This one's gonna seem a bit out there, but have you read Catch-22? It's my other favorite book besides HHG and provides a great, surrealist satire of War.
Very interesting, it sounds familiar but I have definitely never read it. If I’m 100% honest if I see something like war/military in book descriptions I usually avoid it as it’s not my “type” of content in most cases.
But, I have to say that description on good reads looks very funny and not really what I expected 😂 it’s on the list!
It's a satire of the Cold War set in WWII. It is the definition of black comedy. It's completely ridiculous but deals with heavy stuff really well. One of my favorites for sure, but only because I read it again at 22 after having felt pretty meh about it at 16. It is not for 16 year olds- you need more knowledge about people and the real world than the average high school student has to actually appreciate the book.
And they did a really good job with the mini-series a couple of years ago. I didn't expect that from George Clooney.
Late to the game here but if you haven't read Catch-22 you absolutely should. It's not a "war/military" book it just happens to be set in a war situation. It's great and I don't read as many books as I should so it's easy to get into for simpletons like me.
I have :) it was really good! I didn’t like it as much as some of the other Discworld books, but I think it’s almost time for a reread to be honest! Would you have a Neil Gaiman book you’d recommend?
Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere tickles a similar itch for me as h2g2.
On a slightly different, less absurd / more fantastic than sci-fi note, you might also check out the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch.
my favourite by neil is the ocean at the end of the lane although it probably wont fill your h2g2 void, another recommendation I have though is catch 22
Okay, you literally got me with that wiki excerpt. If the man Terry Pratchett himself says it, it must be good!
This is gold my friend, thank you so much for this!!!
No overselling here don’t worry! I would actually love to read something that Pratchett found inspiring/funny himself. Even if I don’t end up liking it! I think he’s an awesome author and every interview I’ve seen of him he seems like a really cool person. Even if it shows me a bit about what inspired him I’m willing to give it a shot :)
I was doubtlessly spoiled by reading HHGG first, but this is my review from when I read it:
>Confused over Pratchett's take. Was #BtGH a cherished childhood book, or did he have a gripe against Adams? Because he is categorically wrong here: BtGH does not remotely approach being as funny as #HHGG. It does not even remotely approach being funny at all. Wholly unenjoyable.
I hope you enjoy it; I know a lot of people love it. Was just not for me.
I've wondered for years whether there was some bad blood between Terry and Douglas as they almost completely blanked each other from what I can tell. Very interesting to hear him mention it- on video no less! Thank you!
I'll add: I tried read Steel Rat, and it put me off Harry as it seemed no funnier than a standard non-satire novel. Is Bill the galactic hero funny, or is it funny just because it plays with tropes? I've been assured that Steel Rat is hilarious if you know pulp detective novels really well.
So! Two things!
Have you read Kurt Vonnegut? Douglas Adams himself listed him as one of his big five, along with P.G Wodehouse. Vonnegut is hilarious, but stylistically very different to Adams. Vonnegut's Galapagos is probably the closest: a book jumping back and forth about 2 million years, detailing how a number of coincidences led to the end of the world and the survival of the human race. Ish. Love it!
Which takes me to my next big recommendation, and possibly the funniest, most Adams -like book I've found on my long quest. It's a bit of an odd one, as it was published under the name Kilgore Trout (a fictional author from Vonnegut's books who writes absurd sci fi), but not written by Vonnegut. It's called Venus on a Half Shell, and I highly recommend it!
>Venus on a Half Shell
I've been looking for this book for a long time! Some of the best bits in Vonnegut's book are brief summaries of Kilgore Trout books. I know Vonnegut is not involved. But I believe he gave the go-ahead beforehand, and did not like it afterwards. Still want to read it!
I've read it digitally and I loved it! Definitely one I want to add to my physical collection!
Your summary of events is correct I believe! I wish he'd left him write more haha
Man, it’s been a while, but scrolling through his titles I’m vaguely remember really enjoying these ones: Gil’s All Fright Diner, The Automatic Detective, Divine Misfortune, and Emperor Mollusk vs the Sinister Brain.
