Phil Leader (619 KP) rated A Blink of the Screen: Collected Shorter Fiction in Books
Nov 8, 2019
The basis for this seems to be that the nugget of an idea behind a Pratchett book was rarely simple enough to be encapsulated neatly in the short story form; his characters and ideas took time to develop and that's before the addition of the amusing footnotes and his skill at producing pastiche, parody and satire of many different things without the narrative stumbling or swerving.
This collection shows that although relatively few in number, the Pratchett short story was just as fine as could be expected. Sometimes they could be a little rushed to get to the point before the end (best seen in his tale of a gnome from the country that finds other gnomes in a department store - the story that was later rewritten fully as Truckers)
This is also a somewhat eclectic mix. There is the first story that he was paid for about the devil wanting to promote hell, which he wrote at school but it is clear that he already had the flair for writing even then. A few science fiction stories including the prescient and dark #ifdefDEBUG "world/enough" "time" about someone retreating to a virtual reality world. There is the story that formed the first ideas that would eventually become The Long Earth and of course some Diskworld shorts and related notes.
Taken together they show that over a long span of time Pratchett was coming up with great ideas. There is a little uneveness but part of this is due to his writing style being different between Diskworld and his more science fiction based stories (something that confused a lot of Diskworld readers when they read The Long Earth, but goes back even to The Dark Side of the Sun and Strata both of which are very different to Diskworld in tone.
To this end the editors have been wise to have the Diskworld stories as the second half with the 'other' stories at the beginning. This avoids the tone changing too much between stories.
This sounds like it might be for the Pratchett 'completist', like one of those greatest hits albums that comes out with just one or two rare tracks, but really this is a great collection of short stories by any measure. A couple of these are fairly well known - Troll Bridge and Theatre of Cruelty - but there is nothing gratuitous here. And of course there are plenty of laughs and subtle takes on society and humanity.
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Debbiereadsbook (1741 KP) rated Bleed In The Night (Blood and Bonds #2) in Books
Mar 2, 2024
This is book 2 in the Blood and Bonds series, and I STRONGLY recommend you read book one, Touch In The Night, before this one. It will givev you Tyler and Lucien's meeting, but it will also give you the background you need about the haemophiles and how they live in this world. It will, as well, give you what the rest of the haemophiles think of Lucien, that's very important.
Because when we get to hear why Lucien does what he does, I was surprised! He's not quite the bad guy he's portrayed to be.
I loved how Tyler flips his opinion of Lucien, when faced with the consequences of his actions, it made for a speedy turnaround, butit alos made Tyler see, really see Lucien, and what he has been doing, and why. The history of the vampire of this world is different to anthing I've read before and I love that.
Again, only Tyler gets a say. And again, I wish we had heard from Lucien. I really think this would be a 5 star if he had.
Somethinghappens right near the end of thisbook that has thrown me for a loop, and this book ends on a bit of a cliff hanger and it makes me think if Lucien and Tyler will appear again. Emory and Jesse appear here, from book one.
Again, 4 very VERY good stars.
These books are keeping me on my toes and making my bok brain whir! Keep em coming, please!
*same worded review will appear elsewhere
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