Dream collaboration fantasy thread

Dream collaborations I'd love to have existed, to theoretically combine the "class and oomph" or "brain and brawn" of two writers, the way Peter Straub and Stephen King or Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle managed it:

1. John D Macdonald and Ross Macdonald--a nuance-obsessed Ross to smooth out the rough edges of a John D and add some balance to his Knight of The Healing Penis serial

2. Ian Fleming and John le Carre--a nuance-obsessed Carre to smooth out the rough edges of a Fleming and add some balance to his Soldier of the Hired Penis serial

3. Dashiel Hammet and Leslie Charteris--some gentlemanly humor and rich language from Leslie, to combine with the pulp hemingway's rough magic

4. Mickey Spillane and Raymond Chandler--Chandler's rich characterization and delight at language, combined with Spillane's fierce blunt strength

5. Robert Ludlum and Len Deighton--subtle Deighton toning down Ludlum's overblown pathos a bit

6. Ramsey Campbell and Brian Lumley--The most atmospheric of the post-Lovecraftian novelists and the most Tom Clancyish of the post-Lovecraftian novelists

7. Clive Barker and Graham Masterton--the intricate tapestry horror weaver and the to-the-point horror adventure master


Additions welcome!

EDIT--disclaimer: In many threads it's quite OK to participate without having read what was said before that. None of my threads are like that. Please read before writing, you lazy bums

krinaphobia said:

Honestly, one of my dream collaborations happened ages ago. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman wrote "Good Omens" together and somehow when their powers combine, they become Douglas Adams. After finishing the book, neither author could even remember which parts of it they had written, but I like to think Gaimen brought the black humor and Pratchett brought the rational insanity. It's like the best of all possible worlds. Springboarding off of that, I wish Douglas Adams and Eoin Colfer had a chance to write together.

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Well-said about Pratchett+Gaiman combining into Adams I think that also Robert Rankin and Tom Sharpe would combine into...Terry Pratchett.

jjdebenedictis said:

One of us should start that thread! (Okay, Imma gonna do it. Link coming! Here it is! --> The Collaborative Dream Story Game)

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Haha! Excellent!

Jamesaritchie said:

I love all but your first. John D. had no rough edges, and was so much better a writer in every way than Ross (Ken Millar) that I don't think the two are even in the same league.

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Glad you liked them. "Rough edges" may have to be modified, I agree. Crudely speaking, Ross is Chandler without the testosterone, while John D. is Spillane after Reichian therapy and a degree in the social sciences.

There are two ways Ross is 'better' than John D., and those are a) subtle nuances, and b) subtle atmospherics. John D. also has nuances and atmospherics, but his are far less subtle. John D. is almost all vibrant substance, while Ross is almost all lifeless nuances. In a sense, to make a detoir into cliche-land, of the two Macdonalds one has a very Yankee* post-WWII style and the other--a very Old World post-WWII style.

From this point of view, I'd love to see a combination of those two approaches.

*'Yankee' in the sense of post-WWII Old World calling that all Americans, not in the US regional divisions sense.

I have received sudden divine inspiration for a disclaimer to add to all my threads from now on:

EDIT--disclaimer: In many threads it's quite OK to participate without having read what was said before that. None of my threads are like that. Please read before writing, you lazy bums

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And now, talking of lazy bums, it's time to cook dinner, and then eine kleine, eine kleine, outline the outline of the Nazi leader storyline...