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The Ted Scott series takes off

Dust jacket for the first Ted Scott volume, Over the Ocean to Paris (1927).

The first volume of the Ted Scott series was an obvious retelling of the first solo Transatlantic flight by Charles A. Lindbergh in May 1927.  From time to time a reference is made to how quickly the story was rushed into print.  An examination of the dates is interesting. Charles Lindbergh departed from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, […]

Ghostwriting in the Mega-Books era 3

In a further exploration of the Mega-Books writers’ guidelines from the early 1990s, some of the topics which were off limits in the Syndicate era were allowed (murder) while some topics used in early books (drugs or alcohol) were prohibited.

Banned Book Week

Anthony Comstock and Traps for the Young

The last week in September is considered to be Banned Book Week.  In 2019 this is Sept. 22-28. While you will see lists of many books that have been “challenged” or “censored” over the years, most of the time our juvenile series books are not listed. Yet, the librarians who wanted to impress fellow librarians, […]

Marginalia — Ed Zuckerman

Ed Zuckerman noticed that the Hardy Boys published in 1976 were not the same as the ones he grew up with. Investigating this, he learned of the revised texts and Leslie McFarlane. He corresponded with the first ghostwriter of the series and got this copy of The Secret of the Caves signed after he had marked passages to use in an article he wrote for Rolling Stone magazine.