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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 26, 2022 13:37:46 GMT
I found Barnabas, Quentin and the Mummy's Curse (published in April of 1970) in a delightful visit to the Green Hand bookshop in Portland, Maine this past Wednesday. I was in Portland visiting some friends. Quite a bit of the action in John Connolly's Charlie Parker books takes place in and around Portland, Maine. Parker lives in Scarborough, a few miles south of Portland, and in some of the books is working part-time as a barman in The Great Lost Bear - a real pub in Portland (and apparently some of the people who frequent the pub in the books are also real).
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Post by helrunar on Jun 26, 2022 13:44:29 GMT
That's interesting, Dr Strange. I assume it's intentional that the main character in that book bears the name as Charlie "Bird" Parker, one of the greatest jazz musicians of the 20th century.
I could swear I walked past a bar called the Great Lost Bear last Wednesday (we walked around town a lot). My friends I stayed with just moved from Scarborough last year. (So far as I am aware, there's no weekly fair at Scarborough, LOL).
H.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 26, 2022 15:25:22 GMT
That's interesting, Dr Strange. I assume it's intentional that the main character in that book bears the name as Charlie "Bird" Parker, one of the greatest jazz musicians of the 20th century. I could swear I walked past a bar called the Great Lost Bear last Wednesday (we walked around town a lot). From a 2016 interview with John Connolly - If I remember correctly – and it does seem like a very long time ago – it was the nickname that attracted me. Parker was known as “Bird”, and there was something about a man like Charlie Parker (the PI version) having a nickname associated with flight, and perhaps spirituality, while being so earthbound and mired in mortality. But as the books progressed, “Bird” came to be used less and less in association with him, and that was very deliberate. I didn’t want people to think it was a gimmick, and now I actually wince a little when writers or journalists refer to him as Charlie “Bird” Parker. In my mind, that’s the musician, while Parker is just, well, Parker. There’s maybe also a small in-joke in that Parker ends up accidentally named after a jazz musician, as it’s made clear in the books that his parents didn’t listen to jazz at all.The Great Lost Bear, 540 Forest Avenue, Portland, Maine - Connolly himself splits his time between living in Portland and in his native Ireland.
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Post by helrunar on Jun 26, 2022 17:11:32 GMT
Thanks for that interesting comment from the author. Portland is such a sweet town that I can actually believe somebody (who is sufficiently privileged to be able to do so) choosing to live there despite the deteriorating horror show the US has become in the past six years.
The photos of the people at the bar were nice to see from your link, as well. Mr Connolly is quite cute, too!
H.
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Post by Knygathin on Jul 28, 2023 7:57:10 GMT
I found Barnabas, Quentin and the Mummy's Curse (published in April of 1970) in a delightful visit to the Green Hand bookshop in Portland, Maine this past Wednesday. I was in Portland visiting some friends. How delightful to find a stack of Dark Shadows paperbacks in a deliciously overstocked bookshop in Maine; The Green Hand is really an enclave of Heaven on Earth. There are a few corners or corridors where the books rise steepling to such a monumental degree that one needs to walk sideways, or politely wait at one end of a path for another customer to slither through first. The horror section was epic. Yes, on an admittedly upper shelf I found an original Arkham House edition of Lovecraft's Beyond the Wall of Sleep, original dust jacket displaying a wonderful photo of some sculptures by Clark Ashton Smith. It was priced somewhere in the neighborhood of $2000 but I was able to take it down from the shelf and peruse the vellum-soft pages. Why the owner doesn't keep such a volume in a locked case, I have no idea. That bookcase is located in a direct sightline from where she sits at the till but after all, even the most vigilant shopkeeper can't always be seated right at the till. I visited Portland some 40 years ago. It had a laid back small-town atmosphere. I loved it. Especially remember the red brick sidewalks downtown. Very neat and tidy. And the seedy harbour, with pubs and prostitutes was even piquant. I think Lovecraft must have modeled the Gilman hotel from the YMCA above downtown. I stayed there a few nights, and it was exactly like in the book, both in atmosphere and architectural layout. Gave me the creeps. I even conjectured an escape route out the window onto the courtyard far below.
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Post by helrunar on Aug 9, 2023 17:43:42 GMT
Interesting Dan "Marilyn" Ross factoid shared from a friend who I believe corresponded with Ross for several years (he talked this one department at his college into allowing him to write an MA thesis about the Dark Shadows books):
Dan Ross wrote 358 novels under 21 different pseudonyms.
I wonder if there's a complete list somewhere? And if that's a record. I think John Creasey wrote a very large number under multiple names.
Hel.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 9, 2023 19:02:51 GMT
Found a few more Dark Shadows. BTW, thanks for the Miss Ghost USA link, Steve. Marilyn Ross - Barnabas, Quentin and the Frightened Bride (Paperback Library, Oct. 1970) Blurb: Ann and John Hayward's honeymoon at Collinwood slowly turns into a series of nightmares. Soon after their arrival, John, who is recovering from a war injury, falls victim to strange, violent spells. In a fit of irrational jealousy, he accuses his wife of falling in love with Barnabas Collins. Meanwhile, a series of attacks on her life frighten Ann into believing John is trying to kill her. Though tormented by doubts of John's sanity, she believes his warning that Barnabas is a vampire. Ann nevertheless accepts help from Barnabas - and unknowingly becomes the prey to the evil forces at Collinwood!Marilyn Ross - Barnabas, Quentin and the Magic Potion (Paperback Library, Jan. 1971) Blurb: Barnabas predicts trouble for Collinwood when Nicholas Freeze, in whose antique shop Carolyn Stoddard works, discovers a centuries-old potion that promises eternal youth. Soon after, Mr. Freeze's daughter Hazel, tricked into taking the serum, dies. Carolyn is grief-stricken over her friend's death. Barnabas insists she stay on at the shop to watch Nicholas Freeze and his associates, one of whom Carolyn suspects is Quentin Collins, back at Collinwood in a disguise. Then Carolyn sees Hazel's ghost. She interprets this as a warning that Mr. Freeze has marked her for his next victim. Barnabas still refuses to let her quit. Has Barnabas made a fatal mistake by deliberately endangering Carolyn's life? Or will his plan avenge Hazel's murder and put her spirit to rest?
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Post by 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr on Aug 9, 2023 19:03:43 GMT
This from www.barbaracartland.com/static/home.aspx?from=2
"During her long career, my mother, Barbara Cartland wrote an incredible 723 books, which were translated into 38 languages, making her the most prolific author of the 20th Century. She left behind a staggering 160 unpublished manuscripts which we have decided to publish." So does the 723 total include the 160 unpublished manuscripts?
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Post by helrunar on Aug 9, 2023 19:58:54 GMT
Her effusions were truly dire. But one of them, A Hazard of Hearts, was made into a very entertaining television film co-starring a young Helena Bonham Carter and Diana Rigg as a Regency rakehell. Great fun.
Hel.
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Post by jamesdoig on Aug 9, 2023 21:51:57 GMT
"During her long career, my mother, Barbara Cartland wrote an incredible 723 books, which were translated into 38 languages, making her the most prolific author of the 20th Century. I think there are more prolific authors, but not many - I know L. Ron Hubbard is up there. Certainly a remarkable effort!
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Post by 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr on Aug 9, 2023 22:10:20 GMT
You are right, her son is wrong. Corín Tellado was a Spanish romance writer with over 4,000 titles published. They seem to be short novels or novellas that she wrote in a couple of days. Cartland books are short too for the most part. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cor%C3%ADn_TelladoI assume this is her with some of her books:
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