The eternally prolific V.C. Andrews—she died in 1986 but is still "writing" new books, thanks to Pin author Andrew Neiderman—and her Flowers in the Attic (1979) series from Pocket Books were staple items on any paperback shelf throughout the 1980s. The cover images became iconic and the books themselves were devoured, I mean utterly devoured by teenage girls back in the day, probably while babysitting. Flowers, its sequels, and all her other books have never been out of print so I assume they're still being devoured today. I've never read a word and have never heard anything good about her; Stephen King said she wrote some of the worst prose he'd ever read. I can't however deny that almost totemic quality of the cover art. Classic vintage paperback stuff! Great stepback cover, too - you have to go here and read about its creation.
V.C. Andrews: Writing from the grave since 1986.
ReplyDeleteI have an interview with her in an old TWILIGHT ZONE. She was confined to a wheel chair most of her writing career.
ReplyDeleteI tried reading Flowers in the Attic early this year, no go. But I love the cover art.
ReplyDeleteVC Andrews is dark Grimm fairy tales translated to a modern world.
ReplyDeleteYou once said "The Gothic romance novel, which had been so popular in the late '60s and early '70s, was on the wane"
When in actuality the gothic romance genre was reinvented by V.C. Andrews (who by the way used to out sell Stephen King before she died)
And read My Sweet Audrina before you cast her off.
I think most of the V.C. Andrews books were written by Andrew Neiderman, which is crazy considering the huge number of books he has under his own name.
ReplyDeleteYeah he's been writing them all for decades now.
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