CAMPY FUN WITH DARK SHADOWS: HEIRESS OF COLLINWOOD

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I haven't read it - but why do I suspect the following review probably has little in common with what's been said about the book on the forum...

CAMPY FUN WITH DARK SHADOWS: HEIRESS OF COLLINWOOD

Though I don't recall "campy" coming up in any of our discussions!! 

[Uncle Roger]

How can someone who never watched DS say that it ties up plot holes? How does he even know what they are?

[patrickm]

That review kind of reminded me of WKRP when Les Nessman would do a sports report...Lol.

[michael c]

the book has absolutely no value as a stand alone story. i can't imagine why anyone unfamiliar with the series would bother to read it. it only "works"...and i use the word works very loosely...as a tie in to the original story.


in terms of "tying up loose plot threads" nothing could be further from the truth. it introduces so much new plot, and goes so far outside OS continuity, it ends up leaving more questions than answers.

[spoiler]i suppose the predictable "resolution" that Liz was Vicki's mother could be looked at as "closure" but even the way that played out made no sense.[/spoiler]

[michael c]

and i'm not sure how "camp" is supposed to play out on the written page...

what made DS so allegedly "campy" was the broadness of the performances, the dinky productions values, the cheapness of the sets, the primitive special effects, the dated fashions and so forth.

none of that really translates into a written story. it was all about the visuals.

[Gothick]

That "review" seemed unusually pointless, even for something on the "blogosphere."

G.

[KMR]

This is especially rich:  "Overall: Despite not having watched the show, I can tell that Heiress was a very well done book written by one of the original actors in the show that ties up many loose plot lines. But for those who haven’t watched the show it’s going to be a bit of a confusing mess."   

So which is it?  For someone like him, who didn't watch the show, it should be a confusing mess, yet he says it's a very well done book.

[Uncle Roger]

Caveat emptor and at that.

I can still remember at Lara's NYC book signing, a woman identified herself (or claimed to be) an English teacher said that she used Angelique's Descent as part of her curriculum because it was "literature".😮😮😮😮😮

[Gothick]

Glorioski, Uncle Roger!  I thought AD was competently written, but "literature"??

It reminds me of the skit that used to be on SNL a really long time ago of some clueless wealthy lady who had her copy of Cosmo and told viewers about this "fabulous new book I'm reading" as she leafed through the perfume and negligee adverts.  She would also things like "oh yes, fur is murder--it's MURDER to clean!  Have I told you about the last bill for my fox stole?"

LOL!

G.

[michael c]

the book generally garners raves on the FB DS pages. i think a lot of fans are so desperate for any new franchise output they lap it up no matter how lousy. 

[Uncle Roger]

There's that for sure. And a certain element of fandom seems to feel that KLS and Lara will like them better if they buy their books.

[The Doctor and K9]

the book generally garners raves on the FB DS pages. i think a lot of fans are so desperate for any new franchise output they lap it up no matter how lousy. 

I think that's very true. In the 60s and 70s the demand for quality in TV tie-ins was very low. Gold Key and Paperback Library were about state of the art. The authors hired to write novels were people in the industry who had often never seen the movie or show that was being adapted. Compare the novelization of "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" by Michael Avallone with "Battle for the Planet of the Apes" by David Gerrold. The latter is obviously written by someone who cares about the material. Even as a kid I could tell it was superior because he got into the heads of the characters and filled in gaps in the plot of the movie. Avallone obviously did not treat as more than a mechanical, rote retelling of the script.

Bantam books put out some pretty horrible Star Trek novels. Many of them were obviously original novels an author could not get published, so he adapted it to the Trek format. Later, Bantam hired Star Trek fans as their authors and quality sometimes improved. 

Fans of most genres would not accept a book that does not fit the series continuity and format. Star Trek and Doctor Who novels had better not violate canon or there will be hell to pay. Star Wars has an extended universe and fans are incensed because Disney is ignoring it. I can't keep up with the output of those franchises.

I would compare the books in the "Shatnerverse" to Lara Parker's novels. I stopped buying William Shatner's books about the resurrected Captain Kirk because they played fast and loose with the Star Trek universe. I don't have the luxury of being able to be choosy with DS whereas in Trek I don't bother trying to keep up. I'm very selective about what I read.

[Uncle Roger]

To each his own, I suppose. I have probably mentioned this before but at one of the early Newark conventions, a couple of fans gave a staged reading from the "best" works of Marilyn Ross. The prose is quite purple when you're reading it to yourself. Try picture it being read out loud.....

[The Doctor and K9]

To each his own, I suppose. I have probably mentioned this before but at one of the early Newark conventions, a couple of fans gave a staged reading from the "best" works of Marilyn Ross. The prose is quite purple when you're reading it to yourself. Try picture it being read out loud.....

I read those books when I was in junior high school, in the 70s. Believe it or not, they are what got me into DS. I'm amazed now; because as you say, the prose is pretty awful as are the plots. When I read The Mystery of Collinwood followed quickly by Barnabas, Quentin, and the Body Snatchers DS had just started syndication in Boston. It was on at 11 PM, so I was only able to watch it on Friday nights, if I was lucky. So the Ross novels and a handful of episodes got me hooked. Oh, and there were the Gold Key Comics.

I can't remember the last time I read a Ross novel. I tried a few times, but they are so difficult for me to tolerate now. I guess my tastes were different back then.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I can't remember the last time I read a Ross novel. I tried a few times, but they are so difficult for me to tolerate now. I guess my tastes were different back then.

Everything was different back then - which is why I think we could tolerate them. Although I think I stopped reading them (except for the novelization of hoDS) after I read Barnabas, Quentin, and the Witch's Curse. But then, I really only bought them for the covers, anyway... And none of the covers for LP's novels are even the slightest incentive to buy them since they all feature recycled/seen-them-over-a-1000-times photos...