Deceased authors: a might-have-been-which-wouldn't, and a sort-of-is

Cafe Society
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Have been looking back at the thread in Cafe Society “Authors you wish would / could write another book”, commencing 10-15-2009. A couple of “matters arising”, from points raised in that thread.

There was discussion there, of the sentiment widely held among fans of George MacDonald Fraser’s “Flashman” novels: that many had longed for the appearing of one telling in full, of Flashman’s convoluted doings in the American Civil War – these quite often referred to in brief “asides” in those of the novels which actually were written and published; and the great regret after Fraser’s death, that he never got round to writing the Civil War one.

Various posts in the thread lamented this lack, and gave vent to hopes and wishes that some other author might take over, and write further instalments of, the “Flashman Papers” – S.M. Stirling’s name was put forward in this connection.

Recent exchanges on another Internet board on which I spend time, touching on this issue, brought to light something which was for me, as surprising as disappointing. I can only relay what appeared there: the poster quoting it, gave no cites as such – said only that it was from an interview granted by Fraser.

*Fraser had no intention of describing Flashman’s role in the American Civil War. In a 2002 interview he said, “to me, the American Civil War is a colossal bore. It was a rotten war, it’s been done to death and I’m not terribly interested. An American wrote to me urging me to write it, saying it had to be the high point of Flashman’s career. I wrote back saying: ‘Son, it’s a foreign sideshow. The Crimea, the Indian Mutiny, they were the important things in Flashman’s life. Your civil war? He was so disinterested that he fought on both sides.’ “ *

In the light of all the tantalising and fascinating brief hints and references mentioned earlier, concerning the American Civil War and Flashy’s part in it – what a let-down ! It would not seem that Fraser found the USA as a whole, a boring and uninspiring subject to write of: several of the published books feature Flashman spending much time in the US pre- and post-Civil War, getting into his usual succession of hideous predicaments – these works seemed written with gusto, and I found them mostly splendid reading. If it was in fact just the Civil War which he found about as interesting, and productive of literary inspiration, as “a cup of cold sick”; then, Mr. Fraser, I consider you to have been a sadistic sod, for putting into your books so many “teasers” about our anti-hero and his Civil War doings, leading so many fans to yearn for an actual novel on that theme.

On a more positive note: in this “Authors you wish…” thread, notquitekarpov posts as follows:

“Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor DSO OBE

He’s 94 so, if he is going to finish the trilogy of travel books of which A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water made up the first two volumes, then he had better get a move on.

It was nine years between the first two and twenty-three years have passed since then.

If you have not read them you are in for a treat. He walked from 1933 to 1935 across pre-war Europe from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople as an 18 year old. He left us at the Iron Gates on the Danube on the border of Serbia and Roumania.

I just know it’s not going to happen now. Bastard.”
For any who might like this author, and who might not be aware of the following: at least a decent amount of the hoped-for volume 3 has in fact since 2009, seen the light of day publishing-wise. In 2013 there was published in the UK, Leigh Fermor’s account of the majority of the final part of his “great walk”: titled The Broken Road – From the Iron Gates to Mount Athos – material initially written by the author decades earlier (before he in fact tackled volumes 1 and 2); but found unsatisfactory by him, and shelved for very many years. He went back to heavily-revising work on it in his last years (he died in 2011, well into his nineties); his work thereon was continued and edited (one takes it, in accordance with his wishes) by Colin Thubron and Artemis Cooper, and ultimately published, “such as there is of it”. Basically, a long and full account of his travelling, from the Iron Gates to the Black Sea near the Turkish border, across Bulgaria – which he loved, though aware of its flaws – then, skipping the intervening getting “from A to B”, an eighty-page-long recounting of a few weeks’ sojourn by him shortly afterward, staying at various (very welcoming) monasteries on Mount Athos in Greece. I found all of this material as idyllic, and ably written and delightful to read, as PLF’s much-earlier-achieved first two volumes.

