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tossawary · 4 months

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One of my favorite Discworld books is actually one of the more obscure ones, "Moving Pictures", which is about the invention of films and the movie business in this fantasy world that has dwarves and trolls and wizards and so on. It has its rough patches like every early Discworld book, but Ginger's speech about people who were born in the wrong time or wrong place for their dreams really gets to me in a good way, and I love all of the references to classic films and commentary on fame and creativity. It also has classic characters like Gaspode the Talking Dog and C.M.O.T. Dibbler, and it introduces Detritus's romance with another troll named Ruby.

Perhaps most importantly to me is that this book introduces Ponder Stibbons, who is a wizard, and who goes on in later books to be one of the most important members of the Unseen University (he holds like twelve different positions), in that he's one of the few people who can competently manage a project and so ends up managing nearly everything. (Bear with me, it's been a while since I read any Discworld and my memory is a little rough.) In "Moving Pictures", Ponder is the classmate (roommate?) of a fellow named Victor Tugelbend, who is one of the main characters.

Victor begins the book as a career student, in that a wealthy relative left him a great deal of money exclusively for school; so as long as he STAYS in school, all of his living expenses are paid for. If Victor graduates, that's the end of the money. If Victor drops out, that's the end of the money. But if Victor manages to hit a specific mark range in the 80s every year, then he gets to stay on for another year and try again, and so Victor is perhaps the most dedicated and knowledgeable wizardry student in the university's history, because you have to know what the right answer is in order to intentionally get a certain number of the questions wrong, so that you can continue to coast along on your college fund.

Ponder's graduation is (accidentally) Victor's fault, because Victor runs away to get into the movie business. (I won't spoil what happens, but it's VERY funny.) Now, I like to imagine after the events of the book, after Ponder holds a faculty position in the university, Victor comes BACK to the university occasionally as a disgustingly well-paid external consultant, which drives Ponder UP THE FUCKING WALL. Like, people are so stingy all of the time but SOMEHOW the university budget has room to bring your offensively handsome dropout roommate back just to say, "Hmm, yes, that looks bad. Have you tried turning it off and on again?" I'd throw a fit, honestly. (As soon as Ponder has enough seniority, he probably puts his foot down to stop this if Victor isn't actually useful. Maybe he is, idk, but maybe not for THAT consulting fee.)

I also like to imagine that Victor Tugelbend and Theda "Ginger" Withel are still together, maybe even still acting (badly? mediocre-ly? decently?) together, in some dingy little theatre (Ginger is the director and runs their acting troupe like a tyrant) where the front seats are regularly filled with middle-aged folks who still sigh over the memories of moving pictures. (Moving pictures are now, presumably, VERY illegal in Ankh Morpork.) Victor and Ginger have only because even more attractive as they've gotten older, which is EVEN MORE OFFENSIVE to poor Ponder because his former movie star former roommate is married to another gorgeous former movie star?! I'd throw another fit.

Anyway, I think Ponder deserves to have an affair with a pair of aging former movie stars. I like to imagine this purely because I think it's funny. He seems kind of busy for marriage, so joining someone else's marriage part-time might be good for him. It probably makes most of the rest of the Unseen University faculty breathlessly envious and that really does it for him.

And I think that this affair would OF COURSE be covered by every newspaper and tabloid in the city, including The Times, and William de Worde and Sacharissa Cripslock don't fully understand why their entertainment reporter is so breathlessly excited about people who were famous over a decade ago? (Supermarket tabloids love to tell me about alleged affairs of people who were famous 20+ years ago.) The article on Victor Maraschino and Delores De Syn's failing marriage* is their bestselling newspaper in months and William puts his head down on his desk in despair. (He's fine. This happens on a weekly at least basis. He just needs a minute.)

*Victor and Ginger are very happy with this situation, actually. They're going to take Ponder to dinner to go on a double date with Ruby and Detritus soon. Victor and Ponder are going to get distracted arguing about some of the Inadvisably Applied Magic research projects, but that's fine, because Ginger wants to talk to Ruby about this one-troll-woman-show concept. (Detritus will proudly hand out tickets at the Watch station and accidentally intimidate all of his coworkers into accepting the invitation.)

#tossawary discworld #fic ideas #spoilers #long post

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fuckyeahgoodomens · 1 year

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75 years ago, 4th May 1948 Jan Kantůrek, the absolutely brilliant translator into czech of Terry Pratchett's books or Neil's Coraline, and of course, Good Omens, was born ❤. His wish was to translate all of Terry's work before dying which he unfortunately didn't manage to (though he did manage Discworld) dying 22 March 2018. Happy Birthday Jan Kantůrek, thank you for introducing me to Terry's books ❤.

#jan kantůrek #jan kanturek #gnu jan kantůrek #terry pratchett #gnu terry pratchett #discworld #zeměplocha #good omens #dobrá znamení #coraline #neil gaiman #koralína #terry and jan #terry pratchett and jan kantůrek

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anjanahalo · 5 months

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Adam Ruins Everything Solidified I'm Asexual

Adam Ruins Everything is a fun show I enjoy but you might not because it's very pessimistic and skeptical about a lot of things we take for granted in modern life. Today, though, I'm talking about something he brings up in his Wedding episode: Limerance. Adam presents Limerance as the scientific term for those initial crush, romance, butterfly stomach, heart pounding, blush inducing feelings of love that begin a romantic relationship. What's interesting to me is how he introduced the term. It was akin to how one would introduce Aglet: the name of the plastic tip of your shoelace that makes it easier to lace your shoes. According to the episode, everyone knows what limerance feels like. They're just providing the vocabulary for it. "Limerance" is a foreign experience for me. You might as well be saying "The feeling you get when you first see the color Octarine." I'm not a wizard on Discworld, so this term has no meaning to me. It's the same with Limerance. Yeah, I accept it's real. There is too much lore and culture literally built around it to ignore, but it's baffling even for fairytale loving me to get that people will Actually just look at each other and fall in love. I always thought it was plot convenience! Heck, even now, I can't imagine myself in a romance at all. It's too foreign. But here's Adam in his show just spouting off this word like "of course you know this emotion. I'm finally giving you a term for it." Yeah, sorry, no. What the fuck is this Limerance and why is it so strong people will destroy everything around them for it? Seriously, the story of Star Wars is literally "Why Limerance is bad."

