DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
Members' Mausoleum => Calendar Events / Announcements '26 I => Topic started by: Gerard on October 12, 2026, 12:47:49 AM
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I just finished reading "Marilyn" (Dan) Ross' Barnabas, Quentin and the Vampire Beauty which, I believe, was the final entry in the paperback series (1972). It was actually one of the Hermes Press 2022 reprints a friend of mine found somewhere.
It was the first time since the original run came out almost 60 years ago that I read one (I did reread my original novelization of HoDS maybe a dozen years ago). Like all adolescent DS fans back then, I - even after discovering them late in their publication; I didn't know they existed until another junior-high fan told me about them - would buy one when it came out. The only place locally that sold them was in the book section of JC Penney's at our new mall (yes, JC Penney's had a book section back then). It stopped selling them near the book series' end (the TV one did so before that), so I never got the last few that came out, including this one. So, other than my return to my weathered HoDS copy, I haven't read a Ross DS novel in like 55 years (I still have my originals stored in a box somewhere).
Well, here's my take about them bringing my memories back by reading Vampire Beauty, since so many of the titles were the same. First, the seemingly negative. They were really bad, both in plot and writing. This one was no different. In order for Ross to spin his takes, he had to go off of canon. And the stories - for the most part - were rather blase, especially in the later years, like a TV show that should've ended seasons earlier. Same old, same old. Of course, all gothic paperbacks back then were, yet they were immensely popular (our public library had a special section set aside just for them). Villains in the Ross' DS books were tropes, and the ingenue victim heroines all unlikeably whiny. The Vampire Beauty was exactly one of those. If the mad scientist had managed to win in this tale, I wouldn't have minded.
But now, second, the positive. It was wonderful going back to those years when I could still get my DS fix after the show went off the air. Like I said, I devoured the books (along with the Gold Key comics, which in hindsight, were also basically dreadful). I couldn't wait for the next one and sit curled up in my parents' living room recliner to keep turning pages - to me, they were literary masterpieces. But what did a 14-year-old know; besides, they entertained me so they did their job and that's all that mattered. Even with this one, despite its bad story and execution, I did want to know what happened next (even though it was often quite obvious) and I kept turning the pages, so it still did its job and that's all that mattered. It was fun tossing all that "maturity" of someone who can now only get medical care from calling Joe Namath on an 800 number aside and going back to being in junior high because of this book.
They say you can't go home again, but sometimes you still can.
Gerard
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The Ross books exist in their own unique continuity, a continuity where Roger and Elizabeth have a brother who appears in The Mystery of Collinwood. He and his daughter Linda are never referred to in any of the subsequent books. Familiar characters show up on occasion but bear little resemblance to their tv counterparts. Nathan Forbes is a charming seaman, not a scoundrel. Tortured werewolf Chris Jennings is the villain of a book set in the past, though future novels refer to him as Amy's brother in the present. His partner in nefarious doings is Angelique. With olive skin and raven hair.
Collinsport seems to be overrun with Gothic mansions, most of which burn to the ground by the end of the book. Homeowners insurance must be sky high in Collinsport.
My favorite goof is one where Barnabas holds an evil vampire at bay by holding a crucifix in his face, while he is also a vampire. Selective curse?
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And, Uncle Roger, of course in Vampire Beauty one of those many spooky gothic mansions that lined the streets of Collinsport also burned down at the end, consuming all the nasty villains inside, and even though it was caused by Barnabas, Quentin and fill-in-the-blank, they managed to get away - by car, no less - unnoticed even though the streets around the inferno were filled with firetrucks, police and gawking citizenry.
Gerard
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I've mentioned this in the past but perhaps this is a good time to mention that DS fan Jeff Thompson wrote his thesis on the collected works of Marilyn Ross. At least they could be reasonably sure that he didn't purchase a rewritten paper.