I've just been reading "The Soccer Field is Empty" (haven't gotten too far) and I'd like to know if Halloween World is a real amusement park. If so, I totally wanna go!! It just thrills my little goth soul, lol. Um... anyway... I just found out about Mark's novels, and I read "Keeper of Secrets" (finished it in two days!) - that was probably a mistake, seeing as how there were so many characters from previous novels and mentions of past events that kind of confused me... so now I'm starting at the beginning, where I should have started. I was just really intrigued by the idea of a homophobic main character. Kids at my school should read that book; a lot of them are so anti-gay.




Anyway, I have a bit of constructive criticism regarding "The Soccer Field is Empty": it's supposed to be a composite of Tay and Mark's journals, but it doesn't read like it. I say this as a big fan of "Dear America" and other such diary-based fiction. There are no dates to make it seem like entries, and there's just too much dialogue and detail to make it seem realistic. And it's too well-written to be the diaries of teenagers. I mean, not to dump on MAR, I'm just saying... if Roeder just never said the book was anybody's journal I wouldn't have this nagging feeling while reading it. It's great, though. Please nobody lynch me. lol.

Ok guys get out the rope. Time for a lynching!! Only kidding. I agree with you about the dialoge especially. Made the suggestion to a certain author who will remain nameless. But I figure some of that may be from Sean and Nick editing it.




Actually some of Halloween World does exist. If you go to the Meet Mark page on the site and click on the Visit to Vernoa page you'll even see some photos. Much of it is fictional however. Halloween World is actually part of Holiday World amusement park in Santa Claus, Indiana. Mark and I went there two days last month while I was visiting him on vacation. Had a great time.

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Replying to:

I've just been reading "The Soccer Field is Empty" (haven't gotten too far) and I'd like to know if Halloween World is a real amusement park. If so, I totally wanna go!! It just thrills my little goth soul, lol. Um... anyway... I just found out about Mark's novels, and I read "Keeper of Secrets" (finished it in two days!) - that was probably a mistake, seeing as how there were so many characters from previous novels and mentions of past events that kind of confused me... so now I'm starting at the beginning, where I should have started. I was just really intrigued by the idea of a homophobic main character. Kids at my school should read that book; a lot of them are so anti-gay.




Anyway, I have a bit of constructive criticism regarding "The Soccer Field is Empty": it's supposed to be a composite of Tay and Mark's journals, but it doesn't read like it. I say this as a big fan of "Dear America" and other such diary-based fiction. There are no dates to make it seem like entries, and there's just too much dialogue and detail to make it seem realistic. And it's too well-written to be the diaries of teenagers. I mean, not to dump on MAR, I'm just saying... if Roeder just never said the book was anybody's journal I wouldn't have this nagging feeling while reading it. It's great, though. Please nobody lynch me. lol.

Dude, that sounds fun!

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Replying to:

Ok guys get out the rope. Time for a lynching!! Only kidding. I agree with you about the dialoge especially. Made the suggestion to a certain author who will remain nameless. But I figure some of that may be from Sean and Nick editing it.




Actually some of Halloween World does exist. If you go to the Meet Mark page on the site and click on the Visit to Vernoa page you'll even see some photos. Much of it is fictional however. Halloween World is actually part of Holiday World amusement park in Santa Claus, Indiana. Mark and I went there two days last month while I was visiting him on vacation. Had a great time.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Replying to:

I've just been reading "The Soccer Field is Empty" (haven't gotten too far) and I'd like to know if Halloween World is a real amusement park. If so, I totally wanna go!! It just thrills my little goth soul, lol. Um... anyway... I just found out about Mark's novels, and I read "Keeper of Secrets" (finished it in two days!) - that was probably a mistake, seeing as how there were so many characters from previous novels and mentions of past events that kind of confused me... so now I'm starting at the beginning, where I should have started. I was just really intrigued by the idea of a homophobic main character. Kids at my school should read that book; a lot of them are so anti-gay.




Anyway, I have a bit of constructive criticism regarding "The Soccer Field is Empty": it's supposed to be a composite of Tay and Mark's journals, but it doesn't read like it. I say this as a big fan of "Dear America" and other such diary-based fiction. There are no dates to make it seem like entries, and there's just too much dialogue and detail to make it seem realistic. And it's too well-written to be the diaries of teenagers. I mean, not to dump on MAR, I'm just saying... if Roeder just never said the book was anybody's journal I wouldn't have this nagging feeling while reading it. It's great, though. Please nobody lynch me. lol.