A new collection of short fiction—including the first chapter of an unfinished novel—is coming from the late William Styron, according to InkWell Management agent Michael Carlisle.
Mr. Carlisle, one of the founding partners of InkWell and a close childhood friend of Styron’s kids, said the collection, like the rest of Styron’s work, will be published by Random House and overseen by the legendary editor Bob Loomis.
Mr. Carlisle said the stories in the new collection-three of which have been previously published, but only in literary magazines-are all in some way about soldiers returning home from war. The never-before-seen novel fragment, he said, entitled "My Father’s House," concerns an unnamed narrator who has just come back from World War II to live with his stepmother. The story-which was found in Styron’s papers, currently housed at Duke-runs about 30,000 words, and was prepared for publication by Styron’s biographer, James West of the University of Pittsburgh.
"Because of James West’s participation and guidance there is not a word that Styron didn’t write in this," Mr. Carlisle said. "It happened that there was a stopping point… that was absolutely clear and that’s where we stopped it. There was more – it was obviously going to be another chapter."
The other stories in the as-yet-unnamed collection are "The Suicide Run," "Marriot, The Marine," and "Blankenship," Mr. Carlisle said.
No pub date has been set, but foreign rights have already been sold in the UK, Spain, France, and Russia.
