# A genre author you love dies; another is hired to take up the series. Do you continue reading? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559 "2014-07-07T18:47:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/41 "2014-07-07T23:59:20Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > There are exceptions. For my money, the best Ellery Queen novel is **The Player on the Other Side** , written by Theodore Sturgeon. Avram Davidson’s Queen novels were also pretty good. But both authors were ghostwriting the books, so their participation wasn’t revealed until long after the books came out and they were published when Queen were both alive, so they could keep an eye on quality. Wow, I didn’t know that. I used to be a devoted EQ fan, but I gave it up at some point, and maybe should go back for some re-reads. (My problem is that, like the famous Agatha Christie, once you know the puzzler solution/twist, I’m not sure how much fun it would be.) ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/42 "2014-07-08T00:02:49Z")
I’m not a big fan of neverending genre series to begin with. In fact, I personally feel that 1500 pages is about as far as any storyline or set of characters should ever get. I haven’t seen anyone fill up a shelf with top-notch work that way. For example, I was done with Wheel of Time by book 5… an author switch was the least of its problems. The authors I like are people like Stephen R Donaldson who gives us a few novels in a particular setting and moves on. His Covenant books are now up book 10… while I’m still enjoying number 8 right now, I can’t help but feel that each book is a step down from the book before it. His Gap series, too. At a certain point in book 3, I wondered if we could get an editor in there to whip those five books down to 1500 pages. So, anyway, as to switching authors mid-stream: Usually, I read a particular author because of specific elements about their writing style that I like. I read Stephen King because I like Stephen King. I’m not going to read something just because it’s a Star Wars book; I’ll read Michael Stackpole’s Star Wars books because I like him as an author. Jenifer Roberson’s one short story in a Star Wars anthology was enough to get me to read two of her other non-SW series. (Which, frankly, both suffered from being much longer than 1500 pages.) If there’s going to be a successful author switch for me, it either has to be a new author who can emulate the writing style of the previous one, or it has to be a new author that I genuinely like. I won’t keep reading just because I’m enthralled with some never-ending soap opera because I’d really just as soon have them end it and move on. > [@muldoonthief](#): > > No. Case in point: Kevin J. Anderson & the Dune books. To be fair, I think that’s more a criticism of Kevin J Anderson in general. He has an enviable career and I hate to say anything bad about him… but his writing does absolutely nothing for me. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/43 "2014-07-08T00:08:41Z")
What do you do when a genre author you like is still alive but stopped writing the series. . .? On day in the late 1990s a guy walked into my town’s Visitors Center, where I work, and started asking questions about the town. He said he was working on a book. Now lots of people have come into my office with stories of writing books, but the more I talked with this guy, the more it seemed as though he was a “real” author who had been published before. “Might I have read any of you work?” I asked him. “My name is Rick Boyer. I write books about Doc Adams.” Holy. Crap. I had read all of his previous books and was thrilled to be able to help him with local locations and information about my town. When the book came out it had details that Boyer and I had discussed and I was thanked in the acknowledgements. It turns out “The Man Who Whispered” was Boyer’s last Doc Adams book. (Because that one was published direct to paperback, he sent me an autographed “Daisy Ducks” hardcover as a thank you.) I miss Doc Adams and I’ve always wished Boyer would revisit him. I miss the original Spenser, too, and won’t read the newer ones. William Tapply is gone as well, but no one has continued the Brady Coyne series. I read all of Charlotte MacLeod’s series and was saddened by her death. No one could possibly pick up where she left off. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/44 "2014-07-08T01:05:58Z")
I’ll give a very limited “yes”. If the new author is working off of the original author’s notes, and if the original author specifically picked the new author before he died, then I’ll read them. Otherwise, why bother? Even if the new author is someone I like, I’d rather read their own creations, than their interpretations of someone else’s. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/45 "2014-07-08T01:08:52Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I didn’t know those were continuing! I’ll have to pick one up. Thanks. > > I never got into the \*\*Wheel of Time \*\*series, but I’ve heard positive things about Brandon Sanderson writing the last three. Of course the most positive thing said is always that he knows how to meet a deadline. I gave up on the WoT books at around book six, when i heard Sanderson was picking up the series i finished them. It was well worth it, the series was horrible in the middle but the beginning by Jordan and the end by Sanderson were incredible. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/46 "2014-07-08T02:05:33Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > . . . I have read the Bedford/Brin/Bear Foundation books. They were better than the very last Asimov one, but more limited in scope that the original three. And way too much Hari Seldon, action hero. . . . I was really pissed by Benford’s contribution. It looked like he took some other book entirely, something sitting on his rejects shelf, and changed the name of the protagonist to “Hari Seldon.” The book (Seldon uses mental projection to live for a while in the body of an alien in a wilderness preserve) had nothing to do with the Foundation/Empire world. It was entirely about some other idea entirely that Benford wanted to write. (Had probably already written and just modified.) At least Brin and Bear had the decency to write “Foundation” novels. Benford was wrapped up in his own private agenda. ---
**Author:** ![jayrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/47 "2014-07-08T02:38:40Z")
> [@VernWinterbottom](#): > > “Might I have read any of you work?” I asked him. > > “My name is Rick Boyer. I write books about Doc Adams.” O.M.G. Can I kiss your ring? Bear your children? That is SO cool. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/48 "2014-07-08T02:54:05Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > So let’s restate the thread question. If a genre author you love dies, and another author is hired to continue the series, are you likely to keep reading? Why or why not? You mean like if you were to fall into a volcano, and **Dex** or **Elendil’s Heir** took over writing hypotheticals? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/49 "2014-07-08T04:52:33Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > …If Neil Gaiman wrote a Conan story or Alan Moore did a Martian Chronicle, I’d probably like it. You’re in for a treat. How about a Gaiman story that’s a Conan Doyle/Lovecraft mashup, with a helluva twist?: [http://www.neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/exclusive/shortstories/emerald.pdf](http://www.neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/exclusive/shortstories/emerald.pdf) > [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > You mean like if you were to fall into a volcano, and **Dex** or **Elendil’s Heir** took over writing hypotheticals? 🆒 Get thee behind me, **Tom Tildrum**! ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/50 "2014-07-08T12:10:29Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > he Wimsey books are (IMHO) very good. The first one _Thrones, Dominations_ are based on notes (and perhaps some written work) by Sayers, and was excellent. I had no clue what Sayers wrote (if anything) and what Paton wrote. The second one, _A Presumption of Death_, I found a little disappointing but that was probably because I had such high expectations. The third, _The Attenbury Emeralds_, was excellent and surpassed my hopes; and we just got the fourth and haven’t read it yet. Try 'em. Thanks for letting me know she has a fourth one out; I just ordered it. She’s not Sayers, but she’s not bad. The first three books were each in at least some sense grounded in Sayers’ material\*, so some of the original flavor is there. In the first novel, you can hear Sayers clearly in the first couple of chapters; the rest is sub-par, but she really got the style down in the subsequent books. ( \* The first book was based on an unfinished outline, the second on the wartime “Wimsey Papers”, and the third on musings in her letters and also on her collaboration with Scott-Giles, _The Wimsey Family_.) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/51 "2014-07-08T12:57:54Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > ETA: I cannot stand the Atkins’ continuation of Spenser. I gave up on the first when his Spenser allowed a teenage girl client, all of 14, to accompany him on an investigation. My first thought was that Spenser would never, ever do that-- not after Candy Southern. I agree that Atkins’ attempts are pale beside the real thing… but I don’t agree with your last sentence. First, it’s Candy Sloan. Secondly, Spenser of all people would realize that people need to confront some things themselves. He would recognize that need in Maddie as an echo of his own philosophy. > [@](#): > > Not to mention that all the dialogue was a little … off… in ways that I found hard to quantify but easy to recognize. And then there was the fact that Spenser knew how to use Google. Yep. This is absolutely true. ---
**Author:** ![Swamp\_Adder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@Swamp\_Adder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swamp_Adder)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/52 "2014-07-08T13:03:20Z")
I’d probably at least give it a try. But then, I read fanfiction too. I did try _And Another Thing…_ (I like Colfer’s _Artemis_ series), but… yeah, no. Too much of the _Hitchhiker_ series’ appeal is wrapped up in Adams’ very particular writing style and sense of humor. I do, however, read Holmes pastiches, and I think of them as fanfiction (which they are). ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/53 "2014-07-08T13:10:17Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I was really pissed by Benford’s contribution. It looked like he took some other book entirely, something sitting on his rejects shelf, and changed the name of the protagonist to “Hari Seldon.” The book (Seldon uses mental projection to live for a while in the body of an alien in a wilderness preserve) had nothing to do with the Foundation/Empire world. It was entirely about some other idea entirely that Benford wanted to write. (Had probably already written and just modified.) > > At least Brin and Bear had the decency to write “Foundation” novels. Benford was wrapped up in his own private agenda. Thanks for reminding me about that book. I’d managed to suppress the memory of that awful, awful, book. I read the sequel to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and it wasn’t bad but there was something missing. I think that sums up my problem with a lot of the substitute author series. It’s never the same, and some spark is always missing. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/54 "2014-07-08T13:15:13Z")
It may have been DeCamp’s Conan stories that ruined me for continuations by other authors. I’ve TRIED a couple of books written by other authors, they just never are as good. This may be because I’ve only tried it with my favorite authors and storylines, authors whose work I really like. A more mediocre series, it might not make so much difference who writes it. Then again, I don’t bother reading mediocre books any more: why should I bother when there is the Internet? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/55 "2014-07-08T13:45:34Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > To be fair, I think that’s more a criticism of Kevin J Anderson in general. He has an enviable career and I hate to say anything bad about him… but his writing does absolutely nothing for me. I haven’t read anything else he’s written, and maybe he’s OK in his own creations, but his writing style was totally wrong for Dune. He took this large, mystical, unexplained universe and turned it into a cheap amusement park (literally). That plus the fact they still keep pumping out novels, now set in between Herbert’s original novels, makes it obvious they’re just cash grabbing whores, “discovered secret outline” or not. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/56 "2014-07-08T13:57:32Z")
I’m also happy to hear of a new Wimsey book by Walsh. I’m now in queue to check it out from the library. I haven’t read any of the Spenser novels since Parker died. Although maybe some decent fanfic would bring the characters out of the torpor of the last few books. StG ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/57 "2014-07-08T14:11:41Z")
Generally I won’t. Either I’m not attached enough to the series to care if it goes on, or I’m quite attached to it and I don’t want to see some slob muck it up! I’ve thought of one exception: Brad Strickland has continued to write children’s books with John Bellairs’ Lewis Barnavelt character, and they’re decent. That’s a cozy little world I’m happy to revisit. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/58 "2014-07-08T14:38:24Z")
> [@Caffeine.addict](#): > > …I read the sequel to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and it wasn’t bad but there was something missing. I think that sums up my problem with a lot of the substitute author series. It’s never the same, and some spark is always missing. Well said. **Swamp Adder** , I hope you’ll try June Thomson’s early Holmes pastiches. Start here: [The Secret Files of Sherlock Holmes: Thomson, June: 9781883402365: Amazon.com: Books](http://www.amazon.com/The-Secret-Files-Sherlock-Holmes/dp/1883402360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404830227&sr=8-1&keywords=june+thomson+secret+files) ---
**Author:** ![Swamp\_Adder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@Swamp\_Adder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swamp_Adder)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/59 "2014-07-08T20:18:17Z")
Thanks, I will. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/60 "2014-07-08T22:02:05Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > It may have been DeCamp’s Conan stories that ruined me for continuations by other authors. . . . I liked Conan by DeCamp…but disliked Conan by Andrew J. Offutt. Offutt’s Conan was light-years too smart. He’d concoct really complicated conspiracies. He came across even smarter than Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser (combined!) Howard’s Conan was canny, but not intrigue-level intelligent. “The Tower of the Elephant” is as smart as he gets. Another Conan author (I do not remember his name) overcompensated in the other direction, and depicted Conan as stupid as a bag of Brythunians. Just doltish stupid. He sees a statue of a giant spider in a temple…and doesn’t realize it’s going to come to life. Yeah? Even after he’s seen half a dozen other statues come to life? That ain’t Conan; that’s Baby Huey. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559.md?page=4)