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Date Posted: 05:42:27 04/07/24 Sun
Author: Curious
Author Host/IP: 49.196.20.98
Subject: What did DonV intend for the third 'Anderson Family' story? - An Essay

What did DonV intend for the third 'Anderson Family' story? - An Essay

Introduction

In 2012 author DonV completed the second part of his 'Anderson Family' series to the Old Dark Side Fetish Board. At that time they implied that they had most of the story outline for the third volume written out, but that they were having problems with sex/drug issues that were starting to crop up in the storyline. Specifically they wrote:

"A major issue I do face is how to handle the sex, and to some extent drug and alcohol use. I’ve probably already stretched things about as far as might be appropriate for this forum with Grace and Bob. To take the series where it seems to be leading me, we’re going to start getting into problem areas, beginning with Teresa and Kelly (for very different reasons) and, if the series goes on long enough, with Heather herself."(1)

In 2017 when Nick, the Noble Leaf Librarian republished the first and second stories in the 'Anderson Family' series they wrote this:

"So you may have noticed that Book Three in the Anderson Family Trilogy isn’t listed, that’s because Don hasn’t written it yet, he’s working on it and has told me he’ll complete the trilogy on his own time. When this happens, this compilation will be updated."(2)

Since then nothing further has been heard and recent queries to Nick have revealed that DonV has dropped out of contact.

This short essay is an attempt to determine what the authors intentions may have been in 2012 using the available evidence, the stories 'Cousin Marie', 'Like Daughter, Like Mother' and 'Minnesota Twins" along with the associated postings archived from the Old Dark Side Board.

Part One: What Did the Author Intend - Heather?.

The first thing to note is that the character Heather, whose actions drive the 'Anderson Family' series first appears in the story 'Cousin Marie', a story that currently does not form part of the Noble Leaf Library and only exists in the form published on the Old Dark Side Board.

In 'Cousin Marie' she has a relationship with the narrator, a fictionalised version of the author named Don Traveller. Like several of the characters in that story she was allegedly based on someone the author encountered in Chile in the 1970s. Her smoking backstory, given in the twentieth chapter of 'Cousin Marie' was so unusual that the author decided to make it the basis of his next series of fiction, what became known as the 'Anderson Family' series.(3)

Heathers probable plot thread in the third story would have been built off three main elements, firstly the Heather-Dianne relationship, this was one of the weak points of 'Minnesota Twins' and from clues contained within that story it's likely the relationship was going to end with Dianne pairing off with Mariana Dominguez the older of Teresa Dominguez's daughters.(16) The second element is the 'supply issue' plot thread that started in 'Like Daughter, Like Mother' and is resolved in chapter seventeen of 'Minnesota Twins'(8), having located a local source for the type of cigarettes she likes(9), it's clear her smoking levels are going to change again. The third and final element is her decision in chapter twenty of 'Minnesota Twins'(10) to become the smoking mentor for Maria, daughter of Rosa Flores, the Anderson's Chilean housekeeper.(11)

Beyond that, there is the possible incorporation of the Heather-Don relationship from 'Cousin Marie' giving her perspective of those events.

It is likely that Heather's thread in the third story, would have in many ways been a continuation of the exploration of the effects her embrace of the habit was having on her relationships that began in the second story.

Part Two: What Did the Author Intend - Crista?.

In the two parts of the series published Heather starts smoking, an event which leads to both her mother, Grace, and at the end of the second story, younger sister, Crista, experimenting with smoking. Each of the two published stories ends with characters becoming accepting of the habit. Heather in 'Like Daughter, Like Mother', Grace and her husband Bob(4) in 'Minnesota Twins'. It is reasonable to assume, as the second stories epilogue has a scene involving Crista that is a deliberate parallel to the scene in the first chapter of 'Like Daughter, Like Mother' where Heather tries smoking for the first time, that the third story would have ended with Crista becoming accepting of and devoted to the habit.

What is of interest regarding Crista's 'First Cigarette' scene are the characters involved, Heathers 'First Cigarette' scene involved only one other character, her friend Claudia. Crista's involves two, one Andrea is a newcomer to the story, the other is making her second appearance in DonV's fiction. This character, named Nicki Thomson(12)(15) in the cast of characters is first mentioned as an unnamed character in the sixteenth chapter of 'Cousin Marie'(5), she's the daughter of British smokers who started exprimenting at or slightly before 11 years of age and is officially restricted to one cigarette a day by her parents, but is clearly smoking more than that behind their back.

