Showing posts with label Terry Pratchett. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Terry Pratchett. Show all posts

Friday, February 07, 2025

I am So Angry

So, I've been slowly rereading the Sandman series.  I have all ten trade paperback collections of Neil Gaiman's series.  And I started rereading when the first season dropped.

I was so impressed with the adaptation, and I wanted to recapture my feelings of the series and when I first read Sandman.

Last night, I finished book IX - The Kindly Ones.

This arc is about the revenge of a woman who thinks she was wronged by Dream, and she engages the Erinyes for her revenge.  For a while they go through the Dreaming killing various residents. And [spoiler alert], Dream dies at the end of the arc.

I remember the first time I read this and how sad it was.  I cried over the deaths of the residents.  And I cried over the death of Dream.

Last night, while I shed a few tears, I just got more and more angry.

Because since Gaiman is accused of some horrible things, Netflix has cancelled their Sandman series after the second season.

I don't know how far the second season will get into the series.  Maybe on through the arc of finding Destruction, if we're lucky.

But what made angry was that the amazing arc of emotion I felt will never be adapted.

And his whole legacy is forever tainted.

I am more angry about this than I was Bill Cosby.  I haven't been able to listen to any of Cosby's stand-up since the allegations against him were made public, and getting out on a technicality only makes it worse.

But the impact Gaiman's writing has had on me...

We've all imagined that Dream is an avatar of Gaiman's with hsi look and style.  So now when I look back at the series and remember Dream's treatment of his lovers both during and after their relations, it makes me wonder if the series were a bit of confession.  And for Dream to be finally brought down by a woman and the Erinyes as well feels like he's telling everyone what happened and that he wants to be punished.

Now sure, I could be making all of this up in my head, but the parallels are disturbing.

And my last though last night when I closed the book was, "Terry [Pratchett] would have been disgusted by Neil's behavior."

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Quotes - Part Twenty-Five

 

403.                   The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

--Eden Philpotts

404.                   Trust the overthinker who tells you they love you.  They have, most assuredly, thought of every reason not to.

--L.K. Pilgrim

405.                   “Armageddon” got some astronomy right. For example, there is an asteroid in the movie, and asteroids do indeed exist.

--Phil Plait, Bad Astronomy

406.                   For the Discovery Institute to accuse a pro-evolution board member of the Texas Board of Education of having her religion bias her actions is like Jeffrey Dahmer telling you to be a vegetarian.

--Phil Plait, Bad Astronomy

407.                   You don’t actually have to be able to understand the lyrics, you’ve just got to feel like you could if you wanted to.

--Chuck Plotkin (Producer for Bruce Springsteen)

408.                   The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.

--Plutarch

409.                   Tell me every terrible thing you ever did, and let me love you anyway,

--Edgar Allan Poe

410.                   The goodness of a true pun is in direct ratio of its intolerability.

--Edgar Allan Poe

411.                   If you have a digital watch, which way is clockwise?

--Police Scanner

412.               Not my circus.  Not my monkeys.

--Polish proverb

413.               Trauma compromises our ability to engage with others by replacing patterns of connection with patterns of protection.

--Stephen Porges

414.               Setting the AI reactions for a giant spiderbot is pretty easy… hate, hate, hate, hate.

--Steve Powers

415.               My mom said she learned how to swim. Someone took her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. That’s how she learned how to swim. I said, “Mom, they weren’t trying to teach you how to swim.”

--Paula Poundstone

416.               Two French Admirals were berating a US Naval Attaché, “Why must we speak to you in English. Why don’t you have to learn French instead of our having to learn English?”

To which the Attaché replied, “Maybe because we arranged it so you didn’t have to learn German?”

--Jerry Pournelle, Friday April 4, 2003

417.               “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence, but that dude that’s yell-singing is replaced by Animal from The Muppets.

--@poutinesmoothie

418.               We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last 100 years and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in.

--Secretary of State Colin Powell

419.               The ability of skinny old ladies to carry huge loads is phenomenal.  Studies have shown that an ant can carry one hundred times its own weight, but there is no known limit to the lifting power of the average tiny eighty-year-old Spanish peasant grandmother.

-- Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man

420.               All fungi are edible.  Some fungi are only edible once.

--Terry Pratchett

421.               Coffee was only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to your slightly older self.

--Terry Pratchett, Snuff

422.               Everything I know I learned at the public library; school taught me to spit.

--Terry Pratchett

423.               I’m not the world’s greatest expert, but I would have thought the wizards, witches, trolls… would have given her a clue.

--Terry Pratchett, mocking J.K. Rowling’s claim that she did not write fantasy

424.               It is better to build a seismograph than to worship the volcano.

--Terry Pratchett

425.               It is hard to convey five-dimensional ideas in a language evolved to scream defiance at the monkeys in the next tree.

--Terry Pratchett

426.               It was so much easier to blame it on Them.  It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us.  If it was Them, then nothing was anyone’s fault.  If it was Us, what did that make Me?  After all, I’m one of Us.  I must be.  I’ve certainly never thought of myself as one of Them.  No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them.  We’re always one of Us.  It’s Them that do the bad things.

--Terry Pratchett

427.               Never trust an engineer who is laughing.

--Terry Pratchett

428               Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil... prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat leaden death, demon…

--Terry Pratchett

429.               People think that professional soldiers think a lot about fighting, but serious professional soldiers think a lot more about food and a warm place to sleep, because these are two things that are generally hard to get, whereas fighting tends to turn up all the time.

--Terry Pratchett, Small Gods

430.               The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.  Take boots, for example.  He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances.  A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars.  But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars.  Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.  But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years.  A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.  This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”

― Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms

431.               Satire is meant to ridicule power.  If you are laughing at people who are hurting, it’s not satire, it’s bullying.

--Terry Pratchett

Friday, April 05, 2019

Sir Terry

So yes, I am re-re-...-re-reading the Discworld.

An d as the anniversary of Sir Terry's birthday passed there were two great articles about his writing.

First one on Tor.

And then one on Hobbylark.

The first came to me in an email newsletter I get from Tor.  The second came via Google News.

Share and Enjoy.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

That's the Way You Do It

A new BBC announcement: Good Omens television series!

We'll be able to compare apocalypses between Terry and Neil's vision against the real thing.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

A Tribute to Sir Terry

I got an email today from Terry Pratchett's webpage.  It turns out that the BBC (specifically BBC 2) is going to be airing a documentary on his life and career later this year.

Hopefully, it will come onto BBC America.

Sunday, August 07, 2016

Done Been Framed

So, Thursday I got a call from Michael's that my picture framing had been completed.  Friday evening, I was home in time from San Luis Obispo to go pick them up.


Here is the "Discworld Massif " by Paul Kidby.  We covered up the original name, but added the plaque.


Here is the "Speechless" reframe.  You can see the two bits of matting (the black and gray) from the original framing.




Here is how we hung them on the wall in the stairwell.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Getting Framed

So, for my birthday today, I was given the gift of framing.  Specifically, I took two prints in to be framed.

Back when I was in college, Mel Blanc passed away.  I have always enjoyed the Warner Brothers' cartoons, and my parents knew it.  This was during the heyday of the WB Store, and my parents bought me this print:


It made me cry the first time I saw it.  I hung it on my wall everywhere I lived, but the frame ended up delaminating, and so it got shifted to a closet.  Today, it gets an additional matting, museum glass, and a new frame.  (The lithograph "Speechless" is still available here.)

Christmas 2014, I bought this print:



Little was I to know that just a few months later, Terry Pratchett would pass away.  I was thrilled when I got this, and was slightly teary today as we were designing the matting and frame to go with it.  (There are still prints for "Discworld Massif" available at Paul Kidby's site here.)

I will post pictures in a couple weeks when we have the final products hanging up


Tuesday, September 08, 2015

Discworld - The End

So when I started the Shepherd's Crown, I read the dedication:

For Esmerelda Weatherwax
-- mind how you go.

I swear that if I hadn't been on the BART platform, I would have started crying.  That's because of what Rhianna Pratchett reported her last words to her father were.  Then as I started reading the book, I started to wonder, and when I got to the office, I found a high resolution picture of the Paul Kidby cover.



Then, I did let go of a few tears.

That's a hi-res picture, so for those who read the Discworld, click on it and see why.

And of course there was my reaction to Chapter Two.

But I finished the book Sunday night.  It is obvious as the afterward states that Pratchett wasn't quite done with this.  But after enjoying Raising Steam so much more after rereading it, I'm sure that the next time I read this it will be a smoother read.

