History SpiritualSuccessor / Literature

* Jane Gaskell's ''Literature/{{Atlan}}'' series simultaneously marks the last incarnation of "elder Earth" fantasies of the Creator/ClarkAshtonSmith / Creator/HPLovecraft variety ''and'' looks back to the fantasy genre's roots in Theosophy and the jungle adventure fiction of Creator/HRiderHaggard and Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs.

* Creator/DaveBarry's two novels ''Literature/BigTrouble'' and ''Literature/TrickyBusiness''.

* ''Literature/FirstDancers'' is similar to ''Literature/WatershipDown'', but with hares instead of rabbits.

* ''The Planiverse: Computer Contact With a Two-Dimensional World'' by A.K. Dewdney acts as a successor to Edwin Albott Albott's ''{{Literature/Flatland}}''.

* Creator/JohnChristopher's ''Literature/TheTripods'' trilogy is, as the name suggests, a SpiritualSuccessor to H.G. Wells' ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds''.

* [[Creator/JoeHaldeman Joe Haldeman's]] ''Literature/ForeverPeace'' is, as the name implies, a SpiritualSuccessor to ''Literature/TheForeverWar'' despite taking place in a very different setting and, indeed, having very different basic assumptions about the setting. It reads as a more "mature" attempt to understand war by probing questions about the inevitable results of technological advances in warfare in the future that ''The Forever War'' glossed over so that its sci-fi war could be a clearer parallel to Vietnam.
* Creator/LewisCarroll's epic nonsense poem "The Hunting of the Snark" is a SpiritualSuccessor to the ''Alice'' stories, and includes a number of references to "Jabberwocky."
* Creator/DonaldKingsbury's ''Literature/PsychohistoricalCrisis'' takes Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/FoundationSeries'' to create a plot where a character has IdentityAmnesia. Aside from the term psychohistory, many indirect references are made to ''Foundation'' elements.

* Creator/DavidEddings' various works were ''made'' of this, being all HighFantasy epics told from a slightly different slant. ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' was a basic coming-of-age story; ''Literature/TheElenium'' followed a loosely similar plot but was DarkerAndEdgier with a world-weary adult hero; ''Literature/TheRedemptionOfAlthalus'' was largely the story of that universe's [[EccentricMentor Belgarath-equivalent]]; and ''Literature/TheDreamers'' was the most out-there, being told from the perspective of [[PhysicalGod the gods]].
* ''The Divine Invasion'' by Creator/PhilipKDick is a Spiritual Successor to his earlier novel ''Literature/{{VALIS}}'': Valis appears in both books, the [[ShowWithinAShow fictional film]] "Valis" exists in both, and they have similar Gnostic themes, but ''The Divine Invasion'' is not, strictly speaking, a sequel. A third novel ''The Owl in Daylight'' was going to be written by PKD as another Spiritual Successor to round out the "Valis trilogy", but [[AuthorExistenceFailure he died before writing it]].
** The relationship between ''VALIS'' and its earlier version ''Radio Free Albemuth'' is actually a much more typical example of the trope, as they heavily overlap in themes but are emphatically ''not'' part of the same [[TheVerse Verse]]. Or they would have been if PKD hadn't left ''Radio Free Albemuth'' unpublished during his lifetime, so that it came out about five years after ''VALIS''.
* In the extras to the DVD of Dreamcatcher, Stephen King notes that the book (and subsequent film) can be seen as a Spiritual Successor to The Body/Stand By Me.
* Mary Schmich's essay [[http://plodplod.blogspot.com/2006/07/advice-like-youth-probably-just-wasted.html "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young"]] [[CoveredUp (better known From Baz Lurhman's "Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen")]] is considered by many to be a spiritual successor to Max Ehrmann's 1927 poem "Desiderata".

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain'' is a... complicated example. The name indicates that it is an actual sequel (which would disqualify it), but as it turns out it is essentially a ''remake'': taking the basic concept of Film/FantasticVoyage (miniaturization technology as a potentially crucial part in the Cold War and an attempt to use it to save the life or knowledge of someone who has made a critical breakthrough but failed to communicate it before falling into a coma), and then writing his own story around it, free of the constraints he was acting under when he wrote the novelization to the movie and able to update the science to 1980s standards.

