<!--
	Title: (NEWS feature) Are you ready for... The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe
	Author: Margaret Wertheim
	Source: Big K, v1(10)
	Date: January 1985
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

<img class="float-right" src="/public/img/articles/big-k-douglas-adams-interview/douglas-adams.jpg" alt="Douglas Adams">
<blockquote style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 1.25em;">
MARGARET WERTHEIM remembers her towel, and also doesn't fail to
interview DOUGLAS ADAMS, King of the Pan-Galactic Gargle-blasters
</blockquote>

SITTING IN his study in a house in Islington surrounded by electronics
Douglas Adams, the man who put an interstellar bypass through Planet
Earth, is eagerly trying to get a demo disc of FORTH going on his new
Apple Macintosh. Adams has just finished saying how much he loves the
Mac which he now does most of his writing on. He claims its windows,
icons and mouse offer the most natural tools for the writer.

While we wait for the Mac to accept the disc, which it just doesn't
want to do right away, he explains that he is learning FORTH so he can
write a program to do 3D crosswords. It is a project he began on his
DEC Rainbow, which sits next to his Apricot which sits next to the Mac.
Just why he wants to do 3D crosswords when most of us have enough
trouble with the 2D variety never became clear, but a man who's just
written a novel in three weeks has probably earned the right to indulge
in a bit of mindless character crunching.

*So Long and Thanks for all the Fish* is the fourth and definitely the
last, says Adams, in the *Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy* series. After
two radio series, four novels, a TV series, a forthcoming feature film
and a soon-to-be-released *Hitchhiker's* computer game Adams has decided
to stop playing God with the universe and return to mother Earth.

## MAGRATHEAN EFFORT

Creating new worlds can be hard work and, as Arthur Dent found out, so is
saving them. In *So Long* Arthur finds himself back on Earth and only too
eager to stay. But just when it seems he has hung up his towel forever
the Galaxy gets in his way again. I won't divulge the answer for those
who are longing to know God's Final Message, which is written in huge
fiery letters on the last page, except to say that it's greater than 42.

*So Long*, which was written in a locked hotel room in three weeks, is the
end of an eight-year trek for both Arthur Dent and Douglas Adams. After
the interglactic battles and mega-binging of the first three episodes *So
Long* is a very quiet and intimate book. For some devotees it may prove a
bit disappointing. Neither Zaphod or Trillion appear at all and Marvin
doesn't crop up till the very end when he at last finds a moment of ...
well not quite happiness, but almost.

There are many questions left unanswered: Where are all the dolphins? What
happened to the mice? And just what became of the interstellar bypass?
DON'T PANIC there's plenty of room for another sequel should Arthur/Adams
ever decide to pick up his towel/pen again.

## 42 AND COUNTING...

Adams doesn't really think of the series as SF despite its setting. He
refers to himself as a comedy writer who wandered into SF by accident. He
says he'd like to get away from it but admits all his best ideas are the
SF ones. 'It just keeps getting in the way'. Overtones of Arthur Dent I
suspect.

His wonderful ability to exaggerate is so ideal for SF. As anyone who's
ever tried to make sense of a restaurant bill will know, the ordinary
laws of mathematics simply don't apply. Who knows, maybe one day we will
fly into hyperspace in a Starship Bistromath. Like bistromaths, many of
Adams' ideas come from petty annoyances in everyday life taken to their
ultimate absurd conclusion. Was there ever a greater bug in a system
than the one which produced the Ultimate Answer 42 to the Ultimate
Question What is 6 times 9?' after working on it for millions of years?

Now the boomerang has come back. From out of his living room into the
cosmic quagmire Arthur Dent has returned to the living room. Not just
his own this time, but yours too. Infocom are about to release the
*Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy* text adventure game. Adams has written
all the text, which is in the same style as the book and punters can
travel, like Arthur, around the galaxy at their own risk. It is available
on Atari, Commodore and Apple so far and because of memory requirements a
disc drive is essential at present.

So the fish have met the chips at last. Stand by to hitch a ride on the
next passing Vogon freighter. And whatever you do DON'T FORGET YOUR
TOWEL!
