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The Unexpected "So Long . . . ."

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mimus

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Oct 16, 2009, 1:03:14 PM10/16/09
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Re-read _Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency_ last night, and, as
every time I re-read either of the Gently novels, I mulled over the fact
that Adams was plainly successfully constructing a second and completely
different fictional Universe from his first successful one, the
_Hitchhiker's_ Universe, and shook my head at his early and most
unexpected death.

We needed at least a half-dozen or so more books from him.

A real loss.

--
tinmi...@hotmail.com

smeeter 11 or maybe 12

mp 10

mhm 29x13

Today is a day to enjoy home comforts.

< _The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul_

mimus

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Oct 16, 2009, 1:38:27 PM10/16/09
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On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:03:14 -0400, mimus wrote:

> Re-read _Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency_ last night, and, as
> every time I re-read either of the Gently novels, I mulled over the fact
> that Adams was plainly successfully constructing a second and completely
> different fictional Universe from his first successful one, the
> _Hitchhiker's_ Universe, and shook my head at his early and most
> unexpected death.
>
> We needed at least a half-dozen or so more books from him.
>
> A real loss.

Actually, on looking the two Gently novels back over, I see that they are
copyrighted in '87 and '88, so there was a thirteen-year gap from the time
of the finishing of the second Gently novel until Adams' death in '01,
which suggests that lit'ry, which is to say mental, disaster came long
before physical (my characterization of the failure to continue the DG
series and Universe-construction as "disaster" is of course my own, and
Adams may have had other goals) . . . .

--
tinmi...@hotmail.com

smeeter 11 or maybe 12

mp 10

mhm 29x13

The chances of finding out what really is going on are so
absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say hang
the sense of it and keep yourself occupied.

< Douglas Adams

mixed nuts

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Oct 16, 2009, 3:07:21 PM10/16/09
to
mimus wrote:
> Re-read _Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency_ last night, and, as
> every time I re-read either of the Gently novels, I mulled over the fact
> that Adams was plainly successfully constructing a second and completely
> different fictional Universe from his first successful one, the
> _Hitchhiker's_ Universe, and shook my head at his early and most
> unexpected death.
>
> We needed at least a half-dozen or so more books from him.
>
> A real loss.
>
Don't panic.

--
Grizzly H.

mimus

unread,
Oct 16, 2009, 3:39:17 PM10/16/09
to

Kingsley Amis is long gone; Keith Laumer's long gone; Adams is gone;
Vance's health is shot; Malzberg didn't publish anything close to his
great run of the '60s and early '70s until that recent collection by
Arkham House which showed he hadn't advanced in his art or expanded in his
interests in any way since then; Ron Goulart's not published anything of
his own since the late '80s; Pratchett's got a very dubious diagnosis
(although I give _Monstrous Regiment_ full marks, it came out in 2003);
Pynchon publishes a giant potboiler about every five years and his last
wasn't all that memorable . . . .

Truly, the world is ending.

ARGH

--
tinmi...@hotmail.com

smeeter 11 or maybe 12

mp 10

mhm 29x13

The hell with the Galactic Overlords
and their tastes in literature.

< _The Day of the Burning_

Peggy Scissons

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Oct 17, 2009, 1:20:40 AM10/17/09
to
On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:39:17 -0400, mimus wrote:

> On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:07:21 -0400, mixed nuts wrote:
>
>> mimus wrote:
>>
>>> Re-read _Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency_ last night, and, as
>>> every time I re-read either of the Gently novels, I mulled over the fact
>>> that Adams was plainly successfully constructing a second and completely
>>> different fictional Universe from his first successful one, the
>>> _Hitchhiker's_ Universe, and shook my head at his early and most
>>> unexpected death.
>>>
>>> We needed at least a half-dozen or so more books from him.
>>>
>>> A real loss.
>>
>> Don't panic.
>
> Kingsley Amis is long gone; Keith Laumer's long gone; Adams is gone;
> Vance's health is shot; Malzberg didn't publish anything close to his
> great run of the '60s and early '70s until that recent collection by
> Arkham House which showed he hadn't advanced in his art or expanded in his
> interests in any way since then; Ron Goulart's not published anything of
> his own since the late '80s; Pratchett's got a very dubious diagnosis
> (although I give _Monstrous Regiment_ full marks, it came out in 2003);
> Pynchon publishes a giant potboiler about every five years and his last
> wasn't all that memorable . . . .
>
> Truly, the world is ending.
>
> ARGH

I commiserate with you on all the losses. I just learned that Tony
Hillerman died.

*mourn*

Smee

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Neil Gerace

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Oct 19, 2009, 11:01:36 PM10/19/09
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mimus wrote:
> Re-read _Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency_ last night, and, as
> every time I re-read either of the Gently novels, I mulled over the fact
> that Adams was plainly successfully constructing a second and completely
> different fictional Universe from his first successful one, the
> _Hitchhiker's_ Universe, and shook my head at his early and most
> unexpected death.

Thor the Thunder God appears in both storylines, so there was the opportunity for him to unite them somehow :-)

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