Series the Third?

[J-Bird]

What do you all think is the likelihood of Handler/Snicket writing another series in that universe? I personally don't think that it would ever happen, but it's possible. The limiting factors include: Time, Energy and Characters about whom to make the series, among others.

[Esmé's meme is meh]

I would love to see another series in the ASOUE/ATWQ universe, but I don't think that's going to happen. Mainly because it's clear Handler/Snicket loves to leave questions unanswered, and I think is great that's great.

Now, having covered the Baudelaire children and Lemony Snicket as an apprentice, I don't think there's space for much. I mean, what would it be? A book about the Quagmires? That'd be kind of repetitive. Maybe one about Olaf? That sounds like that new book about 50 shades of Grey from Grey's point of view (I think Meyer did the same thing with Twilight), and that is cheap and sucks.

[Cafe SalMONAlla]

Though obviously I would love it to happen, I agree that it's incredibly unlikely that it would.

I do expect more picture books from LS in the future (and would another narrator-orchestra piece be too much to ask for?), and at least a couple more novels from DH. Screenplays, apart from wwbu, would be cool too.

[gliquey]

I think there's plenty of stuff he could do - it doesn't have to be something massively important to either of the original series, just a new series that happens to be set in the same universe as the rest of his works; on the other hand, it could well be something quite important. Anything from a series about the Baudelaire parents to a one-off novel about the schism could work.

But I don't expect it to happen. I can always hope, but I'll be able to survive without a third series.

[B.]

A spin off about the four kids on the beach mentioned in TPP. Or maybe another companion book released after ?4- I think 13 suspicious incidents came out roughly mid-way through the serious, just like with TUA so who knows?

[Skelly Craig]

I once thought it would be feasible to make another 4-part series about Lemony Snicket when he's older. After all, there's tons of different exciting anecdotes mentioned in passing throughout ASoUE. But then he'd have to go into his story with Beatrice, and I don't think it would be Handler's style to go into the subtext/sub-stories, esp. about Beatrie/Lemony, from ASoUE. It was meant to be fragmentary and shrouded in some mystery, and thus, their story has been already told and was an actual part of ASoUE, instead of a mere set-up for a possible further series.

[Hermes]

I think it would be quite easy to create another series in the same universe; it would not need to have any close connection - VFD could be involved, to show that it is the same universe, but VFD is a big organisation. It's probably a mistake to look for a particular hook in ASOUE or ATWQ to hang the story on. I suspect we are still secretly hoping for a story that will plug the gaps in our knowledge, but I don't think Lemony wants to do that.

EDIT. Terry: Could he do a series about Lemony when he is much older, say ten years after writing ASOUE? Presumably he's still having new adventures. Beatrice would have to be mentioned somewhere, but could remain part of the mysterious background.

[Dante]

I would side with gliquey and Hermes on this one. There's really no reason why Handler can't set a new story in the wider ASoUE/ATWQ universe, and in fact we were fully prepared to believe before we had read the first volume of ATWQ that it would have even less to do with ASoUE than it actually turned out to. Further, if you like, "Young Lemony Investigations" are more than feasible, but it would be easy enough to suggest a shared setting just by referring to common places, like the city, or to look at somewhere else touched by V.F.D.'s tentacles in a different way. I would imagine that, if Handler has another idea for a children's book series, it will show up in the Averse in some way, because there's really no reason why it shouldn't, though there's no real sign of anything brewing in the near future.

[MisterM]

I'd like something exactly like what hermes mentioned

[Cafe SalMONAlla]

Aug 22, 2015 12:20:22 GMT -5 Hermes said:

EDIT. Terry: Could he do a series about Lemony when he is much older, say ten years after writing ASOUE? Presumably he's still having new adventures. Beatrice would have to be mentioned somewhere, but could remain part of the mysterious background.

It would be interesting to what the vfd situation might be like that far in the future. It was 'in shambles' by the time ASoUE took place, so ten years after ASoUE was written goodness knows what would be happening.