So that's my marathon/tribute read for Terry Pratchett.  I've got a few more of his books to read like The Long Utopia, and the four Science of the Discworld books that compare earth (Roundworld) to the Discworld alternating science chapters with story chapters as well as the Dodger and Raising Steam companion books.  But I'll scatter those in with all of the others in my now much more full reading queue.

------

Recurring characters and themes appearing in this book:

Agnes (Pedita) Nitt
Annagramma Hawkin
Awfully Wee Billy BigChin, gonnagle
Big Yan
Black Aliss
Boffo
Cabbage
Casanunda
Daft Wullie
Death
Dimity Hubub
Dr. Bustle
Dr. Lawn
Drumknott, secretary
Duchess Keepsake
Eskarina Smith
Events in Equal Rites
Events in Hat Full of Sky
Events in I Shall Wear Midnight
Events in Lords and Ladies
Events in Wee Free Men
Events in Wintersmith
Goldeneyes Silverhand Dactylos
Granny Aching
Granny Esmerelda Weatherwax
Hamish
Havelock Vetinari, patrician
Herne the Hunted
Hex
Hodgesaaegh
Horace the cheese
Ibid
Igor
Jason Ogg
Jeannie, kelda
Jolly Sailor Tobacco
Lancre
Leonard of Quirm
Letitia, baroness
Long Tall Short Fat Sally
Lucy Warbeck
Magrat Garlick, queen of lancre
Millie Chillum
Miss Perspicacia Tick
Mr. and Mrs. Aching
Mrs. Eunice Proust
Mrs. Lettice Earwig
Mustrum Ridcully, archchancellor UU
Nanny Gripes
Nanny Ogg
Offler, the crocodile-headed god
Om
Petulia Gristle
Ponder Stibbons
Preston
Rob Anybody
Roland, baron
Shawn Ogg
The Ankh-Morpork Times
The Clacks System
The Goode Childe’s Book of Faerie Tales
The High-Energy Magic Building
The History Monks
The Lady Sybil Free Hospital
The Low Queen (formerly king) of the Dwarves
The Nac Mac feegle
The Queen of the Elves
The Quirm College for Young Ladies
The Ramtops
The Stick and Bucket Dance
The toad
Tiffany Aching
Twoshirts
Uberwald
Verence II, king of lancre
Wee Mad Arthur
Wentworth Aching
Xeno
You, the cat

Young Esmerelda

Friday, September 04, 2015

The Pain of Chapter 2

I won't expound on the title beyond saying that if you have not yet read Terry Pratchett's The Shepherd's Crown, then make sure someone you love is in the room with you when you do.

I started reading this book this morning.  It's been difficult emotionally.  I read some more this evening, and it hasn't gotten much easier.

While I was laying in bed trying to sleep and the tears kept coming, a thought came to me that while many famous people, important people in my fandom, have died that it all means something more to me.

Robin Williams taking his own life was a life ending much too soon.  It was depriving me (and us) of someone who has been entertaining me since "Mork & Mindy".  He had made me laugh through multiple comedy albums and movies.  And now, he's gone.

Leonard Nimoy died, and while it hurt and I thought it was sad, I thought more of the people close to him who were hurting the most: his family and, of course, William Shatner, who had lost a very close friend.

And then Terry Pratchett died and I was without my favorite author.  He was an writer whose books I have been reading for almost 30 years.  He was sick at the end, fighting a disease with no cure.  And now I'm reading possibly the last work of his that the world will ever see.

And what else has happened in this last year?  

Friends have gotten divorces.  Other friendships that were so amazing and fulfilling have been cut off.

And then there's the big news that most of you already know.  A little less than a year ago, my mom was been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  She's beaten the odds so far and looks to break through the one year mark when she had been given only six months.  But we're still afraid, and we're still sad.

And so I come to this book, and this chapter, and I am devastated.  Because of all that has come before, and all that lays before me, and all that is happening now.

Discworld - Lipwig the Pawn

So, last night, I finished Raising Steam.

This year, I've been tracking my reading on goodreads.com.  I said I'd read 100 books in 2015.  And this was before Terry Pratchett died.  When I marked that I was reading Raising Steam, I saw that Patrick Rothfuss had reviewed the book.  I have to agree with him on what it was like the first time I read it.  The book seemed to jump around, and felt rushed.  He mentioned that he hopes that it will read better a second time after a year or two.

