Steig Larsson's Partner To Finish 4th Book

I can't stand these book fishers.



That said, we're supposed to be surprised? The sound of the cash register is compelling.

The big message to take away from this article is: IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO AVAIL YOURSELF OF THE PROTECTIONS SUPPLIED BY MARRIAGE, DON'T LET YOUR PARTNER DIE INTESTATE. Get that will. And durable power of attorney. And healthcare power of attorney. At which point, you know, it's cheaper to get married. Plus you might get some presents.

What's wrong with that? She may be a better writer than he was.

Good for her. This may be a way both to demonstrate the role she played in helping Larsson brainstorm and write the books, and to recoup what Larsson's family denied her.

Jamesaritchie said:

What's wrong with that? She may be a better writer than he was.

Click to expand...

Maybe, but is she a better fisher?

Typo in the title is corrected.

Jamesaritchie said:

What's wrong with that? She may be a better writer than he was.

Click to expand...

Then she should be able to find a publisher under her own name instead of piggybacking his name. Just my 2cents.

According to his Swedish editor, she helped him a lot with the first three books, so it doesn't seem that odd to me. It's not unusual for a partner (either in life or in work or both) to finish an incomplete project after the main creator's death.

waylander said:

Maybe, but is she a better fisher?

Click to expand...

I thought all fishers lied about fishing, anyway, so what difference does it make?

tinasamuels said:

Then she should be able to find a publisher under her own name instead of piggybacking his name. Just my 2cents.

Click to expand...

I daresay that, should a deal be made, the book will have both their names as co-authors, and that is as it should be. Larsson created the characters and wrote a substantial amount of the book. Leaving his name off would be wrong.

IceCreamEmpress said:

According to his Swedish editor, she helped him a lot with the first three books, so it doesn't seem that odd to me. It's not unusual for a partner (either in life or in work or both) to finish an incomplete project after the main creator's death.

Click to expand...

Or even the spouse of a dead elected official finishing out the deceased's term. If Larsson wrote most of it with her finishing, then I think co-authorship is the most appropriate thing to do.

Regardless of how much she helped him, I'm glad she'll have the chance to even the financial score. She's been royally screwed by his family, who probably regarded Stieg as a total loser when he was alive. That said, my expectations are low for the book. Reportedly, Stieg intended it as the fifth book in the series, writing it before the fourth, which promised to be a bit tougher to write. Also, he'd intended a run of ten books. Millennium, the news journal itself, may have been meant to be the real star of the series. And I wonder if Blomkvist and Salander appear in all or most of the completed pages of the incompleted novel, set in Montreal?

I can easily see this spinning into the commissioning of more Larsson-inspired novels, at the behest both of the publisher and his estate. After all, he did envision the series extending to ten books, as I understand. And there certainly is precedent for such a thing: The James Bond novels done after Ian Fleming died, the continuing posthumous literary lives of V.C. Andrews and Robert Ludlum. Hell, James Patterson hires other people to write his books, and he ain't even dead yet.

It even goes back a century or more, to Jules Verne's son allegedly completing or writing other books under his father's name after old Jules' demise.

Good luck to her. I hope it works out.

brainstorm77 said:

Good luck to her. I hope it works out.

Click to expand...

I second this. I hope it works out too. Both for her, and the memory of her partner.

gothicangel said:

Question:

As his family control the rights to Larsson's literary estate, how could she legally publish the book?

Click to expand...

I'm not a lawyer and don't know Swedish law, but logic would suggest that the two parties would have to come to an agreement. And while I think Larsson's family has behaved (mumble mumble mumble), I would imagine they would eventually figure out that it's in their best interests to make such a deal. A portion of bazillions of [fill in a monetary unit here] is better than 100% of nothing.

blacbird said:

I can easily see this spinning into the commissioning of more Larsson-inspired novels, at the behest both of the publisher and his estate. After all, he did envision the series extending to ten books, as I understand. And there certainly is precedent for such a thing: The James Bond novels done after Ian Fleming died, the continuing posthumous literary lives of V.C. Andrews and Robert Ludlum. Hell, James Patterson hires other people to write his books, and he ain't even dead yet.

It even goes back a century or more, to Jules Verne's son allegedly completing or writing other books under his father's name after old Jules' demise.

Click to expand...

And then there's Dick Francis, who was helped by his wife. When she died people doubted he could write on his own, but apparently he did. I never much liked his later books, however.
And then he began writing with his son Felix, giving him half credits.

Phaeal said:

The big message to take away from this article is: IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO AVAIL YOURSELF OF THE PROTECTIONS SUPPLIED BY MARRIAGE, DON'T LET YOUR PARTNER DIE INTESTATE. Get that will. And durable power of attorney. And healthcare power of attorney. At which point, you know, it's cheaper to get married. Plus you might get some presents.

Click to expand...

Absolutely. Bolded for emphasis! My partner thought it would be easier not to marry 20 years ago, but I insisted and now I can only thank my lucky stars. We'd have been in a right financial mess now that he's seriously disabled, with me as carer, if he'd had his way, and even a will wouldn't have helped much if he dies before me (which is likely). I'll never understand why long-term partners don't simply marry. It saves so many hassles.

I haven't read any of the books but I have seen the Tattoo movie; I was curious as to how Larsson died so I dug up this really intersting article as to how it all happened. I feel very sorry for her, but I can't help thinking they were really, really negligent - considering their lifetime together and their planned future - not to safeguard the rights somehow, either by marriage or by a will.

ETA: oops, sorry. Just finished reading the article. It explains why they never married.

ETA2: the article also explains the non-existent will.

gothicangel said:

Personally, if it was my brother and I felt genuinely aggrieved, I would be tempted to make life as hard as possible for her.
.

Click to expand...

I would want to do what he wanted. I would give her the rights, simply because it is right. Or at least share them.

There's a lot of debate about this, and it's an interesting topic with lots of examples -

Dick Francis and his wife
Tolkien and his son
Virginia Andrews
Dan Brown and his wife
Michael Crichton and his assistant
Terry Pratchett and his assistant - although the copyright on the Discworld books is for 'Terry and Lyn Pratchett'

The point is, sometimes people are heavily involved in the creation of books but aren't the 'writer' (even if sometimes they are). And to be honest, no one else really knows for sure how much writing the partner has or hasn't done on the books in question, and we will never know.

I have left strict instructions for what should happen with my work when I die. It's in my will. I have specified who is to get all my notebooks and drafts and specified that they 'Will know what to do with them'. In this case the person in question has been heavily involved in my work, she knows it as well as I do and she is sufficiently talented and capable to complete them, if she wants. And I trust her to do it. Everyone else can go to hell.