Godspeed Richard Todd, British Actor & War Hero

Actor and war hero Richard Todd OBE passed on Thursday at the age of 90. He had been suffering from cancer. Mr. Todd starred in such films as The Dam Busters, The Longest Day, and Asylum. During World War II he was one of the first British officers to land in Normandy as part of Operation Overlord.

Richard Todd was born in Dublin to Andrew Todd, a British army physician and international rugby player. He spent a few years of his childhood in India while his father served there. Eventually the family settled in West Devon, where Mr. Todd attended Shrewsbury School. While in school he decided he wanted to be a playwright. Todd underwent training for potential military career at Sandhurst before attending the Italia Conti Academy to learn about the theatre. It was in 1936 that he made his professional acting debut in a production of Twelfth Night at he Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park. Mr. Todd would go onto become a founding member of the Dundee repertory company. Mr. Todd also appeared as an extra in a few films.

Upon the beginning of World War II, Richard Todd joined the British Army and received a commission in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in 1941. In 1943 he requested to become a paratrooper. As such he was posted to 7th Parachute Battalion. Captain Richard Todd was among the first British officers to parachute into Normandy as part of D-Day. He and his men met with Major John Howard and captured Pegasus Bridge, one of the most important actions of the war. All throughout the war Captain Todd let no one know that he was an actor, for fear that he would be assigned to Entertainments' National Service Association (Esna).

Following the war Mr. Todd returned to the Dundee repertory company. It was not long after that he appeared in the West End production of The Hasty Heart. He made his film debut in the movie For Them That Tresspass in 1949. He reprised his role in The Hasty Heart in the motion picture adaptation of the play in 1949, for which he was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He made his television debut in a BBC adaptation of Wuthering Heights in 1953, in which he played Heathcliff. He played an important role in Alfred Hitchcock's Stage Fright and the lead role in Flesh and Blood. He also appeared in several British swashbucklers, including The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (in which he played Robin Hood), When Knighthood Was in Flower (called The Sword and the Rose in the States, and Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue. It was in 1955 that he played what may be his most famous role, Wing Commander Guy Gibson in The Dam Busters. He went onto appear in Saint Joan and The Hellions and in 1962 played Major Howard in The Longest Day.

Richard Todd was Ian Fleming's first choice to play James Bond in Dr. No. Sadly, a scheduling conflict prevented him from taking the role. He did play another famous literary character, Edgar Wallace's hero Inspector Harry Sanders, in Coast of Skeletons and Death Drums Along the River. During the Sixties he also appeared in Operation Crossbow, the horror movie Blood Bath, and Subterfuge. The Seventies saw Mr. Todd appear in the movies Dorian Grey (in which he played Basil Hallward), the Amicus movie Asylum, No. 1 of the Secret Service, and The Big Sleep. He also appeared on television in the serial Boy Dominic, the British series Thriller, and Theatre 625. From the Eighties into the Naughts, most of Mr. Todd's work was in television. He appeared on such shows as Doctor Who, Murder She Wrote, Virtual Murder, the 2000 revival of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), and Midsomer Murders. He also appeared in the films House of the Long Shadows and Murder One. His last role was a guest appearance on the series Heartbeat in 2007..

The United States had its own war hero turned actor in the form of Audie Murphy, but while Mr. Murphy was a good actor, he had nowhere near the talent of Richard Todd. Like Audie Murphy, most of Mr. Todd's roles tended to heroic ones. He played many British officers (including Wing Commander Gibson in The Dam Busters) and swashbuckling heroes. That having been said, he could quite easily play roles that were decidedly unheroic. Mr. Todd was easily the best part of the 1970 version of Dorian Gray, playing the artist who created Gray's notorious portrait. In The Love-Ins Mr. Todd played Dr. Jonanthan Bennett, a philosophy professor turned champion of the youth counterculture and an advocate of LSD use (as you might guess, the role was loosely based on Dr. Timothy Leary). Richard Todd's talent was such that he could play nearly anything, from heroes to average men to those who were slightly left of centre. Of course, his contribution to society went far beyond his acting. During World War II he could have easily told the British Army he was an actor and simply been assigned to Esna. Instead he chose to serve as an officer in a combat position and, in doing so, took part in one of the greatest actions of the war. Mr. Todd was not simply a great actor, he was a hero.

