Okay, thanks. Will do. Yes, although his glances should be given a lot more credit than they are. The first Dirk Gently had the most moving passages on extinction I've ever read, because of their context in a comedy.Don't read that. You need the illustrations. 13 clocks is an illustrated novel and the illustrations are fucking sublime. Hit the library if need be. I've given out 13 clocks as a christmas gift a few times. It was a major part of my childhood, and is, in my opinion, the standard against which all 'once upon a time' stories are to be judged.
I'm a Douglas Adams fan, but the Dirk Gently stuff, as with most of his stuff, was comedy first, metaphor second. He was certainly clever. He was not, however, a starer-into-the-Abyss, more of a smug glancer if you will. American Gods assumes the cloak of allegory; Teatime was kind of more of a political cartoon.