overripe fruit

[psocoptera]

So apparently Gaiman is writing a new Sandman story. Is this actually good news? I feel like creators going back to their most well-known early universes rarely produces anything up to the quality of their early works - in fact, I can't offhand think of an exception to this. Anyone?

Here are some of the cases I've already thought about:
Orson Scott Card's "Shadow" books revisiting the Ender universe
Asimov's later Foundation books vs the original trilogy
Vinge's recent Tines book
David Brin's later Uplift trilogy vs Startide Rising and Uplift War
George Lucas's Star Wars prequels
Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull

The only counterexample I've come up with so far, after more thinking, is Jo's Boys, which was published fifteen years after Little Men. And I guess one could count the Lord of the Rings vs the Hobbit, although honestly, though it borders on blasphemy, I think a certain amount of Tolkien's later History of Middle-Earth work fits the pattern of "bloated and unnecessary".

Comments

[aryky.livejournal.com]

You know, it's not necessarily the most popular DWJ fandom opinion, but I personally like The Crown of Dalemark a lot better than Cart and Cwidder and Drowned Ammet (albeit it's about equal in my taste with Spellcoats). I mean, so much Navis! And so much Duck! And how can you not like a book where. . . ummm, have you read it? At any rate, I certainly think that going back to Dalemark worked out well for DWJ. OTOH, Chrestomanci and Howl, not so much.

[psocoptera.livejournal.com]

I still have not read the Dalemark books. They're on my list. But my list is long.

[aryky.livejournal.com]

Aren't lists always long? Sigh.

[psocoptera.livejournal.com]

I kind of like having a long to-read list, like, I know that I will have interesting things to do for a long long time. The idea of running out of books I wanted to read sounds much bleaker.

[aryky.livejournal.com]

I suppose. I just wish it were more likely to stay stable over long periods of time rather than to consistently get longer and longer throughout.

But, of course, I'm in a less reading stage of my life at this point, which always make me more depressed about the list. I wouldn't mind it always growing all the time constantly if it weren't for the fact that I feel I'm making no progress at all.