A damn good Thudding …

You know, I’ve been thinking I need an excuse to do a post about a certain Mister Pratchett …

As if an Alzheimer’s mention wasn’t enough …

I’ve got to admit, I’ve been — in between working, job-hunting, Teaser writing,movie watching and everything else — been reading — and thoroughly enjoying— Terry Pratchett’s “Thud”.

Which may seem strange, considering I’ve read most of the Discworld series quite a few times, but I’ve an idea about that. 

I think — for me, if not other’s — it’s good old fashioned escapism.

And I’m going to emphasise between escaping from, and escaping to, at this stage.   Something I know PTerry has pointed out is a factor in his success once, or twice, himself.

And, bizarrely, it’s something I always compare to — for example — “EastEnders”, or the many “Star Trek”; I think we all, as humans, like to have an escape hatch, an imaginary world.

If for no other reason than to stop ourselves going bonkers, when we wake up in the morning.

Watching somebody else go slowly mad does take some of the stress off …

Or, in this case, the much pictured character, above; His Grace, the Duke of Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel Vimes of the Ankh Morpork City Watch, to give him his full title …

“Thud”, the 34th novel in the Discworld series, follows the Commander’s attempts to solve the murder of an extremely racist dwarven demagogue and track down what turns out to be an extremely important painting.

Oh, and, more importantly, get home by 6 o’clock; he has to read “Where’s My Cow?” to his son.

Complete with ‘Mooooooo’ noises …

I’ll try not to spoil the plot, but that is one of the emotional turning points of the book.

And Thud, the game, is also one of the turning points of the book; it’s a Discworld version of the various tafl games that have been floating around northern Europe for about a millennia.

Thud, itself, has featured in the series, before now, and becomes important because it’s a recreation of the Battle of Koom Valley.

Which on Discworld, is something like the Battle of the Boyne; a historical event currently used as justification; in Koom Valley’s case, to keep several shades of feud going between the Disc’s dwarf and troll populations.

“Remember Koom Valley” is a big battle cry.   And probably not just for dwarves and trolls, but that’s a whole other post …

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Now, I’ll be honest, I know it’ll be hard to explain the appeal of both the book, or the game, to someone who isn’t a PTerry fan, or a games fan.

But I am going to encourage you to read the links I’ve put in, and encourage you to exercise your library ticket, and book a copy of “Thud” out.

And see if there’s a local Thud player or two in the area who’ll teach you the game.

But …

Well …

Something I know that PTerry himself has always said is that the Discworld is a “… world and mirror of worlds.”

And looking in the mirror can be bloody helpful.

After all, things in the mirror can be closer than they appear.

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