# Author's who can't keep it up ('it' being 'book series') **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [August 30, 2021, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780 "2021-08-30T16:16:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2021, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/61 "2021-09-04T19:44:09Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > > [@zimaane](#): > > > > The Xanth series has twenty plus books, but only the first few are any good. > > Twenty plus twenty plus four, to be exact. > > Anyway, I have two nominations that no one else seems to have mentioned yet. > > First we have Alan Dean Foster, with the commonwealth series. > > Between fairly sporadic publishing, and lots of discontinuity and bouncing around in time and characters, it became not only hard to follow for readers, but I think for the author as well. I read all that were available back in the early 90’s and kept following the series for a number of years after that, but haven’t gone back to it in a _long_ time now. > > Also his spellsinger series was fun, but it seemed he lost interest in that world entirely. > > The second author would be Anne McCaffery and her Pern series. > > What started as a fantasy genre with a light bit of hinted at science backstory kept trying to shoehorn in more and more “science” as part of the backstory, the less believable the whole thing got. Apparently she and her son still write them, but it’s just not very interesting anymore. The science has always been there. I don’t know why people keep insisting it was pure fantasy at first [well, the first story would qualify]. The prologue states from the outset that Pern was was settled by people who arrived on a spaceship. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2021, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/62 "2021-09-04T20:07:16Z")
Right, which is why I said it had a light bit of hinted at science backstory, that’s fine, that’s just how they ended up here. The problem was that it tried to use science in ways that science isn’t meant to be used. Telepathic dragons that can teleport, even through time? Sure. Genetically engineered telepathic dragons that can teleport through time… not so much. A “Red Star” that appears every two-hundred years and rains hell and death upon them? Sure. An actual planet that follows no discernable or viable orbital mechanics, which somehow tosses its contents out at greater than escape velocity while staying in range of Pern for 50 years at a time(all the while not disturbing Pern’s orbit enough to affect the seasons or years)? I don’t think so. Like I said, the more they tried to explain things, the less believable it was. It works well enough as a fantasy story, even one with a light science fiction backstory, but actually trying to tell it as science fiction ruined it. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/63 "2021-09-04T21:06:53Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > > [@Jackmannii](#): > > > > Robert Parker had trouble keeping up the Spenser series after he died > > I think Parker was one of the worst. Every single book he wrote was the same, whether it was Spenser, Stone, Randall or the cowboys. You could randomly switch the characters from book to book and it wouldn’t matter. The only Parker books I’ve read have been his Spenser series, but of the ~20 I’ve read so far, he’s done a pretty good job of keeping them varied and non-formulaic IMHO. ---
**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:** [September 6, 2021, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/64 "2021-09-06T12:25:58Z")
I got the impression from the early Pern books that she wanted to write fantasy, but that at the time the “fantasy” section of the bookstore was even more ghettoized than the “science fiction” section, so she tossed in a few offhand mentions of spaceships just to claim that it was the slightly more respected genre. By the time of her death, though (heck, within a decade or so of the start of the series), fantasy was at least as respected a genre as science fiction, so I’m not sure what to make of the books moving more in that direction as time went on. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2021, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/65 "2021-09-06T16:16:42Z")
McCaffery had other books and series that were more in the science fiction genre. _The Ship Who Sang_ and _The Crystal Singer_ come to mind. They’re light SF, but still SF rather than fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2021, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/66 "2021-09-06T17:06:18Z")
> [@susan](#): > > They’re light SF, but still SF rather than fantasy. I read a fair bit of McCaffery as a teenager and it was ALL light SF. Looking through her bibliography I don’t think she ever wrote any substantial amount of fantasy, really. Barring a comment from her own mouth, my assumption is she is always intended it for it to be SF from the get go. I haven’t read it since it was published in 1988, but I remember rather liking her settlement novel Dragonsdawn. But then I don’t really care about the accuracy of the science in my SF. I mean not even a tiny bit 😀. I started reading the genre as a pre-teen, so plausibility has never been at the top of my ranking system. Bradbury and Ellison weren’t exactly writing technical manuals 😉. Very generally I’m not really a fan of most hard SF, which I find too often short changes the fiction for the science. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2021, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/67 "2021-09-06T17:06:40Z")
