# Fictional stories with unfinished business **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823 "2011-09-27T23:43:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/1 "2011-09-27T23:43:08Z")
I was trying to think of well-known stories (novels or films) with unfinished business, either by choice of the author, or because the author died. A couple of examples: In his trilogy of novels about Lisbeth Salander (and Mikael Blomkvist), (_The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo_, _The Girl who Played with Fire_, _The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest_), Stieg Larsson mentions (mostly in the last two books) the twin sister of Lisbeth Salander, who seems to have disappeared. But Lisbeth must know something about what happened to her twin sister! I want to know too, and it bugs me that we never will. I’m positive that Jasper killed Edwin Drood in _The Mystery of Edwin Drood_, but still, it would be nice to know for sure. Can anyone come up with any others? Not just unfinished works, but unfinished works that contain a mystery or important plot point that you would like to see resolved. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/2 "2011-09-28T00:04:57Z")
What the fuck was up with that island at the end of _The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym_? ---
**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:** [September 28, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/3 "2011-09-28T00:11:11Z")
Arthur Conan Doyle left lots of tantalizing references to past Sherlock Holmes cases in his stories. Sherlockians know and relish all these – _The Case of the Giant Rat of Sumatra, Colonel Warburton’s Madness, The Mysterious Worm Unknown to Science_, and so on. Plenty of pastiches have been written about these, but they introduce other mysteries of their own, as if in compensation. But I, for one, would like to know about _The Politician, the Lighthouse Keeper, and the Trained Cormorant_. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/4 "2011-09-28T12:42:21Z")
In Roger Zelazny’s second “Amber” series, the ending comes out of the blue, and leaves a million loose ends hanging. I was quite angry when I finished reading it. Then he died of cancer, and I felt bad about being angry at him. I guess he was trying to finish it as best he could before he died. ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/5 "2011-09-28T12:44:39Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > In Roger Zelazny’s second “Amber” series, the ending comes out of the blue, and leaves a million loose ends hanging. I was quite angry when I finished reading it. Then he died of cancer, and I felt bad about being angry at him. I guess he was trying to finish it as best he could before he died. There are five short stories written by Zelazny that are set after the end of the second Amber series. Zelazny was planning to do more, but then he died. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/6 "2011-09-28T13:12:35Z")
The end of Tom Reamy’s **Blind Voices** leaves one of the more appealing characters trapped and helpless. Reamy was probably planning to deal with that, but he died while editing the book. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/7 "2011-09-28T14:30:20Z")
We never do learn the Great Question of Life, the Universe and Everything in the Hitchhiker’s Guide series. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/8 "2011-09-28T14:33:04Z")
Obvious answer: Gone With The Wind. Not so obvious: Betty Smith’s Maggie-Now and Tomorrow Will Better. Joy in the Morning could be tossed in, with Carl, Annie and their baby thinking he is going off into a wonderful life after he graduates law school…in June of 1929. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/9 "2011-09-28T14:46:05Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > We never do learn the Great Question of Life, the Universe and Everything in the Hitchhiker’s Guide series. Sure we do, at the end of the second book, IIRC. What do you get if you multiply six by nine? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/10 "2011-10-02T21:12:21Z")
I remember that very well, Tom, but obviously, the joke was that the question did not match the answer. It wasn’t really the question. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/11 "2011-10-02T21:18:37Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > I remember that very well, Tom, but obviously, the joke was that the question did not match the answer. It wasn’t really the question. Pfah, he just ran out of tiles. Surely the question would’ve matched the answer if he’d finished up with _“…in a restaurant?”_ ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/12 "2011-10-02T23:41:05Z")
In the anime series _Cowboy Bebop_–nothing is settled! Did Spike survive? We don’t know. Will Edward prosper with her (yes, _her_) father? We don’t know. Does Faye recover her lost memories? We don’t know. And Ein? The dog with mystery data encoded in his genes? The series ends with the mystery unexplored. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/13 "2011-10-02T23:46:40Z")
