Along with J.K. Rowling and Phillip Pullman, author Eoin Colfer is one of the undisputed heavyweights of young-adult fantasy and sci-fi novels. His Artemis Fowl series of books named after a precocious 12-year-old burst upon the book world in 2001. Mixing imaginary beings with high-stakes derring-do and high-tech gadgetry, it has kept young readers turning pages ever since. A film version is expected in 2011.

Colfer is not one to rest on laurels. In 2008, with the blessing of Douglas Adams' widow, he accepted the enormous -- some fans would say audacious -- task of writing a sequel to Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . For die-hard fans of The Guide , that's tantamount to treading on holy ground in bare feet. As a major Adams fan, Colfer greeted it as a way to stretch his talents in another's skin, all while introducing his own young readers to the literary legacy that first inspired him to write.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is of course better known to older generations, while your Artemis Fowl series is a literary fixation with tweens. How does it feel to cross and combine generations with And Another Thing ... ?

"I didn't feel I was combining the two. They were pretty close to begin with. To me, it felt very natural because I'm at home in that world. Hitchhiker inspired my writing; I first read it when I was 15, 16. My first writing attempts were very serious, even pretentious. Douglas came along and showed that humor can be a very effective way to bring a point across."

Have you received any stern words from die-hard Hitchhiker fans?

"Before [ And Another Thing ... ] came out, there were some warnings. A lot of people weren't happy with the arrangement. I understand that perfectly. I knew the book had to be 20 percent better than what they expected. Now I believe people accept that this book was done as a labor of love, not a labor of cash, and that it was done by someone who really respects the source material."

Arthur Dent is a hapless character subject to incidents beyond his control. Artemis Fowl, by contrast, is a very precocious 12-year-old who initiates and takes control of situations. Did you find you had to switch gears for this book?

"The lead characters are very different. That was different for me, and complicated by the participation of other characters. For this book, Arthur is not as central as he normally is. People often say that Arthur is Douglas, and that Douglas represented his own feeling of being every man. To an extent, I believe that, so I was faced with the reality that I couldn't render Arthur as well."

Hitchhiker aside, what books did you read as a child that provoked or inspired you to write?

" Huckleberry Finn by Twain. It was the first book I read that made me sympathize with the hero. With all books I'd read before, the hero was always chiseled and handsome. Finn said he was not the housewife's favorite. He smoked a pipe. He sounded like a real boy. He also sounded like he was in collusion with you, the reader."

You seem to have a penchant, some would say an inordinate one, for jokes and story-lines involving flatulence. Why?

"Boys tend to like the Mulch Diggums character, unfortunately, because he moves around by way of explosive farts. There is no family history about it, it's just a character I created. It was a struggle to keep it down to one flatulence in And Another Thing ..., though. I felt I owed it to Douglas. I have to control myself -- not personally, but with the [flatulence] jokes."

Adams was English. You are Irish. Do you believe there are marked literary differences between the two peoples? Do you see any of the touches you've added to the Hitchhiker legacy as particularly Irish in flavor?

"I do see slight differences. Douglas' humor was more clipped and precise. Mine is more rounded and anecdotal, and a little warmer. For this book, I put in a whole world populated by rich Irish people, which I think is quite funny. They got off the planet at the right time. If they had stayed on, they would not have been able to afford to leave."

Do you have any eccentric work methods?

"I just have a nice office with nice desk and chair, plus a stereo. It's all very civilized, I'm afraid. I do like a bit of guitar music sometimes, though. It could be some Led Zeppelin or AC/CD. I'm in a particularly frivolous mood, some Black Sabbath. But it would have to be death scene I'm writing if it was Black Sabbath on the stereo."