Bob Keane, Founder of Del-Fi Records, Passes On

Bob Keane, the man who helped start the careers of Sam Cooke and Frank Zappa, and discovered Ritchie Valens, passed at the age of 87 on November 27. He died of kidney failure caused by non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Bob Keane was born Robert Kuhn on January 5, 1922 in Manhattan Beach, California. He was only five years old when he took up the clarinet. By age 17 he was the head of his own big band. He was even signed by the talent agency MCA. It was in 1941 that he enlisted in the United States Army and served in the Air Force training pilots. Following the war he continued to play the clarinet, even playing with Artie Shaw's band. It was in 1950 when he served as the conductor for the radio show The Harry McCune Show that he changed his last name to "Keene." He later changed the spelling to "Keane."

It was in 1955 when Keane was playing clarinet around Los Angeles that he met businessman John Siamas. The two of them founded Keen Records. After hearing a demo by Sam Cooke, Keane signed the young singer to a three year contract with the label. Keen Records had its first hit with "You Send Me" performed by Sam Cooke, which actually the B-side of his first single (the A-Side was his rendition of "Summertime"). Sadly, Bob Keane only had a verbal contract with Siamas. He found himself pushed out of his own company.

At his wife's suggestion, Keane founded Del-Fi Records, a play on the word Delphi, the site of the famous oracle from Greek history. While Del-Fi produced a fair number hits, but hit gold when Keane saw Ritchie Valens performing at a Saturday matinee at a movie theatre in Los Angeles. He signed the young singer to a contract with Del-Fi. He had a minor hit with "Come On, Let's Go," then had the biggest it of his career with the single "Donna" back by the B-Side "La Bamba." "Donna" hit #2 on the Billboard charts, while "La Bamba" hit #22. Sadly, Valens' life would be cut short by the plane crash that also took the lives of Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper.

Del-Fi maintained an open door policy, whereby anyone with music could walk in and be heard by Bob Keane. Over the years Del-Fi released records by such artists as Johnny Crawford (Mark McClain on The Rifleman), Brenda Holloway, and Chan Romero (who had a hit with the original version of "Hippy Hippy Shake" in 1959). It was in 1963 that Frank Zappa walked in with a collection of doo-wop songs he had written. They were later released as the album Cucamonga. It was in 1964 that Keane signed The Bobby Fuller Four. The band had a huge hit with the song "I Fought the Law" in 1964. Unfortunately, in 1966 Bobby  Fuller was found dead in his car. It has always been a matter of debate whether his death was a suicide or murder. Following Fuller's death, Keane shut Del-Fi Records down.

Keane went on to teach accordion lessons and to sell home burglar alarms. He also managed the career of his two sons, who performed under the name The Keane Brothers. Del-Fi was briefly revived in the Nineties after the movies La Bamba and Pulp Fiction propelled the label back into the spotlight. In 2003 Keane sold the Del-Fi catalogue to the Warner Music Group.

Bob Keane certainly had an ear for talent. Over the years he discovered Sam Cooke, Ritchie Valens, Frank Zappa, and Bob Fuller. Del-Fi was one of the centres of surf music, featuring such acts as The Centurions, The Surfraris, and The Lively Ones. For a minor label it produced a number of hit artists. Not many men could boast discovering as much talent as Bob Keane did.

Godspeed Paul Naschy, El Hombre Lobo

Paul Naschy, often called the "Boris Karloff of Spain,"  passed yesterday at the age of 75. The cause was pancreatic cancer. He is perhaps best known for playing the character of Waldemar Daninsky, also known as El Hombre Lobo ("the Wolf Man" or "Werewolf") , in twelve films. He also starred in numerous other films, most notably horror movies, but also science fiction movies, action films, comedies, and so on. He was also the director and producer of several horror movies.

Paul Naschy was born Jacinto Molina Álvarez on 6 September, 1934 in Madrid, Spain. As a child his mother would take him to see such American made serials (including Dr. Satan and The Drums of Fu Manchu) and he saw the classic Universal Horror film Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman at the tender age of eleven. Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman so impressed him that he spent quite a while afterwards drawing the characters from the movie. As might be expected, he developed an interest in making horror movies at a young age, his love of films soon expanding to include such genres as historical adventures and Westerns. Having been born to an industrialist of some means, Mr. Naschy's family wished for him to pursue a profession more suited to their social status. He initially studied agriculture, but shifted his studies to architecture. He received a degree in such from the School of Architecture in Barcelona. Afterwards he designed artwork for such record labels as Columbia and Decca. He also wrote several Western dime novels under the pen name Jack Mills. Mr. Naschy was also a superb athlete, becoming a seven time Spanish champion in weightlifting and placing third in the javelin in a Spanish competition.

