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

At the moment I cannot get enough of either writer, although finances being what they are I am mostly limited to the library at the moment which doesn't help. Favourites so far are The Anubis Gates by Powers and Someplace to be Flying by de Lint. I have always loved Fantasy but lately I have really been attracted to "mythic fiction" - stories set in our world (rather than secondary worlds) in which magic is real. Anyone else out there fans?

Hi, Eggnog. It's me on a return visit mission My own reading tends towards sci-fi; I think of myself as a fantasy epic survivor after many years affliction. There's only so many elves and dragons you can take as adulthood starts to take a hold. I suppose the same might be said about starships and black holes, but what the hell.

However, if I do read fantasy, like you I prefer a more 'everyday' starting point. If you haven't read Susan Cooper's 'The Dark is Rising' sequence, can I urge you to go to your nearest library and do yourself a favour. Here's a nice site I found which will give you an idea of what it's about:

http://usit.shef.ac.uk/~emp94ms/dark.html

And another favourite is Julian May's 'Many-Coloured Land' series. This has a dual time-line narrative, moving from just in the future to millions of years in the past, and draws beautifully on much myth and legend. Real myth and legend, if I can put it that way - primarily from Celtic sources. Well worth a read

Hi Morgan

Yes I have read and love The Dark is Rising Series since I was a kid. I haven't read Julian May so I will give that a try. I know exactly what you mean about dragon and dwarf overload which is why Tim Powers especially is so good. He writes a story about our world (often with recognisable characters like Shelley, Byron, Coleridge, Blackbeard, etc) and gives the whole thing a magical twist. I would really recommend him. I like sci-fi as well but the problem I often have is that sci-fi is often plot driven rather than character drive. So many authors are just too enamoured of their own plot devices. However, Frank Herbert's Dune is in my top three books of all time.

I think that many genres have examples of work that is plot-driven rather than character-driven, not just sci-fi, though it is sadly common there. I sometimes wonder these days whether an author has his mind more on a possible film treatment with spiffy special effects, rather than making his characters sympathetic and credible.

I loved the original Dune trilogy but thought Herbert had wandered off into self-indulgence with the subsequent volumes which never rang my bell the way the early ones did. I'm afraid I might say the same of Asimov's 'Foundation' series and Anne McCaffrey's (pardon me) dragon series. Sometimes you feel like quietly suggesting to even these top authors that they should know when to stop and move on to a new theme, don't you think?

Have you read Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series? I read the first four in a row about five years ago and got so burned out that I could not carry on. Now I am loathe to begin again knowing that I will have to plow through what - eight of them?! I have recently managed to finish the Dune books and I agree it did go on too long, although I enjoyed Chapterhouse better than the couple before it. Have you read the new prequel yet? I am tempted but I would like to get someone else's opinion before I buy it. I love Anne McCaffrey but again the first few were the best. I like authors whose series are set in the same place but with different characters for each book, possibly with old one's popping up in small roles. You have the joy of familiarity but avoid the problem many authors have with lack of character development. Have you read anything by Roger Taylor (the author not the drummer). His books are set in the same world but the main characters (apart from the Hawklan quartet) are different in each book with. Characters from previous books pop up as minor characters, and in his latest book he has tied it all together.

No, I haven't read Robert Jordan - nor Roger Taylor. I'm perhaps due to dip my literary toe back into this kind of water, though, having spent very little time over the last couple of years trying new material in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. I've re-read old favourites a fair bit but otherwise it's been other kinds of reading; history and (real) science, for example. I suppose I'd get more reading done if I spent less time online, of course

What sort of history have you been reading? I did my degree in History and English Lit and hope, eventually, to go back and get an MA in Medieval Studies. I find that after working all day I tend to prefer light reading but I do try to read a bit of historical work every week. I have been reading some good books on the history of medicine (which interests me anyway because both my parents are nurses). My husband is an early modern historian and is finishing up his PhD so I tend to hear a lot about that period from him. I'm also interested in the Victorians, especially art history. I must admit that apart from medicine I tend to sheer away from science. What sort of things are you reading?

My degree is in English literature/language, but at one point I intended to do history. A forceful tutor at school literally picked me up from my first day in the sixth history form and took me back into modern languages instead. It was for my own good, he said, but I suspect he had the school's exam results more in mind As far as historical reading goes, I've always been interested in military history (it's a boy thing, perhaps?) but more recently I've been trying to firm up my appallingly sketchy knowledge of my own country's history. I've been wading fairly methodically through English history - with a very cursory look at pre-Norman Conquest stuff and more attention to events thereafter.

But it's not very methodical. I've been happily sidetracked most recently, for example, by Fergus Fleming's 'Barrow's Boys' which is a wonderful account of early 19thC naval (or naval-sponsored) exploration - moving from Africa to the search for the North-West Passage in the frozen north.

As far as science goes, I try to keep Asimov's 'New Guide to Science' not too far from hand. Sometimes I even open it. I get most interested (if hopelessly confused) by quantum theory, which borders on philosophy a lot of the time and I've been having a lot of fun exploring the notion that human consciousness is a quantum process. I'm also one of the few people who's read Hawking's 'A Brief History of Time' all the way through

I have to confess that art history is a complete blank. If I tell you that I've stopped buying Turner and Russell Flint and started collecting Jack Vettriano, you'll have as complete a picture of my art appreciation as you'll need. Probably way too complete

Yes I'm pretty sure military history is a guy thing. My husband is doing his PhD in the War Studies Department at Kings College London on English Mercenaries in the Dutch Revolt. Not really my thing. Although I must admit I am fairly interested in the Italian condottieri of the Middle Ages.

I have never even dipped into quantum theory. Is it even approachable by non-scientists?

I'm afraid my art knowledge pretty much ends around the 1st World War. Who is Jack Vettriano and what kind of stuff does/did he do?

Quantum theory is certainly approachable by non-scientists - to grasp some of the fundamental principles behind the thinking doesn't require mathematics. Often it reads like philosophy; it's worth a try.

As for Vettriano, I seem to remember he was a miner who then started to paint and has become fiercely popular - though (almost inevitably) derided by the more academic critics. I wouldn't be surprised if you've seen some of his work on prints or postcards. Have a peek here:

http://www.artprintcollection.com/html/vettriano1.html

Had a look. Yes you are right, I have seen his work. In fact I recently bought a card for a friend's birthday with the picture of the men in suits walking on the sand. It is good stuff. I like the ones with people dancing in them.

I love his work. It's worth getting some of the large prints available since the colours and mood come across better. The one you mention we have hanging over the fireplace

As I said before, he's deeply disapproved of by art critics - I saw him described as "a dabbler" in one review. Meanwhile his work just walks out of the galleries - there's an enormous waiting list to buy an original and reproductions are available all over the place.