Time an illusion for new instalment

Eion Colfer. Photo / Supplied

As Sebastian Faulks discovered when he penned a brand new James Bond adventure last year, assuming the mantle of a much-loved author can be a dangerous gambit. His Devil May Care topped bestseller charts but received mixed reviews from critics and dedicated followers alike.

Now Artemis Fowl creator Eoin Colfer is risking the wrath of an even more sensitive fanbase - he has written the first new instalment in the late Douglas Adams' classic sci-fi comedy series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the publication of the first volume in 1979, And Another Thing was officially launched at Hitchcon, a special day at London's South Bank Centre dedicated to the adventures of the hapless Arthur Dent and his spacefaring cohorts.

"It seems to have been a long time coming," the Irish author says from his home in Wexford, southeast Ireland. "I've been worrying about it for long enough, so I'm looking forward to that period of anxiety being over. Because I usually work on a series, the first book has got a lot of press ... it's a very unusual project and people are really interested in it." Adams' estate and publishers Penguin Books first approached Colfer around 15 months ago.

"I was quite surprised to be asked but once I started thinking about it, I couldn't really not do it. It was a great challenge; I found it hard to say no." The 44-year-old has fond memories of the original The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which was broadcast on BBC Radio Four in 1978 before making the transition to print and other media.

"When you realise it was a radio series it makes perfect sense, because if you read it aloud, it reads very well and that's something that I tried to get across," says Colfer, who imagined his story being read by Simon Jones, who played Arthur Dent in the 1980s BBC television series.

"That kind of helped me to write it. But it really is quite unique, as it's appeared in almost every media form. It's been a Hollywood film, a comic book, an internet game and even a musical on ice at one stage. It really has been through the mill as regards to having nine lives."

As a teenager, Colfer was attracted by Adams' anarchic view of life. "Hitchhiker's was really all about a rebellion against bureaucracy and the powers that be but done in a very funny way," he says. "I was also big into science fiction at the time but it was all really worthy and serious. And then Douglas came along and shook things up."

Colfer was apparently chosen to write the new book because Adams' daughter was a fan of his work. It has also been said that the two authors share a Monty Python-esque sense of humour. "People say I have a little bit of Douglas in my books," he says. "We both like dropping somebody normal into completely ridiculous situations."

And Another Thing will introduce the children's novelist to an older audience. "It is a little bit more adult. The style is slightly more convoluted and the story doesn't have to be so traditional. You can fly off on tangents and you can have more plot strands, maybe four or five at once instead of just one or two. It is a little bit more complex but not too much. I didn't have to radically overhaul what I do but I had a little bit more freedom." Penguin have been tight-lipped about the exact contents of And Another Thing, not making review copies available until after publication.

According to Colfer, the novel begins shortly after the end of the fifth volume, Mostly Harmless (1992), which culminated with the majority of the cast perishing as the Earth was blown up yet again. "My first task was to resurrect them in a way that was entertaining but not too obvious," says Colfer.

"That was the challenge I set myself, if I could bring these guys back in a way that I find interesting then I'd go ahead and do the book. I also wanted to bring back some beloved characters that hadn't been around for a while. Zaphod Beeblebrox hadn't been in the last two books, so I've brought him back in what I think is his rightful place as one of the lead characters."

However, Colfer has endeavoured to ensure that And Another Thing is a good book in its own right and is not merely a pastiche of Adams' distinctive vision. "It was a tricky line to walk, where you want to do something in your own voice but still be very sympathetic to Douglas' work. That was the style I was going for, an amalgamation of the two. I didn't think it was a good idea to mimic Douglas. He was such a brilliant writer that it wouldn't be easy to successfully do that, except for maybe a paragraph or two.

Every now and then I'd throw in a little Adams-esque paragraph with an in-joke or two as a nod to him."

* And Another Thing (Penguin/Michael Joseph $45)