New Book on the Festivals.

[Uncle Roger]

My Facebook feed is full of inquiries about a new book called My Memoirs of the Dark Shadows conventions August 1993 through June 2016, by Anthony Taylor. The subject is certainly of interest but who is Anthony Taylor? Granted, we don't meet every fan who attends the festivals but I would like that over a period of over twenty years, someone would know who the guy is. But that's apparently not the case.
It appears to be self published. The cover picture that is supposed to be Collinwood is definitely not Seaview Terrace, Greystone or Lyndhurst. It's available through most of the usual platforms. $3.99 for kindle, over $20 (give or take) for a physical copy. I didn't purchase it, nor am I likely to. I read a bit in an online preview. Badly written just begins to describe it.
Don't let me deter you if you feel that you want to add this to your DS library. But do keep in mind that if there was indeed a market for a festival retrospective from a fan's point of view, KLS would have come out with it by now.

[patrickm]

I came across the book doing my usual ebay DS search and purchased a copy last week ...it is still in transit. My initial thoughts are the same as yours Unc, ... never heard of him and considering it is more of a booklet rather than book, my expectations are pretty low. Still curiosity won out. I will post my review once I have it in hand.

[Midnite]

Anthony Taylor has a couple of videos on YouTube showcasing his photos from a couple of 90's East Coast Fests.  In case you're curious, he isn't in any of those pictures but his YT channel has several other uploads in which he appears.

[patrickm]

My copy arrived today. Skimpy would be a major understatement. I'll try to describe it structure wise and content wise (such as it is.)

It really is a booklet about 8.5 " X11", so about letter size. There is a 3 page introduction and a 1 page conclusion mostly on his remembrances and thoughts about Dark Shadows.

There are 9 chapters for each fest he attended. He only went to the East Coast festivals. Descriptions as follows:

1. 93 NYC Fest 2 1/2 pages. He described the dealer room, Q&A's, who was there and who he got autographs from.

2. 95 NYC Fest  1 1/2 pages. Again described dealer room, Q&A's and autographs.

3. 2001 NYC Fest 4 pages.  1st page recap that it took place 3 weeks before 9-11. The other 3 pages was on the In  Remembrance the fest did on the actors who had passed. He did a paragraph each for Grayson Hall, Joan Bennett, Joel Crothers, Thayer David and Robert Gerringer.

4. 2004 Tarrytown Fest 1 1/2 pages. Mostly on his trip to Tarrytown.

5. 2006 Brooklyn Fest 1 page. Mentions about the video clips to Dan Curtis passing.

6. 2007 Tarrytown Fest 3 pages. Pretty much just a recap of Dan Curtis starting the show, bringing in ghosts, a Phoenix and Barnabas.

7. 2009 Newark Fest 1 page. Basically nothing on the Fest - I'll comment at the end.

8. 2012 Tarrytown Fest. 1 page. Pretty much sadness over Jonathan Frid's passing.

9. 2016 Tarrytown Fest 1 page.  Just mentions this was DS 50th anniversary.

Besides the cover, , there were 5 pages of pictures. As Unc said, the house on the cover has nothing to do with DS. (Don't know where it is from but apparantly Mr. Taylor liked it because it is printed again - badly - on 2 more pages. 1 page of another unknown house, 1 page of some unknown chair and 1 page identified as Edinburgh Castle  )

The skimpiness could be attributed to the fact he admitted the only Fest he attended all 3 days was in 2009 Newark. He made a bigger to do about being made member of board of trustees of his church and somehow that prevented his doing autographs?  His 1 page on the 2016 Fest was mostly bragging on himself .... he had gotten a Masters Degree from Jones University and and  being driven to Tarrytown in a stretch limousine.

I was hoping to have a book I could refer to all in one but this ain't. it. Save your money.

[Uncle Roger]

Well, that was actually kinder than some of the reviews that I saw online. Conspicuous by its absence is any mention of the California or Las Vegas conventions. Or anything between 1995 and 2001. I guess that if he didn't attend, they don't count.

And how is being taken to the festival in a stretch limousine relevant? Even the actors didn't get one. Well, I had some dreams . They were clouds in my coffee.