The Terry Pratchett Thread: For the sake of prisoners and the flight of birds

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > The Terry Pratchett Thread: For the sake of prisoners and the flight of birds

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chernobyl kinsman: Mar 18, 2007; a friend of the friendly atom; Soiled Meat

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

Well, it'll be a while before you can respond to this, but that's an argument on the order of criticizing Shakespeare because he copied his plots from other sources. The plot is just the skeleton.

pratchett is not shakespeare and endlessly repeating your own two-bit joke plots because of the beta amyloid plaques in your brain is not the same thing as drawing on holinshed's chronicles or the mythological storehouse of Great Britain

# ? Apr 6, 2019 18:28

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# ? Apr 28, 2024 23:11

chernobyl kinsman: Mar 18, 2007; a friend of the friendly atom; Soiled Meat

"pratchett reusing, beat for beat, the exact same scene in multiple books with only the proper nouns changed is the same as Ovid retelling the story of apollo & daphne" is really a hell of a take

# ? Apr 6, 2019 18:30

Jedit: Dec 10, 2011; Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

Come on, dude, Chernobyl only had one meltdown.

# ? Apr 6, 2019 18:37

Dr. Gargunza: May 19, 2011; He damned me for a eunuch,
and my mother for a whore.; Fun Shoe

Jedit posted:

Come on, dude, Chernobyl only had one meltdown.

# ? Apr 6, 2019 18:44

toasterwarrior: Nov 11, 2011

Jedit posted:

Come on, dude, Chernobyl only had one meltdown.

# ? Apr 6, 2019 19:15

DontMockMySmock: Aug 9, 2008; I got this title for the dumbest fucking possible take on sea shanties. Specifically, I derailed the meme thread because sailors in the 18th century weren't woke enough for me, and you shouldn't sing sea shanties. In fact, don't have any fun ever.

chernobyl kinsman posted:

pratchett is not shakespeare and endlessly repeating your own two-bit joke plots because of the beta amyloid plaques in your brain is not the same thing as drawing on holinshed's chronicles or the mythological storehouse of Great Britain

He was 48 when Hogfather was published and therefore presumably about 46-47 while writing it; early onset alzheimer's obviously was a thing but are you seriously blaming the similarity of Hogfather to Reaper Man on the disease that wouldn't be diagnosed for another twelve-ish years afterwards?

# ? Apr 6, 2019 19:40

chernobyl kinsman: Mar 18, 2007; a friend of the friendly atom; Soiled Meat

no that was a joke, i'm actually blaming it on his failures and laziness as an artist

Jedit posted:

Come on, dude, Chernobyl only had one meltdown.

nice

# ? Apr 6, 2019 19:49

DontMockMySmock: Aug 9, 2008; I got this title for the dumbest fucking possible take on sea shanties. Specifically, I derailed the meme thread because sailors in the 18th century weren't woke enough for me, and you shouldn't sing sea shanties. In fact, don't have any fun ever.

chernobyl kinsman posted:

no that was a joke

I guess I didn't see the humor in it :rolleyes:

Why are you still here in this thread if you hate the subject of the thread so much?

# ? Apr 6, 2019 19:54

Drone Jett: Feb 21, 2017; by Fluffdaddy; College Slice

DontMockMySmock posted:

Why are you still here in this thread if you hate the subject of the thread so much?

Same, but for the Trump threads in CSPAM.

# ? Apr 6, 2019 20:21

Dr. Gargunza: May 19, 2011; He damned me for a eunuch,
and my mother for a whore.; Fun Shoe

chernobyl kinsman posted:

no that was a joke, i'm actually blaming it on his failures and laziness as an artist

well I suppose you'd know a thing or two about that

# ? Apr 6, 2019 20:26

chernobyl kinsman: Mar 18, 2007; a friend of the friendly atom; Soiled Meat

DontMockMySmock posted:

Why are you still here in this thread if you hate the subject of the thread so much?

sorry, sometimes I forget that �discussing books� really means �exclusively and uncritically saying nice things about books�

Dr. Gargunza posted:

well I suppose you'd know a thing or two about that

swing and a miss

# ? Apr 6, 2019 22:23

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

Jedit posted:

Come on, dude, Chernobyl only had one meltdown.

