Author Topic: "Summer Day is Done" by R.T. Stevens  (Read 16026 times)

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Princess_Olishka

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Re: "Summer Day is Done" by R.T. Stevens
« Reply #45 on: June 14, 2006, 02:31:17 AM »
The Summer Day Is Done. Isn't there already like 3 threads on this book??

Nevertheless, I loved this book. It's my favourite! The children are very sweet, so is Olga. I loved the entire family all together! It's really depressing to think how they were murdered though, and I find the end very nice. It made me cry! This book is very nice if you ask me! But even though I liked it very much, what would Olga think of it?..
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Princess_Olishka »

Offline Grace

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Re: WARNING: A Summer Day is Done
« Reply #46 on: June 14, 2006, 04:14:14 AM »
Princess Olishka, I agree with your opinion on the book.  It is a nicely written little romance and not disrespectful in any way to the memory of Olga or the IF, in my opinion, as long as it's regarded as fantasy only.  :)
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Grace »

s.v.markov

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Re: WARNING: A Summer Day is Done
« Reply #47 on: June 14, 2006, 05:04:42 AM »
I agree it's a lovely story and portrays the Family as many of us would like to imagine them. It's highly likely that is how they really were. The scenes at Livadia are especially enchanting, and very well written ; you can almost see and feel the ballroom and the gardens. Apparently the name 'Robert Tyler Stevens' is a pseudonym, and no-one appears to know who he (or she??) really is/was. The book went through many printings and editions : I have two ~ an original 1976 hardback with a dustwrapper showing the family on a lawn. Olga stands a little distance away with 'John Kirby' and a rather too smart Rasputin is also there. A couple play croquet in the background. The other is a paperback (1989), and shows Kirby and Olga seated on the grass with a lady in blue with a parasol in the background. It is interesting to me that the two versions end differently : the final words in the later paperback version are 'Colonel Kirby, you have been a very long time again...', but in the original hardback, there is an extra short paragraph : 'At Livadia, when summer day is done and evening softens the warm shadows, the ghosts of innocents scamper over the green lawns, their laughter caught as whispers in the trees, and every still pool reflects the deep blue eyes of a dreaming girl'.

Now I think that's a wonderful ending, but why omit it from later editions? I'm sorry I don't know how to post the two covers, but I can scan and e-mail them if anyone is interested. And I think there is more discussion on another thread.

Princess_Olishka

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Re: WARNING: A Summer Day is Done
« Reply #48 on: June 14, 2006, 05:30:02 AM »
 :'(Yes, that is the end that I cried over! :'( And yes, there is a few threads discussing this book!

OlgaNRomanovaFan

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Re: WARNING: A Summer Day is Done
« Reply #49 on: June 14, 2006, 06:07:50 AM »
Quote


Okay, found it!  I'm not sure if this is the same cover as the one TheAce1918 is unhappy with but here's my copy.  It does indeed look very 70's, doesn't it, but as the book was first published in 1976, this is probably not surprising.  Look at "Olga's" hair!  

The book bears the scars of some 20+ years in my garage but, hey, I also unearthed all my old Wizard of Id books which I must re-read sometime for a bit of humour... ::) :-[

I prefer this cover art to the picture on my copy. My copy just has Olga and Kirby sat on some grass with a woman in the background. Olga has the 70's hair as well, this seems to be a feature of all the books.

Princess_Olishka

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Re: WARNING: A Summer Day is Done
« Reply #50 on: June 14, 2006, 06:26:51 AM »
Oh, :-/ would anyone be alright to post that cover of Olga and Kirby sitting on the grass with that woman in the background? My edition is with the entire family; Olga and Kirby stand a little further away from the family; Nicholas and Alexandra sit on the large chairs; the children except Olga stand near them with Rasputin and there is a number of other people around!

OlgaNRomanovaFan

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Re: WARNING: A Summer Day is Done
« Reply #51 on: June 14, 2006, 11:17:40 AM »
Quote
Oh, :-/ would anyone be alright to post that cover of Olga and Kirby sitting on the grass with that woman in the background? My edition is with the entire family; Olga and Kirby stand a little further away from the family; Nicholas and Alexandra sit on the large chairs; the children except Olga stand near them with Rasputin and there is a number of other people around!

