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

Amber,
Hi....you may find me incredibly stupid after this exchange, but I am in the midst of writing an informative speech for my speech class on Douglas Adams and it suddenly occurs to me that you may not know who he is as this is not "his" website per se just one he helped create....but please reply and I will be more than happy to explain or go away whichever your reply suggests....
-Stu

I'm not sure what gave you that impression. I'm well aware of who Douglas Adams is. At this point, I've read everything of his except the Dirk Gently novels and the nonfiction book he wrote... I can't recall the title. About endangered species in Africa, I believe. At any rate, I don't need an explanation of who he is. Good luck with that speech, though.

the nonfiction book's called "LAst Chance To see" by the way.

...And, despite being a non-fiction book, is actually startlingly good. The Dirk Gently novels, however, are beyond startling -- I would go so far as to say ... uh... "vastly". Yes, that's it, vastly entertaining -- "The Long Dark Teatime of The Soul" in particular.
Also, should you come across it, there is an excellent short story he wrote -- I've only ever seen it in the Collector's Edition of the HHGTTG, with all four books in it -- the story is at the very end of the book, and is called "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe". I highly recommend it to you, as I presume you enjoyed Douglas' other works

Well, that would be my two cents... mostly I just wanted to give you a current posting on your conversations

Stay y

Young Zaphod was reprinted iN Salmon of Doubt.

Really! That's cool -- do you know if it was the same version as appeared in the collector's edition?

Probably not, knowing Adams...

It was the ssame version as appeared in the short strory anthology "Wizards of Odd" that i got for christmas a few years back, I haven't god the omnibus edition of the books, so I'm not sure about that.

, I've never even /heard/ of the "Wizards of Odd"... I must get down to my local bookshop

It's an anthology of short stories by sci-fi and fantasy writers, I haven't read it for a while so i can't remember what they all are, but there is young zaphod, there's one by terry Pratchett set in the Discworld, a filthy one about a ring, and the shortrst science fiction story ever-

"The last man on earth sat in a room. There was a knock at the door"

Ah! I have read that last one -- an interesting example of modern literature, actually. I've known many people who argued that it was not a story, per se, and therefore should not have been published and yadda yadda yadda, but it's a remarkable demonstration of the impact that two sentences can have. Certainly, the /story/ itself is a mere two sentences, but the real story is what happens in your imagination after you read those sentences, and I admire the author (can't remember who it is at the moment) for his/her genius in not only coming up with two sentences that would instigate such a mental journey, but also in knowing that it would be best to stop there, and place no further restrictions on the readers' imaginations. Pure art

Well, I'm currently 150 miles away from the book, so it'd be a little difficult to look him up.

*shrugs*

Eh -- it -- doesn't really matter who wrote it -- thanks for reminding me of that one, though! I had completely forgotten it, and the basic principle it represents -- being a writer, I try to keep things like that in mind, as I find it entertaining to try to mess with people's heads like that

I'm a bit late in replying to this (hate school, hate school, hate school...) but I actually have read Young Zaphod- it's great. My first encounter with Douglas Adams was when my stepmother gave me the omnibus edition of HHGTTG for Christmas, a few years back. The newer version, with all four books, Young Zaphod, and Mostly Harmless, which I think had just come out, at that point. Apparently, she told someone at the bookstore the sort of things I like, and he suggested that... I owe him so much, whoever he was. Hehe.

I'll be sure to check out the Dirk Gently books this summer, too. I've been meaning to get to them for months, now (hate school, ad infinitum).

By the way, if you haven't seen that version, the 'final and definitive' history of the series is in a brief prologue to the book, which is absolutely hilarious.
Amber