# I want Author X resurrected so he can write story Y **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 20, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772 "2008-10-20T19:02:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/1 "2008-10-20T19:02:17Z")
Inspired by [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10337737&postcount=35)in another thread I started while I wait for this idiot training class to take a test on freaking arithmetic. What \*do \*they teach in these schools?! Given the power to resurrect any dead author of your choosing to allow him (or her) time to finish a story you mandate, what author would you choose and what story would you commision? I’ve already given my answer in the above link, but I’ll repeat it: Tolkien, and the story of the other fronts in the RingWar, along with the somewhat-tangential War between the Dwarves & Orcs over Moria. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/2 "2008-10-20T19:15:14Z")
Douglas Adams. To write what? Who cares? Anything, down to instructions on how to use a toothpick. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/3 "2008-10-20T19:17:57Z")
This will mean to nothing to everyone in the US and most people in Japan, but I’d like it if the guy who wrote Shojo Nemu was brought back to finish the story. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/4 "2008-10-20T19:20:07Z")
Gotta go for the classic. Dickens, to finish “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.” ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/5 "2008-10-20T19:32:39Z")
George MacDonald Fraser to finally recount Flashman’s exploits in the American Civil War: so many hints and teasers, but unless there’s an unpublished manuscript, it never came to fruition. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/6 "2008-10-20T19:33:00Z")
Conflicted, here. I’d like Roger Zelazny back, just so he can sort out _some_ resolution to the second Amber chronicles. But even more, I’d like Frank Herbert back, so as to give his son the whipping he so richly deserves. _And_ to finish off his Dune ideas. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/7 "2008-10-20T19:34:20Z")
Patrick O’Brian, to finish his final Aubrey/Maturin novel. If he wants to make it 2500 pages long, that’s OK too. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/8 "2008-10-20T19:45:23Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > George MacDonald Fraser to finally recount Flashman’s exploits in the American Civil War: so many hints and teasers, but unless there’s an unpublished manuscript, it never came to fruition. This first. Then Terry Pratchett, whenever he kicks (may it be quite a while from now!), to write another Discworld book. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/9 "2008-10-20T19:49:00Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Douglas Adams. > > To write what? Who cares? Anything, down to instructions on how to use a toothpick. I want to say that he needs an assignment (so as to make sure that there’s no more HHGttG) but in fact I think he simply needs a Mac, the Web, and as much food, coffee, tea, and brandy as he wants. He was already tired of Dent & company. Heinlein gets the next office over and lease to do whatever he feels like. ---
**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:** [October 20, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/10 "2008-10-20T19:49:54Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Douglas Adams. > > To write what? Who cares? Anything, down to instructions on how to use a toothpick. I opened this thread to say pretty much the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/11 "2008-10-20T20:20:39Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > But even more, I’d like Frank Herbert back, so as to give his son the whipping he so richly deserves. _And_ to finish off his Dune ideas. QFT ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/12 "2008-10-20T21:18:58Z")
Heinlein, to write another dozen juveniles. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/13 "2008-10-20T21:28:43Z")
Nobody’s going to bring back Robert Jordan to finish _The Wheel of Time_ series, are they? I suppose it’s just as well. I haven’t read the books, but I understand he wouldn’t finish the series anyway. ---
**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 20, 2008, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/14 "2008-10-20T21:29:47Z")
Mark Twain, to write the Travel novel he almost had a chance to do, set in Middle 19th Century Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/15 "2008-10-20T21:40:16Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Nobody’s going to bring back Robert Jordan to finish _The Wheel of Time_ series, are they? I suppose it’s just as well. I haven’t read the books, but I understand he wouldn’t finish the series anyway. See, this is the trouble with you non-evil types: you don’t know how to MOTIVATE. Bring him back and make sure he knows the resurrection gizmo has a "reverse’ switch and a time; he’ll finish it. (Why is there no “evil laugh” smiley?) ---
**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 20, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/16 "2008-10-20T21:41:12Z")
Ed McBain, so he can write the final 87th Precient mystery “Exit.” ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/17 "2008-10-20T21:44:42Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Douglas Adams. > > To write what? Who cares? Anything, down to instructions on how to use a toothpick. Myself, I think that I’d like to see a finished version of ‘The Salmon of Doubt,’ keeping it a Dirk Gently book. (On the other hand, the mysterious ginger-haired actor COULD be Ford, I suppose, which would sort of make it a Dirk/Guide crossover. But no other Guide characters.) But, since he’d been having problems with the book for years before he died… I wouldn’t have pushed him too hard on it. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/18 "2008-10-20T22:18:20Z")
Heinlein, to write the story of Nehemiah Scudder’s rise to power and time in office as President/Prophet: the more detailed the better. Orwell, to write a prequel to 1984 set in the days of the Revolution. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/19 "2008-10-20T22:30:30Z")
I’d take Henry Kuttner back in just about any capacity. Or his wife, or whomever did the actual writing. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/20 "2008-10-20T22:34:34Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Nobody’s going to bring back Robert Jordan to finish _The Wheel of Time_ series, are they? I suppose it’s just as well. I haven’t read the books, but I understand he wouldn’t finish the series anyway. Nope, he was milking it for all it was worth, no use killing the cash cow.:mad:☹ And IMHO the later books are nearly unreadable anyway, once he learned he didn’t have to finish it. Note that instead of finishing the series he wrote a Prequel and even had plans for 1-3 other prequels and several “outigger” os side story books. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772.md?page=2)