Poop, to coin a phrase. The Created ALWAYS outlives the Creator (except, of course for the Creator of All Creators, whose secret name is Rapparee). Hamlet lives on even though he dies in the play and his creator is also dead. Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Miss Marple, Kate Sugak, Podkayne, Moll Flanders, Sam Spade, The Little Match Girl, the Bobbsey Twins, the Very Hungry Caterpillar, Justine, the Mother Thing -- they all live on tho' their creators are dead. Who could resist floating down the Mississippi with Huck and Jim or helping Ragged Dick work his way up from poverty to affluence? Match poems over swords with Cyrano? Go adventuring with Oscar and Star? Walk with crummy streets of Chicago with Chongo Chimp? Ride with Veronica Rutledge in her Porsche? Stand with Flashman at Rork's Drift?