Runaway III

Reading further, I find that the Smallville novel, Runaway (New York, 2003) by Suzan Colon, is indeed set in a highly specific period of the TV series, maybe between Seasons One and Two:

Lana has known Lex for just over a year;
Lana's Aunt Nell has moved to Metropolis and Lana has moved in with the Sullivans;
Clark has told Pete about his powers;
Lionel Luthor was temporarily blinded and is living in Smallville;
Clark mysteriously found Lana just after some tornadoes (I think this was the climax of Season One but will find out).

This novel also refers to the previous Smallville novel by the same author, thus forming a series within the series.

Luna tells Clark:

" 'Wait till you see [Metropolis] at night, when it's all lit up...It's really beautiful.' " (p. 56)

This expresses in prose what we saw on screen in the early episode when Jonathan and Martha went to the city for their anniversary. Clark delivers a package to the Daily Planet and, of course, decides that he wants to work there. Series writers have an endless ability to add new details to an already established story.

There are some more switches of viewpoint. On pp. 71-74, a conversation seems to begin from Lana's viewpoint and definitely ends with Chloe's. On pp. 114-118, a conversation definitely begins from Martha's point of view but ends from Chloe's.

Addendum: On pp. 41-44, the viewpoint changes from Martha to Jonathan and back.

I thought there was a reference to Clark finding Lana after the tornadoes but now can't find it.

Runaway II

Two clever things about Runaway (New York, 2003), the second Smallville novel by Suzan Colon:

a new woman friend with an L-name, Luna;

we already know that Clark will move to Metropolis maybe to attend University but certainly to work as a reporter - however, by making him run away to Metropolis while still at High School, Suzan Colon becomes able to describe Clark arriving in Metropolis for the first time before he moves there permanently.

This is a perfect addition to a series because it is a major story in its own right but at the same time manages not to contradict established continuity.

By referring back to her earlier novel, the author also summarises the effects on Clark of the Smallville version of red kryptonite. I was not familiar with this version of red k yet since I am still watching only Season One.

When Clark tells Luna to order whatever meal she wants and he will pay for it, she asks if his last name is Luthor so the familiar name is easily woven into the background of the story. Like other Smallville novels, this is an enjoyable read.

Smallville: Runaway

This Smallville novel by Suzan Colon is set in a highly specific period of the TV series:

Martha Kent has become Lionel Luthor's personal assistant;
Terrance Reynolds has become principal of Smallville High School;
Lana Lang is managing the Talon coffee bar;
Whitney Fordman has gone to the Marines from which, I think, he will not return;
Clark had recently declared his feelings for Lana, then returned to being just friends (I think that this probably happened in Smallville: Buried Secrets by Suzan Colon, to which Runaway (New York, 2003) is a sequel.)

A note "About the Author" says that Suzan Colon has written two Smallville novels, a Catwoman book (novel?) and features for magazines. Although writing scripts for a TV series or novels based on the series is not on the same literary level as writing entirely original screenplays or novels, it is nevertheless a writing assignment involving skills which most of us do not have. I would like to be able to write fiction and to contribute to a series like Smallville. Alan Grant, who has written at least two Smallville novels as well as other novels based directly on the comic book versions of several DC characters, is mainly a comic books writer whereas Suzan Colon seems to be entirely a prose writer and this novel, like all the volumes of the series that I have acquired, is written well.

There is one stylistic problem in Chapter 3. The chapter is narrated from Clark's point of view until the top of p. 18 where:

"Clark wasn't sure he'd heard her right." (p. 18)

Lana continues to speak, then:

"Lana was interrupted by a flash of memory: Clark coming into the Talon..." (p. 18)

She reminisces about the incident, then returns to what she was saying. So the point of view has jumped abruptly from Clark to Lana in mid-speech and stays with her for the rest of the chapter. But writers generally accept and readers, if they reflect on it, expect that each scene will be narrated from a single point of view. Lana and Clark each experience the entire conversation only from their own perspective. The jump from one point of view to the other does not represent anything that happens in a real conversation.

Sometimes, a writer will, in different chapters or chapter sections, describe a conversation or other occurrence first from one point of view, then from another. If that had been done here, then we would have been told how both Clark and Lana had perceived the entire conversation and would have appreciated added depth rather than an abrupt change of viewpoint.