The first Pern pieces were written for the magazine market (and were published in Analog), so the bookstore environment didn’t matter as much - but at the time, the magazine market for SF was (as far as I know) healthier than the fantasy magazine market. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2021, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/68 "2021-09-06T22:17:23Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I agree that Rex Stout did about the best job of keeping the series fresh. _The Doorbell Rang_ was his 40th Wolfe book (including collections of novellas) in 30 years and it was one of his best. The few later ones trailed off, though. And let’s face it, all the books were the same story retold. True that. Another example is Louise Penney. The first several Gamache books were really fine, but the last few not so fine and I will not even try the most recent one. Someone mentioned that some series get increasingly backstory and less and less new story. Case in point: I have recently read all 14 or whatever of Martin Walker’s Bruno stories and his on-again, off-again love lives is getting old. Marry him off already. Probably his best bet is Florence whom he has hardly looked at but comes with a family he so desperately wants and her children already adore him. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2021, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/69 "2021-09-07T15:20:47Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Twenty plus twenty plus four, to be exact. Forth four published so far, with three more on the way ! Who reads all these ? ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2021, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/70 "2021-09-07T15:27:43Z")
I’ve read more than I care to admit, but I join you in wondering as to who has read them all. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2021, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/71 "2021-09-07T21:14:23Z")
Last I’d heard, he was still justifying calling it a “trilogy”, because he hadn’t yet reached 3^3. But, really, who is reading all of those? Anyone buying the 44th book had to have gone through 30-odd terrible ones already. And there’s only so fast one can read: They have to have aged out of the maturity level that would appreciate them. Well, OK, some folks never mature, but those folks don’t read much of anything. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2021, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/72 "2021-09-07T22:57:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But, really, who is reading all of those? Anyone buying the 44th book had to have gone through 30-odd terrible ones already. Maybe people who find them entertaining even though they’re terrible? I haven’t read them (unless you count the first few that I read way back when), so I couldn’t tell you whether they’re bad-but-boring or bad-but-fun; but if it’s the latter, I have no trouble understanding why they still have an audience. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2021, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/73 "2021-09-07T23:29:21Z")
Might be on Kindle Unlimited, where many people will read whatever is free out of sequence. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2021, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/74 "2021-09-07T23:42:54Z")
To clarify, all of the Xanth books are bad. The first few are bad-but-fun. The “-but-fun” diminishes nearly monotonically through the series; there can’t be any nonnegligible amount left any more. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/75 "2021-09-08T00:14:06Z")
Xanth books accurately summarized [http://www.rinkworks.com/bookaminute/b/anthony.xanth.shtml](http://www.rinkworks.com/bookaminute/b/anthony.xanth.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/76 "2021-09-08T00:31:54Z")
The quality also declined drastically. 4 and 5 are both bad books. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2021, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/77 "2021-09-09T16:50:29Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > [Book-A-Minute SF/F: The Xanth Series](http://www.rinkworks.com/bookaminute/b/anthony.xanth.shtml) Right or wrong Malwarebytes does not like that site - blocked with a warning. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/78 "2021-09-09T16:57:07Z")
Sorry about that. It’s not giving me any problems - but I shall be cautious henceforth. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2021, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/79 "2021-09-09T23:45:03Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Right or wrong Malwarebytes does not like that site - blocked with a warning. I don’t know why any security software would have a problem with that site–there are no ads on it, and it’s a very plain, basic site with not a lot going on behind the scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2021, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780/80 "2021-09-11T00:25:56Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > I don’t know why any security software would have a problem with that site–there are no ads on it, and it’s a very plain, basic site with not a lot going on behind the scenes. Is it a HTTP vs. HTTPS issue? “The material at this site is Copyright © 1997-9” — maybe it’s just an old site without up-to-date security. Chrome says “Something is severely wrong with the privacy of this site’s connection. Someone might be able to see the information you send or get through this site.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-who-cant-keep-it-up-it-being-book-series/949780.md?page=5)