Oh yeah and also Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is legitimately a parody of the Jack Chalker novel Midnight at the Well of Souls. Which isn't a great book but isn't a bad book. The book that comes after is bad. Which is probably why Hitchhiker's Guide is a seminal classic while Midnight ceased to be remembered about three years after publication, despite being a best seller at the time. This is one of the things that keeps me from reading the Gormenghast books - they were an absolute cultural touchstone until like 1961 at which point nobody referenced them anymore at all ever. I also did Zelazny's Lord of Light which is okay? It formed a theme with the Chalker book, and is ostensibly better. I tried Riverworld again in the same vein and it's still shit. There's a bunch of stuff I started and didn't finish, or started, finished, and can't recommend. In among that stuff is the half of Bourne Identity I slogged through. Shit holds up worse than Ian Fleming I am debating hate-reading Dune again.