Another steady theme

Although I am not entirely finished with the book, I feel like I have already noticed a theme. I think the theme for Magic for Beginners of "not being able to go home" can apply to this book, but also a theme of ambiguos names. Either characters can't remember names (wife in Carnation, Lily,Lily,Rose and the dead? babysitter in The Specialist's Hat), or they name odd things (Ellen, the wooden leg), or the names are odd (Humphrey Bogart).

Contributors sought for a Pratchett encyclopedia

Some of you may be interested in this, especially those of you looking toward graduate school in the humanities.

Andrew M. Butler writes:

I am editing a volume entitled "A Fan's Companion to Terry Pratchett" for publication in 2007 by Greenwood Press. This book will be aimed both at readers who are only just beginning to read Pratchett's fiction, and those who are familiar with the whole oeuvre. It will obviously cover all of the Discworld series, but it will also examine his children's fiction and early novels.

There will be entries on all of the novels, as well as entries on adaptations, major characters, collaborators, locations, sources/parallels/influences, themes/threads and organisations.

It is hoped that the book will help readers find their way around the works, and that we can include enough information that even the most avid reader will discover something they didn't know.

Payment will be in the form of a copy of the published volume for 2000 words; additional payment will be made at the rate of £30 per thousand words. I want to start assigning entires as soon as I can - I need copy by 30 June 2006.

The list of entries for which I need writers is at
http://homepages.enterprise.net/ambutler/entries.htm. Please feel free to forward this email to anyone you think may be interested.

Cheers.

A new honor for Kelly Link

Kelly Link's story "Magic for Beginners" is a finalist for this year's British Science Fiction Award, selected by the members of the British Science Fiction Association. The winning story will be announced April 15 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Sex and Zombies

Sex is to Stranger Things Happen as zombies are to Magic for Beginners!!

"Flying Lessons" rocks!

"Flying Lessons" is definitely my favorite Kelly Link story thus far. In general, I find these stories more accessible and interesting than those in Magic for Beginners, partly because there are fewer zombies and more elements of what I would call "traditional" fantasy (talking animals, mythological references, etc.).

But back to "Flying Lessons." I love how the story unfolds with the introduction of June, her stealing problem, and her involvement with an entire family of goddesses, gods, and half-immortals. Not all of the questions are answered, especially at the end when June sets of into Hell to recover Humphrey, but I still felt satisfied. The plot was easy enough to follow and I love the exposition through shifting stylistic formats, from instruction manual to third-person narrative to memoir.

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose

All right, chickies, let's put on our thinking caps! Why is this the first story in the collection? Is it an easier, more accesible story than the others like "The Faery Handbag" in Magic for Beginners? Personally, I don't think so. The narrator is vague; the only thing the reader knows is that he is a dead man who is trying to remember his wife. Instead of her name, he can only remember the sex and the fact that he wants more, even in death. Is the fact that he is a horndog in the afterlife indicative of the male tendency towards visceral hedonism?

Another thing to ponder: do the various female names hold any significance for you? Do you recognize any cultural references (besides Beatrice and Jezabel) or the names of personal relations that perhaps influenced your particular reading of the story?

Print Error

Just out of curiosity... My Stranger Things Happen page 188 is not there. Page 118 is there instead, but page 118 is also where it is supposed to be after page 117. It is the last page of the story about the dictator's wife in "Shoe and Marraige." Is anyone else's missing?