# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/41 "2009-10-16T20:56:13Z")
Agree with the OP that DFW was a sad loss, he surely had another masterpiece or two in him. Ursula Le Guin is my faecitious pick amongst living authors. A new book from good Ursula would really be something. A serious pick is Samuel Delany. Just seemed to reach his pinnacle as a SF writer with _Stars in my pocket like grains of sand_, in 1984, and then lose interest in writing SF novels. The Neveryona series was written about the same time, which I don’t much rate, but is at least very ambitious. Nothing on the novel front since then save for a couple of lamentable excursions into pornographic fiction in the 90s. He did give us his autobiography in 1988, which is exceptionally good. _The motion of life on water_ - has there ever been a more intriguing SF writer? Absolute top drawer book. It seems churlish to complain about the output of such a talented writer, but the thing is he promised a sequal to _Stars_…I’m certain the title of a sequel was printed in my original copy. So it’s sad that it never came to pass - He’s in a different street to most current SF writers and it would be great to see him return to the genre. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/42 "2009-10-16T20:56:50Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > George R.R. Martin. > George R.R. Martin. > George R.R. fucking Martin, damn it. I share your pain. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/43 "2009-10-16T21:02:39Z")
I wish there were more Lucas Davenport novels, author John Sandford. I enjoyed those characters, and the storylines were fun. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/44 "2009-10-16T22:39:45Z")
Please bring back Donald Westlake from the shades. The thought that John Dortmnder will never do anything illegal again fills me with despair. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/45 "2009-10-17T00:41:19Z")
> [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](#): > > Dorothy L. Sayers. I could read some more of her Peter Wimsey stories. Jill Paxton Walsh has written two Peter Wimeys (authorized by the Sayers estate). _Thrones, Dominations_ is based on an unfinished novel, and _A Presumption Of Death_ is based on the so-called “Wimsey Papers”, a collection of short notes and articles circulated among Sayers’ friends during the war years. The books aren’t bad, but you can tell the parts that are authentic Sayers and the parts that are Walsh alone. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/46 "2009-10-17T00:43:16Z")
To continue on a theme. George RR Martin Patrick O’Brian More Dorothy L Sayers would be nice as well. Re:- The O’Brian books, and I mention this every time his name comes up in a thread. Beg, borrow, or steal the audiobook versions as read by Patrick Tull. [Best, Readings, Ever.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFi6fhcMnYQ) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/47 "2009-10-17T00:45:49Z")
> [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](#): > > Dorothy L. Sayers. I could read some more of her Peter Wimsey stories. That’s what I came in for. I read all the good ones and ration a crappy one out once a year or so, but all I have left is _The Five Red Herrings_. Sob. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/48 "2009-10-17T00:50:15Z")
When [Avram Davidson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avram_Davidson) was alive, I once read he had a Doctor Eszterhazy novel in the works. I wish he had lived long enough to publish it. Especially if it involved Eszterhazy in love – Eszterhazy was always a curiously sexless character, though by no means prudish, and a complete man in every other way. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/49 "2009-10-17T00:55:37Z")
As an alternate-history fan, I wish John Maddox Roberts would write a third volume in his [Hannibal’s Children](http://www.uchronia.net/bib.cgi/label.html?id=robehannib) series, and Suzan Alles Blom would do a sequel to [_Inca: The Scarlet Fringe_](http://www.uchronia.net/bib.cgi/label.html?id=blomincaxx) (supposedly a trilogy was intended). And that Kirk Mitchell would write a fourth [Procurator](http://www.uchronia.net/bib.cgi/label.html?id=mitcprocur) novel (the third ended with a cliffhanger). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/50 "2009-10-17T00:59:35Z")
Spider Robinson’s [_The Free Lunch_](http://www.spiderrobinson.com/analog.html) ended with a perfect setup for a sequel. I publicly **got down on my knees and begged him** for one at a book signing at [Torcon 3,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/61st_World_Science_Fiction_Convention) but he just muttered, “I don’t wanna spend time in Thrillworld!” Dammit, Spider, you knew the assignment was dangerous when you took it! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/51 "2009-10-17T06:18:37Z")
> [@cdsilv](#): > > Larry Niven Niven still writes. He and Jerry Pournelle are collaborating on another “hit the earth with something big” book at the moment, I think it will be titled “Lucifer’s Anvil”. They just released a sequel to “Inferno”, “Escape from Hell”. So there ya go. ---
**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/52 "2009-10-17T06:27:52Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Spider Robinson’s [_The Free Lunch_](http://www.spiderrobinson.com/analog.html) ended with a perfect setup for a sequel. I publicly **got down on my knees and begged him** for one at a book signing at [Torcon 3,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/61st_World_Science_Fiction_Convention) but he just muttered, “I don’t wanna spend time in Thrillworld!” Dammit, Spider, you knew the assignment was dangerous when you took it! :mad: Ha! I don’t know this writer, but now I’m going to have to check him out! I hesitate to say this, because her last books weren’t good but Georgette Heyer - if she was in the form that made Black Moth & Devils Cub such wonderful period romances or Death in the Stocks such a good murder mystery. Jane Austen Another vote for Rex Stout Frances Parkinson Keyes ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/53 "2009-10-17T14:36:47Z")
Stephen Greenleaf. Nothing since 2000. What is he doing instead? ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/54 "2009-10-17T16:26:53Z")
