Part 6 to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  Written by Eoin Colfer.

LONDON (Reuters) – Children’s author Eoin Colfer is to write a sixth novel in the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” series, seven years after the death of its creator Douglas Adams, Penguin said Wednesday.

The Irish writer, best known for his Artemis Fowl fairy stories, has the blessing of Adams’ widow, Jane Belson, to continue the bestselling science fiction saga.

Called “And Another Thing…,“ the new novel will be published in October 2009. Colfer said he was a big fan of the original books, which started as a BBC radio serial.

“For years I have been finishing this incredible story in my head and now I have the opportunity to do it in the real world,“ he said in a statement. “It is a gift from the Gods. So, thank you Thor and Odin.“

The satirical books tell the story of a hapless Englishman called Arthur Dent who travels the universe after the Earth is demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass.

The saga centers on the search for the answer to “life, the universe and everything,“ which after a long wait turns out to be 42. Penguin Managing Director Helen Fraser said she hoped Colfer would attract new readers to the books.

Adams died from a heart attack in California in 2001 at the age of 49. He had hoped to finish the series with a sixth novel.

“Five seems to be a wrong kind of number; six is a better kind of number,“ he once said.

I will read it

I’m reading the 5th book now; I’ll certainly read this one too!

I won’t.  While Colfer is a decent enough writer, he is in no way comparable to Douglas Adams.  I think it’s highly unlikely he’ll be able to produce the same level of irony and wit that made the Hitchhiker’s series so beloved.

It’s unlikley I’ll read it either
I didn’t read the previous 6th book either cause Adams only half wrote it.

What’s weird is when an author continues on another author’s series and does indeed create what is, in and of itself, a good book. . .but the book just doesn’t seem to fit in well with the rest of the series.  It makes you wish that the author would re-write the book and just not have it be part of the other series.  I know that happened with a “sequel” to one of James Schmitz’s books that was co-written by a whole swarm of other authors long after Schmitz died.  And I have yet to read any of the non-Asimov Foundation stories because I have my doubts as to how well they’ll fit in with the direction Asimov was wanting to take the stories.

I like Colfer, but I agree with Accipiter and Charybdis. No matter how good a book is, if another author creates a book in the same series, it’s not as good as any of the other ones by the original author.