Reprints

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Lark1
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Reprints

Post by Lark1 »

I've started reading a series of reprints by wordworth classics available from amazon, they are really inexpensive and great, I just got finished The Tangled Skein, which was a story of Sherlock Holmes fighting Dracula, unexpectedly brilliant really.

They have also republished The Devil Rides Out and To The Devil a Daughter, these are the DW titles that I see republished the most, is it because people think they are the best or because they dont have as much of DW's politics and pet topics, like racism and anti-semitism, in them?

It's great to see the website up and running again, I was sorry to hear that Bob had died, I hadnt realised this had happened and thought the website was broken. Thanks for the e-mail update moderator/administrator persons.
Jim
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Post by Jim »

TDRO has been hailed over the years as Wheatley's best thriller. It also has name recognition (along with TTDAD) because of the Hammer film versions. Let's see what else is up Wordsworth's sleeve...
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Post by Toohey »

I'd love to see the Ka of Gifford Hilary, Strange conflict, The Satanist & Gateway to hell reprinted.
Garry Holmes
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Post by Garry Holmes »

You can't really argue that the most famous Black Magic novels should be reprinted first, since they are more likely to sell well. The only problem with this in the long term is that it will end up skewing the public image of DW. The Black Magic stuff will sell well to people who like them, but the majority of his books will appeal to those who like thrillers or historical adventures. And they might not even consider buying something by that 'bloke who wrote those mumbo jumbo books'. I have seen a case where this happened, and I had to argue long and hard to get them to read one of the 'straight' thrillers. It might be nice to have one of those double sized books, where you have two novels under one cover. They could reprint THREE INQUISITIVE PEOPLE and THE FORBIDDEN TERRITORY. This would show the public that there was more to DW than Black Magic, and also help put DEVIL RIDES OUT into some sort of perspective.
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Post by Jim »

I was pleasantly surprised this evening to see that Amazon.com is making the first two Wordsworth reissues available in the States!

One of the reviewers made the same point as posters here, that there's more to DW than these two books.
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Post by Jim »

A nice surprise today: I went into The Strand bookstore (a second-hand shop that's been a fixture in downtown NYC for 80 years), and saw a table of the various Wordsworth books. Naturally, the top of the table displayed mostly "classics," but other titles were filed alphabetically beneath.

When I checked, they had both the Wheatleys (with different introductions), and the whole series of supernatural stories. I bought THE TANGLED SKEIN, which Lark recommended, but there was also Lovecraft, and Stoker, and Conan Doyle, and Howard--such expected riches. What was encouraging was the number of rarer items in the series: Carnacki, Marsh's THE BEETLE, and authors I'd never even heard of.

I imagine I'll be picking up other things on later visits. <g>
Last edited by Jim on Fri 10 Aug, 2007 22:45:28, edited 1 time in total.
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Wheatley Pastiche

Post by Nick »

Interesting to read Lark1 comments about the Holmes vs. Dracula book. Holmes pastiches are numerous. The Solar Pons novels, and such delights as 'The giant Rat of Sumatra' and 'Exit Shelock Holmes.
OK you've guessed it. Who's up for a Wheatley pastiche?
Who could we have ? Gregory Sallusts Grandson? Could the Duke de Richleaus Daughter have given birth before she died? What about Rex Van Ryns son Truscott, with Fleure on his arm, breaking a lance against the Devil. Would it sell? Not to a regular publisher, but I seem to remember a Holmes pastiche self published and made available through the internet that sold in thousands. Any takers?
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Post by Jim »

Actually, like Conan Doyle, DW planted references in his stories that could be used as the basis for others.

In DANGEROUS INHERITANCE, the Duke inherits an estate in Ceylon from a deceased cousin, "whom he had succeeded in rescuing from execution by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution in 1917." There's a reference somewhere in FORBIDDEN TERRITORY why the Duke cannot use his own name in Russia--I can't find it now, but I've always assumed it was connected in some way with this untold adventure (which would fall between THE SECOND SEAL and THREE INQUISITIVE PEOPLE).

