STRANGE WORLDS: BRITISH TWIN PEAKS FANZINE ISSUE 3

From the early 1990s: the third issue of the British TWIN PEAKS fanzine STRANGE WORLDS.

I'm pretty sureni had more of these (and several other Peaks zines) at the time but only this one resurfaced when I was trawling through boxes recently. Maybe more are out there... or maybe they have been lost to the Black Lodge over time.

The owls are not what they seem.

1991: WELCOME TO TWIN PEAKS: ACCESS GUIDE TO THE TOWN (Pocket Books)

From 1991: WELCOME TO TWIN PEAKS: ACCESS GUIDE TO THE TOWN. 

This was the last of the official tie-in books published in that brief boom period when the series looked like a sure-fire certified hit rather than a show that scored well for only a few weeks, generated acres of press coverage and then started to fade before the first (short) season had even finished its run.

The Access Guide follows the tried-and-tested (although maybe not so much back in 1991) formula of writing an authentic looking tourist/ visitors guide to  fictional local by incorporating and expanding on elements introduced on-screen.  

This was written during the production of the second season because it incorporates elements like Owl Cave which, from memory, didn't become part of the mythos before Year Two.  

This was published in the States and, unlike the other books, I don't think it earn't a separate British edition.  

1990: THE SECRET DIARY OF LAURA PALMER

From 1990: If you read one TWIN PEAKS book back-in-the-day, the chances are in was this one: Jennifer Lynch's THE SECRET DIARY OF LAURA PALMER.  

We've become accustomed to media tie-in books that are, at best, a competent retelling or extension of the screen version... or often fall some way short... so this paperback was (and is) a refreshing change: it really does feel like an extension of what we were being shown and told on screen.  

I couldn't swear now that it exactly mirrors what we saw on screen... and it was published before FIRE WALK WITH ME was conceived and shot... but it certainly seemed to mesh fairly seamlessly at the time.  Quite an achievement considering David lynch seemed prone to making big creative decisions on-the-fly.  A result no doubt helped by the fact that it was written by Lynch's own daughter. 

This is the UK edition.  It's recently been re-released with a new cover design. 

1990: WELCOME TO TWIN PEAKS Paperback

From 1990: The (thin) paperback book WELCOME TO TWIN PEAKS.  

One of the victims of the general crash in all-things-print seems to be the "unofficial" tie-in.  Once upon a time, any TV show that looked half-way like a hit would quickly be accompanied by a hastily-written tie-in peppered with disclaimers and a smattering of magazine covers or agency-purchased stills of the stars.  

The internet, briefly, made these books easier to write as it supplied a ready research-from-home source for authors in a hurry.  But, at the same time, it was also killing the market.  

The book shelves used to be straining with unofficial STAR TREK tie-ins... now you will be hard-pushed to find anything of the sort... and I doubt very much that's down to the ace legal team of CBS Consumer Products.  The truth is... no one cares very much anymore.  I think one of the most damming comments on ENTERPRISE is, despite a four-year run on a national (albeit cobbled together) network, no-one could be bothered to write a book (except for some novels) about it. 

This is a quickie release from 1990 that appeared between the two seasons of PEAKS... that brief moment when the show looked like it might be hot for a while.  Apparently, this sleight tome attracted the legal ire of the network and production company and had to be withdrawn and pulped.  I picked this up at the time from the Fantasy Inn bookshop on London's Charing Cross Road (just around the gallery from Trafalgar Square) before it burnt down and closed for good.  

Last week I picked-up in London's Foyles bookshop a new tome on the show called REFLECTIONS.  I've only dipped-in but (so far) it's an excellent behind-the-scenes history of the show told, in chronological order, by the cast and crew.  I suspect the on-off-on again revival will also generate something official and new... possibly in the coffee table department.  Fingers crossed...

1991: TWIN PEAKS - DALE COOPER: MY LIFE, MY TAPES

From 1991: The British edition of THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SPECIAL AGENT DALE COOPER: MY LIFE , MY TAPES spun off from TWIN PEAKS. 

