When a famous author dies they are usually memorialized in the internet’s great quote factories.
Sometimes, however, a publishing house or author’s estate will seize on the great scribe’s selling power and authorize a continuation narrative in the form of a sequel, prequel or continuing saga for the judgment of fans and followers.
Readers and critics have not always responded positively. On the one hand, Professor Annamarie Jagose criticises Mrs de Winter, Susan Hill’s 1993 sequel to Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 novel Rebecca for reducing the queer titular character to a heterosexual bore. On the other hand, more James Bond novels have been written by continuation authors, including Martin Amis and Sebastian Faulks, than by Ian Fleming himself. If only Anita Brookner would jump on board.
