Some Liz Thoughts on Discworld

  huge popularisation of the orphan trope. The hero thing seems to be quite a thing. It could be coincidence how closely TP sticks to it, but I'm more or less certain that what with the circles he mixed in and how well read he was, that he'd know of Campbell's work even if he didn't deliberately use it then invert it, subvert it and do his usual Pratchett thing on it. I would beg to differ with him about her as a hero. I think TP is throwing sand in our eyes by making her an annoyingly arrogant teenager whose favourite word is stupid (occurs 26 times in the book, sadly I counted them, though TP's careful to echo it in othe people's voices not just hers) so she doesn't seem like a typical hero, more like an opposite of what anyone would picture. No glamour, though she rather fancies herself in black lace lol I'm glad she doesn't change too much and turn nice. I think TP's subverting anything he can lay his hands on. been thinking about what you s...

  Fan theories and spoilers throughout.  I was chuffed to see someone else enjoying Soul Music recently.  It was one book I didn’t really appreciate until I reread it recently. I liked all the jokes and bad puns and music references, but found it a bit silly. I hadn’t spotted the bitter dark chocolate heart in the middle of the occasionally sickly sweet fun. I was too distracted. I found some amazing writing once I started looking.  1) TP is the FIRST to write orphans or boarding school themes within a short while of us hearing of the situation of the Romanian Orphans which broke in 1990 . Rowling, Pulman, Martin etc all came after TP publishing Soul Music in 1994. It turns out there was a small but growing movement discussing Boarding School Syndrome in the UK in the early 90s too - exposing the fact that children placed too young in institutions, even elite ones, could be damaged by the experience (work of Duffel, Beard, later Shcaverein).  I hadn’t seen the ...