Michael Crichton, Publishing from the Grave

Pirate Latitudes and a Technological Thriller… it looks like Micheal Crichton, the recently departed author of addictive airport classics and comic-book style novellas dealing with technology and the human, will be releasing a couple of posthumous novels…. they will be ghostwritten, skynet-ish-wise, by a ghost writer selected by the publisher, by Lynn Nesbit (Mr. Crichton’s agent of 40 years), and his estate, working from Mr. Crichton’s notes.

“HarperCollins, Mr. Crichton’s publisher for his previous three books, will release “Pirate Latitudes,” an adventure story set in Jamaica in the 17th century, on Nov. 24. The company also plans to publish a technological thriller in the fall of 2010, a novel that Mr. Crichton was working on when he died.” [nytimes]

Of course, he apparently left so many electronic files behind, that it may become increasingly difficult to separate fact from fiction.

“Ms. Nesbit said that Mr. Crichton left “many, many electronic files,” and that there could well be other novels or unfinished material. “We haven’t begun to really go through it all,” she said. […] She said that other than the general category of technological thriller, she had no idea what the incomplete novel was about.” [nytimes]