Edit: Initially had the wrong word for Octarine

#aroace #asexual #aromantic #I can't sleep. Now it's your issue

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brightwanderer · 8 months

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I'm sure you get one million and one asks ab Pray For Us Icarus all the time, but I wanted you to know that I truly couldn't stop crying for 30 minutes after finishing. It was so beautiful and perfect and then it was ~over~. Just, thank you 💗

I also wanted to ask, and sorry if this is a repeat, if you always knew Death had put the "curse" on Crowley? If not, what were other options you considered? Also, have you finished season 2 yet? (You'll like it 💗)

Thank you! <3 JUST finished S2 last night so I can finally read my asks again! I did like it :D

So basically when I wrote "Flowers for Anthony" it was one of those stories that came out of nowhere and felt like I was just writing it down while someone else dictated. I had a loose idea of the setup - Crowley was human and had been reincarnated many times, the flowers were important, Aziraphale didn't dare be near him because of how badly it had gone in the past. I didn't have specific backstory worked out at that point, because it just HAPPENED and I thought at first it would be a oneshot.

When I realised I was going to continue the series, I knew I wanted to pin down the exact circumstances of Crowley's situation before I went any further. I pretty much went through all the options I could think of for how he could have ended up like that, and discarded a lot of them - Heaven or Hell doing it to him felt wrong, God or Satan doing it to him felt wrong, him doing it to himself or by accident felt wrong, I didn't want to introduce some new character or force... I settled on Death because, as you might have noticed from the way the series ends, I have some THOUGHTS on the idea that "life is only worth living because of death".

I did hesitate to do it, though. And in a way I still regret it a bit. Because Death, as a character in Good Omens, has much sharper edges than the Death of Discworld, but they are still very much kin to each other... and the Death of Discworld is incredibly important to me (as is the one in Book Omens in fact) as a concept and as not being a malevolent entity.

What I wanted to convey in this story was that Death wasn't actually acting out of maliciousness or cruelty; he was operating on a completely blue-and-orange morality system. As far as he was concerned, Crowley was just wrong, and it was weird that he, a demon, was so insistent about it, and slightly annoying that he was meddling in Death's domain... oh well, make him mortal for a lifetime, he'll understand then.

... wait, what do you MEAN he's still refusing to concede the point?

Anyway my slight regret is that I don't think I got that across as clearly as I wanted; I think he came off more villainous and spiteful (which, in fairness, is how Crowley, Aziraphale, and Adam all interpret his actions, and we only get their POV on it).

(Pestilence, on the other hand, absolutely WAS acting out of spite and malice.)

#good omens #good omens 2 #pray for us icarus #flowers for anthony #fanfic #my fic #ineffable husbands #asks #writing

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moorishflower · 10 months

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Have begun writing a sort of...anachronistic fantasy setting inspired a lot by Discworld and it's reached the point where I think it's successfully grabbed my attention so here, have a snippet

It might be a bit disingenuous to say that the city has walked through a doorway, but to Hob’s ale-soaked and slightly wobbly view, that’s precisely what happens. He goes through the five step process of sobering up in a record time of a few seconds – these steps being cotton-mouth, thirst, salivation, headache, and relief – and abruptly finds himself no longer needing to use his staff as a counterweight against his skull to keep himself upright.

The man is beautiful. Therein is the comparison to the city, though Hob couldn’t have imagined how beautiful. There’s a woman beside him, tugging him inside, and they’re talking (“Come on, then. What are you waiting for?” she asks, and he answers, “Very well. But I do not see what purpose this will serve.”), but most of Hob’s higher intelligence has been reserved for the cataloguing of the man’s sheer presence.

He’s a severe-looking man, dressed head to toe in black robes, and with a black hood pulled up over the crown of his black hair, as if he thinks it will do anything to hide precisely how gorgeous he is. His skin’s the sort of translucent, delicate paleness of ivory sheared thin as paper, and when he accepts a tankard from his lady Hob can see the web of fine blue veins standing out on the backs of his hands. His reverie is briefly interrupted by a snort of amusement as he watches the man give the contents of his tankard a wary look before surreptitiously setting it down. Probably for the best. A man like that is the sort who’s used to…to fine wines and smears of fig jam on toast, and suchlike. What is a man like that doing here?

He makes a motion to the bartender, who rolls their eyes so hard it’s a wonder they don’t fly right out of their skull, and briefly abandons their duty of further begriming the bartop in order to lean in close. The beautiful man turns his head; his eyes are so blue, like chips of ice or cornflowers or the sky in summer, and Hob’s mouth goes dry again.

“Who…” he says, and then clears his throat. “Who is that?”

“Some nob, maybe.” The bartender eloquently displays what they think of nobs with a telling flick of their fingers. “Never seen him before.”

“I’ve got to know him,” Hob insists. “I’ve got to…to introduce myself to him?”