Goddam

Please, Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em

Like seriously that was amazing but please let's keep the discussion focused books, not each other.

# ? Apr 7, 2019 00:51

chernobyl kinsman: Mar 18, 2007; a friend of the friendly atom; Soiled Meat

it really was very good

# ? Apr 7, 2019 01:18

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

chernobyl kinsman posted:

it really was very good

A burn that takes a second to land is excellent and good

# ? Apr 7, 2019 01:26

Acebuckeye13: Nov 2, 2010; If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling
1-800-GAMBLER; Ultra Carp

I will say that repetition is definitely one of Pratchett's biggest weaknesses. When I was rereading the Watch series over the past month, for instance, it struck me that how many of them� Guards, Guards, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo to a very small extent, and even The Truth all feature a plot to replace the Partician in some way. They're all executed well enough and differently enough that I personally don't mind, but it is a flaw that's worth mentioning.

# ? Apr 7, 2019 01:33

Jedit: Dec 10, 2011; Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

Acebuckeye13 posted:

I will say that repetition is definitely one of Pratchett's biggest weaknesses. When I was rereading the Watch series over the past month, for instance, it struck me that how many of them� Guards, Guards, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo to a very small extent, and even The Truth all feature a plot to replace the Partician in some way. They're all executed well enough and differently enough that I personally don't mind, but it is a flaw that's worth mentioning.

Is that repetition of plot, though, or necessity of situation? Amkh-Morpork has a status quo that Vetinari maintains with ruthless skill. There isn't a way to change it that doesn't involve going through him.

# ? Apr 7, 2019 01:48

chernobyl kinsman: Mar 18, 2007; a friend of the friendly atom; Soiled Meat

Jedit posted:

Is that repetition of plot, though, or necessity of situation? Amkh-Morpork has a status quo that Vetinari maintains with ruthless skill. There isn't a way to change it that doesn't involve going through him.

ankh-morpork is not a real place and terry pratchett has complete control over his plots. it's repetition of plot.

# ? Apr 7, 2019 19:14

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004; Out here, everything hurts.

Is this where we follow up with complaining about the books that touch on politics but don't focus on Ankh-Morpork politics as unnecessary cruft? :allears:

# ? Apr 7, 2019 20:36

York_M_Chan: Sep 11, 2003

Tunicate posted:

The title is 'lingeria' and it has a guy in boxer shorts on the front, is that a lingerie pun?

The two are a coincidence but I did name it after a misspelling of Lingerie in a Spam email I got.

# ? Apr 8, 2019 16:08

Fairly passive: Nov 4, 2012; Not as productive as I should be

York_M_Chan posted:

The two are a coincidence but I did name it after a misspelling of Lingerie in a Spam email I got.

I wonder what it must have been like for Pterry. You come up with a few nice gag names like Vetinari and with the weight of ever more words these throwaway gags become real enough that people will puzzle over their psychology or dress up as them at conventions.

# ? Apr 11, 2019 11:08

Acebuckeye13: Nov 2, 2010; If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling
1-800-GAMBLER; Ultra Carp

chernobyl kinsman posted:

ankh-morpork is not a real place and terry pratchett has complete control over his plots. it's repetition of plot.

It's also worth noting that Vetinari's hyper-competence comes from the Watch books themselves�If Pratchett had really wanted to, he could have either written Vetinari as less competent or written the plots in a way that didn't involve him as directly (Probably most easily in Men at Arms). Like I said, it doesn't really bother me since the books are executed well enough and differently enough that they don't feel like they have the same core plot three books in a row, but it is worth noting as an unfortunate tendency of Pratchett's.

