Heiress of Condowood

[Uncle Roger]

I think you're onto something there, MB. I think that the fact that it has the name Lara Parker attached to it has a lot to do with it. If it was written by another writer, who has not been established as a brand name, I doubt if it would have been as successful.

[Bob_the_Bartender]

I read on Lara Parker's web site that she states she does not make all that much money on her DS novels.  I guess her novels are a "labor of love."

However, after reading the comments here, I'm not in a hurry to read any of Ms. Parker's DS books.  Sorry, Angelique.

[michael c]

I think you're onto something there, MB. I think that the fact that it has the name Lara Parker attached to it has a lot to do with it. If it was written by another writer, who has not been established as a brand name, I doubt if it would have been as successful.

in the past i've been told i was "mean" for being critical of Parker's writing. but i treat her as fairly as any other author in the same position.


the 2012 Burton/Depp film was skewered but for many in the fandom anything associated with the original cast gets a pass. i don't care for the BF audiodramas. to me they are dreary and depressing. and Parker's Mary Sue fiction veers so far outside OS canon i cannot take them seriously. but because the OS stars are involved in these productions they are considered the "real deal" by many fans.

again it's Parker's story. and ifs she simply had gotten the basic structure of the series accurately she could have decided Vicki came from outer space. but you have to get the framework right to effectively launch the story.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

but you have to get the framework right to effectively launch the story.

Well, try to take comfort in the fact that there are many DS fans who agree with you.

[michael c]

Wow, Parker didn't even bother to look up an online entry on the Victoria Winters storyline when she wrote that thing?

That "research" would have taken her all of about five minutes.

she gets the train ride right and makes an "inside joke" about Maggie calling Vicki a "jerk". and describes Liz as a "recluse" garbed in jewels and black evening gowns. so i gather her "research' consists of watching episode one. 

[michael c]

speaking of Maggie for reasons not made clear she is still a waitress at the Collinsport diner in 1972...


and Vicki inquires as to the well being of her father and learns Sam died "two years earlier". when, of course, Vicki knew exactly when and how Sam died and was intimately involved in his death.

the hits just keep on coming! 

[Gerard]

I thoroughly enjoyed SE Hinton's Hawkes Harbor which was initially an entry into the first collapsed novel re-boot by HarperCollins.  It basically was a "biography" of Willie Loomis, from his childhood through his "adventures" with Jason Maguire leading up to his arrival in Collinsport and his "meeting" Barnabas Collins.  When the book series died, she simply took her story, changed the names of persons and places (although she did leave one name "accidentally" unchanged as a tribute to DS fans) and - voila - a DS novel without breaking any copyright laws.  What was amazing, though, was her knowledge of the canon.  She did have to do tweaks here and there for the purpose of the plot, including the heart-breaking ending.  But yet she knew the "facts," the backgrounds, etc.  If Ms. Hinton could avail herself of all of that, why couldn't Ms. Parker? 

Gerard

[michael c]

i also enjoyed HH. and although she did take the story in it's own direction she got the foundation spot on. which made it fully understandable.

i could "feel' Willie and Jason on the page. Parker's characters leave me mystified.

[Gerard]

HH was a fantastic DS novel, wasn't it, Michael?  I cried at the end - that blanket; oh, god, that blanket.  One could tell that Ms. Hinton was a true fan of the series, knowing the storylines and trying to keep within them (a total impossibility because of the TV series' own inconsistantsies).  She knew the material.  That's why "fan-fiction" is so important in keeping the franchise alive.  Too bad the PTB don't accept that.  Anyone who tries to put out in the public a true continuance is suddenly met with a bevvy of lawyers from you-know-who.  I'm surprised Ms. Hinton wasn't sued for mentioning the one name from the series as a tribute to us.

Gerard

[michael c]

what name did she use i forget? i just recall the Maggie equivalent was called "Katie" which felt like an inside joke.

[Gerard]

It was for the character based on Roger; I forget his name and I'm too lazy to go get the book off the shelf.  Anyway, more towards the end, instead of using the "new" character's name, she said:  "Roger Collins."

Gerard

[Uncle Roger]

I think that the Roger counterpart was named Richard.

[Gothick]

SE Hinton is an accomplished writer with a seriously honed talent.  Her novel THE OUTSIDERS is now something of a classic.  Lovely to hear she is also a fan of our show.  I haven't read HAWKES HARBOR.  The title alone is an in-joke for DS fans.  Maybe I should see if the book is available on Kindle. Although I still enjoy print very much, I can get through a lot on my commute and lunch breaks now with the Kindle.

I'm repeating myself, but I thought ANGELIQUE'S DESCENT was very good until the final part where she had to write material that was canon and she flubbed so badly and her tone was so off that it was, for me, a trial to get through those pages.  For the record I felt the some way about Gregory Maguire's WICKED.  Very readable until he got to the material that repeated the original Baum novel.  Then, whoopsie.  He has a lot more talent than does Lara Parker the writer.  I always enjoy Lara Parker the actress.

cheers, G.

[michael c]

i did not read her last work the Quentin-themed 'Wolf Moon Rising' but it would seem that 'HTC' has perhaps at least followed her own continuity in one regard...


[spoiler]here the big "revelation" was that Vicki is the illegitimate offspring of the rather yucky Elizabeth/Quentin relationship told in that variation on the tale. gross, and it makes absolutely no sense in terms of OS canon but i believe it links these two stories on that point.  [/spoiler]

like i said i didn't read it but i believe it connects the two books at least on that. it would seem Parker's making a rather clumsy attempt to create some sort of larger "mythology" linking the characters "across the centuries". but it's a misfire. 

[The Doctor and K9]

  And right there could be the sad proof that no matter how blatantly they goof, whether it be in a reference book or in plotting a DS novel, some DS fans really aren't picking up on the goofs - or they don't care. 

It maybe that many of the readers, perhaps most of them, are people with only a very general idea of what DS is about. Maybe they picked up the book with only vague memories of Barnabas and "that girl he liked." These books have to be going out to a much larger audience than the people who attend festivals.