Next up, there's word from the BBC that a final novel from author and humorist Douglas Adams will be published next May, on the first anniversary of his death. Salmon of Doubt is reportedly the "sixth" episode of the much-loved Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy." The author had apparently been working on the novel for more than a decade, but never completed it. So it will be published that way - edited but unfinished - along with a collection of Adams's final writing, which will include magazine and newspaper articles, lectures, writings from his website and some of his work with BBC Radio 4. The book will also reportedly include his screenplay for the long-awaited (and yet-to-be-realized) film version of Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Count me in.

The unfinished final novel of Douglas Adams, the cult science-fiction author, has been recovered from his computer and will be published on the first anniversary of his death next May.

A Salmon of Doubt will be the sixth and final episode in the Hitch Hiker series, and though it will be edited it will remain unfinished. The work was found by Jane Belson, his widow, and Sophie Astin, his personal assistant.

Adams, who died suddenly of a heart attack at 49, suffered from writer's block and is believed to have been working on the book for 11 years.

Ed Victor, his agent, said: "We have pored over Douglas's hard drive. There were so many different versions of the novel. Douglas would take it and then revise it repeatedly so there were many files.

"As soon as he wrote anything he would say, 'Oh God, that's terrible'. He was a very, very self-critical author and so had a lot of trouble writing. He was a perfectionist."

A Salmon of Doubt will be published in a volume of the author's final writing, much of it unseen. The compendium includes magazine and newspaper articles, lectures, writings from his website and his work with BBC Radio. It will also include the screenplay of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Mr Victor said: "We have transcripts of about five general lectures he gave, which are marvellous. Douglas made his living as a lecturer for the past 10 years because he was so stuck on his novel.

"He also wrote sleeve notes for the Brandenburg Concertos. Penguin issued a series of classical CDs and Douglas was a Bach fanatic so he wrote the sleeve notes.

"There is also a hilarious essay called My Nose, which he wrote for GQ magazine in 1991. There are pieces that he wrote for the website, for example one about two dogs called Maggie and Trudy who kept him company from Santa Fe into Mexico when he wrote a script for The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy film, and there is also a substantial amount of e-mail correspondence he had with his family and friends."

His wife, a lawyer, and his daughter Polly, returned to London two weeks ago. The house where the family lived in Santa Barbara, California, has been put up for sale.

Ms Belson has been one of a number of editors working on her husband's work. The others include Peter Guzzardi, who was his American editor for many years, Mr Victor and Miss Astin.

Miss Astin said: It is nice to be reading his work but it is tinged with great sadness. There is 20 years of work on the computer and I am pulling together all sorts of things. It will be a surprise but it will make people laugh, I hope."

Adams shot to fame after the book of his BBC radio series The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy was published in 1979. It went straight to number one on the British bestsellers' list and sold more than 14 million copies.

His subsequent novels included the best-selling titles The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980), Life, The Universe and Everything (1982), So Long and Thanks for all the Fish (1984) and Mostly Harmless (1992).

Miss Astin, who worked for Adams for five years before his death, said the final book was intended to be both a recognition of his contribution to literature and a conclusion of his work. Mr Victor said: "It is a last will and testament of Adams in his writing."