Terry Pratchett
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‘Good Omens’ and the art of avoiding Armageddon
The world will end one day. That's a plain fact; what's unknown is the exact manner in which humanity will be erased from existence. Whether the oceans will boil us from below like a massive earthenware lobster pot, or a nuclear holocaust will strip the planet bare, or biological warfare will infect our evolutionary timeline, is anyone's guess, and everyone has a theory.
Benedict Cumberbatch will play Satan in Amazon's 'Good Omens' series
Amazon's upcoming miniseries Good Omens has been in the pipeline for a while, and now Neil Gaiman has revealed that Benedict Cumberbatch will take a starring role in the series. The Sherlock star will appear in episode six of the show as a "giant, animated Satan," alongside the previously-confirmed Michael Sheen and David Tennant.
Acclaimed 'Discworld' author Terry Pratchett dies aged 66
Sir Terry Pratchett, the author best known for his Discworld series, has died aged 66. His novels weaved fantasy, science fiction, satire and whimsy to great effect -- more than 80 million Discworld books have been sold worldwide. Despite publishing over 70 books and battling illness, Pratchett still found time to back fledgling writers through his First Novel Award, which every two years gives a publishing contract to the author of an unpublished science fiction novel.
The Book and I: How the iPad has changed my reading life
Last week, I picked up a copy of The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter at the library. The book was sitting there on the shelf. I had heard some reasonably good buzz about it. So when it caught my eye, I did something I haven't done in a while. I checked out a dead-tree version. I also did something I had never done before. As I was reading the book, I stumbled across an unfamiliar word and, rather hilariously, ended up tapping the printed page until it finally occurred to me that the book wasn't going to offer me built-in dictionary and Wikipedia access. It's odd how three years or so changes you. Although the Kindle debuted in 2007, it wasn't until 2010 that I really jumped on the e-book bandwagon. My entry was due to the iPad. In fact, it was the iPad 2 even more than the original that firmly grounded me into the e-book world. Between the light, thin design of the tablet and my aging eyes, the iPad with its built-in iBooks app and the add-on Amazon Kindle reader app, I have become a devotee. I love e-books. In addition to in-line definitions and searches, I can zoom up the font however much I desire, read in the dark and lie in nearly any position while comfortably reading. My iPad also weighs significantly less than my hard-bound copy of Name of the Wind. In a way, the transition has been similar to the iPod revolution of the early 2000s. Instead of carrying around CDs, cassettes and so forth, the iPod made it possible to bring your entire music library with you. With the iPad, my library travels with me as well. With advances in connectivity, I'm now just a few taps away from buying and borrowing books while I'm on the go. I am now regularly borrowing books from the Denver Public Library. More and more local library systems are offering digital loans, and many of them deliver directly to the Kindle app. Admittedly, library culture hasn't quite caught up to the technology. The collections are often slap-dash and poorly curated. For example, here's a screenshot returned from a search for new Science Fiction arrivals. As enjoyable as My Fair Captain may be (Hi, Megs!), I suspect it doesn't really fall into the Science Fiction genre in any meaningful fashion. You're generally better off finding recommendations over at Goodreads rather than trying to spontaneously discover items through the library. Buying e-books has its occasional challenges as well. Take the new Moist von Lipwig book, for example. It debuted this November, in 2013. The e-book, however, won't launch until March 18, 2014. This shift, called "windowing", isn't an isolated incident, although it's not exactly a trend either. Publishers don't always release e-books at the same time as their print versions. For example, in the case of A Memory of Light, the final book in the Wheel of Time series, I ended up skipping the last volume entirely due to the shifted dates rather than wait several months for the e-book. (I did however read the Wikipedia entry, which had a vastly reduced amount of crossed arms, skirt smoothing and sniffing.) Patrick Nielsen Hayden tells me that windowing was much more practiced a few years ago. He says, "I think most of the editors and agents I know would agree that the practice is in decline." Instead, some books such as the re-release of Charles Stross' Merchant Princes novels are actually going digital first, appearing in the US several months before the print version to match up with their UK releases. So why is windowing still around? Nielsen Hayden says, "Some [publishers] were genuinely anxious about losing hardcover sales; some were doing it because their bestselling authors (or those authors' agents) were anxious. And for a lot of other reasons, most of which are summed up by William Goldman's observation about the entertainment industry in general: 'Nobody Knows Anything.' But here at the start of 2014, I think there's a growing consensus that, in commercial fiction publishing at any rate, 'windowing' isn't going to be the dominant model." I appreciate the way I can now download many e-book samples before buying. When a friend recommended I check out Cinder by Marissa Meyer, I was able to pick up a five-chapter trial version before splashing out my $8 on the full book. Turning that around, I was then able to pass along that recommendation to my friend Judy, giving her and her daughter a chance to try before buying. When buying e-books, I have had to perform major mental shifts. The whole "you don't own that" DRM approach means that at any time, I could possibly lose access to major parts of my collection. Baen Books and Tor are notable exceptions to this rule and I encourage you to check out Baen's e-book policy page and Tor's blog post about the change. I can't hand off books I no longer want to friends, to charities, or sell to pre-owned bookshops. Nor can I count on my books being there five, 10 or 20 years down the line. Fortunately, my children de-sentimentalized me pretty early on. They have completely different tastes in reading than I do. The special books I put aside assuming they'd love them (Nesbit, Eager, Wynne Jones, McKinley, etc.) have long since found new homes. I'm the first to admit as an early adopter that the technology has a long way to go. Both iBooks and the Kindle app are pretty awful at cataloging and organizing books. They haven't gone far past the "read the book" challenge into the "manage your library" one. My iPad collections are stuffed with items from various bookstores, from Project Gutenberg, and public libraries. In fact, the only way I have found to remove long-since-read-and-returned library items is through the online "Manage My Kindle" page. Despite this, I am more committed now than ever before to e-book reading. The comfort, convenience and overall experience blows the old dead-tree-style books out of the water. Stumbling across print-only books, such as John McWhorter's What Language Is, leaves me blinking and shooting off emails asking when the Kindle edition will finally debut.
