The recent cancellation by HarperCollins of the publication of O.J. Simpson’s upcoming book If I Did It made me think about other documented cases of cancellations of books to be published. I could only think of two of them off-hand, and strangely enough, one of them also involved O.J…
The Cat NOT In The Hat by “Dr. Juice.” This was to be a parody of the O.J. Simpson murder case written and illustrated in the style of Dr. Seuss. The Seuss estate sued Penguin Books to halt the book’s publication. The court decided in favor of Dr. Seuss Enterprises and stated that the book did not fall under the fair use provisions of copyright law as the book was satirizing O.J. Simpson and not Dr. Seuss. Sample passage: “One knife, two knife. Red knife, dead wife.”
Two books by Joan Collins. Random House refused to publish two manuscripts submitted by the Dynasty actress after they considered them too horribly written. Sample passage: “‘Don’t call me your little cabbage,’ she said savagely. ‘I’m nobody’s cabbage.’”
Are there any other documented cases of books that never made it to print?
Plenty.
Happens all the time, & not just because the book is bad.
When the Americanized version of Godzilla (ugh ) came out, there was a series of novels announced, based on the various kaiju from Toho Studios. 3 or 4 were publishe. Good too–the author was a real fan. But 2 were cancelled after being announced. Even though the books were selling, the Marketing Gurus said that was impossible; if the movie failed, the books couldn’t possibly be selling! :rolleyes:
It had already been announced that excerpts from Clifford Irving’s 1972 biography of Howard Hughes would be carried in Life magazine, when the reclusive billionaire surfaced long enough to denounce the book as a fake.
Del Ray Books had planned to publish the entire run of Barnaby comics – a forgotten classic from the 40s and one of the top ten strips of all time. Alas, despite the backing of the publisher, they only put out five volumes before packing it up. Maybe Kitchen Sink Press will try again when they’re done with Pogo and Krazy Kat.
I know we’re not supposed to say I can’t believe you didn’t mention, but Chuck I can’t believe you didn’t mention Harlan Ellison’s The Last Dangerous Visions anthology, the most famous completed but never published book in sf history.
Didn’t Oprah write her autobiography only to pull it at the last minute? This was several years ago…maybe mid '90’s IIRC. I seem to also recall she got paid a huge advance…wonder what happened to that $$$.
As I remember it, Yoko Ono had a good publishing deal to write her autobiography, and then the company who published her first book “Grapefruit” stepped and pointed out they had the right of first refusal for her next book.
The book has never come out.
Diane Downes, the subject of Ann Rule’s “Small Sacrifices” wrote her own story “A Conspiracy of Silence.” No major publisher would touch it, so her father paid to have it published.
How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life was published but pulled from the shelves after the Harvard bound teenaged author was revealed to be a plagiarist.
I supposed that’s more of a “shouldn’t have been published” rather than “never was published” example.
J.D. Salinger was supposed to have “Hapworth 16,1924” published in book form in the 1990s but backed out of the deal. The novella had been published in The New Yorker in the 1960s before he went into seclusion. Rumor has it that Salinger has written many novels since retiring from the public eye but has not attempted to publish any of them.
) came out, there was a series of novels announced, based on the various kaiju from Toho Studios. 3 or 4 were publishe. Good too–the author was a real fan. But 2 were cancelled after being announced. Even though the books were selling, the Marketing Gurus said that was impossible; if the movie failed, the books couldn’t possibly be selling! :rolleyes: