Ijust wanted to take this opportunity to apologize to Dj MaNiAk, Robert Vincent Walker Smith, John P. Hayes, Rags, and to thank John, Daniel L. Dreibelbis, Andrashar, Janet C-L and especially Derek Ward.
About 5 months ago, I mouthed off a bit over an, to me (at the time), unknown author; Terry Pratchett.
Well, apologies to those I butted heads with, and thanks to those who offered suggestions.
True to my word, I went straight to amazon.com that day and purchased two Pratchett books. "Good Omens" and "Small Gods".
Wow.
GO was simply sublime. If not for some of the British humor that flew past me, I'd say it was one of the most enjoyable reads I've ever experienced. (Janet, you were right, Jack Nicholson for sure.) I'd read Armageddon stories before, but this was a fresh perspective. The parts with the "horsemen" had me laughing out loud, and that's no easy feat for a book. TV, movies, sure. It's easy to laugh at passive entertainment, but Pratchett and Gaiman really found my weak spot and tickled me into submission.
I couldn't wait to get to SG. Good, but not as good as GO. I don't know if maybe it was more Gaiman and less Pratchett that made me like the first read better, or if that's even an appropriate comment, I mean, who's to know what parts either of them contributed? I think maybe it was the subject matter. I enjoyed it, to be sure, the god trapped in the turtle provided an interesting insight. I yellow highlighted a few parts that seemed particlarly interesting, but I had trouble empathizing with the main character and found myself more captivated by the fringe characters, like the philosophers. And the end left me cold. I don't know how I would have ended it, but it wouldn't have been the way he did.
Anyway, I was in Barnes & Noble this weekend, browsing the SF section and I found an entire shelf devoted to a man who, prior to this week, had never graced a single shelf in this store. Right. Pratchett. Could I have been a trend setter? Was this just a coincidence? I went nuts. Some of the older books were selling for only $3.99 so I ended up picking up five including the first three in the Discworld series. I figure, I may as well start at the beginning. (I also picked up a Robert Anton Wilson "Illuminati" book, but that's a subject for another post.)
And I remembered some of you mentioned that Pratchett has a newsgroup, and I think I'm going to check, right after ckicking send, and see what it's like. i may even cut/paste the appropriate parts from this post and put them in my "Hi, I'm new to the group." post.
Anyway, thanks again to those who, instead of resorting to insults after I unknowingly bashed a good writer, offered their assistance. I am forever in your debt.
or at least until I've read the last book. :)
Dave
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