dcb @ 92: The shade of Frank Herbert has returned with his son Brian's two-volume collaboration with Kevin J. Anderson, Hunters of Dune (out last year in hardcover, now in paperback) and Sandworms of Dune (out shortly in hardcover), based on outline and notes that he worked on with Brian following Chapterhouse. Indeed, there may be more Frank Herbert in this two-volume novel than there is in any book bylined "William Shatner".
Kevin has a history of posthumous collaborations, the most recent being the sequel to 1946's Slan. We received copies of Slan Hunter in the last week or so. Van Vogt has top billing, and may have more contribution than Lovecraft did in his beyond-the-grave works with Derleth.
A potential contender among the currently living would be Michael Moorcock. The neverending Elric stories were first published in hardcover in 1963, and a new one just came out this year.
Of course, if you decide to include the related multiverse published in various media, all bets are off. And once that bag of worms is opened, Asimov's retrofitting of Robots to Foundation comes under consideration with a 58-year run.
And outside the fantasy field, there's Dame Christie, who published within her lifetime 39 multi-titled Hercule Poirot novels:
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
Curtain (1975)
That's a 55 year spread, beating out Jack Williamson's not informidable 48.
If we're counting posthumous collaborations, then there's one more volume, a novelization of her 1930 stageplay by Charles Osborne:
Black Coffee (1988)
If you're just counting books published during the author's lifetime in a multi-book series, then:
Tarzan of the Apes (1912)
Tarzan and the Foreign Legion (1947)
is a 35 year spread.
But if you're willing to accept books published posthumously, then:
Tarzan and the Castaways (1965)
extends it to 43 years, not quite to Jack Williamson's Legion.
And if you're willing to include posthumous completions by another another, then:
Tarzan: The Lost Adventure (1995, with much Joe Lansdale)
brings the stretch out to 83 years.
And there were definitely people who knew about the fragment who were waiting . . .
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