One more book to throw out there--"A Drowned Maiden's Hair". It's historical fiction about a girl who is adopted from an orphanage where she's mistreated and punished for not knuckling under to the headmistress. The three elderly sisters who take her into their palatial home shower her with delicious food, beautiful clothes and all the books she wants. The only catch is that no one can know she exists.
That's vaguely similar to a modern Japanese manga called "My Stepmother and Stepsisters Aren't Wicked", although that one's more about subverting the Cinderella story.
The method that the Sweet Valley High books were written is the same use for Tom Swift Sr and Jr), Nancy Drew and the Hardy Books. The creator (Edward Stratemeyer in this case) would write a detailed outline and hire some journalist is flesh it out.
To add, fiction aimed at teenagers began in the mid to late 19th century With Nick Carter, Wild West, Frank Reade, Jr. and other weekly nickel magazines.
There is a vintage Fiat Spider convertible stored at the same facility where I rent space. It looks like it would be fun to drive, in the same way as the Volkswagen Type IV of my youth.
I happen to own a little Fiat spider-type convertible. They are absolutely a ball to drive around town, and terrifying on the freeway. That is, when they start at all. Mine has been in the garage for some decades now.
I've never owned an Italian car, but I've driven both the 850 Spider and the 124 Spider. The 850 is ridiculously small for a person of my height, but the 124 was quite nice. I'd have liked to have one back when I was young enough to enjoy it. I bought a 1952 MG TD MK II instead. Oops, my bad.
I spoke with the owner last week. He said the electrical is not nearly as bad as many British roadsters (looking at you, MG), but of course, he was trying to get his to start.
Rest in peace. SVH and its copy-cat series filled in the gaps when I wasn't reading stuff like Asimov.
Diane Duane, the author, is on Tumblr, and I was able to express to her how delightful it is to adult me to be able to follow the social media of one of my childhood author heroes.
Love your secret not so secret love of trashy books. The main character in the book I'm writing is a tough, resourceful and smart female up against terrifying forces. But she has a secret love for awful sci-fi romance novels.
1980s me had a part-time job at Waldenbooks at the mall. Listen, we sold more "Sweet Valley High" than anything. I know. I stocked the shelves.
DECODER: The 1980s was a period in the prior millennium, before everyone was
constantly online. "Waldenbooks" was a store that sold books, calendars and gifts for cheapskates, during this period. "Mall" was a collection of retail establishments popular during this period, in which Amazon was a river and cellphones did not exist.
I keep a 50-state atlas in the car. As a geographer, I'll always have a fondness for paper maps, but it's practical also. And in fact, I used it yesterday to help plan an upcoming bike tour.
Living in Maine, tons of us have a Delorme gazetteer in the car, because you really can't count on cell service.
Have you ever been to DeLorme central? It's a pretty cool place. Also, I don't know if they still do this, but they used to put David DeLorme's home, Mole Hollow, on the maps of Maine to catch copyright violators.
It was when my wife met Ozzie, RATT, and Poison, and metal was done the right way, with hair and spandex. I terrorized Las Cruces with my 67 Oldsmobile Toronado.
I was too old for the Sweet Valley series. My favorites growing up were anything to do with horses (Walter Farley, Marguerite Henry, etc.). But quite possibly my favorite author from that period in my life was John Verney and his Callendar family series. I still own copies of these and it's fun to dip into them from time to time.
One more book to throw out there--"A Drowned Maiden's Hair". It's historical fiction about a girl who is adopted from an orphanage where she's mistreated and punished for not knuckling under to the headmistress. The three elderly sisters who take her into their palatial home shower her with delicious food, beautiful clothes and all the books she wants. The only catch is that no one can know she exists.
That's vaguely similar to a modern Japanese manga called "My Stepmother and Stepsisters Aren't Wicked", although that one's more about subverting the Cinderella story.
The method that the Sweet Valley High books were written is the same use for Tom Swift Sr and Jr), Nancy Drew and the Hardy Books. The creator (Edward Stratemeyer in this case) would write a detailed outline and hire some journalist is flesh it out.
To add, fiction aimed at teenagers began in the mid to late 19th century With Nick Carter, Wild West, Frank Reade, Jr. and other weekly nickel magazines.
Ta, Robyn. As you know, you're much younger than I. I never even heard of Pascal before her death. I'm glad you enjoyed the books.