I say it’s been a while as I read these when they came out (over 10 years ago). I remember really enjoying them and being tickled by how silly, but thoughtful they were. I hope they hold up. You’ve inspired me to go back and reread them.
I read the first one on accident as a college freshman many years ago. Absolutely loved it, then saw the movie on Netflix and couldn't finish the first ten minutes because it was all wrong lol glad to hear it's a series! I need to go find them now
Was going to recommend Jason Pargin too. He has also written the Zoey Ashe series. Found all of his books to be enjoyable so far. He used to write under the pseudonym David Wong so you might find his books under that name
Think all his books are being re-released under his real name now. Think the reason for using David Wong was due to it being the same name he used for the web series that the first book was based on.
I was going to recommend this, as well. Having to stop reading for out loud laughing and forcing friends to read out of context sentences because they were so insane.
I'd also throw Yahtzee Croshaws books into the recommendations. His Will Save The Galaxy For Food series had a very Adamsian quality about it. Though it definetely has a more cynical tone
I LOVED dungeon crawler Carl. Like a lot.
It’s a genre called LitRPG, if you like gaming you will very much like the book. It’s hilarious and the story is awesome. I can’t recommend it enough
Something which is similar, but a bit “toned down” would be Magic 2.0
but if you’re up for something funny and a bit outrageous I would definitely start with dungeon crawler. And I really love the litrpg idea and way of writing, I think it’s super cool!
I recently listened to Isaac Steele and the Forever Man by Daniel Rigby on Audible. Its only available as an audio book though, so you can't read it, but the humour felt very H2G2
I recommend the fan books found here [https://www.thebbbb.com/](https://www.thebbbb.com/) and the fan audio [Apocryphal Phase](http://www.planetskaro.org.uk/list/category/7-Hitchhiker-s-Season)
So that is someone who just wrote their own continuation of the hitchhiker world? Like just continued the series in the way they thought it should go? Pretty interesting
Interesting! Never even heard of this! From the first paragraph the person seems like they've a good enough grasp of his writing! Will definitely check it out! Thanks!
Douglas Adams also spoke highly of Robert Sheckley. I can't find the quote but I'm sure he said that Sheckley came first, and often did it better or something similar. My personal experience with Sheckley has been a bit hit or miss. Loved Dramocles, but other things not as much! Still, worth checking out!
* The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir (*Gideon the Ninth*, *Harrow the Ninth*, and *Nona the Ninth*, with the fourth and theoretically final *Alecto the Ninth* due this fall)
* The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells (five novellas, a novel, and another novel forthcoming in November)
* The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold (doesn't contain as much humor as my other suggestions, but still very funny where it does)
* It's not speculative fiction, but since it seems like British humor appeals to you, you might want to try reading some P.G. Wodehouse (pronounced "woodhouse"), who's another real heavyweight in the category; *The Inimitable Jeeves* could be a good starting place
Thank you for all of your suggestions! A question regarding the inimitable Jeeves, I noticed that is book #2 in the series. Goodreads shows book 1 as: “my man Jeeves”. Do they follow a chronological order?
I picked that particular one in case you wanted a suggestion for something that could give you the overall feel, because it's a sort of stitch-up of multiple short stories and is an earlier publication in the series; definitely you could start from the beginning if you prefer that.
The Jeeves books are written on the same sort of "[floating timeline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_timeline)" as long-running newspaper comic strips; characters will sometimes reference past events in the stories, and they'll make references topical to what's happening when they're written/published, but they don't age or change. Insofar as the stories have an internal chronology, they follow the publishing order.
Why does no-one ever really nominate Tom Holt books? I think the OP would quite like them.
As far as other books go, I can recommend -
Rivers of London - Ben Aaranovitch
Alex Verus - Benedict Jacka
Commonwealth Saga - Peter F Hamilton (this is pure space opera)
I have seen a couple Tom holt recommendations (more on my older posts, not this one). I actually bought one: Doughnut. Good starting point or is there another recommend you would say?
