And Another Thing... (Part II)

"People have said, quite rightly, that Mostly Harmless is a very bleak book. And it was a bleak book. I would love to finish Hitchhiker on a slightly more upbeat note, so five seems to be a wrong kind of number; six is a better kind of number."

- Douglas Adams

...I thoroughly loathe the current wave of "estate authorized" novels based on popular works by deceased authors. I can't see them as anything but a naked cash grab by all parties involved. Don't utter the names Brian Herbert or Kevin J. Anderson in my prescence unless you wish to sit through a very long -- and long-winded -- rant on their endless wave of Dune books. To get a more concise, pointed summation of my argument, click this link. It sums it up nicely.

But there's something quite different about And Another Thing..., though this may just be my affection for Hitchhiker's talking. Douglas Adams died at such a young age -- not even fifty years old -- and had already expressed interest in writing a sixth Hitchhiker's, feeling that Mostly Harmless was not a fitting farewell to the series. And it isn't: Mostly Harmless is a mess of a book -- relentlessly bleak, full of odd tonal shifts, and, most importantly, just not that funny.

For the last few years, I've told people who are reading the series for the first time to stop at So Long and Thanks for all the Fish. That's changed now thanks to And Another Thing...