Saturday, July 06, 2013

Those Crazy Ely Brothers



Dear Readers,
Guess which non-equine PHANTOM STALLION character I get asked about most?  
Not Sam or Jen or quirky Calliope (Callie, Queen's "soul mate"), but Jake Ely. 

I bet you can figure out the questions to these answers. 

1. Jake Ely isn't real, but he IS based on one of my former high school students and he has no idea that his literary clone is famous! 

2. Jake doesn't have a series of his own, based on his tracking ability (as many of my guy-readers suggested) , but I did propose it, only to be told that boys don't read anything but fantasy. Really? 
I think it's worth a second try.  

3. Jake's one of 7 brothers and they are: Adam, Kit, Quinn, Nate, Brian and Seth. His parents are Maxine and Luke. His grandfather is MacArthur Ely.  Thanks to someone who's not me, Wikipedia has great descriptions of the characters in PHANTOM STALLION.  You can check them out here:   Wikipedia PHANTOM STALLION 

4. In my books Jake and Samantha don't have a romantic relationship, but they are very good friends (mostly) and they are on-the-verge of being boyfriend and girlfriend. I think they're both a little bit afraid of messing up their friendship.  
However, there are 600+ PHANTOM STALLION fan-fiction stories online, and while I haven't read all of them,  99% of those I have checked out feature Sam and Jake in love.  
Even cooler:  I'm amazed at how closely the photos and drawings that illustrate fan fiction resemble the Jake in my imagination. 

Happy trails! 
Terri
 

Labels: Ely brothers, fan fiction, is Jake real?, Jake Ely

Permalink to this blog post

Posted by Terri Farley @ 4:51 PM

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Comments: Mrs. Farley,
I appreciate that you took the time to answer some fan questions and delve into the Phantom Stallion series even more because, quite frankly, it happens to be a favorite of mine. A series about Jake's life tracking is a cool notion. Also, it would gain much popularity as Jake Ely is the most popular character by far.

However, the only thing that concerned me was talk of a "romantic relationship" between two characters that are basically brother and sister. I am fully aware that my position is a minority and a great number of fans claim to fully support such a thing, but I feel that I have some reasoning behind my opinion that is worth elaborating upon.

Samantha Forster and Jacob Ely are two friends of two different genders. Everyone knows what's usually expected of that and the tension that usually follows. In the series, there is a little jealousy between them, book 24 concludes with the pair walking hand in hand towards a bonfire, the Wild Horse Island books mention Sam and Jake attending prom together, and Jake is really protective of Sam.
This seems like all of the pieces fit, huh?
No. Not at all to me, at least.

Jake's "envious" moments are more directed towards thinking of Sam as his little sister and Sam has every right to feel irked at Rachel Slocum's flirting. The girl is a witch.
In addition, the only reason they went to prom is because Jake's mom made him. Simple as that.

To be honest, for such a sibling like relationship, this would be extremely awkward, repulsive, and just a big turn off. Many book reviewers on Barnes and Noble.com stated the same thing.

"I really loved this book. Most horse series are always English and have english terms. Everyone thinks Jake and Sam need to get together. They'd be great but, it is more fun to read with sarcastic bickering and Jake worring, instead of lovey doving stuff."

"AMAZING! I have the largest crush EVER on Jake...so it was kinda nice that he and Sam didn't get together, lol. Critically, it would be weird for their friendship...I just can't see it happening. Also, Sam is only 14. The horseiness and western aspect of the series was great. Best series EVER! There's no topping it! :-)"

"This book was great! I LOVED the theme. It was mysterious, horse crazy, and wonderful all at the same time. As far as Jake and Sam go, well, let's just say, I don't mind what way it goes. Some people want them to go out, and some people don't. For me, I would think that if Sam's thirteen and Jake was fourteen, it would be better for them to start dating. But they are three years apart!"

And that is just a few anonymous reviews. Obviously, all of the books are wonderful! :-)

The question is, will this all the left to the fanfiction stories and not continued throughout Sam's blog and possible future writings or a movie? I certainly hope not. However, I don't want there to be an end to PS, that would break my heart. Maybe Sam and Jake will never get together and this'll brush over as they mature. That would be ideal. There are other people out there...in the big, broad world.

I am a big fan, and this is just my opinion, but there are others out there whom share this view. I just want you to be aware of that. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

This series is amazing and it is probably the best as far as horse literature goes.

Long live Phantom Stallion,

A Concerned Fan



  I wouldn't mind (actauly i think it would be more intresting!!) if Sam & Jake dated and I dont think they'd act all weird and stuff, they'd still argue, tease and annoy each other like before but they'd just be more then freinds, that way both groups of fans will be mostly happy. Oh and Terri i have four brothers and they hate fantasy and even if (if you did write a series about Jake) most boys didn't read it all your phantom fans will defaintly read them!!
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