Have you heard Penguin’s announcement regarding a sixth Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy book? What?! You say. Thought Douglas Adams was dead did you? Minor problem that. It has never stopped publishers before, why should it now?
Penguin made its announcement on September 17th. They are doing a sixth book because Adams had mentioned in an interview once after the fifth book was published that he supposed he would eventually write a sixth because “five seems to be a wrong kind of number.” But then he died. So Penguin has decided to help him out and book number six, to be called And Another Thing…, is being written by Eoin Colfer the author of the Artemis Fowl novels and will be published in October 2009. Am I overreacting to say that I am appalled?
Colfer may be a good writer but he is no Douglas Adams and his book will not be a true Hitchhiker book. A move like this puts Adams’s series in the realm of V.C. Andrews and Marion Zimmer Bradley. I have read and loved both authors and the books they wrote before they died, the rest are just imitations no matter how good they may be.
Granted, Penguin had to get the permission of Adams’s widow, but it has been eight years since Adams died and I have to wonder how much pressure Penguin and other publishers may have been putting on her to say yes. Of course for Penguin the whole reason for a sixth book is for the money. They expect Hitchhiker fans to buy the book. This is one fan who will not.
I don’t know why they do this. I would never buy a Dorothy L Sayers novel that has been ‘finished off’ by Jill Paton Walsh, for instance. It’s never the same.
Wow… this is shocking, but it really shouldn’t be given the recent butchering of other series. I look only to Dune to make my case. Herbert’s son and his cohort have mangled the universe so badly that it’s difficult to untangle. I got halfway through the first “prequel” and had to throw it away. I’ve heard the fabled 7th book, allegedly based on Frank Herbert’s notes, is a much better effort. It pains me that I cannot spend the money or time to find out if it is true.
Kudos to you for standing strong on this!
Yeah, I’d find this supposedly new book highly annoying and would make a point of not reading the thing — it’s not the same at all!
Litlove, exactly right! I think it has to be all about money for the publisher. I don’t know what other reason there could be.
Admiral, I forgot about Dune! My husband read the first prequel, told me not bother, and hasn’t read any of the others. Tolkein’s son has been doing something similar.
Dorothy, you are right, it isn’t the same. It can only ever be what the writer interprets from the deceased. Unless they hire a medium to hold a seance and take dictation
Stefanie, I think you’re right – it’s all about the money for the publishers. Popular book series have become to publishers what movie franchises like Spiderman and Batman are to film studios – a guaranteed money horse. At least, that’s the way they think of them. It doesn’t matter how they desecrate the memory of the original material. It’s all about name recognition and the dollars that follow. I haven’t read the Galaxy books, but I hate it when publishers do this. When the original author stops penning the series that’s when I stop reading.
Believe me, as a fan of the series that’s no longer in the hands of its original creator, i know exactly how you feel. ONly my small literary pleasure was Frank Herbert’s Dune. I was similarly discusted when i learned that his son Brian was composing various prequels based on supposed notes his father had left behind. Only, unlike you i have to confess to buying them until they got so stale as to be unreadable.
Two scant years ago, if my memory serves, Young Herbert finally published Dune 7, citing, again, notes from the original creator, despite the 6th ending on a cliff hanger. Really if this man fully wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, why not create his own franchise instead of suckling off his own family name for so long.
Of course, the injustice you speak of in Hitchiker must be far worse because that franchise is no longer even in the hands of the family that created it. How could anyone prostitute her husband’s work like that. The thought of it just gals me.
I’d be annoyed by this too. I remember I used to love those V.C. Andrews books when I was in high school and was so bummed out when she died but then new books kept appearing! I think for a while there I really believe the whole thing about how she had left so many manuscripts, blah, blah, blah… I never did read any of those others.
I’m curious how demand for this book will be like…
Very wrong indeed. Some genre authors or characters can be overtaken by by other writers — a favorite of my adolescence were R.E. Howard’s Conan stories, which were expurgated and sometimes rewritten by L. Sprague DeCamp and Lin Carter. However, those stories, in essence, were comic-bookish, and became comic books (and comic book heroes often get rewritten and redrawn).
But, Hitchhiker’s was a creation of Adams’ imagination and especially his marvelous sense of humor and satire, and I just can’t see how another writer can get inside Adams’ mind and pull off anything other than a thin imitation.
Pingback: Saturday’s Me and You 10/4 « An unfinished person (in this unfinished universe)
Pingback: Saturday’s Me and You 10/4 « Just A (Reading) Fool
I’m appalled by this as well, just as I was by the recently published “Anne of Green Gables” prequel, and the “Peter Pan” sequel, and, well, the list goes on. I can understand (although not endorse!) the financial motives of the publishers and sometimes also of the family members who hold copyright (although I’d expect them to give more consideration to the integrity of their loved one’s work). But what are the writers who agree to this thinking? Usually the writer selected for the “honour” is a successful author with a solid reputation. Why, against that backdrop, would they want to use their talents to write glorified fan fiction? Surely it would be more rewarding to write something new based on ideas of their own?
Sad to think about the depths to which the publishing industry will sink in order to make a buck. I’m doubly disappointed to see it happening at Penguin, though.
J.S., franchise is the right thing to call it. Maybe I’m old fashioned but books should not be franchised.
Marrigold, it is scandalous, isn’t it? Perhaps Brian Herbert couldn’t get published any other way. Or maybe the publisher was pushing so he thought he’d do it instead of allowing someone else to? Whatever the reason, it was a mistake. Not knowing the reason Adams’s widow agreed to the arrangement I can’t currently fault her. I would like to know what the reason is though.
Iliana, I thought the same thing about the V.C. Andrews books! For a little while I even thought maybe I had somehow misunderstood and she was actually still alive.
Exile, you’ve hit the nail on the head!
Kate, good question, what are the writers who are selected to write these books thinking? Is it the lure of money? I do like that you call it glorified fan fiction
Emily, yeah, I’d like to think some publishers are better than that, but Penguin is a big corporation just like so many others. Sigh.
Well, it annoys me slightly that many people here are judging and complaining about the new book not just before it has been released, but before it has even been written! Give it a chance, you never know.
Pingback: Tuesday Meme Things: Confessions of a serial book fiend « Just A (Reading) Fool
Somehow I missed this post. At first I thought it absurd, but I suppose it is done fairly frequently — post-Ian Fleming James Bond novels and “Scarlett”, the “Gone With the Wind” sequel come to mind. And then I thought the absurdity of it all actually seems rather Adamsy…
wil, you have an interesting point there. The absurdity of it certainly is very Adamsy. He would likely find it very amusing and have something very funny to say about it. Know any good mediums we could engage for a seance so we could try and contact him?
Pingback: Tuesday Meme Things: Confessions of a serial book fiend « an unfinished person (in this unfinished universe)