It was in 1960 that Jacinto Molina (not yet Paul Naschy) made his first appearance on film as an extra in the movie El príncipe encadenado (known as King of the Vikings in the United States). It was in 1961 that  he appeared as an extra in Nicholas Ray's King of Kings, much of which was shot around Madrid. He appeared as an extra in such films as 55 Days in Peking, L'ultimo gladiatore (known as Messalina vs. the Son of Hercules in English), an episode of the American series I Spy, and other films before receiving his first big break with a role in the film Dove si spara di più (The Fury of Billy the Kid). It was in 1968 that he appeared in the lead role of the werewolf Waldemar Daninsky in Las noches del Hombre Lobo (Nights of the Werewolf). Sadly, director René Govar died while the movie was being shot, so that it would never be completed. As history shows, this would not be the end of El Hombre Lobo. That same year Paul Naschy wrote the script for La marca del Hombre Lobo (The Mark of the Wolfman) and reprised his role of Waldemar Daninsky in the film. Naschy would appear in eleven more El Hombre Lobo films, the last being the American made The Tomb of the Werewolf in 2003. Unlike the Universal horror films of the Forties and the Hammer films, for the most part the El Hombre Lobo films lack any sort of continuity, a fact which never cost the series fans.

Paul Naschy made over 100 films, so that the El Hombre Lobo movies were only a small part of his career. He played one other character who appeared more than once in movies, the medieval warlock Alaric de Marnac. Based on the historical Gilles de Rais, de Marnac first appeared in the movie El espanto surge de la tumba (known as Horror From the Tomb in the United States) from 1973 and again in Latidos de pánico (Cries of Terror) in 1983. Mr. Naschy made many horror movies, including Jack el Destripador de Londres (Jack the Ripper of London), El Jorobado de la Morgue (The Hunchback of the Morgue), La Venganza de la Momia (The Mummy's Revenge), El gran amor del conde Drácula (Count Dracula's Great Love in the United States), and many other. Ultimately Paul Naschy would accomplish something that even Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee never did--he is the only actor to play such classic horror characters as Dracula, The Mummy, Frankenstein's Creature, Fu Manchu, Mr. Hyde, Jack the Ripper, and a werewolf.

 Mr. Naschy also appeared in other film genres beyond horror, including crimes drams (Disco rojo), adventure films (La batalla del poro), spy dramas (Operación Mantis), and family drama (Octavia). He wrote around forty films and directed fourteen (starting with Inquisición in 1976).

It would be exaggerating to refer to most of the films of Paul Naschy as classics. As an actor he could often be wooden and unbelievable. Yet there can be no doubt that Naschy was an auteur, directing and acting in Gothic horror movies (most often on a shoestring budget)  in the Seventies, well after the cycle had exhausted itself in the English speaking world. And what Mr. Naschy lacked in finesse he often made up for in gusto. While his films might have shot cheaply and even had inconsistencies in their plots, they were always good fun. Quite simply, his movies were often more enjoyable than many well films.

NaNoWriMo: It's a Wrap!

Before anything else, I want to apologise for doing only one real pot last week. Between the holiday and my race to complete my NaNoWriMo novel, I had very little time for full fledged blog entries! Even with overtime at work this week, I should have more time to devote to the blog now!

The good news is that I completed my NaNoWriMo novel today. In the end it turned out to be 50,796 words--796 words over the 50,000 needed to win National Novel Writing Month. I am not sure I have ever said what my novel is about in this blog, so I suppose I should now. It is entitled Witchhunter and is set in Cromwellian England during the rule of the Major-Generals. Just as in the real world, innocent old women and men are sometimes accused and convicted of witchcraft. Unlike the real world, witches are very much real in the novel. They are also very powerful, and they have their own agenda. Since witches are real in the world of my novel, this also means that there are those who fight them. The plot of my novel then finds its hero, a Royalist trained in fighting the occult, trying to save a small village from the onslaught of witches. Of course, to do this he must also avoid the Parliamentarians in power, who would gladly see him in jail.