I'm too old to have read these books, but I share your love of young adult fiction. The good stuff is some of the best reading out there.
This is Blancmange
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=youtube+blancmange#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:7359669a,vid:QW_m8lhZbQQ,st:0
Accept no substitutes
There is a vintage Fiat Spider convertible stored at the same facility where I rent space. It looks like it would be fun to drive, in the same way as the Volkswagen Type IV of my youth.
I happen to own a little Fiat spider-type convertible. They are absolutely a ball to drive around town, and terrifying on the freeway. That is, when they start at all. Mine has been in the garage for some decades now.
I've never owned an Italian car, but I've driven both the 850 Spider and the 124 Spider. The 850 is ridiculously small for a person of my height, but the 124 was quite nice. I'd have liked to have one back when I was young enough to enjoy it. I bought a 1952 MG TD MK II instead. Oops, my bad.
Yeah, mine's the 850 and my head sticks up over the top of the windshield when the top is down.
They were pretty sweet little roadsters, though possibly less reliable than their British competitors… if that’s even possible
I spoke with the owner last week. He said the electrical is not nearly as bad as many British roadsters (looking at you, MG), but of course, he was trying to get his to start.
Rest in peace. SVH and its copy-cat series filled in the gaps when I wasn't reading stuff like Asimov.
Diane Duane, the author, is on Tumblr, and I was able to express to her how delightful it is to adult me to be able to follow the social media of one of my childhood author heroes.
Rugby sevens: USA win bronze in dramatic finale
With around 90 seconds left in this match and the teams still deadlocked, who else but Maddison Levi goes over in the corner for Australia.
But the conversion is missed, which means the U.S. can still take the win if they score and convert.
The buzzer goes with the play deep in the U.S. 22 but here we go! Alex Sedrick breaks through!
She runs the length of the field, touches down under the posts, the conversion is good and the USA win bronze!
The Aussies cannot believe it. The U.S. players are celebrating. USA beat the World Cup and SVNS Series champions Australia 14-12.
A touch from the stadium DJ, who blasts Springsteen's Born in the USA on the public address system.
https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/live-updates/e0199f19-f2b9-475f-88c9-ca116e4035f0
Canada looks down from the silver medal podium and says "nice job girls". ;-)
Love your secret not so secret love of trashy books. The main character in the book I'm writing is a tough, resourceful and smart female up against terrifying forces. But she has a secret love for awful sci-fi romance novels.
1980s me had a part-time job at Waldenbooks at the mall. Listen, we sold more "Sweet Valley High" than anything. I know. I stocked the shelves.
DECODER: The 1980s was a period in the prior millennium, before everyone was
constantly online. "Waldenbooks" was a store that sold books, calendars and gifts for cheapskates, during this period. "Mall" was a collection of retail establishments popular during this period, in which Amazon was a river and cellphones did not exist.
And we navigated the highways with the Rand McNally atlas.
I keep a 50-state atlas in the car. As a geographer, I'll always have a fondness for paper maps, but it's practical also. And in fact, I used it yesterday to help plan an upcoming bike tour.
Living in Maine, tons of us have a Delorme gazetteer in the car, because you really can't count on cell service.
Have you ever been to DeLorme central? It's a pretty cool place. Also, I don't know if they still do this, but they used to put David DeLorme's home, Mole Hollow, on the maps of Maine to catch copyright violators.
I haven't been in but I've seen HQ from the road a bunch.
A friend used to clean the inside of the huge globe, and she's now the Commissioner of DACF. Who could have predicted!
I never heard the copyright trap, but that's funny.
It was when my wife met Ozzie, RATT, and Poison, and metal was done the right way, with hair and spandex. I terrorized Las Cruces with my 67 Oldsmobile Toronado.
Sweet Valley Ride.
I miss it terribly. Now I'm driving a minivan. We age but we don't forget. It was pure brute force on four wheels.
I hate my phone.
I hate m
scattered pictures , for the
scattered pictures , for the
I was too old for the Sweet Valley series. My favorites growing up were anything to do with horses (Walter Farley, Marguerite Henry, etc.). But quite possibly my favorite author from that period in my life was John Verney and his Callendar family series. I still own copies of these and it's fun to dip into them from time to time.
My Teacher Is an Alien!