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Post by thedoctororwell on Oct 7, 2010 4:03:07 GMT -5
I am very excited to read an Asoue prequel... I don't think that developing the "mythology" hinted at in Asoue will undermine the philosophical message of TE. Sure, there are mysteries you'll never resolve, and life is made out of questions, not answers, but there's something we're forgetting : Lemony Snicket "knows" some of the answers we'd like to learn, and he can at least share that. I don't think everything will be resolved (as a VFDer he is actually forbidden to tell the world what the sugar bowl contains, for example), but we can indeed except a more autobiographical overview. Maybe we'll learn finally why Beatrice decided not to marry him, what was Esmé's maiden name, that sort of thing. So there will be things explained more clearly and more completely but there will also be things that will not be adressed at all.
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Post by Leanora Crowe on Oct 7, 2010 12:23:35 GMT -5
Quick question: is the prequel trilogy the same thing as the Dismal Dinner?
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Post by Dante on Oct 7, 2010 13:05:18 GMT -5
The prequel tetralogy (that is, it's been stated to be four books long) has nothing to do with The Dismal Dinner. That was a short story set at a Baudelaire dinner party and was put on Lunchables to promote the movie. You can read it all in Dastardly Documents here. As I noted on the previous page, TDD can't have anything to do with the prequel series because that series is stated to take place before the Baudelaire children were born, whereas TDD takes place after all of them have been born. To be honest, TDD is obscure enough to be barely canon.
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Post by Hermes on Oct 7, 2010 14:12:46 GMT -5
I think the word 'prequel' may be a bit deceptive, honestly. It suggests something that deals with the same characters and actually sets the background for the original story. It's not clear the new tetralogy will be that; it's just set in the same world, only earlier. TDD is a prequel, though not a very helpful one, and so are some parts of TUA and TBL, but this - from the meagre evidence we have so far - seems to be something rather different.
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Post by Dante on Oct 7, 2010 14:27:25 GMT -5
I agree that the term "prequel" - not one used by Handler - does implicitly set the original series as its reference point. If we're dealing with something which is largely divorced from the original but just happens to be set before it, that's not quite the same thing. However, you have to admit that prequel is the snappiest go-to term. I don't think it's too big a problem, though; we're hardly likely to find out only upon purchasing the first book that it's not all that connected to aSoUE. That should be clear for months beforehand, once we get information on the title and premise.
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Post by MyKindEditor on Oct 9, 2010 9:47:10 GMT -5
And I'm doing research for a new series for older children that is about more experiences from my own life; it takes place at a time before the Baudelaire children were born. Wait I heard or read that somewhere too... I think he said something about he thinks all the original readers of ASOUE would be all grown up now and he wanted to re-appeal to them by making it more dark and adult-like in what it deals with. I thought I'd read that somewhere! It is for older children...
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Post by bryan on Oct 9, 2010 10:41:10 GMT -5
I wouldn't mind if it didn't really talk about the Baudelaires since we've read 13 books about them, I kind of want to know about the adults more. And more about the locations to, like Anwhistle Antiques.
And just wondering, since he didn't think people would want thirteen, did he write the first 4 so they could be like their own series if it didn't sell well, or did he intend the whole series to be began like that?
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Post by Dante on Oct 9, 2010 11:46:34 GMT -5
And I'm doing research for a new series for older children that is about more experiences from my own life; it takes place at a time before the Baudelaire children were born. Wait I heard or read that somewhere too... I think he said something about he thinks all the original readers of ASOUE would be all grown up now and he wanted to re-appeal to them by making it more dark and adult-like in what it deals with. I thought I'd read that somewhere! It is for older children... It's worth noting that this interview appeared online a month after you made your comments; similarly, by "older children," he's drawing a contrast to the "younger children" that his picture books are aimed at, as discussed earlier in the article, and he later draws a distinction between them and teenagers, too. The operative word is still "children," I think, and I wouldn't expect the new series to be aimed at anything except broadly the same group as the original series. I think the fact that his upcoming book for teenagers is as Daniel Handler rather than Lemony Snicket is very telling in this respect. And just wondering, since he didn't think people would want thirteen, did he write the first 4 so they could be like their own series if it didn't sell well, or did he intend the whole series to be began like that? Well, let me draw an analogy. With a lot of the trilogies I read, the first book is fairly stand-alone, but then the second and third book are much more tightly woven together, and come to a definitive ending. This is because the first book is meant to be able to stand alone so that its readers aren't disappointed if it doesn't do well enough for a sequel to come out. ASoUE I imagine was like this; continuing plotlines and mysteries didn't really get introduced until after TMM because until it was clear that the formula was a success then he wouldn't have known if he'd be able to write more. Think of it this way: Could the series have ended at TMM? And if it wasn't a very popular series, then yes, it could've. It would've been quite open-ended, but it sure wouldn't have been a cliffhanger. That's how I think it was. Edit: In this respect, look at the paperback editions of TBB through TWW that they were issuing a few years ago. They meant to do that for the whole series, they were preparing material for later volumes - but the paperbacks didn't sell well enough, and so they stopped at TWW. Although I still hope they'll continue one day.
