h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Maybe some things are just too ugly without a little embroidery DG?

I think you have something there.

No matter how dark the horror fiction, how titillating and thrilling crime novels are, how weird the sci-fi, nothing matches reality.

Those readers who are thrilled by these tales, dip an imaginary toe into imaginary underworlds, faced with some aspects of reality, no sane person would ever wish to go paddling.

Those who have truly gotten themselves wet, either by accident or intent, well may wish to tell their stories, but use fictional genres to get their points over.

Reading a crime report or statement is far, far colder than any whodunnit, and sadly, often more horrific than any penny dreadful. Psychiatric reports sometimes weirder than any Galaxy far, far away.

So, a serious question: Where do we draw the line; are we aspiring to be writers, or reporters?

Depends on the situation, I guess. I think reporters should be as factual as possible. No excuses there for saying, 'Well, it *should* be this way.'

Fiction writers, though, can choose their path to the truth. What I don't like to see are fiction writers who twist the facts about the historical past. There's been too much of that before, and it's never done us any good.

I don't go out of my way to read Stephen King, but when one of his books find its way onto one of those "best books of the year" lists, I'm apt to give them a read. "Mr. Mercedes" was such a book in 2015. I rather like the way King adds supernatural elements to his plots, but "Mr. Mercedes" was lacking in this regard. It was a basic detective story, and hardly one of the best of the genre. Please, Mr. King, return to your supernatural themes. At least they aren't boring.

Dmitri, I was pleased to see your reference to Samuel Clemens's autobiography. I found it intriguing that he would reveal that Huckleberry Finn was based on a real boy. It was heartbreaking to read about Clemens's brother's death in a boiler explosion on a Mississippi steamboat. Clemens can be just as riveting telling the straight story as he was with stuff he made up.

Another point you may miss is the reader. What if, like the cinema audience, you knew that horror and wanted to escape it, not have your nose rubbed in it. I knew about Mark Twains brother but not about the kid in formaldehyde.It is like car crashes. In films you see people lying in the vehicles after an accident, like you would see them in life but with a little blood dribbling out of the corner of their mouths. The reality as a traffic cop pointed out, is heads and limbs torn off. Not a pretty site.