Douglas Adams

[Creep]

I'm a huge fan of PTerry and Douglas Adams. I realized yesterday that I've
seen a few quotes from PTerry teasing Adams and I was wondering if the two
were as friendly as they seemed. If so, I was also wondering if anyone here
knows of any interview or blurb out on the net where he addresses Adams's
passing? I've seen things from others, like Neil Gaiman, but have yet to
find anything from PTerry. As a fan of both men's works, I'm really
interested to see what he had, or has, to say on Adam's untimely death.

Chalie


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[Daibhid Ceannaideach]

From: "Creep" ***@_hotmail_._com
Date: 26/10/04 11:16 GMT Daylight Time

Post by Creep
I'm a huge fan of PTerry and Douglas Adams. I realized yesterday that I've
seen a few quotes from PTerry teasing Adams and I was wondering if the two
were as friendly as they seemed.

How friendly did they seem? Pterry only met Adams once, and they didn't have a
chance to talk properly.

Post by Creep
If so, I was also wondering if anyone here
knows of any interview or blurb out on the net where he addresses Adams's
passing? I've seen things from others, like Neil Gaiman, but have yet to
find anything from PTerry. As a fan of both men's works, I'm really
interested to see what he had, or has, to say on Adam's untimely death.

http://groups.google.com/groups?&selm=6l0XriAykwB7EAoP%40unseen.demon.co.uk

[Creep]

Post by Daibhid Ceannaideach
How friendly did they seem? Pterry only met Adams once, and they didn't have a
chance to talk properly.

I had read these quotes on the L-Space, a friend of mine said that these
sort of things always popped up with PTerry as a matter of friendly teasing.
I was misinformed, and it's interesting to hear the truth behind the matter.

" most SF writers are small blokes; they spent a lot of time grubbing around
on the floor for old SF mags, not stretching up to the top shelf for
pornography ... As an aside Douglas Adams is quite tall ..." -- Terry
Pratchett, Warwick Uni (10.11.94)

"I don't think I've ever been critical of the money Douglas Adams makes,
especially since, as has been tactfully pointed out, I myself have had to
change banks having filled the first one up."-- (Terry Pratchett,
alt.fan.pratchett)


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[MJ Simpson]

Post by Creep
I'm a huge fan of PTerry and Douglas Adams. I realized yesterday that I've
seen a few quotes from PTerry teasing Adams and I was wondering if the two
were as friendly as they seemed. If so, I was also wondering if anyone here
knows of any interview or blurb out on the net where he addresses Adams's
passing? I've seen things from others, like Neil Gaiman, but have yet to
find anything from PTerry. As a fan of both men's works, I'm really
interested to see what he had, or has, to say on Adam's untimely death.

TP was a big fan of DNA. DNA never read anything by TP.

This is TP summing up DNA in 42 words for the new 25th Anniversary
deluxe edition of HHGG:

"I met Douglas just once, at a crowded, noisy party. He said ‘Pardon?'
I said ‘Sorry?' and the press of guests separated us. I wish they
hadn't. When I heard the world had become significantly emptier, I
sang the Betelgeusian Death Anthem."

People assume that they knew each other because they're often compared
and their readerships overlap a great deal, but they did indeed only
meet once, very briefly, as described above. The party was, I believe,
the premiere of the film Congo.

MJ Simpson
author of 'Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams'
www.planetmagrathea.com

[Steve Rumney]

Post by MJ Simpson

Post by Creep
I'm a huge fan of PTerry and Douglas Adams. I realized yesterday that I've
seen a few quotes from PTerry teasing Adams and I was wondering if the two
were as friendly as they seemed. If so, I was also wondering if anyone here
knows of any interview or blurb out on the net where he addresses Adams's
passing? I've seen things from others, like Neil Gaiman, but have yet to
find anything from PTerry. As a fan of both men's works, I'm really
interested to see what he had, or has, to say on Adam's untimely death.

