Monday, August 25, 2008

XX writing as Enid Blyton

I suppose now that Sebastian Faulks was credited as 'writing as Ian Fleming' for Devil May Care, the floodgates are open for all manner of possibilities. Though this sort of thing has been going on covertly for yonks eg the 'new' Virginia Andrews, but publishers can now be more open should they wish. The BBC website has an update on the relaunch of the 'Enid Blyton' brand:

Some of Enid Blyton's most popular characters will make a return in a set of 20 new books, her estate has said.

The Famous Five, The Faraway Tree and Malory Towers will all feature in the books to be released over two years.

Chorion, which owns the rights to the characters, said the books would "remain true to Blyton's classic storytelling style and values".

In the first, The Famous Five's Survival Guide, they try to solve The Mystery of the Royal Dragon of Siam.

Chorion said the book would be "packed full of stolen treasure, problem-solving, traps and traitors".

In September, The Faraway Tree will return for the first time since 1951.

New stories from The Wishing-Chair, Malory Towers and The Secret Series books will be available in 2009.

Read the whole article on the BBC site.

Blyton was recently voted the UK's best loved writer.

There are some very unusual 'Enid Blyton' titles listed on amazon, including:

The Case of the Cactus, the Coot, and the Cowboy Boot: WITH The Case of the Seal Who Gets All Up in Your Face
and
The Case of the Gobbling Goop: WITH The Case of the Surfer Dude Who's Truly Rude

These are in the '5 on the case' series I've mentioned before.

1 comment:

Kerrie said...

oh dear! I'm speechless. Money talks methinks