Well hell, he’s published like a dozen other SF novels since his last Chtorr novel…I think he’s given up on it.
I have a 1987 paperback version of Robin McKinley’s The Door in The Hedge (short story collection) in which the “About the author” blurb describes The Blue Sword as the first volume in a trilogy, the second volume of which (The Hero and the Crown) had been published in 1984. If the third volume was ever published I wish someone would tell me how to find a copy.
Bernard Cornwell {author of the Sharpe series} abandoned his Civil War series about four books in: the last book promised more sequels, which never eventuated. I think Cornwell had the sense to realise he’d written himself into a corner - the hero was a headstrong young man {read petulant brat}, born a Northerner but who was fighting for the Confederacy mostly in order to annoy his father, a fire-and-brimstone Abolitionist preacher. It didn’t really have a future, and Cornwell was wise enough to pull the plug.
Dean Koontz has been promising the end to the Christopher Snow trilogy for years now.
He originally said the third book would come out right after Seize the Night (the 2nd book), but that was like 6 years ago.
I just looked at his website and apparently it even has a title now: Ride the Storm. But “it’ll be done when it’s done.”
:eek:
I recall that sometime in the last year she was asking fans from her messageboard to catch her up on the previous two books, as she’d be starting the third one soon.
If I don’t laugh, I think I’ll cry. I love her writing, I love her characters, I love the creativity of her worlds. Her work schedule, on the other hand, makes me think things that would land me in most religions’ conception of Hell.
She asked her FANS to catch her up on her own books?! :smack:
Which, on further reflection, is probably better than Jordan’s “I’m going to keep adding characters and subplots without actually taking the story anywhere so when I do forget something and write in continuity errors nobody will be able to remember that it’s a continuity error in the first place” strategy…
Were they crottled? 
Niven had nothing to do with it. Pournelle wrote the first volume solo, and the second and third collaboratively with Roland J. Green.
Larry Niven does, however, indicate that it’s often difficult to get Jerry to focus on a given book-in-progress when they collaborate, because he has other, non-fiction irons in the fire. (He’s in high demand, for example, as a computer hardware and software reviewer.)
John Barnes seems stuck at the third volume of his Thousand Cultures (Giraut Leones) series, though it may just be he’s fulfilling contracts in order, since he has several series out.
At the end of Anne Rice’s The Mummy or Ramses the Damned, she leaves PLENTY of room for at least one sequel and my paperback copy even had a blip on the last page that encouraged readers to “Stay tuned for further adventures of The Mummy” or words to that effect. Given Ms. Rice’s record of writing series novels, I thought for sure we’d see a string of Ramses/Cleopatra novels. That was about 14 years ago.
Not exactly a series, but Barry Hughart wrote The Bridge of Birds, regarded as one of the finest and most innovative fantasy novels to come out in the past 25 years, wrote two sequels nearly as good, and then stopped, apparently because he was getting screwed by his various publishers.
Not fiction, but in Computer Science, the most (in)famous uncompleted series is Don Knuth’s “The Art of Computer Programming.” A seven “volume” series. Volume 3 was finished in 1973. Volumes 4 (!) are still in a very early draft stage. Expected to be published later this decade. Don’t hold your breath.
Some links:
http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/taocp.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Computer_Programming
Margaret Weis and David Baldwin seem to have abandoned their “Dragon’s Disciple” series after one book. At least, the first book came out in 1993, and there hasn’t been a sequel so far.
Save yourself the trouble. I read it, and I wish she had abandoned the series. It’s an incredibly boring, repetitive vehicle to let the main character tell other people over and over and over again what happened to her in the first 4 books. Believe me, you don’t need to re-read the first ones, because Ayla will bring you right up-to-date in painful, painful detail.
I guess you could say that Auel abandoned any pretense of good storytelling, at least.
M.
Yeah, if you actually read what she says on the message board, she talks about how much she hates re-reading her own work, especially after having to read it 5 or 6 times before it’s published.
Back in February of 2004, she said she was starting it, and that it takes her 18 months to 5 years to finish her books. So I figure it’ll be (at the earliest) 2006 before we see it!
As soon as I saw the thread title this series popped into my mind. 
Well, it’s been twelve years since the last book, so I’d say that’s a bit longer than ‘not being done in a timely manner’.
Yeah, looking at his web site it appears that he hasn’t abandoned the series. He’s still working on it in fits and spurts, but he’s vague on when the next book will actually be finished…
I do remember that. I didn’t see the need to put in all the details, sorry.
Another Christopher Snow? No kidding?
(Of course I hear about it just in time to learn that it may never be. Figures.)
Others…
George R. R. Martin keeps assuring us on the website that A Feast For Crows is coming along…and along…and yet along. As long as he keeps updating the website with some regularity I’ll keep my hope alive.
“Hope” and “Robert Jordan” no longer go together in the same sentence. Even if he continues the WoT series, if he goes at the pace of the last few books it will take him another 10 books to finish the story…
Not all ends unhappily, though. I was stuck in the back o’ beyond without internet or cable (or even broadcast radio or tv of much worth) in June 1999. My mother-in-law came in from work with a garbled tale from a co-worker about Stephen King having been killed by the van which struck him…and it was several painful hours until the local station bothered to give an update on him. The thought of the Dark Tower remaining unfinished…horrible!
Robert Anton Wilson’s Historical Illuminatus series - though I suspect that was due to a loss of publisher interest.
Salman Rushdie planned The Satantic Verses as part one of a trilogy.
Psyche! Heh, heh.
I always kind of liked Silverhand: Arcana Book 1 and Silverlight by Morgan Llewelyn and Michael Scott but the third book never happened.