'Hitchhiker's Guide' catches final ride

NEWS An unfinished novel by science fiction writer Douglas Adams will be published next year and released on the anniversary of his death, according to published reports. "A Salmon of a Doubt," the sixth instalment in Adams' cult classic, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," is being edited from files found on the author's computer, The Sunday Telegraph reported. A version of the novel will appear in a collection of Adams' work, the Telegraph said. The new story builds on Adams' satirical 1979 "Hitchhiker's Guide", which followed the search by alien Ford Prefect and his human companion Arthur Dent for an answer to life, the universe and everything. Adams' other works include "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe," "Life, the Universe and Everything" and "So Long and Thanks For All the Fish." "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" started as a BBC radio series, became a novel that sold more than 14 million copies worldwide, and was adapted into a low-budget British TV series. Adams had been working on a film version of the novel before he died of a heart attack in May, at the age of 49. "A Salmon of a Doubt," intended as the conclusion to the "Hitchhiker's" series, was reportedly in the works for 11 years. Ed Victor, Adams' literary agent, told the Telegraph: "We have pored over Douglas's hard drive. There were so many different versions of the novel. He would take it and then revise it repeatedly so there were many files...As soon as he wrote anything he would say, 'Oh God, that's terrible'. He was a very, very self-critical author." Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Click on the TalkBack button and go to the ZDNet news forums. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom. And read other letters.

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