I went to Simo's book launch yesterday evening, and what an event it was. I have never been to a book launch before, but I have to admit I don't think they are all like this one was. I arrived a little after the scheduled start, but I don't think I missed that much. It was a fairly warm London evening, and I settled into a corner to quench make thirst, before contemplating introducing myself into the fray. The vast majority of the attendees were zz9ers (members of the Official H2G2 Appreciation Society, see www.zz9.org) - the launch itself being a special incarnation of a regular zz9 event. I have only been a member for just under a year, and have attended one event, so only a few of the faces were familiar to me. However, before I could gather myself, I was spotted by Simo who rushed over to introduce himself (I think surprised that he did not recognise somebody). He and I had corresponded by email, so he knew my name when I told him, and he then introduced me to the President of zz9, before waltzing off into the crowd. Simo had a first draft of his biography of DNA with him, which I managed to snaffle for a while, and so I made a few factual corrections to the text before returning it to him. At this point the book launch was suffering slightly from a lack of books. Titan (the publishers) had promised fifty would be delivered to the pub at 19:00, but these had not materialised. A deputation was sent to the offices (apparently 15 minutes away) to investigate and eventually (c. 21:30) a box of twenty-five arrived and were swiftly sold, with an on-the-spot inscription by Simo, and the insertion of a signed bookplate from Neil Gaiman. Kevin Davies and John Lloyd did turn up by the way.

Anyway, about the book itself. I read the extra chapters (that Simo wrote) on the train home, and these are entitled: Guides to the Guide; The Movies That Don't Move, The dot.com That Cannot Possibly Go Wrong and A Sort of Apres-Vie. These cover the last decade or so of DNA's life and activities, and as ever Simo manages to squeezing in many amusing and enlightening facts whilst relating what is ultimately a story with a sad ending.

So, buy the book - whatever your knowledge of DNA and H2G2 there will be something that will be new to you, even in the bits that Simo didn't write. One of the best is the appendix which contains DNA's original synopsis. Better still, join zz9 in order to get a signed copy of the book (there are still some spare Neil Gaiman bookplates) so you might be able to get one of these too.

Dave H.