If you are like me, you find an author you like and you read everything they write. Everything. But all good things must come to an end, and eventually you have finished all the books. Or, heaven forfend, the author shuffles off this mortal coil, and so their writing comes to an abrupt end.
Not always. Several authors have received posthumous Pulitzer prizes for works published after their deaths: Sylvia Plath for Collected Poems, John Kennedy Toole for A Confederacy of Dunces, and James Agee for A Death in the Family. And in some cases, family members finish manuscripts after an author’s death. For example, after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died, The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes was co-written by his son Adrian and mystery writer John Dickson Carr. Christopher Tolkien was made literary executor of his father’s (J.R.R. Tolkien) estate, and finished several of his father’s manuscripts from notes.
Sometimes other authors are hired to finish a book-in-progress; Richard Preston finished Michael Crichton’s Micro, which consisted of notes and research left on Crichton’s computer. Robert Jordan realized that he would not finish his Wheel of Time series, and left extensive notes behind. When Brandon Sanderson was brought in to write the last book, he realized that it would actually take him three books to complete the story. Stieg Larsson’s popular Millennium trilogy was published after his death, and the first three books have sold over 80 million copies. The series was so popular that two other authors were hired to write additional books - there are currently seven books in the series.
Larsson makes a good case-in-point, because in recent years many popular fiction series have been carried on by different authors after their creator has died. Clive Cussler passed away in 2020, and was the sole or main author of more than 80 books. Since then, nine new books have been added to three of his series. But how do you find these books in the library?
Most public library systems, such as ours, use the Dewey Decimal system to classify books for shelving. Under this system, fiction books are filed alphabetically by the author’s last name. In the case of series continuations, you can use a keyword (instead of author) search to show books by the author and in the author’s series by other authors. Many times, the title of the book will be preceded by the author’s name - such as Clive Cussler The Corsican Shadow. Another way to find books in a beloved series is to search by the series title (on the library’s website, the dropdown menu on the search bar has an option for “Series”). The title above is in the Dirk Pitt Adventures series.
Here are some recent series continuations for popular authors:
- Clive Cussler Desolation Code (NUMA Files series)
- Robert Ludlum’s the Bourne Shadow (Jason Bourne series)
- Robert B. Parker’s Broken Trust (Spenser series)
- Vince Flynn’s Capture or Kill (Mitch Rapp series)
- Tom Clancy Act of Defiance (Jack Ryan series)
New at the Library
Fiction
- Safe Enough: and Other Stories by Lee Child
- The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
- Den of Iniquity by J.A. Jance
Nonfiction
- Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness by Jamil Zaki
- Imminent: Inside the Pentagon’s Hunt for UFOs by Luis Elizondo
- Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed by Maureen Callahan
DVDs
- The Fall Guy, Universal Pictures
- Wicked Little Letters, Sony Pictures Classics
- Remembering Gene Wilder, Health Point Productions
This is just a small sampling of the many new titles added each week to the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District collection. Visit the district’s 15 locations, our website at www.fvrl.org , or call (360) 906-5000 to reserve titles or find additional listings.
