MORE BOOKS… Dark Excursions : The Complete Set (2015) by John L Harmon

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Let me take you to a book, that should be adapted into a soap opera…

 

A book review telling of secrets, lies, murder and much more with my dream retro cast list.

 

Dark Excursions Complete Set

Dark Excursions Books

DARK EXCURSIONS (trailer), John L Harmon

 

Discussing books with my good blogging friend and author, John L Harmon I shared with him that I often form an all-star cast in my head when reading fiction books. After buying his book Dark Excursions, I asked John just who he would cast in his novel, from past and present had he the opportunity. He told me his casting ideas for those roles HERE. After reading his book, I am returning the favour, with my chosen cast members also from then or now.

My all-star cast was easily imagined as John’s vivid descriptions reminded me of those bonkbuster mini series of the 1980s, with subplots aplenty with Hollywood’s (and beyond) finest acting talent. These 1980s mini series included those casts with everyone and anyone and were seen in their heyday, the 1980s in the likes of The Thorn Birds (1983), Strong Medicine (1987), If Tomorrow Comes (1986) and Deceptions (1985). But in comparing our very different cast lists, to my surprise, we had one cast member in common, but in a completely different role.

But first a little about John’s book, Dark Excursions: The Complete Set is four separate books in one. This complete version includes all those immersive twisty turny subplots, and these combined with John’s vivid writing means this particular book rather than the separate ones is recommended. I was hooked as I effortlessly moved from each book to the next within this book and was as riveted – and addicted –  as those days after finding out who shot JR in another cliff hanger themed series albeit on TV.

Thanks to his strong writing and character building, John took my imagination on a trip to the past of soaps, mini series and ensemble casts. In John’s book, there are charismatic characters with tangled love lives, scheming matriarchs, widowers with adulterous wives and priests with drinking problems. John’s immersive text is like those prime-time soaps is strewn with cliffhangers, flashbacks and revelations in every chapter.

This complete version of the book is split into 90 short but succinct chapters, which played like scenes of a Prime Time soap opera in my mind. In John’s writing, we are taken from one location to the next in these chapters as the action continues, the happenings at these locations often leaving you reeling at a character’s revelations, discoveries or behaviours. John’s writing adds the same endearing qualities as those of Prime Time soaps such as Falcon Crest (1981-90), Dallas (1978) and Dynasty (1981-89) and adds turbulent relationships, non-stop intrigue and happenings of all sorts.

The back story begins before the first book begins, as we understand that the middle aged, Anapola Van der Van (loving the soap inspired names here, John), a formidable matriarch, had a past indiscretion with her much younger, stable boy, Crop Hoppins. This relationship was back in a time when her jealous husband, Charles was living.

In the book’s present day, Crop no longer works for her and she is now not a happy woman, but it at first seems an envious one. In the first chapter we learn her 18 year old daughter Cheryl recently had a relationship with Crop. Their relationship ended much to her mother’s possible relief (with an unhealthy smidgen of happiness as this matriarch still has a thing for this younger man).

Cheryl and Crop’s relationship ended after she discovered her beloved Crop, had a one night stand with Luchia Diego Smith. This he was told resulted in Luchia’s pregnancy. Things go full tilt soap, after you add to this part of the story, that Luchia is married to a handsome rich older man and businessman, Xylem Smith who can’t have children…

Crop believes that Luchia may have drugged him, as part of a plan to convince him that they slept together. This plot was aided and abetted by  Anapola. He learns that this lonely housewife, Luchia had tried to bed her Russian tennis coach, Ivan… This delicious who’s the daddy plotline is not too dissimilar to those paternity questions from Dallas and The Colbys…

The handsome and rugged, Crop Hoppins is also loved from afar by Anapola’s one armed gardener, Dinkel. Dinkel has his own reasons for disliking Anapola, as she treats him badly and has done since her late husband rescued Dinkel from a life of drudgery at a circus. However, Dinkel and his employer, Anapola have shared secrets and share a startling truth that will rock Crop’s world.

