the focus on one character and how said character deals with the complications in his life. What did you guys call that type of piece once, an innie as opposed to an outie, something like that? (Or is this a complete phantom memory? Fairly sure it isn't, but if it is, sorry for the random neologisms.) Anyway, I can't wait to read more of this tonight.
I'm not sure about the spelling either but yes, I too have read on here about innies and outies, the Stand is meant to be an outie for example. I'm even wondering if the man himself didn't use it somewhere. I think he may have...but like you it could be my own phantom memory !
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
Oh ... there's a lot here to like here (and a very specific thing to dislike).

I recognize Wesley, alright ... and who among us has not felt the cold burn of the magically disappearing relationship? If you haven't yet, you will. :eyebrow: And I find the notion of

buying and carrying the Kindle out of sheer spite

simply delicious. I have no doubt many here enjoy the Dark Tower connection, and I liked that, too. But as stand-alone I think it's interesting to look at the role
pure selfishness
plays in this story. I wonder how often any of us ever stop to consider the ripples we can create through even the smallest inconsideration; ripples that expand in directions we not only don't consider, but often can't imagine.

Of course, it is not possible to please (or protect) everyone, and so our worlds become insular. We want what we want and we damn the torpedoes. And I would further suggest that devices like the one Wesley uses in this story -- and indeed like the very ones sitting right in front of you and I as we speak -- enhance that insularity. We can narrow our worlds, each to our own satisfaction, but we cannot stop those ripples, can we?

I think more than anything I don't like the way
Wesley and Robbie get off scott free at the end of this, and they all presumably live happily ever after.
It's likely there will be a reckoning of some kind, and I do so love a story that stops before it's done. But ultimately this one left me thinking I would much rather have read the part we didn't get to see.
...I feel ya man on the ultimate untold portion, but still-I was just tickled with a rare King "happy ending"...
 

Pucker

We all have it coming, kid
May 9, 2010
2,906
6,242
62
...I feel ya man on the ultimate untold portion, but still-I was just tickled with a rare King "happy ending"...

It's good, every once in a while, to see folks in stories escape the more troubling consequences of their short-sightedness. I guess that's why we read the stories, isn't it? To be shown a place that's different from the one we know. Not necessarily better . . . just different.

Maybe we can't live happily "ever after," but we ought to be able to live happily at least for a while.

Or am I wrong about that (as I am about so many other things)?

:upside:
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
It's good, every once in a while, to see folks in stories escape the more troubling consequences of their short-sightedness. I guess that's why we read the stories, isn't it? To be shown a place that's different from the one we know. Not necessarily better . . . just different.

Maybe we can't live happily "ever after," but we ought to be able to live happily at least for a while.

Or am I wrong about that (as I am about so many other things)?

:upside:
...spot on my friend....a bout of brief cheer in the all encompassing gloom is always welcome....
 

RandallFlagg19

Well-Known Member
May 5, 2014
809
6,209
38
Lowmen posing as paradox police, collecting such a magical and dangerous device as the pink Ur kindle. I’m not convinced the lowmen are actually paradox police who protect the dark tower; and Don, not Robbie, called Wesley at the end of the story, we don’t actually know what happens to Robbie after Wesley leaves him in front of Susan and Nan’s café; and although we are left seeing Wesley in a happy moment, the futures are uncertain.

I would love to have my own
and read the infinite publishing's of all Stephen Kings; and I would likely destroy myself with such a device... I still want one
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Lowmen posing as paradox police, collecting such a magical and dangerous device as the pink Ur kindle. I’m not convinced the lowmen are actually paradox police who protect the dark tower; and Don, not Robbie, called Wesley at the end of the story, we don’t actually know what happens to Robbie after Wesley leaves him in front of Susan and Nan’s café; and although we are left seeing Wesley in a happy moment, the futures are uncertain.

I would love to have my own
and read the infinite publishing's of all Stephen Kings; and I would likely destroy myself with such a device... I still want one
Thanks for the spoilers - still haven't read Ur - I need to get The Bazaar of Bad Dreams for Christmas!
 

Anthony C

New Member
Dec 13, 2015
3
12
58
Having just read this, I'd like to start a discussion of the specifics of the story, but the discussion will be a HUGE spoiler, so....

Ok, the Paradox Police are Taheen, obviously, and their buttons suggest they're in the service of the Crimson King. However, in this story they're acting decidedly lawfully, which throws me off! The older of the two (lawmen? A passing description of where they wear the Crimson King's badge on their lapels) Taheen states "in a meditative voice. 'The Tower trembles; the worlds shudder in their courses. The rose feels a chill, as of winter.'" This strikes me as reverential, as if they're in service to the Tower, but their buttons would suggest otherwise. It seems to me that anything Wesley is doing to damage the Tower and aid in the breaking of the beams would be viewed favorably by the Crimson King, no? However, the way I'm reading it, these Taheen are there to admonish/punish Wesley for his wrong doing.

Oh, also I thought I recognized the term "ur" from somewhere else, but it's not coming to mind at the moment. Was it used in other Dark Tower stories?

So, what's your take on this?
 

RandallFlagg19

Well-Known Member
May 5, 2014
809
6,209
38
Having just read this, I'd like to start a discussion of the specifics of the story, but the discussion will be a HUGE spoiler, so....

Ok, the Paradox Police are Taheen, obviously, and their buttons suggest they're in the service of the Crimson King. However, in this story they're acting decidedly lawfully, which throws me off! The older of the two (lawmen? A passing description of where they wear the Crimson King's badge on their lapels) Taheen states "in a meditative voice. 'The Tower trembles; the worlds shudder in their courses. The rose feels a chill, as of winter.'" This strikes me as reverential, as if they're in service to the Tower, but their buttons would suggest otherwise. It seems to me that anything Wesley is doing to damage the Tower and aid in the breaking of the beams would be viewed favorably by the Crimson King, no? However, the way I'm reading it, these Taheen are there to admonish/punish Wesley for his wrong doing.

Oh, also I thought I recognized the term "ur" from somewhere else, but it's not coming to mind at the moment. Was it used in other Dark Tower stories?

So, what's your take on this?

I agree. I don't think the lowmen/Taheen were actually "good lawmen", but posed as the Paradox Police as a way to scare Wesley into giving them the pink kindle/Ur device
 

icarus

Well-Known Member
Mar 30, 2011
125
168
I enjoyed this story but it wasn't my fav in "The Baazar of Bad Dreams"....I liked the idea that stopping a certain tragic event could have certain ripples in the future....like the butterfly effect....
 

champ1966

Well-Known Member
Dec 3, 2011
4,008
10,840
58
Wakefield Yorkshire England
Liked it. Always good to see connections. This one had more than a few.

Cortland. Eddyville. (hee) Yellow coats with eye buttons. Bird heads. Heck, even the Tower itself. And I probably missed some.
Stephen Maturin is mentioned, he's the character in Master and Commander who discovers and names a giant tortoise. I read on Wikia that SK named Maturin the turtle after him.