Lee Child surprised fans this weekend when he announced that he will soon stop writing his famous Jack Reacher novels. But don’t worry, his brother will take over for him. Lee is feeling ready to move on and has contemplated killing off his popular character, but wants to honor fans and the legacy his character has made. So he enlisted his brother, Andrew Grant (who will be writing under the name Andrew Child for future Reacher novels), who is himself an established author. This passing of the baton to helm a popular character isn’t new, but is typically done after an author passes away. Grant has an added pressure. His writing and stories not only need to live up to the countless Reacher fans across the globe, he knows his older brother will also be reading.
Picking up an existing author’s story or character has a unique set of benefits and challenges compared to trying to publish an original work. First of all, you have a built-in audience. But that has a double-edge. While you may not need to work as hard to find readers, these people will hold your new work against the original and can judge it harshly. Sometimes a late (or retiring) author may leave notes and outlines, sometimes the entire story will be yours to make up. As time goes by (and as long as it is not historical fiction you are writing) the character will come up against new technology and new challenges that may not have existed when the previous author was writing. All these things lead to a lot of judgment on you with people not even necessarily knowing your name.
Despite any challenges, passing the baton has been a popular solution to continuing a story when the author can no longer continue. There have been many classic characters that have been giving more chapters in their story by tapping a new author to take on the mantle. Anthony Horowitz has written a Sherlock Holmes novel. Sophie Hannah will publish her fourth Hercule Poirot novel this fall. At least six authors including Anthony Horowitz have written James Bond novels. Even Sidney Sheldon, with no particular famous character, has his legacy continued by Tilly Bagshawe. Child’s choice of having a family member continuing the tradition isn’t that unique, Felix Francis, Dick Francis’s son continues his writing and Anne Hillerman, continued her father, Tony Hillerman’s, Leaphorn and Chee series. Also, Kyle Mills stepped in to take over the Mitch Rapp series when Vince Flynn passed away from cancer at age 47.
One of the longest-running instances of having a second author take over for an author is when Andrew Neiderman took over for V.C. Andrews after she passed. Neiderman has used Andrews name for the past 30 odd years and published about 80 titles.
Finally, the author whose body of work takes four new authors to handle--Robert B. Parker. Parker passed away nearly ten years ago, but he had created four distinct and well-loved series that audiences weren’t ready to part with. Michael Brandman has taken over writing the Jesse Stone series (additionally well-known for the Tom Selleck movies). Mike Lupica has recently taken up the Sunny Randall series. Robert Knott, who worked on the film Appaloosa, has become the author of the Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch series. And Ace Atkins has held his own in continuing the much beloved Spenser series.
What about you? Did you have a favorite series that was continued by a new author? Could you tell the difference? Have you ever come across a series that you prefer the new writer to the original? Does it matter as long as there are still more, good books?