I've been an Adams fan for a long time. But only really appreciated the depth of his intellect as I got older.

 

I just finished re-reading the Bromiliad Trilogy and so many references in it pertain to today. I think Douglas had the pulse of humanity. Now I have moved on to Mark Twain - same thing goes for him.

 

Sounds good. I'll have to keep an eye out for that book.

 

It's funny, I'm also a big Adams fan and may be the only person I know that enjoyed the movie adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide.

It wasn't Adams, but I liked it anyway. So much for my taste.

 

Don't Panic.

Or do, actually. The film version sucked.

 

99% of writing in all genres is crap. SF is no better or worse.

Good:
Peter F. Hamilton
David Brin
Greg Bear
Greg Benford
Stephen R. Donaldson
John Varley
etc.

But Hitchhiker's Guide is my Bible. Shame about the movie.

 

I like the movie. It's certainly better than the TV series.

 

"Most science fiction is poorly written."
I would posit that, in general, most fiction is poorly written; science fiction is no exception to this tendancy.

Shit, most writing is written poorly.

I was also an Adams fan, although I found his later, more bitter work less palatable than his earlier stuff.

Although, as fiction, his Hitchhiker series seemed more of a loosely strung together series of comic tableaus than a plot driven bit of writing. The funny ideas came fast and I loved 'em.

 

Ay, someone else made my first point. That'll teach me to comment prior to peruzing those that came before. Off I slink.

 

Finally, my Scottish hippie friend posts (or re-posts, as it were) some things on which I consider myself somewhat of an expert. To wit;

1) The ever-increasing mis-named Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy, and,

2) Bad movies

As for the first subject, I first read Hitchhiker while in high school, and last re-read the quintology over the course of a summer's days spent on a bench in Hyde Park (I didn't spend the entire summer on that bench, but it was my favorite reading spot.)His tongue-in-cheek absurdism affects to this day my own writing, which isn't nearly as successful or filled with cricket references, but which serves the purpose of keeping me off the streets.

As for the second subject, well, I must admit that I'm a fan of the worst of the worst. That said, while the adaptation of Hitchhiker didn't crack my Top Ten Bottom Ten list (btw, "Highlander II" is the standard by which I measure all bad movies,) it did gain immortaility by joining my "DVD Collection of Shame."

I mean, Mos Def as Ford Prefect? That was a role Steve Buscemi was BORN to play!

 

It wasn't a bad film, but neither was it great. To be honest the original format - the radio play - remains the best in my eyes (ears?).

SF writing is shit? Yes, a lot of it but thats only the populist crap. There is some very intelligent and beautifully crafted SF writing - Philip K. Dick is my favourite, Julian May more recently... even some of J. G. Ballard's early stuff can be considered SF, not to mention Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'...

Yes, you may not consider that last one Science Fiction, but most 'Sci-Fi' fans don't consider what they read to be Science Fiction either... it's such a crap catch-all term!

 

my brother has been begging me to read Adams. i don't read much science fiction, but i am going to have to check it out

 

i LOVE the lines about fools - WONDERFUL.
i have actually NEVER read him (i will now), but coincidentially enough, just watched (some of) the movie. i was at my dad's (he has on demand cable and i do not have cable at all) and it was on. IT WAS HORRID, HORRID i tell you

i DID see both versions of 'the vanishing' by the way. the dutch one first (i'm a foreign movie addict) and i couldn't believe my eyes when i saw the american version. why bother, you're right!

didn't see cruise's war of the worlds and won't if i can help it (i'm NOT a fan)

thanks for posting a link to adams' short story. i shall read it this weekend!

 

lefty - the subtleties in it are amazing. it is one thing to explain some fo the concepts he does but it is another thing to be funny while doing it.

mary - i like twain too. a connecticut yankee in king arthurs court is v funny

kvatch - i am still wondering whether i should go and see the whole thing. i just don't want to ruin the books for myself

D Kid - i quite liked the tv series. especially the animations

delescluze - i am ashamed to sayi have not read any of the books you mentioned tho i have heard of them all

Safet (and everyone) - try 'last chance to see' which is his non-fiction book. i think it could be his best

Rex - that is possibly the worst movie ever made

biny - i've got the albums, which are slightly different to the radio

graeme - its worth it

rose - that short story had me rolling about.