On June 27, 1966, I was at my grandparents' house in Gainesville, Georgia, and I
saw a commercial for an upcoming TV show called Dark Shadows. The advert made it look kind of creepy. Seven-year-old me was already
into all kinds of creepy, so this new soap seemed just the ticket. I recall
watching that first episode and a few more while we were in Gainesville. Then,
when we came back here to Martinsville, Virginia, much to my horror, our nearest ABC
affiliate (WGHP-8 out of High Point, NC) wasn't running
Dark Shadows. Well, as you might imagine, I was heartbroken.
After a while, I learned that some of my friends were able to watch the show
because they already had cable TV and could pick it up on WLVA-13 out of
Lynchburg, Virginia.
Sadly, we didn't get cable at our house until three
years later. So, young Mark frequently invited himself over to cable-equipped friends' places to watch the show. My viewings were too sporadic to keep up
with the storyline, but I didn't care. Dark Shadows was
Dark Shadows, and that was all that mattered.
Somewhere in those episodes, I discovered Barnabas Collins, vampire, and
however smitten I might have been with the show... well, now it was mad,
feverish love. Then a werewolf. Trips into the past. This was pure magic, and
I couldn't get enough of it. Yes, I begged and pleaded with my dad day and night to get cable TV, but he kept holding out... until one incredible day in
1969.
Now, I could watch Dark Shadows every single day. And I did. I
didn't go outside to play or roam the neighborhood or torment my friends with
my existence until the day's episode was over. Then came House of Dark Shadows, which I saw at the drive-in theater, thanks to my folks being sporting
enough to take me. This just made the love affair more poignant.
And so it went until that catastrophic Friday in April 1971, when the show
went off the air. I couldn't believe it. I'm pretty sure I cried my eyes out.
On the following Monday, I tuned in at 4:00 p.m. as usual, just to make sure
this wasn't all some cruel, belated April Fools joke.
Nope. The fuckers were showing Password. Mind you, I'd always liked Password until it occupied
the Dark Shadows time slot, so from that moment, that show was dead to me.
During my school years, I wrote little Dark Shadows pastiches,
especially for creative writing assignments. Later, portions of the show came
back in syndication, so I glued myself to the screen again. This was very
satisfying because it allowed me to see some of the storylines I'd missed in
those very early years. For decades, to me — and vast numbers of fans — Dark Shadows never lost its allure.
Then, after I'd been writing professionally for just over a decade came the
opportunity I'd been dreaming about since I'd written my first word of fan fiction: a genuine, official Dark Shadows novel, which I co-wrote with friend and fellow writer, Elizabeth Massie.
HarperCollins released Dark Shadows: Dreams of the Dark in
October 1999, following series star Lara Parker's first novel in the
franchise, Angelique's Descent. At this point, it looked as though there would be more novel opportunities
ahead, but much to my chagrin, HarperCollins shuttered their media tie-in
division, and other than Lara's subsequent novels, there would be no more by other authors (S.E. Hinton had written one
for the series and ended up excising the DS-specific elements and releasing it
under the title Hawke's Harbor).
However, Big Finish, an audio production company in the UK, soon
created a line of Dark Shadows audio dramas featuring the
talents of many of the show's stars. I was fortunate enough to write the
scripts to three of them: Path of Fate, Curse of the Pharaoh, and Blood Dance. These featured series stars Lara Parker, David Selby, Nancy Barrett, Marie
Wallace, and Lisa Richards. All of these were beautifully performed and
produced, and I love the fact that the Big Finish products are considered part
of the show's canon. For me, these represent a true highlight of my
love affair with Dark Shadows.
In recent years, Dark Shadows fan and event organizer, Bob
Issel, whom I'd met at the 1999 Dark Shadows Festival in New
York City and have remained good friends with ever since, produced a trio of
volumes titled Our Shadowed Past, featuring essays, interviews, and photos by both the fans and the
stars/crew of the franchise. I contributed essays to all of them as well as
created the layouts and graphics for the first and third of the books. And a
few years back, author Jim Beard produced a lovely volume of essays to which I
contributed titled Running Home to Shadows.
Yes, it is safe to say that Dark Shadows has been a pivotal, inspiring force in my life, going back almost as far as I can remember, both
personally and professionally. Who knows whether I'll have more opportunities
to contribute to Dark Shadows lore in my remaining years, but if so, I'll probably jump on them. And if
not, I feel I can be pretty damned proud of the work I've done for the
franchise. In my book, that makes me luckier than freaking lucky.