Also, how does deRichleau know Rex vanRyn's father? (They are more than casual acquaintances, as the senior vanRyn insists that Rex make time to meet the Duke during his visit to London.) There might be a story there.

There's certainly room in the Gregory Sallust chronology for more adventures, and there are only three Julian Day novels, after all. I think the Roger Brook series is probably too tightly plotted, historically, to allow for any insertions.

BTW, I was disappointed with THE TANGLED SKEIN. It gets Holmes and Watson quite right, I think, but takes the Stoker characters out of the plot we know. I'd rather hoped the author had devised some clever way to dovetail the two. Still, the length of it was right, and there were some excellent scenes.
Garry Holmes
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Post by Garry Holmes »

De Richleau knows Van Ryn from PRISONER IN A MASK. Escaping from the boat taking him to Devil's Island, the Duke leaps into the sea, and is saved from drowning by the older Van Ryn. Once he has convinced the American millionaire that he is not a criminal, the two become good friends.

The Sallust group of novels has an enormous gap after the war in which new adventures could be placed. The same goes for the Modern Musketeers. I always thought that Wheatley missed out in not writing any short stories about these characters. Not all of their adventures need to be novel sized.
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Post by Steve Whatley »

[font=Times New Roman] [/font]I've sometimes amused myself by considering a novel in which Roger Brook's daughter and Georgina's son travel to - where was it, Germany? - in an attempt to establish whether Roger and Georgina could possibly have survived their seemingly inescapable doom. If anyone would like to write it, put me down for a copy.

And does the dear old Duke really die at the end of Dangerous Inheritance?
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Post by Jim »

<< De Richleau knows Van Ryn from PRISONER IN A MASK. Escaping from the boat taking him to Devil's Island, the Duke leaps into the sea, and is saved from drowning by the older Van Ryn. Once he has convinced the American millionaire that he is not a criminal, the two become good friends. >>

That had completely escaped my memory (and I have read that whole series). Thanks.

[throws outline of novel into the bin...]

It just goes to show: you'll have to go a long way to beat DW at his own game.
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Post by Garry Holmes »

Jim: Don't laugh, I once bumped into someone to whom something like that had happened. When they were producing those original DR WHO novels a few years back, someone had produced a fairly detailed outline and was planning to send it to the publishers. Fortunately he showed it to a friend who told him that the plot was almost exactly the same as one which had just been published!

Steve: After the last chapter of DANGEROUS INHERITANCE, the Duke's friends check his heartbeat and discover that he is still alive. He is in a critical condition and the only hope is for them to discover the location of Shangri-La. With the help of Julian Day and Gregory Sallust, they find it in the nick of time. Who should they discover there but Roger and Georgina Brook, as well as Sir Pellinore, who had all been swept there on a super tidal wave. Unfortunately for them, a group of Satanist Communist Nazis arrive and try to take over. Our heroes defeat them, and by way of thanks the people who run Shangri-La give them all a special potion which extends their lifespan by an enormous amount. Our heroes go off and appear in at least another thirty books each.
For anyone whose interested, that outline is available for FREE!!!! You have to think of your own title, though....
Steve Whatley
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Post by Steve Whatley »

[font=Courier New] [/font]Garry, not even DW would have had the nerve to attempt a plot like that....I don't know though. I trust the Nazis were led by a Satanically re-animated Herr Gruppenfuhrer Grauber? Anyway, if you're going to be sarcastic, I'll just have to write the thing myself. Give me a few years...
Garry Holmes
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Post by Garry Holmes »

A few years! If Hammer really are starting up again, you ought to get the thing written and try to sell it to them. Mind you, judging by their track record with all of the Wheatley's apart from TDRO, the end result might not resemble the book very much....
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Post by Steve Whatley »

I'd love to see Hammer back in production, but I'll believe it only when I see it. As to them doing another Wheatley film, this raises an interesting dilemma for whoever controls the copyrights, because surely after To The Devil - A Daughter, Dennis vowed that he'd never let Hammer film another of his stories.
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