There is so much more than these compelling plotlines that you will discover by the end of this book. These are just the tip of the iceberg in this highly engrossing tale where there are more fascinating characters to be met, and engaging back stories to discover as this story continues… You will be drawn in chapter by chapter, and location by location to discover the whole story. You will find there are more than a few shocking details about these well-drawn characters… both in the flashbacks and the present.

Now to my casting… While you are imagining these characters as this cast, think of all those opening credits to the soaps as accompanied by a Bill Conti theme… As in my imagination, Conti was brought in as a composer for this Dark Excursions theme after his work on Dynasty and The Colbys. And Conti is just the beginning of my imagined casting for the soundtrack to John’s novel.

Now as the theme tune begins… we see my mainly retro cast for this imagined mini-series/soap opera filmed in the late 1980s… with the acting talent and ages that they were cast in this role in brackets.

 

Cheryl Van der Van (A first role, as we are introduced to the then young, Nicole Kidman)…

Nicole Kidman

The “beloved” 18 year old redhead daughter, of her much loved daddy, Charles and Anapola Van der Van. Cheryl is at first described as a young girl who loves the older Crop Hoppins. But she can’t be with him anymore after he apparently got Luchia Diego Smith pregnant after a night of passion.

After Cheryl learns that he was drugged and then set up by Luchia as the reason for her pregnancy, she still can’t forgive Crop. This is for him suggesting that her mother took part in this assisting this “indiscretion”.

The truth of this matter, Cheryl will discover is not the only one of her mother’s secrets. This you will find out, is not the only one which involves their one time lover… This young woman will go through a rollercoaster of emotions, as she learns more about her family… as she looks into the past, and her now present.

Nicole Kidman is the only cast member that John and I had in common, but he envisages this actress as she is now, when he wrote the role of Anapola and I see this as a debut role for this then much younger actress.

 

Anapola Van der Van (Shirley MacLaine, at the age she was in the early 1980s)…

Shirley MacLaine

Cheryl Van der Van’s mother, and the middle aged widow of Charles. She has more well-guarded secrets than most people and sees everything, and misses nothing. This is especially if she can use it to her advantage.

Despite Crop’s former relationship with her daughter, she still yearns for Crop with whom she also once had a fling. She also harbours more than a passing attraction for Luchia’s husband, Xylem.

At times she’s quick-tempered, manipulative and handy with a slap. Anapola believes she’s done her best for her daughter when one big secret from their past threatens to come out. This is a secret that she shares with Dinkel… and both have their own reasons for keeping stum.

You’ll discover this woman, has her reasons for some of her behaviours. These stemmed from her marriage with her now deceased husband. Her past connects her with more characters than her daughter could ever imagine…

I cast Shirley MacLaine in this role, this was after seeing her Oscar Winning performance in Terms of Endearment (1983). This film role easily helped me picture her play this determined woman and strong willed mother… and therefore the perfect combination of attributes to bring to her role as Anapola.

 

Crop Hoppins (Michael Nader as in his 1980s days)…

Michael Nader

The one time young stable boy to the Van der Vans. After finding out the truth about his tryst with Luchia, a bombshell from his past threatens his sanity, and causes him to end his hopes of ever being with Cheryl.

But luckily he has a strong friendship with his one time colleague at the Van der Van mansion, Dinkel. Dinkel is one person who he trusts and he feels he can confide in… After all with their mutual hatred of Anapola, why would he lie about anything…?

Crop’s storyline also draws other characters into this plot in a surprising setting. But you will discover that there is much to learn about this charismatic and enigmatic man. John describes this character – in his casting post – as having a “roguish charm and sizzling sensuality” which sums him up beautifully in my casting.

For his role, I imagined him played by Michael Nader, in his Dynasty years, as the perfect Crop with his good looks, his gravelly voice, and those penetrating brown eyes searching for answers.

 

Luchia Diego Smith (Eva Longoria as she was in the early 2000s)…

Eva Longoria

Blackmail, marital infidelity and her subsequent pregnancy set up his character as one to be disliked by both the reader and every character she crosses paths with.