TP was a big fan of DNA. DNA never read anything by TP.
This is TP summing up DNA in 42 words for the new 25th Anniversary
"I met Douglas just once, at a crowded, noisy party. He said ‘Pardon?'
I said ‘Sorry?' and the press of guests separated us. I wish they
hadn't. When I heard the world had become significantly emptier, I
sang the Betelgeusian Death Anthem."
People assume that they knew each other because they're often compared
and their readerships overlap a great deal, but they did indeed only
meet once, very briefly, as described above. The party was, I believe,
the premiere of the film Congo.
MJ Simpson
author of 'Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams'
www.planetmagrathea.com

There was a "press of guest" for the premiere of "Congo"? Surely you jest.

Cheers

Steve

[Jonathan Ellis]

Post by Steve Rumney

Post by MJ Simpson

Post by Creep
I'm a huge fan of PTerry and Douglas Adams. I realized yesterday that I've
seen a few quotes from PTerry teasing Adams and I was wondering if the two
were as friendly as they seemed. If so, I was also wondering if anyone here
knows of any interview or blurb out on the net where he addresses Adams's
passing? I've seen things from others, like Neil Gaiman, but have yet to
find anything from PTerry. As a fan of both men's works, I'm really
interested to see what he had, or has, to say on Adam's untimely death.

TP was a big fan of DNA. DNA never read anything by TP.
This is TP summing up DNA in 42 words for the new 25th Anniversary
"I met Douglas just once, at a crowded, noisy party. He said

‘Pardon?'

Post by Steve Rumney

Post by MJ Simpson
I said ‘Sorry?' and the press of guests separated us. I wish they
hadn't. When I heard the world had become significantly emptier, I
sang the Betelgeusian Death Anthem."
People assume that they knew each other because they're often compared
and their readerships overlap a great deal, but they did indeed only
meet once, very briefly, as described above. The party was, I believe,
the premiere of the film Congo.
MJ Simpson
author of 'Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams'
www.planetmagrathea.com

There was a "press of guest" for the premiere of "Congo"? Surely you jest.

Well, maybe if there was just one guest, but he was very very fat...

Jonathan.

[MJ Simpson]

Post by Steve Rumney
There was a "press of guest" for the premiere of "Congo"? Surely you jest.

Two things:

It's the *premiere* so by definition nobody has yet had a chance to
find out if it's any good or not.

Do you really think anyone goes to a premiere to actually see the
film? (Clue: free drinks)

MJ Simpson
www.planetmagrathea.com

[Terry Pratchett]

Post by MJ Simpson
TP was a big fan of DNA. DNA never read anything by TP.
This is TP summing up DNA in 42 words for the new 25th Anniversary
"I met Douglas just once, at a crowded, noisy party. He said ‘Pardon?'
I said ‘Sorry?' and the press of guests separated us. I wish they
hadn't. When I heard the world had become significantly emptier, I
sang the Betelgeusian Death Anthem."
People assume that they knew each other because they're often compared
and their readerships overlap a great deal, but they did indeed only
meet once, very briefly, as described above. The party was, I believe,
the premiere of the film Congo.

Correct in every detail. As to his death, the quoted piece is quite
true; I was in Chicago on a signing tour when I read the brief piece in
USA Today and the room went cold....

We dynamically *failed* to meet on numerous occasions, the strangest
being a college dinner in Oxford which took place in some of the
filthiest weather I can remember, with dirt freezing fog turning driving
into an exercise in Braille. I made it only because I had 20 miles to
cover. He would have been coming from London, and didn't turn up. We
had been seated opposite one another.

I regret that we never had a *real* meeting. I'm not at all sure we
would have got on, though. I don't mean that we'd have been natural
enemies, just that our backgrounds and approaches were so wildly
different that we'd run out of conversation.

You will look in vain for any comment by me more 'negative' than lines
already quoted here, which were made in talk to fans and were delivered
-- and quite rightly taken-- as jokes. I have endured the occasion
sniping by one or two of his chums, and been 'helpfully' told that he
hated me, but I believe that this was just stirring by people projecting
onto DNA what they *thought* he ought to think.

[Jeff]

Post by Terry Pratchett
You will look in vain for any comment by me more 'negative' than lines
already quoted here, which were made in talk to fans and were delivered
-- and quite rightly taken-- as jokes. I have endured the occasion
sniping by one or two of his chums, and been 'helpfully' told that he
hated me, but I believe that this was just stirring by people projecting
onto DNA what they *thought* he ought to think.

