Mike ([info]hawkstone) wrote,
@ 2009-05-25 12:50:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend  Next Entry
Current location:At work with many towels

So Long And Thanks For All The Fish
 Hoopy Towel Day!



Do you know a sixth, posthumous Hitchhiker's installment is being written?  I'm not sure how to feel about that.

On the one hand, I didn't much like Mostly Harmless and I'm happy to have a sixth book.

On the other, I think that creative projects that come from only one creator--like HItchhiker's, or the Asimov novels--should end when the creator dies.  Follow-up work by a different creator never seems to have the same voice, and I doubt it would have the same vision, unless the dead author left very good notes or happens to walk the living earth as a revenant.  I include comic strips in that category, even though I doubt Jim Davis has been solely responsible for Garfield for quite a long time now.

Things like Star Trek or Doctor Who, that have always had multiple creators, take on a life of their own.  But Hitchhiker's was always very much the voice of Douglas Adams.


(1 comment) - (Post a new comment)


[info]pixelfish
2009-05-25 09:16 pm UTC (link)
Happy Towel Day. That's a very appropriate towel.

I'm unsure as to how I feel about another Hitchhiker's Book. This would get into my feelings on copyright extension. Now Adams died relatively young, so y'know, I'm not terribly sad about the idea that his daughter (age 6 at the time of his death, probably about 14ish now) will be provided for by ongoing sales of his books. But then you have cases like Frank Herbert's son, very much a sentient and functional adult at the time of his father's death, and while legally he has the right to putter around in his dad's universes, while telling everyone else to keep their hands off....meh. So very meh.

Should my books ever get published, I think I'd like to make a provision for the rights going into the public domain upon my death, unless I have a child that needs to get through college or has been injured in a terrible accident and has ongoing medical needs.

It's not the voice so much that bothers me. I've seen adaptations of Shakespeare's work that probably don't have his voice, but amused or touched. I guess I tend to resent what I see as a sort of creative strip mining after ones death. Let the work be free and gain immortality that way.

(Reply to this)

(1 comment) - (Post a new comment)

Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…