I love it when books come in series that allow me to follow the ongoing adventures of a cast of characters I've come to love. I eagerly wait for the next book so I can find out what happens, and though I'm sad when the final book in a series comes out because that means it's over, there is some relief in knowing that it has been wrapped up the way the author intended and that I know everything I'm supposed to know about what happens to the characters. Just imagine what might it might have been like if some tragedy had come to J.K. Rowling before she wrote that seventh Harry Potter book.

But what does happen if the author dies before a series is completed? It depends on the author's wishes or the wishes of the author's heirs, who control the rights to the author's work. It also depends on how big a market there might be for books to continue or complete a series. There are two books coming out soon that are continuations of ongoing series, as completed by other authors after the deaths of the original authors.

Robert Jordan, author of the bestselling Wheel of Time fantasy series, died before completing the final book in that series, after a long illness. He left a partially completed book and extensive notes, and Brandon Sanderson has completed that book, The Gathering Storm, which will be released in October. Because Jordan had put so much work into that book before his death, the book is more of a collaboration between the two authors.

Douglas Adams had completed the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, and then wrote two more books in what was called "the increasingly inaccurately named trilogy" before his untimely death. But now a sixth book in that "trilogy" has been written, with the blessing of Adams' widow. Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series, has written And Another Thing ... to continue the Hitchhiker's saga, though, apparently, this book is not based on any unfinished work by Adams but rather uses his characters and continues their adventures.

I guess we'll see how another author finishing or continuing a series works when these books are released. An author's voice has a lot to do with how good a book is. The same story written by someone else may not have quite the same appeal. On the other hand, we don't like to be kept hanging. A friend of mine recently read a book that she loved and was sure would be the start of a series, but then when she looked into it, she learned that the author had died soon after that book's publication, so there would be no more books. It seemed a shame to my friend that the characters had to die with the author.

Then again, they can always wait until the copyright expires and do all kinds of wacky things, like inserting zombies and sea monsters into Jane Austen's books, which I doubt was quite what Jane had planned as a way for her work to continue.