Archive Douglas Adams/Hitchhiker’s Guide news for August 2003
Home / News / About me / About my book
29th August 2003
eBaywatch for week ending 29th August
It’s a quiet week on eBay; there are plenty of Douglas items but few rare or unusual things. But wait, what’s this? It’s a 1984 issue of Knave – that well-known ‘gentleman’s illustrated pamphlet’ – featuring a five-page Douglas Adams interview by Neil Gaiman (ends 2nd September; no bids yet; starting price $0.01). This ‘signed edition’ (ends 1st September; latest bid £16.00) is one of the 1994 Millennium mini-hardbacks, all of which included a facsimile Adams signature – caveat emptor. (However, not having seen one without its dust jacket, I was unaware that the word ‘everything’ was misspelled on the spine!) As we all know, Douglas Adams wrote an episode of Doctor Snuggles which I think is on this video (ends 31st August; latest bid £2.70). Finally, I’m pretty sure that this is a different Douglas Adams...
22nd August 2003
Shada on CD in December
The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine says that the recent ‘webcast’ audio version of the Douglas Adams-scripted Doctor Who adventure ‘Shada’ will be released on double CD in December. Apparently this will be a slightly longer version than was on the web.
22nd August 2003
eBaywatch for week ending 22nd August
Secondhand T-shirts are always a dodgy proposition (has it been washed?) but if you fancy an unauthorised bit of merchandise there’s this one (ends 27th August; no bids yet; starting price $5.00). For those of you duped by the BBC’s claim that their recent releases of the unabridged talking books were their UK debut, here’s the original 1994 Isis release of the first one (ends 27th August; latest bid £7.00). And look, BBC Worldwide, Isis fitted it all onto four discs! This limited signed edition was only available through WH Smith and is now very hard to find.
Here’s the Easton Press edition of Hitchhiker’s Guide (ends 27th August; latest bid $35.00); not mentioned (because the book is still shrink-wrapped) is that all these were signed by Douglas. How about the May 1985 MacWorld with Douglas on the cover and interviewed inside (ends 21st August; no bids yet; starting price $9.99)? Or a very old issue of Foundation (no.19) including a contemporary review of the first Hitchhiker’s novel (ends 25th August; no bids yet; starting price £0.99)? Or, for the Adams fan who has every edition, what about this (ends 24th August; no bids yet; starting price £4.90)?
18th August 2003
Don’t Panic – new U.S. hardback edition
Don’t Panic will be published in North America on 1st October by Titan Books in a smart, stylish new hardback edition, the first time that it has been available in English in hardback. Neil has written a brand new foreword for this edition, kindly pointing out – and clearing up any confusion about – which bits were written by David K Dickson and by myself. The cover price is $21.95 (US) or $27.95 (Canadian) and the ISBN is 1-84023-742-2; Amazon currently have it at $15.37. Titan plan to distribute some copies to shops in the UK next February.
18th August 2003
Hitchhiker mentioned on Brain of Britain
I was delighted to receive reports that yesterday’s edition of the long-running BBC Radio 4 quiz show Brain of Britain included the following question: “The biography of which author, published earlier this year, is called Hitchhiker and is written by MJ Simpson?” (I believe the contestant answered correctly.) The programme will be repeated at 11pm on Saturday 22nd August, and is also available via the Radio 4 website.
16th August 2003
Martin Smith – a correction
Yesterday, I told an audience of 220 people at the Edinburgh International Book Festival that Martin Smith, Douglas Adams’ co-writer at Cambridge, one third of Adams-Smith-Adams, had just passed away. I am delighted to report that Martin is in fact alive and well. The reason for this premature obituary was that, twenty minutes before my talk, a friend and fellow HHGG fan sent me a text message reading ‘Martin Smith just died.’ I naturally assumed that this was the Martin Smith who wrote sketches with Douglas Adams and who helped me in researching Hitchhiker, because he is the only Martin Smith I know. Later that evening I discovered that the text message referred to a completely different Martin Smith who I never knew but whom my friend thought I did know. Apologies to everyone – especially Martin – for the confusion. And thank you to everyone who came along and made the Edinburgh event such a success.
15th August 2003
Hitchhiker books available for PDA
Palm Digital Media have made the first four Hitchhiker books available in eBook form, the first time they have been legally available for PDAs (you can also read them on Macs and PCs apparently). The books have been licensed from Rosetta Books, who acquired the electronic rights earlier this year, and cost nine dollars, reduced by ten per cent if you buy them this month. The reason that Mostly Harmless isn’t available is probably because these electronic versions are derived from the CD-ROM released by the Voyager company several years ago. The PDM site rather amusingly claims that, “Douglas Adams was a prolific writer in many media beginning as a chicken shed cleaner, a bodyguard for an Arab royal family, and a guitarist for the rock band Pink Floyd.” Not quite...
15th August 2003
eBaywatch for week ending 15th August
It’s a sparse week on eBay but one of two standout items is the UK hardback of Life, the Universe and Everything (ends 20th August; latest bid £11.50). A slightly faded spine doesn’t detract much from the fact that this is the rarest and most collectable standard edition of any of Douglas’ works, which currently sells at auction for anything up to 400 quid. Signed copies of the Original Records double album are also very rare, and this one is signed by not only Douglas but Geoffrey Perkins and Mark Wing-Davey too – a lovely item (ends 15th August; latest bid £45.00; reserve not yet met).