Yet her suicide haunts her then distant husband Xylem (John Slattery), as does the identity of the father of her unborn child. If she had known that Xylem did love her, would she have had a different tale to tell…

Eva Longoria is one of my few surprising more recently born cast members. So to make her casting fit in, I imagine Eva was cast in this role after she was somehow transported back in time to make this imagined soap opera after seeing her work as a feisty and strong Gabriela Solis in Desperate Housewives (2004-12).

 

Dinkel (Jack Coleman looking as he was in the 1980s)…

Jack Coleman

A one armed gardener, who is much loved and trusted by Cheryl and Crop. A man that feels obliged to still work for Anapola, after Charles saved him from his then difficult life at the circus.

He seems the one character that you feel you could trust. But beneath this facade fears the repercussions of telling those secrets to those he holds dear… The enormity of these secrets weighs down on him. But there is so much more to learn about Dinkel, as we learn about his tragic past…

It’s back to the 1980s for my casting, as Jack Coleman is cast in the second of my Dynasty connections. I imagine him as Dinkel, looking just as handsome as Coleman was in his Dynasty days… and in his performance as Steven Carrington, easily fits  John’s description of Dinkel as a man with “strength and vulnerability”.

 

Other characters include…

Charles Van der Van (A role for Richard Burton)…

Richard Burton

As Anapola’s husband, I felt that Shirley McClaine needed a versatile actor in the role of her sadly deceased husband, who we meet in some telling flashbacks. Richard Burton would be credible as this multi-layered character. And in John’s storytelling, you’ll think back and remember Burton showing the attributes and flaws of characters he’s played before. This role was his then ( – I imagine – ) Roger Ebert lauded role in an “Emmy Winning portrayal of a man as flawed as Henry VIII, with a streak of George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”…

 

Father John (Liam Neeson)…

Liam Neeson

Despite his trusted and honourable profession, this priest is found no redeeming qualities. He has an imperfect past and a present drinking problem. You will be stunned as he carries out actions that will in turn surprise you and shock you.

In the former, Father John makes a decision he regrets in collaboration of sorts with a devilish and scheming character which will lead to deadly repercussions.

I cast Liam Neeson in the role, just before I discovered he has played a man of the cloth before. This was in one of two serendipitous moments as fiction meets fiction meets fiction (still with me?)

 

Xylem Smith (a Mad Men era John Slattery)…

John Slattery

Luchia’s much older, attractive and successful businessman husband made Charles Van der Van jealous back in the day. This was after Charles watched this young man dance with Anapola.

Nowadays, Xylem is a man who won’t rest til he finds out the truth about his beloved wife, Luchia. It’s Luchia, the woman he still loves in spite of all those unwelcoming truths. Her death keeps him awake at night pondering the reasons for her suicide.

He reels at the possible identities of the father of Luchia’s unborn baby. All he knows for sure is that it isn’t him, as he can’t have kids and it’s clear he always loved her.

His investigations into this child’s paternity and the man she may have been unfaithful with, lead to the interrogation of her tennis instructor, Ivan and others… Yet he’ll discover there are more startling revelations about his wife before he can move on.

I cast John Slattery in this role, after seeing him in Mad Men (2007-15) and his chemistry with Eva Longoria as Gabriela’s husband Victor Lang in Desperate Housewives… so he probably joined her in the time machine.

 

Ivan Kramnik (a younger Helmut Berger)…

Helmut Berger

Ivan is a one-time Russian tennis pro turned tennis instructor, whom Luchia tried to bed. But there is much more to this enigmatic character as we learn about him and his connections with a character. Can you handle the now truths about him and his now relationships of all kinds with other characters? Read to learn more about this Russian character who John describes as “brazen, intimidating and sexy”?

I cast a younger, Helmut Berger in this role partly down to John’s descriptions. I cast Berger as he looked in the mid-1970s and before he took a role in Dynasty… and this is the last of those soap opera casting connections.