The bartender laughs. If one were realistic, one might call it a snigger. “You? Talking to him?”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

“You couldn’t catch his attention in a thousand years. A hundred-thousand. If’n you never died, you still wouldn’t have half the time you’d need.”

“I know death,” Hob insists. “I’ve seen death. My whole family was wiped out by the plague.”

“You’re a fool.”

“Nobody has to die,” he says, feeling increasingly desperate. He must sound like an absolute fool, but he can’t seem to stop his mouth. The bartender has given him an option, absurd as it is, and Hob’s fool brain is determined to take it. “The only reason people die is... s'cause everyone does it. You all just go along with it. But not me. I've made up my mind. I'm not going to die.” The man is looking at him. Hob’s heart soars somewhere up behind his Adam’s apple and lodges there, wriggling like an excited puppy. There is something special about this man. Not just for the fact that he’s beautiful, but something other, something more. He’s more real than the rest of the room, real in the way that the scholars over at the University talk about quantum, whatever that is. You could line this man up alongside eight twins of him, and Hob thinks he could pick the real one out every time.

#dreamling #my fic #hob gadling #dream of the endless

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abitofafreudmoment · 2 months

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HELLO IRL FRIEND OF NICO

i have noticed that you are into discworld and would like to hear more about it bc i am interested in reading it but am incapable of getting into anything unless it's been hyped up to me enough and you seem like you'd be willing to ramble lovingly about this series so uhh. favorite characters? what's it about? themes? fun tidbits?

(no pressure though and sorry if this is a weird way to introduce myself hi im luce)

lol no worries Luce! yes I'm very happy to ramble for you. (post-writing here, this is so all over the place sorry for like not sticking to one area but hey it's defos a loving ramble - kinda just talked about vague stuff, but I can 100% go into specifics).

So. . . where do I begin?

40 books in the series, he wrote right up until his death. NOT a continuous plotline through all 40. In fact, I recommend not starting with the first one (two actually)as it's not spectacular (that being said, it is still worth reading once you're in the series, good for the overall worldbuilding if memory serves). below is a sorta ok guide to how they connect - I have my issues with it but it's the best I've found.

I wouldn't recommend starting with Sourcery, but that's cuz Rincewind isn't my favorite character - I'd start with either equal rites or Lords and Ladies or Mort or The Truth or The Fifth Elephant or just wherever really as long as it isn't the Colour of Magic or the Light Fantastic.

A few crucial ordering things - READ THUD AND SNUFF (and ig Making Money and Going Postal) BEFORE RAISING STEAM. READ THIEF OF TIME BEFORE NIGHT WATCH. Those are the really imperative ones that you gotta order right, generally do it vaguely chronologically and yeah. Have at it.

The Hedgehog Song - this is a tidbit that shows up a lot in the Witches books as a very rude song that Nanny Ogg sings, BUT WE NEVER GET THE WORDS and I so want them.

Because it was written over 32 years, there are so many characters that just like slowly worm their way into it and I love watching a character turn from like a single footnote into a fully-fledged, important-to-the-plot character (I'm looking at YOU, Cassanunda)

SPEAKING OF FOOTNOTES OMG the books are riddled with them and. . . chef's kiss they add So Much to the series. They're so funny.

Pratchett is actually just like so funny as an author in general, but wittily so. Not saying he does pure comedy - he doesn't. Many a time have I cried over a Pratchett book. He's also great at taking stuff and . . . twisting it ig into something brilliantly new - Take, for instance, Maskerade, which is the Phantom of the Opera but Pratchettifyed (New word! yay! I'll be using it a lot I'm sure.). or like just what he does with Fairy Tales in general (Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies sorta)

Also his MAGIC omg - soft magic system done right. I also love like the different approaches to magic that the witches and wizard have to it. Also how like the Creatures from the Dungeon Dimensions get [spoilers removed]

The gods man. Love them. They exist, they feed off of raw belief (Small Gods' premise is that people start believing in the institution formed around a god as opposed to the god itself and then that god like almost dies cuz no-one believes in him. (surprise surprise it's a commentary on the Church)) and they play games with the lives of men (the Last Hero). Love Granny Weatherwax's opinion on them which goes smthn like this: "No use believin' in 'em, it only serves to encourage 'em." <-- As a concept belief is not simply tied to the gods either. He does a lot of stuff about how what people believe to be true can affect how they perceive things around them.

THE FOOLS. Pratchett understood the tragedy of clowns and as such his fools are so insanely sad - the Fools' Guild is the least happy of all the guilds. I love them so much

Speaking of guilds: the Guild of Thieves. is a legit guild set up by Vetenarii to do crime to the socially acceptable level and no higher - I'm doing a bad job explaining it but it's ingenious.

Vetenarii is probably one of my favorite characters in the entire series. He, above all else, understands how humans work and he uses that skill to get people to do what he wants.

Pratchett does not pull the punches when it comes to messaging and such - very anti-war, anti-racism, anti-sexism etc. Also love what he does with People and how they can/can't be controlled (The human condition as a whole ig) - one of my fav quotes from the series is Vimes saying "They're scared. You can't expect much from people when they're scared."

My personal fav book is Monstrous Regiment, which is relatively standalone. Very good. Very "horrors of war"-y with a touch of the classic [redacted due to spoilers].

I could go on, but this post is getting very long so if I do continue I'll do it in another post.