14th August 2003
Stop press: Hammer and Tongs speaking in Edinburgh tonight
If I had known about this sooner I would have mentioned it, but it hasn’t exactly been well-publicised. Hitchhiker’s Guide directing/producing duo Hammer and Tongs are speaking tonight at the Edinburgh Film Festival. They’re in conversation with fellow pop video director Mat Kirkby at the UGC Cinema at 7.15pm. I only found out three hours in advance – full details are here. Although they are ostensibly talking about making music videos, they may have something to say about the HHGG movie. If you attend, please report back to me about what Nick and Garth have to say. Either by e-mail or by coming to my talk at the book festival tomorrow. (I’m not going up until tomorrow morning – if I had known Nick and Garth would be there...)
12th August 2003
Robbie McIntosh site on-line
Robbie McIntosh’s own website actually went on-line at the end of June, but it was only yesterday that it finally showed up in my regular search for Douglas Adams stuff on the web. Guitarist Robbie was a close friend of Douglas and has worked with everyone up to and including a regular job in Paul McCartney’s backing band. Of particular interest to Adams fans is Robbie’s CD Unsung, which was released by TDV and is now available through the robbiemcintosh.com online shop. This has liner notes by Douglas, which are also available to read in the ‘Press/Reviews’ section of the site. And in the ‘Photo Gallery’ section you can find two pictures of Robbie with Douglas, including one of the two guitarists dueting at Douglas’ 42nd birthday party.
11th August 2003
Edinburgh Book Festival – reminder
Don’t forget that I will be speaking about Douglas Adams (and signing copies of my books) at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this Friday, 15th August. My talk is in the Blackwell’s Studio Theatre from 8.30pm to 9.30pm and costs £8 (concs £6) – tickets are available from Charlotte Square Gardens or by calling 0131 624 5050. If you’re there, do come up and say hello.
8th August 2003
eBaywatch for week ending 8th August
It’s a long, long time since I last saw the first Marvin single in picture sleeve (ends 14th August; no bids yet; starting price £2.50). Another collectable item is a US edition of Don’t Panic signed by both Douglas Adams and Neil Gaiman (ends 13th August; no bids yet; starting price $10.00). The radio scripts book is now back in print but completists will want this original edition (ends 12th August; no bids yet; starting price £4.00) especially as it has the specially designed Pan Books price reduction sticker. Though the commonest of the Arthur Barker editions, the UK hardback of Restaurant is still rare (ends 16th August; latest bid £4.99). The UK hardback of Hitchhiker’s Guide mentioned last week (ends 15th August; latest bid $99.00) has now reached its reserve and is still well below the current going rate.
Douglas Adams was interviewed in issue 9 of Q in 1987 (ends 10th August; no bids yet; starting price £4.99). His Doctor Who career is well-served by acclaimed Who fanzine In-Vision – these eight issues include those on ‘The Pirate Planet’ (33), ‘Shada’ (44) and an overview of season 17 (ends 11th August; latest bid £1.23). The UK VHS release of ‘Shada’ (with Tom Baker explaining the unfilmed bits) is long out of print and very collectable because of the facsimile script that came with it (ends 10th August; latest bid £16.00). Finally, a very rarely seen hardback of interest to completists is Ronnie Corbett Introduces Great Humorous Stories which includes a chapter from So Long and Thanks under the title ‘April Showers’ (ends 11th August; latest bid 99p).
3rd August 2003
Battle of the Books – more broadcast details and on-line voting
Thanks to Dave Haddock for having the patience to scour the on-line listings for BBC 4 and come up with five broadcast dates/times for The Big Read: Battle of the Books (see previous posting for details). The show goes out on Thursday 7th August at 21:00 and on Friday 8th August at 00:40 and 19:00 according to the website; Dave has spotted further repeats on Monday 11th August at 20:30 and on Tuesday 12th August at 01:40, though by then surely all four of the channel’s viewers will have seen it. You can now also vote for Hitchhiker’s Guide or The Colour of Magic. Interestingly, the summary of Hitchhiker’s Guide accepts the argument proposed in my book that the idea was conceived in Greece, not Innsbruck.
3rd August 2003
Hitchhiker’s Guide to be featured in book on TV SF
I have been asked to contribute an essay on the TV series of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy to a forthcoming academic book, appropriately entitled Don’t Panic!: Essays on British TV Science Fiction. Edited by Dr John Cook of Glasgow Caledonian University and Peter Wright from University College of Edgehill, Ormskirk, the book will be published next year by IB Tauris.
1st August 2003
Life, the Universe and Douglas Adams – Swedish TV dates confirmed
The Swedish TV broadcast of Life, the Universe and Douglas Adams is now locked in for the evening of Monday 18th August, with a repeat on the afternoon of Sunday 24th August. Both showings are on SVT 2. Thanks to producer Joel Greengrass for this hot-off-the-press info.
1st August 2003
‘Zaphod Beeblebrox’ nightclub
Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail has an interview with Eugene Haslam, owner of a leading Ottawa music venue and nightclub called Zaphod Beeblebrox - ‘the nightclub on the edge of the universe’. Mr Haslam, who visited England in 1979 and opened his club ten years later, says, “For me, it was: this is what I want to do. I want to be like Zaphod. I just want to go wherever and be wherever and then the world will fall into place wherever I am.” Acts who have played at Zaphod Beeblebrox include the Dandy Warhols, Alanis Morissette and Radiohead (did they play ‘Paranoid Android’, I wonder...). The bar serves Pangalactic Gargleblasters and other HHGG-themed drinks, and it was also the first club in the city with its own website.
1st August 2003
eBaywatch for week ending 1st August
Among the usual selection of books, tapes, videos, comics and computer games is something which I haven’t seen before – a variant cover of the UK first hardback of Hitchhiker’s Guide, published by Arthur Barker (ends 5th August; no bids yet; starting price $49.00 but reserve not yet met). I thought the first Arthur Barker editions all had blank rear dust jackets, but this one has an ad for the novelisation of Capricorn One! Looks in very good condition but you may want to check with the seller that the book itself is a true hardback first and not a second edition.