It’s said that when Czech author Fran Kafka was on his deathbed in 1926, he left instructions to his executor Max Brod to burn all of his unpublished writing. Brod ignored the author’s wishes and spent the next decade publishing Kafka’s works; even though some of Kafka’s works were incomplete, they were printed in their incomplete form (the Castle ended mid-sentence!). History has more-or-less exculpated Brod’s decision because thanks to him, Kafka’s name has endured and the works he preserved from instruction – including the Trial – have become much studied and adored.
Yet when authors in speculative fiction die, their unfinished works are not usually published in an incomplete format; it’s become far more common for another author in the field to assume control of the work and finesse it into a finished status. For those authors who had recurring protagonists, it’s also common to see their heroes carried on by other authors; L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter likely wrote more words about Conan than Robert E. Howard himself.
At last year’s WorldCon in Seattle, authors Brandon Sanderson and George R. R. Martin were asked at a panel that, as Martin wouldn’t “be around for much longer,” why not turn over his A Song of Fire and Ice series to Sanderson for completion? (The exchange was reported on Kotaku)
The question arose because Martin’s series, begun in 1996, last saw a new book published in 2011; although Martin has repeatedly promised the next book in the series the Winds of Winter will be completed (and has published excerpts to pacify his fans), this is by the far the longest gap between books in the series.
Why was Brandon Sanderson dragged into this humiliating question? After author Robert Jordan died in 2007 with his Wheel of Time series incomplete, Sanderson completed the Wheel of Time series, taking a co-author credit for the Gathering Storm (2009), Towers of Midnight (2010) and a Memory of Light (2013).
Yet it seems especially bizarre to ask Sanderson this question because Sanderson had made his thoughts known as far back as 2016 that, while he had great respect for George R. R. Martin, he not only was not interested in finishing a Song of Fire and Ice, he didn’t especially like the content: “I don't shy away from difficult material, but I prefer not to get explicit,” he wrote on Reddit. “Honestly, when I read it in George's work, I often just cringe. I don't think it fits in prose; I think it looks tacky.”
Sanderson has been singled out by many fans as the voice they want to continue a Song of Ice and Fire should Martin fail to complete it himself – not because his voice is similar to Martin’s, but simply because he’s a fellow author of speculative fiction who has finished another author’s works before. It’s the same thinking that’s seen the rise of books “written” by A.I.; it sees authors as interchangeable and undistinctive.
Truly, the culture surrounding speculative fiction has long coached fans to believe it’s both normal and expected that when one author dies, another author will continue their work.
Sometimes it’s simply been playful; Edgar Allan Poe left behind an incomplete work called the Light-House and many authors have attempted to complete it, offering their own attempt at writing in the “voice” of Poe. Some authors were personally requested to complete an incomplete work by the original author prior to their death; other authors took it on as simply a work-for-hire.
Christopher Tolkien and Guy Gabriel Kay completed the Silmarillion and published it in 1977, four years after the death of J. R. R. Tolkien. Christopher continued to edit and publish incomplete works of his father’s up until 2018 (Christopher died in 2020).
Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series was continued by Eoin Colfer with 2009’s And Another Thing… Adams’ also left behind an incomplete Dirk Gently novel that was published in 2002 as the Salmon of Doubt, one year after Adams’ death.
Reviewing And Another Thing…, the Guardian wrote, “Distinctive writing rises from an individual mind and life, and so asking another author to take over is as logically nonsensical as, say, for the executors of George Best to find a boy on the streets of Belfast and ask him to extend the player's career.” Despite this caveat, the reviewer concluded: “I feel that Eoin Colfer has achieved a perfectly calculated adaptation: a novel which serves as a fitting memorial but also has a life of its own.”
Alfred Bester’s Psychoshop was completed by Roger Zelazny, which was published in 1998. Bester died in 1987 and Zelazny in 1995. Greg Bear joked that when he accepted the task of writing the book’s introduction he was the only science fiction author willing to risk his life by putting his name on the book. “The book is meant to make you grin,” Bear wrote, “but with a shake of your head; laughter with an edge. Bester laid down this tempo, but it was not at all difficult for Zelazny to pick it up and draw it out. Zelazny, after all, was one of Bester’s literary children; what Bester pioneered, Zelazny made his own country.”
Publishers Weekly wrote of Psychoshop, “There’s much fun to be had here, but the book doesn’t represent either writer in top form. Bester’s style in the first part of the novel seems date, and things don’t gel until Zelazny takes over halfway through the book.”
In his Year’s Best Science Fiction, Gardner R. Dozois wrote Psychoshop “is more of interest for nostalgic value than as a successful novel on its own terms, although flashes of the vivid prose styles of both authors do shine through here and there.”
Frederick Pohl completed Arthur C. Clarke’s the Last Thorem in 2008 (Clarke had turned over the novel for Pohl to finish prior to his death). Library Journal wrote that the Last Theorem “has been panned by critics and readers alike, and with good reason. It is uneven and occasionally dull, and it struggles to blend incompatible themes.”
Tessa B. Dick completed her ex-husband Philip K. Dick’s the Owl in Daylight in 2009 (long after his 1982 death) but Philip’s estate forced her to withdraw the novel from the marketplace.
Robert A. Heinlein’s Variable Star was completed by Spider Robinson in 2006, long after Heinlein’s 1988 death. Publishers Weekly judged, “Nostalgia for Heinlein’s early work may pique interest in this posthumous collaboration, but old Heinlein hands may be disappointed that the book is incomplete, being all journey and no arrival.”
Terry Bisson completed Walter M. Miller’s Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman in 1997 after Walter died the previous year. Booklist wrote, “The able Terry Bisson has completed but can't compensate for Miller's desultory plot.”
Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson continued the Dune series long after Frank Herbert’s death in 1986. Frank Herbert wrote six Dune novels, but what’s that compared to the seventeen (and counting) Brian and Kevin have gifted us?
Kevin J. Anderson also completed L. Ron Hubbard’s Ai! Pedrito in 1998; he collaborated with Lydia van Vogt to complete A. E. van Vogt’s Slan Hunter in 2007; he wrote a Captain Nemo novel based on Jules Verne’s character. Indeed, Kevin J. Anderson may also be recognized for the many Star Wars novels he’s written but his magnum opus is surely the novelization to the film adaptation of Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He also served as the coach for Microsoft’s beloved mascot Clippy the Paperclip (“It looks like you’re writing a prequel… would you like help with that?”). Truly, he has both borrowed and given in equal measure.
These are just a few of the many works in speculative fiction where an author’s demise has not prevented new works coming out under their names. The phenomenon exists outside of speculative fiction, of course; Tom Clancy, V. C. Andrews and Robert Ludlum’s names continue to appear on books they never wrote.
As the reviews I’ve cherry-picked demonstrate, the results of one author finishing another’s work seldom satisfies audiences. Indeed, many of these works have become forgotten since their publication. Bester fans are happy to have Psychoshop, but it’s in no danger of displacing the Demolished Man or the Stars My Destination in his bibliography.
As I say, it’s easy to see why fandom believes someone else should come along and finish a Song of Ice and Fire should Martin fail to do so himself. My earnest plea is: Maybe you should reconsider?
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