The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was originally supposed to be a trilogy but ultimately ended up being 5 enthralling books. Adams even wanted to write a sixth : "I suspect at some point in the future I will write a sixth Hitchhiker book … I would love to finish Hitchhiker on a slightly more upbeat note. Five seems to be a wrong kind of number, six is a better kind of number." Alas on May 11, 2001 he died rather unexpectedly.
A few weeks back, September 17 to be precise, I read something rather shocking. After years of negotiation (and probable harassment), Adams' widow has granted Penguin Books the right to create the sixth installment to our beloved and inaccurately named trilogy. They have approached Eoin Colfer to create the next episode entitled "And Another Thing..." Colfer may be a bestselling children's author but he certainly is no Adams. Personally I think it's disgraceful, even sacrilegious, to use another man's legacy to promote not only your own career but to prey on the hunger of unsatisfied fans that will only end up being disillusioned in the end as Colfer's unholy version will not be able to compete with Adams' brilliance. When will people learn not to mess with the original just for the sake of a few million pounds?
Alas death is only a minor glitch in the road of publishing.
No comments:
Post a Comment