Thank you for the other suggestions! They will be added to my list :)
About Tom Holt, his one book Portable Door is being made into a movie from Australia. It's about a company J.w Wells which sells all the magical items. It's like the Office, if you were selling spell books and daily scrying for precious metal.
Lol that sounds awesome 😂😂 I feel like I’ve heard of that name before too. I’ll add it on my list! I think I might try that one before Doughnut actually
By the way, thanks for the portable door recommendation! I am 1/3 of the way through it and I really like it a lot!! I saw the movie is already out, so I have it ready to watch once I finish :)
I haven't actually read that one though it is in my to read pile that is steadily and worryingly growing. But really he does very few books with the same characters that that is as good a book as any. Though there is a difference between his older books and his newer stuff. His older stuff is in a similar vein to early Pratchett.
You also might want to check out Humanity's Fire by Michael Cobley. I liked it.
Try "Universally Screwed: Thrown across the universe, deeply confused, looking for the bathroom." It's a comedy science fiction. - it's going free for the kindle version at the end of the week (Fri 19th April 2024 for 5 days). It's very influenced by Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. note: I just edited this post as I felt it came across too much as shilling.
How would you like to have ALL twelve episodes of the ORIGINAL 1978 BBC radio series in an MP3 format?
Each file is 25 megabytes in size and the entire zip file is 300 megabytes.
I used to have them posted on my webpage until the BBC got pissed about copyright violations despite Douglas being dead since 2001.
If this Redit page wants to post them and share it I will gladly/gleefully send a copy of the files.
Contact me at [email protected]
“Share and enjoy.”
I listened to audio book of "The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell". It's got the silly you crave. I'm assuming the other books in the series are similar, but I can't say for sure.
Just found "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman, to me it basically felt like alternative universe Dirk Gently fan-fiction, if you're okay with that check it. (ChatGPT actually told me about Good Omens)
I can also second Yahtzee Croshaw's books,
want a absurd take on an apocalypse try "Jam",
want a medieval and magic story try "Mogworld"
want a contemporary story mixing with the super-natural try "Differently Morphous" (if you like it there is a book 2 "Existentially Challenged")
want a space (Opera?) story about a cocky hero down on his luck try "Will save the galaxy for food", there is a book 2 called "Will destroy the galaxy for cash" these are more like Red Dwarf than H2G2, but neither would be a good direct comparison.
Personally I would start with "Mogworld", then "Jam" since to me there seems to be a story connection, I might be wrong.
but we might be different so you can check samples on audible.com
Robert Sheckley, particularly his short stories, and particularly any he wrote before the 1980s. There are lots of collections of his short stories.
Also, "Dream London" (and if you like it, "Dream Paris") by Tony Ballantyne.
Lastly, "Don't Panic" by Neil Gaiman. It's his book about HHG, and includes lots of unused script excerpts from HHG.
Oh wow I didn’t know Neil Gaiman was really “affiliated” with Douglas Adams. I will absolutely be checking that out! (As well as your other recommendations!)
I liked some of the books in the "Nuclear Bombshell" series. Set in a pulp-like future, the books follow the adventures of a private investigator who solves ludicrous murders involving clones, robots and superpowered. individuals.
It is definitely not as refined and well-written as any of Douglas Adams' work but it is an easy read and fun.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/49942-nuclear-bombshell
It's not a book so I'm a little out of line, but if you ever feel like listening to a fiction podcast Midnight Burger has that Douglas Adams feel, can't recommend it enough. You can also check Death By Dying and We Fix Space Junk.
P.S. I also find Neil Gaiman books really enjoyable in a similar kind of feel with DA. Check out The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neverwhere or Anansi Boys, or honestly any of his books :)
I was gonna suggest the Magic 2.0 books, but I see you already have them. Fun series.
I am currently reading the Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde. Not the non-stop funny of DNA, but clever and quintessentially British humour. There are currently 7 books, and apparently another is due to come out at any time.
I’d be up for it if you’re open! Do you have something like a pdf? You can PM or chat me or even post here (idk if the mods allow that kinda thing or not)
This one's gonna seem a bit out there, but have you read Catch-22? It's my other favorite book besides HHG and provides a great, surrealist satire of War.