TL;DR: Pratchett = FUCKING BRILLIANT

#discworld #ramble

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ineffectualdemon · 1 year

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I’ve been rereading some of my fave Discworld books, and I suddenly realized that Moist von Lipwig and Shang Qinghua would quite possibly vibe with each other. Obviously Shang Qinghua isn’t at all an adrenaline junkie like Moist, and Moist isn’t nearly as willing to be feral like Shang Qinghua if the situation called for it, but I think they’d each appreciate the hustle in each other, recognize each other’s version of “look, I’m just a little guy! Absolutely harmless, nothing to see here! Sometimes I talk too much under pressure and my mouth runs away from me, but I shouldn’t be put on blast for whatever bullshit I’m spouting!” Also, one could make the argument that they have a similar taste in partners :)

Nonny you are genius!

Moist would be kinda put off by Shang Qinghua's willingness to murder but I still think they would get on

Also Shang Qinghua would help him run the post office even more efficiently. He'd also introduce Moist to "fellow adrenaline junkie" Shen Qingqiu who would be very offended

SQQ: I AM NOT AN ADRENALINE JUNKIE

SQH: YOU LITERALLY THROW YOURSELF INTO LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS ALL THE FUCKING TIME

Meanwhile MBJ and Spike are comparing stabby things in the background

Binghe is comparing notes on the intricacies of being a Tyrant with Vetinari once they established he doesn't want the city

#svsss #discworld #i got an ask #moist von lipwig #adora belle dearheart #mobei jun #shang qinghua #moshang #shen qingqiu #luo binghe #havelock vetinari

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kolbisneat · 2 months

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MONTHLY MEDIA: February 2024

A real grey month broken up by the colours and beauty of art. Here's how I spent the month of February.

……….FILM……….

The Beekeeper (2024) Perfect February movie.

……….TELEVISION……….

Succession (Episode 1.01 to 2.04) Wasn't sure I was going to like this (every single character is just awful) but now I'm keen to see how these awful people are increasingly awful to each other. So far I'm really appreciating every shot that shows the staff and just the sheer number of people responsible for making the lives of these awful people as low-friction as possible. We 100% need to tax the rich more.

Delicious In Dungeon (Episode 1.05 to 1.08) Now having seen more episodes, the shifting animation styles feels more consistent overall and I love the frenetic style during the high-stress/combat scenes. If you like this show then know it's a near 1:1 with the manga but still worth reading.

……….YOUTUBE……….

Pinocchio is a Story About Art and God by Jacob Geller This opened me up to a wholly new interpretation of what the story of Pinocchio is about. Also go watch the Del Toro adaptation on Netflix it's truly a work of art. VIDEO

Vape-o-nomics: Why Everything is Addictive Now by Tom Nicholas In short: everything is a subscription now and it's making everything worse. Worth the watch and looking forward to further installments in this series. VIDEO

This Experiment Undid Our Cities. How Do We Fix It? by Strong Towns Push back against any local government that doesn't want to introduce mixed use zoning into neighborhoods. The suburbs are subsidized by density, it's as simple as that. VIDEO

……….READING……….

How To Watch Football: 52 Rules for Understanding the Beautiful Game, On and Off the Pitch by Tifo (Complete) So I actually read this over the course of a month or two. I'd read a rule or two, process, then read a couple more a day or two later. I don't even really watch football but this helped so much and now I expect I'll crush the fantasy premier league I'm in.

The Big Four by Agatha Christie (Complete) Only my second Christie novel and this felt SO different. Turns out that's because it really is an outlier amongst her other works. So that was reassuring. Not terrible but I wouldn't exactly recommend it as it felt thoroughly disjointed (a result of stitching together a series of unrelated short stories).

The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett (Complete) Hey I love the Discworld series. You know this. I know this. But there's always gotta be an entry that goes on the bottom of any list. I love Rincewind, but prefer the other wizards in a less prominent role. Not one I'd recommend when trying to get into the series and probably not one I'll revisit. Oh well.

Catwoman: Lonely City by Cliff Chiang (Complete) Big fan of Chiang's artistry on Paper Girls and really enjoyed this interpretation of an aging Gotham. It has such a clear and singular voice it covers so much in just four chapters! Really great read.

Silver Surfer: Black by Donny Cates, Tradd Moore, and Dave Stewart (Complete) Every time I read this I love it more and more. It's truly what I pictured comics to be when I was a kid: vibrant, dramatic, and a little bonkers. Why does the villain ride a dragon? WHO CARES it looks cool. I love it all.

Delicious in Dungeon Vol. 4 by Ryoko Kui (Complete) Watching the series and rereading the manga is really making for a great experience. This volume really highlighted that Senshi isn't a man with all the answers. In the upper levels of the dungeon, he's competent, but as they go deeper and face more dangerous monsters, the rest of the party take more of the lead. It's so good. This series is so good.

……….AUDIO……….

Wolves of Glendale by Wolves of Glendale (2024) Comedy music is always tricky but for me, the comedy is second. If I don't enjoy the music having no understanding of the lyrics then I probably won't stick with it. Some tracks strike this balance better than others but I found The Gym to be a good introductory track.

……….GAMING……….

Disco Elysium (ZA/UM) On one hand, I tend to prefer more...active games. Something that requires hitting buttons at the right time. On the other hand, I'm really digging the mystery and complexity of the game. It really feels like I can play this detective however I want without being forced to follow any one playstyle. Not sure how far into it I am but I read the review that it's less a detective game and more a game about being a detective and that really feels right. But I do have to say that it's...rather buggy on the Switch so that might not be the recommended way to play it.

Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Tuesday crew is working towards ridding the island of a competing group of adventurers. Hook wants them gone, the Gnomes want them gone, heck even the Moss Mother wants them gone. But will they be able to do it? And the more lengthy recap is over here.

Oz: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Mof1 D&D crew found a (literal) underground magic item shop so did a bunch of shopping after their big funeral heist. Everyone loves a good shopping session!

