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

Have a mufflewhump!

I think I can forbear doing the whole spiel, since not only have you likely already seen my fb appeal and been involved in the book project, but may have already given permission anyway, so I'll just ask a simple question. In the email giving permission you already sent, was the permission specific to certain works, or was it a blanket permission, covering everything on h2g2? I've got access to the spreadsheet with Entries and permissions, but not to any emails that didn't come through me. If it was a blanket permission, I'll remind Ben

Hi Amy

It's blanket permission - anything here on h2g2 that I've ever posted - but (for the time being anyway) it's only for that first 'prospectus' book of 42 Entries. It's also not a transfer of copyright, only my permission to print stuff that remains in my copyright (as well as the BBC's, of course - spit, curse...). And I would like to be credited (ie named as Pinniped), and I'd like to be notified of what's being used. OK?

You wanted a Mikey suggestion. Toughy. I think it should probably be A523405 (Cool Patron Saints), though I'm sorely tempted to suggest one of her gobsmackers, eg A471386 or A3913472.

That actually brings me to a point that you might like to diplomatically relay to Ben (because I can't pretend diplomacy any more. I seem to have permanetly damaged my credibility in that respect). We really need to fill the 42 with stuff that people will be drawn to read, and that they'll come away from feeling at the very least that their reading time has been well spent. A Wow Factor would be better yet, but a warm glow is the acceptable minimum.

I look at some of the stuff being suggested in the threads and I worry - because not everybody is recognising this necessity. I'm not really talking about the self-promoting second-raters (though there are some of those). I'm more concerned about sensible and credible counsellors who are nonetheless recommending pieces on the basis of the hard work put in by the writer. Writing effort has very little to do with readworthiness, and so it just shouldn't be any sort of a criterion.

So Mikey's bra piece might be a little further than Ben will want to go in terms of populism, but it's surely closer to the compelling-read territory that we need than for example A82116227, recently noted by anhaga.

Oh and thanks for the mufflewhump!

I figured that it was probably a blanket permission, but your name was on the list of need-permission-for-quotes-from, so I thought it better to ask than to assume

The main reason I asked for a mikey recommendation was that we already have permission. I haven't gone through and read the things on Ben's short list, but I do know that there're less things there than on the spreadsheet (I'm a bit bummed in some cases, because, darn it, I had to do some hunting for that contact info!) so I'm pretty sure Ben's vetting them. I tend to be a fairly non-critical reader--something has to be pretty dire for me to not like it, if the subject is at all interesting. 'Tis why I haven't made any recommendations, myself.

And you're welcome

Oh, and it would be your quote from A80734863