According to How to Revive Another Author's Characters there is a "booming trend to sequels to other people's work." Including, but not limited to, a new Winnie the Pooh book and a sequel to The Little Princess. (Internet research suggests that should be A Little Princess, though I wouldn't know, myself, because as a general rule I try to avoid books with the word "princess" in the title. Not always, but if I can.) Also, Arthur Conan Doyle's estate has supposedly approved a series of books on the young Sherlock Holmes.
I would have thought Sherlock Holmes was a character who had pretty much been wrung dry. I was going to make the assumption that books about a young Sherlock Holmes would be directed toward child readers, but maybe I shouldn't.
From ArtsJournal.
Oh, you're really missing out by skipping A Little Princess, which is not a particularly girly book and is full of delicious food and exquisite turns of phrase and incisive commentary on England's class system and colonialism.
ReplyDeleteI suppose that all these "spin-offs" are a high form of fan fiction. For sure, I went to sleep at nights figuring out ways that I could play a part in Sherlock Holmes stories -- and Laurie R. King has a superb series where she (sort of) does just that.
ReplyDeleteIf the Young Sherlock series is the one I'm thinking of (author Shane Peacock), it's a good one too, and yes, for a mid-teen audience (for which, BTW, there are all too few solid well-written mysteries).