Wherein the Writer talks about his Fascination with and Respect Of the creations of Sir Terry Pratchett, Recounts his first Experience with said creations, Touches briefly on Fan Fiction, and lists his Current Reading material
Discworld, world and mirror of worlds
One evening in the early days of courting my wife, I told her about my current writing project: an epic level FRPG supplement that took place inside of a giant turtle floating through space.
"Oh, you mean like Discworld?" she said?
"What?" I said.
Before Offler, Blind Io, and Annoya, I swear I had never heard of the Discworld before the day my wife-to-be told me about Great A'Tuin. Even as I type those words I realize that I do not believe myself. Me - hardcore gamer, serious reader, fantasy fan . . . and I hadn't even had a whiff of Sir Terry before 2005? Yeah right.
(But I swear its true. I stole the turtle idea from two sources - the video game Gauntlet, where you cross onto one board which is on the back of a giant turtle, and the famous "turtles all the way down" anecdote from Stephen Hawking.)
If you are going to steal, best steal from a genius in a wheelchair who has zero chance of kicking your ass.
That year, I tried three different Terry Pratchett books in a mad attempt to catch up with my wife-to-be on the reading front (file that little notion under Keep Dreaming). I tried Color of Magic and Light Fantastic - I didn't really get any traction. They were fun, they had some memorable characters and some extremely funny language and reveals, but I didn't "get" Pratchett right off. I was actually a little offended in places, being a long time fantasy reader (not to mention D and D kid). I felt like Pratchett was savaging a genre I truly cared about.
And then I tried Small Gods.
Now, years and years and stories and stories later, I think I can actually put my finger on why I didn't get Discworld right away. Light Fantastic and Color of Magic have a built in problem - your main character is Rincewind, a determinately cowardly and selfish character. When he takes Twflower's gold and tries to flee the city in a brilliantly funny reveal in the The Color of Magic I just shook my head.
Axiom: It is difficult to support a character who you perceive as a lesser person than yourself. Rincewind eventually evolves into someone you actually like, but at first I found him a bit despicable and that made it hard to fall in love with the Discworld.
But Small Gods rocked my world.
For the uninitiated, Small Gods tells the story of Om, a deity who decides to manifest himself in the Discworld, only to find himself a small, powerless, and very mortal turtle. Om discovers he can only communicate with Brutha, a kind of idiot savant that possesses a simple and heartfelt faith - he is the only member of the Omnian religion that actually believes. Om, angry and powerless, has to claw his way back to divinity.
Pow! Pratchett fan for life.
Small Gods is outside of the major continuity of the Discworld stories, but it encapsulates everything great and wonderful about that world, and mirror of worlds. Here is a great quote I lifted from Wikipedia:
Australian author Jack Heath
described the book as "one of the 20th century’s finest satires," and
added that "the gods are pompous, the worshippers cowed, and the priests
violently closed-minded. Yet the tale is never heavy-handed, thanks to
Brutha’s sincerity and some deftly comical plot twists, as well as all
the levity that comes from picturing an angry God trapped in the body of
a tortoise."
Mr. Heath nailed it, and just added himself to authors I have to read.
The Discworld books are social satire through and through, and if they were just that I wouldn't be very interested. But they are also laugh-out-loud funny. And they have brilliantly written characters - main characters and background characters in the wonderful hundreds. Add all of this to the coolest fantasy setting ever conceived by man and you have a wonderfully addictive gumbo of storytelling.
As the Discworld series evolves you see a kind of wonderful gentleness towards the subject of Pratchett's satire, a really well balanced tone that speaks of a deep understanding of the reality of the human experience. Its rare to find a satirist who can come across as both deeply critical and deeply caring of his subject like Pratchett.
If You Have Not Read The Discworld Books
. . . you should. Seriously, if you like fantasy, if you like satire, if you just like a great comic novel try them out. You could do worse than beginning with Small Gods, but to the newcomer I recommend Guards! Guards! - the Night Watch stories really tie the whole world together, and introduce you to some of the most compelling characters on the Disc.
Currently Reading
Rosemary's Baby
A friend of mine who used to live in Salem hooked us up with The Horrible Book Club, a horror novel discussion group, and last week we attended our first meeting at downtown Salem's venerable
Old Spot. Our first book was Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin. First rate horror story! The missus and I argued it all to death before we even met with the group - could all the events be taking place just inside Rosemary's head, a la Turn of the Screw? Did the cult have real power, or were the events just confirmation bias? Once we met up with the crew the discussion got even better (and much, much funnier!), and a jolly time was had by all.
KK, I am now going to post the concluions I walked away from the group meeting with. SPOILERS!
My conclusion, carefully considered: Rosemary's Baby is an excellent novel of horror and suspense. The cult really does have magical power, and that power nudged (and drugged) Rosemary along into all of her increasingly bad decisions. She was raped by her husband, and her "oh well, la di day" reaction seems shockingly blasé to a modern reader, but I think its speaks volumes about the "enlightened" sixties, and how far those fools had to go.
One last thing: At The Old Spot, I had my first Narragansett Lager which was a wonderful surprise - all my life I had thought Narragansett was a made-up beer invented by Steven King. Nope, its a real thing. Its kind of like a PBR with a Yankee stammer.
Current Audiobook
Save Yourself by Kelly Braffet
Grim. This is a dark book so far (I'm only a few hours in), but I am enjoying it. Somehow I thought it was a story of supernatural horror, but as of my last reading it's shaping up to be perhaps a kind of thriller? My mistake is giving me the chance to watch the book unfold without any preconception of what it might, ultimately, be about. That's a nice place to be in!
I am really enjoying the journey so I am avoiding reviews and spoilers. Looking forward to seeing where Kelly Braffet takes me.
Enough about Me . . .
What are You reading?
