How do y’all feel about continuing a series after an author dies? To me, I think one last book can be written to end it, but the series should rest with the author, just my thoughts though. I’m in the middle of a series right now and some random lady is “finishing” it, but she has written like 7 books that show no end. I’m not mad, but I just want to feel the satisfaction of completing a series and having the whole collection.
Totally up to the literary estate, if they want to see their relative’s work keep going then whose to say they’re wrong. Sometimes it doesn’t work but at the end of the day posthumous works have no bearing on the original texts so it’s all good. Every year there’s a bunch of Sherlock Holmes or Dracula books but it doesn’t affect the quality or reception of the original works.
Still haven’t read the last Terry Pratchett book. Killed my love of reading, which goes against everything he’d probably want. I can’t imagine anyone finishing any of those stories.
I really don’t understand all these people not reading the last book, or not watching the last episode, or not finishing games they like. Are you just afraid of closure?
I haven’t either! It’s there, my husband has read it. I just can’t!
He specifically didn’t want anybody to take over. Not even his daughter who also writes (but for video games). His unfinished works and ideas were literally steam rolled as his last wishes. It was hard to find a steam roller but they did it. RIP Pterry.
I did read the last book… but the last last book, that was published this year, with old unknown stories from earlier in his career, that one I’m still cherishing. It was such an unexpected gift that I am just happy to have the book.
If you mean Shepherd’s Crown, o highly recommend you read it. Unlike the two or three books that preceded it, it still sounds like Pratchett and, in my opinion, was his way of saying goodbye.
I still have X by Sue Grafton on my shelf. Can’t bring myself to read it. I miss her
I’m mad that y and z didn’t happen
For the first half, I honestly thought this was about reading a series and whether you should stop reading it when the author dies, and I was SO confused 😅
I feel like after a significant amount of time — maybe 25 years — it can be OK. I’ve enjoyed stories in the James Bond and Philip Marlowe series done by other authors, even though they’re never really the same as the originals. Both of those series only came decades later, and that helps. By then it’s not about keeping the gravy train rolling, more about fond homage.
Currently experiencing this with McCarthy. I’m about to finish the Orchard Keeper and it’s been a joy to read. I personally just want to experience everything the author has.
Not exactly the same but my father passed away before he could finish publishing his 5th book. Luckily, it was the last in that series and since I was his final editor, I had all of the final chapters and I was able to finish editing them and publish his last book posthumously. His readers were very grateful and supportive. I miss him but am proud I was able to do that for him. Too many great authors pass away leaving their works unfinished.
May we ask what series?
This is ok imo. It was done, just not “publishing” done. If you’d written it,or like, Joe down the block wrote it, I’d be like “nope”. This is a ok in my personal (irrelevant) opinion
Showing my age here, but I read the entire Hardy Boys series of books when I was like, 12 or 13 years old. At the time, there were like 125 of them. I enjoyed every single one of them.
Fast forward to my adulthood and I found out that most of them were in fact, not, written by Franklin W. Dixon. I really didn’t care.
As a counterpoint, I did watch every single episode of the Killing Eve T.V. series. Of the 4 seasons it aired, the first one blew it out of the park; second one, really good; third one, good; fourth, meh. Different script writers for all 4 seasons.
Oh noes. Now you’ll tell me the Happy Hollisters were a bunch of sad fakers.
Please, if anyone has read the Hardy Boys, you have to read The Brixton Brothers by Mac Barnett. It is one of the best parodies I have ever read. Basically what would happen if a twelve year old fan of the Hardy Boys tried to investigate hardened criminals with the same techniques from the book.
I definitely need to find The Britton Brothers!
Another childhood series animorphs was heavily ghost written near the end. There was a book a month plus the various chronicles.
Personally, I would probably only read them if the author themself had chosen someone to finish the series based on their notes/outlines/finished sections. If I was really invested then I might read a one book wrapup that didn’t meet those criteria, but not multiple books.
I think it depends on the books. Like Neiderman doing all those books under V.C. Andrews’ name. I don’t particularly like his work but other people seem to because he’s still writing them. Sue Grafton passed before she could finish writing the last Kinsey Milhone book and I’m not sure it would’ve been the same if someone else had finished it.
All things considered Wheel of Time ended pretty well with Sanderson wrapping up the series.
Untrue.
only because Jordan’s worldbuilding in his personal notes were so extensive. He’d long plotted out the entire rest of the story. He was only missing the personal ending for Perrin, which is where he’d gotten roadblocked.
I think it’s something that has to be judged in each individual case.
Sanderson completing Jordon’s Wheel of Time series was planned by Jordon before his passing and appeared to be judged well by the fans.
Christopher Tolkien going through his father’s notes and publishing more Middle Earth writings were also well received.
The Salmon of Doubt was published unfinished by Douglas Adams estate after his passing along with some other writings and I liked that. However fans haven’t been as welcoming towards Eoin Colfer’s continuation of the Hitchhiker’s series with And Another Thing.
I personally hated Go Fetch a Watchmen, a book Harper Lee did not want published, but was released anyway after her death.
Harper Lee was still alive (though maybe not aware) when GSaW came out.
Looking it up, it was published almost a year before her death and there had already been reporting that whomever it was that owned the publishing rights were taking advantage of her estate.
To be fair, Go Set a Watchman was actually an early draft of what became To Kill a Mockingbird, and not a sequel. Watchman was definitely inferior, and truly benefited from Harper Lee’s editor’s advice.
Sanderson completing Jordon’s Wheel of Time series was planned by Jordon before his passing and appeared to be judged well by the fans.
False, and false again.
You seem very certain there. You aren’t completely wrong but…
So you are right that Jordan didn’t plan for Sanderson to finish his work. He did however plan for someone to finish. He dedicated a lot of his remaining time to getting it fleshed out with written and audio notes so that someone could finish his work.
It was his wife (and editor) who chose Sanderson following Jordan’s passing.
The second point is certainly wrong (when applied to the wider fanbase) and I am unsure why you are so certain about it.
There have of course been complaints about Sanderson’s novels. His writing style differs and some of his characters feel different to their appearances in the previous works. However, even with those complaints people have been appreciative of the books overall and grateful to get an ending. The overall reaction has definitely been favourable despite any complaints.
Possibly you just find yourself within a small echo chamber of miserable fans?
I personally hated Go Fetch a Watchmen, a book Harper Lee did not want published, but was released anyway after her death.
I read it. And I’m mad that they released it.
Honestly people should have given …And Another Thing more of a chance. It was actually quite good and Douglas Adams would have loved it. It left the series in a place much more in line with where Adams would have liked, with a more upbeat ending.
I can’t stand it! For a publisher/writer to continue a series/novels after an authors passing is just greed! They have a legacy of sorts, why tarnish it!
Sometimes the setting or world is the legacy and the continued use of it is showing respect for that legacy. As a writer myself, I would be thrilled to think that, one day, readers might feel it necessary to continue writing about my world and characters. Similarly, I’d be thrilled to hear during my life of people writing fanfiction.
It’s up to their estate. And if they fumble it I don’t have to keep reading.
Which boook are u reading pls tell