The Barking Spider Network is an unofficial Douglas Adams fan project: a browser-based mystery hidden in nine fictional websites. It begins with the old barking-spider joke and gradually becomes an investigation through records, correspondence, and literary connections. You can begin without knowing Adams's books.
Why a collection of ordinary websites?
Our starting point is the pleasure of noticing that an apparently irrelevant detail belongs to a larger story. A shop, a farm, a journal, and a research archive all keep different kinds of records. Reading them together changes what those records mean. The comedy lives in the gap between a perfectly tidy administrative process and the thing it is trying to describe.
This is our own fictional setting and puzzle design. Its connection to Adams is a reader's affection for comic science fiction and holistic detective stories, rather than a claim that he created these websites.
What do you actually do?
- Follow retained correspondence and match short records across sites. The first layer needs observation, not literary trivia.
- Compare dates, equipment notes, and revisions. The notebook provides hints and keeps your findings.
- Use recognition of Adams's novels to locate further evidence. The reading companion explains which books are involved without pointing out the clue destinations.
You need a browser. There are no timed releases, required accounts, payments, or real-world visits. Sound observations have written alternatives. Hints are optional, and you can export a recovery file to carry saved progress to another device.
What awaits readers?
Completing the investigation unlocks an unofficial fan completion of The Salmon of Doubt, with a browser reader and EPUB and PDF options. The continuation is the site owner's work; Adams's original material remains separately credited. Neither the project nor the continuation is endorsed by his estate or publishers.
Prefer to read first? Visit our spoiler-free Douglas Adams reading companion. For published works and author information, see Douglas Adams at Penguin Random House.
Behind the scenes: how the records, humour, and hints fit together.