not the one Gwydion knew, then

[scarfman]

I read The Salmon of Doubt, Douglas Adams' posthumous book consisting of the bits off his hard drive that made his literary executors laugh. Included is a draft made up of the best parts of several drafts of a Dirk Gently novel that Adams had just decided before he died ought to be a Hitchhiker's novel instead.

First I reread Mostly Harmless because I'd only read it once and because I'd misunderstood somehow that The Salmon of Doubt (the novel draft, not the book) was an unfinished Hitchhiker's novel. All I had really remembered of Mostly Harmless was the end, which is actually pretty much all that happens in it, though one'd think one'd have remembered the surprise teenage daughter.

The Salmon of Doubt (the book) is a fun read, especially the part about being pulled over for reckless driving onto a blind curve on a high speed roadway, but I wish anyone who'd ever mentioned The Salmon of Doubt (the novel draft) to me in print or in person had mentioned that it's not just unfinished but incomplete. It leaves off just at the part where the replacement rhinoceros arrives.

I see that the fellow who writes the Artemis Fowl stories (not that I know what those are when they're at home) has written the sixth book in the Hitchhiker's trilogy. Apparently he picks up the characters' story at the very instant Mostly Harmless ends. Somehow that strikes me as too obviously the way to go about it.

Comments

[alienfish.livejournal.com]

... HAS written? Do you know anyone who's read it? Is it any good? Because Starship Titanic was really bad.

[scarfman]

I'm afraid I've just told you all I know about it.

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

Every review I've seen so far says the same thing: it's pretty good but not great, and (according to the reviewers) the reason it's pretty good is that the author did NOT try to write like DNA. At all.

I'll wait and get it as a library book before buying.

[chocolatescifi.livejournal.com]

The book is titled . . . And Another Thing, and it was released about a week ago. I've seen it at Borders, and I've flipped through it, but I haven't read enough to tell you much more than that. As I recall, Fenchurch does reappear in this book.

[alienfish.livejournal.com]

I do not have issues with Fenchurch. I have issues with bad writing.

[chocolatescifi.livejournal.com]

I don't recall the writing being bad, but I really didn't read enough to get a good feel for the book -- at least not yet.