Saturday, October 16, 2004

If you're wondering

      If you're wondering how the book is going, I cleaned my bathroom and kitchen thoroughly today. I'm talking scrubbing toilets, sinks, tub and floor. Any longtime reader will understand the meaning of that. But I'm not complaining. One way or another, the book will be finished. Maybe it's hard to get my words (a little over 1,000 today and quite a bit of editing of previous pages) but at least it's work I choose. This book will belong to me just like anything we sweat over belongs to us.
      I've been trying to get pictures of the moon for the past couple of days. My digital camera just won't cut it. It can't gather enough light to make a good pic. I've tried a few shots with my 35mm camera. I hope they come out.
      I read a few books over the past week, including Galileo's Daughter by Dave Sobel, Don't Shoot, It's Only Me by Bob Hope with Melville Shavelson and Going Postal by Terry Pratchett. The first two I got for a dollar each at the local Friends of the Library sale. The third came from the Science Fiction Book Club. I recommend all three. Both Galileo's Daughter and Don't Shoot, It's Only Me are excellent history books. Well, Hope's book is more like history through jokes, but both are good reading.
      Terry Pratchett is my favorite author. I have all of his books in hardcover. I buy them new and read them often and hoard them happily. He's a comic fantasy writer, but to say that is to limit him. His writing speaks directly to the best in mankind. To quote from Publishers Weekly and the cover of the book: "Wickedly satirical ... hilarious ... touching ... absurdly delightful ... brillant."
      I can't even begin to tell of you the plot of Going Postal, the latest entry in his ongoing Disc World series. But it starts with our hero getting hanged (!) and then he gets offered a new job by an "angel." The job is that of the Postmaster of Ankh-Morpork. He takes it since there's not going to be a better offer for a man who should be dead and might yet be if he can't figure out how to deliver 40 years of undelivered mail, survive the rituals of the secret society of the postmen, defeat a supernatural assassin, outwit a murderous corporation headed by a twisted criminal, and get Miss Dearheart to take a cigarette out of her mouth long enough for him to kiss her. Oh, let's not forget the golems, werewolves, dwarves, wizards, zombies, vampires, and lawyers and other monsters that help and/or hinder him. If you're not reading Pratchett, you should be. "Trust me."

3 comments:

Powersleeper said...

Tech, we went to a book signing Friday night and one of the people at the signing asked the author what she was reading. The author said she was reading Terry Pratchet on the plane. I'm going to check him out.
Keep the faith and keep writing. :)

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to hear the book is being difficult. Heres a thought. You watch my kids and I'll write the book!!! :)
Just kidding. I think.
You'll get it done Tech.
-Susan1

Unknown said...

I loved the Mort books.