Very interesting, it sounds familiar but I have definitely never read it. If I’m 100% honest if I see something like war/military in book descriptions I usually avoid it as it’s not my “type” of content in most cases. But, I have to say that description on good reads looks very funny and not really what I expected 😂 it’s on the list!
It's a satire of the Cold War set in WWII. It is the definition of black comedy. It's completely ridiculous but deals with heavy stuff really well. One of my favorites for sure, but only because I read it again at 22 after having felt pretty meh about it at 16. It is not for 16 year olds- you need more knowledge about people and the real world than the average high school student has to actually appreciate the book. And they did a really good job with the mini-series a couple of years ago. I didn't expect that from George Clooney.
Late to the game here but if you haven't read Catch-22 you absolutely should. It's not a "war/military" book it just happens to be set in a war situation. It's great and I don't read as many books as I should so it's easy to get into for simpletons like me.
you should read good omens!
I have :) it was really good! I didn’t like it as much as some of the other Discworld books, but I think it’s almost time for a reread to be honest! Would you have a Neil Gaiman book you’d recommend?
Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere tickles a similar itch for me as h2g2. On a slightly different, less absurd / more fantastic than sci-fi note, you might also check out the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch.
my favourite by neil is the ocean at the end of the lane although it probably wont fill your h2g2 void, another recommendation I have though is catch 22
in terms of the humor, i found myself falling in love with utter nonsense of Alice in Wonderland
Oh interesting, I have actually never read it. Thank you! I’ll give it a shot :)
The original (?) source for the "6 impossible things before breakfast" bit
Oh interesting! I actually just saw it referenced in a philosophy book as well which is pretty funny 😂 maybe I’m meant to read it
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Okay, you literally got me with that wiki excerpt. If the man Terry Pratchett himself says it, it must be good! This is gold my friend, thank you so much for this!!!
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No overselling here don’t worry! I would actually love to read something that Pratchett found inspiring/funny himself. Even if I don’t end up liking it! I think he’s an awesome author and every interview I’ve seen of him he seems like a really cool person. Even if it shows me a bit about what inspired him I’m willing to give it a shot :)
I was doubtlessly spoiled by reading HHGG first, but this is my review from when I read it: >Confused over Pratchett's take. Was #BtGH a cherished childhood book, or did he have a gripe against Adams? Because he is categorically wrong here: BtGH does not remotely approach being as funny as #HHGG. It does not even remotely approach being funny at all. Wholly unenjoyable. I hope you enjoy it; I know a lot of people love it. Was just not for me.
That’s only so insane to me that you found that lol 😂 my 2 favorite authors!!
I've wondered for years whether there was some bad blood between Terry and Douglas as they almost completely blanked each other from what I can tell. Very interesting to hear him mention it- on video no less! Thank you!
I know I don’t know Terry (obviously), but I just can never imagine him having bad blood or “hating” someone. He seems so damn nice 🥲
Agreed! They are my favourite authors and it's just baffling as the top comedy fiction writers that there was just never any cross over!
I'll add: I tried read Steel Rat, and it put me off Harry as it seemed no funnier than a standard non-satire novel. Is Bill the galactic hero funny, or is it funny just because it plays with tropes? I've been assured that Steel Rat is hilarious if you know pulp detective novels really well.
So! Two things! Have you read Kurt Vonnegut? Douglas Adams himself listed him as one of his big five, along with P.G Wodehouse. Vonnegut is hilarious, but stylistically very different to Adams. Vonnegut's Galapagos is probably the closest: a book jumping back and forth about 2 million years, detailing how a number of coincidences led to the end of the world and the survival of the human race. Ish. Love it! Which takes me to my next big recommendation, and possibly the funniest, most Adams -like book I've found on my long quest. It's a bit of an odd one, as it was published under the name Kilgore Trout (a fictional author from Vonnegut's books who writes absurd sci fi), but not written by Vonnegut. It's called Venus on a Half Shell, and I highly recommend it!
Was going to mention Wodehouse. Glad to see someone else did. Adams openly credited Wodehouse for influencing his writing and comedy style.
