"The Woods Are Dark" is one of two Laymon novels (the other is "Resurrection Dreams") where the story you get is different depending on your country of purchase, as the original US version published by Warner and the UK edition published by Headline are not the same book, and the 2008 Restored and Uncut edition is yet a third version all together. Long story short, Laymon never had the "uncut" version published during his lifetime because he thought the original manuscript was gone, much like what happened to Jack Ketchum after Warner made him cut up and re-write "Off Season". He had various drafts of the story in his files, but the final edition, his preferred version, wasn't complete as he'd pulled it apart during the re-writing process to appease Warner's editors so the new pages could be slotted in. As such, everything from the original version was in different places and a jumbled mess, which Laymon said in his autobiography would be an impossible task to restore, if the original pages were even still around somewhere. This version was sent to Warner, but when he received the proofs back, he realized someone had re-written huge chunks of his story, cut out around fifty pages of content, re-arranged sections which introduced chronological errors in the narrative, changed the ending, and introduced a bunch of grammar and typographical errors. And this starts on page one, with one character referencing McDonalds, and the other offering her some trail mix ("gorp") from her backpack. I mean, they didn't even give him three paragraphs before whoever was editing the book decided they were George Lucas and this was going to be their Special Edition. Laymon corrected everything he could find, only to be told by Warner that fixing the mistakes would cost too much, so "The Woods Are Dark" was published as Warner's re-written and hacked up version, with none of his corrections. When Laymon sent the manuscript to his UK agent, it was this corrected version which went in the mail, was accepted by Headline, and published over there. It's a better version of the story, but it's still bears little resemblance to Laymon's original. Thirty years later, his daughter Kelly managed to locate all of the missing/mislaid pages from his original draft in his files, including the epilogue which closed out the narrative, re-typeset the entire book, and gave that to Leisure, who published it in 2008. This is the version to read, given that it's the story Laymon wanted to tell, and the difference between it and the other two editions is staggering if you do a side-by-side reading. If it won't cost a fortune, I highly recommend getting your hands on the restored and uncut book, because it really is a completely different experience. :) Sorry for the wall of text there. I'm binge-watching my way through your reviews, and they're all phenomenal. You clearly understand all of Laymon's quirks, his style, and why he has the fanbase that he does today. I've been DYING for someone to come along and do just this, and I could NOT be happier with your results. You get it, and I'm enthralled. :)
Hi, thank you so much for that very informative post! I'm really glad you're enjoying the videos and I appreciate your input. Thanks for taking the time to write that.
@@horrornovelreviews8358 Just to add to areala21's incredibly detailed post, Laymon did publish some of the missing chapters from Woods are Dark in a chapbook that came with the lettered edition of A Writers Tale in 1998. Unfortunatley this was limited to 26 copies !!! An ebook of the restored version was available on kindle for a few pounds but I can't find it in the store at the moment so it may have been taken off. Finally the restored version is actually shorter than the butchered version which goes to show how much meddling was done to the novel by Warners. Would love an updated review if you can get a copy of the restored version.
"[T]hey didn't even give him three paragraphs before whoever was editing the book decided they were George Lucas and this was going to be their Special Edition." Christ, you have a way with words. Take my upvote. Am I the only one who would love to see a sort of "combined edition" of the two stories, where we get both the Lander Dills chapters and the Jenny/Peggy ones? It would push the page count up to around 300 pages, and there's almost no overlap between the two scenarios. Of course, how much of the Jenny/Peggy storyline was Laymon's original work and how much of it was hacked together by someone else would be hard to figure out, so maybe it's for the best. Lander's story is by far the more interesting of the two. To add even more to Areala21's post, the artwork which was supposed to grace the front cover of the Warner edition not only got used on the back, but also flipped 180 degrees -- the artist drew it one way, and Warner's cover department turned it upside down and slapped it on the wrong side. These morons couldn't find their own asses with their hands stuffed in their back pockets.
From my understanding, the version published in the UK was the (mostly) uncut version. Only the original US hard cover was massacred, cutting almost all of Lander's story arc from the novel. As a result the novel received poor reviews and sales killing Laymon's career in the States. His popularity grew overseas, particularly in the UK, where the publishers/editors weren't so eager to cut. Great reviews by the way, I'm working through them. The Woods are Dark is my favourite Laymon novel, maybe because it was the first one I read. Like Doctor Who, the first one you encounter leaves a lasting impression.