I must admit that in writing Witchhunter I took quite a journey. On 1 November I started the novel with no intentions of it eve seeing publication. I was simply writing it as a lark, to see if I could indeed write a 50,000 word novel in a month or less. As I continued to write, something unusual happened. I started to fall in love with the characters and became engrossed in the plot. While I knew that writing so many words in so short a time, much of what I wrote was, well, crap, I also realised that it was crap with potential to be something more. Quite simply, it occurred to me that my unpublishable NaNoWriMo novel could be whipped into shape as something that might just be publishable.

I realise that Witchhunter will require a lot of work. Writing at such a high speed, I had little time for research. While my knowledge of England during the Cromwellian tyranny is considerable when compared to the average American, it is not that of an expert. I know some historical inaccuracies crept into the novel. I will have to do research to correct those, as well as to better capture the flavour of the era. As I mentioned earlier, I am not quite happy with the McGuffin of the novel. I intend to change it into something that is more interesting and more original. As to the plot itself, I think that I drew my big guns too fast--flying demons appear as early as Chapter 5. I think I am going to turn the plot into more of a mystery, unfolding gradually, with nothing so obvious as flying demons until later in the book.

I must say that over all I am happy with the characters. I might change my hero's first name. Currently he is named Lieutenant William Reade. I am thinking that Lieutenant Geoffrey Reade might sound more interesting, not to mention hint at his genealogy (he is descended from the Plantagenets). I am also thinking I might rewrite the character of the vicar, Reverend Thomas. As Witchhunter is now, Reverend Thomas starts out as a staunch Puritan and Parliamentarian, who is very hostile to Lieutenant Reade. He later becomes an ally of Reade in his battle against the witches. I think this is a bit unrealistic, given how strong feelings between Cavaliers and Roundheads were at the time. I have then decided that while Reverend Thomas will still be a Puritan, he will not be a Parliamentarian or a Royalist. This would make him a bit more receptive to Lieutenant Reade's agenda and more likely to be won over by him.

At any rate, I do think I will rewrite Witchhunter with the goal of having it published. Whether it will ever be published I cannot say,  but I think even in the very rough, 50796 draught I produced in the past 29 days, there is some worthwhile material. I suppose this just goes to show that sometimes one's own writing can surprise him or her.

Paperback Writer

I hope you will forgive me for not offering up a full fledged entry tonight, but the past few days (including today) I have been working hard on my NaNoWriMo novel. Fortunately, I only have 2000 words to go, which means I will finish the novel tomorrow.

Rather than leaving you with no post at all, then, I will leave you with the promotional film for "Paperback Writer" by The Beatles. It was in May 1965 that Michael Lindsay-Hogg directed four promo films of "Paperback Writer" and three of "Rain." Most of these promo clips were straight forward performance clips, but one each of "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" veered from this course. These two clips were shot around Chiswick House in London, and featured The Beatles relaxing around the house's gardens and conservatory and strolling about. Surprisingly for the time, the television outlets preferred these promo films to the traditional performance clips!

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

Well, I am tired from work, I am working fervently to finish my NaNoWriMo novel, and tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Rather than doing a full fledged blog post, then, I thought I would leave you with a few videos.

First up is a live performance of "Kings and Queens" by Aerosmith. The song addresses the struggles of humanity throughout time, from the Dark Age (references to Vikings) to the French Revolution (references to guillotines).



Next up is "John Barleycorn" performed by Traffic. "John Barleycorn" is actually an English folksong dating back to at least the 16th century. As many of you might know, the album upon which Traffic's version appeared was titled John Barleycorn Must Die.



Last up is "The Highwayman" by Loreena McKennitt. The song is essentially the poem "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes set to music. First published in 1906, it was Noyes' first big success.



To all of my readers in the United States a happy Thanksgiving, ant to the rest of you a happy Thursday!

Why The Twilight Saga Will Not Be a Classic

This weekend the move New Moon raked in a whopping $140 million at the box office. If it was not already known that the series of books known as The Twilight Saga was a phenomenon, this would certainly prove that it is. Indeed, when the final book in the series, Breaking Dawn, was published in August, 2008, it sold 1.3 million copies in the first twenty four hours alone. Today it is hard to avoid the series' myriad fans, who seem to be everywhere.

Of course, any time a TV series, movie, book, or rock band becomes a phenomenon, there are always detractors. The Beatles had more than their share of detractors when Please Please Me was released in 1963. Star Wars had its share of detractors in the summer of 1977. While it is typical for phenomena in any medium to have detractors, it seems as if The Twilight Saga has more than its fair share of them. Indeed, I would say what separates The Twilight Saga from The Beatles or Star Wars is that it actually deserves to have detractors. As if you had not guessed by now, I am among those detractors (here I must give credit where credit is due--beyond my dislike of the Twilight series, this post was inspired by Serena Whitney's great write up on Twilight at KillerFilm).

