Some time after Ian Fleming's death, his brother, Peter, also a writer, was contacted by a man whose young daughter practiced automatic writing. This man and the daughter claimed that she had transcribed posthumous novels that were really created by Ian Fleming and several other prominent but dead authors. (Another woman plays music allegedly created by dead composers.) Peter Fleming concluded first that the man and his daughter were sincere and secondly that the parody that she had produced could not possibly have been created by his brother.
We are bound to ask: if a deceased author were really able to stay in business, what would we like him to write? In Poul Anderson's case, maybe:
an Old Phoenix collection;
a trilogy of novels about Diana Crowfeather and her companions;
a concluding Time Patrol volume?
However, in the unlikely event that there is a hereafter, I doubt that it comprises a mere continuation of Earthly activities.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I'll first say I believe there is an afterlife. Second, what might writers do in the afterlife? Would they still "write"? I can imagine the souls of the blessed in Paradise being able to recall at once any book written on Earth or the afterlife that they might wish to read mentally, in their minds.
Ad astra! Sean
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