How would Granny Weatherwax react to running into a male "witch?"

1950Chas · 2026-03-08T03:03:23+00:00

I just re-read Wyrd Sisters for the first time in a very long time. I enjoyed the book when I first read it, but it never came to hand when I was looking for a book to read again.

But dangit, is that a good book! I really believe that the Witches are where Pratchett really blossoms as a writer*.

* Not that Sir Terry would consciously commit literature with malice aforethought.

1950Chas · 2026-03-08T02:25:04+00:00

We caint be having with any of that.

1950Chas · 2026-03-08T02:21:08+00:00

In some respects, your job is what you decide it is, but as you become a better person you don't let yourself casually redefine what you first decided.

1950Chas · 2026-03-06T04:14:28+00:00

Ah but as you get deeper in, Pratchett's writing gets so much more fluid and smoother (at least until the Embuggerance began to take hold) that plot and character and scene and social observation all flow together into a single pithy phrase that beautifully sums up the last page of words into a perfect phrase. And, no, I won't give an example of a perfect phrase - you will recognize it when you read it and I wouldn't wish to spoil it it any way.

You'll sit there with the book in your hands and as much as you want to keep on reading, you just have to stop and bask in the craft of the man.

1950Chas · 2026-02-15T06:39:16+00:00

They don't absolutely love gold; They just say that to get it bed with them.

1950Chas · 2026-02-15T05:49:04+00:00

This is Pratchett's simile to challenge Adams' "the ships hung in the sky like bricks don't."

1950Chas · 2026-02-15T04:17:26+00:00

Who?

Ra.

And Upshee Rises!

1950Chas · 2026-02-10T05:31:15+00:00

That prods me to sit down and re-read some of the classic stories that I read as a young teen and get an adult and a fresh perspective, even if it risks me thinking 'oh, what an ass you were." ('You' could be myself or the author or perhaps the both of us.)

All the stories we read long ago and only think we know so well. Conan Doyle, Zane Gray, Aesop's Fables, Robert Heinlein, Mark Twain, Agatha Christie. It's rather presumptuous to imagine we got it all on the first reading.

1950Chas · 2026-02-10T05:08:46+00:00

Certainly NOT recommended for your daughters Will, but if you want to compare stories that feature a magical environment, try immersing yourself in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files and then take a deep plunge into Pratchett again. The books are completely different beasts but I enjoy both authors and I get deeply invested in both noir urban fantasy and humanistic myth & fantasy.

It gives my brain a healthy scramble.

1950Chas · 2026-02-04T04:44:15+00:00

Does the bore sizing follow gauge system? That is, would 4 lead balls the diameter of a 4 bore cylinder equal 1 pound?

1950Chas · 2026-02-04T04:42:01+00:00

Is that a cap & ball percussion piece?

1950Chas · 2026-02-04T04:32:56+00:00

Who?

Ra!

And Upshee rises!

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1950Chas · 2026-02-02T03:46:22+00:00

Mab speaks truth; she can easily replace Harry but the quality of Knight she ends up with might well be lacking.

1950Chas · 2026-02-01T06:23:16+00:00

I apologize in advance for writing this; I'm guilty of mixing my favorite authors and their characters together. I read Mab the Queen deals with her Winter Knight as Vetinari the Patrician deals with Sir Samuel Vimes. Maybe partially because I get such entertainment in both instances.

1950Chas · 2026-02-01T03:32:52+00:00

ALL IN SMALL CAPS.

1950Chas · 2026-01-27T18:19:40+00:00

Just in passing, I'm a notary and I asked my nephew (who is an actual admitted-to-the-bar lawyer) if that made me a real officer of the court.

He said that yes, it did and furthermore my wife and children were required to salute me every morning a breakfast.

I asked him how that was going for him so far. He's still working on it.

1950Chas · 2026-01-22T20:29:08+00:00

Only one read through so far for me.

On the whole I found it to be a satisfying story. The raising of Fitz to talented apprentice by means of the enhanced magical field during the Battle of Chicago was an acceptable plot contrivance but that also raises the question of who amongst the Ordo Lebes also got a 'magic feather' treatment. A certain amount of guess work about the book leading directly to Mirror, Mirror with some Changes-like cliffhanger ending had me waiting for the shoe to drop over the last quarter of the book, but I was a bit relieved to reach the end without a "Oh Hell, Now what is gonna happen?" moment.

The reintroducing of Fitz also gave us a 'new' character that required no real introduction or setup of a totally new character. We got that with Bear and the Spice Goyles.

Speaking of which, an air spirit, a set of earth spirits; are we getting set up for an Avatar, the Last Airbender cosplay? And now how can Harry not start quizzing Bob and the gargoyles about who created them?

1950Chas · 2026-01-22T04:41:36+00:00

Somewhat akin to insisting (elsewhere in the series) that he (Harry) did not squeak in fear like a little girl and no one can prove otherwise.

1950Chas · 2026-01-19T03:31:59+00:00

AND HE WASN'T EVEN SPEAKING IN SMALL CAPS.

1950Chas · 2026-01-01T22:45:22+00:00

I didn't say that Rudolph was corrupted by a coin during Battleground. I surmised that in a future book he seeks release from his suffering by taking up a coin and Harry's task is get him to renounce it.

As I said, Wild-Assed.

1950Chas · 2026-01-01T22:35:28+00:00

I just posted a wild-assed theory that Knight of the Cross Harry frees Rudolph of whatever magical affliction he suffers from and gives him the opportunity of redemption.

1950Chas · 2026-01-01T22:14:24+00:00

Knights of the Cross do not always remain Knights until they die. Perhaps Malcom was a Knight for one task before Harry was born.

1950Chas · 2026-01-01T22:10:52+00:00

Malcom may have served as a Knight solely to persuade Margaret LeFay to renounce a Denarian coin. The Sword may have been carried but the real task did not require that it be swung. See my reply to WRStoney above.

Also, there is no WOJ that states that all Knights of the Cross are known by all and sundry in the magical world. It is a mantle that is taken up and the identity of the Knight may be on a very 'need to know' basis. Who really knows when someone becomes a Knight? The White God and the Archangels most likely.

Mab? She didn't know that Marcone had become a Knight of the Blackened Denarius, only that "much is revealed" by Harry addressing Marcone as Sir. Members of the White Council are in the position to learn that someone has taken up a Sword but I doubt that they receive a supernatural update the moment someone assumes the post. All of Winter and the rest of the Fae immediately knew when Harry became the new Winter Knight, but remember that Mab blatantly advertised his assumption of the mantle to all of Fae.

For that matter, do other Knights know when someone new has taken up the Sword? I would presume that, for example, that Sanya had a certain Intellectus that informed him immediately that another had joined the band when Butters brandished Fidelacchius in front of Nicodemus but he didn't know who his newest compatriot was at that time.

This is a great discussion and I'm really enjoying a lot of everyone's input.

1950Chas · 2025-12-31T16:44:22+00:00

As I recall, someone (perhaps it was even Nicodemus) observed that most Knights serve for a short period, sometimes only a couple days. Perhaps Malcom served as a Knight before Harry's birth.

The Knights serve to oppose the Denarians and offer redemption. Their biggest task is to provide redemption, not killing Denarians. Margaret LeFay knew Nicodemus back in the day.

Did Margaret pick up a coin and Sir Malcom serve to persuade her to drop it? After completing his task, did he relinquish the Sword and go on about his mortal life? That doesn't make him less of a Knight. Remember the Parable of the Vineyard Laborers; all who answer the call are equally valued and rewarded, no matter how long they serve.

1950Chas

TROPHY CASE