Well, at the risk of sounding like a total PTerry suck-up, Adams shot
forth from the gate like a meteor with the first "HG" book. To give
Adams his due, he really did re-invent the genre of SF-parody and you
can't discount his influence on similar efforts that followed. That
said, Adams seemed to peak with the first HG book, and the series very
quickly ran downhill to a state of near un-readability by the last
books.

Conversely, the DW books started off on a pretty shallow footing and
have continued to break new ground, book after book. That, after over
20 years and more than 20 books, PTerry can still come up with
breathtakingly new concepts such as those in "Thief of Time," "Night
Watch" and "Going Postal," clearly demonstrates a mucher deeper
creative well than Adams ever had.

Jeff in Boston

[Amarantha]

... Adams seemed to peak with the first HG book, and the series very
quickly ran downhill to a state of near un-readability by the last
books.
... That, after over
20 years and more than 20 books, PTerry can still come up with
breathtakingly new concepts such as those in "Thief of Time," "Night
Watch" and "Going Postal," clearly demonstrates a mucher deeper
creative well than Adams ever had.

I wouldn't say that makes you a suck-up, but perhaps a little uninformed
about Adams (which is fair enough). The first book was born from the radio
scripts, for which DNA would write several pages, condense them down to
half a page of the funniest bits, and repeat. The subsequent books were
written in a different environment, with fans demanding more books and
publishers wanting more profits. Unlike Terry, DNA didn't enjoy writing
very much, so he'd procrastinate until his editor locked him in a hotel
room and wouldn't let him out until he'd finished a book. Hence the less
polished quality of the later hitch-hiker ones. Mind you, I thought the
Dirk Gently books and "Last Chance to See" were very bloody good :)

K

[The Gonzo Lager]

This post might be inappropriate. Click to display it.

[Nigel Waite]

Post by The Gonzo Lager
On 15 Nov 2004 23:41:22 GMT, Amarantha

Post by Amarantha
Unlike Terry, DNA didn't enjoy writing
very much, so he'd procrastinate until his editor locked him in a hotel
room and wouldn't let him out until he'd finished a book. Hence the less
polished quality of the later hitch-hiker ones.

It has been said by some that DNA[1] was more of an idea person. He'd
come up with something completely brilliant and want to move on to the
next idea. He also wanted to be a writer/performer much in the same
vein as his hero, John Cleese. Unfortunately, most folks wanted him to
write and this was something he didn't want to do.

I think he found being a novel-writer too lonely and/or distracting.
During the period when he was script-editor for Dr Who and working on
the second HH Radio Series, he was extremely productive.

Post by The Gonzo Lager
IIRC, MH has written when he was in a terrible state of mind, so the
assumed middle finger to the fans shouldn't be taken at face value.

And also against the publishing industry - i.e. his comment about the
world where all novels stop dead after exactly 100,000 words.

Cheers,
Nigel.

[Nigel Waite]

Post by Amarantha

... Adams seemed to peak with the first HG book, and the series very
quickly ran downhill to a state of near un-readability by the last
books.
... That, after over
20 years and more than 20 books, PTerry can still come up with
breathtakingly new concepts such as those in "Thief of Time," "Night
Watch" and "Going Postal," clearly demonstrates a mucher deeper
creative well than Adams ever had.

I wouldn't say that makes you a suck-up, but perhaps a little uninformed
about Adams (which is fair enough). The first book was born from the radio
scripts, for which DNA would write several pages, condense them down to
half a page of the funniest bits, and repeat. The subsequent books were
written in a different environment, with fans demanding more books and
publishers wanting more profits. Unlike Terry, DNA didn't enjoy writing
very much, so he'd procrastinate until his editor locked him in a hotel
room and wouldn't let him out until he'd finished a book. Hence the less
polished quality of the later hitch-hiker ones. Mind you, I thought the
Dirk Gently books and "Last Chance to See" were very bloody good :)

I strongly agree. Adams "shot forth from the gate" with the Radio
Series - it was truly ground-breaking. Jeff, if you enjoyed the first
two books, then you should definitiely get hold of the radio series.

The BBC have recently finished broadcasting a new series, based upon
_Life, the Universe and Everything_, which was also pretty good [1].

I have to say that I think that Terry received something of a boost in
the early days [2] from the combination of Adam's popularity and his
inability to write as many novels as his fans wanted. I should think
that quite a few people [3] enjoyed HHGG, went looking for something
similar, and found the Discworld [4].

Cheers,
Nigel.


[1] It even managed to explain the discontinuity between the second
radio series and the third book by having a Bobby-Ewing-in-the-Shower
type scene.

[2] When Discworld was still a trilogy.

[3] Including many outside the SF-reading community

[4] yes, I was that fan.

[B]

Post by Nigel Waite
I have to say that I think that Terry received something of a boost in
the early days [2] from the combination of Adam's popularity and his
inability to write as many novels as his fans wanted. I should think
that quite a few people [3] enjoyed HHGG, went looking for something
similar, and found the Discworld [4].
[4] yes, I was that fan.

Me too :)

Actually the first time I heard about DW, this guy went on about
a disk shaped world on top of a turtle blah blah blah. I sort of
tuned him out until he compared it to H^2G^2. That made me
go out and seek it ... (and so many years later my library consists of
about 50% TP, and 50% everything else).

To this day, when I try to explain DW to non-believers, and start
getting glazed over looks, I cut it short and say TP is to Fantasy
what DA is to Sci-Fi. If they don't even get this analogy, I just
give up.

B

[Brad Sondahl]

Post by Terry Pratchett

Post by MJ Simpson
TP was a big fan of DNA. DNA never read anything by TP.
This is TP summing up DNA in 42 words for the new 25th Anniversary
"I met Douglas just once, at a crowded, noisy party. He said ‘Pardon?'
I said ‘Sorry?' and the press of guests separated us. I wish they
hadn't. When I heard the world had become significantly emptier, I
sang the Betelgeusian Death Anthem."
People assume that they knew each other because they're often compared
and their readerships overlap a great deal, but they did indeed only
meet once, very briefly, as described above. The party was, I believe,
the premiere of the film Congo.

Correct in every detail. As to his death, the quoted piece is quite
true; I was in Chicago on a signing tour when I read the brief piece in
USA Today and the room went cold....
We dynamically *failed* to meet on numerous occasions, the strangest
being a college dinner in Oxford which took place in some of the
filthiest weather I can remember, with dirt freezing fog turning driving
into an exercise in Braille. I made it only because I had 20 miles to
cover. He would have been coming from London, and didn't turn up. We
had been seated opposite one another.
I regret that we never had a *real* meeting. I'm not at all sure we
would have got on, though. I don't mean that we'd have been natural
enemies, just that our backgrounds and approaches were so wildly
different that we'd run out of conversation.
You will look in vain for any comment by me more 'negative' than lines
already quoted here, which were made in talk to fans and were delivered
-- and quite rightly taken-- as jokes. I have endured the occasion
sniping by one or two of his chums, and been 'helpfully' told that he
hated me, but I believe that this was just stirring by people projecting
onto DNA what they *thought* he ought to think.
--
Terry Pratchett

His animus, if true, just goes to prove the dictum that there's no accounting
for taste.
You both have been awe inspiring... Of the two, yours the gentler hand.
Brad Sondahl

--
For original art, music, pottery, and literature, visit my homepage
http://sondahl.com

To reply to me directly, don't forget to take out the "garbage" from my
address.




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[Baba Yaga]

Post by Terry Pratchett
I have endured the occasion
sniping by one or two of his chums, and been 'helpfully' told that he
hated me, but I believe that this was just stirring by people projecting
onto DNA what they *thought* he ought to think.

<<snort>> Granted I'm no authority (!), but he didn't strike me as
one of the world's natural haters, any more than you do.

I had to think about that for a minute, and concluded that wrath at
the things which merit wrath is another thing entirely. It's part of
caring.

Baba Yaga

[Aleks A.-Lessmann]

Post by Terry Pratchett
with dirt freezing fog turning driving
into an exercise in Braille.

What a great sentence, love it!

Thanks for a smile in the morning,
Aleks