THORN: Wright's unfinished novel will leave you hanging

By Patti Thorn, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 25, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Richard Wright

Here's a tip for all you writers out there: Grab all your unfinished manuscripts - your half-written fits and starts, your ridiculous first drafts and long-forgotten last-ditch efforts - and bury them in the backyard.

Otherwise, if you become famous, they're sure to resurface and embarrass you once you're gone.

It seems that publishers can't resist printing every last scrap of an author's work, even years after that person has gone to that great Writer's Retreat in the sky.

The latest case in point is Harper Perennial's release this month of Richard Wright's unfinished novel, A Father's Law.

Discovered by Wright's daughter Julia soon after his sudden death at age 52 in 1960, the book is being published this month in honor of the 100th anniversary of Wright's birth.

A Father's Law, according to Harper, is "a psychological mystery centered on a black chief of police who suspects his son is a murderer."

But before you get excited to see what the acclaimed author of Native Son and Black Boy has written, consider Julia Wright's introduction, in which she calls the draft "so peculiar, so unwieldy . . . with some pieces not quite fitting."

Not to mention the fact that the manuscript ends right at the "hero's breaking point" - in other words, on a cliffhanger.

Certainly scholars will be interested in the work. As for those of us who prefer actual endings with our books, HarperCollins plans to re-issue some of Wright's out-of-print work, including three of the author's nonfiction books on race relations (compiled in one volume), White Man, Listen!, The Color Curtain and Black Power, and his short-story collection, Eight Men.

No telling what else might turn up, though. Shovels standing by.

Can I buy a vowel, please?

Brisingr. No, that's not what someone says when they're shivering from the cold. It's the recently announced title of Christopher Paolini's upcoming third offering in his Inheritance series.

For those who've never heard of him, Paolini is the author of the young adult fantasy tales Eragon and Eldest. Meanwhile, here's question for you: Why haven't you heard of him? The fabulously popular books have sold a total of 12.5 million copies around the globe.

Brisingr will be printed to the tune of 2.5 million copies and released at 12:01 a.m. Sept. 20. (Can you say Harry Potter redux?)

Meanwhile, in case you're wondering, the title is actually an old Norse word for fire, infinitely appropriate, given the heat this book will most certainly generate.

Weird, though. Whenever I look at it, I have the sudden urge to throw on a winter coat.

Independence Day

On a rare good-news note for independent booksellers, the American Booksellers Association recently announced that 115 new independent bookstores joined the group in 2007.

This is notable, given that when there's news about independent bookstores, it's usually about them closing their doors, causing much weeping and gnashing of teeth, rather than setting up shop.

The new stores include five in Colorado: Clear Creek Books, Golden; Tattered Edge Collectibles, Littleton; The Next Page, Frisco; The Open Book, Frisco; and Storyville Books, Federal Heights.

(Hey, what's up with two stores opening in Frisco? Is it too cold to ski?)

Paperback picks

Here are a few titles that made various best-of-the-year lists in 2007, just out in paperback:

* The Long Road Home, by Martha Raddatz (Berkley, $15)

* House of Meetings, by Martin Amis (Vintage, $14)

* Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality, by Pauline W. Chen (Vintage, $15.95)

* Sacred Games, by Vikram Chandra (Harper Perennial, $16.95)

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