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Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct mysteries included Ax, Bread, Calypso, Doll, Fuzz, Ghosts, etc. He always said his last book would be Exit, which would end the series.

He died before he could write it.

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Douglas Adams never got the chance to finish the third Dirk Gently novel, The Salmon of Doubt (not to mention any additional HHGTTG books that might have been forthcoming).

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1.) Heinlein had described what his posthumous book [Grumbles from the Grave would be ---- but when the book finally came out, it didn’t match his description at all. I recall being a bit disappointed myself when I finally read it. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

2.) C.S. Forester never did finish his novel Hornblower During the Crisis, which describes a secret mission Hornblower took into France when he would have been involved in the Battle of Trafalgar. They published what he did write (along with twop short stories) under that title in the late 1960s, along with a very brief note describing the rest of the book, in a rather straightforward and unsurprising conclusion. It would’ve been nice to read, in any case. But C. Northcote Parkinson, in his {unauthorized) biography of Hornblower suggests a different and surprising ending. It would’ve been especially interesting if Forester had gone with that one.

3.) Forester also described, in The Hornblower Companion, a story he hadn’t yet written, and never would, titled The Edge and the Point. we know the plot, but that’s not the same thing.

4.) For fun, there’s always Dickens’ The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

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Someone famous (and I’m blanking on who it was at the moment) says that Adams started talking to him about how he was going to “fix” the Hitch-Hikers series with a new book (even Adams didn’t like the way “Mostly Harmless” ended - blaming it on his psychological state at the time he wrote it). The person didn’t want to get into a long involved conversation at the time, so changed the subject. Adams died soon after, apparently before anyone was told of his ideas.

Of course Adams was a legendary procrastinator, so may never have got around to writing the book anyway, but it would have been nice for the general ideas to have been known.

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Chaim Potek never finished his Asher Lev trilogy. He wrote My Name is Asher Lev and The Gift of Asher Lev, but never got to The Son of Asher Lev.

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I have always wished there was just one more book in LOTR… sort of a followup during the peace after all that action. I’d love to “explore” the caves with Gimli and Legolas, and follow them to the Ents and I wonder if the Ents ever found their Entwives once the land was opened up once more so they could go looking… wanted to watch Sam’s kids grow up and hear about how Aragorn visited the Prancing Pony when he came as the king and all sorts of little things that were touched on, but never expanded. Yeah… just one more book. :slight_smile:

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In science fiction, you had Stanley Weinbaum, Tom Reamy, and Robert Stallman - all of whom died just as they were entering the field. And you could add Cyril Kornbluth, who had an almost twenty year career when he died but was only 34 years old.

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I suspect I initially misread you here. My first interpretation was that Forester’s words were to the effect of, “I haven’t written this story, and I’m never going to; but this is how the action of it would have gone.” Had me thinking that: with this – and Fraser’s remarks mentioned in my OP, concerning Flashman and the American Civil War – what’s the matter with these authors, being deliberately cruel to their fans in this way? If I’m right, though – the meaning is that Forester outlined the plot of a story which he was planning to write; but he died before he could get round to writing it.

The same other-board discussion which yielded the Fraser / ACW nugget of info, touched on Mervyn Peake’s "“Gormenghast” books. I learned there – hadn’t known before – that Peake had originally planned five, maybe six, books in the series; but only the first three had been published as at the time of his death. I learned also that his widow cobbled up something from his notes re the planned no. 4, Titus Awakes, which effort by her was duly published.

Less rather than more “Gormenghast” is not a thing which I’m able to regret. I struggled through about the first thirty pages of Titus Groan; concluded that this stuff was, for me, unreadable; and dropped it there and then. Am aware that there are very large numbers of “Gormenghast” devotees, and more power to them; but, totally not my thing.

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I wish that either Frank Herbert had lived long enough to write the follow up to Chapterhouse: Dune or, alternatively, that Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson had not shit all over the Dune Series with their horrible, generic, and unnecessary prequels and sequels.