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

Ah yes, the fair Willow... attractive and good with computers. What a pity she's walking on the other side of the street with Tara these days

I like much of Ewan MacColl's stuff too. In fact we were singing 'The Thirty Foot Trailer' only the other evening Are you a Heinlein reader, by any chance, Anya?

Ah, Heinlein - I cut my teeth on Stranger in a Strange Land, then proceeded to The Past Through Tomorrow, Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset. Yes, I enjoy his work very much. But my favorite sci-fi author is still Marion Zimmer Bradley and her Darkover novels.

Have you read her? She's very good.

I have read some of her work over the years but not for quite some time - I'm probably due to revisit her. Didn't she do a treatment of the Arthurian legend? I'm sure I'm thinking of her, and I was very impressed with that one, though the title escapes me right now.

I don't suppose I've gone six months without reading Heinlein in the last 20 years - I've always been fascinated by his mix of hard science, robust political/social thinking and (in his later years) rather... erm... let's say, alternative, sex

The Mists of Avalon is the MZB title you're thinking of - and it's wonderful. I own it. In hardcover. First edition.

Heinlein's ideas about sex are certainly not mainstream. I can't say I agree with much of it. My father did, my mother allowed him to. My father was a Heinlein fan, and my mother still is.

Good news! I have been asked by a local pub to sing bawdy ballads - in garb. Tomorrow night. It should be amazing - I haven't performed in over a year and half.

Yep, 'Mists of Avalon' was the one. And now I've found it on the shelf Between 'Crash' by JG Ballard (more strange sex) and 'The Chronicles of Morgaine' by CJ Cherryh (can't remember a damn thing about it).

Have fun at the pub - it sounds like an interesting session. Let us know how it goes, okay? Remember to warm your voice up first...

It went wonderfully! I warmed up, of course, and received much praise from the patrons - including one who thanked me profusely and expressed relief that someone my age was interested in preserving the old ballads. I also received a few leers, a kiss on the hand, and compliments on my clothing. Well, I was wearing garb and my garb is a bit. . . .wenchy.

By the way, if you enjoy hard, gritty sci-fi, C.J. Cherryh's Rimrunners is excellent. And MZB wrote two prequels to The Mists of Avalon: The Forest House (I think it was called Forests of Avalon in the UK) and Lady of Avalon. They are also very good.

'Wenchy', Anya? How intriguing. I don't think I've EVER been leered at while performing, sadly. Except maybe one or two covetous glances at my Takamine guitar.

Thank you for the pointers on future reading. Right at the moment I'm ploughing through Larry Niven's 'Ringworld' series for the nth time - ever read that?

Never could get into Ringworld - my mother is addicted to it though. She's the one who got me into sci-fi and insisted when I was thirteen that I read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And the rest is history. I enjoy MZB, Asimov, Heinlein and Cherryh. And - of course - Terry Pratchett. Have you read Good Omens? He wrote it with Neil Gaiman of Sandman fame. It's a riot.

I'm not used to being leered at. Sad to say, I'm a late bloomer and only started getting attention from men after I went off to University. It's no help that I look like I'm fifteen when I'm nineteen - I get carded all the time buying cigarettes. Still, I'm more pleased when I get complimented on my voice - still a rather pure mezzo-soprano. My rendition of "The Foggy Dew" got a lot of applause.

Folk music, I'm afraid, is rather out-of-mode in Knoxville. More people listen to country music or sickening pop. There are a few folks who appreciate it though - I'm glad I found you, you read sci-fi, appreciate folk music, and are patient and supportive with this young woman's post-adolescent angst! Altogether, you have turned into a good friend. Thank you.

Thank you for that, Anya It's been good to find someone who shares my likes in reading and music too.

I also sympathise with the 'late bloomer' bit. I've always looked several years younger than my age, and I too was getting asked for ID in bars embarrassingly late in life - including once after I was married, much to my wife's amusement and my irritation! Ah well, such is life's lottery. All I can offer by way of consolation is that looking younger than your age DOES become an advantage eventually and I think I'm just about getting there

Btw, just in case you ever feel like making use of it, here's my mail address:

[email protected]

Don't feel any implied pressure to use it. It's just in case

And - of course - Terry Pratchett. Oh yes, the shelf groans with his work, though I have to admit I'm in a bit of a Pratchett overdose period. Too many too quickly, I think, and they all started to seem the same. 'Good Omens', doubtless because it's co-authored, seems somewhat harder-edged and probably my favourite.

And good for your mother for getting you into sci-fi!

Thank you for your email. Here's mine:

[email protected]

Let me know if you're ever around Tennessee in the U.S. - though God only knows why you'd want to brave the rednecks and other hazards!

I understand Pratchett overload. I think I explained my Tolkein overload earlier, no thanks to my ex. . .well, we all have our little obsessions, but I think he was looking for Luthien in a girlfriend and hasn't yet found her.

Have you ever read Ellen Kushner? Swordspoint and Thomas the Rhymer, both incredible novels. Thomas the Rhymer is based on the ballad. Swordspoint is. . .well, imagine Les Liaisons Dangereuse, a Restoration comedy, and tangled knots of political intrigue with a modern sensibility and powerful, unforgettable characters. That's Swordspoint. It's wonderful.

Oh yes, Mother got me into sci-fi. She's disabled now, and her sight has degenerated to where it's very difficult for her to read, but she orders books on tape from the Library of Congress and does very well with them - she's even ordered Good Omens on my recommendation. Great minds think alike!

I'll certainly drop you a line if I'm ever heading for Tennessee, Anya. I have to say it's not in the diary right now, but you never know... in the meantime I might drop you a line anyway, just for the hell of it And should you ever feel like wandering round Nottingham Castle or Sherwood Forest, I'll happily show you the best pubs nearby.

Looking for Luthien in a girlfriend is likely to be a long search for your ex, I feel. My wife didn't find Beren, either. She had to settle for finding a hobbit - short and with a tobacco habit.

I haven't read Kushner at all, though I've seen the books on the library shelves. I have sung Thomas the Rhymer, though, back in the dim and distant past.

Ever read Julian May?

Oh, I know better than to look for Beren - and my ex certainly wasn't Beren! He didn't get Luthien either - he got a rather tart-tongued, moody human female poet with a tobacco habit and a fondness for coffee, who wasn't much to look at either.

If I ever - well, and I have determined to go to the UK sometime, before I'm too old to shoestring it in youth hostels - I will look you up. I know that in the US I'm too young to get into bars, but I'm old enough everywhere else in the world!

I have read Julian May, at least I've read Black Trillium (written with MZB and Andre Norton) and Blood Trillium. Her prose is very dense, impossible to quit, and a good bit darker than MZB or Norton.

Right now I'm reading an anthology called Snow White, Blood Red. It has very adult (not pornographic) interpretations of old fairy tales. Tanith Lee, Charles de Lint, and Neil Gaiman are a few of the authors. It's exquisite.

From what I hear, the US is unusually strict about drinking age. I went to France at 14 (and not looking even that old) and got served in bars with no trouble at all. Ooookay, I thought, I want to live in France

My introduction to Julian May was The Many Coloured Land series which absolutely absorbed me and had me waiting impatiently for each new one. She's one of my favourite writers. Andre Norton I used to read incessantly, going way back to when I was pre-teen, though I haven't revisited her for a while now.

How about Sheri Tepper? Another of my main literary squeezes, so to speak.