Asimov estate authorises "I, Robot" sequels

[wellinghall]

"The estate of legendary science fiction author Isaac Asimov, who passed away in 1992, has authorised a trilogy of sequels to his seminal I, Robot short story series, to be written by fantasy author Mickey Zucker Reichert."

http://www.keepingthedoor.com/2009/10/30/asimov-estate-authorises-i-robot-sequels/

Er - why??? Can't we just enjoy the original stories, and the sequels that Asimov himself wrote?

Comments

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

Noooooo!

At least the film had the tag "inspired by..." rather than claiming to be a straight adaptation. Sequels written by non-original authors are rarely worth reading *coughjaneaustencontinuationscough* and with much good Asimov stuff out there, why try to dredge up some fake?

Gahhhhhh.

[vescoiya.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm with you on this one. Why?

[lanciatore.livejournal.com]

Ker ching!! Why else? Are the DVD and book royalites looking a bit thin? See if you can find their accounts online.

[camillofan.livejournal.com]

I understand the purist impulse and am at times a curmudgeon-level purist myself, but I find I can't get myself too worked up about this sort of thing. Admittedly, I am not an Asimov fanatic, but even when I try substituting my personal favorite authors and series in the scenario, my blood pressure only goes up a tiny bit.

Of course, "why?" is a legitimate question (the straightforward answer to which is "money," right?), but so is "why not?" I don't happen to care for those Austen continuations because most of them are bad/anachronism-laden/not-very-Jane-ish, but I'd probably enjoy a good one. I certainly enjoy published Sherlock Holmes pastiches-- even some of the bad ones! If the idea of authorized Narnia continuations disturbs me, it's because I suspect a good new!Narnia story would almost have to be fairly revisionist; nevertheless, I read and enjoy lots of unauthorized-- often very revisionist-- Narnia fanfic.

[sally_maria]

I refer you to my recent rant in ladyofastolat's journal - I suspect the same reason publishers commission hacked-down versions of old classic novels, rather than encourage writers to produce new classic ones.

[skordh.livejournal.com]

I really like Asimov but ... I think in his later years he became his own exploitative sequel (and prequel) writer!

[skordh.livejournal.com]

I really like Asimov but ... I think in his later years he became his own exploitative sequel (and prequel) writer!