And that's it. See you in March!

#Monthly Media #Kolbisneat #Andrew Kolb

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smalltownfae · 1 month

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Now that I finished Going Postal I am replying to the questions on this post.

How did you feel about the book?

I will just copy and past what I wrote on goodreads here:

This is one of the funniest books in the series. I did miss the surprise of having an emotional moment that makes me cry this time. I got so used to expecting that. Moist von Lipwig and Adora Belle Dearheart are introduced in this book and they are both fantastic characters. I also liked the post office workers and the golems. It was a joy to see Vetinari and Ridcully again since they are both favourites. There are also some mentions of Watch characters that were delightful. In this entry of the Discworld series Vetinari gives a chance to the main character, Moist, to work at the post office and make it functional again. Mr. Lipwig is a conman and it was really interesting to see his internal conflicts and his interactions with other characters. I especially liked the contrast between him and Mr. Gilt. The commentary about government services and collectors was top notch. Even though this is a very strong book in the series, I expected more from it because it is the favourite Discworld book of so many people. At first it didn't even feel like a Discworld book to me. It was probably because of the addition of chapters and the inclusion of so many new characters, but I quickly got used to that. Still, the book felt a bit too long. I only needed the scenes following the main character since those were the best and all the other inclusions didn't seem extremelly necessary to me. The exception to this is the epilogue, which mirrors the first chapter beautifully.

2. Do you have any favourite characters?

Vetinari and Ridcully are still my favourites here, but I really liked Moist and Adora Belle. Mr. Gilt was a great villain too.

3. Favourite scene?

Probably the fire scene when Moist saves people and (most importantly) a cat.

4. Favourite quotes?

"What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter."

Mr. Pump's speech to Moist of "When Banks Fail, It Is Seldom Bankers Who Starve".

"Grandad was the tower-master and had been everywhere and knew everything. Everyone called him Grandad. He was twenty-six."

"There was a pregnant pause. It gave birth to a lot of little pauses, each one more deeply embarrassing than its parent." (Abercrombie would have loved this one)

"Moist couldn't have stopped himself now for hard money. This was where his soul lived: dancing on an avalanche, making the world up as he went along, reaching into people's ears and changing their minds."

"Sometimes the truth is arrived at by adding all the little lies together and deducting them from the totality of what is known."

5. Did you gain anything from reading this book?

The knowledge of what GNU and Go postal mean.

#going postal #sir terry pratchett #gp buddy read #discworld

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stainlesssteellocust · 5 months

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Names in the Laundry Files books are interesting because a good chunk of them might just be made up. Total in-universe lies.

The protagonist for most of the series is explicitly using a fake name, supposedly for magical real-names-are-dangerous purposes, combined with a 'don't use your real name online' gag courtesy of the series' technomagical parody elements. He isn't actually called 'Bob Howard', that is in fact just a meme name cause he's a nerd and chose to name himself after the guy who wrote Conan the Barbarian and Kull the Conqueror. And that whole Bastard Operator thing too, but Conan's the main one.

But it's a fair bet that he does this to other people, too. Including the other leads.

If he believes there's a risk to using real names (nobody else seems to care except the elves, my draft fic compares it how he doesn't like using his name on social media either), he'd change the names of the people who come up in his stories too, right? And there's evidence - if I remember right, in one book he spends time in a police station where the guy on the desk is called Fred Colon.

Of course, doylistically, that's Stross homaging Discworld. But from a watsonian perspective, that could well be Bob homaging Discworld, because he's British and a meme loving fuck*. That cop wasn't really a Sargeant Colon, Bob just reread Feet of Clay recently. His spymaster is called 'Angleton', but James Angleton was a real guy and this bloke isn't him, he's not even...Well, spoilers. Again, cutesy fake homage-name to hide dangerous knowledge.

The other leads don't do this. Explicitly, they don't bother. And you'd think that was that, right?

Except all of the other protagonists are introduced in Bob novels. Where Bob is, presumably, giving them fake names.

Is his wife Mo O'Brien really called that? Her narration says she uses her real name when she gets a solo outing, but we met her in a Bob story where he could have just made something up to sanitise people's identities and her real name is like, Sandra or something. Maybe her book is just continuing that convention because swapping names six stories in is confusing. She never tells us Bob's real name, after all.

A mutual who I won't tag 'cause they've gone quiet for a while once picked up how there's at least four guys called Alex across the series. One becomes a protagonist who does in fact use his real name, but again, he first appeared in a Bob-narrated novel so the 'real name' he's mentioned as using in story could be totally different, and the novel is just keeping 'Alex' as...legacy code, sorta. Maybe there's multiple Alex's because it's just the first name Bob jumps to? Starts with an A, Alex, Bob, A B C...

Same goes for Mhari 'Bob's psycho ex cliche rehabilitated into an actual character through the wonders of unreliable narration' Murphy/Grey, who rounds out our core narration cast. Introduced by Bob. Again.

About the only ones I'm sure of are those who were introduced in non-Bob novels. Jim is presumably an actual Jim. Maybe that Anekka girl, because it was a combo-narration outing. Cassie is...well that's its own can of worms, she's not originally called Cassie but the girl she abducted, mind-merged with like a perfect lyctor and flung into a portal to be eaten by vampires probably was (oh Cassie you're so problematic lmao). The guys in the spinoffs I still haven't read. Etc.