Close. The UK edition was a "corrected" edition of the manuscript Warner published in paperback here in the US (there was no hardcover release), without the Lander Dills chapters. Otherwise, you're spot-on. Laymon really didn't get popular in the US again until the late 90s when Leisure started printing his back catalog and pushing his new stories as well.
Apparently the original version omitted everything that has to do with the writer going primal. Which is weird because to my mind that's where the heart of this book is - an immoral townie growing a conscience and a civilized intellectual gradually losing one. Thanks for your reviews! I'm having fun listening to the ones for the books I've read, comparing impressions.
I just finished reading this book (the 2013 edition) and from what I know that has the missing pages and is uncut and can get it on Amazon for a fair price, There's even a foreword from Laymon's daughter saying how she found the missing pages and was able to restore the book and from what you said about this book it seems very different cause the edition I read it did say where these Krulls came from and the ending was very different.
My theory is that US culture tends to be pretty prudish so that the darker, edgier and seedier topics and actions don’t sit well, whereas the more ‘mature’, broad minded cultures in Uk, Aus, Europe and Canada appreciate and accept more of the material. As a Canadian I say that at the risk of sounding demeaning to US audience, but I think that a good half of their population have earned that criticism and it’s a fair critique. Same thing with Frank Zappa’s music which has always been way more popular outside of his native US (though Zappa, as distinct from Laymon, was a true genius - a 20th century Mozart)
A good review. I read this years ago and could not remember the premise. I was going to reread it - thank god I didn’t. Your review brought it all back - it is complete crap. He did far better books. For me, Laymon was a much better short story writer.
"The Woods Are Dark" is one of two Laymon novels (the other is "Resurrection Dreams") where the story you get is different depending on your country of purchase, as the original US version published by Warner and the UK edition published by Headline are not the same book, and the 2008 Restored and Uncut edition is yet a third version all together.
Long story short, Laymon never had the "uncut" version published during his lifetime because he thought the original manuscript was gone, much like what happened to Jack Ketchum after Warner made him cut up and re-write "Off Season". He had various drafts of the story in his files, but the final edition, his preferred version, wasn't complete as he'd pulled it apart during the re-writing process to appease Warner's editors so the new pages could be slotted in. As such, everything from the original version was in different places and a jumbled mess, which Laymon said in his autobiography would be an impossible task to restore, if the original pages were even still around somewhere. This version was sent to Warner, but when he received the proofs back, he realized someone had re-written huge chunks of his story, cut out around fifty pages of content, re-arranged sections which introduced chronological errors in the narrative, changed the ending, and introduced a bunch of grammar and typographical errors. And this starts on page one, with one character referencing McDonalds, and the other offering her some trail mix ("gorp") from her backpack. I mean, they didn't even give him three paragraphs before whoever was editing the book decided they were George Lucas and this was going to be their Special Edition.
Laymon corrected everything he could find, only to be told by Warner that fixing the mistakes would cost too much, so "The Woods Are Dark" was published as Warner's re-written and hacked up version, with none of his corrections. When Laymon sent the manuscript to his UK agent, it was this corrected version which went in the mail, was accepted by Headline, and published over there. It's a better version of the story, but it's still bears little resemblance to Laymon's original.
Thirty years later, his daughter Kelly managed to locate all of the missing/mislaid pages from his original draft in his files, including the epilogue which closed out the narrative, re-typeset the entire book, and gave that to Leisure, who published it in 2008. This is the version to read, given that it's the story Laymon wanted to tell, and the difference between it and the other two editions is staggering if you do a side-by-side reading. If it won't cost a fortune, I highly recommend getting your hands on the restored and uncut book, because it really is a completely different experience. :)
Sorry for the wall of text there. I'm binge-watching my way through your reviews, and they're all phenomenal. You clearly understand all of Laymon's quirks, his style, and why he has the fanbase that he does today. I've been DYING for someone to come along and do just this, and I could NOT be happier with your results. You get it, and I'm enthralled. :)
Hi, thank you so much for that very informative post! I'm really glad you're enjoying the videos and I appreciate your input. Thanks for taking the time to write that.
