[MB] Baroness novels

[Helen Evans]

A busy week in Modesty-land!

I stumbled across a blog review of the first two MB novels (amazing
how many book review blogs there are now... and how 'late' this person
is to review MB!)
http://groovyageofhorror.blogspot.com/2009/02/modesty-blaise-and-sabre-tooth-by-peter.html
Anyway, the most interesting thing to me was a reference to a book
series I'd never heard of, The Baroness.
http://groovyageofhorror.blogspot.com/search/label/SERIES%20Baroness
I'm stunned at how Modesty-like the covers are, and was wondering, has
anyone on the list read any of these? Are they comparable to MB (in
terms of quality), or poor imitators?

The blog author says:
"I have always been a huge Modesty Blaise fan and via this Wikipedia
article about her stumbled upon info about The Baroness, a series by
Paul Kenyon that is quite obviously more than inspired by Modesty
Blaise, yet raises the ante quite a bit when it comes to the heroine's
sexual escapades. Paul Kenyon, the author, appears to be a bit of a
mystery. Mondo Schlocko had unearthed that the name appears to be a
pseudonym for Robert (Bob) E(dward) Vardeman aka Daniel Moran and also
had further suspicions about the real author of these books."
.. and I read somewhere else that there was speculation this was a
book packager deal (ie, several different ghost writers writing for
the series, a la Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys - IMO this never bodes
well!)
He further says: "The Baroness is a series that – if ever it was
filmed – would come across like a Modesty Blaise adaptation as
directed by Jess Franco's more talented brother: There is less
emotional involvement with any of the characters, but one scene chases
the other."

The books are out of print, so I have to buy them if I want to read
them. Before I potentially waste money, I'd love to hear if the
Baroness books are any good - do they have the quality of writing,
depth, developed characters, etc, that MB fans look for in a book?

I recently picked up a book by "Gina Day" because the tag line on the
cover was, "Makes Modesty Blaise look like Little Miss Muffet". The
writing was so atrocious I didnt' make it through more than about five
pages! - which is why I'm wary now...

Helen

[Paul Kerry]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Helen Evans" <***@gmail.com>
To: "MBmailingList" <***@ifi.uio.no>
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 7:33 PM
Subject: [MB] Baroness novels


The books are out of print, so I have to buy them if I want to read
them. Before I potentially waste money, I'd love to hear if the
Baroness books are any good - do they have the quality of writing,
depth, developed characters, etc, that MB fans look for in a book?

Helen

No. I read a couple of them and they were moderately entertaining, highly
derivative potboilers. Worth reading if you happen on one and have nothing
better to do, but not worth buying or wasting much time chasing up. As for
comparable to MB, forget it. Nowhere near.

Paul

[Alex Frazer-Harrison]

Hi Helen

I concur with Paul. Although the MB influence is obvious, they're more
written for the Executiioner/Nick Carter crowd. The lead character is a
borderline villain in my opinion -- considerably more cold-blooded than MB.
Also the books are very sexually explicit, which is probably worth noting.

All that said, I list them as "guilty pleasures". They don't hold a candle
to MB but they're OK. I think I have all but one of the series - there were
about 9 books all issued in one year. Paul Kenyon is most likely a
pseudonym.

Cheers!

Alex

Post by Paul Kerry
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 7:33 PM
Subject: [MB] Baroness novels
The books are out of print, so I have to buy them if I want to read
them. Before I potentially waste money, I'd love to hear if the
Baroness books are any good - do they have the quality of writing,
depth, developed characters, etc, that MB fans look for in a book?
Helen
No. I read a couple of them and they were moderately entertaining, highly
derivative potboilers. Worth reading if you happen on one and have nothing
better to do, but not worth buying or wasting much time chasing up. As for
comparable to MB, forget it. Nowhere near.
Paul

[Helen Evans]

As I feared!
Ah well, thanks for preventing me wasting any money (or time, for that
matter...)

Paul Kenyon is most likely a pseudonym.

yes -- for several writers, all ghostwriting. The reviewer on that
blog could tell the difference between writers, from the writing
style!

cheers,
Helen