If there's one axiom in the book world, it's this: Noted authors never die, they just keep releasing unfinished manuscripts.

Case in point: Patrick O'Brian.

The author of 20 hugely popular historical seafaring novels died in 2000 at the age of 85. Apparently, several chapters of a new work by O'Brian were found at the Dublin hotel where he died and are now slotted for publication.

The book fragment will be published by W.W. Norton under the title XXI: The Unfinished Twenty-First Novel in the Aubrey/Maturin Series, and by HarperCollins Canada as XXI: The Final, Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey. Both will combine the chapters with a facsimile of O'Brian's handwritten manuscript and notes.

Given the sales potential, you'd think O'Brian's heirs would be rejoicing, but Australia's The Age reports that Nikolai Tolstoy, O'Brian's stepson, called the plans to publish a "travesty."

"It is crude and unfinished. He would have been dismayed and horrified," he said.

According to the report, the beneficiaries of O'Brian's estate - six grandchildren - weren't consulted about the plans.

Tolstoy is surely correct in his assessment of O'Brian's reaction. The reclusive author was a known perfectionist.

Still, it's no surprise a publisher would celebrate the seaworthiness of such a book. The Master and Commander is gone, but as is the case with all prominent authors who leave work behind, his ship sails on.

Patti Thorn, books editor