Of course this is very much me thinking too hard about things, and it can be safely ignored as a snarl of the setting conceit. in my fics i ignore this; their names are their names. Similarly, I don't actually think that when the leads write their case reports in-universe they're producing novel-length and professionally edited stories with dramatic flow, or are putting in lurid descriptions of their exes sex lives to fill in the gaps, or going on pop-cultural tangents, or what have you. You can usually tell when they're 'actually' delivering a report or whatever because the style changes. None of this is real; the style and naming stuff is just a quirk of fictionalisation.

But it's fun to think about, sometimes.

*it could also be fuel for fanfic in that 'people like Fred, Nobby, Dibbler, Jackrum etc are archetypes who show up all over the world and multiverse' sort of way, of course. When he makes a joke about apes in the library, maybe that was just the Librarian taking a shortcut through L-Space...

#the laundry files #charles stross #discworld #adjacent at least #if laundry! colon was really called that does that mean the unicorns got nobby #i hope not #they might get a tummy ache #writing #writing meta

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sarucane · 8 months

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Glorious Good Omens S2 Missable Details

I watched Good Omens S2 roughly 507 times the last few weeks (been a rough month, it kept me afloat and I'm eternally grateful), point being:

Tumblr Reader, please benefit from my wild-obsession and read on for good deep-cut bits to pay attention to on your next rewatch:

Episode 1

-Crowley has a very slightly different accent in the opening scene. It's a bit more "proper" and "angelic."

-Maggie's shop is called "The Small Back Room," and she tells Nina it started out as a corner of Aziraphale's bookshop...one of his back rooms.

-Crowley's newspaper says that voters named Tadfield the best village in England--and that the weather there remains perfect.

Episode 2

-There are crows visible and audible in the background riiiight after Crowley "smites" the goats.

-"Jim's" bendy-fan book is a Terry Pratchett's first Discworld novel "The Colour of Magic"

-Someone wrote the whole article! Apparently business at "The Resurrectionist" slowed down when "Everyday" got old, but now people are showing up just to witness the miracle.

-The fellow at the pub who Aziraphale miracles out of a chair has a newspaper that mentions Milton Keynes. Most of the article is out of focus, but Milton Keynes is a city that, in the book, both Crowley and Aziraphale took credit for.

-Job, when introduced, is leaning against a pile of steaming manure. I'm aware that I'm an idiot for not noticing this right away...

Episode 3

-Jim is using a mug that Aziraphale had in the first season. Either he or Aziraphale has added the label in the interim.

-Muriel doesn't say "cup of tea," she says "cuppatea," because she didn't properly hear what Aziraphale said.

-At some unshown point, Crowley takes over body-hauling duties for Elspeth

-Beezlebub hauls their chair horn-ed chair around to 2-3 rooms over the whole season--and is also, on reflection, clearly quite worried about Gabriel here and in episode 1.

-Aziraphale finds the surgeon's whiskey to be a step too far, smell-wise.

-Laudanum courtesy of Cut-me-own-throat-Dibbler. It's a miracle the thing had any effect on Crowley, it was probably mostly rat urine and even more questionably sourced water.

-When Crowley tells Elpeth to leave just before she exits stage left, he calls her "hen," which is what Wee Morag almost always called her.

Episode 4

-Mark Gatiss's (Nazi Male Sidekick) arm is falling off half the time because he's the one who was holding the books that Crowley demonically saved. The nazi's arm was sticking out of the rubble, holding the suitcase, to make it easy to retrieve the books. Hence it got tugged by both Crowley and the scavengers, and fell off by the end of the episode. Serves the book-thief right.

-The Nazi Zombies hang in the Dirty Donkey to spy on the fellas in the bookshop--the same pub Crowley and Aziraphale visit in E2, and the pub that the heaven elevator commanders in E4 and E5

-Aziraphale gets nervous and seems to jump to the end of his act when he asks the audience who has experience with firearms. He hasn't told Crowley that this will be the cue. So, quite reasonably, Crowley does not raise his hand when asked if he has experience with firearms.

-Listen to the credits all the way through to the end of the music here: the audio changes. I don't know music well enough to know what happened, but it's fun.

Episode 5

-The owner of "Marguerite's," the French restaurant, is in fact named Justine. When she goes into Aziraphale's shop for the ball/business meeting, her accent has changed completely.

-All the candles we see on the chandeliers, as well as the candles in the next episode, are battery-operated.

-Nina's the only one this season who gets to drop the f-bomb.

-Mrs. Sandwich and the whole sequence. Google Discworld+seamstress guild if you don't get it.

-The music shop owner took the Doctor Who manual with him when he fled the demons.

Episode 6

-When Crowley changes his clothes to look angelic, the only thing he's wearing that's ACTUALLY white are his hilariously dumbass white slippers.

-The box that Gabriel came with is now storing a bunch of books, pamphlets, and papers. Two of these are the lost Shakespeare plays mentioned in the original Good Omens novel: Golde Diggers of 1589 and The Comedie of Robin Hoode.

-Gabriel's first 2 memories appear after he goes down an orange-red tunnel. But after he and Beezlebub have their first "background" meeting, the tunnel becomes blue. The whole thing ends (after bookending, Crowley says "let there be light" in the first episode and Gabriel says it in this one) with Gabriel's eyes turning purple...blue+red.

-Background acting appreciation: 1) look at Gabriel when Beelzebub says Shax could be Grand Duke of Hell, 2) look at Aziraphale in the corner when Crowley talks to Shax about his apartment, he's nodding vaguely while staring dreamily and it's adorable, 3) also rewind and check out Martin Sheen in episode 2 when the angels come to the shop, he's in the background being terrified and it's amazing

-...I can't resist: based on episodes S01E06 and S02E06, one way or another this'll end with nightingale song

#good omens #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens season 2 #go2 #@neil gaiman #well that was fun

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ngkiscool · 1 year

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Fff please :)

This is a bit of a cheat, actually - FFF stands for Flash Fiction Friday @flashfictionfridayofficial which is a fun weekly writer event. This week the prompt was "What Comes Next?"

