Alistair MacLean: The Future

Alistair MacLean wrote 29 thrillers (including the collection of short stories in The Lonely Sea). Other writers, such as John Denis, Alastair MacNeill, Simon Gandolfi, Hugh Miller and Sam Llewellyn, created novels out of story lines, short stories and ideas from Alistair MacLean.

The last novel to reach the bookstores in 1999 was Thunderbolt from Navarone, a story by Sam Lllewellyn and a sequel to Alistair MacLean’s The Guns of Navorone and Force 10 from Navarone.

But not everything Alistair MacLean has ever written was put into print or made into a movie.

If we try to collect the rumours that were made public piecemeal in the years after Alistair MacLean passed away we come to some surprising conclusions.

[1] Comments made in 2009 by David Brawn, publishing director for estates at HarperCollinsPublishers, reveal that 'there are around a dozen of MacLean’s unpublished works that could be adapted into new titles by other authors'. At the moment, these works are simply collecting dust in the offices of that publisher but this renewed interest in Alistair MacLean might be a great opportunity to start hiring a writer.
[2] In 1995, Alistair MacLean's friend and literary executor, David Bishop, made a search of the cellars of MacLean's mansion on the shores of Lake Geneva and found three short stories that were unknown to anyone but the author. Two of these short stories we know; The Black Storm and The Good Samaritan. Both short stories were added to a new imprint of The Lonely Sea. The title of the third story remains a mystery.
[3] The above mentioned search also revealed a complete 153 page long screenplay titled The Swashbuckler, a pirate adventure and it was written in 1968. This manuscript can also be turned into a exiting new novel.
[4] Tobruk. A book about the siege and surrender of the North-African city of which MacLean wrote 74 pages divided into six chapters. Somebody could still be commissioned to finish this book. The title is menstioned in 'Alistair MacLean's War', written by Mark Simmons.

If there was ever a time to publish these stories it is now. These days there is rekindled interest in the novels of Alistair MacLean. It would be a shame and a loss if readers cannot enjoy all that he has ever written. The future is now!