# Dead writers - wish they weren't **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 22, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681 "2003-11-22T14:48:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elfje](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19b73/32.png) [@elfje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfje)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/1 "2003-11-22T14:48:34Z")
Are there writers you wish hadn’t died so early, or had left a bigger oeuvre behind? Me, I wish Roald Dahl had written more books. And Douglas Adams. Jane Austen comes to mind, too, and ofcourse the Bronte sisters. What about you? ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/2 "2003-11-22T15:08:46Z")
How timely of you to ask! I had been making my way through **Patrick O’Brian’s marvelous, majestic, wonderful** Aubrey-Maturin series for 10 years. I was in the middle of the 18th book when O’Brian died. I put it aside then, still haven’t finished it, because I did not want the series to end. The just-released movie based on O’Brian’s books, **Master and Commander** , is a joy to watch. I wish the poet \*\* Gerard Manley Hopkins\*\* had lived more than 45 years. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/3 "2003-11-22T15:14:25Z")
Roger Zelazny had more work to do upon this earth. Give him back! ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/4 "2003-11-22T16:45:05Z")
I wish that Stephen Crane, James Agee, and Thomas Wolfe had lasted 15 or so years longer than they did, that Ralph Ellison wrote more frequently, that the WWI trench poets had all survived the war, and that F. Scott Fitzgerald had complete “Love of The Last Tycoon”. Are stage writers eligible? If so, I nominate Frank Loesser. Oh, Byron and Shelley also come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/5 "2003-11-22T20:05:51Z")
V. C. Andrews. Seriously-her early work was really good-trash, yes, but oh so addicting! Then she died, and her family got a ghostwriter to take over, and he sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/6 "2003-11-22T20:19:19Z")
Instantly thought of - **Douglas Adams** He wasn’t that old (was he?) and if he hadn’t died I am sure we would have seen some more very great books from him. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/7 "2003-11-22T20:22:43Z")
George Orwell. He died when he was only 46 years old. Just imagine some of the essays he could have written during the Cold War or the 1960s. In fact, he had already been planning another book and had some notes written for it when he died of TB in January of 1950. ---
**Author:** ![Innanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecd19e/32.png) [@Innanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Innanna)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/8 "2003-11-22T20:23:22Z")
Douglas Adams. And he was right in the middle of something new, too. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/9 "2003-11-22T20:53:19Z")
St. John the Apostle-- what if he’d gone on to write a sequel to “Revelation”? St. Gregory of Nyssa And put down another vote for Douglas Adams ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/10 "2003-11-22T20:58:58Z")
[Richard Brautigan.](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/102-9231432-6768908) When he committed suicide, he cut me off from the sixties. However, I just found out that he is writing from beyond the grave, as 15 years after his death a collection of unpublished junk has been published: [The Edna Webster Collection of Undiscovered Writing"](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0395974690/qid=1069534294/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/102-9231432-6768908?v=glance&s=books). And [The Richard Brautigan Library](http://www.jessamyn.com/journal/june00b.html) has been formed. Not Your Ordinary Library, either. ---
**Author:** ![Tinkertoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f19dbf/32.png) [@Tinkertoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinkertoy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/11 "2003-11-22T21:59:28Z")
**Anne George** ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/12 "2003-11-22T22:12:35Z")
Frank Herbert, a couple more Dune books would have been nice. PK Dick, his books that were semi-autobiographical are compelling. ---
**Author:** ![superstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@superstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/superstar)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/13 "2003-11-22T22:43:30Z")
Jack Keroac. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/14 "2003-11-22T23:19:00Z")
Jean Plaidy, author of many wonderful fictionalized biographies of British historical figures. I never enjoyed this genre until I started reading her books. I was a bit surprised to find out that she also wrote romances under the name Victoria Holt. ---
**Author:** ![cletus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@cletus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cletus)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/15 "2003-11-23T01:09:11Z")
**Adam yax** , those were the exact two authors I had in mind when I clicked on this thread.:dubious: The sad thing about Herbert is he had started on Dune 7 when he died. I know they found some of his notes and all but I wonder, how much of the story did he already have in his head? And now his son is planning on taking over where he left off. ☹ Jr’s just not as good as the original (IMHO of course). Dick, as the legend goes, had a stroke at his typewriter while working on his latest story. I don’t know if that’s fact or myth but it certainly fits in with the aura of abnormality surrounding the man. I wonder what kind of story he had to follow up on VALIS? On a related note, this is why I haven’t started Stephen King’s Dark Tower saga yet. I think I’ll wait until he finishes first, just in case. ---
**Author:** ![Moo\_the\_Magic\_Cow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@Moo\_the\_Magic\_Cow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moo_the_Magic_Cow)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/16 "2003-11-23T01:33:10Z")
Douglas Adams ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/17 "2003-11-23T01:46:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cletus \* > \*\*\*\* And now his son is planning on taking over where he left off. ☹ Jr’s just not as good as the original (IMHO of course). > > Dick, as the legend goes, had a stroke at his typewriter while working on his latest story. I don’t know if that’s fact or myth but it certainly fits in with the aura of abnormality surrounding the man. I wonder what kind of story he had to follow up on VALIS? > \*\* Brian Herbert and his writing partner will be doing a 7th book based on the notes, but we won’t see it for a few years yet because they have 2 more prequels to finish first. As for Dick, _Radio Free Albemuth_ was his last book and it expands on the whole _Valis_ thing and to a degree _A Scanner Darkly_ as well. I would love to see what he was working on as well. ---
**Author:** ![Ender\_Will](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/18 "2003-11-23T02:10:10Z")
Yet another vote for Douglas Adams. Also, Robert Heinlein. Especially if he’d gone back to his lighthearted early works (Rolling Stones, Space Cadet, Rocket Ship Galileo…all that YA-oriented stuff that was just a good story, not Stranger in a Strange Land style tomes) ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/19 "2003-11-23T02:15:31Z")
And in the obscure category… H. Beam Piper Killed himself thinking he was a failure and about to become a burden on his family. But easily gave Heinlein, Asimov, and Clarke a strong run for their money when it came to science fiction. Hell, I like him so much I once named my band The Beam Pipers. It works, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Rainbowthief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4bbf92/32.png) [@Rainbowthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rainbowthief)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681/20 "2003-11-23T04:26:15Z")
Vladimir Nabokov. He was seventy-eight when he died, but I wish he’d completed The Original of Laura first. His widow Véra refused to publish it, though his son Dimitri insists his father would’ve wanted it published. Maybe he’ll do it since his mother is dead. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-writers-wish-they-werent/214681.md?page=2)