Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Super Mystery #5: Bonfire Masquerade

[Hardy Boys UB Fan]

I'm sure they don't pre-choose how many pages the book would be. They probably just write it, and it turns out how it turns out.

But I wonder why the OT versions of The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were longer then they are now?

[MacGyver]

Well, it depends. In previous series, there was usually a set number of pages you could expect the book to be. (i.e. Original 58 books, Digests, Casefiles) Sure, some might be a bit shorter or a bit longer by a page or two, but generally most books were about this set number of pages.
That number seems to have jumped around a good bit with a lot of the UB/GD universe books.

[Hardy Boys UB Fan]

Well, it depends. In previous series, there was usually a set number of pages you could expect the book to be. (i.e. Original 58 books, Digests, Casefiles) Sure, some might be a bit shorter or a bit longer by a page or two, but generally most books were about this set number of pages.
That number seems to have jumped around a good bit with a lot of the UB/GD universe books.

I got the final book in the Lost trilogy and someone said the D word!

[MacGyver]

Yeah, these kinds of incidences are not making me want to read the UB books any time soon...

[Hardy Boys UB Fan]

Yeah, these kinds of incidences are not making me want to read the UB books any time soon...

Did they ever throw swear words out so freely before the UB's?

[MacGyver]

Never.

[Hardy Boys UB Fan]

Never.

That's what I thought. What do you think of The New Casefiles cover?




Do you think they've gong off the deep end? This looks almost like you know a occult theme . . . . but I hope I'm wrong.

[MacGyver]

It does look like something I would be wary of at first- but I've read and it actually does steer clear of the supernatural theme its name would imply.

[Hardy Boys UB Fan]

It does look like something I would be wary of at first- but I've read and it actually does steer clear of the supernatural theme its name would imply.

Good. Glad that's not the case. Did you read the Nancy Drew one?

[tomswift2002]

Well, it depends. In previous series, there was usually a set number of pages you could expect the book to be. (i.e. Original 58 books, Digests, Casefiles) Sure, some might be a bit shorter or a bit longer by a page or two, but generally most books were about this set number of pages.
That number seems to have jumped around a good bit with a lot of the UB/GD universe books.

Well, with the pre-1959 books the Stratemeyer Syndicate told their writer's to usually write a story between 24 and 25 Chapters long, and they couldn't go longer than 250 pages, otherwise the Syndicate was afraid that kids would get bored with the book.  Of course, prior to Edward Stratemeyer's death in 1930, he allowed the authors to get away with 23 chapters as a minimum, but there were some books (like The Mystery of Cabin Island) where Stratemeyer actually found the manuscript too short and asked the ghost writer to expand the book.  (In Cabin Island, if you read the "Fox Hunt" chapter, and then read the beginning of the next chapter, you'll notice how both chapters start with a mention about Hanleigh's warning, since the "Fox Hunt" chapter was originally not in the originaly manuscript.)

But then in 1959 Harriet Stratemeyer Adams had the books shortened in order to compete with television, since now kids were able to have stories all wrapped up with in a half-hour or an hour.

[MacGyver]

Though I could tell it was kinda just thrown in at random to lengthen the book, I actually liked the "Fox Hunt" chapter in the original text version of The Mystery of Cabin Island - it was a fun little adventure with The Hardy Boys and their friends.

[hardygirl847]

OK...first off...the "D" word in the last Lost book was hardly noticeable and really not a big deal. Sorry....that's IMO. This was a decent trilogy for the UBs. I couldn't put it down. It was really interesting...and stuff happens to Frank that doesn't normally happen. So I was happy to have purchased them. I really can't say that about all of the UBs.

The Zombies graphic novel is not like a cult and is not bad at all. It's certainly worth reading. This is coming from someone who DOESN'T like zombies too, btw.

I have not read the Vampire slayer ND graphic novels though...so I can't speak for those.

As for the amount of pages, etc....Yeah, they have a limit and they stay as close to that as possible. After writing some of my own fan fic, I have to say that this could be a challenge. I am sure there are deleted files or wads of paper in someone's trash because they had to revise the text into fitting the perimeters.

It really stinks that we will never see those pages.

Oh well....I guess they weren't good enough to stay. But I'd still like to see what was originally written. This reminds me I need to find some older (but not horribly expensive) OT versions....

[Hardy Boys UB Fan]

OK...first off...the "D" word in the last Lost book was hardly noticeable and really not a big deal. Sorry....that's IMO. This was a decent trilogy for the UBs. I couldn't put it down. It was really interesting...and stuff happens to Frank that doesn't normally happen. So I was happy to have purchased them. I really can't say that about all of the UBs.

The Zombies graphic novel is not like a cult and is not bad at all. It's certainly worth reading. This is coming from someone who DOESN'T like zombies too, btw.

I have not read the Vampire slayer ND graphic novels though...so I can't speak for those.

As for the amount of pages, etc....Yeah, they have a limit and they stay as close to that as possible. After writing some of my own fan fic, I have to say that this could be a challenge. I am sure there are deleted files or wads of paper in someone's trash because they had to revise the text into fitting the perimeters.

It really stinks that we will never see those pages.

Oh well....I guess they weren't good enough to stay. But I'd still like to see what was originally written. This reminds me I need to find some older (but not horribly expensive) OT versions....

I know. It just kind of shocks me when they swear, that's all.

[tomswift2002]

Oh well....I guess they weren't good enough to stay. But I'd still like to see what was originally written. This reminds me I need to find some older (but not horribly expensive) OT versions....

You might want to pick up the six Applewood books that are still on the market (The Tower Treasure thru to The Shore Road Mystery, since those are facsimile editions that run around $14.99 USD for each individual book, or Applewood just released a box set late last year for around $50 USD) since those are the Leslie McFarlane originals.  Unfortunately Applewood is no longer reprinting The Mystery Of Cabin Island.

[MacGyver]

All swearing is bad as far as I'm concerned- it saddens me to know that it has seeped into The Hardy Boys- but that is the downward spiral of culture- once you write off one thing as not too bad, everything keeps sliding with it.
(This was not meant to be a personal affront to anyone else's beliefs here- just my perspective on it.)