For me the simple fact is that, unlike The Beatles, Star Wars, the Sixties Batman show, or Harry Potter, The Twilight Saga is simply not very good. This is not great literature that we are talking about. It is not even mediocre literature. As a whole The Twilight Saga is not only very poorly written, but it is also very, very derivative. Stephenie Myer created nothing original with The Twilight Saga. Instead, she borrowed bits and pieces from works in various media spanning over 100 years.

Indeed, the idea of the vampire romance is probably the least original aspect of the series. Romance and sexuality has been present in vampire fiction ever since Dracula was published in 1897. Not only is there romantic overtones in the relationship between Dracula and Mina Harker, it is overtly sexual. Both the romantic and sexual aspects of the relationship between Dracula and Mina would become emphasised in the movies, particularly in the 1958 Hammer adaptation of Dracula and its sequels, as well as the 1979 and 1992 adaptations. In fiction the romantic and sexual aspects of Dracula and Mina's relationship would become the heart of Fred Saberhagen's classic The Dracula Tape and its sequels. Other authors would follow suit. Indeed, Anne Rice made millions in exploiting the sexuality Bram Stoker had endowed the vampire.

Of course, there are those who will argue that Stephenie Meyer invented the young adult vampire romance. This is certainly not the case. Indeed, she was actually a latecomer to the field of young adult vampire romances. What may have been the first young adult vampire romance was The Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith, the first trilogy of which was published way back in 1991. The plot of the first book in that trilogy, The Awakening, concerned beautiful high school student Elena who falls in love with a centuries old vampire. Just like Twilight, The Awakening and the other books are told from the heroine's point of view. Another vampire romance series  which may well have served as fodder is The Southern Vampire Mysteries (the basis for the TV show True Blood). It also featured a young heroine who fell in love with a vampire. The first book in the series was published in 2001. The series is also narrated in first person by the heroine, Sookie Stackhouse, just as Bella narrates Twilight What sets The Southern Vampire Mysteries apart from either The Vampire Diaries or The Twilight Saga is that it is set in a greater world where almost everything supernatural is real (fairy blood runs in Sookie's family).

Indeed, not only did Stephenie Meyer not invent the young adult vampire romance, but her main character, Isabella "Bella" Swan is nearly a clone of both Elena Gilbert of The Vampire Diaries and Sookie Stackhouse of The Southern Vampire Mysteries. Elena Gilbert is beautiful, popular, and intelligent who falls in love with an allegedly young man who is secretly a vampire. Sookie Stackhouse is blue eyed, buxom  blonde who is also a telepath. She also falls in love with a man who is secretly a vampire. This brings us to Bella Swan, who is more similar to Elena Gilbert than Sookie Stackhouse. Now to her credit,  Stefenie Meyer does try to convince readers that Bella is a shy, lonely, awkward teen, an utterly average girl. In the end, however, Meyer does not follow through with this, so that Bella is no more lonely or awkward than either Elena or Sookie. On her first day at her new high school in Forks, Washington, Bella makes friends, and quite easily. Not only does she make friends, but she also has quite a few teenage boys competing for her attention. Despite Stefenie Meyr's claim (through Bella's first person narration) that Bella is shy, awkward, and lonely, she is quite the opposite--Bella is friendly, popular, and apparently beautiful enough to attract the attention of several boys. She is Elena Gilbert of The Vampire Diaries if Elena claimed to be shy and lonely!

Now there are some major differences between Sookie Stackhouse and Bella Swan. Sookie is an adult barmaid (she's in her twenties) rather than a high school student and Sookie possesses fairy blood, but Bella still resembles Sookie in one respect. Sookie is a telepath who can read the minds of mortals, but not vampires and other supernatural entities. Bella is a mortal whose mind the vampire Edward Cullen cannot read. Given how much Twilight owes to previous vampire literature, it is difficult not to wonder if Edward's inability to read Bella's thoughts does not owe something to Sookie's inability to read vampire's thoughts.