I have to say that it was.  This time, Raising Steam seems well paced, but still a headlong rush to the end.  It's a story about the rapid progress that can happen, but also a book of intrigue and adventure.

For anyone who read it once, and hasn't gone back to it yet, I strongly encourage  a re-read.

On a related note, this could have been Pratchett's last book in the Discworld series.  As you can see below, almost everyone and place is mentioned again.  The only thing missing is specific mentions of witches in Lancre.  One is mentioned who likes to take cookies to the clacks towers when young men are working there, so it's probably Nanny Ogg.  Otherwise it would have been a fine final chapter.

However, The Shepherd's Crown is now out, and is obviously the next book in my queue.

------

Recurring characters and themes appearing in this book:

“Eldritch means oblong”
Adora Belle “Spike” Dearheart
Albrecht Albrechtson
All Jolson
Angua von Uberwald, captain
Ankh-Morpork
Anoia, goddess of utensils stuck in drawers
Ardent
Bashfull Bashfullson
B'hrian Bloodaxe, low king of the dwarves
Billy Slick (Snuff)
Bluejohn, constable
Boffo
Burleigh & Stronginthearm
Cabbage
Charlie
Copperhead
Cunning Artificers
Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler
Death
Diamond, king of trolls
Dolly Sisters
Done-It Duncan
Dr. Lawn
Drumknott, secretary
Events in Small Gods
Events in The Last Hero
Events in Snuff
Events of The Fifth Elephant
Events of Thud
Feeney Upshot, chief constable
Fred Colon, sergeant
Goblin in the fairy book
Haddock, constable/acting captain
Harry King, sir
Havelock Vetinari, patrician
Hygiene
Igor
Igorina
Jimkin Bearhugger's
Koom Valley (Accord)
Lady Margolotta von Uberwald
Lancre
Leonard of Quirm
Leshp
Llamedos
Lu-Tze
Madame Sharn
McSweeney Dynasty
Micromail
Moist von Lipwig
Morris dancing
Mr. Bent
Mr. Fusspot, bank chaidog
Mr. Pony
Mr. Skiller
Mr. Slant, Lawyer’s Guild
Mr. Trooper
Mrs. Bradshaw
Mustrum Ridcully, archchancellor UU
Ned Simnel
Nobby Nobbs, corporal
Nugganites
Ohulan Cutash
Otto Chriek
Ponder Stibbons
Queen Keli
Queen Ynci
Reg Shoe
Rhys Rhysson, low king (queen) of the dwarves
Rincewind
Sacharissa Crisplock
Sally von Humpeding, captain
Sam Vimes, knight, duke, commander
Shatta
Shine of the Rainbow
Slake
Sto Lat
Sybil Ramkin-Vimes, ducchess
Tak
Tears of the Mushroom
The Alchemists' Guild
The Ankh-Morpork Royal Post Office
The Ankh-Morpork Times
The Assassins' Guild
The Chair of Indefinite Studies
The Clacks System
The Dark Clerks
The Fiddler's Riddle
The Forest of Skund
The Golem Trust
The High-Energy Magic Building
The Lawyers' Guild
The Lecturer in Recent Runes
The Librarian
The Pink Pussycat Club
The Quirm College for Young Ladies
The Royal Bank and Mint of Ankh-Morpork
The Senior Wrangler
The Summoning Dark
The Undertaking
Thomas Goatberger
Two Shirts
Überwald
Unggue
Verence II, king of Lancre

William de Worde

Tuesday, September 01, 2015

The Shepherd's Crown

So, I got this in the mail today...



I nearly made it to completing the Discworld saga before receiving the last book.  I am presently reading Raising Steam which is the fortieth book written; The Shepherd's Crown is the forty-first.

I've got it on my shelf now, waiting for me.

I'm almost as emotional as I was when I first heard the Sir Terry had died.

Monday, August 31, 2015

Discworld - Seeing is Believing

The Last Hero is an amazing graphic novel that brings Rincewind, Leonard of Quirm and Captain Carrot together against Cohen and the Silver Horde.  It's illustrated but the amazing Paul Kidby.  Kidby is to the Discworld what Alex Ross is to comic books.

I remember getting to see Alex Ross on a panel at Wondercon once.  He mentioned how he wanted to recreate, in his style, the iconic Muhammad Ali vs. Superman book cover.  The other artists on the panel said that was huge undertaking, and Ross said it wasn't that big of a deal, you just draw it.  One of the other artists then said, "You're like Superman when someone asks him how he flies, and he says, 'You just jump into the air.'"

Every page has his incredible artwork that perfectly illustrates the characters and the Discworld.  And sometimes it is literally the Discworld that he is illustrating.  Sometimes it's artwork in the margins, sometimes it's a faint drawing behind the text, and occasionally it's an glorious two-page spread.

The story itself seems brief, but there are bleed-over references to artwork, movies,  and other things.  It is a seminal Discworld book.

------

Recurring themes and Characters appearing in this book:

Albert
Ankh-Morpork
Berghodlt Stuttley “Bloody Stupid” Johnson
Bibulous, god of wine
Blind Io
Borogravia
Boy Willie
Butterflies (quantum)
Caleb the Ripper
Carrot Ironfoundersson, captain
Circumfence
Cohen the Barbarian
Death
Dried frog pills
Errol
Events in Guards Guards
Events in The Colour of Magic / The Light Fantastic
Fate
Fingers Mazda
Havelock Vetinari, patrician
Hughnon Ridcully, priest of Blind Io
Krull
Leonard of Quirm
Lord Downey, Assassins’ Guild
Mad Hamish
Mr. Boggis, Thieves’ Guild
Mr. Slant, Lawyers’ Guild
Mrs. Palm, Seamstresses’ Guild
Mustrum Ridcully, archchancellor UU
Nuggan
Offler, the crocodile-headed god
Old Vincent
Om
Omniscope
Parrot labeled "Dog" (picture)
Patina, goddess of wisdom
Ponder Stibbons
Rimfishers
Rincewind
Sam Vimes, commander, duke, knight
Sybil Ramkin-Vimes
The Agatean Empire
The Bursar
The Chair of Indefinite Studies
The Clacks System
The Counterweight Continent
The Dean
The Death of rats
The High-Energy Magic building
The Lady
The Lecturer in Recent Runes
The Librarian
The Luggage
The Million-to-One Chance
The Pointless Albatross
The Silver Horde
The Sunshine Sanctuary for Sick Dragons
Truckle the Uncivil

Unseen University

Discworld - Everybody Does It

The World of Poo is the second tie-in book for the Discworld.  It's another children's book, but this time one that is trying to teach more than just reading.

It rides the edge of a book that is set in a world that is setting itself in that same work being fictional in that fictional world.  It was fun to read, and brought out even more Pratchett's interest Victorian times.

------

Recurring themes and characters appearing in this book:

Ankh-Morpork
Bergthodlt Stuttley “Bloody Stupid” Johnson
Cabbage
Carrot Ironfoundersson, captain
Cunning Artificers
Dimwell
Doughnut Jimmy
Events in Feet of Clay
Felicity Beedle
Gumption snuff
Harry King, knight
Havelock Vetinari, patrician
Hygiene
Igor
Interchangeable Emmas
Jolly Sailor Tobacco
Offler, the crocodile-headed god
Omnia
Sto Lat
Sybil Ramkin-Vimes
The Agatean Empire
The Ankh-Morpork Royal Opera House
The Brass Bridge
The College of Heralds
The Counterweight Continent
The Quantum Butterfly
The Street of Alchemists (guild)
The Sunshine Sanctuary for Sick Dragons
Uberwald
Unseen University
Young Sam Vimes

Discworld - A Primer of Animals and Citizens

Where's My Cow? is the first tie-in book from the Discworld.  It strikes me as similar to Goodnight, Opus as a book that tells the story of a children's book and a departure from the text.

Sure, it's a short book, but it's silly fun, and truly a children's book for an adult.

------

Recurring characters and themes appearing in this book:

Coffin Henry
Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler
Detritus
Foul Ole Ron
Gaspode (pictured)
Havelock Vetinari, patrician
Sam Vimes, commander, duke, knight
Sybil Ramkin-Vimes
The Librarian
Where's My Cow?
Young Sam Vimes

Discworld - Just Taxes

"A Collegiate Casting-Out of Devilish Devices"  is a simple continuation of the ongoing argument of Unseen University paying its taxes.  And ties with A.E. Pessimal first seen in Thud.

