I've done my fair share of work for charity anthologies (and will continue to do so -- watch this space!) -- it's not only a way to get read when you're just starting out, but also a way to give back when you don't have much to give. Anthologies I've contributed to have raised money for Children in Need, Cauldwell Children, and all sorts of worthy charities.

The latest out the gate will be of great interest to several people I know, and even more that I don't.

You and 42: The Hitchhiker's Guide to Douglas Adams has been in the works for quite a while now. Who Dares Publishing (who also publish John Peel's Doctor Omega Chronicles) picked it up, shined it up, and gave it a snazzy new cover. And I couldn't be happier.

As you may have guessed from the title, it's another volume in the style of the You and Who series, in which contributors remember works within a certain field as related to their own lives. You and 42 chronicles the works of the late Douglas Adams -- both the well-known and the lesser so -- in a series of life experience.

For me? Well, it's a story of how I discovered Doctor Who.


My essay focuses on a weird little piece of history: a VHS release of the ill-fated "Shada" from 1992, in which Fourth Doctor Tom Baker wandered a display of his former foes while narrating the scenes that never made it to film. Why this was my first exposure, and how I managed to remain a Doctor Who fan even so, is all in the book for you to discover.

There are also essays by Monty Python expert and We Are Cult editor James Gent, my Seasons of War: Gallifrey co-author Paul Driscoll, and many, many others. And the essays take you all the way from Adams's early comedy writings in 1972 to the state of modern fandom.

All author proceeds will be going to Save the Rhino.

Grab your copy now, and be sure to tell your friends!