The 28.04 is Terry Pratchett's birthday, this story is dedicated to him. GNU!

The Natural Order of Things

"Please pass me the book, dear".

The simple request was met with a sceptical expression. "You have to be more specific, angel, you've got hundreds of them".

"We are organizing the fantasy shelf, what do you think comes next after The Fifth Elephant?" Asked Aziraphale as he reached his hand, again. "Not this one! What makes you think that it is The Truth?"

"Cause that's the one that comes next! Which book are you thinking about?"

"Night Watch, of course! Everybody knows that Discworld should be read by sub-series, rather than chronological order".

"Aziraphale, this is blasphemy. Each book relies on the one before it, even if they are not from the same series. What's next", Crowley waved towards the unpacked books in despair, "tell people it's OK to skip books?"

"As a matter of fact," said Aziraphale, "this is exactly what I believe in. Not everyone will relate to all the books, and people should enjoy their reading. After all, you were the one who introduced them to free choice".

Crowley could not argue with that logic, so he did not try. Instead, he handed his husband the right book, and used the opportunity to kiss his husband's soft hand. "Whatever you say, angel".

#good omens #good omens fanfiction #crowley #aziraphale

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theadventurerslog · 8 months

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Discworld | Part 1

The Adventurer’s Log

Release Date: 1995

I love Discworld the book series by Terry Pratchett and have done so since I was 13 when I first discovered it by taking Soul Music out of the school library. I'm currently doing a chronological reread and figured I might as well go all in and play the games too while I'm at it. Well, the first two anyway. There are three games, well actually four. Apparently there was an interactive fiction game in 1986 for The Colour of Magic, but I know nothing more beyond that and never see it mentioned. (Have to say I am curious though). For purposes here, however, three games. The first two pull events from the books, while the third focuses on an original character in an original story and that's Discworld Noir, which I would love to try sometime but getting it to run looks like more of a hassle. So for now the first two games.

That said I don't know if I'll go straight to the second one after this one or have some other stuff in between. I'll see how I'm feeling and how things are looking as I already have plans for November and I may want some short stuff for October.

I watched a friend play the second game several years ago, but I don't remember much and I'm pretty sure we didn't do the first game. What I've played so far hasn't been familiar. I'm pretty sure this is a blind play-through and if it's not it may as well be.

As for the Discworld itself, if you don't know, it's a magical flat world resting on the backs of four elephants standing on the back of a giant turtle, the Great A'tuin, drifting through space. Reality tends to be...thin. Things have a tendency to slip through.

This first game pulls its general plot from Guards! Guards! which surrounds a brotherhood summoning an actual dragon to the city of Ankh-Morpork. Dragons at this point in time only exist as much smaller swamp dragons which are far less dangerous aside from having a tendency to explode. The book is the first book in the city watch arc. The game, however, uses the character Rincewind as the main protagonist. Rincewind is a wizard, or wizzard, of the Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork. He's actually terrible at magic, but in his heart, he's a wizard. So, clearly the progression of this plot is going to go completely differently. Which I am okay with and it's nice the game could be played by someone who's never read the books. And it's drawing inspiration without stomping all over its source material and making you wonder why they didn't do their own thing, so I'm okay with it. I just need to tamp down on my own nit-pickiness for smaller details. Inspired by, inspired by. While still being recognizable. Excuse me I may have some aggravations with a certain other...'adaptation but oh no not really'. If you know you know, if you don't, don't worry about it. Ahem.

The game opens with a shot of the Discworld and the Great A'Tuin.

Introducing the Discworld.

Then we get the summoning ritual:

Dragon! Dragon!

Dragon!

Ominous peeking through the wall. Dragon!

And I'm already wondering who may or may not be involved from the book. Like, is the Supreme Grand Master still there heading this up? Are they the same person? It's an interesting thing both knowing and not knowing the plot at all.

From here we're gifted a scene of an Ankh-Morpork street with Death waiting and a drunk ambling down the street.

That's Ankh-Morpork all right.

I'm not sure about Death's voice, but I'm also very used to Christopher Lee from the animated adaptations of Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters (and Christopher Lee, come on, just an unfair fight really) or Ian Richardson from the Hogfather movie adaptation. They did add some effects so he's still got some IMPACT though. Still some sense of speaking in caps. And he's not a main character here anyway. I wonder how much he will pop up... How many deaths will there be? Will Rincewind have a near-Death experience?

The drunk ran into him briefly and got an ominous see you soon. Which... Yeah. The drunk proceeded into an alley and was saved from a mugging by being fried by dragon fire.

With that grisly affair complete we move on to see the Unseen University.

I was given another scene of the Bursar speaking with the Archchancellor talking about the rumours of the dragon. The Bursar notes that dragons don't exist unless you believe in them. Belief is extremely important on the Disc. Nevertheless there seems to be one and it's the university's civic duty to do something about it, so he sends the Bursar off to fetch Rincewind. Do you hate Rincewind, Archchancellor, is that it?

A note about the Archchancellor. He seems to be meant to be Ridcully from the books, and by the point of Guards! Guards! he certainly was the Archchancellor and have been for several books. He hasn't felt very much like Ridcully at this point though and if it wasn't for an 'unhygienic' comment I'd be uncertain if it was him or not. The game just has him labelled as Arch chancellor so I'm sticking with that instead. Except making it the one word it's meant to be. Split in two words is driving me a little nuts.