It's unremarkable, but a fun bit of wizard arguing.

------

Recurring themes and characters appearing in this story:

A.E. Pessimal
Braseneck College
Havelock Vetinari, patrician
Mustrum, Ridcully, archchancellor UU
Ponder Stibbons
The Chair of Indefinite Studies
The Dean
The Lecturer in Recent Runes
The Librarian
The Senior Wrangler

Unseen University

Discworld - Watching Vacation

Snuff is another fine book of the Watch and Sam Vimes.  It's also another tightly written book.

It's the second book to have a tie-in book written for it: The World of Poo.  And no, I didn't forget an "h".

Snuff brings another sentient species into the Discworld in the form of goblins.  They are downtrodden and considered vermin, but we find out that there is more to these sword fodder creatures than people think.

------

Recurring themes and characters appearing in this book:

A.E. Pessimal, inspector
All Jolson
Ankh-Morpork
Billy Slick
Blind Io
Burleigh & Stronginthearm
Carrot Ironfoundersson, captain
Cheery Littlebottom, sergeant
Detritus, sergeant
Diamond, king of trolls
Dr. Lawn
Drumknott, secretary
Events in Thud
Events in Unseen Academicals
Feeney Upshot, chief constable
Felicity Beedle
Fred Colon, sergeant
Goblin in the fairy book
Gumption snuff
Haddock, sergeant
Harry King, knight
Havelock Vetinari, patrician
Hourly bells
Hygiene
Igor
Igorina
Koom Valley
Lady Margolotta von Uberwald
Lancre
Lord Ronald Rust
Mightily Oats, reverend
Mr. Slant, Guild of Lawyers
Mr. Trooper
Mr. Trooper
Nac Mac Feegle
Nobby Nobbs, corporal/acting sergeant
Nutt, orc at UU
Octarine Grass Country
Otto Chriek
Ponder Stibbons
Purity, maid
Quirm College for Young Ladies
Rhys Ryhsson, low king of the dwarves
Sam Vimes, commander, duke, knight
Shine of the Rainbow
St. Ungulant's Fire
Stoneface Vimes
Sybil Ramkin-Vimes, duchess
Tears of the Mushroom
The Ankh-Morpork Royal Opera House
The Ankh-Morpork Times
The Clacks System
The Dark Clerks
The Duchess of Keepsake (ISWM)
The Goode Childe’s Book of Faerie Tales
The Marquis of Fantailer
The Summoning Dark
Unggue
Unseen University
Verity Pushpram
Wee Mad Arthur
Where's My Cow
William de Worde
Willikins
Young Sam Vimes
Zoons

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Discworld - Spirit of Wrath

If Unseen Academicals was the looking for the coat, I Shall Wear Midnight is the saying goodbye to people while looking for the host.  Characters are brought out that we may see for the last time, small themes are wrapped up and put away.  And questions are answered.

Again, my thought that Tiffany is what Esk might have been as a recurring character comes to mind.  Of course Esk showing up in this book shows how the path diverged, but again I get the sense of a path not taken and longed for.

But now, there comes Snuff which is the distraction on the way out the door that brings you back into the party...

------

Recurring themes and characters appearing in this book

!!!!!
Angua von Uberwald, captain
Ankh-Morpork
Annagramma
Big Yan
Boffo
Brian, sergeant of the guard
Brutha
Carrot Ironfoundersson, captain
Chaffinch's Mythology
Daft Wullie
Death
Eskarina "Esk" Smith
Events in Equal Rites
Events in Hat Full of Sky
Events in Wee Free Men
Events in Wintersmith
Fred Colon, sargeant
Goblin in the fairy book
Granny Aching
Granny Weatherwax
Haddock, constable
Horace, the cheese
Hygiene
Jeannie, kelda
Lancre
Leticia, baroness
Long Tall Short Fat Sally
Lord Alfred Rust (ancestor of Ronald Rust)
Magrat Garlick, queen of Lancre
Mightily Oats, reverend
Miss Level
Miss Perspicia Tick
Miss Sacharissa Crisplock
Miss Treason
Mr. and Mrs. Aching
Mr. Trooper
Mrs. Eunice Proust
Mrs. Snapperly
Nac Mac Feegle
Nanny Ogg
Nobby Nobbs, corporal
Petulia Gristle
Preston
Rob Anybody
Roland
Sam Vimes, commander, duke, knight
Simon
Stoneface Vimes
The Ankh-Morpork Times
The Baron of the Chalk
The Duchess of Keepsake
The Goode Childe’s Book of Faerie Tales
The Lady Sybil Free Hospital
The Royal Ankh-Morpork Opera House
The Royal Art Museum of Ankh-Morpork
The Toad
The Unreal Estate
Tiffany Aching
Two Shirts
Unseen University
Verence II, king of Lancre
Wee Mad Arthur, constable
Wentworth
You, the cat

