ALL : Soap Opera History Books

[Sylph]

I know nothing about these. Do you remember the title or the author(s)?

[MarkH]

I got the Y&R Silver and B&B 10th books from e-bay...perfect shape.

I'm debating whether to buy the new B&B book.

[EricMontreal22]

Small correction, i have the second edition (1977 I believe) of WOnderful World and its' a great little THICK paperback but only has about 20 pages of pics... Does have big story recaps for all the soaps at the time (including Mary Hartman) but he seems to like to pick and choose what stories to focus on--no big surprise

[EricMontreal22]

ANother World had some I think and I KNOW AMC did as I found some in a tiny thrift store in a small town I was doing a play in when Iwas 19 or so--I got two of them but there were three it said on the back. I have NO clue where they are now though--in a box somewhere with all my books.

The aforementioned AMC Trivia Book says this:

In 1981 Jove Publications issued three paperback novelizations of AMC, titled AGnes Nixon's All My Children, by Rosemarie Santini. She had previously written several romance novels and the nonfiction work Secret Fire: How Women Live their Sexual Fantasies. Volume 1 was subtitled Tara and Philip, Volume 2 Erica and Volume 3, The Lovers.

I remember them being fun easy reads but VERY VERY much like mediocre romance novels

Any soap fan, though, must have in her collection the Schemering Cyclopedia

[Pine Charles]

Hey, EricMontreal.

Is THIS one of them?

[EricMontreal22]

FUnny that one si n't listed in the trivia book but ya it, to my memory looks like the same series

[Paul Raven]

Mary Stuart (Jo search for Tomorrow,Meta Guiding light)wrote her auto biography Both of Me around 1980. As well as detailing her own life experiences,she talks about what was happening at Search during the 50's,60's and 70's.

Harding Lemay's Eight Years in Another World also provides backstage details of that show.

Not reference books,but definitely of interest.

There were two novelizations of Another World stories 'Another World' by Kate Lowe Kerrigan.Apparently Harding Lemay was not impressed upon discovering his storylines had been used without consultation or permission.

There were a further 14 romance novels published that used various stories from the show.

[MarkH]

There was a book series like this for Y&R too. I got one issue from a remaindered book bin...maybe 25 years ago.

It was dreadful. The story they covered with Vanessa Prentiss trying to come between Lorie Brooks and Vanessa's son Lance. There was actually very little resemblance between what had been on screen and how the story was novelized. It many places it felt like a whole new story. And with that turgid 'Harlequin' prose...I was never compelled to try to find another issue :-)

[JackPeyton]

Days of our Lives also had a lot of books like that. I have a few - they dont seem to really go with the story at all, but more use the char's and setting of salem. i dont really have a problem with that tho. i mean, if i can watch it why would i wanna read the same thing?

[Dan]

When I got back home, I also realized that there was another DAYS book. It is called Days of Our Lives: A Complete History of the Long-Running Soap Opera by Maureen Russell.

Also, the Search For Tomorrow tie-in book I have is by Faith Baldwin.

Also, you might be interested in the GL book that was released in the 1940s/1950s. It was a collection of Rev. Ruthledge's sermons, as well as some history from the earlier show (and before). The book was actually quite a successful book in its time.

Agnes Nixon wrote another book, I believe in the 1960s. However, I haven't seen that one as prevelent.

[heatherwebber]

There was a Days of Our Lives novel from the 60s I don't think I ever found.

GH, there were a couple novels in the mid 60s by Burt Hirschfield and a few (3 I think) in the late 60/early 70s from a different publisher.

Besides the Rosemarie Santini AMC novels (3) and the above there were a bunch of novels for ABC, P&G, Days, Y&R and even a few from Capitol, plus Knots & Dallas, from a paperback company called "Soaps and Serials." I'd have to rate all the others as vastly superior to these thin Soaps & Serials volumes. There weren't as many from ABC as those came much later towards the end right before they shut down.

I have 2 Y&R books from the 70s and the Faith Baldwin Search, an Edge novel or 2 from Henry Slesar, the Agnes GL and the Rev. Ruthledge, the 2 Kate Lowe Kerrigan AW books, many Dark Shadows novels (probably over 30) and 3 Strange Paradise novels from the same publisher, and a novel based on The Doctors. I think it even has Liz Hubbard on the cover.

There were also paperbacks from Dallas & Dynasty from major publishers years before the Soaps & Serials but I think Soaps & Serials might have done another Dynasty novel or 2. Most of what I have of all this stuff is in storage & can't get at it. The Dallas ones were also written by Burt Hirschfield or at least one was.

There's also a novel from Love of Life and a couple of later novels from both Love of Life & The Secret Storm from another publisher.

And it may not count but there was a Felicia Gallant novel from Harlequin which was fairly thick. Linda Dano was supposed to have been involved somehow in the writing of it to some extent.

In particular the Dark Shadows & Strange Paradise novels were entirely out of sequence of the actual series. The writers only watched the earliest few episodes and created the stories based on not actually viewing the shows and what was going on.

It also struck me from quality that the Rosemarie Santini AMC novels were better than most of the rest of this stuff. They packed more of the plot in plus were better written.

But some of these were mentioned earlier and some not- but are definitely worth tracking down, All Her Children by Dan Wakefield, Mary Stuart's & The Confessions of Phoebe Tyler by Ruth Warwick & I think there's an Eileen Fulton autobiog. too, and the book about AW from the 70s writer. I can't remember the title or his name at the moment.

For foreign, I'm pretty sure there's some Neighbours, Corrie, Hollyoaks & Brookside, & Upstairs Downstairs novels too.

There were a bunch from Beverly Hills 90210 & Melrose Place too which I never bothered paying attention to. Oh, I have a thick Falcon Crest novel with a red cover.

And Love is a Many-Splendoured Thing & Peyton Place were based on books. There's a whole long series of Peyton Place novels mostly by some other guy not the original author.

[heatherwebber]

In addition to the encyclopedia, Christopher Schemering also wrote an excellent history/anniversary book about Guiding Light which is well worth seeking out.

[heatherwebber]

And there's a few triiva books about ABC & P&G shows, maybe Days too, which I never found to be terribly useful. The various coffee table books were far more helpful and contained far more valuable information.

And there's also the more recent stuff. There's a Passions novel, the ATWT & GL books- Lorelai's Journal and some Katie Perretti ATWT thing, and that Jonathan's Story thing. For that matter One Life & GH did similar things maybe 8 or so years ago and there's an Erika Kane book from a few years later. Something about Thorsten Kaye's character on OLTL I think & Robin's Diary. Really awful books. Most of these which I did try to read were worse than anything which came before. I haven't tried the ATWT or GL ones yet just the ABC ones. And the Passions one which was awful and bore little or no resemblance to the show.

[EricMontreal22]

"Agnes Nixon wrote another book, I believe in the 1960s. However, I haven't seen that one as prevelent. " I believe that was just a pamplet on STDs...

As for the fictionalized boosk I have the AMC and OLTL ones--I find Erica Kane's kinda cute but it's not rgeat, Patrick's OLTL poetry one awful and I REALLY liked "Marcie's " mystery which Michael Malone who's a great mystery writer did

[heatherwebber]

I'm pretty sure that the Agnes GL book was a full book and not about STDs.

I never got Marcie's mystery. I don't even remember hearing about that one.