h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'd like to suggest that DNA had a point of view, as explained in Salmon of Doubt. He seemed to be saying that the Dirk Gently book he was writing might have better been made another Hitchhiker's novel. On the whole, I would support that sentiment.

I understand that, like many of us fans, that Mostly Harmless was unfortunately dark. DNA seemed to be trying to follow Doyle's (an author who has had plenty of emulators since his last Holmes story) idea that if he just cleaned up all of the major loose ends, and conveniently killed off the core set of characters, he could be done with H2G2, once and for all.

Invariably, authors who do that, and live long enough, come to regret so precipitous an act. Fortunately, not ALL loose ends were tied up. There are scenarios for reuniting the characters.

It's impossible to imagine that DNAs estate is impoverished, so I'd hate to see anyone deciding to go the sequel route just for the money. If I thought it was just to generate additional revenue streams, I'd simply eschew purchasing or reading any additional books.

So, if DNA thought that, perhaps, he was premature, and his widow is in agreement that he would have wanted to additional stories to be written and released, the next decision should be who the best author(s) might be.

Stephen Fry would be a good pick, or Terry Jones. I'd even like to see John Cleese considered. His group did a couple of things that I found oh-so-Adamsesque.

The best bet may be to have it become a three-author endeavor, to add the kind of tangental thought-jumping of which DNA was so very capable. And, some of the Adams' bits were gleaned from his work during his Monty Python phase.

I once wrote a letter to Douglas Adams urging him to write a sequal to "Mostly Harmless." Obviously, he isn't going to be able to do that now, having suffered the fate of that character in "Restaurant at the end of the Universe" who spent a year dead for tax purposes. Douglas seems to have needed a lot more than one year....

If other versions of the Hitchhiker series had been consistent with "Mostly Harmless," I might have let the issue rest, but apparently the BBC released continuations of the radio version, in which there was a different ending than the one portrayed in "Mostly Harmless."

Thus, there is an absolute *need* for the book version to at least come *close* to what the radio version achieved. Plus, I personally liked Zarniwoop--indeed, all of the "Restaurant" storyline (the book version, not the BBC TV version, though that was fine as far as it went). If Zrniwoop was able to concoct a Zaphod-friendly universe, then Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect deserve no less.

Furthermore, now that there is at least the beginning of a film franchise as well, I look forward to seeing Zooey Deschanel's Trillian saved from destruction as well.

But what do I know about suitable writers to carry the series forward? My current favorite authors are Manil (Death of Vishnu") Suri and Brock ("Arsonist's guide to writers' homes in New England") Clarke. Suri would want to write Bengal tigers and the Taj Mahal into the storyline, and Clarke should not be allowed near any matches .

Hi Paul!

Gee, the tigers and Tah Mahal might really work; but may be better suited to a Dirk Gently book!

Don't let Clarke near the keyboard though. We might find ourselves with an ending to Life, the Universe, and Everything! (although it would probably take 42 matches)

Clarke has the tongue-in-cheek delivery and crystal-clear witty epigrams necessary to carry on Adams's tradition of elegant prose, though. Huis writing is a great deal of fun to read, just as Adams's was.

Then, if Clarke should get the gig, I'll have to hope that you're right!

However, AGTWHINE isn't quite so efficient as H2G2 - (Arsonist's guide to writers' homes in New England)

That's a good point!

If Clarke does get his own site, perhaps he should try:
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