I was going to suggest H2G2 too (that’s hard to say out loud) because Douglas Adams died while writing the last book, the Salmon of Doubt, which I have and looked to be pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Neevil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Neevil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neevil)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/14 "2011-10-02T23:54:56Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > I was trying to think of well-known stories (novels or films) with unfinished business, either by choice of the author, or because the author died. > > In his trilogy of novels about Lisbeth Salander (and Mikael Blomkvist), (_The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo_, _The Girl who Played with Fire_, _The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest_), Stieg Larsson mentions (mostly in the last two books) the twin sister of Lisbeth Salander, who seems to have disappeared. But Lisbeth must know something about what happened to her twin sister! I want to know too, and it bugs me that we never will. Well if the wrangling between Larsson’s family and his long-term girlfriend regarding his estate is ever resolved you may get your wish. It appears there is a manuscript for a further book in the Millenium series which his partner is holding, the book in question apparently introduces Lisbeths twin sister Camilla. Lots of rumours abound about the book and whether it will ever see the light of day, however. [http://shelf-life.ew.com/2011/03/28/fourth-stieg-larsson-novel/](http://shelf-life.ew.com/2011/03/28/fourth-stieg-larsson-novel/) ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/15 "2011-10-03T04:04:25Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > I remember that very well, Tom, but obviously, the joke was that the question did not match the answer. It wasn’t really the question. Hmmm…I must be more dense than most. All these years I’ve just thought either a) Deep Thought was so complex it confused itself in identifying the Ultimate Answer b) Deep Though was so confused it programmed Earth I incorrectly so the wrong question was the result c) Arthur’s ‘divining method’ wasn’t worth crap ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/16 "2011-10-03T04:20:52Z")
In Joel Rosenberg’s Guardians of the Flame series, a college professor hosting the campus Fantasy Role-Playing club starts out by sending college kids to his alternate universe intending to use Karl and Andrea’s kid in some major showdown. Subsequent books have seen their twists and turns and a spin-off series about the kid and his friends was interesting, but that original plan has been forgotten and the author’s interest in that mileu seems to have been shot (pun intended, for those who know about the author). ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/17 "2011-10-03T04:46:48Z")
> [@Grestarian](#): > > In Joel Rosenberg’s Guardians of the Flame series, a college professor hosting the campus Fantasy Role-Playing club starts out by sending college kids to his alternate universe intending to use Karl and Andrea’s kid in some major showdown. Subsequent books have seen their twists and turns and a spin-off series about the kid and his friends was interesting, but that original plan has been forgotten and the author’s interest in that mileu seems to have been shot (pun intended, for those who know about the author). He is also dead now - so we never did get to see the prof vs. the kingdom of Fairie, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/18 "2011-10-04T02:33:07Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > He is also dead now - so we never did get to see the prof vs. the kingdom of Fairie, etc. He? Which “He”? Yeah, Karl is Dead (but The Hero Lives :D). But it seemed the grand plan was to involve Jason.:eek: And I thought the Faerie involvement was partly anti-slaver help (it has always felt like a deus ex machina solution to the situation, each time I’ve read it) and partly a weak explanation for a source/land of magic into which various characters were tapping. That element of the milieu seems horribly vague, but not relied upon too heavily, either, so I tend to gloss over it. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/19 "2011-10-04T02:44:48Z")
> [@Grestarian](#): > > He? Which “He”? > Yeah, Karl is Dead (but The Hero Lives :D). > But it seemed the grand plan was to involve Jason.:eek: No; [the author is dead](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Rosenberg_%28science_fiction_author%29). ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/20 "2011-10-04T04:22:38Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > I remember that very well, Tom, but obviously, the joke was that the question did not match the answer. It wasn’t really the question. Ah. My interpretation is that the joke is that the answer is WRONG, and thus that the universe makes no sense. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823.md?page=2)