In the land of the In-world, there is a Barony known as Gilead. Here there is a castle where young boys are trained to become gunslingers. Gunslingers themselves are knights of a sort, defending what they can. They are the heros to people, they are the protectors.The boys must pass a test, which basically includes beating their skilled teacher on a battlefield, in order to earn their apprentice guns, and gain experience for the big guns. The teachers are hard, always hard, and tough to beat. Those who are beaten are sent West in disgrace. Those who don't pass before the age of 25 are usually given up on, and they join the rest of the 'palace people.'
There are machines and such laying around from the 'Old People.' They seem to have created an advanced civilizations, than been wiped out somehow. Hmmmmm… Paper is at a shortage, as is oil and much weaponry… the guns, that is.
The Dark Tower is, supposedly, an area where all worlds, all universes, meet in one. It is crumbling somehow, and because of this, the worlds are failing, and reality is thinning. Things seep through to other worlds through thinnys… breaches in reality.
Beams are forces that point in the direction of the Tower. Following these eventually leads there. The Beams end at 'portals', which are guarded by the guardians. 12 of them in all. Bird, bear, hare, fish, wolf, etc. etc. The guardians themselves are beginning to feel the wear, though not yet fatally. They are machine-animals. Alive and yet not.
From the land of Gilead, one gunslinger survives. The name of this lone gunman is Roland Deschain. He lives for the Tower, and his one goal is to reach it. He lets nothing stand in his way, allows nothing to deter his progress. He will give what he needs to, all in the name of the Tower.
The Dark Tower series forcuses on the quest of Roland. It follows him from a desert, where he has been chasing the Man in Black, to doors to other worlds, to Kansas of another world. Along the way, he manages to band together a group, a ka-tet, which consists of three humans from our world and one creature from his own.
There are currently four main books in the series, as well as a short story. The books are 'The Gunslinger,' 'The Drawing of the Three,' 'The Waste Lands,' and 'Wizard and Glass.' The short story is 'The Little Sisters of Eluria.' The Tower and its worlds also tie into many of the other works written by King. The prolouge to The Dark Tower 5 has been released, and King has supposedly been working on the rest of it.
What more comes will be seen when it arrives...