Enid Would Be Proud!

[Tony Summerfield]

This book caught my eye in Waterstone's this morning - I didn't buy it, but I might yet!



This was published in 2014 and there is already a second book in the series out. She is not a new children's author as looking at my files I see that she got a Carnegie Nomination back in 2009 for Crossing the Line.

[John Pickup]

I think she also writes the Survivors series as Erin Hunter. I'll have a look at Ravenstorm Island.

[Poppy]

It looks like a very interesting book - thanks for posting that, Tony. It's interesting because the front cover reminded me of this illustration from The Land of Far-Beyond with the castle in the background and the strange trees framing the building:

[Anita Bensoussane]

An appealing cover and title, though "For fans of Enid Blyton" is a bit blatant!

I think she also writes the Survivors series as Erin Hunter.

Yes, and according to Amazon Gillian Philip also writes as Gabriella Poole (Darke Academy) and Adam Blade (Beast Quest):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Children-M ... 1408330180" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Darrell71]

She has also written The Warriors, a looooooong series about cats, under the name Erin Hunter. Erin Hunter is a combination of quite a few authors actually, including Gillian Philip. Whoever she is, I quite enjoyed Warriors, (the 2 books that I managed to get my hands on) so I think Ravenstorm Island must be good.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Erin Hunter is a combination of quite a few authors actually, including Gillian Philip.

That's interesting, Sunskriti. I've just found out that Adam Blade is also a collective name for several authors. The same applied to the Nancy Drew books I read as a child, though I was an adult by the time I learnt that they hadn't been written by one author called Carolyn Keene!

[Courtenay]

Inbali Iserles is another of the Erin Hunter authors — I read one of her own books (under her real name) last year and then found her website, which also includes her contributions to the Erin Hunter series: http://inbali-iserles.com/erin-hunter-books/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Incidentally, if no-one minds me shifting topics for a bit — what do you others think about this business of a series being written by multiple different authors under one pseudonym? Something about it strikes me as being sort of, well, cheap, as if a publishing house is just getting as many people as it can to work on churning out as many books as possible and then pretending they're all by one person, just for marketing purposes. It doesn't seem right to me. I also wonder if there's any noticeable difference in the writing styles between the different authors — there would almost have to be. Or do they go through heavy editing to make sure they all sound like they came from the same writer?

[Daisy]

Interesting question Courtenay. I haven't read any of these authors so can't do any comparisons, but it did occur to me earlier today when reading this thread, that it is no wonder some people found it hard to believe that Enid Blyton wrote all the books with her signature on the cover, when other huge series like Nancy Drew were written by a syndicate.

[Courtenay]

it did occur to me earlier today when reading this thread, that it is no wonder some people found it hard to believe that Enid Blyton wrote all the books with her signature on the cover, when other huge series like Nancy Drew were written by a syndicate.

Yes, I thought of that too! To be fair, I haven't read any syndicate-authored series myself, so I can't judge directly either.

At least Erin Hunter's website is perfectly open about the fact that "she" is actually six people: http://www.warriorcats.com/meet-erin-hunter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; It does make me wonder why they bother with the collective pseudonym — why not just give the names of whichever author(s) worked on each particular book? — but I assume the publishers see this as the neater way of doing it.

Interesting to read Victoria Holmes' comments about why she loves being "one of the Erins":

Teaming up with Kate and Cherith on the Warriors books is an unconventional way of working, but we love writing the books together and it means we can produce them much faster than a single writer could. We each have our favorite characters and ideas for what could happen next, which means the stories have three times as much energy and passion!

[Julie2owlsdene]

Just looking at the first posting on here, and the sticker saying - for fans of Enid Blyton - I think that's their way of hoping to sell books, on the back on Enid, her being such a fantastic author.

[Courtenay]

Well, it goes to show how remarkable an author she is, if her name continues to sell books even almost 50 years after her death!

[Rob Houghton]

I agree! You can almost smell the publisher's desperation - feeling the need to put 'For fans of Enid Blyton' on the cover because they want to sell more books!

Of course, this sums up why many of Enid's later books are weak compared to those of the 1930's - 1950's - publishers wanted more and more and more. Interesting that she is still looked upon that way by publishers even in 2016! A great testament to her talent.

I personally dislike the 'syndicate' idea and think it could even be described as 'dishonest'. I don't even like seeing books written by other authors published as being 'Enid Blyton' - books such as the 'Just George' books and 'The Famous Five Survival Guide' or the later Noddy annuals etc, which have 'ENID BLYTON' emblazoned on the covers and yet have nothing to do with her in the slightest!

[Courtenay]

I would hope the "For Fans of Enid Blyton" tag also indicates that Gillian Philip is happy to be compared to Enid Blyton!

[Daisy]

I don't see why she shouldn't be! I would take it as a compliment.

[Darrell71]

Unless she doesn't like Enid Blyton. The Warriors is very different to anything she would write, so it's surprising that they are written by the same author, assuming the book mentioned on this thread is similar to EB's work.