'Godfather' seeking writer

Wanted: a writer in mid-career who writes "in a commanding and darkly comic omniscient voice".

His brief - to fill the shoes of the late Mario Puzo and produce a sequel to the Godfather.

This literary offer which surely cannot be refused has been made by Random House, Puzo's publishers, in an attempt to revive a spectacularly lucrative franchise.

The Godfather sold 22 million copies, and formed the basis for three smash-hit films.

"We're looking for a serious writer who wants to create a broader canvas and create a big, popular novel, some-one who will continue the story in his or her own voice," Jonathan Karp, Mr Puzo's former editor at Random House, told The New Yorker magazine.

Under the terms set out in an email from Mr Karp to various literary agents, aspiring Mob chroniclers have until November 4 to submit an outline of the plot, tentatively titled "The Godfather Returns." The winner will be chosen by Random House and the Puzo estate, which has the rights to the characters in the saga.

If the project goes ahead, it would not be the first time a publishing blockbuster has enjoyed life from beyond the grave. James Bond is regularly resurrected on both screen and the printed page, even though his creator Ian Fleming died in 1964.

More than half a century after publication of Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind" and 42 years after her death, a follow-up "Scarlett" appeared in 1991.

The NZ$10.4m project was critically panned, but proved a huge commercial success, and made its author Alexandra Ripley very wealthy.

Such a fate probably awaits the intrepid soul who takes on the return of the Godfather.

- INDEPENDENT