ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha

I Was Douglas Adams' Flatmate - BBC Radio 4 - 24 Jun 2009, 18:30

2009-06-18T06:41:58Z

A repeat broadcast for the show originally from December 2008.

Jon Carter reveals what it was like living with the writer of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Many of the mundane details of their various flat-shares have become the stuff of legend, from Douglas's long bath-times to his endless playing of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights. With contributions by other flatmates and Professor Richard Dawkins.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fzblz

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Don't Panic 2009: Douglas Adams and "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

2009-06-07T08:50:58Z

Neil Gaiman's book on Hitchhiker's is getting a fourth edition (and a fourth title). The 2009 version is being "revised and updated with new info on the film and the 30th anniversary of the publication of The Hitchhiker's Guide." No details on who is doing this yet.

ISBN-13: 9781848564961
Publication Date: 11th September 2009

Gaiman's original 1988 book was called Don't Panic: The Official Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion. The 1993 update, Don't Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, had extra material from David K Dickson, and then Don't Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was published in 2002 after M J Simpson updated the material further.

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Fry and Carwardine - Last Chance to See Event

2009-06-06T18:33:00Z

Save the Rhino have an update from Mark Carwardine and Stephen Fry about the Northern white rhino. It will take place on Tuesday 27 October 2009 at 19:30 at the Royal Geographical Society, London. Tickets will be available from the beginning of July.

Details at http://www.savetherhino.org/eTargetSRINM/site/1097/default.aspx

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Another Towel Day Competition

2009-05-25T08:35:07Z

The US publishers are having a competition to win one of their Don't Panic towels via Twitter.
See http://twitter.com/PartSixofThree
Be aware that they say they will only ship the towels to the US.

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Towel Day Competition

2009-05-25T07:46:46Z

Pan Macmillan and magazine SciFiNow are having a photo competition on Flickr, and you can win all sorts of stuff including towels.

See http://www.flickr.com/groups/toweldaycompetition/

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Clive Anderson - Save the Rhino Appeal

2009-05-20T06:28:29Z

Clive will be on BBC Radio 4 this Sunday making an appeal in aid of three environmental education programmes supported by Save the Rhino International.

The appeal will be broadcast at 07:55 and 21:26 on Sunday 24th, as well as 15:27 on Thursday 28th. It should be available after broadcast via: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnc7/episodes/2009

The Save The Rhino webpage says Clive was inspired by the "late, great Douglas Adams, who spoke and wrote about the plight of one of the rhino species in his radio series and book, 'Last Chance to See.'"

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Kakapo Encounter 2009

2009-05-17T08:51:50Z

Gareth at the Another Chance to See blog reports that the Kakapo Encounter programme will run between September 26 and October 26 this year.

Kakapo Encounter gives you the opportunity to see a Kakapo (Sirocco) in the flesh on Ulva Island, New Zealand. If you book by the end of June there is an "early bird" discount.

More details at the Kakapo Encounter website.

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Colfer in Conversation in Dublin on Sunday 17th May

2009-05-11T10:48:50Z

On Sunday 17th May at the National Gallery in Merrion Square West and Clare Street, Dublin 2 between 13.30 and 14.30 Eoin Colfer will be in conversation with Robert Dunbar as part of the Children's Books Ireland Summer Conference.

The blurb for the session says: "Following the success of previous in-conversation sessions, Robert Dunbar returns to the CBI conference, this time to interview acclaimed author Eoin Colfer. Benny and Omar, Artemis Fowl and Airman will all be up for discussion, along with Eoin’s many other fantastic creations - and there may be even be time for a few questions about his new Hitchhiker’s Guide title as well!"

The conference is a little bit pricy if you just want to go for the Colfer chat, but I expect there will be press coverage after the event to look out for.

Sources:
http://eoincolfer.com/news/events/dublin-2009-05-17/253/
http://www.childrensbooks.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=180&Itemid=368

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Dirk Gently's Third Radio Series

2009-05-06T06:59:17Z

The Stage is reporting that "Spice World writer Kim Fuller has been enlisted to adapt and complete Douglas Adams’ final and unfinished Dirk Gently novel for BBC Radio 4."

The six part series is scheduled for broadcast in the summer of 2010.

Source: http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/24312/douglas-adams-final-dirk-gently-novel-to-be

Fuller is credited for work on The Utterly Utterly Merry Comic Relief Christmas Book which was co-edited by Douglas Adams, and his recent writing includes the Radio 4 medieval comedy, The Castle, so it not just known for Spice World.

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Memorial Hitchhike

2009-05-05T06:42:41Z

A German fan is setting off today from Rambin in the north of Germany to hitchhike to Highgate Cemetey.
He will be blogging the experience at http://meandmytowel.blogspot.com/

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Dirk Maggs at SFL8 talking Comedy SF

2009-04-09T06:44:05Z

Sci-Fi-London 8, the London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film, runs from April 29 to May 4. Dirk Maggs is part of a panel called Comedy and Satire in Science Fiction and Fantasy which is on Sunday May 3, at 12:30. Also on the panel will be Robert Rankin, Nick Harkaway and Neil Gardner. After the panel is The Brightonomicon - LIVE, which includes Robert Rankin and producer Neil Gardner.