[Hermes]

It's clearly declined further by TBL (future part), where Beatrice's teacher leaves for the hills 'to join the few remaining volunteers'. Though I suppose we could hope that the publication of ASOUE might lead to a revival.

[gliquey]

Aug 23, 2015 9:46:35 GMT -5 Hermes said:

It's clearly declined further by TBL (future part), where Beatrice's teacher leaves for the hills 'to join the few remaining volunteers'. Though I suppose we could hope that the publication of ASOUE might lead to a revival.

I think the publication of the books is always a tricky one, from the outright contradictions in time (e.g. Lemony's letter to Kit which implies Hotel Denouement is still standing vs. him searching through Mortmain Mountain wreckage for months*) to the accuracy in research that defies common sense (there's just no way Snicket can know so many of the conversations verbatim, or even paraphrase accurately). If you want to try and apply logic to the series' publication, however, (and are subscribing to the 'it was published long after the events took place' idea) you could perhaps say that they indicate the opposite - publicly recording events relating to V.F.D., an incredibly secretive organization, should indicate that the organization is no longer important or secretive and is probably in worse shape than it was at the time of ASOUE - otherwise, it's making a lot of private information public and perhaps even putting a lot of volunteers in danger. If you don't like this implication, I suppose you could say that Snicket is making a mistake when publishing the series, V.F.D. is still important but now a lot less secretive because to sustain themselves they need to recruit publicly, or that ASOUE was only written with an audience of volunteers in mind (and can only be found in V.F.D. libraries). The fact that Snicket seems to dissuade everyone from reading the books - and even uses them to communicate secretly with his sister - could perhaps be designed to put off any non-V.F.D. member, in the same way that important bits of information like transcripts of meetings are hidden in books that are as verbose, complicated and boring as possible.

[*I'm sure this thought occurred to everyone else a long time ago but it's just dawned on me that this may not be an inherent contradiction; the Hotel Denouement could have been rebuilt by the time Snicket wrote the letter, or he could have even been referring to the real underwater Hotel Denouement.]

[Hermes]

If we're going to take the writing of the books into account, one clue may be The Puzzling Puzzles, which is presented as a VFD training manual; the expanded edition has a preface by the Duchess which clearly refers to the organisation as still living, and says that a member of it (who seems to be a real person) has solved some famous puzzle. (Dante should have the details.)

I really like the idea that Lemony's books may have given new life to the organisation. Bear in mind that you don't have to be recruited formally; you can become a volunteer by volunteering. This may also explain the way the attitude to VFD changes in the books. At first it isn't mentioned, even though some of the characters must have been aware of it; presumably Lemony is observing secrecy at this point. Later he changes his policy on this, perhaps because he thinks that publicising what it does (with careful warnings not to read the material, designed to keep villains out) would actually benefit VFD.

[Dante]

I would transcribe the PPuzzles introduction, but I know it's already been done, so I'll just dig one up. ...Yes, here:

Mar 3, 2006 19:08:57 GMT -5 Gigi said:

Our history teachers tell us that the first puzzle was created by Archimedes, the great Greek mathematician. From the moment he unleashed it, noble and villainous people raced against each other to unlock its secrets. The future of the modern world hung in the balance. Who would be the first to solve the puzzle variously known as the Loculus, the Stomachion, the Ostomachion, and Synthemachion, Archimedes' Box, and "exceedingly difficult"?

You will be proud to know that a member of our organization was the first to succeed. It took only two thousand years.

Your training will be no less difficult, but it is arguably far more important. Never before have so many critical skills and vital truths been taught in one place - not even in my own mountain classroom from long ago.

Today our world is full of puzzles. Who is a volunteer? Who is a villain? Who is in disguise? What is the code? Who burnt down the house? Where is the hiding place? Which side are you on? How did this happen? What can you do? What was the first question again?

Your training is designed to help you begin to solve such puzzles. As you embark, allow me to recall the words of an associate who many believe is no longer with us:

There cannot be truth without, first, confusion.

With all due respect,

R

I don't think we ever sourced that quotation, either.

[B.]

Handler referencing popular mathematics problems, how didn't I know this existed?