Kookamoor
New Member
Isobelle Carmody is an Australian author, and perhaps not too well known beyond the Australia/NZ shores. She began writing the Obernewtyn series in 1987, and is still yet to finish the series almost 20 years later. This series was primarily aimed at teenagers, however it was very popular among adults as well at the time it came out. To summurise the plot, I refer you to Amazon.com
Indeed readers did expect more, and since the initial publication her books have been published every 3 to, possibly, 7 years:
1. Obernewtyn (1987)
2. The Farseekers (1990)
3. Ashling (1995)
4. The Keeping Place (1999)
5. The Sending (rumoured for release 2006/2007)
I recall meeting her both when I was in primary school and high school, the latter after The Farseekers came out. Someone asked her when she would finish the series. Her response was that she wasn't sure, but that she liked to write other books at the same time to prevent herself from getting bored.
Granted, she has written a lot of books (see below, thanks to obernewtyn.net), but she lost me as a reader when she failed to provide an ending to the Obernewtyn series. I'm certainly no longer in the demographic it was designed to reach. This could certainly be seen as poor marketting, but is it also betraying the reader in some way? I invest time to read these books she has written. Does she have an obligation as an author to complete this series? Or is that selfish of me to expect? I think it's a little selfish, but I also think that an author embarking upon a series should bear in mind that their reader loyalty is likely to suffer if they do not produce a conclusion to their work in a timely fashion. If I was her publisher, I certainly would not be impressed.
So is anyone else familiar with Carmody? If so, what do you think of this? If not, have you had similar experiences with authors not completing series' in a timely fashion?
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Her other books include:
- The Legendsong (series)
1. Darkfall (1997)
2. Darksong (2002)
3. Darkbane (release set for one year after The Sending)
- The Gateway Trilogy (series)
1. Billy Thunder and The Night Gate (Puffin - Penguin 2000)
2. The Winter's Door (Viking - Penguin 2003)
3. The Firecat's Dream (speculated release date 2006)
- Little Fur (series)
1. Little Fur: the Legend Of Little Fur Book 1 (Viking - Penguin 2005)
2. Little Fur: A Fox Called Sorrow (yet to be released)
- Quentaris (shared world)
1. Angel Fever (2000)
2. The Cat Dreamer (yet to be released)
- Scatterlings (1991)
- The Gathering (1993)
- Green Monkey Dreams (1996)
- The Red Shoes {illustrated by Anne Spudvilas} (Lothian 1996) - story also found in Green Monkey Dreams
- Greylands (1997)
- This Way Out: Five Plays {with Steve Taylor} (1998)
- Bear Flower (a short story - published in a Canadian anthology)
- The Landlord {illustrated by Ken Carmody} (Lothian 1999)
- The Man Who Lost His Shadow (HarperCollins 1999) a short story - published in the anthology Dreaming Down-Under Book 1
- Dreamwalker {illustrated by Steven Woolman} (Lothian 2001)
- Wildheart (Omnibus 2002)
- Journey From the Centre of the Earth (2003)
- Alyzon Whitestarr (Penguin 2005)
Amazon.com said:
Indeed readers did expect more, and since the initial publication her books have been published every 3 to, possibly, 7 years:
1. Obernewtyn (1987)
2. The Farseekers (1990)
3. Ashling (1995)
4. The Keeping Place (1999)
5. The Sending (rumoured for release 2006/2007)
I recall meeting her both when I was in primary school and high school, the latter after The Farseekers came out. Someone asked her when she would finish the series. Her response was that she wasn't sure, but that she liked to write other books at the same time to prevent herself from getting bored.
Granted, she has written a lot of books (see below, thanks to obernewtyn.net), but she lost me as a reader when she failed to provide an ending to the Obernewtyn series. I'm certainly no longer in the demographic it was designed to reach. This could certainly be seen as poor marketting, but is it also betraying the reader in some way? I invest time to read these books she has written. Does she have an obligation as an author to complete this series? Or is that selfish of me to expect? I think it's a little selfish, but I also think that an author embarking upon a series should bear in mind that their reader loyalty is likely to suffer if they do not produce a conclusion to their work in a timely fashion. If I was her publisher, I certainly would not be impressed.
So is anyone else familiar with Carmody? If so, what do you think of this? If not, have you had similar experiences with authors not completing series' in a timely fashion?
-----------------
Her other books include:
- The Legendsong (series)
1. Darkfall (1997)
2. Darksong (2002)
3. Darkbane (release set for one year after The Sending)
- The Gateway Trilogy (series)
1. Billy Thunder and The Night Gate (Puffin - Penguin 2000)
2. The Winter's Door (Viking - Penguin 2003)
3. The Firecat's Dream (speculated release date 2006)
- Little Fur (series)
1. Little Fur: the Legend Of Little Fur Book 1 (Viking - Penguin 2005)
2. Little Fur: A Fox Called Sorrow (yet to be released)
- Quentaris (shared world)
1. Angel Fever (2000)
2. The Cat Dreamer (yet to be released)
- Scatterlings (1991)
- The Gathering (1993)
- Green Monkey Dreams (1996)
- The Red Shoes {illustrated by Anne Spudvilas} (Lothian 1996) - story also found in Green Monkey Dreams
- Greylands (1997)
- This Way Out: Five Plays {with Steve Taylor} (1998)
- Bear Flower (a short story - published in a Canadian anthology)
- The Landlord {illustrated by Ken Carmody} (Lothian 1999)
- The Man Who Lost His Shadow (HarperCollins 1999) a short story - published in the anthology Dreaming Down-Under Book 1
- Dreamwalker {illustrated by Steven Woolman} (Lothian 2001)
- Wildheart (Omnibus 2002)
- Journey From the Centre of the Earth (2003)
- Alyzon Whitestarr (Penguin 2005)
