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

just had a quick squizz at your cs lewis entry, and i wondered have you read the chronicles of prydain by lloyd alexander? they are along the same sort of lines and i heartely recommend them. disney rather stupidly made the second book of the five into a cartoon a few years ago and got in trouble because then the book was sold with a cartoon cover so little kids got it, and it's actually quite frightening......

FABT

Hi FABT! Fancy meeting you here! Are we the only people on line today?

No, I've never read the Chronicles of Prydain, although the name sounds vaguely familiar. When were they written? Are they fantasy, science fiction or something else?

i think we might be the only people on line!

prydain are based on welsh mythology and are basically kids fantasy books. but they are well written, the funny things are not slapstick type stuff, the scary things are pretty horrid and the sad things are really sad.

the titles are

the book of three
the black cauldron
the castle or llyr
taran wanderer
the high king

basically it's a regular fantasy with baddies etc. but there are more grown up themes in it. allies change sides, things arent neatly resolved all the time and lots of people die. bittersweet is always the word that comes to mind.

in an odd sort of a way it's bit like how buffy(sorry, obsession) the vampire slayer goes on to complex issues. although this is a kids book and does deal with things in a kids way the basic theme is of growing up with pleanty of disallusionment thrown in for good measure.

i recommend reading them, most librarys still have a set somewhere and every now and every now and again they get reprinted.

FABT

and it looks like we're still the only people here.

if you look on amazon some of the prydain books are there, they have been reprinted and there seems to another one which i never heard of before but it wont tell me anything about it so i cnt tell if its a sequential part of the set or what. judging by the title its a prologue, but i cant tell you more without spoiling one of the main plot points of the books.

Sounds interesting. I'll see can I borrow these from my sister who has just about every fantasy book ever printed.

yes do, a good easy read for when you feel pretty pants.

just thought i'd nip in and sy i wont be around tomorrow as i'll be pulling the legs off a horse

You mean you share my hobby of leg pulling? Or are you a "dresser" for a pantomime troupe?

actually at the moment i'm an inbetweeney sort of person waiting for october....i will be joining the tribe of idiots who having survived college once though it would be a clever idea to go back again a few years later! what am i letting myself in for!

the horse i'm pulling the legs off is terricota.......and three thousand years old. they need to be stcuk back on again straight, it might also need it's hed reattaching

Where's the horse from?

the top of a geometric pyxis which i think comes form cyprus or crete. somwhere hot any way.

it should have had three horses on the top and some even have a carriage as well, but ours only had the middle horse left and the places where the others were have been filled flat.

i'll see if i can rustle up a picture....dont hold your breath though

FABT

ok this is the same sort of shape....

http://www.si.umich.edu/Art_History/demoarea/details/KEL2569a_b.html

VICTORY!

this is almost exactly what i am up too

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/vaseindex?entry=Philadelphia+30-41-1

check out the really cool pictures at the bottom. the one i am doing only has one horse and the base is slightly more rounded at the bottom, but the decorating is nrealy the same

creepy!

FABT

Interesting. Ithink the Geometric period in Greece came with the invasion of the Dorians, known in Classical times as the "return of the Sons of Herakles". It was after the heyday of the Minoans and Mycenaens.

i dont know the history, i just pull their legs off.

did the link work?

Yes, I saw all the pictures of the horses. Is it your job to glue the legs back on, or are you just in the business of dismemberment?

oh i glue things back on too.

at the moment the base in in bits on the floor of the photo room......LOTS of bits!

FABT

i'll keep you posted