The description on the event website says: "What makes the sci-fi/fantasy genre different when it comes to writing comedy? What can you do in the genre that you cannot do in straightforward fiction? And if we are doomed, are we likely to go out with a gag? These uniquely funny writers share some insight on the challenges of writing comedy in a sci-fi/fantasy setting."
See http://www.sci-fi-london.com/festival/2009/programme/lab/literature/comedy-and-satire-in-science-fiction-and-fantasy.php

There is a whole series of talks at the film festival under the "SCI Lab" label, these are divided into Science, Film and Literature sections. See http://www.sci-fi-london.com/festival/2009/programme/lab/

As Maggs adapted, produced and directed the last three Hitchhiker radio series I imagine that topic might come up.

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha

Changing How We Consider the Universe

2009-04-01T14:25:34Z

Members of the University of Leicester's Department of Physics and Astronomy were today sent the link below. It is a scientific paper based on the Galaxy Zoo project and it is of Earth-shattering importance. I urge you all to give it a try...

http://arxiv.org/abs/0903.5377 (click the links on the right-hand side to see the paper)

Hitchhiker's News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha

Beeblebear Picnic at Eastercon

2009-03-31T05:51:53Z

If you go down to the real ale bar today you're in for a big surprise. Well actually you're probably not. I doubt any fan would look twice at a bunch of three armed and two headed bears having a picnic in the bar.

At Eastercon, 15:30 on Saturday (April 11th) afternoon the two headed bears and a bunch of ZZ9 peeps will be gathering in the real ale bar near the dealers room.

Be there or be in one of the other places - it's your choice.

We'll be there though and we have the bears and the alcohol.

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

New Pan Editions of Trilogy

2009-03-20T17:38:08Z

The new Pan editions of the trilogy of five that are being published in September, the month before the sixth Hitchhiker book, have forewards by: Russell T Davies - The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Terry Jones - The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe, Richard Dawkins - Life, the Universe and Everything, Stephen Fry - So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish and Dirk Maggs - Mostly Harmless. One of the books will have an afterword by Simon Brett, I presume the first but that remains to be confirmed.

Versions of the covers are up on Amazon, but as only the first has the name of the foreword writer these are probably not the final versions.

Links to those pages can be found on ZZ9's Hitchhiker Diary along with details of other events of interest to Douglas Adams fans.

The cover of the first book is just a starfield and the book will have a set of stickers allowing the user to create their own DIY cover. The twelve sticker pictures are: a Vogon, a pair of white mice, a Guide, a traffic cone, an earth, a bulldozer, a Vogon poetry book, a towel, a mug of tea, a Bablefish, a 42 and a Marvin's head. The cartoon style of the stickers is the same as the covers on the other four books.

More in the next edition of MH.

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

The Radiophonic Workshop Live at The Roundhouse

2009-03-18T07:28:20Z

Peter Howell - Paddy Kingsland - Roger Limb - Dick Mills - Mark Ayres

The Radiophonic Workshop get together again to explore Radiophonics past, present, and future. Old and new innovative electronica for a large arena combines with live performance and multimedia projections.

19:00 17th May 2009, The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, London, NW1 8EH

See http://www.roundhouse.org.uk/whats-on/productions/bbc-radiophonic-workshop-2979

Paddy Kingsland and Dick Mills worked on Hitchhiker's

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Other Hitchhiker 6 Book Cover Launch Reports

2009-03-12T13:51:02Z

Coverage of the book cover launch from Artemis Fowl Forum and the Penguin Blog.

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Reception

2009-03-10T01:07:59Z

So, the evening that Penguin planned has been and has gone. During the evening, I met several people - a wonderful young woman at Penguin who is a massive fan of the Guide, two of the people involved in the marketing side of things, three of the women in sales, Maggie Phillips (who works for Ed Victor, the agency who represented Douglas whilst he was still alive), Eoin Colfer's agent and editor, a chap called Colin who writes Penguin's blurbs, and Eoin Colfer himself (it's pronounced Owen, by the way).

Of note are the costumes that certain people were wearing during the night (I counted two or three dressing gowns and a Disaster Area groupie!), and the general ambience of the room was very authentic - it felt like something straight out of the set of the BBC TV series and there is no higher authenticity than that! Pink and blue lights combined with a smoke machine gave a very other-worldly feel to an extremely good setup for the reception, and the exotic looking cocktails being served just added to the effect.

I talked to some people throughout the night who have had the luck to read Part 6 of 3, and I was struck by how positive they all seemed about the novel - not just people connected to Eoin, but also Maggie Phillips, who has been involved with Douglas' works since he was connected to Ed Victor, if I recall correctly. This has really boosted my hopes for the novel, and although I'm still being cautious in my optimism, I'm looking forward to reading it.

