Quote:
Originally Posted by Critteranne
Too often, the authors die without setting up a literary estate (and often ages before ebooks were an option). Sometimes, their families don't want or allow the work to be reprinted, so it ends up in legal limbo. (That happened with J. N. Williamson, I think, and possibly John Steakley.) Sometimes, there are simply no heirs. (In the case of Ruby Jean Jensen, people thought she had no living heirs, and the reprints came out once they realized she did have living heirs.)
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Steakley's
Armor is available (though that may due to the contract rather than successfully finding an heir). Vampire$ is notably unavailable, so I'm pretty sure you are correct on him.
The lack of heirs/lack of anyone to contact for reprints is incredibly frustrating.
There's another writer, Angus Wells, who has some fantasy novels available as ebooks. But his most famous work, a couple of series of Western novels with a cult following, remain unavailable due to lack of clearance for reprint rights.
Sometimes I wish there were Abandonware site for books.