Hello, cousins!

I have some news I'm excited to share. Last month, my first book, a novel called Smithy, was published. This  was the culmination of years of work, waiting, and wondering if my writing would ever see the light of day.

Smithy is a story inspired by the famous haunted houses of Great Britain. However, I've never been to Great Britain, so I decided to write what I did know and set my story in a place I have visited: Newport, RI. In fact, the purportedly haunted house in my book resembles a very particular house in Newport with which we're all familiar (hence the "Semi-OT" in my post).

One blogger who reviewed my book recognized the connection and has illustrated her review of Smithy with images of Seaview Terrace: https://amiesbookreviews.wordpress.com/2021/02/20/smithy-by-indie-author-amanda-desiree-is-a-triumph-this-exceptional-book-is-one-of-the-best-horror-titles-i-have-read-in-years-and-is-truly-unique-destined-to-be-the-sleeper-hit-of-2021/?fbclid=IwAR1TKpjRbK1xmn1RLWe7dw3cMyX8106e1VAcyOgSAAkYijAW58zGJtWxjbE

My book is dedicated to "my cousins from England." When I started out in online fandom, I participated in several fan fiction groups that helped me cut my writing teeth. Moreover, I've always felt welcomed and accepted within the DS community more than anywhere else. Thank you all for your support!

ProfStokes/Amanda Desiree

Shadow Gram reported on Facebook yesterday that John Karlen has died.  I'm having trouble copying and pasting the bulletin, but maybe someone else with access will be able to do so.

Karlen was one of the greats, as an actor and as a personable guy who was kind to his fans and respected by his colleagues. I'm sad to hear he's gone. 

ProfStokes

Today Lara Parker attended the Los Angeles Times' Festival of Books on the campus of USC. She participated on a panel called "From Page to Screen to Page" alongside Brian McGreevy (creator of the supernatural show "Hemlock Grove"), Tod Goldberg, and Pamela Ribon. The other panelists had all written works that were later adapted for film or TV; Lara came from the other direction, beginning in television and turning to write novels.  "So it's all over for me," she joked. 

The discussion got off to a slow start.  Moderator Richard Rayner talked extensively and somehow managed to turn his introductions of the panelists around so he ended up talking about himself.  When introducing Lara, he erroneously said she came from Texas (she's from Memphis, TN).  McGreevy, who's lived in Texas, interjected, "If you want to figure out whether someone is from Texas or Tennessee, ask them how they do barbecue." 

Lara didn't speak until almost the end of the session, and then she went into detail about her journey from screen to page.  She began taking screenwriting courses through UCLA's extension program because she was tired of the terrible lines she had to read in the scripts she was given. (The worst was, "There'll always be a candle in the window for you, Steve!" from "The 6 Million-Dollar Man.")  "When you do screenwriting, you do everything from scratch, so all the years I spent as an actress didn't help me at all," she recalled ruefully. 

Around this time, Harper Collins decided to launch a series of novels based on DS and someone from the company contacted Lara, knowing she was doing screenwriting.  "I told them, I don't know anything about writing a novel.  And they said, 'Well, we really want to use your name, so just write something.  We'll bring in a real writer to fix it up later.' And I thought, I'm going to spend a year, maybe 2 years, writing this and some smartass is going to change it all?  No, I'm going to do the best I can.  So I had all these models--DS borrowed from all the great horror stories in literature--but I had no idea how to begin.  I spent about a year and a half just reading, looking at structure, dialogue, story, trying to find a model.  I think I finally settled on Daphne Du Maurier." 

Rayner stepped in.  "That's where your acting experience came in handy!  All the scripts you've read must have given you an idea of story."

 Lara shook her head.  "No. All you do is learn your lines and show up, hit your mark.  What did help was that as an actor, you create a character.  You come up with a backstory in your head for them.  My first book was about my character, the witch, and how she became a witch.  I spent about three years writing it and when I got to 575 pages, my editor said, 'You need to stop.'  'But I'm not finished,' I said.  'Save it for the next one.'" 

Later, she reflected on the Burton film.  "It's too bad Tim Burton didn't contact me to help him write his script for the Johnny Depp movie. I could have fixed it for him and we would have had several movies by now and my books would be selling better.  But he didn't want to have anything to with the old guard.  Isn't it always that way?  No one ever cares about learning what worked in the previous version.  Tim Burton, bless him,  is a brilliant man but he doesn't care much about story.  The show was all about story. We kept people on the edge of their seats, tuning in every day for five years. His movie was a series of set-pieces, one after the other, all of them good looking, but you just didn't care about anything that was happening.  He was off the mark with it.  The TV show was very serious, but he made fun of it.  Our vampire never would have hung upside-down from a chandelier!" (I thought that was a very good analysis.) 

She did say that she has a feeling a new film, "a real version of DS," is likely to happen someday, given the perennial interest in remaking DS.  "And I have a contract that says I get a percentage if they choose to film any of my books!" 