Of course, while many might admit that Bella is derivative, I am willing to bet they will assert that Edward Cullen is original. In my humble opinion, however, Edward is only original in as far as he is a vampire who "sparkles." As pointed out above, sexuality has been present in vampire fiction since Dracula, so that there have been no shortage of sexy vampires. In film sex was brought to the fore with Christopher Lee's portrayal of Dracula in the 1958 film of the same name. It was made even more blatant in Frank Langella's portrayal of Dracula in the 1979 film of the same name. Anne Rice made millions from the vampire Lestat, an overtly sexual creature. Edward Cullen is simply the nth reverberation of the sexy vampire. That having been said, Edward Cullen is not only the spiritual descendent of Dracula and Lestat, he is also patterned after heroes from classic literature. Like Fitzwilliam Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, he is aloof  and distant. Like Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights he is passionate and temperamental. Like Edward Rochester in Jane Eyre, he sees himself as a monster and has Byronic overtones. Of course, the problem with Edward Cullen as a product of both the sexual, romantic vampire and the heroes of Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters' novels is that he is an overly simplistic creation. Indeed, it must be pointed out that for all that his love for Bella is romanticised, in Twilight he more or less stalks her. It is hard seeing Mr. Darcy or even Heathcliff doing that!

Now I know that there are those that are going to insist Stepenie Meyer's interpretation of vampires is original. After all, they can go out in sunlight, do not have fangs (they drink blood by biting with their particularly powerful teeth), and are not harmed by holy items, holy water, or garlic. They are also spectacularly beautiful, a means through which they lure their victims. Even when it comes to her vampires, Meyer has not been particularly original. First, I must point out that the idea of vampires being harmed by sunlight is a rather recent invention. According to the old folklore, vampires could go out in the daylight--they simply preferred to operate at night. Indeed, in the novel Dracula, Dracula does go about in the day, although it is not particularly comfortable for him. It was not until the film Nosferatu was released in 1922 that the idea that sunlight harmed vampires was introduced. Second,  as to Meyer's vampires not having fangs, this has been done before. In Suzee McKee Charnas' The Vampire Tapestry, the vampires do not have fangs but drink blood through a needle contained in their tongues--an idea found in Polish folklore. In the series The Saga of Darren Shan (AKA Cirque du Freak) by Darren Shan, first published in 2000, the vampires do not have fangs either. To drink blood they but cut the a vein in the arm of a victim with one of their sharp nails. Third, as to Meyer's vampires not being affected by garlic, silver, or holy objects, this has been true of a good number of vampires in various media over the years. In the classic film Fright Night, it is established that it is not so much the holy object itself that harms vampires, but the belief of the one wielding the object. The vampires in The Saga of Darren Shan are not harmed by silver, garlic, or holy objects at all. Fourth, as to the beauty of Meyer's vampires, this has been true of many vampires in many media throughout the years. Indeed, in the classic novella by Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla, the title character is portrayed as beautiful. The vampire Lestat, the main character of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, is portrayed as incredibly handsome. Indeed, in the history of vampire fiction, ugly vampires tend to be a rarity! Ultimately, about the only original thing about Meyer's vampires is that they sparkle in the sun, a rather dubious contribution to vampire lore...

Meyer is also derivative when it comes to the society of her vampires.  Many of her vampires belong to covens, such as the Cullens to which Edward belongs or the powerful Volturi in Italy. Again, this is not an original idea. In The Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice also portrayed vampires belonging to covens, an example being the Théâtre des Vampires (a theatrical troupe which also happens to be a coven of vampires). With the role playing game Vampire: the Masquerade, White Wolf Game Studio went one step further, with vampires belonging to  entire clans. It must be pointed out that Meyer is not particularly original with regards to werewolf or shapeshifter society either. She portrays werewolves as belonging to tribes or packs. This is an idea that can at least goes back to The Wolfen by Whitney Streiber. In White Wolf Game Studio's Werewolf: the Apocalypse, werewolves belong to tribes.  With regard to both vampire and werewolf society, Meyer was not particularly original.

Of course, in Stephenie Meyer's defence it must be pointed out that The Twilight Saga was inspired by a dream she had in which an average girl was talking to an incredibly beautiful vampire in a forest. She has also stated that she did not research vampire lore before writing the books. It is fully possible, perhaps even probable, that Meyer did not intentionally borrow so much from so many different sources for The Twilight Saga. After all, so many works on vampires in various media have so permeated our society that one can be influenced by them without ever having read or seen them. Quite simply, because one has not read Dracula does not mean that one might unconsciously borrow from it. Besides, it must also be pointed out that a book or movie can be derivative and still be good. The movie Fright Night is regarded by a classic by many, yet it brings little that is original to vampire lore. The problem is that not only is The Twilight Saga not very original, it is also not very good.

