tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4487413006559113471.post7857051122969102323..comments2024-03-14T07:11:37.650+00:00Comments on Porky's Expanse!: Life, but not as we know it (1)Porkyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00604351052444947490noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4487413006559113471.post-8660946796747543602011-01-27T17:46:30.375+00:002011-01-27T17:46:30.375+00:00In fairness, I am extremely cheap for 'fantasy...In fairness, I am extremely cheap for 'fantasy setting does x' as a trope; consider as further evidence my deep love of Kim 'will Von ever get tired of jokes at the expense of my Jack Yeovil pseudonym' Newman's collected Warhammer works, which adopt an almost checklist approach to the 'story type x with a Warhammer twist' format, and encouraged/drew upon concurrent short stories by a whole mess of authors (read and, I hope, enjoy 'The Laughter of Dark Gods' for exempla).Vonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12583821960347555993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4487413006559113471.post-23035833503766854582011-01-26T22:38:40.184+00:002011-01-26T22:38:40.184+00:00My knowledge of the series is miniscule really, bu...My knowledge of the series is miniscule really, but I'm interested in this view. I'd understood the conventional wisdom was the reverse, that the 'Discworld does x' approach was producing stories too unambitious. You've given me more reason to go on, although as I wrote to Jebediah under <a href="http://theporkster.blogspot.com/2010/12/discussing-terms-1-beer-and-pretzels.html" rel="nofollow">Beer and pretzels</a>, I'm trying to string the reading out. It's hard to hold back anyway, and harder for this.Porkyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00604351052444947490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4487413006559113471.post-89354247931325781202011-01-26T20:47:32.067+00:002011-01-26T20:47:32.067+00:00'Equal Rites' is, to my mind, the first &#...'Equal Rites' is, to my mind, the first 'proper' Discworld book; the first two are pastiching sword-and-sorcery literature, and it's with 'Equal Rites' that we see the Discworld-as-fantasy-setting deployed to explore and parody something other than itself.<br /><br />There's a point later on - roundabout 'Thief of Time', I think - where it can be argued that the series moves into pretension to an extent, although I personally think 'Going Postal' arrested that swing and brought the Discworld back to its best use in the 'here is an Issue which the Discworld is being used to explore' mould.Vonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12583821960347555993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4487413006559113471.post-87250754938227101192011-01-25T14:33:22.353+00:002011-01-25T14:33:22.353+00:00@ Jebediah - That's certainly a coincidence, t...@ Jebediah - That's certainly a coincidence, though I'd imagine the odds are much less against than we'd think, plus an absurd universe may have hired Pratchett to write the script. Your rule is an excellent one. The fictional universe idea is in some sense pondering how much fiction and nature might be one and the same. Fiction has a habit of prefiguring real developments, as if the gauntlet is thrown down, the ideas themselves becoming fulcra and demanding a load be levered. As for Penny Arcade, I might hope you thought of me as the guy on our right, but rest assured I'm more the guy on our left..!<br /><br />@ C'nor (Outermost_Toe) - Blogger is spot on: it's 'surprise', with an extra 'r'. But what does it matter if we all think differently? If everyone agrees the extra letter is ornament only, no spell check can hold us back! That would make a fine next project after mapping the fictional universe - helping the English language do what it does even better. Many have tried, and it's a work in progress, but the time and technology might just be right. Re Pratchett, blarney is the thing, but who says blarney isn't a fundamental force running through all? As I suggested in my reply to Jebediah, it may well animate more than fiction.Porkyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00604351052444947490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4487413006559113471.post-39341963886568566512011-01-25T09:51:07.248+00:002011-01-25T09:51:07.248+00:00I'm suprised (Okay, how do you spell suprised,...I'm suprised (Okay, how do you spell suprised, then? Blogger keeps redlining it.), that there isn't a blarney stone among Dwarf battle breads.C'nor (Outermost_Toe)https://www.blogger.com/profile/01580315916281876117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4487413006559113471.post-86771665126496138332011-01-25T08:46:37.278+00:002011-01-25T08:46:37.278+00:00Funny, I just read that exact passage last night b...Funny, I just read that exact passage last night before going to bed. I love Terry Pratchett's books. I find myself reading them, laughing and having fun in a fantasy world and then I discover that he's writing about the real word just as much and that he's very serious indeed. This is why I love the "darker" books, like Night Watch and Thud!<br />I also have my own Pratchett rule: if it's really outrageous and you're sure he's made it up, it's real. I'm pretty good at accumulating useless knowledge and weird facts, but I bow to his mastery. <br /><br />By the way, I thought of you when I read the <a href="http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/1/24/" rel="nofollow">Penny Arcade comic</a> today.???https://www.blogger.com/profile/00467285279627231933noreply@blogger.com