Worldcon, Pratchett, etc.
Sep. 17th, 2003 12:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanI haven't posted much about Worldcon, mostly just because I've been busy. It was fun, aside from the baby-fussiness. We had some entertaining times, ate some good food, heard some good panels. We went to the top of the CN Tower, the tallest free-standing structure in the world. That was quite cool.
We also heard Terry Pratchett read from his upcoming novel, Monstrous Regiment, due out September 30th. Isaac was kind enough to sleep the whole time, so I actually got to hear the whole reading, and it was great. PTerry has a great style and put in some side comments that were just hilarious. He started off the hour by explaining that at a previous convention, he showed up with his laptop (to do the reading from) but without a power cord, and a helpful woman on the con staff lent him a power cord, which ended up frying his computer. Ouch! So now he always brings his own. He then went on to say that he was going to read bits from both MS Word and Word Perfect, "without a net." Hee!
He said at the beginning of the reading that he was going to read some from the sequel to The Wee Free Men, but he only ended up reading from one story, so I was confused on whether Monstrous Regiment is that sequel, or whether the sequel is another book that he didn't get to. From reading the description of Monstrous Regiment on Amazon, I don't *think* it's the sequel, but I could be wrong. I haven't read The Wee Free Men, yet, it's on order from Amazon UK.
Anyway, it's a Discworld novel. The plot centers around a young woman who has disguised herself as a boy to join the army for a war. The part that PTerry read was about the new recruits being trained and introduced to army life. It's a motley crew including a vampire, an Igor, and a troll, hence the book's title. ;) There was a section where the new soldiers sit around late at night discussing why the hell their country is even fighting this war at all, which sounded like a pretty pointed comment on US action in Iraq -- stuff like "well, they stole our land!" "But wasn't it originally their land, and we stole it from them first?" "Quiet, that's not patriotic to talk like that!" And so forth.
There was brief mention of Sam Vimes and Ankh-Morpork, and I gathered that Vimes was leading the opposing army, so presumably he'll appear in the book. And that's about all I remember of interest. But if you ever have a chance to hear PTerry read his stuff, go! :)
I also finally read Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and am wondering why it took me so long to read this. Good stuff. It's interesting how similar, but different, Neil's and PTerry's styles are. Makes it easy to see why they decided to collaborate on Good Omens.
We also heard Terry Pratchett read from his upcoming novel, Monstrous Regiment, due out September 30th. Isaac was kind enough to sleep the whole time, so I actually got to hear the whole reading, and it was great. PTerry has a great style and put in some side comments that were just hilarious. He started off the hour by explaining that at a previous convention, he showed up with his laptop (to do the reading from) but without a power cord, and a helpful woman on the con staff lent him a power cord, which ended up frying his computer. Ouch! So now he always brings his own. He then went on to say that he was going to read bits from both MS Word and Word Perfect, "without a net." Hee!
He said at the beginning of the reading that he was going to read some from the sequel to The Wee Free Men, but he only ended up reading from one story, so I was confused on whether Monstrous Regiment is that sequel, or whether the sequel is another book that he didn't get to. From reading the description of Monstrous Regiment on Amazon, I don't *think* it's the sequel, but I could be wrong. I haven't read The Wee Free Men, yet, it's on order from Amazon UK.
Anyway, it's a Discworld novel. The plot centers around a young woman who has disguised herself as a boy to join the army for a war. The part that PTerry read was about the new recruits being trained and introduced to army life. It's a motley crew including a vampire, an Igor, and a troll, hence the book's title. ;) There was a section where the new soldiers sit around late at night discussing why the hell their country is even fighting this war at all, which sounded like a pretty pointed comment on US action in Iraq -- stuff like "well, they stole our land!" "But wasn't it originally their land, and we stole it from them first?" "Quiet, that's not patriotic to talk like that!" And so forth.
There was brief mention of Sam Vimes and Ankh-Morpork, and I gathered that Vimes was leading the opposing army, so presumably he'll appear in the book. And that's about all I remember of interest. But if you ever have a chance to hear PTerry read his stuff, go! :)
I also finally read Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and am wondering why it took me so long to read this. Good stuff. It's interesting how similar, but different, Neil's and PTerry's styles are. Makes it easy to see why they decided to collaborate on Good Omens.
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no subject
Date: 2003-09-17 04:54 pm (UTC)And it's now available on DVD!
My immediate circle of family and friends had a little book club a couple of years ago. The two books I introduced them too? The Warrior's Apprentice and Neverwhere. Damn, I'm good.
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Date: 2003-09-18 12:00 pm (UTC)I'm very jealous that you got to hear His Pratchettness reading...