This was the second, and I suspect less well read, paperback spin-off from the show after Laura's diary.

I read this (and the other books) back at the time and, if I remember correctly, this acts as a prequel to the TV show (ending as Cooper sets out for Twin Peaks to investigate Laura's murder) and filling in some of the Windom Earle back story from the latter part of the second season.  

I don't remember if there were any significant contradictions with the episodes themselves but, although many films and TV shows like to claim that their off-air fiction dovetails with the overall continuity, these books tried harder than most.

There was also an audio tape released that purported to be Cooper's dispatches to the unseen 'Diane' covering season one and the opener of season two.  This book and that tape dovetailed nicely together.  

There was also a fictional travel guide to the town that, again, incorporated and expended on aspects of the show.

Laura's diary has been re-released in anticipation of the return of the TV show but the other books haven't, as yet, been reprinted. 

1992: WRAPPED IN PLASTIC MAGAZINE issue 1 (Win-Mill)

It's amazing what you can find out by reading THE METRO on the way to work.

Browsing London's free morning paper today I discovered that this very weekend Hammersmith's Riverside Studios (not a million miles from my abode) is hosting the annual TWIN PEAKS UK FESTIVAL.  Who would have known such a thing even existed? Not me!

It's sold out so obviously everyone else knew.

But, it's given me the ideal excuse to run this cover… the first issue (first printing!) of WRAPPED IN PLASTIC, the TWIN PEAKS fanzine that ultimately clocked-up a highly creditable (nigh on amazing) run of 75 issues between October 1992 and September 2005.

Not bad for a TV show that briefly burned brightly, withered quickly and only lasted 1.5 seasons (the first is short, the second was a full run).

I used to buy this magazine religiously but eventually drifted away (or it got hard to find) somewhere towards the end.

It launched as a TP zine but quickly broadened its horizons to cover the entire David Lynch catalogue, other shows in a similar vein (EERIE INDIANA, PICKET FENCES) and other projects from the show's cast and crew.

It was WiP that first spotted the potential of THE X-FILES and championed it before the rest of the world's media even seemed to notice it existed.

WiP in turn spun off SPECTRUM which had a broader remit and devoted the same in-depth coverage and analysis to LOIS AND CLARK, BUFFY, ANGEL, ALIAS, SMALLVILLE, XENA, ROSWELL, KUNG FU: THE LEGEND CONTINUES, M.A.N.T.I.S, HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREETS and other contemporary shows of similar quality and integrity.  Heck, they even printed a couple of emails from me!

This first issue was pretty hard to find at the time (and I don't think I ever saw copies of the second and third issues on sale in the UK) and sold-out fast.  A second printing had a colour illustration of Laura.

Wrapped in Plastic, of course, referred to how Laura's body was discovered in the TP pilot.  I'm struggling to recall now but I have a vague idea that this first issue did indeed come bagged.

1990: WELCOME TO TWIN PEAKS (Signet)

This was a quickie - unauthorised - TWIN PEAKS paperback published in the hiatus between the first and second seasons (that brief period when the show was still considered 'hot').  I believe it may have incurred the wrath of the show's producers and was - possibly - withdrawn from sale as a result.  I found this copy in the long-defunct SF/ Comics store (ground floor and basement) near Leicester Square on London's Charing Cross Road.

I don't remember too much about the shop but I believe it closed after a fire.  I do recall it was pretty disorganised but could be relied upon for odds-and-sods that were illusive elsewhere.  Including this book.

Official TP tie-ins, which I'll try and cover in future posts, included the ACCESS GUIDE (faux travel guide to the town), LAURA PALMER'S SECRET DIARY (as featured on the show) and transcripts of DALE COOPER's TAPE (filling in some of the back-story in the period before he was despatched to investigate Laura's murder).  Best of all were the actual audio tapes of Cooper's audio despatches to the unseen 'Diane'.

Long-running professional fanzine WRAPPED IN PLASTIC charted every aspect of the series and the wider Lynch lore.