The Ross novels were anything but a cohesive series. A few of the early ones had marginal continuity of characters, but as more books came out, the more the stories became incompatible with one another. One book might have been set at Collinwood in 1870 with a particular set of family members. Another book might be set in 1873, and the residents would be completely different. The novels came out in no chronological order; book 10 might be set in 1970, book 11 in 1848, book 12 in 1895, book 13 in 1971. (Note that these are completely hypothetical examples, as I'm at the office and don't have the books to refer to, but you get the gist;  I have, over the years, picked up the complete set, except for two titles I'm still missing.) In addition, none of the books were consistent with events in the show; even the characters frequently varied wildly from their television counterparts, Quentin in particular.

Wow. I remember being at my grandparents' house in Georgia on the day DS first aired, watching the first few episodes, and thinking it was pretty neat. Then we came back home, and the local ABC station wasn't airing the show. Boy, was I one pissed-off little fellow. It take another 3-plus years before I ever got to watch it on a regular basis; and then, all too soon, they pulled the plug. But -not- being able to watch it every day during that period made it all the more magical for me. In the end it's worked out, as I've watched the entire series twice, and many portions of it up to a dozen times.

What a great milestone.

Happy, happy, Nancy!

Harpy barfday, matey.

Happy, happy, Sandor.

Harpy barfdays, peoples. 

Why, yes I did.

Like so: