# Abandoned book series you wish would get finished **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 12, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628 "2007-03-12T17:24:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/61 "2007-03-14T21:06:09Z")
The Hiero series by Sterling E Lanier. Set a few millenia after a nuclear war this series traces a Christian Church (Not Catholic. I can’t remember what branch the church is) surviving against subtle assualts from a dark conspiracy. There are mutants, psychic powers aplenty, surviving relics of the ancients etc. It’s a fun read that reminds me of Robert E Howard or Edgar Rice Burroughs. Hiero’s Journey and Unforsaken Hiero were published. A third book was clearly planned to resolve some of the plot threads and answer some big questions (Like who is the big evil head of the Dark Brotherhood, the One Who Must Not Be Named?). ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/62 "2007-03-14T21:28:54Z")
[QUOTE=DocCathode] The Hiero series by Sterling E Lanier. Set a few millenia after a nuclear war this series traces a Christian Church (Not Catholic. I can’t remember what branch the church is) surviving against subtle assualts from a dark conspiracy. There are mutants, psychic powers aplenty, surviving relics of the ancients etc. It’s a fun read that reminds me of Robert E Howard or Edgar Rice Burroughs. Hiero’s Journey and Unforsaken Hiero were published. A third book was clearly planned to resolve some of the plot threads and answer some big questions (Like who is the big evil head of the Dark Brotherhood, the One Who Must Not Be Named?). [/QUOTE] Wow, I had forgotten that series. I enjoyed it too. Now I’ll have to see if Lanier has done anything else. ---
**Author:** ![jkusters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/fbc32d/32.png) [@jkusters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jkusters)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/63 "2007-03-14T22:01:32Z")
[QUOTE=Atrael] Huh…it’s been a long time since I read that series, but I had sort of gotten the idea that it kinda wrapped up at the end of the fourth book. [/QUOTE] I seem to recall that the whole “why” of the gastropod thing that kicked it all off had yet to be fully resolved, but it’s been years since I read them. I just remember that there were to my mind some big questions that had yet to be answered. JOhn. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/64 "2007-03-14T22:12:23Z")
[QUOTE=ENugent] No, **Threshold** was the last, 22 years ago. I have a long memory. [/QUOTE] I used to hang out with his daughter back in '86-ish. From her stories, he was kinda screwed up guy (as was she, one of those girls that would have a beer and suddenly be sobbing about how horrible her life is and lock herself in the bathroom). She said he seemed to think that it was kinda cool how Threshold just ended and wasn’t super interested in continuing the story. I think he succumbed to “second album sydrome” and couldn’t deal with the pressure of having to write on demand. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/65 "2007-03-14T23:23:47Z")
Well, it’s only the one book, but I always thought that A Barnstormer in Oz needed several sequels and I’m sorry that Philip José Farmer never wrote any. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/66 "2007-03-14T23:29:13Z")
I was going to say Robert Anton Wilson’s [Historical Illuminatus Chronicles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Historical_Illuminatus_Chronicles) – but then I found out Wilson [died in January.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Anton_Wilson#Death)☹ ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/67 "2007-03-14T23:35:59Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] I was going to say Robert Anton Wilson’s [Historical Illuminatus Chronicles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Historical_Illuminatus_Chronicles) – but then I found out Wilson [died in January.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Anton_Wilson#Death)☹ [/QUOTE] That’s what “_they_” would like you to believe. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/68 "2007-03-15T00:45:10Z")
[QUOTE=Jess] Well, it’s only the one book, but I always thought that A Barnstormer in Oz needed several sequels and I’m sorry that Philip José Farmer never wrote any. [/QUOTE] I felt the same way about Stackpole’s [Talion: Revenant](http://www.amazon.com/Talion-Revenant-Michael-Stackpole/dp/0553576569/ref=sr_1_6/002-4071462-4793634?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173919356&sr=1-6) It was only one book but would have been a great series. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/69 "2007-03-15T01:38:14Z")
[QUOTE=JThunder] I am deeply disappointed that death forced James Herriott to abandon his country vet books. [/QUOTE] And I’m totally pissed that Dorothy L Sayers is not writing anymore Peter Whimsy mysteries from the grave too!!! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/70 "2007-03-15T01:45:02Z")
I’m going to be 80 before Melanie Rawn actually publishes _The Captal’s Tower_, the 3rd book of the _Exiles_ series. _Mage-Born Traitor_ was released in 1997. Ten years ago. I’ve stopped waiting for it, actually… ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/71 "2007-03-15T01:46:19Z")
> [@](#): > > What are your favorite series that the author seems to have forgotten about? I will > point out that the aphorism “Be careful what you wish for” holds true here I know exactly what you mean. One of the British comic 2000AD’s best remembered strips was _The Ballad Of Halo Jones_ by Alan Moore. Planned as a 10 book epic, abandoned after 3 books. I think there was some dispute between Moore and the editors, but I don’t know the details. People have been moaning for 20 years about that, wishing that they could patch up their differences and get the other 7 books published. Well, I wish he’d written it in the first place. But I wouldn’t want him to complete it now. The last thing of his that I read was his sequel to The Dark Knight Returns, and that was pretty bad. I suspect that if he ever does write Halo Jones book 4 it would be just as bad. Really what I’d want is for the series to be completed by Alan Moore 20 years ago, which isn’t going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/72 "2007-03-15T01:49:30Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] I was going to say Robert Anton Wilson’s [Historical Illuminatus Chronicles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Historical_Illuminatus_Chronicles) – but then I found out Wilson [died in January.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Anton_Wilson#Death)☹ [/QUOTE] Way ahead of you there, **BG.** Do you know whether there were supposed to be more books after the third one? I only read the first two but I liked 'em better than much of his other fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/73 "2007-03-15T02:00:20Z")
[QUOTE=Balance] Ah, but all the other volumes of _The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox_ were destroyed to prevent them from spreading corruption, if you’ll recall. 😉 I’d love to see more of the _Chronicles_ too, but only if Hughart could maintain the quality of the first three books. Fortunately, each book is self-contained. At least we have closure. [/QUOTE] I have heard that his fourth book is already written and is sitting on a shelf somewhere until he is able to agree with his publishers about what genre it will be published in. Apparently he thinks he’s invented a new genre, and is upset with always being lumped in with the fantasy. He sounds like a really egotistical coot, but I will forgive him because of his gorgeous writing. I read about this on a fan site somewhere…just google his name, something will turn up. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/74 "2007-03-15T14:01:42Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna] Way ahead of you there, **BG.** Do you know whether there were supposed to be more books after the third one? I only read the first two but I liked 'em better than much of his other fiction. [/QUOTE] _Nature’s God_ ends with a lot of plot threads unresolved and the last page says, "The next volume in the Historical Illuminatus Chronicles will be titled, _The World Turned Upside Down."_ I got so impatient waiting for it that I wrote RAW a letter; he replied that he had had such a dismal history with his publishers on that series (not being paid royalties, etc.) that he had given up on it. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/75 "2007-03-15T14:13:20Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] **The War Against the Chtorr** by David Gerrold. He popped out 4 volumes, and then sort of dried up. Every once in a while, it seems like he’ll finish but he hasn’t yet. [/QUOTE] No kidding! I got started on those when I was in college (think 1993-1994), and he hasn’t come out with anything since right around then. The worst part is that he ended the last book on a cliffhanger, and he’s making us wait 14+ years to find out what happens! ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/76 "2007-03-15T14:41:51Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] I’m going to be 80 before Melanie Rawn actually publishes _The Captal’s Tower_, the 3rd book of the _Exiles_ series. _Mage-Born Traitor_ was released in 1997. Ten years ago. I’ve stopped waiting for it, actually… [/QUOTE] Yeah, me too. I liked the first two books fairly well, but I try not to think about them much because she’s just taking too long to get the next one out. Wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t end each book with a major upheaval and cliffhanger sort of ending. These are some of the few books I don’t re-read very often, just because I know the next book isn’t coming anytime soon. It’s a sad state where **Jordan** is more prolific than someone. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/77 "2007-03-15T16:39:51Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] I know exactly what you mean. One of the British comic 2000AD’s best remembered strips was _The Ballad Of Halo Jones_ by Alan Moore. Planned as a 10 book epic, abandoned after 3 books. I think there was some dispute between Moore and the editors, but I don’t know the details. People have been moaning for 20 years about that, wishing that they could patch up their differences and get the other 7 books published. Well, I wish he’d written it in the first place. But I wouldn’t want him to complete it now. The last thing of his that I read was his sequel to The Dark Knight Returns, and that was pretty bad. I suspect that if he ever does write Halo Jones book 4 it would be just as bad. Really what I’d want is for the series to be completed by Alan Moore 20 years ago, which isn’t going to happen. [/QUOTE] Well, the good news is, Alan Moore didn’t have anything to do with The Dark Knight Returns or its sequel. Both were written by Frank Miller. So if the quality of the writing in them is what bothers you, you don’t need to worry. Alan Moore has been writing such wonderful things as [League of Extraordinary Gentlemen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_League_of_Extraordinary_Gentlemen) and [Tom Strong](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Strong). ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/78 "2007-03-15T17:46:52Z")
I know the author said that **The Masters Of Rome** series is complete, but I refuse to believe it and want either a sequel (with the Rise of Augustus) or a prequal (With the Gracci). I’ll just keep pretending and continue to look longingly at bookstore windows as I pass. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/79 "2007-03-15T20:05:27Z")
[QUOTE=Lok] Well, the good news is, Alan Moore didn’t have anything to do with The Dark Knight Returns or its sequel. Both were written by Frank Miller. [/QUOTE] D’oh :smack: ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628/80 "2007-03-15T20:17:11Z")
I realize that Patrick O’Brian has passed away, but I really wish there were more books on the way in the Aubrey-Maturin series. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoned-book-series-you-wish-would-get-finished/395628.md?page=5)