How do you feel when an author continues the series of another author AFTER (s)he died?

Frankly, I can’t wait for GRRM to die so someone will actually care to finish Game of Thrones.

If they write decently and do a good job of maintaining the basic principles of the world as originally built, I am delighted.

The quality varies so much it is hard to make a genralization. For instance, the Stieg Larson series that started with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo has continued despite Larson dieing ater writing three novels but before they were published. The coninued series is considered on a par with the first three.

But others, such as some of the modern Sherlock Holmes stories. aren’t nearly as good as the original authors.

Happens all the time:

- Dick Francis’ son picked up the series when Dick Francis died

- A bunch of writers have tried to write more of the same when Tom Clancy died.

- Lee Child‘s son is now co-authoring the Jack Reacher series, because Lee Child got bored with the character.

- Vince Flynn died in 2013, and Kyle Mills continued the Mitch Rapp series. Poorly.

What they all have in common is that the second authors are rarely as good as the first.

There have been many such continuations, from James Bond to Jack Ryan to Sherlock Holmes. I can’t think of one that was equal to the original.

Frankly I think it’s a little creepy, and usually results weak output. But for an author who’s had any success, the profit motivation for publishers & family heirs can outweigh most everything else.

The one exception is where a writer has left a large body of unpublished work, with detailed notes to guide the final draft. In that case it’s a legitimate job for a skilled editor to put the author’s imagination and intent on the printed page.

Sue Grafton, the Santa Barbara, CA author, died in December of 2017 after a 2 year battle with cancer. Most famous for her Alphabet Series, “A is for Alibi”, and so on, her family decided to let Y be the end of the alphabet. She passed away before writing “Z is for Zero”, which was supposed to be published in 2019. Perfect choice, in my opinion.