A note about this whole intro: there's been a fly buzzing around every scene from the drunkard coming on screen, then it bothered Death and continued on through the Archchancellor and Bursar's conversation. I have no idea what to make of that if it's going to be relevant or what. Complete mystery. In some ways it feels like it's just a fun guide to follow as you move through the intro, but also... why?

And finally we move in to Rincewind being woken up by the Bursar banging on his door letting him know the Archchancellor wants to see him, and I was finally given control.

I had a few different things to examine, like the totally not-ominous shape outside to which Rincewind said:

"Yes - a mysterious shape, a sinister shape - a shape fraught with... shapeness.

It must be a plot element - otherwise there'd be a better label!"

I can't remember the exact label. I think it was something like 'mysterious shape' or was that exactly.

The wardrobe had no knob to open it with. Turns out I could have opened it then but I didn't have a handle on the controls yet. Sometimes... it pays to look at manuals! Something I did not do until a little later.

And on top of the wardrobe was the sleeping Luggage. The Luggage is also from the books. It's made of sapient pearwood and rage and will follow its owner everywhere and anywhere on its many legs. At least when it's not sleeping here anyway. I couldn't rouse it yet.

With my examinations complete and my seeming inability to do anything yet I left to go explore the university.

And got traumatized by stairs.

I mean it's a point and click. No manual movement here. You can't die. But the Sierra stair trauma is real, especially after King's Quest IV... After my little moment of gratitude that this isn't King's Quest and the stairs cannot harm me, I started exploring.

I found my way to the dining hall and got my first conversation the UI of which was sure familiar. I had to laugh that I'm playing this after Sam & Max Hit the Road. It's the same system!

This also made me go find a manual to see what these options actually mean and learn other controls.

So from left to right we have

Big smile - greeting

Clown - sarcasm

Question mark - question

Cloud (has an animated lightning bolt I didn't catch) - anger

Waving hand - goodbye

And then other topics can appear too.

I also found out that left clicking is for moving, of course I knew that. Right clicking examines. I'd figure that out. But most importantly, double clicking is how you interact. I also found out if you click on Rincewind you can access his teeny tiny two item inventory which is more like one item because once you get money, it sticks so you only ever have room to carry one other item on his person. The rest is for the Luggage when it's acquired.

I chatted with the wizards which while entertaining didn't give me anything too terribly useful to know at this point which is fine: mostly just chatter about wizardry and the dragon rumours. I like talking to all the people anyway. And Windle Poons was there too! He's an important character in one of the books.

In my continued exploration I found a storage room and got my first inventory item--a broom. I always get excited for my first item.

I also found a statue and a groaner:

I checked out the library and got an aside? An instructional aside? A game equivalent of a footnote as a nod to the books' footnotes?

There were a couple of these informative bits, one explaining the Librarian who is an orangutan--he was turned into one in a magical accident and refused to be changed back--and another discussing L-Space.

So far I've only seen these in the library.

Here's a whole page about L-Space! https://wiki.lspace.org/L-space

So a fun thing here I wasn't expecting and they don't explain at all so purely for book readers. The character giving these little lessons is Twoflower made clear by the glasses and camera, ahem, iconograph. He was in the first two books and was the Disc's first tourist. Circumstances led him and Rincewind to be travelling together and many antics ensued. He was also the original owner of the Luggage.

See? I can do asides too. Back to the game.

I also chatted with the Librarian "Ook!". And was told I'd need a library card to take anything out after much back and forth. I did get a little irked that a lot of the dialogue options led Rincewind to calling him a monkey, which is something you Do Not Do with the Librarian if you don't want the wrath of an orangutan. You do not want the wrath of an orangutan. Rincewind kept getting head bopped. Hard. It's just Rincewind of the books would know better! And he and the Librarian end up getting along pretty well. Then I reminded myself of 'inspired by' and carried on. Things are just going to be different. Not looking at anything horrifically egregious so far; it's okay. Even Rincewind himself isn't exactly right here in other ways either. Just hush that part of my brain.

I finally made my way to the Archchancellor and found out what he wanted.

Unseen University needed to be 'properly represented' in attempts to dispose of the dragon. Can't have some yokel slaying it and have people wondering what wizards are for. Then he sent me to go fetch a copy of Featherwinkle's Concise Compendium of Dragon Lairs from the library.

I ended up going back to Rincewind's room first, and with my knowledge of double clicking was able to open the wardrobe with a little magic and get a pouch of money. With the broom I was able to prod the Luggage awake and get it to join me.

Then back to the library where I was able to just request the book. No card needed when it's a request from the Archchancellor I suppose. Or the Librarian was trying to be rid of me earlier.

I brought the book back and the Archchancellor found the formula for Recoglimento's Neverfailing Dragon's Lair Revealer. He was quick to halt Rincewind's protests as well with making sure his performance would be brought to the attention of the university board when they review his grant next year. Ah, university politics.

So the formula, which thankfully can be accessed when checking the book again, so it's always handy needs four ingredients:

A staff of tumultuous thermaturgy.

A miniature creature of excitable chitters

A container made of the strongest ferrous metal

Dragon's breath! Ulp!

I got a voice actor joke too when I kept trying to talk to the Archancellor:

Archchancellor: "No time for idle chatter." Rincewind: "Well, sorry. As if I can help who supplies my voice."

Rincewind is voiced by Eric Idle. Heehee.

I have goals now! Good old adventure game object collecting!

Next up I'll do another sweep of the university in case anything changed, then check out whatever can be checked out on the grounds and presumably head into the city proper.

#discworld #discworld game #adventure games #discworld_log

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