When HarperCollins launched their series of novels, with Lara Parker and Mark providing the first two (and only) published submissions (we won't count SE Hinton's book here), I wrote my own DS novel hoping that maybe HarperCollins would accept it. It was a where-are-they-today book, set around 2000. I had a massive hurricane hit Collinsport in my tawdry little tale. Regarding Collinwood, the entire estate, I had the damage pretty well limited, but enough to cause the insurance company to moan and groan. The glass-walled natatorium was nothing but shards (David's wife had had the entire estate restored); windows in the Main House had blown out, flooding several rooms, including the drawing room, and at the Old House where a retired Barnabas and Willie lived (by now it had electricity, plumbing, a modern kitchen, phones and a satellite dish on the roof, plus Barnabas used the internet on his computer), windows in the ball room opposite the drawing room had imploded, flooding that chamber. What fun that was! It was like Dan Curtis meets Irwin Allen.
Gerard
