# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/61 "2008-10-21T18:31:29Z")
Sylvia Plath to continue her diary and write a few more books of short stories and a couple of novels. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/62 "2008-10-21T18:36:16Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] C.M. Kornbluth. He wrote a couple of the best science fiction or fantasy short-shorts when he was all of 16, then WWII damaged his health and he dropped dead in his 30s, leaving a lot of great stories but also the potential for ever better work in his more mature years. [/QUOTE] _DAMNIT!_ I _knew_ I was forgetting someone…bah, I didn’t get much sleep last night. Sorry, Cyril. Anyway, back on Lovecraft…if the man _had_ managed to live to a ripe old age, how long do y’all suppose he would have actually held out before being driven completely insane by the 20th century and collapsing into hysterical catatonia? I’m guessing late August, 1945, on the very outside. 😃 ---
**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 21, 2008, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/63 "2008-10-21T19:08:23Z")
How about Stanley G. Weinbaum? He was a SF author back in the thirties. He published his first story in July 1934 and died in December 1935. Isaac Asimov wrote the introduction to a collection of Weinbaum’s stories and said that Weinbaum was writing Campbell-style stories two years before Campbell started publishing them. (For those who don’t read science fiction, John W. Campbell was a hugely influential editor who is credited with revolutionizing science fiction.) If Weinbaum had lived longer, he would almost certainly be remembered as one of the most influential authors in science fiction. ---
**Author:** ![bauble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@bauble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bauble)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/64 "2008-10-21T20:08:31Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > C.M. Kornbluth. He wrote a couple of the best science fiction or fantasy short-shorts when he was all of 16, then WWII damaged his health and he dropped dead in his 30s, leaving a lot of great stories but also the potential for ever better work in his more mature years. Oddly enough, I just today started one of his stories (and had never heard of him before). ---
**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 21, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/65 "2008-10-21T21:50:22Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Shakespeare, to do a trilogy of plays about King Arthur. NO! NO! Robin Hood! ---
**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 21, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/66 "2008-10-21T22:01:01Z")
But first he has to finish **Romeo and Ethel the Pirate’s Daughter!** ---
**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:** [October 21, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/67 "2008-10-21T22:34:28Z")
Raymond Chandler so he can improve and finish Poodle Springs - a married Philip Marlowe! Will wonders never cease? Truman Capote to finish Answered Prayers - he had recaptured some of his early brillance in what he had finished before his death. And of course I would be much happier if Anne Frank had escaped the Nazis and lived a long life of writing - she left an unfinished novel also. But then, would I have heard of her? Maybe not. And the Mystery of Edwin Drood! Who _was_ the murderer? ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/68 "2008-10-21T22:34:40Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Like I’d let you guys bother the master. He’ll write what he wants, and you’ll LIKE it. Hey! I wasn’t trying to advocate making him do anything. Just saying that he was a stubborn cuss. I’m not quite willing to read his laundry lists… but, it’s close. ---
**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 21, 2008, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/69 "2008-10-21T22:38:23Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > Hey! I wasn’t trying to advocate making him do anything. Just saying that he was a stubborn cuss. > > I’m not quite willing to read his laundry lists… but, it’s close. Oh, I know. But by virtue of being me I was obliged to make an unnecessarily vehement response. You’re lucky I didn’t release the monkeys. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/70 "2008-10-21T23:10:36Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > ::hangs head:: It’s true, I would like it. I cannot think of a Heinlein book I did not enjoy. It seems like there should be one, but I cannot think of it. His last few are not my favorites, but the only one I really dislike is _Job: A Comedy of Justice_. I’m not fond of alternate reality stories, but even that one had it’s moments… ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/71 "2008-10-21T23:15:02Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > His last few are not my favorites, but the only one I really dislike is _Job: A Comedy of Justice_. I’m not fond of alternate reality stories, but even that one had it’s moments… I even enjoyed _Job:_ and I love the already mentioned \*I Will Fear No Evil \*. ---
**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 21, 2008, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/72 "2008-10-21T23:54:09Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > His last few are not my favorites, but the only one I really dislike is _Job: A Comedy of Justice_. I’m not fond of alternate reality stories, but even that one had it’s moments… :eek: This is what happens when I stop plagues at the slightest provocation; people start saying silly things like that. I will apologize to the group by bombing BrotherCadfael with a few hundred pounds of flaming sheep poo. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/73 "2008-10-22T00:52:42Z")
Edwin Abbot Abbot, so, in thirty or so years, he could write a biting satire of our society. ---
**Author:** ![History\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b19c9b/32.png) [@History\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/History_Geek)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/74 "2008-10-22T02:16:04Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I don’t think he was capable of writing that sort of book in his later days. Sure, but a guy can hope, can’t he? ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/75 "2008-10-22T08:09:39Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Douglas Adams. > > To write what? Who cares? Anything, down to instructions on how to use a toothpick. Well to write a happy ending sequel to erase the cranky final novel in the HHGTTG series of course. The BBC did it in his absence in their radio drama, and supposedly some random guy is going to write a new novel but I can’t imagine it being as good as Adams himself. And of course a new Dirk Gently novel. Plus some new non fiction stuff along the lines of “Last Chance to See”. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/76 "2008-10-22T08:44:47Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > Maybe Ambrose Bierce to write about whatever happened in Mexico. Your ideas intrigue me, and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fearless\_Dingo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ed655f/32.png) [@Fearless\_Dingo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fearless_Dingo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/77 "2008-10-22T12:36:59Z")
> [@jali](#): > > Octavia Butler ~ and ~ Jack Vance When did Jack Vance die? Dang, nobody tells me anything. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/78 "2008-10-22T13:43:05Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > :eek: > > This is what happens when I stop plagues at the slightest provocation; people start saying silly things like that. I will apologize to the group by bombing BrotherCadfael with a few hundred pounds of flaming sheep poo. Eh - I’ve shoveled many a ton of animal poo, so, meh. And our barn burned once, so the flaming part isn’t all that new, either. 🙂 I’ve just never been real big on alternate reality stories - especially the ones where you change realities in mid-stream. Sliders, for example, never did anything for me, and neither did _Job_. But, even so, there are still bits and pieces of vintage Heinlein to be found here and there in its pages. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Comfy\_Chair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de053/32.png) [@The\_Comfy\_Chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Comfy_Chair)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/79 "2008-10-22T13:46:22Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > 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. Almost exactly what I came here to say. Or type. Well, possibly both… sometimes I talk aloud as I type. I don’t write in libraries or coffee shops anymore. I’d always envisioned it much more Gently than Guide (there seems to be a sex joke in there somewhere but I’m just not cognitive enough yet to uncover it…). However, I wouldn’t mind Adams coming back to do one final Guide book, as he’d alluded to in ‘Salmon’. Wrap that sucker up proper, y’know? Now I must prepare for the onslaught of beatings from the masses… ---
**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 22, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772/80 "2008-10-22T18:27:20Z")
> [@](#): > > When did Jack Vance die? Dang, nobody tells me anything. Think how Vance must have felt when he heard he was dead. All this time, he’s been thinking he was retired and living in Oakland. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-author-x-resurrected-so-he-can-write-story-y/468772.md?page=5)