A collaboration between two authors is pretty commonplace; any more than that and you’d think it would get a little hairy. And I’m not talking anthologies or short story collections, I’m talking a single book with a single story that all authors involved had a hand in writing or creating. Have you read any of these kinds of books? Was it obvious that there were multiple ideas and writing styles at play, or was it pretty seamless? The five below are the ones I’ve been able to find (I’m excited to read Fatal Throne, which is what originally sent me on this quest to find similar books). They range from three authors to ten. It’s interesting to note the overlaps: Linda Sue Park and Margo Lanagan have both contributed to two of these, and two of them are about ill-fated English queens.
Click: One Novel, Ten Authors by David Almond, Eoin Colfer, Roddy Doyle, Deborah Ellis, Nick Hornby, Margo Lanagan, Gregory Maguire, Ruth Ozeki, Linda Sue Park, and Tim Wynne Jones
A camera. Some photographs. A box with seven shells. And many mysteries.
Those are the things that Maggie and Jason inherited from their grandfather, the famed photojournalist George “Gee” Keane. Gee traveled from Ireland to Russia, Japan to Australia, taking pictures of people at work, at war, in sports, and at play. Now Jason receives Gee’s photographs and camera–though he has no idea what to do with them. And Gee leaves Maggie with the puzzle of the seven shells–one that might take her whole life to solve. As Maggie and Jason use these gifts, they will discover all the people their grandfather was…and all the people they might yet become.
Fatal Throne: The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All by M. T. Anderson, Candace Fleming, Stephanie Hemphill, Lisa Ann Sandell, Jennifer Donnelly, Linda Sue Park, and Deborah Hopkinson
He was King Henry VIII, a charismatic and extravagant ruler obsessed with both his power as king and with siring a male heir. They were his queens-six ill-fated women, each bound for divorce, or beheading, or death. Watch spellbound as each of Henry’s wives attempts to survive their unpredictable king and his power-hungry court. See the sword flash as fiery Anne Boleyn is beheaded for adultery. Follow Jane Seymour as she rises from bullied court maiden to beloved queen, only to die after giving birth. Feel Catherine Howard’s terror as old lovers resurface and whisper vicious rumors to Henry’s influential advisors. Experience the heartache of mothers as they lose son after son, heir after heir. Told in stirring first-person accounts, Fatal Throne is at once provocative and heartbreaking, an epic tale that is also an intimate look at the royalty of the most perilous times in English history. Who’s Who: M. T. Anderson – Henry VIII Candace Fleming – Katharine of Aragon Stephanie Hemphill – Anne Boleyn Lisa Ann Sandell – Jane Seymour Jennifer Donnelly – Anna of Cleves Linda Sue Park – Catherine Howard Deborah Hopkinson – Kateryn Parr.
Floored: When Seven Lives Collide by Sara Barnard, Holly Bourne, Tanya Byrne, Non Pratt, Melinda Salisbury, Lisa Williamson, and Eleanor Wood
When they got in the lift, they were strangers (though didn’t that guy used to be on TV?): Sasha, who is desperately trying to deliver a parcel; Hugo, who knows he’s the best-looking guy in the lift and is eyeing up Velvet, who knows what that look means when you hear her name and it doesn’t match the way she looks, or the way she talks; Dawson, who was on TV, but isn’t as good-looking as he was a few years ago and is desperately hoping no one recognizes him; Kaitlyn, who’s losing her sight but won’t admit it, and who used to have a poster of Dawson on her bedroom wall, and Joe, who shouldn’t be here at all, but who wants to be here the most.
And one more person, who will bring them together again on the same day every year.
My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
Edward (long live the king) is the King of England. He’s also dying, which is inconvenient, as he’s only sixteen and he’d much rather be planning for his first kiss than considering who will inherit his crown…
Jane (reads too many books) is Edward’s cousin, and far more interested in books than romance. Unfortunately for Jane, Edward has arranged to marry her off to secure the line of succession. And there’s something a little odd about her intended…
Gifford (call him G) is a horse. That is, he’s an Eðian (eth-y-un, for the uninitiated). Every day at dawn he becomes a noble chestnut steed—but then he wakes at dusk with a mouthful of hay. It’s all very undignified.
The plot thickens as Edward, Jane, and G are drawn into a dangerous conspiracy. With the fate of the kingdom at stake, our heroes will have to engage in some conspiring of their own. But can they pull off their plan before it’s off with their heads?
Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, and Deborah Biancotti
Don’t call them heroes. But these six Californian teens have powers that set them apart. They can do stuff ordinary people can’t.
Take Ethan, a.k.a. Scam. He’s got a voice inside him that’ll say whatever you want to hear, whether it’s true or not. Which is handy, except when it isn’t—like when the voice starts gabbing in the middle of a bank robbery. The only people who can help are the other Zeroes, who aren’t exactly best friends these days.
Enter Nate, a.k.a. Bellwether, the group’s “glorious leader.” After Scam’s SOS, he pulls the scattered Zeroes back together. But when the rescue blows up in their faces, the Zeroes find themselves propelled into whirlwind encounters with ever more dangerous criminals. And at the heart of the chaos they find Kelsie, who can take a crowd in the palm of her hand and tame it or let it loose as she pleases.