Sci-fi nerds the world over had their towels at the ready as the sixth Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy book, 'And Another Thing...', was released by Penguin.

However this latest volume in the increasingly inaccurately-named trilogy created by Douglas Adams is a little different, since it is also the first volume not written by Adams himself.

Adams, of course, sadly died in 2001, and so Irish author Eoin Colfer was hand-picked to continue the improbable adventures of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect and Zaphod Beeblebrox in his stead.


But what do fans think of the idea -- and are they happy to see the Hitchikers reins handed over to somebody other than Douglas?

Asylum was present at the spectacularly nerdy launch of the book (Hitchcon 09) at the Royal Festival Hall in London, to find out.

The event, which included a live recreation of the classic radio series featuring the original cast (and Harry Shearer on supporting voices), was attended by around 1,500 Hitchhikers geeks wearing dressing gowns and towels. Judging by the enthusiastic way in which they welcomed Eoin Colfer to proceedings (see below) most seemed happy to have another volume of galactic insanity to pore over.

Colfer said he hoped fans would greet the book warmly, and told the Guardian that he didn't think Douglas Adams himself would mind. "I would hope he had a little giggle and would enjoy the respectful but not slavish way I have entered his universe," he said. "I don't think he would be disgusted."

And according to Douglas's colleagues and friends, speaking at a Q&A session later in the day, Adams himself would also have been pleased by Colfer's work:

Ed Victor, (Douglas Adams's agent): "Although I had many doubts about The Salmon of Doubt, when we raided Douglas's hard-disk after his death -- and remember telling Jane (Belson) Douglas's wife about how full of doubt I was and she said 'well Douglas hated every word he ever published so why would this be different?' -- in this I am totally, 100 percent sure that Douglas would have loved this book.

Clive James, (friend and moderator): "You mean he would have loved this book and would have loved that someone else had written it to save himself the effort?"


Pictured: Eoin Colfer, writer of 'And Another Thing' with Hitchhiker's fans at the Royal Festival Hall in London, Oct 11, 2009.

Fans also learned that Adams almost never became a writer at all. In fact he came perilously close to taking a job with the Hong Kong police instead.

Clive James: There was a time when Douglas actually didn't have very much to do, before the BBC and before Hitchhikers, and he was offered a job with the Hong Kong police. And he asked many people their advice, he certainly asked mine, and I said 'Yes! Of course you should take the job!' I thought it would be good experience for a writer -- I didn't think he'd be a very good policeman -- but I imagined the Hong Kong police must wear shorts... and the image of Douglas in shorts as 'group captain' or chief inspector, or whatever you have in Hong Kong, was such a great one that I said he should take it. But sensibly he rejected my advice."

Simon Jones (played Arthur Dent on radio and TV): He did spend a little time as a bodyguard... I asked him what he would do if a terrorist came around the corner and he said he'd run like hell!

And as for why Douglas never wrote more than five Hitchhikers books himself, the problem was a crippling perfectionism that led him to re-write far more words than he ever published.

Ed Victor: He was, as we all know, a perfectionist. And that is very clear in everything he ever wrote. He always wanted it to be perfect -- and if you want stuff be perfect it takes a long time.

Simon Jones: I seem to remember Geoffery (Perkins producer of the Hitchhikers radio series) saying that if he ever asked Douglas on the series to change a line he'd go back to the beginning and start the whole script again...

Robbie Stamp, (executive producer on the 2005 Hitchhiker's movie): "There were so many versions in the end of Hitchhiker's drafts... I mean literally in the end you could trawl back through dozens with different slants, different angles, love stories, not love stories..."

Ed Victor: '(When Douglas died) he was working on Salmon of Doubt, which was supposedly the next Hitchhiker book. I remember a lunch we had many years ago in Miami... we were saying 'Douglas you should make this plan to approach it methodically, write a couple of hours a day' and he said 'why are you worrying about this, you're going to have your book in a year'. And it was twelve years late when he died.'