The overall poor quality of The Twilight Saga can be seen its portrayal of the relationship between Bella and Edward, which is extremely dysfunctional. I will not go into just how dysfunctional their relationship is, as Serena Whitney already did that in her piece on KillerFilm; however, I will point out one thing that Serena left out. At the start of Twilight Bella Swan is 17 years old, while Edward Cullen is 104 years old (having been born in 1901). While Edward may appear to be a teenager or young adult, he is then a very old man. Indeed, the age difference between Edward and Bella (87 years) is over twice the age difference between Humbert Humbert and Lolita in Vladimir Nabokov's classic novel! Far from being a romantic figure, Edward Cullen is then the clinical definition of an ephebophile, someone with an overwhelming sexual preference for individuals in mid to late adolescence. Ultimately, Edward Cullen differs very little from Humbert Humbert in Lolita...or Gary Glitter for that matter, yet he is regarded as a heartthrob by millions while Humbert and Glitter are regarded, quite rightfully, as sick.

While Stephenie Meyer romanticises what is essentially a very dysfunctional relationship (and it goes farther than the difference in ages between the two lead characters--just read Serena's article), she does not handle her other characters very well either. In fact, Meyer's characters are not so much characters as they are the same old literary stereotypes. As pointed out above, Edward Cullen is largely based on the romantic, Byronic figures of earlier literature, although quite obviously he has more in common with Humbert Humbert than Mr. Darcy. Bella is little more than what is known science fiction fandom and literary criticism as a Mary Sue, a character who is overly idealised and primarily operates as wish fulfilment for both the writer and her readers. Meyer's other characters are not well developed either, resembling literary clichés more than three dimensional human beings. Indeed, many of Meyer's characters (the two leads included) are shallow, immature, and ultimately uninteresting.

Even given its characters, The Twilight Saga would probably be more readable if it was not for Meyer being very poor when it comes to developing plots as well. For the first 300 pages or so of Twilight there is no indication of a plot other than the relationship between Bella and Edward. Worse yet, probably half of those 300 pages are dedicated to describing Edward's beauty to the point that Meyer must have exhausted Roget's Thesaurus in writing the book. The only real action in the entire book happens at the very end of the book and, even then happens very swiftly. Worse yet, there are times Meyer describes plot points and action so poorly that it is difficult to tell what happened. This is complicated by the prose itself, which is often both florid and over the top. Indeed, the characters' dialogue itself is overwrought. Bella talks like no 21st century teenage girl most of us would know. The Cullens are not simply beautiful--they are "devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful." Bella does not simply notice Edward sitting very close to her, she is "electrically aware" of it. Between Meyer's prose and Bella's dialogue,  Twilight is more overwrought that any romance Harlequin may have published.

While I think it is clear that The Twilight Saga is not a series of good books, I must interject one thing. I am not so sure that anyone should necessarily bash Twilight fans. First, I must point out that The Twilight Saga has gotten many young women to read who might not be reading otherwise. If these young women move onto other books (which, with any luck, will be far superior in quality), then The Twilight Saga will have actually done a very good service. Second, I must point out that all of us have probably loved something that was, well, junk at one time or another in our lives. When I was a youngster I watched the TV show Battlestar Galactica loyally, every single week. Many years later I caught the series on the Sci-Fi Channel and tried watching it. I could not make it through even one episode. I tried watching another episode with the same results. I came to a realisation that this show I loved as a kid was very, very bad. I would say that we should then condemn no one for loving The Twilight Saga, although I think I can speak for many of us that I wish they would stop talking about how "great" it is.

Regardless, it seems clear to me that, despite all the furore over Twilight, it will not come to be regarded as a classic. The classics of literature, even the classics of young adult literature, have several things in common. They are well written. They have fully developed characters. They are quite readable. This is true of A Wrinkle in Time. It is true of The Chronicles of Narnia. It is true of the Harry Potter series. Sadly, it is not true of The Twilight Saga. I cannot help but think that in the end The Twilight Saga is not so much a literary phenomenon than it is a simple fad, like pet rocks or mood rings. If that is the case, then The Twilight Saga will not join such works as Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Prydain, or Little Women as a literary classic. Instead, it will be remembered in much the same way as pet rocks and mood rings are today--as a craze that swept the nation for a time before fading away.