Combined with the scene in the third part of the epilogue in which Crista watches Heather and Grace smoke with what's described as a mixture of trouble and envy it's clear that one of the threads in the third story was going to be Crista's journey to becoming a smoker in conjunction with Andrea under the tutilage of Nicki. Another character who may have become involved in shaping Crista's journey is Isabel Dominguez youngest daughter of Grace's friend Teresa Dominguez introduced in chapter nineteen(6) of 'Minnesota Twins' and like Nicki already a devoted smoker at age 11.

Most likely, given Grace's thoughts in the ninteenth chapter of 'Minnesota Twins', the climax of Crista's plot thread would most likely have taken place on her thirteenth birthday with her receiving the same birthday gift Heather received.(7)

Part Three: What Did the Author Intend - Grace?.

While the author made it quite clear that the focus of the third story was going to be on Crista/Heather, there is one big clue as to what was going to happen to Grace in the third story contained in chapter eighteen(13) of 'Minnesota Twins', there it's noted not only that she's curious about just what it is that Teresa Dominguez get's up to on Saturdays, but, parenthically that she ultimately regrets finding out.(14)

If Graces path during the second story is one of breaking free of conventional bonds(17), it would appear that the third part would have involved her coming up against things that even her expanded conciousness is unable to accept while also dealing with Crista's path to embracing the habit, whatever form it would have taken.

Part Four: Miscellaneous unresolved elements.

Part Four - Section One: The American branch of the Anderson Family.

In the postcript to the Old Dark Side Board version of 'Like Daughter, Like Mother' DonV wrote that the chapters where the Andersons visited their relatives in the United States(24) were nearly omitted, but retained because they set up characters who would appear later in the series. However against this statement is the clear fact that those chapters contain a key moment in Heather's evolution as a smoker. Little clue is contained in 'Like Mother, Like Daughter', on how they were going to be used, but Julie's remarks about smoking marijuana can be seen as suggestive of one possible direction.

Part Four - Section Two: Bob's dealing with Graces drinking.

Bob Anderson is the patriarch of the Anderson Family in Chile, in the story he's essentially a reactive character(18). He derives pleasure from his fetishes(19), but they do not control his actions. This can be seen both in the chapters of 'Minnesota Twins' set in the Chilean ski resort of Portillo(20) and in the twenty first chapter of the story where Grace and Bob have a heart-to-heart session and it's clear that Grace is seeking from Bob approval for the path she's taking which he does give.

In terms of the story, it sets up the final sex scene which mixes smoking, intoxication and even a dash of raunch.(22) In terms of the series as a whole, it's a further demonstration of the good relationship between these two characters.

The paragraphs that follow imply that Bob, while happy that his wife has continued smoking is also happy that she's not drinking to the same extent. It's likely this may have seen the character take a more active role in the story, but the author leaves no specific clues.

Part Four - Section Three: Claudia's attempts to get Arlette to smoke more than she is.

This is a minor thread from the second story, the character Arlette is part of the clique Heather is a member of in school, she's also one of two 'social smokers' in the group. In Chapter Fifteen, it's casually noted that Claudia is trying to get her to smoke more than that, with the author implying that personality wise the pair are similar, the difference being Arlette does not have parents supportive of the habit. As to how that might be proceeding, the opening chapters of 'Like Daughter, Like Mother', gives some idea, Claudia is not the most subtle of people. There are really only three outcomes from the situation outlined in 'Minnesota Twins', Arlette remains a social smoker, she becomes a devoted smoker, either through Claudia's actions or those of another member of the clique or she quits the habit. The author however left no clue as to which of those outcomes they planned to use.

Part Five: Conclusions

It is quite likely that in 2012, the author was planning an 'Anderson Family Series', as opposed to a trilogy. That said the most likely the third story would have been driven by the interaction between the Dominguez and Anderson families, with the specific female character threads being the ones outlined above.

Going on the statement made when the first part of 'Minnesota Twins' was published(21), it is highly probable that the third story existed in either in a partially written or outline form at that time along with sketches for further stories and the author seems to be indicating that writing it would be straightforward though they could make no guarantees.

By the time the last part of 'Minnesota Twins' was published, the authors views had changed, as shown in the quote featured in the introduction to this essay. Unlike the situation with BlackLungLovers 'North and South', where the characters started to drive the story in a different direction(23), the issues appear to have derived from what the author felt was needed to tell the story they wanted to tell. Namely, sex, alcohol and drug use, all were, all of which were somewhat ironically, not approved by the mods on the old Dark Side Board(25) and from memory(26) things like this caused the shutdown of the succeeding Dark Side Forum with the resulting loss of it's content.

