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Douglas Adams' Last Book
mixedbag writes "A BBC news article suggests that a sixth book in Douglas Adams's Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series will be published next May. It will be unfinished from files found of his computer. The title is to be A Salmon of Doubt."
I don't know how I feel about this. While I'll be glad to have another book from such a great author, I worry that this will in some way corrupt the memory by putting an unfinished work-in-progress up against his polished final drafts. I hope at least they'll leave it unfinished, and not have some hack come in and tie things up for him.
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
WHAT WAS THE FINAL QUESTION? PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME PLEASE PLEASE.
That will be revealed at the end of the unfinished "A Salmon of Doubt".
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...a review Mr. Cranky wrote of Almost Heroes.
"Almost Heroes" is such an abomination that one actually wishes Chris Farley had kicked off long before he got anywhere near this script. The filmmakers would have been kinder to Farley's memory by taking a collective piss on his rotting corpse."
Let's hope that the new Adams book is a better experience. Don't most authors include something in their wills about not publishing unfinished materials?
When I die, I hope they publish all those half completed letters to Penthouse I was working on.
"I never thought this could happen to me, but when I saw the six buxom cheerleaders knocking at my door..."
I just hope it does not end as it was with Tolkien, with lots of books published from temporary files/materials and in general so much stuff that it really looked like they were squeezing all the possible money from it....
While almost-completed stories are ok to publish, when the level reaches 10 lines of text and 10 pages of comment by someone else then it's sad.
The new book is not a Hitchhiker's book - there are already five of those - or a Dirk Gently book, but "it will be recognizable in style to anyone who knows those books." It also won't be The Salmon of Doubt.
"I abandoned [The Salmon of Doubt] about halfway through because I just thought it was getting too dull," Adams said. "Since then, I've now got lots and lots of different story lines waiting for me to turn them into books. One of them I shall apply the title Salmon of Doubt to, but I don't know which one yet."
Anyone know if the one being published was the "dull" book he never finished or another one?
-Daniel
from the article:
"He would take it and then revise it repeatedly so there were many files.
"As soon as he wrote anything he would say, 'Oh, God that's terrible'. He was a very, very self-critical author and so had a lot of trouble writing. He was a perfectionist."
I would rather that they not publish these final stories unless there was any indication from Mr. Adams before his death that he felt the stories lived up to his standards. It's sad, but they don't even know if he had thought of a completely new way to present the story, but just never had the chance to write it down.
Maybe if they include something in the forward saying that he had never reached a final approval point with these writings, it would sit easier with me. One thing I am glad they are doing, though, is to at least publish it in a collection with other writings, rather than selling it as the final novel in the Hitchhiker's collection.
And I will admit some curiosity to see the same story written in different ways. It might provide some insight into his creative process.
If all you have are silver bullets, everything looks like a werewolf.
The original source of the story is the Sunday Telegraph.
There is a little more information here than at the BBC.
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I'll buy it and read it, but only for what it's worth. I got the feeling at the end of Mostly Harmless that he had pulled a Charlton Heston at the end of Beneath the Planet of the Apes--that he wanted to end the series so finally that no sequel was possible. A little like he was angrily trying to give the HH fans, always clamoring for more, the hint that he didn't have any more to give in the series.
On a side-note, Adams was a devout atheist. It doesn't seem fitting that we should be worried that he's looking down on all of us screaming, "No, you idiots! Don't publish that!"
Once again, I'd like to refer to what Neil Gaiman wrote in his journal once he heard of Douglas' death: I hope that his death isn't followed by the publishing of all the stuff he hadn't wanted to see print. (the Saturday, May 12, 2001 entry).
May we live long and die out
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The Answer to the Question is 42.
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Marvin, amongst numerous other complaints, claimed to have a brain the size of a planet.
- Marvin, like other robots, has a computer-based brain.
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The Earth is a planet.
- The Earth was built by the mice as a computer, the only such planet or computer ever built.
- By (2), (3), (4), and (5), the Earth must therefore be Marvin's brain.
