The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I was reading Neil Gaiman's book Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and came across this quote from Adams - he was asked if there was anything in particular he wanted to say in the first series?

"I just wanted to do stuff I thought was funny. But on the other hand, whatever I find funny is going to be conditioned by what I think about, what my concerns or preoccupations are. You may not set out to make a point, but points probably come across because they tend to be the things that preoccupy you, and therefore find a way into your writing."

I think that's sort of what I do as well. I don't set out to write an "issue book" but issues creep in anyway. Some of them I don't even notice until readers point them out later. Some of them I notice and readers don't! I'm thinking about this at the moment because I'm doing an event at the Glasgow West End Festival this week on The Seventh Tide and I keep wondering if there are more things that need to be shoehorned into it.

Probably not. The primary moral message of any book with a ferret in it doesn't really need underlining. If my book teaches us anything, it is that Fur Rocks.

And don't forget it.

Cheers, Joan.

P.S. My sister has pointed out to me that I might sound as if I'm suggesting that Fur Not On Animals Rocks - not so. Original owners only!