After Jane Austen, a ‘Douglas Adams & Zombies’ sequel?
(The ultimate tribute bandwagon…?)
“The storm had now definitely abated, and what thunder there was now grumbled over more distant hills, like a man saying “And another thing…” twenty minutes after admitting he’s lost the argument.”
Those in the know already know this is the quote that begat the title of Eoin Colfers’s new book, ‘And another thing.’
Those who don’t know may now grumble, ‘And who is this Eoin person anyway?’…
…unknowingly channelling the third title of Oolon Coluphid’s famous trilogy of philosophical blockbusters, which were:
Where God Went Wrong
Some More of God’s Greatest Mistakes &
Who is This God Person Anyway?
Yes, ‘And Another Thing’ is the sixth part of Douglas Adams’s famous ‘Hithhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ series.
It’s probably fair to say that this book was more eagerly ‘discussed & fretted over’ than ‘awaited’ but I have no doubt that about 99,99999% of fans of the original books will – be it eagerly or grudgingly – end up reading this posthumous part.
My copy of the book arrived yesterday, per post. (Readers, I married – sorry, pre-ordered it – months ago…)
I’m still in the middle of Christopher Brookmyre’s new book, ‘Pandaemonium’, which I will finish before I’ll start on ‘And Another Thing’ (A.A.T. from now on) but start on it I most definitely will.
I somehow doubt Colfer’s book will be as good and funny a ride as the Brookmyre book but I’m still fairly optimistic about A.A.T. Early critiques have been pretty favourable, so I expect that revisiting the world of Arthur Dent and the others will bring at least some smiles.
Whether these smiles will be more nostalgic than anything else is too early to tell – though I do admit I feel uncomfortable with the whole idea of the posthumous continuation of famous works and series.
To me it will always feel more like grave robbery than tribute – whatever the critics or the writer’s surviving relatives claim.
Ah well, back to Christopher Brookmyre’s quite a bit bigger than life Pandaemonium.
Before I go though, my question to you: What do you think about Colfer having written this Douglas Adams sequel? Plus: Will you actually read it – and what’s your stance on channeling dead writers?
(So long, and thanks for all… Oh, you’re back then…?)
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October 14th, 2009 at 23:40
I’m afraid I’ll align myself with the 0.000000001% who won’t read it.
Ford, Arthur, Zaphod et al were the products of Douglas Adams’ imagination. They had some interesting thoughts and provoking adventures, but they were never particularly profound. (To be honest, I thought they’d pretty much run out of steam by the time of SLATFATF, which is a great acronym by the way.) Really, the only reason I’d read a new book now is if it might throw a different light on some of what they did earlier.
But if they’re being written by a different author… it follows that they’re no longer the same characters. Anything they do now isn’t shedding more light on their true characters.
I don’t like the practice of one author continuing another’s work. Trying to channel a dead person’s creative ideas strikes me as literary necromancy. If the author is any good, why can’t they come up with their own characters?
October 15th, 2009 at 00:55
Well, obviously I agree (though I will read the damn thing.)
One thing I didn’t mention in the column (because it was à propos de something fucking else) was that I’m not a total-die-recall-hard fan of the Hiker series. To me the books were great pegs to hang (mostly irreverently irrelevent) stuff on. Greatly amusing, at times – but great riffs don’t make great compositions…
… meaning that I thought the two Dirk Gently books were vastly superior to the Guide fest,
J.