Petal

[Moonraker]

I never buy any of the "continuation" books. To me the only author who could invest Blytons characters with life is/was Enid Blyton herself.

To a certain extent, I would totally agree (if that makes sense!). However, some continuation novels (CNs) are every bit as good as the originals. Pam's Kitty at St Clare's was excellently written. So there is life after Blyton, but probably not as we know it!

[Tony Summerfield]

Of course if you are a member of the Society (as you are LS!) you can read some continuation books on the Members Section of this website. I have also read Pam Cox's three St. Clare's books and they are also very well written.

[Kate Mary]

I agree with the opinions expressed above and I know I've wittered on about facsimile reprints elsewhere in the forums, but I would love to see new editions of the Faraway Tree & Wishing Chair series with original text & illustrations. I hope someone at Chorion reads these forums and sees a opportunity to make a profit, more than just EBS members would buy them I'm sure.

I've read Pamela Cox's "The Third Form at St Clare's" and thought it was very good and I'm just about to start the Sixth Form. I'm not a great fan of sequels written by other authors in general (I've tried too many Jane Austen sequels) but these are very enjoyable. Has anyone tried the Anne Digby Naughtiest Girl ones?

Kate.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Has anyone tried the Anne Digby Naughtiest Girl ones?

I read them a few years ago and found them a real disappointment. To me, Anne Digby's Naughtiest Girl continuations seem thinly-plotted compared to Enid Blyton's lively, detailed stories and they fail to capture the atmosphere and camaraderie of the original books on the whole, though some titles are more successful than others.

Anita

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

The reason I'm so bothered about pseudo-Blytons is that it bothered Enid herself. After all, she fought and won a court case against someone who alleged that she was a syndicate, and hadn't written everything herself.

Recently members have written of how as children they would buy every book they could with Enid's name on it. How would their 10 year old selves have felt to be sold something that they later discover wasn't by her after all? I'd have been livid! But it is this loyalty of young readers that is now being exploited.

I have no problem with fan fiction when it is labelled as such. Ideally I would like abridged versions to be clearly identifiable as well.

I have every problem when the original texts are no longer available, and only the syndicated stuff is, such as happened to Noddy over recent years. The only product I have in the shop labelled "complete and unabridged" is a Make way for Noddy book/CD set.

As for the cartoon being accredited to a dead author; I'm sure that this is just the sort of scenario that EB wanted to avoid.

best wishes

Viv

[Rob Houghton]

Recently members have written of how as children they would buy every book they could with Enid's name on it. How would their 10 year old selves have felt to be sold something that they later discover wasn't by her after all? I'd have been livid! But it is this loyalty of young readers that is now being exploited.

I agree that the loyalty of young readers is definately being exploited. I don't often read 'continuation novels' myself, (although I am guilty of writing one (unpublished one) myself, 'The Mystery of the Disappearing Tramp' - a Find Outer's novel! ).

The novels by Pamela Cox do fill a niche, and are every bit as well-written as Enid's originals. Whether the Faraway Tree sequel is as good remains to be seen, but why it has to have such a contrived plot, when all the ingredients for further Faraway Tree adventures are already in place is beyond me.(surely many more lands await to be visited without having to 'save' the tree from death yet again!?)

It is the total departure from the themes and ideas laid down in the original books that I am against, rather than the sequels themselves. For example, suddenly having Mr Goon taken over by alien beings might be a bit much, but adding another crime to be solved in the traditional way is much more acceptable!

The point about Enid Blyton is that she wrote so many books that surely there is no need for continuation novels to be written purely as a means of cashing in on the originals.

It seems silly to the extreme that Chorion are frantically trying to get sequels written to the Faraway tree books when there are so many 'real' Enid Blyton books of quality that have gone out of print (for example, Galliano's Circus books, family stories, Barney books etc). Why can't some of these be reprinted instead?