A terrific interview from SFX in which Eoin deals with all of the tough questions on And Another Thing…
SFX: Are you hoping to bring back Hitchhiker’s for a new generation?
Colfer: I know Douglas said he was going to do a sixth book, so he had planned to bring it back. And that’s what Jane, Douglas’s widow, wants. It’s already working! Sales apparently have gone back up already, and they released the radio show out to iTunes now. So Hitchhiker’s has already been brought back a little bit by this, and I’m really hoping that when my book comes out people go back and check them all out. And they’re re-releasing the first one, I think, in a young adult edition. So we’re hoping that my book will bring Artemis Fowl readers into Hitchhiker’s, and that would be great.
Some people will think, “Oh, yeah, he’s doing this because he’s getting paid.” Well, obviously, I’m getting paid! But in all honesty, I get paid more for an Artemis Fowl book. So it’s not for money. I’m sure it’s going to sell. I hope it would sell loads! But there’s no movie rights or anything, which is usually a large part of my cheque. So it’s not a money thing. If it was a money thing, I would just change the characters and call it an Artemis Fowl book. I’m doing it because I couldn’t not do it.
I’m trying to think of a parallel – if you’re an unknown actor, it’s like, “Do you want to have a go at playing James Bond?” Or for a boxer like Rocky. “You wanna fight Apollo Creed?” That’s what it’s like for me: I just couldn’t say no, and I know there was a storm coming, but hopefully it won’t be too bad. But I still had to say, “Well, I gotta do this.”
SFX: Do you think the most devoted fans will accept you following in Douglas Adams’s footsteps?
Colfer: Just the idea, I think, of someone writing a Douglas Adams sequel is offensive to some people who feel very strongly, and I totally understand this. I get it, and I would probably feel the same myself but, hopefully, I would calm down and then I’d say, “Well, I’ll give it a go.” And I hope that’s what most people do – I think if they read the first page they’ll say, “Fair enough,” and go from there.
Three people could have taken this task on and got away with it, and that would be Stephen Fry and Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I think if any of those three had been asked, people would have just said, “Oh, okay.” But I’m in a position where I have to prove myself, and it’ll just come down to the book. If the story is good, most people will accept it.
I’m trying to avoid any sort of pre-judgment based on nothing, or based on me. You know, “Who’s he to write this book? He’s short! And.. he’s gray. So screw him!” You can’t defend yourself against that. You can’t really defend yourself against criticism. If someone says, “You’re bad,” you can’t say, “Well, no, I am not bad. How dare you?!” And they say, “Okay – right, you’re not.” It doesn’t work like that! People don’t change their minds.