Douglas Adams: The First and Last Tapes

From: http://www.darkermatter.com/issue1/douglas_adams.php


Almost 28 years ago, a young (27) and still overdrawn Douglas Adams was poised on the brink of fame. The first radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy had been released ("Escaped," was more the word, according to Douglas) and largely ignored in a late night slot on BBC Radio 4. It had then been repeated at a less perverse time, gathering listeners and momentum as the six episodes unfolded. But the books, the second radio series, the TV show and the long, long-delayed movie version were still to come.

Douglas Adams had done a handful of short interview pieces, most of which had just pinched his jokes and ignored his opinions. But when freelance reporter Ian Shircore got the chance to spend several hours with him under cover of an unlikely feature for Penthouse magazine, Adams found himself with half a day to ruminate, pontificate and smoke too many cigarettes in the cluttered office where he was earning a crust as script editor for the Tom Baker-era Dr Who. Apart from the few column inches Penthouse was able to accommodate, these tapes, from 1979, have lain unpublished ever since. They are being released now, in three parts, to mark the first issue of Darker Matter, the online magazine that brings you the best new SF short stories from around the world.


Click on the top link for more.

Thanks for the link.

"Kurt Vonnegut, who I think is absolutely superb. I've read The Sirens of Titan six times now, and it gets better every time. He is an influence, I must own up. Sirens of Titan is just one of those books – you read it through the first time and you think it's very loosely, casually written. You think the fact that everything suddenly makes such good sense at the end is almost accidental. And then you read it a few more times, simultaneously finding out more about writing yourself, and you realise what an absolute tour de force it was, making something as beautifully honed as that appear so casual."


Who would have thunk it. I've often described Vonnegut as the Greatest American writer. I think he is a true genius.

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Originally Posted by JPaul

Thanks for the link.

"Kurt Vonnegut, who I think is absolutely superb. I've read The Sirens of Titan six times now, and it gets better every time. He is an influence, I must own up. Sirens of Titan is just one of those books – you read it through the first time and you think it's very loosely, casually written. You think the fact that everything suddenly makes such good sense at the end is almost accidental. And then you read it a few more times, simultaneously finding out more about writing yourself, and you realise what an absolute tour de force it was, making something as beautifully honed as that appear so casual."


Who would have thunk it. I've often described Vonnegut as the Greatest American writer. I think he is a true genius.

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Agreed! Slaughterhouse-Five is my fave! I love how the central protagonist
Billy,never knows what part of his life he's about to visit,leaving him with perpetually shaken nerves.

Peace bd

If I were to pick one of his books I would go with God Bless You Mr Rosewater. Possibly because it's the first one I read and was probably the first book I read without being forced to. It may not be his best but it is the most special to me. It's possibly the most special book by anyone, to me.

Though that might have to be The Hitch Hikers Guide. I'm not sure that counts tho' as it wasn't originally a novel.