I first discovered Rhys Hughes when I was about 16-17. I was going out with my first serious boyfriend, Sam, and I was working for GE Money (then GE Capital) in their New Accounts department. It was the most mindnumbing work ever--simply entering data, clicking a button to run an automated credit check, and then reading back the reference number to the store assistant on the other line.

I was also studying for my 'A' Levels at Notre Dame Sixth Form College, where I ran their extra-curricular Creative Writing group.

I'd been out shopping with a few of my girlfriends. I think it was winter. And we went into Borders. I had a quick look round the SF/F section as I always do, and nearly walked away, bored by the usual morass of elves and FTL drives, until I saw it. The Percolated Stars. I only saw the spine, but it was a very unusual title, so why not check it out, I thought?

The cover instantly intrigued me. An eye in a star, in a sort of brown-red rusty colour. And the back had that image of the Moon with a telescopic eye which comes from some 1920s SF movie. As a child I remembered loving The Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Terry Gilliam, so I knew this would appeal to me. After reading the back, where it described this as a fusion of Jules Verne and the Marquis de Sade, I knew I had to fork out the measly £4.99 to buy the book (that was then a sizeable chunk of my teenage income).

I remember I started to read it in McDonald's next door, whilst I was still sat with my friends. I had to prise myself away from the pages for fear of being rude, but I was hooked.

I took the book to work with me one Saturday when I was working the phones at GE and read the whole thing in one sitting. I devoured it. The surreality, fantasy and puns collided to make the Pythons proud.

And that's where I see Rhys' latest collection: Mister Gum. It's sort of like The Viz done by Terry Gilliam. Cock jokes abound, as does the usual punnilingus, but there's an eccentric, ostensibly British sense of humour running through the interrelated stories inside. They follow the creative writing tutor, Mr Gum, as he breaks every rule in the book and gets involved in some rather hilarious sexcapades. With this also being Rhys' fifty-millionth publication, it also proves him the most prolific writer in the world. Ever. Long may he reign as the king of the satirical world! (So long as I get to be his queen, of course ;))