Sam Shepard.
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In the months before his death, and while living with Lou Gehrig’s disease, Sam Shepard wrote a novel about a man with a debilitating medical condition reflecting on his past. According to the New York Times, Shepard started writing the novel, titled Spy of the First Person, by hand, and later dictated sections into a tape recorder. Patti Smith, a longtime friend, helped him edit it, and Shepard made final changes the week before he died. Shepard, a prolific actor and playwright, published another novel, The One Inside, earlier this year. Knopf will publish Spy of the First Person this December.