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

Three of the four authors you listed as your current favorites are authors whose books I happen to love. I have no clue who P.G. Wodehouse is. An answer, please?

Cuia annan ar gargalu (Live long and prosper)

Considering that the other three (Mercedes Lackey, Douglas Adams, and Terry Pratchett, for my own reference since I had to go look up which ones before I responded ) are in the science fiction/fantasy area, P. G. Wodehouse is sort of the odd one out here. He was a British writer of farce short stories and novels (and also, happily for me , of the books and lyrics for lots of musicals) back in the early part of the century. He mostly wrote about the English upper-class and/or wealthy, and his farces are about the most hilarious things I've ever read. He is most famous for the Jeeves stories, which are about Bertie Wooster and his valet ("gentleman's gentleman") Jeeves. Bertie is pretty much an idiot who always tries to help his friends and manages to get in over his head, and then Jeeves has to use his vast brain to extract Bertie from each mess. P. G. Wodehouse's other major series is the Blandings stories, about Blandings Castle and the people who frequent it.

The thing about Wodehouse is that (with very many exceptions) he writes according to the same formula every time, but that's part of what makes him great. It's the way he tells the story. He just builds it up and builds it up and intertwines the events into this giant tangled mass, then pulls on just the right string and it all falls into place.

I could go on for days and days, but it's much better to read him yourself. Wodehouse is funny, but not to everyone, and the better you know the characters, the better his books are, which makes it hard to recommend a first one to read. Hmmm… I would try one of the early Jeeves books, probably Carry On, Jeeves.

So yeah, that's P. G. Wodehouse. There's also an article about him, A155891 , if you want to know more. He's a lot of fun to read.

Eek! I did it again! I wrote you a novel! I have a very bad habit of doing that, as many people here will agree. Anyway, thanks for asking; I always like to spread the word when it comes to books and authors! By the way, I saw on your page that you like to use Photoshop. Any tips or tricks to share? I've only just scratched the surface as far as both photos and drawings, but I've seen some amazing artwork and I'd like to learn more.

Oh, don't worry about long posts. I can get carried away myself. Actually, I'm not one of those people who make amazing drawings on Photoshop. I just mess with it and clean up my pencil-on-paper drawings. One thing it took me an inordinate amount of time to discover: using the pencil tool to erase is infinitely more precise than using the actual eraser tool. I tend to babble about my obsessions; it's just harder to get me started than it is for some other people. I also tend to change topic quickly. Sorry if that's confusing. Hope to see ya again. Well, I can't very well see you, but you get the idea.

I like to draw, too, except that what I usually do is sketch in pencil and then go over it in pen, then erase the pencil, before I ever scan it in. And my self-taught attempts at coloring the drawings have met with only partial success so far. Then my friend goes and posts yet another fantastic picture on her website and I get all jealous.

What do you have problems with? Maybe I can help... 'Maybe' being the key word.

Ah, it's mostly just that I have very little experience with it and am making it up as I go along. One difficulty I've had is making the black lines opaque while you can still see through the white, so that I can have the colored part as a layer underneath the outline and still see it. I'm sure there's an easy way, but I haven't found it yet. Of course, I've only tried this twice.

I am obliged to say: Huhhh? Maybe you could try to make the actual black have its own layer, with no white in that layer. Have you tried that?

I can't get it to separate the black lines from the white spaces. So when I try to color it, the colors go on over the outline, and it doesn't look good. So I'd like to have the outline on the top layer, with the colors underneath that. But when I put the original picture as the top layer, it covers up everything, including the colors I've added. Anyway, I don't have the time at the moment to play with it, so the question is purely academic, anyway.

If you're having problems with the colors going over the outline, zoom in real close. It helps, trust me. Add a strip of color next to the outline, then you can zoom back out and have a safety margin, as it were.

So Muse, what makes a great author? Is it the entertainment value you find within the novel... or the quality of the writing? I prefer Shel Silverstein and JK Rowling.. and I'm the same age as you!

I guess that would be accurate. For example, I enjoy reading a certain genre of fanfiction which has (probably) been called 'evil,' 'wrong,' 'perverted,' and I'm sure also quite a variety of unpleasant names.

Ah, yes, the "evil", "wrong", and "perverted" genre. I don't personally enjoy reading most of that, but it's fun to shock people sometimes! And I enjoy reading some things related to RPGs, which I guess are the most "evil" of all !
I have a very random taste in literature. Basically, if it's written well and it's a subject I have at least some interest in, I will probably like it. That includes Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Mercedes Lackey, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury (notice a trend?), P. G. Wodehouse, Jasper Fforde, and lots of others.

Fanfiction is great. I read Buffy, Angel, and Harry Potter fanfiction. I must say, some areas of fanfiction that I read would hurt poor Muse's eyes. Anyway, JK ROWLING is worth getting teased for as most people do not realize she writes for all ages. Anyway, off to enter my input into more conversations. Adieu Adieu, parting is such sweet sorrow. really it is. Bye butt love (Quoting William Shakespeare abridged)

I assume we are both referring to the same fanfic genre; that is to say, slash? Hey, NeoStarr (can I call you Neo?), would the fanfiction you read that "would hurt poor Muse's eyes" happen to be fanfiction rated over PG-13, or is my deduction lagging?

Ah yes you are correct in your deduction. Neo or Starr is cool. Hence the name Buffy and Angel and Harry Potter Fanfiction is the center of my procrastination world. Right now however, after two all nighters, this is my form of delay. 2 lab reports to hand in left before finals... so not that bad. Read all 5 of the Harry Potter books again and found the last 2 to be more dark then the 1st three, so of course I now eagerly await the 6th. Muse is trying to get me to fully comprehend Pratchett and other quirky writers. The last nonassignment book I read was Lightening by Dean Koontz. My favorite book however, other than HP 4, is still Rohl Dahl's BOY.

Hmm, never read that one. I do like Dahl's books, at least the ones I've read.

SCHOOL'S OUT SCHOOL'S OUT SCHOOL'S OUT! And already I can feel the boredom setting in...

In answer to your previous question, yeah, anything over PG-13 will probably hurt my eyes a little bit. I have nothing against it, but I just don't enjoy it so much. Though I've seen some good ones…

No fair school being out! I have a week of finals still! (Same for Neo, who as you can probably tell knows me outside cyberspace.)

Muse whaT Makes you think I know you outside of H2G2?

Yeah we are down to finals week. i sorta feel sick and tired of college. damn school!

fanfiction of the slash variety definatly helps the imagination.

Spike and Angel
Harry and Draco
etc
etc
etc

What's Spike/Angel from?