From Publishers Weekly
Definitely a devotee's book, Don't Panic operates on several levels at once. The book pokes hilarious fun at the tell-all books by cult heroes as well as at the industry that inevitably grows up around phenomenal successes like Douglas Adams's bizarre, witty radio series and ensuing novels. This work is also a spoof of the Hitchhiker books and particularly of the idiosyncratic, teasing style that has made Adams's novels bestsellers in England and the U.S. A London-based freelance journalist and avid Adams fan, Gaiman interviews his hero, revealing the full story of how Hitchhiker came to be, grew and flourished. Readers learn of the misunderstanding between Adams and John Lloyd, the radio producer who almost became Adams's collaborator on the novelization of Hitchhiker. But far more engrossing than the gossip are the sheer mechanics of moving the odd characters populating the world of Hitchhiker from radio drama to the printed page to television. For those who have followed Adams's work with relish, this will be a source of much delightful trivia; non-initiates, however, are quite likely to panic if they enter this book unprepared.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From the Publisher
Douglas Adams first introduced Earthlings to the phenomenal bestseller from the great publishing houses of Ursa Minor--
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy-- in the first volume of his own hilarious
Hitchhiker Trilogy. Now Neil Gaiman brings us
Don't Panic, the outrageous chronicle of the Earthly existence of the Trilogy as radio series, books, television series, stage plays, records, film, computer games and, naturally, towels.
Don't Panic also gives us the life and times of Douglas Adams, from unorthodox youth to international hitchhiker/ chicken shed cleaner to intergalactic mega-star! It's all here: Never-before-published excerpts from
Hitchhiker radio scripts. Douglas Adams' early work with
Monty Python, Dr. Who, and
Snow Seven and the White Dwarfs The real-life models for Marvin the Paranoid Android, Ford Prefect, and Zaphod Beeblebrox The real reason that Arthur Dent wears a bathrobe, and more! So grab a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, settle back and... DON'T PANIC!