Three speeches were made during the evening - one was by Eoin Colfer, and the other two by execs at Penguin. The first exec talked about this being 'the most important sequel in publishing history', citing figures that put Douglas Adams' total sales at 16m books and Eoin Colfer's total sales at 18m. The second exec talked about the dustjacket for the new novel (to be found at the end of this story!) and also talked about a collaboration with Pan Macmillan, the company responsible for publishing the first five novels in the series. They will be relaunching each of those books, one per month, in the months leading up to the launch of the sixth novel, and the first of these novels will have a sheet of stickers in the front. I kid you not!

In terms of the contents of book #6, Eoin described his experiences of the Guide throughout his younger years (more details can be found in my Twittering on the subject) and also talked about how the sixth novel will start. If ZZ9 are allowed to report on that, more detail will be found in our magazine next issue, along with competitions to win one of the exclusive goody bags given out during the evening signed by Eoin Colfer himself!

To end this news story, I would like to provide our members and readers with some very exciting news - the cover for the sixth novel in the increasingly inaccurately named trilogy. Enjoy!

Hitchhiker's Guide news brought to you by ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Penguin Reception Tonight

2009-03-09T12:24:32Z

Tonight, Penguin are holding a reception for a variety of invited people to meet Eoin Colfer and hear the plans for the sixth novel in the increasingly inaccurately named 'trilogy'. ZZ9 are sending me as their correspondent, and I will be reporting back on the evening via the medium of Twitter!

If you would like to be informed of what is happening, simply keep an eye on twitter.com/johncoxon throughout the evening tonight. See you then!

Reminder - The Seventh Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture

2009-02-22T15:30:56Z

Wednesday 11 March 2009
7.30pm (doors open at 6.30pm)
The Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AR

Benedict Allen: "Unbreakable"
Following his recent popular TV series Unbreakable, in which eight athletes were pushed to their mental and physical limits, explorer Benedict Allen takes a look at what helps keep any of us going in the face of disaster. It will be an exciting and often humorous talk, which draws on his own and others' vast experience of living at the extremes and survival in jungles, deserts and the Arctic.

Tickets cost £15 and are available by visiting
http://www.savetherhino.org or calling 020 7357 7474

As MH111 says, it will be likely that from 6pm there will be some ZZ9ers in the Hoop and Toy, 34 Thurloe Place, London, SW7 2HQ. Near South Kensington tube station, the closest to the lecture venue. Non members are always welcome to join us for a drink.

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Black Cinderella Two Goes East - Christmas Day on BBC7

2008-12-19T18:46:02Z

BBC7 have Black Cinderella Two Goes East....or Confessions of a Glass Slipper Tryer Onner on Christmas Day at 11:00 and repeated at 22:00. The pantomime was produced by Douglas Adams and written by Clive Anderson and Rory McGrath - Adams is credited with some addition material. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00g31bq

Fans of the Radiophonic Workshop should be interested in the three hour selection of programmes on BBC7 on Saturday 20th Decemeber at 20:00 (and 03:00 onn Sunday 21st). Some of the works are by Paddy Kingsland. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00g15x3

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Hitchhiker 6 - 12th October 2009

2008-12-19T07:09:20Z

On Eoin Colfer's website the publication date for Hitchhiker 6 has been announced as Monday 12th October 2009 - the 30th anniversary of the publication of the first book of the trilogy.
More at http://eoincolfer.com/news/events/30th-anniversary-of-the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/157/

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

I Was Douglas Adams' Flatmate - BBC Radio 4 16 Dec 2008, 11:30

2008-12-10T08:34:57Z

Jon Carter reveals what it was like living with the writer of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Many of the mundane details of their various flat-shares have become the stuff of legend, from Douglas's long bath-times to his endless playing of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights. With contributions by other flatmates and Professor Richard Dawkins.

BBC Radio 4, 16 Dec 2008, 11:30

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fzblz

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Bronze Vogon Statue in Raffle

2008-12-01T07:41:45Z

Save the Rhino are raffling off a bronze Vogon statue. See - https://rogavi.com/prize/15/
There are some other raffles from the same charity as well - see http://rogavi.com/charity/save-the-rhino/

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Doctor on the Go - Series 2 on DVD

2008-11-28T07:38:11Z

This package from Network contains the Douglas Adams / Graham Chapman scripted episode For Your Own Good, originally broadcast on 20th February 1977.

Details: http://www.networkdvd.net/product_info.php?products_id=728

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Comedy Connections - Geoffrey Perkins - BBC2 Sat 8th Nov

2008-11-01T15:10:55Z

There is a special edition of Comedy Connections being broadcast as a tribute to Geoffrey Perkins that should have some Hitchhiker content.

Radiotimes.com has it listed:

Comedy Connections
Saturday 08 November
9:45pm - 10:30pm
BBC2
Geoffrey Perkins

Comedy writer, performer and producer Geoffrey Perkins had a glorious 30-year career. This Comedy Connections tribute traces his career and sees friends and colleagues pay tribute to his extraordinary sustained success. Starting as a producer at BBC Radio in the late 70s he took The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy on to the airwaves and marked himself out as a name to watch. When he died at the end of August 2008 he had stacked up credits on more than 50 radio and television shows and collaborated with the biggest stars in comedy.

Hitchhiker News from ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.