# Authors you wish would/could write another book **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 16, 2009, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001 "2009-10-16T05:58:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pharris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f1d935/32.png) [@pharris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pharris)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/1 "2009-10-16T05:58:57Z")
I find myself constantly yearning for my favorite living authors to write their next book, and lamenting the fact that some of my favorites who’ve passed away will never be able to. Living, and I can’t wait for the next one: Neal Stephenson Thomas Pynchon William Gibson Bruce Sterling James Lee Burke Larry McMurtry Umberto Eco Dead, and I wish they could have written more: David Foster Wallace Philip K. Dick Robert Heinlein Edgar Alan Poe Hunter S. Thompson Many more in both categories (I enjoy lots of different genres), but this is a spur of the moment post since I can’t sleep and I don’t have anything new to read to help pass the insomnia. In couple of weeks since I started reading and posting on this board, I’ve found that most everyone on here is highly intelligent, very witty, and extremely kind. I would love to hear about your favorite authors/books I can’t wait to find the next hidden gem! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bith_Shuffle)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/2 "2009-10-16T06:17:31Z")
Can I name poets? I’d love another book of poetry by Donald Justice. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/3 "2009-10-16T09:52:43Z")
Frank Herbert, to both write more and kick some asses of certain people writing more from his universe ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/4 "2009-10-16T10:26:00Z")
George R.R. Martin. George R.R. Martin. George R.R. fucking Martin, damn it. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/5 "2009-10-16T10:32:58Z")
Margaret Mitchell. Gone with the Wind was the only book she wrote. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/6 "2009-10-16T10:33:09Z")
Douglas Adams: the first author whose books I bought all of. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/7 "2009-10-16T10:53:22Z")
harper lee ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/8 "2009-10-16T11:02:44Z")
Bill Bryson is long overdue for another book, IMHO. It’s a shame George MacDonald Fraser is now deceased, because I’d dearly love to see more _Flashman_ novels. Surely someone out there can take over the “editing” work of the Flashman Papers? ---
**Author:** ![pharris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f1d935/32.png) [@pharris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pharris)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/9 "2009-10-16T11:59:57Z")
Thanks for posting - I can’t wait to start used-book shopping. One question, though. Can anyone recommend George R.R. Martin? I hear he’s pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/10 "2009-10-16T12:26:14Z")
**Fredric Brown**. It could be Fantasy, Science Fiction, or Mystery. I’d take any of them **C.S. Forester** Preferably another Hornblower Novel. He could finish _Hornblower During the Crisis_ and let us know if C. Northcote Parkinson guessed the _real_ ending. **Arthur Conan Doyle** …to write another Sherlock Holmes story, although he’d resent being called back from the dead to do it, and would want to do another _White Company_ or something instead. **H.P. Lovecraft** Not only would I like something new from the Master (instead of August Derleth’s over-organized “elementals”), but the idea of Lovecraft _coming back from the dead_ to write it is inexpressably cool. **Robert H. van Gulik** Others have been trying to write Judge Dee stories, but what I’ve read so far hasn’t been as good. **Rex Stout** Even Robert Goldsborough seems to think no one can replace Stout as the author of Nero Wolfe stories **Mark Twain** Not only do I love his stuff, I’m curious to see how being dead has affected his sense of humor. And what he thinks of Heaven (or Hell) now that he’s been there, and how it compares with his previous writings on the topic. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/11 "2009-10-16T12:29:27Z")
Waiting for the next book by Andrea Barrett. Andrea? Are you out there? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/12 "2009-10-16T13:15:21Z")
I’d like Heinlein only if he could go back to writing juveniles - or at least the adult (in the sense of “for grown-ups”) novels he wrote in the late '50s. Man, his last half-dozen or so sucked major. Still better than 95% of everything else in the field, though. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/13 "2009-10-16T13:43:13Z")
John Maxim-the _Bannerman_ series. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/14 "2009-10-16T13:43:33Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/15 "2009-10-16T13:45:46Z")
Ed McBain, who never finished his 87th precient mysteries with one word alphabetic titles, especially the last one, which was to be EXIT. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/16 "2009-10-16T14:20:33Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Douglas Adams: the first author whose books I bought all of. Seconded. I just finished reading Salmon of Doubt. It was a fantastic beginning, and dammit I want the middle and end of the story. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/17 "2009-10-16T14:24:18Z")
Patrick O’Brian ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/18 "2009-10-16T14:28:02Z")
Jasper Fforde. Matt Ruff. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/19 "2009-10-16T14:30:42Z")
John LeCarre Bill Bryson Daniel Boorstin And, I will not for the life of me remember his name, but he was a youngish guy that committed suicide a few years back after only two books - the one I read was a novel set in a rural town. I know that’s helpful, but details come slowly this morning. ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/20 "2009-10-16T14:39:16Z")
Harper Lee. I realize rationally that what makes _To Kill a Mockingbird_ such a masterpiece is that she stopped at exactly the right time, before jumping the shark, but viscerally I still want a sequel, darn it! I want to know what happened to Scout when she grew up! Lois McMaster Bujold. I know, she’s working on it. Work faster! 🙂 I wish Asimov and L’Engle were still alive and producing work (though with Asimov I mostly wish for more non-SF, as I don’t think his later SF was as good). Random probably-totally-obscure SF people: Cordwainer Smith (I cannot tell you how much I wish he had finished the denouement of the Instrumentality of Man before he died). More Cyrion stories by Tanith Lee, if anyone at all has read those. More novels by John M. Ford, who died untimely early. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001.md?page=2)