Terry Pratchett gets snarky

Regarding JK Rowling's assertion that she only realized that Harry Potter was fantasy after she published the first one, Terry Pratchett said, "I'm not the world's greatest expert, but I would have thought that the wizards, witches, trolls, unicorns, hidden worlds, jumping chocolate frogs, owl mail, magic food, ghosts, broomsticks and spells would have given her a clue?"

I actually think he has a valid criticism about Rowling's claims that she was trying to "subvert" the genre. Pratchett's work, starting with The Color of Magic, is far more edgy than anything Rowling has written.

Witches and wizards? How about a writer that takes the ancient myth about a flat world but works out the practical implications, in the process creating a world where Death rides a white horse named Binky, talks in capital letters, and has a granddaughter. Not to mention that rodents are carried off by a separate entity called "Death of Rats." Where time itself is the responsibility of a group of secretive monks. Where the librarian of the wizard's university is an orangutan, mainly because he likes it.

And it has as much philosophical content as HP, it just doesn't hit you in the face.

I like HP, have read all the books and await the seventh one. But really, there is nothing in there for me that makes me go "Wow, that's really inventive!" like when I read almost any Pratchett book. (It should also be noted that Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" are far and away more intricate than the world of HP.)

Besides, Pratchett writes the best. footnotes. ever.

Words fail me.

It emerged yesterday that the Met's guidelines for confronting bombers allow armed police, in some cases, to fire a 'critical headshot' without even challenging the individual to stop, if it is feared an explosion is imminent. Until now, it has been assumed that suspects would be given a chance to surrender.

Thanks to griffen for the link.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever... or not, as the case may be.

"As he stared at her ample bosom, he daydreamed of the dual Stromberg carburetors in his vintage Triumph Spitfire..."

Courtesy of jmhm, who if you are not reading, you should be.

More thoughts on Terry Pratchett

It strikes me that the philosophical content of Harry Potter is easily grasped by children beyond a certain age. On the other hand, a lot of the philosophical content in the Discworld is geared towards adults. A teenager can read and love Men at Arms, for example, but it takes an adult to understand Sam Vines's struggle with "the beast" on anything more than a superficial level. (This is not a criticism of teenagers, it's just that there are things you can only understand when you've been around the block a few times.) A young adult can struggle through the intricacies of the mission of the History Monks in Thief of Time. You have to have years under your belt -- not a lot, necessarily, but more than a few -- to understand what it says about time and choice. As I said in a previous post, there is a great deal to think about in the best of the Discworld books, it just doesn't jump up and down screaming "Moral Content! Moral Content!"

More exasperation with JKR

I have just read the Time magazine piece that prompted Terry Pratchett's reaction. And if JK Rowling really said the things she's quoted as saying.... my opinion of her just dropped.

In particular, "There comes a point where Susan, who was the older girl, is lost to Narnia because she becomes interested in lipstick. She's become irreligious basically because she found sex," Rowling says. "I have a big problem with that."

No, JK. You didn't really read The Last Battle that closely, did you? Susan was not lost to Narnia because she becomes interested in lipstick. She was lost to Narnia because she choose to turn her back on Narnia, and refute her own experience. The fact that all she wants to talk about boys and lipstick all the time shows her infatuation with the worldly and superficial. There is nothing to say that she could not have loved lipstick and still believed in Narnia.

I do.