The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc. - November 12, 1992- Page 3 Thumb in air by Darcy Lockman Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that a trilogy consists of three. books. Okay, just wanted to clarify. Don't tell Douglas Adams though, as his fifth book in the "Hitchhiker's uide to the Galaxy" trilogy was just published. The original book (the beginning of what was later to become a series with a cult-like following), "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," was first a glimmer in Adams' eye as he lay drunkenly in a field under a starry sky in Innsbruck, Austria circa 1971. The "Hitchhiker's Guide to Europe" lay beside him, and he thought that if someone were to write a similar guide to the galaxy, he would buy it and take off. But, as traveler's guides are usu- ally written by people who have trekked through, or at least seen slide shows of, the places they write about, no one came out with a traveler's handbook to the galaxy. So Adams lid it himself. Thirteen years and four books later (notincludingafew books that arenot part of the Hitchhiker's series) Adams is still getting around on that drunken idea from the Austrian field. He is currently touring the U.S. promoting the fifth book in the (ahem) trilogy, "Mostly Harmless." Adams, who is stopping in over wenty cities in the course of one month, says,"It's a major exhausting tour. Tours tend to be a lot of running from one city to another, jumping in and out of airplanes and signing a lot of books It's not a sort of glamorous thing really." Not only does Adams tour America, but England and Australia as well. Does he find that audiences on separate land masses have differ- entreactions to his books? "Oddly, no actually, even though England and America are very, very different places, and are becoming even more different. Nonetheless, I suppose be- cause the books kind of select their own audiences so to speak, you tend to get similar kinds of people reading them." For those who are looking for a sixth book in the collection, Adams gives no guarantees, but most defi- nitely is not ruling out the possibility. "I've never had any sort of agenda in regards to adding on to the series," he said. His fans will wait with bated breath. With such a following why hasn't Hollywood put "Hitchhiker" onto the , Dougla big screen yet ? Actually, they're try- ing to, sort of. Adams expects the film based on his first book to go into production "any decade now." I-Ie said, "I sold the film rights in '82 (to Ivan Reitman, of"Ghostbusters" fame) and ,' ''B. i n 1 worked on the screenplay in '83, but it just didn't happen. It's sat in limbo ever since." When, or if, this film is made, Monty Python fans should be the first to go Out and see it, as Adams' British humor and style are strongly reminis- cent of the Python troupe. People of- ten compare the two, and Adams ad- mits that "Monty Python was a strong influence." Adams has also, to his dismay, been compared to the French writer and philosopher Voltaire and his book "Candide." "I finally read 'Candide,' and it reads more like a plot suimnary than a novel. I'm glad I wrote 'Hitchhiker' and not 'Candide,"' he said. His fans are glad of this, as well, as is evident in the fourteen million plus books he has sold worldwide, and the many weeks his semi-sci-fi novels have spent on best seller lists. Not bad for a guy who doesn't Adams brings in #5 know what a trilogy is. DOUGLAS ADAMS, author of "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and the recently released "Mostly Harmless," will be reading from his latest book tonight at 7:3OattheMichi- gan Theater. Videos of "Hitchhiker" will also be shown. Admission is $5. For info call 668-7652. Adams Ancient Formula Health Conscious Foods " Health foods " Herbs . Vitamins . -"Sports nutritonc _ _ " Cosmetics 1677 Plymouth Rd. - 665-7688 Located in the Courtyard Shops at North Campus Plaza lW' ifG :y w I:J ft's o?°, ; 5 i .,;G'u Announces A Fall Student-Faculty Mixer * Registration for Colloquiums 396/397* For Winter 1993 * Meet Faculty in Informal Setting * Thursday, November 12, 2-5p.m. History Dept. Conference Room 4th Floor Haven Hall HI FI STUDiO 215 S. Ashy 1/2 block N. of Libcny' Downtown 769-0342 pick-up and dciv3ry availabl3 " a t a " $2.00 am a a off CD s . a" a s s E Ea or i U Cassette " a M 0 ~ 0 i. rU s " " s " 1 the % 1O ; O1' , 1 ,Wlirflit 'jecte o nm 0 c 0 z i ¢" A- ai s + sr Y k 5f , ' ge'l e ,eb0Y h, b 4k $L A U R a w. rt "