If you read the Lost Treasures material, both in the Lost Treasures Vol 1 & 2 and in the Postscripts in the individual books, you will see that this was the defining struggle of the second half of his career. The important thing to remember, something I possibly did not state clearly enough, is that he didn't just want to write in other genres, he could have done that and self published or done with a smaller publisher who'd have been happy to have him, he wanted to SUCCEED in other genres ... and that was a goal he had to carefully build toward. He had to bring along fans, booksellers, and the publisher, all in synch with each other.

I find HM fascinating. But it is weird on many levels!