I'm sure someone else will post a better quality picture, but here's a very fuzzy picture with a digital camera [my scanner's broken.]





Sorry for the quality  :-/
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by OlgaNRomanovaFan »

julia.montague

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Re: WARNING: A Summer Day is Done
« Reply #52 on: June 14, 2006, 01:56:24 PM »
The German Cover

TheAce1918

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Re: WARNING: A Summer Day is Done
« Reply #53 on: June 14, 2006, 08:03:16 PM »
I'm still trying to find my cover online, I don't have scanner.  

Lord ;D  Y'all must think I'm insane! ;D

Princess_Olishka

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Re: WARNING: A Summer Day is Done
« Reply #54 on: June 14, 2006, 08:35:52 PM »
Thanks for that cover, Isa! It's very nice

Offline Grace

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Re: WARNING: A Summer Day is Done
« Reply #55 on: June 15, 2006, 12:15:40 AM »
Quote
I'm still trying to find my cover online, I don't have scanner.  

Lord ;D  Y'all must think I'm insane! ;D

Not at all, TheAce1918 - this is actually a most entertaining thread!   [smiley=laugh.gif]

I do hope you're enjoying the new cover of "The Summer Day Is Done", courtesy of TheAce1918!  Can see where you're coming from - if the cover of a book is annoying, it's so much harder to look at, right?
I wonder just how many different covers there have been for this book?  I'd also like to know how many times it has been re-printed?


« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Grace »

s.v.markov

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Re: WARNING: A Summer Day is Done
« Reply #56 on: June 15, 2006, 06:50:35 AM »
Well, all I know is what I've gleaned from the books, i.e. 1st Edition 1976 Doubleday & Co. Inc., Garden City, New York. It was apparently published in UK at the same time, by Souvenir Press, also hard-back, but with a different dustwrapper (I've never seen one though). The first paperback edition in the UK was by Fontana Books (1977) and then Heywood Books published the one we've seen above in 1989. I'm sure there were others in between, so we ought to be able to put together a full printing history, not forgetting the German and no doubt French and other versions.

I've often thought it would make a good film, as it has all the ingredients (action, romance, intrigue etc). Better material than 'Zoya' anyway, although that was made because it was a 'Danielle Steel' bestseller, whereas our author Robert Tyler Stevens (not his/her real name) is completely unknown. I've tried to find out about him/her, without success. Can anyone help? I wonder if it was written by a man or a woman? And if it was made into a film, who would we want to play Olga and her family, John Kirby, Princess Aleka, and the lovely Karita? Here we go again....more questions beginning with 'What if...?' !!

Offline Kimberly

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Re: WARNING: A Summer Day is Done
« Reply #57 on: June 15, 2006, 10:59:05 AM »
Hello. Robert Tyler Stevens aka Reginald Staples/James Sinclair/Mary Jane Staples/ K Stevens. Hope this helps and I haven't read any of his/her books although Reginald Staples is the author of a fictional novel about Boadicea/Boudicca called Warrior Queen  ;)
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Offline Ilana

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Re: WARNING: A Summer Day is Done
« Reply #58 on: June 15, 2006, 11:23:15 AM »
Oohhh... I love casting things... okay, let's see...

For Kirby -- very true blue, straight arrow type, slight man of the world, but not too much.... Toby Stevens?  Jude Law too pretty not good enough actor.  Anthony Andrews when he was young would have been great... any other thoughts.

Olga -- pretty, young, but intelligent, slightly whistful, I think...hard to think of anyone.  No Americans come to mind who can act and have any depth.

And  Aleka, oddly, the easiest really as she is jaded, not innocent, but ultimately disappointed, feeling betrayed... perhaps Catherine Zeta-Jones...

Not a great start, but I pass the baton to someone else... ;)
So long and thanks for all the fish

Princess_Olishka

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Re: WARNING: A Summer Day is Done
« Reply #59 on: June 16, 2006, 08:59:35 PM »
Oh, I always thought this would make a great movie, too! I would be so excited - but I doubt it would ever happen! :(