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Post by MyKindEditor on Oct 9, 2010 13:01:52 GMT -5
I thought I'd read that somewhere! It is for older children... It's worth noting that this interview appeared online a month after you made your comments; similarly, by "older children," he's drawing a contrast to the "younger children" that his picture books are aimed at, as discussed earlier in the article, and he later draws a distinction between them and teenagers, too. The operative word is still "children," I think, and I wouldn't expect the new series to be aimed at anything except broadly the same group as the original series. I think the fact that his upcoming book for teenagers is as Daniel Handler rather than Lemony Snicket is very telling in this respect. Nope, I heard him on the radio and he said something about his series being for older children.
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Post by Dante on Oct 9, 2010 14:09:23 GMT -5
Nope, I heard him on the radio and he said something about his series being for older children. Ah, so you've remembered where it was you heard this statement now. Nonetheless, the term he uses is still "children." If you can remember any more details about this radio interview, information that might help us locate a web equivalent, that would be much appreciated.
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Post by bryan on Oct 9, 2010 16:33:17 GMT -5
And just wondering, since he didn't think people would want thirteen, did he write the first 4 so they could be like their own series if it didn't sell well, or did he intend the whole series to be began like that? Well, let me draw an analogy. With a lot of the trilogies I read, the first book is fairly stand-alone, but then the second and third book are much more tightly woven together, and come to a definitive ending. This is because the first book is meant to be able to stand alone so that its readers aren't disappointed if it doesn't do well enough for a sequel to come out. ASoUE I imagine was like this; continuing plotlines and mysteries didn't really get introduced until after TMM because until it was clear that the formula was a success then he wouldn't have known if he'd be able to write more. Think of it this way: Could the series have ended at TMM? And if it wasn't a very popular series, then yes, it could've. It would've been quite open-ended, but it sure wouldn't have been a cliffhanger. That's how I think it was. Edit: In this respect, look at the paperback editions of TBB through TWW that they were issuing a few years ago. They meant to do that for the whole series, they were preparing material for later volumes - but the paperbacks didn't sell well enough, and so they stopped at TWW. Although I still hope they'll continue one day. Oh okay that helps and they might start reprinting in paperback once the new series comes out to spark interest for new readers
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Post by Dante on Oct 10, 2010 2:56:36 GMT -5
and they might start reprinting in paperback once the new series comes out to spark interest for new readers The thing is, aSoUE was published by HarperCollins, and the new series is to be published by Little, Brown & Co., so technically they're competitors. I think HC would be mad not to try and cash in on Snicket's return to a high profile, though. And Egmont's just completed a paperback reissuing of all thirteen books in the U.K., so it's not impossible for them to sell; the mistake HC made in 2007 to my mind was that they started reissuing the books too soon, when the market was already saturated with Snicket material and the original editions hadn't gone out of print yet.
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Post by Christmas Chief on Oct 10, 2010 6:42:39 GMT -5
Are the originals out of print?
I would think the competition is a good thing; presumably, this would mean more Snicket material in both parties.
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Post by Hermes on Oct 10, 2010 10:45:09 GMT -5
I find all this rather puzzling. It's more than ten years since TBB was published, so the original audience for that aren't older children now, they're not even teenagers, they're adults (predominantly university/college students, I guess). If the new series is a children's series at all, they can't be the main audience for it, though I can well believe LS is adding some subtleties for the benefit of returning readers.
As I understand it, 'older children' in the book publishing world means 9-12. After that you're a teenager or, in publishers' language, a Young Adult. So if he says it's for older children, that would seem to mean the same as the original audience for ASOUE.
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Post by jman on Oct 27, 2010 15:14:53 GMT -5
I want these books.
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