- The sole purpose of the Earth's program was to discover the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
- Marvin once announced that he had, in a moment of boredom, found the square root of -1, something never before done in the history of the universe, and previously believed by all sensible hyper-intelligent beings to be possibly the most difficult task to undertake, as it was dependent on the very structure of the Universe. (Most normally- intelligent beings gave up, dismissing it as impossible.)
- Marvin announced that he felt a brief, but deep, sense of satisfaction after having accomplished the achievement in (8).
- The Earth was apparently destroyed just as the purpose of its program was fulfilled, and a Question had been found.
- By (7), the Earth computer would have felt a deep sense of satisfaction at having achieved the task it was designed to fulfil.
- By (10), the sensation in (11) would have been brief.
- By (6), and by the fact that emotional feelings are based in the brain, the feelings in (9), (11) and (12) are the same single feeling.
- Finding the Ultimate Question was deemed to be the single most difficult task undertaken by hyper-intelligent beings in the history of the universe, as it was dependant on the very structure of the Universe -- as well as Life and Everything.
- By (6), (8), (13), and (14), Marvin (the Earth) had clearly solved the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
- By (8) and (15), the Question is "What is the square root of -1?".
- By (1) and (16), the square root of -1 is 42.
Pretty obvious, in hindsight...-grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
I never can understand why people get so upset about "violating the wishes" of the now-dead. The dead shouldn't have rights, for the simple reason that they're not alive.
As for Mr. Adams, he was a very good writer, and an extremely talented man. He showed quite a bit of intelligence and insight, as well as compassion (I recommend that everyone try to get a copy of Last Chance to See. I think he did a great job of using his fame and talent to do good and have fun.
When he was alive, by all means, one should have shown him complete respect for his work and his rights. Treat him the way you'd want to be treated.
But, the fact of the matter is, now he's dead. You can't embarrass him, make him happy, cause him grief or indignation. You can't because he simply...isn't anymore. And, the fact is, there are people out there who are alive, who do want to read this. Why shouldn't they be allowed to, when doing so hurts absolutely nobody?
I'm sure some people will see this as flamebait, but seriously, many of the big problems in modern society revolve around un-dying "rights" and "wishes" -- be it of corporations, dead "prophets", or the ability of the very rich to pass on their inheritance to those who did nothing to earn it...Do we really need to devote any more "respect" to the non-existent when there are so many that could benefit (albeit in a very small way in this case) by considering the living?
If someone wants to show respect to the memory of Douglas Adams by not reading this unfinished material, that's their business -- personally I'd rather show people respect while they're alive and can appreciate it, rather than by making empty and useless gestures after they're dust.
Everyone complaining that the idea of publishing Douglas Adams' unfinished book posthumously seems somehow wrong, might find it interesting that Douglas himself wrote the forward for his own favorite author P. G. Wodehouse's unwished book "Sunset at Blanding". In it he wrote:
"This is P. G. Wodehouse's last -- and unfinished -- book. It is unfinished not just in the sense that it suddenly, heartbreakingly for those of us who love this man and his work, stops in mid-flow, but in the more important sense that the text up to that point is also unfinished."
...
"Will you, anyway, find much evidence of the great genius of Wodehouse here? Well, to be honest, no."
...
"But you will want to read Sunset for completeness, and for that sense you get, from its unfinishedness, of being suddenly and unexpectedly close to a Master actually at work -- a bit like seeing paint pots and scaffolding being carried in and out of the Sistine Chapel."
So I don't think Douglas himself would really object to this.
I have to say that I think I have the perfect ending, one that Douglas Adams would appreciate.
If I was the editor it would end thusly in mid-sentence.
"...sadly the author of this work is now dead and no one knows what the question is."
and then like 42 blank pages. i would laugh my ass off at that I think Douglas would as well.
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That explanation is very clever and very wrong.
Arthur found the WRONG question, because his evolution had been tainted by the Golgafrinchans. It is not a typo, and it is not base 13. It is simply supposed to be wrong.
Win dain a lotica, en vai tu ri silota