@@horrornovelreviews8358 Just to add to areala21's incredibly detailed post, Laymon did publish some of the missing chapters from Woods are Dark in a chapbook that came with the lettered edition of A Writers Tale in 1998. Unfortunatley this was limited to 26 copies !!!
An ebook of the restored version was available on kindle for a few pounds but I can't find it in the store at the moment so it may have been taken off.
Finally the restored version is actually shorter than the butchered version which goes to show how much meddling was done to the novel by Warners.
Would love an updated review if you can get a copy of the restored version.
@@broccoli_rob_76 I'll definitely do a review of the original version as soon as I'm able to get a copy. Thanks a lot for the info.
"[T]hey didn't even give him three paragraphs before whoever was editing the book decided they were George Lucas and this was going to be their Special Edition."
Christ, you have a way with words. Take my upvote.
Am I the only one who would love to see a sort of "combined edition" of the two stories, where we get both the Lander Dills chapters and the Jenny/Peggy ones? It would push the page count up to around 300 pages, and there's almost no overlap between the two scenarios. Of course, how much of the Jenny/Peggy storyline was Laymon's original work and how much of it was hacked together by someone else would be hard to figure out, so maybe it's for the best. Lander's story is by far the more interesting of the two.
To add even more to Areala21's post, the artwork which was supposed to grace the front cover of the Warner edition not only got used on the back, but also flipped 180 degrees -- the artist drew it one way, and Warner's cover department turned it upside down and slapped it on the wrong side. These morons couldn't find their own asses with their hands stuffed in their back pockets.
From my understanding, the version published in the UK was the (mostly) uncut version. Only the original US hard cover was massacred, cutting almost all of Lander's story arc from the novel. As a result the novel received poor reviews and sales killing Laymon's career in the States. His popularity grew overseas, particularly in the UK, where the publishers/editors weren't so eager to cut. Great reviews by the way, I'm working through them. The Woods are Dark is my favourite Laymon novel, maybe because it was the first one I read. Like Doctor Who, the first one you encounter leaves a lasting impression.
Close. The UK edition was a "corrected" edition of the manuscript Warner published in paperback here in the US (there was no hardcover release), without the Lander Dills chapters. Otherwise, you're spot-on. Laymon really didn't get popular in the US again until the late 90s when Leisure started printing his back catalog and pushing his new stories as well.
Apparently the original version omitted everything that has to do with the writer going primal. Which is weird because to my mind that's where the heart of this book is - an immoral townie growing a conscience and a civilized intellectual gradually losing one.
Thanks for your reviews! I'm having fun listening to the ones for the books I've read, comparing impressions.
At some point I'll probably do a review of the unedited/unbutchered version of the novel. Thanks a lot for watching and commenting!
Great review with great background information 👍🏼
Thanks very much for watching and commenting!
I just finished reading this book (the 2013 edition) and from what I know that has the missing pages and is uncut and can get it on Amazon for a fair price, There's even a foreword from Laymon's daughter saying how she found the missing pages and was able to restore the book and from what you said about this book it seems very different cause the edition I read it did say where these Krulls came from and the ending was very different.
Fair enough, I'll try to pick up a copy fairly cheap and give the 'real' version a read. Thanks for letting me know!
I found the uncut version at a local thrift store the other day for $4.
My theory is that US culture tends to be pretty prudish so that the darker, edgier and seedier topics and actions don’t sit well, whereas the more ‘mature’, broad minded cultures in Uk, Aus, Europe and Canada appreciate and accept more of the material. As a Canadian I say that at the risk of sounding demeaning to US audience, but I think that a good half of their population have earned that criticism and it’s a fair critique. Same thing with Frank Zappa’s music which has always been way more popular outside of his native US (though Zappa, as distinct from Laymon, was a true genius - a 20th century Mozart)
Excellent review 👏 I won't bother reading this 👍
A good review. I read this years ago and could not remember the premise. I was going to reread it - thank god I didn’t. Your review brought it all back - it is complete crap. He did far better books. For me, Laymon was a much better short story writer.
Definitely a strange book this one. I couldn't get my head into this one how the krulls became such a big and dominant force not my favourite.