 

Dr Jannette Parker (an early role for Louise Fletcher)…

Louise Fletcher

Dr Parker is a young and pretty psychiatrist who we meet as she does her job and in this setting, it is then hinted that she has a secret and explosive past which involves a character in the book.

Her mental health role shows that Jannette has good instincts when she can tell a patient in her care hasn’t told her their full story… But is she hesitant about discharge, as she wants to learn more about someone for her own personal reasons? Jannette’s secret past with another character in this book is a surprising one… as we learn about her past bit by bit and find out the full picture.

I see this as a role which showed Louise Fletcher in a different light in a more rounded mental health role after One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975).

Sister Beatrice Cross (Tracy Nelson as she was in the late 1980s)…

Tracy Nelson

A devout nun who is passionate about her job. She finds out the hard way about the darker side of a character, in an action which both challenges and strengthens her beliefs…

Surprisingly, Tracy Nelson was the first to come to mind for this role, perhaps as I connected her with her previous nun role in The Father Dowling Mysteries / Father Dowling Investigates (1989-91).

 

Peter Obelisk (a very young, Alain Delon)…

Alain Delon

The handsome, loyal and trusted chauffeur to the Smith family for many years…

I cast a very young Alain Delon in this small role. TBH the only reason I can give is it was possibly imagining him in a chauffeur uniform…

I easily imagined Delon doffing a chauffeur’s hat after seeing this French actor in a pilot uniform in Airport 79 /Airport 80: The Concorde (1980) and looking tres, tres sexy. For all these reasons you will find show that he’s perfectly cast in this role in this soap opera filled plot.

 

Sheriff Mick Webb (Middle aged, Robert Forster)…

Mick Webb is a police detective with a past, who comes to investigate a matter…  And I won’t tell you the why, when and what surrounds his entrance to the story, but leave you with his occupation alone as a cliffhanger…

I always imagine Robert Forster in these types of roles after seeing him in a detective role in Alligator (1980)…

 

Now after this book Dark Excursions took me to 90 venues between a stable and a conservatory, I’m now advocating this novel, to be read and devoured by soap fans, and those who love an intriguing can’t put down book series. I suggest you buy this complete book if you are like me and can immerse yourself fully… or if you like suspense and cliffhangers and have willpower, buy these books individually.

Finally a note to the author… John, can I suggest another chapter of this tale? This as you write… “Let me take you to a follow up book / prequel”, “Let me take you to a soap opera pilot”… or “Let me take you to a soap sudded bonkbuster mini series”. Or as this book deserves, take me to your Oscar or Emmy winning screenplay, directed and starring Hollywood’s best… and in any case, I’ll be first in line to review it when you do.

 

Finally a little about John L. Harmon in his own words:

Bio:

John L. Harmon is a visually-impaired, queer indie author/blogger currently residing left of center in a quiet town in the middle of the U.S.  He lost a chunk of his vision in late 2016 and it felt like his world was ending.  However, he wasn’t quite ready to let it end.  Through wearing Mad Scientist Glasses, utilizing technology and just not knowing what else to do, John found his way back to writing, enjoying television & films and even reading physical books.  When he is not obsessively watching the films of Andy Milligan, reading or writing, John can be found delivering bad news around town and dealing with feline shenanigans.

Universal link for DARK EXCURSIONS (the complete set)… 

myBook.to/DarkExcursions

My online home, where you can find more about me, my books and blogs… 

http://thejlhcollective.blogspot.com/2018/03/home.html

Direct link to my books & blogs… 

http://thejlhcollective.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-collective.html

A blog post link about music I listened to while writing DARK EXCURSIONS…

http://freakboyzone.blogspot.com/2016/09/freakboy-muses-music-writing-soundtrack.html

 

A disclaimer and personal thank you to John L Harmon for allowing me to write this post. Financial compensation was not received for this post. All opinions expressed here are my own. If you are involved in the entertainment industry and would like to be featured or promoted here, please drop a line to me via my Contact Me Page.