Cleo Virginia Andrews, pen name V.C. Andrews, conquered ill health to become a best selling author. She never fully recovered from a fall down a flight of stairs in high school. She spent the rest of her life using crutches or a wheelchair. She succumbed to breast cancer at 63 in 1986 at the height of her literary career. Since then, Andrew Neiderman has been writing under her name. At first he worked from her outlines and unfinished manuscripts. He is now on his own. For some reason, I thought Andrews wrote about the supernatural. This was not the case, at least not in the novel I just finished, Dark Angel, the second in the Casteel series, her final completed book. It was a refreshing change of pace from the mysteries I’ve been sampling. The characters are real and fleshed out. The prose is fine, old-fashioned to a degree, in a good way. It is basically a rags to riches story with a complex heroine driving the action, making many mistakes despite good intentions. The only aspect that bothered me was an overuse of the exclamation point, which always brings to mind the Seinfeld argument about punctuation that ended Elaine’s relationship with author Jake Jarmel, and which brilliantly encapsulates the insanity of modern relationships. Andrews' most popular work is Flowers in the Attic, which was adapted to a film starring Louise Fletcher in 1987, a year after Andrews' death. It is rated 5.1 at IMDb. On a scale of five, I rate Dark Angel two-and-a-half. (Facts culled from Wiki.)
Although I chose not to blog yesterday, the anniversary of 9/11, I did set up the floating book shop. I hadn’t seen the elderly Russian couple that always holds hand for a while. I assumed they'd gone on a long visit to their homeland. Even better, they spent two months in Monticello. The woman was so happy to see me she planted a kiss on my cheek. It made my day. Later on, I helped Grandma sort through the stack of Russian romance novels I had on display. She’s having trouble with her eyes and prefers large print. Fortunately, we found a couple that suited her. She was thrilled when I offered her another, from which the first few pages were missing, gone with the wind in Park Slope the day before. If Webster wanted to put an illustrative picture of a grandmother in his dictionary, she would fit the bill. I also got a hug from Big Al, local poet, who I hadn’t seen in weeks. He’s getting antsy, as his self-published volume of "love-ku" poetry is delayed. AuthorHouse, which originally said the book would be ready in September, is now saying before Christmas. I'd be going nuts.
As for today, it was another good session, as I sold about ten books, traded a few, and received a couple of donations, including a slew of V.C. Andrews' other books. The best part of the day was hearing that Morty, a retired salesman who recently underwent radiation treatments, has gained weight. Six-feet tall, he is up to 142. His doctor told him that if he hit 135 he would have to go into the hospital. He had fallen to 137. He's been "eating like an animal." He was his old, upbeat self again.
Visit Vic’s sites:
Vic’s Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic’s Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic’s Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic’s 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic’s 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic’s Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
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