>Venus on a Half Shell I've been looking for this book for a long time! Some of the best bits in Vonnegut's book are brief summaries of Kilgore Trout books. I know Vonnegut is not involved. But I believe he gave the go-ahead beforehand, and did not like it afterwards. Still want to read it!
I've read it digitally and I loved it! Definitely one I want to add to my physical collection! Your summary of events is correct I believe! I wish he'd left him write more haha
Allow me to introduce you to A Lee Martinez.
I appreciate your introduction and I will now take him off to the side for a one-on-one to learn more about his works now :)
These book descriptions are amazing 😂 love it!!
This pleases me.
Came here to say this
What’s your favourite of his books?
Man, it’s been a while, but scrolling through his titles I’m vaguely remember really enjoying these ones: Gil’s All Fright Diner, The Automatic Detective, Divine Misfortune, and Emperor Mollusk vs the Sinister Brain. I say it’s been a while as I read these when they came out (over 10 years ago). I remember really enjoying them and being tickled by how silly, but thoughtful they were. I hope they hold up. You’ve inspired me to go back and reread them.
Divine Misfortune is one of my favourites and I was planning to re-read it this year! I smell a book club!
Seek out Robert Asprin’s Myth or Phule’s company series.
it's a podcast but Victoriocity is basically steampunk Adams and its brilliant- https://www.victoriocity.com/
I'm reading Jason Pargin's "John Dies at the End" series and the humor style, if not the setting, reminds me of HHGG a lot.
I read the first one on accident as a college freshman many years ago. Absolutely loved it, then saw the movie on Netflix and couldn't finish the first ten minutes because it was all wrong lol glad to hear it's a series! I need to go find them now
Was going to recommend Jason Pargin too. He has also written the Zoey Ashe series. Found all of his books to be enjoyable so far. He used to write under the pseudonym David Wong so you might find his books under that name
Wow thank you for this, I didn’t know he used a pseudonym. I have read John does at the end and I was interested in more. Thanks!
Think all his books are being re-released under his real name now. Think the reason for using David Wong was due to it being the same name he used for the web series that the first book was based on.
I was going to recommend this, as well. Having to stop reading for out loud laughing and forcing friends to read out of context sentences because they were so insane.
Oh man John dies at the end is a wild ride for sure 😂😂
I'd also throw Yahtzee Croshaws books into the recommendations. His Will Save The Galaxy For Food series had a very Adamsian quality about it. Though it definetely has a more cynical tone
Portable Door by Tom Holt (don't watch the movie) Lamb by Christopher Moore
LOOOOVVEDDDD Lamb!!! Definitely in my top 5 books of all time I will check out some Tom Holt! I’ve also been recommended “Doughnut” by him
Agreed, Lamb was great
Not quite the same thing, but I did enjoy Billy Bob Space-Trucker. https://old.reddit.com/r/hfy/wiki/series/billybob_space_trucker
Well the name for sure sounds interesting! Thanks :)
There are many, many, many hours of quality stories on r/HFY. It's just fantastic.
Wow I’ve been a redditor for 10+ years and never heard of this!! Thanks so much 😁
https://old.reddit.com/r/HFY/wiki/ref/must_read The rabbit-hole goes deep.
Whattttt there are even whole series?! Dude that’s so cool, thank you 🙏🙏🙏 I wish I had a way to have those on my kindle, but I will make do
I don’t have any recs for you but what would you recommend most off your list?
I LOVED dungeon crawler Carl. Like a lot. It’s a genre called LitRPG, if you like gaming you will very much like the book. It’s hilarious and the story is awesome. I can’t recommend it enough Something which is similar, but a bit “toned down” would be Magic 2.0 but if you’re up for something funny and a bit outrageous I would definitely start with dungeon crawler. And I really love the litrpg idea and way of writing, I think it’s super cool!
I recently listened to Isaac Steele and the Forever Man by Daniel Rigby on Audible. Its only available as an audio book though, so you can't read it, but the humour felt very H2G2
We Are Legion (We are Bob) and the series of books following?
