Respect to Stephen King

Several years back I was introduced to the “Dark Tower” series by Stephen King.  The first book about the Gunslinger (a time traveler) was intriguing with all of its twists and turns in the style only manageable by Stephen King.  I popped into a local used book seller and found a paperback of the second book in the series.  I started reading it.  True to the genius of Stephen King, it launched from a new setting introducing new characters.  Bravo.  This is going to be good.  I continued reading, giving credit to Stephen King for his unique approach and trying to guess how he was going to bring it back around and tie it in with the Gunslinger.  The plot took an erotic turn.  Eyebrow went up.  Wow, Stephen King can truly write about anything.  Erotica continued.  Hmmm.  Only the likes of Stephen King could ever bring this back around, but with a time traveling Gunslinger, I supposed anything was possible.  Page 60.  ¼ of the way through the book and there is no sign of anything from the first book.  I look at the front cover.  Yes, it affirms the Dark Tower by Stephen King, as does the back cover.  I flip through the book and realize that it does not say the author’s name anywhere else.  The other suggested books include no titles by Stephen King and have rather provocative titles. 

I begin examining the book more closely and discover that where the cover meets the spine of the book, the original book has been ripped out and a substitute glued in its place.  OMG!  This is not Stephen King at all.  Had it been ANY other author, they would not have been given the benefit of the doubt.  Only because of Stephen King’s legendary cleverness did I read to page 60 before suspicions kicked in.  How utterly embarrassing that it turned out to be porn.  I took it back to the bookseller and explained the situation.  The book seller quickly put the book under the counter and issued a credit.  Oh my!