I've been re-reading the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series again for the billionth time, and started thinking about how there would never be another book now that Douglas Adams is dead. I even thought about writing my own new version. Turns out it's not an entirely original idea. Much like everything else in the media, people have been writing original fan fiction for Hitchhiker's. And much like everything else in fan fiction, most of it sucks. But some of it is pretty good.
Here now is your dose of new Hitchhiker's fiction. First of all, read Young Zaphod Plays It Safe, a short story by Douglas Adams written in the nineties. Might also want to pick up Salmon of Doubt, a collection of chapters from Adams' unfinished sixth novel. I haven't read them, but I plan to.
Now for the fan fiction. There's The Complete and Utter Truth, which incorporates some of the unreleased stories with some new work that is very in keeping with the original. You might also try The Whole Sort of General Mishmash, which is so much like reading a Douglas Adams story that it's creepy. I haven't read all of those stories, but plan to. It's exciting, almost like Adams never left us.
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Found that short story at http://users.telenet.be/sterf/texts/fiction/adams/Young_Zaphod_Plays_It_Safe.txt
Wild stuff. The really amazing thing about Douglas Adams was his way of making connections to seemingly dissimilar ideas and making something totally ridiculous become perfectly sane. That ending was chillingly funny.
That article on Ford Prefect was really interesting. It's a gutsy casting decision, but I think it'll pay off in the long run.
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