Discworld - Be a Sport

Unseen Academicals was a book that came out after a seeming drought of Discworld books.  Pratchett had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at this point, and we all were wondering how he would continue.  I think he ended up slowing down with the writing, but at the same time was trying to get everything in his head out onto paper that he could.

This was not yet the saying goodbye, but it was like the beginning of the looking for you coat at the end of the party.

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Recurring themes and characters appearing in this book:

“A lie can run around the world while the truth is getting its boots on.”
“The world is an oyster.”
Adrian Turnipseed, professor
Alphonse Nobbs, bledlow (no relation)
Angua von Uberwald, sergeant
Ankh-Morpork
Bergholdt Stutley “Bloody Stupid” Johnson
Bill Rincewind
Bishop Horn
Bluejohn, constable
Boffo
Bows & Ammo
Brazeneck University
Bugarup University
Burleigh & Stronginthearm
C.M.O.T. Dibbler
Cabbage
Death
Diamond, king of trolls
Dimwell
Dolly Sisters
Dr. (Mossy) Lawn
Dr. Hix (Hicks), Head of the Department of Post-Mortem Communications
Emberella
Events in Sourcery
Haddock, constable
Havelock Vetinari, patrician
Hex
Hwel, dwarf playwright
Igor
Lady Margolotta von Uberwald
Lancre
Lord Rust
Madame Sharn
Micro Mail
Mightily Oats, Reverend/Brother/Pastor 
Molly, maid
Moving Pictures
Mrs. Whitlow
Mustrum Ridcully, Archchancellor UU
Nobby Nobbs, corporal
Nutt
Ponder Stibbons
Professor Earwig (retired and married...)
Queen Ynci
Rhys Rhysson, low king of the dwarves
Rincewind
Shatta
Sto Lat
The Ankh-Morpork Royal Art Museum
The Ankh-Morpork Royal Bank and Mint
The Ankh-Morpork Royal Post Office
The Ankh-Morpork Times
The Assassins’ Guild
The Beggars' Guild
The Bursar
The Cabinet of Curiosity
The Chair of Indefinite Studies
The Clacks System
The Dean/Archchancellor Brazeneck University
The Evil Empire
The Fools’ Guild
The High Energy Magic Building
The Koom Valley Accord
The Lady Sybil Free Hospital
The Lecturer of Recent Runes
The Librarian
The Luggage
The Postmaster (Most von Lipwig)
The Quirm College for Young Ladies
The Royal Opera House
The Senior Wrangler
The Squid in the hall
The Thieves' Guild
The Uberwald League of Temperance
The Undertaking
Thud
Uberwald
Unseen University
Verity Pushpram
William de Worde
Winkle's Old Peculiar

Monday, August 17, 2015

Discworld - All the Money That's Fit to Print

Making Money, a direct sequel to Going Postal, has a lot of things happening in the background.  And looking forward to the next, and last, Mosit von Lipwig book titles Raising Steam, I notice that all three books titles have the same grammatical structure: verb ending in "-ing" followed by a noun.

But this book is lots of fun with another plot to displace/replace Vetinari as the Patrician.  And some of the best lines go to him as well.  My favorite is one from near the end of the book: "Mr. Lipwig, do I need to wear a button that says TYRANT?

It's also another book that visits or mentions a lot of past characters.