# ? Apr 11, 2019 18:40

Snow Cone Capone: Jul 31, 2003

IMO it's not super suspect that a book series where the same person, who nobody in the city likes, would be the subject of multiple assassination/removal attempts. At least the methodology between them is pretty different each time.

# ? Apr 11, 2019 18:49

The DPRK: Nov 18, 2006; Lipstick Apathy

Thank you to whoever recommend Mort to me. I finished it a short while ago and pretty much loved all of it. Mostly I liked Pratchett's humour in a fantasy setting, making light of fantastical things and how he presumes the reader is in the real world when making jokes, but their existence in the reality of the story itself is kind of unspoken. I can't remember any references exactly but I think it was like mentioning something as specifically real world as the Corby trouser press to illustrate a point about something happening in the Discworld. The story itself I found generally good. I found I didn't care too much about the plot by the end, but I did enjoy the fantastical journey Mort went on as Death's Apprentice.

It being the discworld 'series' am I likely to hear about any of the main characters in Mort again, or is it more than things will take place in say Sto Lat and Ankh Morpork but in drastically different times? I hope I haven't seen the last of Death. I really liked the character. My favourite scene was when he becomes the chef and begins to experience happiness for the first time.

It was recommended that I listen to Guards! Guards! next but I'm unable to find it in audiobook form that's not like �20 or on a CD. Can anyone recommend an alternative book or somewhere where I can listen that won't cost �20?

# ? Apr 12, 2019 19:13

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

The DPRK posted:

It being the discworld 'series' am I likely to hear about any of the main characters in Mort again, or is it more than things will take place in say Sto Lat and Ankh Morpork but in drastically different times? I hope I haven't seen the last of Death. I really liked the character. My favourite scene was when he becomes the chef and begins to experience happiness for the first time.

Death shows up in pretty much every Discworld book. As for Mort, he and Ysabell dies and their daughter, Susan Sto Helit, becomes a recurring character

# ? Apr 12, 2019 19:20

My Lovely Horse: Aug 21, 2010

The DPRK posted:

It being the discworld 'series' am I likely to hear about any of the main characters in Mort again, or is it more than things will take place in say Sto Lat and Ankh Morpork but in drastically different times? I hope I haven't seen the last of Death. I really liked the character. My favourite scene was when he becomes the chef and begins to experience happiness for the first time.

You'll want to read Reaper Man, Soul Music, Hogfather and Thief of Time, those are all about Death, but the Discworld gimmick is also that he shoes up in every book in some capacity.

# ? Apr 12, 2019 19:21

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

I think reaper man is even better than Mort

# ? Apr 12, 2019 19:33

Skippy McPants: Mar 19, 2009

I'd say the Death/Susan books go up in quality pretty consistently.

And I know it makes me a sucker, but I was glad Suana got a happy ending. She had to put up with so much bullshit.

# ? Apr 13, 2019 10:48

SirSamVimes: Jul 21, 2008; ~* Challenge *~

Reaper Man, Hogfather and Thief of Time are all extremely excellent books. Soul Music is solid, but you should definitely read it if you want to get into Death stuff because it introduces his granddaughter.

# ? Apr 13, 2019 12:43

precision: May 7, 2006; by VideoGames

I actually can totally see why someone would say that Lords and Ladies and Carpe Jugulum are extremely similar but to not realize it was intentional seems, at best, like a willful misreading of both of them

# ? Apr 13, 2019 22:25

divabot: Jun 17, 2015; A polite little mouse!

precision posted:

I actually can totally see why someone would say that Lords and Ladies and Carpe Jugulum are extremely similar but to not realize it was intentional seems, at best, like a willful misreading of both of them

but, here we are with chernobyl kinsman

# ? Apr 14, 2019 00:11

precision: May 7, 2006; by VideoGames

Hell I'd even go so far as to say they were written specifically to dovetail together. Where Lords and Ladies is about how alien a noble ruling class is, even (especially) in modern times, Jugulum is about the reality of how those in power see their subjects; literally food that talks

# ? Apr 14, 2019 00:16