Atomic Nerds

We are around and about, though the bit where Stingray will be off work for a week yet and we are preparing to hit the road to see my family in Arizona means the general sensation about the place is that the holidays have not ended yet, and we are in a combination of preparation and goof-off mode. I wanted to get back to blogging by today, but my muse sent me a postcard from St. Tropez.

So here’s a link to my Thing of Interest for today, an old speech by Terry Pratchett dating from 1985 on the subject of the consensus fantasy world, magic, and gender. Which is actually a very poor summation and if you want to find out what it’s actually about, I suggest you read it.

It’s of extra special interest to Discworld fans because the speech was given between the publications of Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic; as most fans of the series admit, it started out as not much better than decent satire of bad fantasy and only became worth the fanaticism later on down the line when it turned from simple parody to deeply interesting fiction in and of themselves. Still based on social satire, yes, but in a much deeper and more philosophical manner than just an incompetent wizard who goes about the fantasy landscape hanging lampshades on things. What makes this speech particularly interesting isn’t just what he said then, but the themes and ideas he went on to elaborate on in much greater and richer detail decades down the line…

Posted lookey here, Suggested Reading |