Fixup

This term is borrowed from the science fiction community.  It describes a book that resembles a novel that was assembled from previously published short material.  Often there are editorial changes made to suit the publication length and change characters or themes to be suitable for the book form.

Stratemeyer Fixups

Edward Stratemeyer wrote many serials and short stories for newspapers and story papers. Some of these were reused in fixup volumes.  As he was preparing several books for the Bound to Win library published by W.L. Allison in 1897, some were long serial stories and others were fixups from short stories or serials that were not quite long enough for a book-length publication.

These volumes were published under Stratemeyer’s own name and his two principal personal pseudonyms, “Capt. Ralph Bonehill” and “Arthur M. Winfield.”  While the latter was made famous for its use on the Rover Boys series, the “Bonehill” name volumes in the Bound to Win series were frequently assembled as fixups.

After the initial Bound to Win publication which included the 12 Stratemeyer stories and one Horatio Alger, Jr. story, Slow and Sure, the books were broken up into smaller publisher libraries according to the pseudonym and the general themes.

Determining textual sources of Fixups

When the source periodicals are available, it can be possible to trace the selections made.  A good example of this is the book Leo the Circus Boy. Portions of “Leo the Circus Boy,” “Carl the Juggler,” and “The Balloon Boys” were selected, adapted, and interwoven to meet the needs of the new narrative.  Not all of the issues of Bright Days are at hand so it is not completely certain the issues and chapter names in all cases.  Some new material was added to frame or connect the stories.

Stratemeyer used his experience with this to help Street & Smith take their story paper serials, dime novel and nickel library stories and produce book-length stories for the Boys’ Own Library, Frank Merriwell series and other series which were initially issued by them in 1902.  In some examples a given Frank Merriwell book volume can contain story elements written by two or perhaps even three contributing writers.

Of course, the result of this kind of copy-paste editing can lead to episodic stories and occasionally a confused character name or plot hole.  Sports, outdoors, and hunting stories can use this technique with minimal damage since the books are often a series of contests or scenes.

Boy Scout Life Series Fixups

An example that is not from the Stratemeyer Syndicate is in the Boy Scout Life series that was produced by and approved by the Boy Scouts of America.  One of the volumes, Boy Scouts on the Trail (Barse & Hopkins, 1920) by “John Garth” contains parts of at least seven stories by Joseph Bushnell Ames under his own name and two personal pseudonyms, “John Garth” and “Lynn Gunnison.” One of the stories, “The Shark,” was used in an earlier volume in the series which was a short story collection.

Boys’ Life Magazine Story Fixup into Mutiny in the Time Machine

A more modern non-Syndicate example of a fixup is Mutiny in the Time Machine (Random House, 1963) by “Donald Keith” (a joint pseudonym for a father and son). The story contains episodes that were first published as short stories and short serials in Boys’ Life magazine.