Other Unfinished novels?

[Baggins]

I remember reading that there were plans for other novels in the Wing Commander series like a sequel to Fleet Action or such? Maybe one in middle of being written or going to start being written but the author died?

Did any of these 'lost novels' get partially written, or nearly finished? Has anyone attempted to get permission to get notes, and/or manuscripts, and work to release with EA's blessing like they did with Pilgrim Truth?

"CIC: Do you plan to write further novels in the WC series?
Forstchen: There's two books in the works right now, both will be delivered to our publisher, Jim Baen, within a month. One book deals with events that transpire in the weeks between the end of "Heart of the Tiger" and the start of "Price of Freedom." I bring back my old hero Jason and tie him in with events out on the frontier and the prospect of a break away action by some of the frontier worlds. "

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Good question!

The novel Bill is referencing in that interview is False Colors.

Tie-in books are typically sold to a publisher in 'packages'; a book packager arranges a deal between the IP holder and the publisher (ie, Origin gets X percent of the profits in exchange for letting Baen publish Y books in Z years.) Having a number of 'slots,' the packager contracts with individual writers to fill them. In the case of Wing Commander, there were three packages: the initial three-book deal with Baen, a four-book extension and then the totally separate five-book deal between the movie's holding company (Wing Commander Productions) and what was then called HarperEntertainment.

So Pilgrim Truth was a bit of a special case because the book was actually packaged (#5 in the Harper deal)... so money had already changed hands and a manuscript was written. The publisher just opted not to publish the fifth book, believing it wouldn't make back the cost of editing and printing. That's a strange, rare situation, so finding something as complete as Pilgrim Truth is a bit of a rarity! (Though a similar thing recently happened to Star Trek; they packaged a four-book deal for novels tied to the 2009 reboot... and then after the manuscripts were turned in, the IP holder pulled them rather than going ahead... so there's a stack of unpublished Star Trek novels, too!)

That said, there are some more notable 'lost ideas' that were more along the idea of distant thoughts or plans for books (back of the napkin stuff):

- The third book in the first Baen package, which became Bill Forstchen's Fleet Action, was originally announced to be a book involving the destruction of the Tiger's Claw by Jerry Pournelle and Ellen Guon. The contract and timing didn't work out and they went with Dr. Forstchen for the third book instead. This likely wasn't more than an idea from Ellen Guon (if that.)

- A few years later, Jerry Pournelle (again) wrote in his Byte column that he had a great idea for a Privateer novel he'd like to write. I don't believe he's ever said anything more than that, and never had any deal to write it.

- While writing False Colors, Andrew Keith spoke about his intent to have it be the first part of a trilogy that would follow the . It was just a very, very basic idea (a few sentences) and he unfortunately passed away before being able to even pitch the books to Baen. I included the 'events' of these books in the Star Soldier timeline, and dream of someday having the license to write the actual books in his memory. (The second book was the rest of Murragh's story, the third would be a finale that puts the Confederation and the Landreich at war.)

Despite rumors to the contrary, there was never any talk of doing a Wing Commander Prophecy novelization.