First published in 1978
The Complete and Uncut Edition was first published in 1990

First came the days of the plague...
Then came the dreams...
Dark dreams that warned of the coming of the dark man.  The apostate of death, his worn-down boot heels tramping the night roads. The warlord of the charnel house and Prince of Evil.  His time is at hand.  His empire grows in the west and the Apocalypse looms.

Amazing and very very scary story.
Scary, because this could come true to a point, there are so many virus's out there these days that it wouldn't amaze me in the slightest if the human race was nearly wiped out by one of them....thats the scary part.
For anyone who loves the Dark Tower saga, well you are going to love this book...again there are ties to TDT.... in very subtle ways..the dark man...this guy turns up in the strangest places doesn't he?
And once again, in TDT saga, this story is related to in the 4th book of the series.
to Stephen King - Books