At the time the author wrote of posting the story to 'Stories On-Line' a web fiction site along with others.(27) This never materialized, what may have happened. Well this is pure speculation, but 2012 saw the end of the old Dark Side Board, the rapid demise of the successor Dark Side Forum combined with Loring ending collection of stories for his site. This could have resulted in DonV losing not only prospective audience, but a fragmenting of the community that he interacted with along with loss of the sounding board that community provided.

In conclusion, what DonV probably intended is not difficult to work out, the real tragedy is that it is unlikely that a finished version of the story as the author intended will ever appear.

Notes:

1. From a post on the Old Dark Side Board dated the 28th of April, 2012, entitled "Dangling Threads".
2. From the introduction to 'Meanwhile, Somewhere in Santiago' published in 2017.
3. 'Like Daughter, Like Mother', 'The Minnesota Twins and the Smoking Sluts', both of which can be found in 'Meanwhile, Somewhere in Santiago' and Volume 48 of the Noble Leaf Library. Reviews of these two stories can be found in volumes 8 and 15 of the Consolidated Smoking Fetish Fiction Review.
4. Like 'Don Traveller' in 'Cousin Marie' Bob is a fictionalised version of the author, as I suspect is Roberto Dominguez with Bob representing the 'Good' side of the authors personality.
5. Entitled 'The Smokers at School'.
6. Entitled '‘Liberal’ Mothers'.
7. The 1970s Chilean 'Daughter Coming of Age' package comprising a carton of cigarettes, makeup and high heeled shoes.
8. Entitled 'Smokey Kisses'
9. Menthols
10. Entitled 'Caught!'
11. Rosa actually makes her first appearance in 'Like Daughter, Like Mother' one that is specifically called out by the author as prepatory for the later story, similarly her and her daughters appearance in 'Minnesota Twins' is called out as prepatory for the third story.
12. In the twenty first chapter of 'Minnesota Twins' it's mentioned that she's just turned twelve and that her parents intend to remove their restrictions on her habit once she turns 13.
13. Entitled 'Tea With Teresa'
14. From the description of how Teresa dresses, it would appear to that she's indulging in bondage.
15. This name is spelled 'Nicki' in the character listing, and 'Nikki' in chapter twenty five of 'Minnesota Twins'. For the purposes of this essay I'm using the former version of the name.
16. See for example the characters introduction in chapter fifteen of 'Minnesota Twins', entitled 'Is Everyone Smoking Now?'
17. See also my remarks on the Grace-Barbara relationship in my review of 'Minnesota Twins'.
18. This means he reacts to events, rather than initiates them in the story.
19. Smoking, Intoxication
20. Chapters five, six, eight, and ten, entitled 'The Smoking Tease', 'The Smoking Sluts', 'Enslaving Yourself to Your Husband’s Desires' and 'My New Nasty Little Habit'
21. The relevant portion reads, "Sorry it took so long to get out this sequel. It’s been an extremely busy year. As it is, the tale has grown so long that it has become clear that it will need to be at least a trilogy. And I’ve now reached a natural break once this installment got to be a similar length as “Like Daughter, Like Mother”. No promises as to when the third story in the series will be ready to post, but hopefully it won't take quite so long as this second story did."
22. Tame though this scene is compared to the work of some later authors, it also provides a further clue as to how things might have gone in the third story and the then planned further volumes.
23. The story can be found in the 'Treasury of BlackLungLover' and volume 75 of the Noble Leaf Library, the review can be found in the volume 11 of the Consolidated Smoking Fetish Fiction Review.
24. This posting is dated the 3rd of April, 2011. The chapters in question were (as per the Noble Leaf Library edition.) 'Julie Andrews with a Cigarette', 'Miss Perfect Little Angel Jenny' & 'What The Chilean Girls Get...'.
25. For example some of the KoolGuy's fiction in the 'Lori' and 'Sarah' series, contains quite disturbing material that the author clearly thought was stimulating which was posted without editorial or moderator comment.
26. I have distinct memories of a story appearing on the Dark Side Forum in which a mother not only encourages her daughter to smoke, but to abuse prescription painkillers being posted shortly before the shutdown.
27. Specifically mentioned in this posting was a never published sequel to 'Cousin Marie' that would have continued the story into the 1980s.

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