Scientists like Stephen Hawking and Michio Kaku have frequently speculated about the nature of our universe. They ask the big questions that most people are incapable of answering. What was it like at the beginning of time? What came before that? Is the idea of a parallel universe actually a plausible one? My roommate is convinced that, in the future, man will be capable of time travel and that someone is going to go back to try and figure out what happened at the beginning, go back, screw something up and actually cause the big bang. Oddly enough, a similar thing happened in DC Comics during the silver age. A scientist built a device to witness the beginning of time (DC's Universal Law states that no one can see it) and that in turn cause the creation of the multiverse.
Why am I going on about this? Because Stephen King has also covered this topic in his own work. True to form, the author puts his own unique spin on the creation tale as well as how the multiverse functions.
King first tackled the subject back in 1982 when the first of his seven book Dark Tower series was published. Most of the book chronicles Roland's pursuit of a mysterious man in black. There are also a substantial amount of flashbacks to flesh out the protagonist's back story. At the end of the book, Roland catches up to the man in black and the two talk. The man in black reveals that the multiverse extends infinitely in both directions. Unbeknownst to our characters, the fantasy world of the novel takes place in a blade of grass in a still larger world. Conversely, each atom contains universes within it. It's a fascinating idea. I never understood the idea of "the end of the universe". Hawking has talked about his theory that the universe is currently expanding, but it will soon start to contract. The question that I have is what's at the end? The book lends a fairly plausible answer.
King would return to the idea of parallel worlds two years later, when he collaborated with fellow writer Peter Straub to write the novel, The Talisman. Here the explanation is much more straight forward. There is only one parallel world (at least one relevant one) called The Territories. The two worlds are pretty connected. There is a direct correlation in the distance traveled in one vs. the other (The Territories are smaller, allowing you to cover greater distances in shorter amounts of time). It is also complete with doppelgangers called "Twinners". Unlike most counterparts from different dimensions, your fates are linked. If your twinner dies, so do you.
Two years later (am I the only one noticing a pattern here?) Stephen King published It. While there are no parallel universes, the book does talk about a larger "macroverse" as well as going into detail about how our universe came about. Forget your usual big bang theories. the King-verse was created because a cosmic turtle got sick and vomited it up; that's awesome. The turtle, as well as It, were created by another being called "the Other", who was later named Gan. This goes back to the size factor of the multiverse established in The Dark Tower.
These books were generally independent from one another. As King drew closer to finishing the series, he linked these two books into the larger saga. Insomnia took place in Derry and he even got together with Straub to write a sequel to The Talisman called Black House. Both of these books tied into the events of the Dark Tower series.
King even managed to work our own world into his expansive multiverse. It is said that, what the Stephen King who appears in the books took to be imagination was really a psychic link with the parallel world (much like DC comics did with Earths 1 and 2).
The idea of universes separate from our own has been a staple of science fiction for decades. It has been put to good use as well in other forms of literature. It gives the writer limitless options for story possibilities as there is no limit to what can occur. The possibility of an infinite number of universes actually existing is a fascinating concept. Either way, King has created not just a world or a galaxy, or even a universe, but a whole multiverse that is unique and believable despite the fantastical elements.
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