> [@Mr Bus Guy](#): > > 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. I believe you’re referring to John Kennedy Toole, who wrote _A Confederacy of Dunces_ and _The Neon Bible_, the latter of which is the one which I suppose you’ve read. It’s a favorite of mine, too. Since no one has mentioned it, I wish Sterling Lanier had managed to write the third novel of the _Hiero_ trilogy; he had a stroke that wiped out his vision for the book, and died without making progress on it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/55 "2009-10-17T16:33:30Z")
> [@](#): > > George R.R. Martin. > George R.R. Martin. > George R.R. fucking Martin, damn it. My problem with George R.R. Martin is that, by his own admission, he usually starts a series and then doesn’t finish it because he starts a different series. This is why I haven’t started the Song of Ice and Fire series yet - I want to know if there’s going to be an ending before I begin. > [@](#): > > 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? I’d like to see S.M. Stirling continue the series. He’s a good writer, likes the genre, and is a big Flashman fan. I once started a thread wondering what the heck David Brin was doing. He was steadily publsihing back in the eighties and nineties with a new novel every year or two. But he hasn’t released anything since _Kiln People_ back in 2002. He’s still actively working so I’m worried he may have just decided to stop writing novels to do something else. Donald Kingsbury. A very good SF author but a very slow one. He wrote his first story in 1952. Then he skipped the sixties. He wrote two stories in the seventies and two novels in the eighties. I had hoped his output would increase when he retired from teaching in 1986 but it’s actually slowed instead. He published three stories in the nineties and one novel in 2001. He’s supposedly been revising another promised novel since 1984. David Palmer. Another very slow SF writer. He wrote two very good novels in the eighties. Then he stopped - he wrote that he’s a very slow writer and can’t afford to devote the time it takes him to write a book because he’d never be able to make a living at it. He finally published a third book in 2008 and there’s rumors he has one other book mostly completed. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/56 "2009-10-17T16:37:48Z")
Another vote for George MacDonald Fraser here. I would dearly love to know the full story about how Flashman managed not only to serve in both the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War, but also be highly decorated by both sides. That much is known from his passing references to such in the existing books, but that was a book waiting to be written. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/57 "2009-10-17T16:38:02Z")
Tom Clancy. Yes, his recent books have sucked. Still, maybe some time off has helped. ---
**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 18, 2009, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/58 "2009-10-18T01:28:35Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Tom Clancy. > > Yes, his recent books have sucked. Still, maybe some time off has helped. It’d be nice to have an actual Tom Clancy book, I agree. Not _Tom Clancy and Someone Else, meaning that Someone Else wrote the book and Mr. Clancy came up with the plot outline, proof-read it and gave it his Big Rubber Stamp Of Approval_. Also, I’d like to see Clive Cussler return to his earlier form (_Sahara/Mayday!/Raise The Titanic_). He’s wandered spectacularly off track lately and that’s rather unfortunate. ---
**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 18, 2009, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/59 "2009-10-18T01:40:05Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I heartily wish [Robert Anton Wilson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Anton_Wilson) had lived long enough to complete his [Historical Illuminatus Chronicles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Historical_Illuminatus_Chronicles) (planned as a pentalogy; only three novels published). I just wish the Illuminati had not blocked their publication. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001/60 "2009-10-18T02:02:48Z")
Bill Bryson - what is he doing that’s so important we don’t get a new book??? Leslie Glass - I need to read the further adventures of Detective April Woo Sanchez. Sharyn McCrumb - I guess she has another Appalachian novel coming out soon, but it’s been too long, and she was sidetracked by, God help us, Nascar, of all dumbass things, for a looong time. Robert Crais - hoping another Elvis Cole/Joe Pike is coming out soon. I have Monster In A Box (Inspector Wexford series) by Ruth Rendell to devour this weekend. As Ms. Rendell, one of the greatest writers in the history of civilization, is in her 80’s, this could be the last Inspector Wexford, a sad thought…I hope she has a few more twisted, perverse books in her to put out… Awaiting the next in the alphabet from Sue Grafton with great impatience. Awaiting the next Lindley/Havers doorstop from Elizabeth George. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-wish-would-could-write-another-book/514001.md?page=4)