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March 08, 2004
The art of humour....
My quote of the week comes from Terry Pratchett and appears in the opening pages of "Feet of Clay"
You know you're in for an amusing read when it contains a statement like this ....
"People look down on stuff like geography and meteorology, not only because they're standing on the one and being soaked by the other. They don't look quite like real science (That is to say, the sort you can use to give something three extra legs and then blow it up.). But geography is only physics slowed down and with a few trees stuck on it, and meteorology is full of excitingly fashionable chaos and complexity."
That about sums up the trouble with Pratchett. Once you have read any of his books nothing is ever quite the same again - ever! As a result I find myself constantly seeing things and recognising a Pratchett inspired metamorphosis into something from the Disc World. Very little escapes this treatment, thus I have difficulty with suitcases on wheels, gargoyles on buildings, mime artists and even pipe organs - especially the bigger ones! I find myself looking to see if the builder was a certain B S Johnson.
Posted by The Gray Monk at March 8, 2004 10:46 AM
Comments
I love Terry Pratchett, I started to read him after a Scottish sailor I worked with gave me Guards! Guards! to read while we were on watch and have been hooked ever since. While I was stationed in Spain I use to make my wife go into Glasgow and get whatever the lastest release was. I got to meet him at a SciFi world Con, he is great to talk to.
Posted by: Matthew at March 8, 2004 04:31 PM
His sense of the ridiculous is unbeatable - once seen through his eyes the entire PC movement takes on a totally different perspective. On the Discworld, racism isn't a problem, specism is more of a cultural thing and its much more interesting all round!
Posted by: The Gray Monk at March 8, 2004 06:46 PM
I have my doubts about Monsterous Regiment. All the others I have really enjoyed.
Posted by: Ozguru at March 9, 2004 01:07 AM
I wonder if your version was different to the UK edition? I notice that the cover on your Blog is the US version, and sometimes they lose something in "translation". I thought it was quite funny, but it also reflected a deeper mistrust of motives for war, for religion used as a cloak and for a whole slew of other things we tend to use as hiding places. Be interesting to explore the differences )if any!) between the US and UK versions sometime.
Posted by: The Gray Monk at March 10, 2004 12:35 AM
I haven't noticed and differance in the content of the books just the cover art. I like the UK versions better
Posted by: Matthew at March 11, 2004 01:18 AM
Paul Kidby's work was always fantastic - his successor hasn't quite the same touch.
Posted by: The Gray Monk at March 12, 2004 09:55 PM