* ''Literature/WarriorCats'':
** The series has many similarities to ''Literature/TheBookOfTheNamed'' - so much that people were claiming that the ''Ratha'' series copied ''Warriors'', until it was pointed out to them that ''Ratha's Creature'' was written in the 1980s and ''Into the Wild'' came out in 2003. They both start PartiallyCivilizedAnimal felines and have similar levels of FamilyUnfriendlyViolence.
** People were also drawing similarities to ''Literature/{{Felidae}}''. They're both violent series about cats, though ''Felidae'' is not aimed at children.
** The first arc in ''Warriors'' is very similar to the 1980s novel ''Literature/TailchasersSong''. Both are xenofiction works about feral cats in Britain (or, ''Warriors'' was [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield at first]]) who live in colonies referred to as "[[TheClan clans]]". They both start off with an orange tabby tomcat kitten - Tailchaser and Rusty/Firepaw - who goes to become a legendary hero. Even the portmanteau AnimalNamingConventions of the series are similar to one another.
* Creator/GeorgeOrwell intended Literature/NineteenEightyFour to be this to Literature/{{We}}.
** ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' is arguably this to Sinclair Lewis' ''Literature/ItCantHappenHere'', published fifteen years earlier. Both novels depict a formerly democratic western nation that succumbed to totalitarianism. The protagonists of both novels chafe under totalitarian rule and rebel through the written word. Both men find solace in secret romantic relationships with women who are both their soulmates and co-conspirators; Winston falls in love with Julia while Doremus has a secret affair with Lorinda. Finally, both protagonists find themselves incarcerated and tortured for their rebellion against the state.
* ''Heartlight'' by T.A. Barron is similar in both style and themes to ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime''. Madeleine L'Engle herself has given the novel praise.
* Jane Gaskell's ''Literature/{{Atlan}}'' series simultaneously marks the last incarnation of "elder Earth" fantasies of the Creator/ClarkAshtonSmith / Creator/HPLovecraft variety ''and'' looks back to the fantasy genre's roots in Theosophy and the jungle adventure fiction of Creator/HRiderHaggard and Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs.
* ''Literature/InfinityRing'' is a SpiritualSuccessor to ''Literature/The39Clues'' as both are historical fiction books and web games for kids.
* Creator/JackLondon's ''Literature/WhiteFang'' is the spiritual successor to his ''Literature/TheCallOfTheWild''. Both are {{xenofiction}}al stories about dogs on the edge of civilization, one about a wild dog being tamed and the other about a domestic dog going feral. They're generally even published together in a single volume, as if the former were an ''actual'' sequel.

* ''Literature/ThePowerOfFive'' is this to Anthony Horowitz's unfinished ''Pentagram'' series from the 1980s.
* ''Literature/KillingPablo'' is a rare nonfiction example. Written by Mark Bowden and featuring the exploits of General Bill Garrison, it reads much as a sequel to ''Literature/BlackHawkDown.''
* John Varley's ''[[EightWorlds The Golden Globe]]'' is a combination homage and spiritual successor to Robert A. Heinlein's ''Literature/DoubleStar''. The protagonist in both is a highly skilled and intelligent but down on his luck actor who used to be famous, and now lives partly on the wrong side of the law while still being obsessed with his craft (something drilled into him by his father). The characterizations and habits are essentially the same, and they also deliberately share a similar first person narrative style, from the perspective of the character writing out his experiences after the fact.
* The ''Literature/RainbowMagic'' series is receiving one in the ''Magical Animal Friends'' series, written by the same author. This series revolves around Jess and Lily, who enter the mysterious Friendship Forest and rescue animals from the wicked witch Grizelda and her Boggit servants.
* A case can be made that Lew Wallace's popular and acclaimed novel ''Literature/BenHur'' serves as this to Alexandre Dumas' ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo''. Wallace had cited it as one of his favorite stories and as an influence on his own work. It is visible in the parallels between the stories of Edmond Dantes and Judah Ben-Hur. Both are good well to do men who are eventually betrayed and wrongfully have their lives stripped away from them and are imprisoned in one way or another. Both however manage to eventually "rise from the ashes" so to speak an attain their freedom and go on a mission for justice/revenge.

