Disaster

Zine
Title:	Disaster
Publisher:	Old House Publishing
Editor:
Author(s):	Dale Clark
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	1995
Series?:	yes
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:	gen
Fandom:	Dark Shadows
Language:	English
External Links:
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Disaster is a gen Dark Shadows novel by Dale Clark. It's the fifth in a series of seven books.

Summary

From the publisher: "Barnabas Collins is dead! Long live Judah! While trying to come to terms with the death of Barnabas at the hands of Judah Zachary, Julia, Quentin and Angelique must devise a plan to stop the warlock. For Judah's plans go beyond mere revenge as he intends to fan the flames of the inferno of evil he has ignited within Victoria Winters and use her to open a portal between this world and the land of the damned. With an army of the undead, Judah takes control of Collinwood and one by one everyone on the great estate falls under his control -- all save for David Collins, who remains beyond Judah's grasp, hidden in the East Wing of the house, searching for some way to help his tormented family. Entrenched at the Old House, Julia and Angelique soon fall victim to the warlock's power as well and Quentin realizes that if the disaster that appears imminent is to be averted, help must come from an unexpected source."

Series

Cover of Disaster

• Reunion
• Retribution
• Revelations
• Destiny
• Disaster
• Damnation
• Ritual

Also see: Interludes for a zine of related stories.

Reactions and Reviews

If only you had been a script writer for the series the original Dark Shadows would still be running. DISASTER was wonderful. Each installment gets better and more gripping! You have a gift for recreating the varied and distinct characters we all know and love -- you deftly create characterization, atmosphere, setting and plot. You never belabor description -- the gravest and most widespread flaw among the majority of writers of DS fiction. You create meaningful dialogue which establishes for the reader the action, mood and character motivation. Your books are almost like playscripts because of the dialogue and really bring the DS folk to life for the reader. As much as I enjoy the Q&A books, I wish you would rather devote the time required by those projects to producing more installments of your continuing story.

This was the first time the story didn't seem quite right. I re-read the thing three times until I finally found the problem. Basically, you had too much going on. In the first four books, you concentrated on a single plotline with a second subploL In DISASTER you had Quentin's son, Roger confronting his demons, Vicki seeing the dark side of her soul, the bit with Leticia, David and his mother, Judah, the re.lationship between Julia and Angelique (the best part of the story), and Barnabas death. There was just too much going on and not enough time to devote to any of these events so none of them felt complete. True, you can't end the story, but before, each of your novels told a complete talc. This time it felt only half-finished. ((I wrote DISASTER in a "rapid-fire" way so that it would underscore just exactly how quickly these horrible events were happening, and how overwhelmed the cast of 'heroes' were -- thus the name DISASTER. But I'll certainly keep an eye out for "too much" going on in the future, although I'm afraid it doesn't look like there will be any calm times ahead for anyone at Collinwood as a darkness like none they've ever experienced descends upon the world ... Dale Clark))

You've maximized suspense about Barnabas' fate. Julia's descent into madness was well done, and you did justice, long overdue, to poor Roger, by giving him a really meaningful role. His torment was poetic in its irony. I really hated to see this book end!

I've really been enjoying your series of novels and the latest one is no exception. One (of many) aspects that has brought a lot of pleasure to me is the way you are handling the Julia/ Angelique relationship . Despite themselves, these two women like and respect one another, and you have shown this with very convincing and narural scenes. In fact, the whole series of novels seems very narural. I have no trouble whatsoever visualizing any of these scenes. It is as if they were "episodes" that we never were given the opportunity to watch. I like the way that over the course of the five novels you've reintroduced a good many of the characters we all loved so much. Now, with the conclusion of DISASTER I see that you've brought back one of my least favorite characters -- Adam. I'm very curious to see how you treat him. And of course, what a wonderful cliffhanger! Again, just like watching an episode.

I bought DISASTER at the Festival in August -- another "masterpiece". I was glad to see Laura Collins again, as well as a few hints that the Edith Collins paradox that has disturbed a lot of fans may soon be explained. Why not send a copy of DISASTER to Alexandra Moltke? She always did want Vicki to have a "dark side". ((Actually, it was hearing Alexandra's comment that she had wanted Vicki to have that "dark side" which heavily influenced the current storyline in the novels -- Dale))

I expect DAMNATION to be even gloomier than DISASTER. I hope Angelique can find a way back - she did before after Barnabas and Ben torched her. She is badly needed at the Old House I know I'm not the only fan who enioyed seeing her and Julia in a respectful partnership. While Angie is not my first choice for Barnabas' mate -- Julia is -- the former Mrs. Barnabas Collins is my second choice, and Quentin is welcome to have Vicki. And if Angelique can't come back -- and Barnabas somehow joins the the land of the living - Barnabas hasn't gotten around to telling Julia to look elsewhere for romance, so mere's hope that way too!