Actually, Hec, that's pretty much how I would have pictured E. Nesbit, if I had spent much time picturing her.

And it's him that wore the dirndl. Not that I wouldn't, under the right circumstances. Which I have also not spent time picturing.

Hm, I've stumbled into the middle of an HP convo. At the risk of saying things that have been said . . . second chapter had no right to exist, but the ending was the best yet.

Hi to all. Erika, I owe you an email. I'll just say, it's good.

That's nice, Knut. Thank you. Kind of ruins my "I'm a private person who doesn't put her dirt on the street," thing, though.

So what's up in Dogtown, Knut? And the library sciences? We were despairing over the new trend of bookless libraries (oxymoron much?) in Natter yesterday.

Out of curiosity - what's the difference between the US and UK versions of HBP beside coming from different countries?

Huh. Who's read the Uncle stories by J.P. Martin?

The wonderland of Martin's books is reminiscent of Carroll's, but far more modern and seedy, with lumps of industrial archaeology lying about the landscape. Its central character Uncle is a vastly rich elephant who affects purple dressing-gowns and lives in an improbable edifice called Homeward -- half Gormenghast and half Disneyland. Scenic railways abound; there are museums with entire floors devoted to flamingo bird-baths or treacle bowls through the ages. Most of Homeward's inhabitants are alarmingly eccentric, and would pass unnoticed in the Goon Show. An epic pitch of fear is reached during an overnight stay in the Haunted Tower, where "The White Terror" proves to be a small ghost about a foot high, which stands disagreeably on the bedside table muttering, "I did it! I took the strawberry jam!"

But facing the hundred-towered glory of Homeward is the dark side of the farce: the filthy stronghold Badfort, ruled by Uncle's arch-enemy Beaver Hateman. The Badfort crowd spend their days lounging around dressed in unclean sacking, swilling Black Tom and Leper Gin, writing down bad thoughts in their Hating Books, and hatching terrible schemes to entrap Uncle. They revel in evil. They are the sort of wretches who would say snide things about The X-Files.

I haven't. They sound charming, although I appear to be squarely in the Badfort crowd, if you replace "sacking" with "sweatpants."

Kind of ruins my "I'm a private person who doesn't put her dirt on the street," thing, though.

That it does. But, that can be a good thing. It's a line only you can draw.

Dogtown #2 is available NOW! Stories by Troy D. Ehlers, Keith Demanche, Myra Margolin, Michael Samerdyke, and a collaboration between yours truly and Marianne Westphal. All people whom you probably haven't heard of because they're just slightly PRE-FAMOUS.

BTW, Hec, the photos you sent didn't make this issue, but I'm hoping we can use them in the next. My pard Keith is the one who does all the design, and he already had the scheme worked out for this one. But we should have a new one by fall, gods willing.

The Library Sciences stuff is proceeding apace, although the summer course was interrupted by computer suckage. Should be done by Spring. Bookless libraries = bad thing. Nutty bureaucrats think everything is available on the Internet, don't realize draconian copyright laws are keeping most things slightly less-than-free. A friend of mine works in a library at the U of Alaska in Ketchikan; the chancellor there decided they no longer needed a library and had them get rid of more than half their collection. (Choking back sob.)

Information revolution? Not even begun yet.

Jilli, did you know there was LitGothic site with a listing on Vernon Lee?

Oooh, she sounds fascinating, as does Simon Raven. scribbles down names

I'll have to look for their stuff.

Out of curiosity - what's the difference between the US and UK versions of HBP beside coming from different countries?

The Sugar Quill has a thread for this. Apparently, the differences are relatively minor, mostly spelling (although there are two sentences dropped from the UK version that the US still has).

I haven't. They sound charming, although I appear to be squarely in the Badfort crowd, if you replace "sacking" with "sweatpants."

I want to live in place that's half Gormenghast half Disneyland. We'll call it... Jillilandia. Apparently Gaiman is a big fan of the Uncle stories.