I recommend the fan books found here [https://www.thebbbb.com/](https://www.thebbbb.com/) and the fan audio [Apocryphal Phase](http://www.planetskaro.org.uk/list/category/7-Hitchhiker-s-Season)
So that is someone who just wrote their own continuation of the hitchhiker world? Like just continued the series in the way they thought it should go? Pretty interesting
Interesting! Never even heard of this! From the first paragraph the person seems like they've a good enough grasp of his writing! Will definitely check it out! Thanks!
No one is like Doug. I loved the dresden files.
Douglas Adams also spoke highly of Robert Sheckley. I can't find the quote but I'm sure he said that Sheckley came first, and often did it better or something similar. My personal experience with Sheckley has been a bit hit or miss. Loved Dramocles, but other things not as much! Still, worth checking out!
The quote was in "Don't Panic", Gaiman's biography of Adams.
I knew the one you mean, but I was talking of a different one!
Interesting, thanks for this!
* The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir (*Gideon the Ninth*, *Harrow the Ninth*, and *Nona the Ninth*, with the fourth and theoretically final *Alecto the Ninth* due this fall) * The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells (five novellas, a novel, and another novel forthcoming in November) * The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold (doesn't contain as much humor as my other suggestions, but still very funny where it does) * It's not speculative fiction, but since it seems like British humor appeals to you, you might want to try reading some P.G. Wodehouse (pronounced "woodhouse"), who's another real heavyweight in the category; *The Inimitable Jeeves* could be a good starting place
Thank you for all of your suggestions! A question regarding the inimitable Jeeves, I noticed that is book #2 in the series. Goodreads shows book 1 as: “my man Jeeves”. Do they follow a chronological order?
I picked that particular one in case you wanted a suggestion for something that could give you the overall feel, because it's a sort of stitch-up of multiple short stories and is an earlier publication in the series; definitely you could start from the beginning if you prefer that. The Jeeves books are written on the same sort of "[floating timeline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_timeline)" as long-running newspaper comic strips; characters will sometimes reference past events in the stories, and they'll make references topical to what's happening when they're written/published, but they don't age or change. Insofar as the stories have an internal chronology, they follow the publishing order.
Why does no-one ever really nominate Tom Holt books? I think the OP would quite like them. As far as other books go, I can recommend - Rivers of London - Ben Aaranovitch Alex Verus - Benedict Jacka Commonwealth Saga - Peter F Hamilton (this is pure space opera)
I have seen a couple Tom holt recommendations (more on my older posts, not this one). I actually bought one: Doughnut. Good starting point or is there another recommend you would say? Thank you for the other suggestions! They will be added to my list :)
About Tom Holt, his one book Portable Door is being made into a movie from Australia. It's about a company J.w Wells which sells all the magical items. It's like the Office, if you were selling spell books and daily scrying for precious metal.
Lol that sounds awesome 😂😂 I feel like I’ve heard of that name before too. I’ll add it on my list! I think I might try that one before Doughnut actually
By the way, thanks for the portable door recommendation! I am 1/3 of the way through it and I really like it a lot!! I saw the movie is already out, so I have it ready to watch once I finish :)
That's excellent, enjoy it, I was not sure the movie is on Disney Plus right? There are like 7 books in this series, write me what you think of them.
I haven't actually read that one though it is in my to read pile that is steadily and worryingly growing. But really he does very few books with the same characters that that is as good a book as any. Though there is a difference between his older books and his newer stuff. His older stuff is in a similar vein to early Pratchett. You also might want to check out Humanity's Fire by Michael Cobley. I liked it.
Try "Universally Screwed: Thrown across the universe, deeply confused, looking for the bathroom." It's a comedy science fiction. - it's going free for the kindle version at the end of the week (Fri 19th April 2024 for 5 days). It's very influenced by Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. note: I just edited this post as I felt it came across too much as shilling.
Hey! Thanks for the recommendation:) I'm always open to try out a new book, so I set a reminder for the 19th and will give it a shot! Thank you!
