DanS42: Very Improbable News! Author Eoin Colfer has been tapped to write the 6TH book in the Hitchhiker's Guide series. http://tinyurl.com/h2g2six

By: Dan Shaurette

On: May 14, 2001

An author who I considered to be a modern sci-fi/comedy genius, Douglas Adams passed away Friday. He was only 49 years old, and ironically, he died of a heart attack while working out. Adams achieved fame and cult status when he wrote and aired the infamous BBC radio play, "The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy". Later, he penned the story as a novel and wrote many sequels. "The Guide" took form also as a album recording, stage play, BBC television mini-series, video game by Infocom, and comic book.

The story begins with an average earthling, Arthur Dent, being rescued from the Earth by his friend, Ford Prefect, who turns out not to be human after all but from a small planet outside of Betelguese. The Earth was destroyed to make way for an Intergalactic hyperspace bypass. It turns out Ford is a researcher for a galactic compendium of facts, the namesake of the novel, and happened to be on Earth because he was researching it in the vain attempt to have the current entry updated beyond the short, but wholly accurate "Mostly Harmless". After being rescued, Arthur decides to tag along with Ford as they jump from ship to ship across the galaxy, encountering many weird creatures along the way.

Adams was working on writing the screenplay for a motion picture version of his story, but he had much trouble in doing so. Certainly not because of lack of special effects, but because the book/play was such an imaginative and visually intense story, with a plot that leads from one incident to another, that he found it dificult to fit to to a 100-minute movie format. Now there is much speculation into whether there could or should be a movie made. Many fear that only Adams could have written a proper screenplay. But seeing how much trouble he had, they doubt anyone else could capture his vision properly. Others, including myself, hope it will still be made, if only as a tribute to this great author.

To his credit, Adams wrote other novels, including those detailing the exploits of a "holistic detective" named Dirk Gently. The third book in that series, "Salmon of a Doubt", also now remains unfinished. Adams also wrote a book about his experiences during a safari entitled, "Last Chance To See". He also co-authored the dictionary of odd words entitled, "The Meaning of Liff". His company The Digital Village created the popular video game, Starship Titanic, which is a richly immersive first-person adventure. They also created www.h2g2.com which is an online community that allows many people to submit new entries about Life, The Universe, and Everything into the Guide.

His fans worldwide, of which I include myself, will miss him terribly. The knowledge that he was in wonderful health and seemed to have much left to write only makes accepting his absence that much more difficult.

Douglas is survived by his wife, daughter, and mother. I wish them peace in the times ahead.

Copyright © 2001 Dan Shaurette.