What Has Been Your Experience With Books By Multiple Authors? (10/27/19)

[Marc]

Co-authoring seems like one of those things that happens more often in the fantasy, sci-fi, and horror realms. Have you read any co-authored books? Would you have known they were co-authored if it wasn't mentioned on the cover? Are there writer pairs (or collectives) whose collaborations stand out as exceptional?

(Thinking here of two or more authors writing in the same language, not editor-writer or writer-translator relationships. E.g,, Gaiman-Pratchett, King-Straub, the Wu Ming Collective, etc.)

[Nadine in California]

I can't remember ever reading a co-authored novel until This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar. I cheerlead for it every chance I get, so thanks for the question! (My review.)

I've read a couple of interviews where the authors describe their writing process and how much fun they had - something that comes out loud and clear in the writing. Here's a quote from El-Mohtar:

We knew we were coming into this project with very different styles and aptitudes, and chose letter writing to make a virtue of those differences. So we divided by character: One of us would write the letter, and the other would write the situation in which the letter was received. Then we’d swap laptops, read what we’d written, exclaim in delight, and move on to the next part.

Full interview. My review above links to another interview too.

[Robert]

I'm reading a co-authored book at the mo: Ambrose Parry's (husband - author and wife - anaesthetist with a masters in the history of medicine- team) The Art of Dying. You can tell who specialises in what but I don't mind it.

[LindaJ^]

I've read a few. I loved Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Gaiman and Pratchett. I do not, however, look for joint-authored books and sometimes reject a fiction book because of joint-authors.

[Stacia]

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch is what came immediately to mind. It's one of my favorite books. I think they brought out the best in each other's writing. An amazing collaboration.

[Tea73]

I really enjoy the Liaden series by Steve Miller and Sharon Lee, apparently one or the other of them will take the lead for different books. Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer wrote a delightful epistolary fantasy that was also a regency romance called Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot. There are two sequels, which I did not realize had been written since they were published so much later (15+ years!)

[Franklinbadger]

Nadine wrote: "I can't remember ever reading a co-authored novel until This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar. I cheerlead for it every chance I get, so thanks for t..."

I really enjoyed that one too. Might have helped that I'd never read anything else by either author, so I wasn't tempted to look for the "joins" between their styles.

[[deleted user]]

I wonder how many co-authored books I've read that I didn't realize were co-authored? I'm thinking of older novels where maybe the wife wrote most of it but only the husband's name is on the title page.

[Nadine in California]

Franklinbadger wrote: "Nadine wrote: "I caThree Parts Deadn't remember ever reading a co-authored novel until This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar. I cheerlead for it every chance I get, ..."

I read Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone for a book club a few years ago and it was ok, but nothing special. I can see that El-Mohtar contributed a lyricism to this book that gives it much more depth than Three Parts Dead.