* In many ways, "Literature/SixthOfTheDusk" is Brandon Sanderson's version of ''Film/AfterEarth'' (a film which his friend Howard Taylor notably disliked for plotholes). The idea of an environment completely dedicated to killing everything is the same, though the predators are telepathic rather than having the ability to smell fear (which was one of Taylor's suggestions for improving the movie).
* A Japanese publisher licensed the ''basic premise'' of a CutShort {{shoujo}} mystery LightNovel called ''KZ Shonen Shoujo Seminar'' for a series of MiddleGradeLiterature. The result, ''Literature/TanteiTeamKZJikenNote'', is [[SequelDisplacement far more commercially successful]], to the point that ''Seminar'' author wrote one of the latter work's {{spinoff}}s.
* ''Literature/AngelInTheWhirlwind'' by Creator/ChristopherGNuttall draws obvious influence from Creator/DavidWeber's ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series. The first book is essentially a WhatCouldHaveBeen of ''On Basilisk Station'' [[spoiler:where Manticore ''loses'']], and one character even refers to a missile salvo as "a decent Weber of missiles" in the second book.
* Similarly to the ''Whirlwind'' series above, Creator/DavidDrake's ''Literature/{{RCN}}'' series is essentially a SerialNumbersFiledOff version of the Honorverse in origin, with ''With the Lightnings'' (the first book) having grown out of an Honorverse short story Drake wrote for an anthology.
* ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'' by Ernest Cline could be considered one to Conor Kostick's 2004 novel ''[[Literature/TheAvatarChronicles Epic]]'', as both follow a very similar plot and themes: in a post-apocalyptic CrapsackWorld where the entire world plays a virtual reality MMO and your station in life is most likely dependent upon your in-game prowess, a poor boy and his friends pursue the game's ultimate quest, become rich and famous along the way by noticing things others don't, and end up as enemies of a powerful CorruptCorporateExecutive who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

* ''Literature/TheColdMoons'' is the badger equivalent of ''Literature/WatershipDown''. Both novels involve British wildlife attempting to flee a genocide brought on by humans. The difference is that ''The Cold Moons'' is about badgers while ''Watership Down'' is about rabbits.

* Creator/DonaldKingsbury's ''Literature/PsychohistoricalCrisis'' takes Creator/IsaacAsimov's 'Literature/{{Foundation}}' series to create a plot where a character has IdentityAmnesia. Aside from the term psychohistory, many indirect references are made to ''Foundation'' elements.

* ''Heartlight'' by T.A. Barron is so similar in both style and themes to ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime'' that Madeleine L'Engle herself has given the novel praise.

* The urban fantasy novel ''Literature/TheVu'' is a SpinOff and a SpiritualSuccessor to ''Literature/TrintonChronicles'' having some influence over it's creation and sharing three characters and some cross over in-jokes with the story.

* A Japanese publisher licensed the ''basic premise'' of a CutShort {{shoujo}} mystery LightNovel called ''KZ Shonen Shoujo Seminar'' for a series of MiddleGradeLiterature. The result, ''Literature/TanteiTeamKZJikenNote'', is [[SequelDisplacement far more commercially successful]], to the point that ''Seminar'' author penned one of the latter work's {{spinoff}}s.

* ''The Planiverse: Computer Contact With a Two-Dimensional World'' by A.K. Dewdney acts as a successor to Edwin Albott Albott's ''Literature/Flatland''.

* ''The Planiverse: Computer Contact With a Two-Dimensional World'' by A.K. Dewdney acts as a successor to Edwin Albott Albott's ''[[Flatland/Literature Flatland]]''.

* ''The Planiverse: Computer Contact With a Two-Dimensional World'' by A.K. Dewdney acts as a successor to Edwin Albott Albott's ''{{Flatland}}''.