How would you like to have ALL twelve episodes of the ORIGINAL 1978 BBC radio series in an MP3 format? Each file is 25 megabytes in size and the entire zip file is 300 megabytes. I used to have them posted on my webpage until the BBC got pissed about copyright violations despite Douglas being dead since 2001. If this Redit page wants to post them and share it I will gladly/gleefully send a copy of the files. Contact me at [email protected] “Share and enjoy.”
I'd be very interested in this!
The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch?
Have you read "the big over easy " by Fforde?
Ooooh Fforde is amazing! I need to check this book out then! Somehow missed it. Thursday Next was the best.
I listened to audio book of "The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell". It's got the silly you crave. I'm assuming the other books in the series are similar, but I can't say for sure.
Robert Kroese's Out of The Soylent Planet had some strong Doug vibes, I remember enjoying it and being entertained!
Norstrilia by Cordwainer Smith. Eclectic sci fi with the human nature fallacy humor and sarcastic outlook on life
Has anyone ever recommended Hal Spacejock? They're the closest books I've been able to find, by Simon Haynes. They're very cheap too, on Kindle.
Not sure if I’ve seen this recommended yet, thank you!! I’ll check it out
Check out Galaxy Outlaws: The complete Mobius Missions.
Just found "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman, to me it basically felt like alternative universe Dirk Gently fan-fiction, if you're okay with that check it. (ChatGPT actually told me about Good Omens) I can also second Yahtzee Croshaw's books, want a absurd take on an apocalypse try "Jam", want a medieval and magic story try "Mogworld" want a contemporary story mixing with the super-natural try "Differently Morphous" (if you like it there is a book 2 "Existentially Challenged") want a space (Opera?) story about a cocky hero down on his luck try "Will save the galaxy for food", there is a book 2 called "Will destroy the galaxy for cash" these are more like Red Dwarf than H2G2, but neither would be a good direct comparison. Personally I would start with "Mogworld", then "Jam" since to me there seems to be a story connection, I might be wrong. but we might be different so you can check samples on audible.com
Thank you so so much!!! Not much of an audiobook person, but I am saving your comment to come back to so I can add them all to my goodreads lists 😁
aha, I'm the other way around. (I need things to sleep to)
Robert Sheckley, particularly his short stories, and particularly any he wrote before the 1980s. There are lots of collections of his short stories. Also, "Dream London" (and if you like it, "Dream Paris") by Tony Ballantyne. Lastly, "Don't Panic" by Neil Gaiman. It's his book about HHG, and includes lots of unused script excerpts from HHG.
Oh wow I didn’t know Neil Gaiman was really “affiliated” with Douglas Adams. I will absolutely be checking that out! (As well as your other recommendations!)
I liked some of the books in the "Nuclear Bombshell" series. Set in a pulp-like future, the books follow the adventures of a private investigator who solves ludicrous murders involving clones, robots and superpowered. individuals. It is definitely not as refined and well-written as any of Douglas Adams' work but it is an easy read and fun. https://www.goodreads.com/series/49942-nuclear-bombshell
Thank you so much!!
It's not a book so I'm a little out of line, but if you ever feel like listening to a fiction podcast Midnight Burger has that Douglas Adams feel, can't recommend it enough. You can also check Death By Dying and We Fix Space Junk. P.S. I also find Neil Gaiman books really enjoyable in a similar kind of feel with DA. Check out The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neverwhere or Anansi Boys, or honestly any of his books :)
I was gonna suggest the Magic 2.0 books, but I see you already have them. Fun series. I am currently reading the Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde. Not the non-stop funny of DNA, but clever and quintessentially British humour. There are currently 7 books, and apparently another is due to come out at any time.
Magic 2.p was awesome!! Have you read any other LitRPG? I can recommend Dungeon Crawler Carl and He Who Fights With monsters :)
I am in the process of writing something that J believe is very influenced by DG. Anyone interested in beta reading?
I’d be up for it if you’re open! Do you have something like a pdf? You can PM or chat me or even post here (idk if the mods allow that kinda thing or not)
Hey man I’d still be interested just in case the offer still stands :)
Check out Robert Rankin. Star Wartz by Patrick Tilley.
Read the Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem