September's selection takes us to Terry Pratchett's imaginative DiscWorld series with "The Truth." While not the first in this long-runnng series, the story is a stand-alone (well, as much as a Pratchett novel can be) that hopefully will give us a good idea of what Pratchett's writing and universe are like.
Here's a description from Good Reads....
The Truth, Pratchett's 25th Discworld novel, skewers the newspaper business. When printing comes to Ankh-Morpork, it "drag(s) the city kicking and screaming into the Century of the Fruitbat." Well, actually, out of the Century of the Fruitbat. As the Bursar remarks, if the era's almost over, it's high time they embraced its challenges.
William de Worde, well-meaning younger son of reactionary nobility, has been providing a monthly newsletter to the elite using engraving. Then he is struck (and seriously bruised) by the power of the press. The dwarves responsible convince William to expand his letter and the Ankh-Morpork Times is born. Soon William has a staff, including Sacharissa Cripslock, a genteel young lady with a knack for headline writing, and photographer Otto Chriek. Otto's vampirism causes difficulties: flash pictures cause him to crumble to dust and need reconstitution, and he must battle his desire for blood, particularly Sacharissa's. When Lord Vetinari is accused of attempted murder, the City Watch investigates the peculiar circumstances, but William wants to know what really happened. The odds for his survival drop as his questions multiply.
The Obscure References Sci-Fi & Fantasy Discussion group will meet on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 to discuss this novel. Meetings take place at the Linebaugh Library in Murfreesboro, Tennessee starting at 6:30 p.m. in the second floor conference room.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Links for "On the Beach"
Here are a couple of on-line resources for August's novel, "On the Beach."
- Nevil Shute Web Site
- Wikipedia Entry: Nevil Shute
- Wikipedia Entry: On the Beach (Novel)
- Wikipedia Entry: On the Beach (1959 movie) (includes differences from book to film)
Wikipedia Entry: On the Beach (2000 TV movie) - IMDB: On the Beach (1959 movie)
- IMDB: On the Beach (2000 TV movie)
- Nevil Shute Bibliography
- SparkNotes: On the Beach
- Book Rags Study Guide
- Critical Analysis
- Review from Nevil Shute Web Page
- Review from Challenging Destiny
- Review from Big Dumb Object
- Reciew from Blogging for a Good Book
- An "On the Beach" Quiz
Friday, August 1, 2008
August: On The Beach by Nevil Schute
August's book is the post-apocolyptic story "On The Beach" by Nevil Schute.
The story is set in what was then the near future (1963 in the book) in the months following World War III. The conflict has devastated the northern hemisphere, polluting the atmosphere with nuclear fallout and killing all life. While the nuclear bombs were confined to the northern hemisphere, global air currents are slowly carrying the fallout to the southern hemisphere.
The group will meet on Wednesday, August 27th at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the story. Meetings take place in the upstairs board room of the Linebaugh Library.
The story is set in what was then the near future (1963 in the book) in the months following World War III. The conflict has devastated the northern hemisphere, polluting the atmosphere with nuclear fallout and killing all life. While the nuclear bombs were confined to the northern hemisphere, global air currents are slowly carrying the fallout to the southern hemisphere.
The group will meet on Wednesday, August 27th at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the story. Meetings take place in the upstairs board room of the Linebaugh Library.
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