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Recurring themes and characters appearing in this book:

"A Fresh egg" (The Rite of Ashk-Ente)
Alberto Malich
Angua von Uberwald, sergeant
Ankh-Morpork
Anoia, goddess of cutlery and things stuck in drawers
Berenice Houser, priestess of Anoia
Black Ribboner; Uberwald League of temperance
Boffo Novelty and Joke Shop
Carrot Ironfoundersson, captain
Cut-Me-Own-Throat “C.M.O.T”. (Claude Maximilian Overton Transpire) Dibbler
Dark clerks
Death
Detritus, sergeant
Dorfl, constable
Dr. Hicks, head of the Department of Post-Mortem Communications
Dr. Whiteface, Fool’s Guild
Drumknott, secretary
Elm Street
Events of Feet of Clay
Fred Colon, sergeant
Gladys, golem
Haddock, constable
Harry King
Havelock Vetinari, patrician
Hex
Igor
Jolly Sailor Tobacco
Koom Valley
Lancre
Lord Downey, Assassins’ Guild
Ludmilla Cake
Miss Adora Belle “Spike” Dearheart
Miss Macalariat
Miss Saccharissa Crisplock
Moist von Lipwig
Mr. Bent
Mr. Fusspot, dog, chairman
Mr. Slant, Lawyer’s Guild
Mr. Tiddles, cat
Mrs. Cake
Mustrum Ridcully, Archancellor Unseen University
Nobby Nobbs, corporal
Ordained donkey (Ossory's ass)
Otto Chriek
Ponder Stibbons
Professor Flead
Samuel Vimes, commander, knight, duke
Stanley Howler
Tacticus, general
Teemer & Spools
The Ankh-Morpork Royal Bank and Mint
The Ankh-Morpork Royal Post Office
The Ankh-Morpork Times
The Assassins’ Guild
The Beggars’ Guild
The Cabbage Stamp
The Cabinet of Curiosity
The Campaign for Equal Heights
The Chair of Indefinite Studies
The Dark Clerks
The Dark Empire
The Department of Post-Mortem Communications
The Fools Guild
The Golem Trust
The Librarian
The Low King, Ryhs Ryhsson
The Merchants’ Guild
The Orthodox Potato Church
The Pink Pussycat Club
The Squid in the hall
The Undertaking
Tolliver Groat, assistant postmaster
Uberwald
Unseen Unveristy
Vetinari's aunt
William de Worde

Wuffles, dog (deceased)

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Discworld - Boffo

This time reading through Wintersmith, I began to wonder if this had been part of Terry Pratchett's plan all along: to have a female character growing up through his books.  In Equal Rites, we meet Eskarina Smith as an eight-year-old, and Tiffany is nine in Wee Free Men.  Now I don't know if he had these stories in his head, but Tiffany certainly follows a path much like Esk might have if Pratchett had followed her as much as he does Rincewind and Vimes.

Tiffany is shaping up to be very powerful.  She has fought the Queen of the Fairies (WFM), traveled beyond the door of death (HFoS), and now has learned to be a fulcrum in the transfer of heat and will learn to do something similar with pain.  The only thing she hasn't learned so far to put her closer to Granny Weatherwax's true heir is learning borrowing.

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Recurring themes and characters appearing in this book:

Ankh-Morpork
Annagramma Hawkin
Anoia, goddess cutlery and things stuck in drawer
Awfully Wee Billy Big Chin
Baron of the Chalk
Big Yan
Boffo
Callus Tacticus, general
Chaffinch's Mythology
Daft Willie
Death
Dimity Hubbub
Eldritch means Oblong
Events from A Hat Full of Sky
Events from Wee Free Men
Gertrude Tiring
Granny Aching
Granny Weatherwax
Greebo
Hamish
Horace, the cheese
Jeannie, kelda
Lancre
Lucy Warbeck
Lulu Darling
Miss Eumenides Treason
Miss Level
Miss Perspicacia Tick
Morris Dancers
Mr. Joe and Mrs. Aching
Mrs. Lettice Earwig
Mrs. Snapperly
Nanny Gytha Ogg
Old Mother Blackcap
Old Mother Dismass
Petulia Gristle
Rob Anybody
Roland de Chumsfanleigh
Sensibility Bustle, wizard
Sergeant Roberts (with Kevin, Nigel, and Trevor)
Shawn Ogg
The Goode Childe’s Book of Faerie Tales
The Hiver
The Nac mac Feegle
The Quirm College for Young Ladies
Tiffany Aching
Tolliver Groat, assistant postmaster
Two Shirts
Unseen University
Wee Dangerous Spike
Wentworth Aching
Where’s My Cow?
You, the cat
Zakzak Stronginthearm