Absolutely spot on, Seb.

I think the reason why this is clearly going to kick up so much stink among the fans, despite the fact that the old “you don’t have to read it” argument will likely crop up is that we clearly all DO have to read it. It’s what being fandom is all about. The fact that we can see from a mile off that this is a really bad idea doesn’t change that because we’ve got to see what’s happening to our franchise.

>You could argue that as Douglas’ widow, it’s her right, and she knew him best, and would be most likely to know what he would have wanted

True. It’s possible that had Douglas survived, he might have willingly handed over the rights to a further book. But I think we’d still be disappointed by that decision. The difference is in that scenario we’re disappointed in the author himself, and here we’re disappointed by a greater degree simply because they weren’t her books/characters to begin with.

And to echo Capps, I’ll read it. I’m sure I will. And honestly, I’d love to be blown away by it. But the whole project does just reek of unnecessary, and kind of unfair.

I’ll have to buy the bastard thing - albeit not until it comes out in paperback - because if it’s an official book, then it’ll otherwise be missing from my set of original-edition paperbacks…

I checked a digital copy of the first book I have lying around, and the phrase “And another thing” doesn’t appear anywhere in it. There’s one “and another” and two “another thing”s but NO “And another thing” which, if you ask me, makes the thing a complete fuckup from the word go, if they can’t even sort the naming out.

Genuinely, this is the worst, most stupid idea conceived this year. I don’t want to second guess what Douglas Adams might have wanted, but surely, no fan of the books wanted a sequel written by someone else? Someone like Stephen Fry - close friends of Adams’ - could possibly pull it off with the necessary integrity, but whatever way you look at it, this book is going to be nothing but fan-fic.

Not to take anything away from the THIS IS A STUPID IDEA stuff (because, well, THIS IS A STUPID IDEA!), but just pointing out that:
1) Marvin was many times the age of the universe by the time he died at the end of SL&TFAtF. In that context, bringing him back at a time before he died is hardly impossible
2) The TV series incorporated most of the revisions from the books (to pick two easy examples: the Dish of the Day appeared, the Haganemmons [sp?] didn’t), except for the means of getting away from the space cops/to Milliways.
3) Any Continuation By A Different Author almost inevitably brings with it a reset to the “classic” status quo, so expect Arthur, Trillian, Zaphod, Ford and Marvin all on board the Heart of Gold as a status quo….

“I’ll have to buy the bastard thing - albeit not until it comes out in paperback - because if it’s an official book, then it’ll otherwise be missing from my set of original-edition paperbacks…”

And, right there, you have the reason this sort of thing will continue to happen. If even the fans who loathe the idea feel they “have” to buy it, they can’t lose. It’s like crappy horror remakes - the horror audience is one who says “I’ll go buy a ticket anyway, just so I can slag it off and see how bad it is.” The people bankrolling these types of projects don’t care *why* you’re buying a ticket (or book), only that you *are* buying it - the only message they understand is not parting with your money.

I mean, you may think the movie was a lame attempt to wring further cash out of Douglas’ memory

Wasn’t Adams the one trying to do a movie in the first place?

I didn’t mean the fundamental *idea* of doing a movie, I meant the execution.

Yeah, I thought the film was a real mixed bag (hated movie!Zaphod, Arthur and Trillian, liked movie!Marvin and Ford, had problems with the plot) but at least it was based on Douglas Adams’ work.

I’ve read some of Eoin Colfer’s work—he works mainly in YA fiction, I thought. The work isn’t too bad, it’s serviceable, but it’s nowhere near the quality of anything DNA wrote. Not by a long shot. Not by light-years. The Five-Part Trilogy and the Artemus Fowl series are at opposite ends of the galaxy, practically.

I’ll see if my library gets it when it comes out, then borrow it.

Trillian looked more accurate in the movie, at least. Sandra Dickinson was very good, but she wasn’t quite what I had in my head. I thought Zooey had a decent crack at a character which isn’t that well defined.

I liked a lot of bits of the movie, however flawed. But you’re on such a hiding to nothing with that adaptation - it’s pretty much impossible to beat the lack of narrative shape into a three-act film structure.

Well I was similarly shocked when I read the news. It just seems so fundamentally wrong. No scrub that IT IS fundamentally wrong. HitchHikers is just so unique and the only possible way I could buy into a ‘handover’ would be if Douglas Adams had personally made that choice. As this doesn’t appear to be the case then I have absolutely no interest in the book which is no more than fan-fiction.

It’s no different to if a complete different group of musicians tried to past themselves of as your favourite band just because they kept the same band name.

So no I agree with Cat above, we don’t HAVE buy it. If you must read it at least borrow the sodding thing from a library.