And, when you think about it, does pretty well in the other longest “lived” stakes…
Cthulhu F’tharghn!
:rolleyes: Ahem:
Actually, he doesn’t appear in Wee Free Men and (ironically) Snuff.
I know this isn’t exactly on point, but I thought it might be of interest:
Inspector Wexford made it to 49 years: 1964 to 2013
Agatha Christie’s Tommy and Tuppence 1922 to 1973: 51 years
So do I, obviously…
I’ve got nothing as long as most of these great posts, but a couple of series with possibilities are the Honor Harrington series by David Weber (22 years and with several more books promised) and Michael Stearns from Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire (1632) series, only 15 years old but with the next main line book announced for 2017, we can up it to 17 years assured. Mr Weber is 63 and Eric Flint is 68, so they may not have the longevity of some of the others, but we’ll see.
And while I know the OP said no comics, Schlock Mercenary has been on-line daily (7 days a week) for over 15 years without missing a day, and for on-line only comics by one author, that could be close to a record.
Jack Williamson published science fiction in seven successive decades. His Legion of Space series started as a serial in 1934, and stories appeared at intervals until 1983. Giles Habibula, a Falstaffian lockpick, appeared across the run IIRC, which gives him a “life” of 49 years.
As an up and comer, I know Allanon appeared in the first Shannara novel in 1977 and was in stories as recently as 2013, for 36 years (I long ago stopped reading Shannara books so am relying on sparse Wikipedia information).
Terry Brooks is only 70 or so with good health could get that number up there.
Elric of Melnibone made his first appearance in the story “The Dreaming City” in 1961.
His last appearance was in “To Rescue Tanelorn” in 2008.
Michael Moorcock is 75 and could well write of him again, but that makes 47 years.
Zelazny’s Cowin had about 33 years.
Lee Falk started doing the comic strips The Phantom and Mandfrake the Magician in 1936. He was still doing both in 1999. That’s a span of 63 years for each character (they’re still continuing today, but Falk died in 1999)
If Stan Lee wrote a new Captain America, it would be 75 years, and it’s not a comic strip, it’s a comic book; loophole!!
Plus the slightly inconvenient fact it will never happen.
Sherlock Holmes first appeared in 1887, but it seems there’s a new movie or TV show about him every couple of years.
Yeah, but unless Sir Arthur is doing it from beyond the grave (something he would’ve loved), the new Sherlock Holmes things don’t fit the OP’s requirements.
Of course, neither does Lee Falk doing the Phantom, since it’s a comic strip. But I figured 63 years was worth a mention, regardless of medium.
This thread seems fairly catholic / eclectic about “real / fictitious”, " author’s / creation’s" dates – so I’ll nominate a favourite of mine, Richmal Crompton’s naughty-schoolboy (anti)-hero William Brown. In his creator’s “universe”, William managed to stay at the same age of 11 / 12 years old, from approximately 1923 (publication of the first book of short stories of his exploits) to approximately 1963. Not only William, but his friends / partners-in-crime, and his family, miraculously stayed at the the same age throughout – while horrific stuff, not least World War II, unfolded all around them – through dozens of books of humorous short stories about the doings of William and his chums. Delightful stuff, which I would in no way have otherwise.
If we’re ignoring the “same author” restriction, then there are still stories being written about Gilgamesh, who apparently has managed to find the immortality he sought. And now that we’ve found the champion of that interpretation, we can go back to not ignoring that restriction.
And the Ed McBain/Evan Hunter situation is further complicated by the fact that they’ve co-authored a book together: Candyland, IIRC (checks the all-wise Google: Yup).
Donald Westlake, writing as Richard Stark, first introduced his character Parker (no first name) in a magazine in 1959. He took a long break after writing 20 odd novels but restarted in 1997 (with Comeback, ha). The last one was released just before he died in 2008. So that’s 49 years.
Louis Wu could be a contender - he first showed up in Known Space in 1968 and last appeared in 2012, but Niven’s still writing, isn’t he?
My search function isn’t working, and I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned above, but in case it hasn’t, Arthur Henry Ward (Sax Rohmer) wrote the first Fu Manchu story in 1912, and was still writing him in 1959, the year of his death, 48 years later (one Fu Manchu book was published posthumously in 1973, but that shouldn’t be added to the total. If it was, that’d be a span of 61 years). There have been numerous Fu Manchu books since, but Rohmer’s widow and his friend Cay Van Ash, too.
Donald Westlake’s Parker first appeared in 1962 and last in 2008. 46 Years is pretty good.
I actually looked up Westlake to see about Dortmunder, but he was only 39 years.
He was certainly in some of the later ones, such as Kur of Gor of which I’ve seen an excerpt online, but the most recent books I’ve not kept up with at all and know of only thanks to Wikipedia, really. John Norman dropped off my radar for a great many years, and I see from the article that there was a 13-year hiatus in his publishing history - along with the titles of a number of books I’ve certainly never seen on the shelves.