The Game Archaeologist plays with MUDs: The games
Fair citizens of Massivelyville, believe me, I've heard your voices. After two weeks of giving an overview of MUDs and MU*s, not to mention talking to Dr. Bartle about the genre, I think I've held off talking about specific games long enough. No need for heads to explode on my watch! One of the reasons I stalled for time is that I was gathering as much information on the most popular and beloved MUDs of the past few decades. From the perspective of someone who is but a mewling infant when it comes to these games, it's a considerable task akin to asking someone to sum up all of the World War II movies out there. The selection field is big -- that's all I'm saying. So after polling a number of friends and hearing what you've had to say in the comments section, I've culled the list to six games that seem to pop up over and over again. Not only are each of these MUDs a wealth of history, but they're all going strong even in the futuristic year of 2011. If you've never played a game in this genre, then consider these a good place to start, and if you have, hopefully this will be an exciting stroll down memory lane. Watch out for the boojums and grues!
Insider Trader: Woodworking in the expansion?
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.Ideas for a woodworking profession have been bounced around for years, but have previously been dodged by Blizzard. Although they assured us that they have plenty of ideas, they've always been working on too many others.Woodworking was not to be for Burning Crusade or Wrath of the Lich King, but what about the upcoming expansion? Considering that Goblins and Worgen could become playable, it might be a real possibility. In late summer 2007, Nethaera posted a list of some of the things that need to be considered before they can even begin to implement a new profession. While it became clear that it wasn't going to work for Wrath, it seems a little more plausible now. Today's column will be dedicated to presenting the crafting community's Woodworking ideas, discussing their implementation using the (incomplete) criteria set forth by Nethaera, and speculating about its possible presence in the next expansion.
Creator of Discworld meets virtual world
Terry Pratchett is coming to visit Second Life. Go back and read that again. Yes, it's true. While Pratchett's Discworld series alone has sold 55 million globally in 35 countries, you'll probably not find a single, larger concentration of fans of his work than in Linden Lab's Second Life. Indeed, the virtual environment already has cadres of role-players, recreations of various Discworld settings, and Discworld-themed merchandise. Sometime on Thursday 11 September (UK time) an island called "The Nation" (not yet visible within Second Life -- though heaven knows, we looked for it) is supposed to open for one month, until Friday 10 October. Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.
Sunday Morning Funnies: I'll tickle your soul
This week, we have things that suck, users and abusers, opportunists, resourcefulness, and even some creepy happiness. You know that when drawings get emotional, entertaining things happen. If you get bored, you can even read the handful of poor reviews last week's lot was given! The NPC rebellion still holds, and Dark Legacy Comics's characters must fend for themselves. Some people just don't like video games. Extra Life. Shakes and Fidget walk into a dangerous situation and Fidget tries some magery. You know him and magery. NoObz shows you how to subtly convert your friends to the Warcraft ways. Supermegatopia shows us daily quests from the other side of the fence. There are two great comics from Ding! this week. Have you ever wondered about some of those people who queue battlegrounds and then immediately leave? Are they all queue hoppers? Other people have been showing around their orphans. Some, have been using their orphans. Teh Gladiators are meeting up with some old foes, and Trevor seems unusually happy. You could almost say creepily so. Disgraph has given us part 2, part 3, and part 3.5 of the Orphan Saga! I'd watch the orphan, because he rocks. Also, it seems there may have been some errors last week when trying to read part one, which I sincerely recommend you do, as I laughed pretty hard. You should check out the latest LFG. As a side note, which is not necessarily showcased perfectly in this week's comic as much as some others, I've been reading this book. Sometimes I read, you see. At the recommendation of several friends, I picked up a Terry Pratchett book, The Colour of Magic. Now, to continue my ramble, I have always enjoyed LFG's warlock the most, as I'm sure others might agree. To my delight, there is a warlock of sorts in this book that seriously reminds me of this character. Not in any way, shape or form am I suggesting they are related, but if you like one, you should like the other. /ends tangent. Vote for the best by passing through the break.
All the World's a Stage: Something to remember me by
All the World's a Stage is a column for creative minds, playing with roles every Sunday evening.The best characters in novels and movies often leap into your mind from the moment you first see them -- something they say or do sets them apart and captures your interest, and from that time on, you're hooked. Likewise, when we roleplay, our characters should always have some memorable trait which can hook other people's interest. Too often, I see roleplayers focusing too much on dark secrets that they only reveal to their closest friends, and neglecting those mannerisms which could give everyone they meet an instant and profound impression of their character. Of course, if some people prefer to roleplay this way, that's fine. But to my mind, roleplaying is best when it avoids cliquishness, and the best roleplayers are those whose characters stay with you, even if you never see them again. When I'm creating my own characters, I think of such memorable traits as "gimmicks," but that word usually has a negative connotation that doesn't apply in this case. For now, the best word I can think of is "quirk." It's an instantly recognizable pattern of behavior or speech that can let others know who your character is right away. Below you will find some of my favorite quirks I have seen people use in their roleplaying in WoW, each of them entertaining and inspiring it its own way.