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' to Creator/JackLondon's ''TheIronHeel''. Ernest Everhard in the latter speculates that the Oligarchy will eventually generate so much wealth from the exploitation of the labour classes that they will have nothing to do with it but engage in vast feats of engineering such as building enormous, spectacular cities. In the former the Capitol has, every year for the past seventy-five, built a forcefield enclosed arena packed with so much technology that everything is on camera, the weather can be changed, rivers can be turned off, huge parts of the arena can be made to [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning spin]], or earthquakes and avalanches can be triggered.

** People were also drawing similarities to ''Literature/{Felidae}}''. They're both violent series about cats, though ''Felidae'' is not aimed at children.

** People were also drawing similarities to ''WesternAnimation/{{Felidae}}''. They're both violent series about cats, though ''Felidae'' is not aimed at children.

* A Japanese publisher licensed the ''basic premise'' of a CutShort {{shoujo}} mystery LightNovel called ''KZ Shonen Shoujo Seminar'' for a series of [[ChildrensLiterature Children's novels]]. The result, ''Literature/TanteiTeamKZJikenNote'', is [[SequelDisplacement far more commercially successful]], to the point that ''Seminar'' author penned one of the latter work's {{spinoff}}s.

** ''Warriors'' is very similar to the 1980s novel ''Literature/TailchasersSong''. Both are xenofiction books about feral cats in Britain (or, ''Warriors'' was [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield at first]]) who lives in colonies referred to as "clans". They both start off with an orange tabby tomcat kitten - Tailchaser and Rusty/Firepaw - who goes to become a legendary hero. Even the AnimalNamingConventions of the series are similar to one another.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' is this to ''Literature/TheWorstWitch" of two decades earlier. A bumbling protagonist as a student in a school for magic, with two best friends, a well-connected goody-goody enemy, a nasty potions teacher and a kindly head of the school.

** The series has many similarities to ''Literature/TheBookOfTheNamed'' - so much that people were claiming that the Ratha series copied Warriors, until it was pointed out to them that ''Ratha's Creature'' was written in the 1980s and ''Into the Wild'' came out in 2003.
** People were also drawing similarities to ''WesternAnimation/{{Felidae}}'' and ''Literature/TailchasersSong''.

* Creator/JimButcher's ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' is arguably a spiritual successor to ''Literature/HarryPotter'', which in many ways it is, except with film noir accoutrements bolted on. [[FollowTheLeader It has also generated a number of spiritual successors in its own right]], following the formula of a reasonably powerful FirstPersonSmartass hero and DestructiveSavior in a world of BlackAndGreyMorality who tends to cause as much trouble as he prevents, examples being: ''Literature/TheHellequinChronicles'' and ''Literature/IronDruidChronicles.''

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' is definitely this to ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''; despite having very different plots, both are series that heavily utilize magic, follow strong children who save their world, and provide an allegory that is well-written enough to appeal not only to its young target audience, but to spark the interest of adult readers as well. Both were written by Christian authors who admit to having put Christian themes and allegories in them, though Harry Potter has drawn more mixed reactions from certain types of Christians.
** More so to ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. One of the horcruxes is even a ring!
** Also to Jill Murphy's ''Literature/TheWorstWitch" of two decades earlier. A bumbling protagonist as a student in a school for magic, with two best friends, a well-connected goody-goody enemy, a nasty potions teacher and a kindly head of the school.

** More so to "Literature/LordOfTheRings". One of the horcruxes is even a ring!

* Donald Kingsbury's ''Psychohistorical Crisis'' is a SpiritualSuccessor to Creator/IsaacAsimov's 'Literature/{{Foundation}}' series.

* Morgan Ray Hess's EpicNovel ''Literature/{{Rainbow}}'' is this to ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime''.

* Lois Lowry's book ''Gathering Blue'' is a "companion novel" to ''TheGiver''; it's another postapocalyptic novel which may be in the same universe, but shows a society that has gone the opposite direction.

* ''Literature/InfinityRing'' is a SpiritualSuccessor to The39Clues as both are historical fiction books and web games for kids.

* The urban fantasy novel ''Literature/TheVu'' is a SpinOff and a SpiritualSuccessor to ''TrintonChronicles'' having some influence over it's creation and sharing three characters and some cross over in-jokes with the story.