Several DS fans were in the audience (as were Jim Storm, Jim Pierson, and Ansel Faraj).  One man asked if Lara was concerned about the possibility of running out of material: given that DS had covered so many themes and stories already, how many more books or audio dramas can continue?  Lara laughed.  "That's right, we did run out of ideas, didn't we?  And then we started to repeat ourselves." But she has no such fears for herself. "As a writer, you have a platform to communicate with your readers about themes that are important to you. I put into my books (Angelique's Descent and The Salem Branch) my hatred of hypocrisy and of people in power abusing the people below them. But I never came right out and said any of that.  I was just telling a story. You can riff on any number of themes when you have a platform."  Another woman said that she was one of the kids who ran home from school to see DS.  She remembered Angelique's top-knot hairstyle and frilly blouse (the 1795 costume), and she expressed sadness on learning Jonathan Frid had died.  It was an interesting discussion and I'm glad Lara got to participate and share her experiences.

ProfStokes

I think we all found the witch trial storylines of 1795 and 1840 to be ridiculous.  A hundred years and more after Salem, who would try anyone for witchcraft?  However, after completeing America Bewitched by Owen Davies, I'm wondering if perhaps we haven't been a little too hard on the show's writers.   

Davies's book is a highly comprehensive study of witchcraft beliefs in America post-1692 (at times, in fact, it feels oversaturated with detail).  The author examines the superstitions, folk customs and religious notions of European immigrants, African Americans, and Native Americans as they relate to witches and witchcraft, as well as documented accusations of witchcraft, and assassinations of suspected witches.  Of particular interest, Davies writes about laws dealing with witchcraft.

A particular English common law statute from 1604 prescribed the death penalty for the practice of witchcraft and conjuration.  This law was also adopted within the colonies.  Although the law was repealed in England in 1736, it remained in force in America well after the Revolution and even after the Constitution had been ratified.  In rural areas especially, justices of the peace continued to practice from outdated law books.  In other instances, the law simply wasn't repealed due to negligence.

For example, Davies recounts the story of one couple from Cumberland County in Massachussetts, now modern-day Maine, who were accused and brought to court in 1787.  The judge had to inform the jury that, "Regrettably, the old statute aginst witchcraft [1604 death penalty law for witchcraft and conjuration] remained unrepealed and was therefore still in force."

A suspected witch was assualted by a mob in the County of York (modern Maine) in 1796.

A reporter for the New Bedford Mercury Northern Tribune writing in 1847 expressed his astonishment that anybody in America could still believe in witchcraft in the present day and age.  He referenced a witchcraft court case that had occurred in Maine a few years earlier (Quentin's case, perhaps?) as the source of his surprise.

The latest witchcraft case the author mentions occurred in 1950 in Connecticut.

Most witchcraft cases were dismissed, or the charges was converted to nuisance/fraud (as in the 1950 Connecticut matter).  Interestingly, revised laws post-1736 targeted self-proclaimed practitioners claiming to tell the future or cure or curse through magic. (e.g., If Quentin were to boast that he was a warlock and had used a spell to kill Mordecai Grimes's cattle, he could be brought before the court as a humbug, but Mordecai would have no legal grounds for accusing Quentin of witchery.

In light of the anecdotes in this highly informative book, it seems more plausible that Vicki and Quentin could have been brought to trial for witchcraft (though it's still far-fetched that they would face judicial execution). I wonder if the DS writers were aware of the history of post-colonial witchcraft trials in Maine, or if they were just flying by the seat of their pants and got lucky.

Happy Halloween!

ProfStokes

Have a wonderful birthday, EvanHanley!  May the legions of the damned salute you! 

ProfStokes

I wish you a splendid birthday, mspeel007!        

ProfStokes

On October 2, I wil be participating for the first time in a fundraising walk, the 7th annual NAMIWalk, to benefit the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Most professional mental health services are targeted at people experiencing mental illness; loved ones who want information about a mental disorder, treatment options, and how they can help the healing process, or who need support services themselves to help cope with a significant other's illness, are often left out. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (http://www.nami.org/) is a grassroots organization that attempts to fill this void.

NAMI is a valuable organization that provides education and support for families and friends of people with mental illness. NAMI is also an advocacy group that works to preserve funding for mental health services and to pass legislation against stigmatizing the mentally ill.  Because of the economic crisis, the budgets for county and state mental health services across the country (and especially in California) have been slashed; yet, the demand for these services is still great. Families searching for help are turning to NAMI for information about what they can do. The NAMIWalk will raise money to fund programs like Family-to-Family, Peer-to-Peer, and In Our Own Voice that can assist those in need.

I believe that NAMI provides important services for a neglected segment of our population and would like to do my part to give back to the organization so that others can continue to enjoy its benefits. I am currently collecting sponsorship donations online: www.nami.org/namiwalks10/LOS/profstokes

If anybody on the forum would be interested in sponsoring me, I would sincerely appreciate anything that you might contribute.  Feel free to PM me with any questions you may have.

Thank you very much for your support!

ProfStokes