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Florida Author Chosen to Pen 'Godfather' Sequel
Fri Feb 7, 10:22 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Random House has made author Mark Winegardner an offer he can't refuse.

The publisher said on Friday it picked the Florida-based writer to pen the sequel to "The Godfather," Mario Puzo's 1969 tale of Mafia ties and betrayal that sold 20 million copies and inspired a trilogy of films about the Corleone family.

Winegardner, author of the novels "The Veracruz Blues" and "Crooked River Burning," directs the creative writing program at Florida State University. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida.

Winegardner, who is of German-Irish ancestry, predicted his lack of Italian blood would not pose a problem in writing the book, which he hopes to have ready by the end of next year.

"Puzo himself said there's nothing in 'The Godfather' about the Mafia that he didn't learn in the library," Winegardner told NBC's Today show, where the announcement was made.

The naming of Winegardner caps a selection process launched in November by Random House editor Jon Karp, who worked with Puzo the last 10 years of the author's career. Puzo died in 1999.

In seeking an author for the sequel, Karp was as ruthless as one of the thugs in the original -- rejecting two British authors simply because of their nationality.

"I don't think that the Mafia can be done by a Brit," Karp said. "No Brits are going to be writing the next 'Godfather' novel."

The project has the blessing of Puzo's kin, with son Tony saying his father would have been comfortable with the idea.

"There was honor in making money," Tony Puzo said, commenting on his father's philosophy.

Random House is a unit of German media group Bertelsmann .