Musings of the Obsessive Kind

I adore Terry Pratchett and have been catching up with books of his I haven't read. I just finished Small Gods and it was so very good.

Brutha is such an unusual protagonist for Pratchett. Usually his protagonists are cowards or conmen who finally do the right thing (Rincewind, Moist) or heroes who are hard-bitten cynics with an angry sense of decency (Vimes, the Witches). Brutha is...an incredibly nice, sweet, idealistic person. I loved him.

SG won't displace my favorite Pratchetts - the Guards books (Fifth Elephant is my favorite Pratchett book, period) but it was wonderful.

This, btw, is the ranking of all the Pratchett books I've read so far.

The Fifth Elephant
Men at Arms
Guards! Guards! (Remind me to tell you about how I acquired this one)
Feet of Clay
Jingo
The Last Continent
Interesting Times
The Light Fantastic
The Colour of Magic
Small Gods
The Last Hero
Reaper Man
Maskerade
Mort
Sourcery
Eric
Moving Pictures
Carpe Jugulum
Going Postal
Thud!
Equal Rites
Making Money
Hogfather
Night Watch
The Truth
Thief of Time
Monstrous Regiment

Oh, and my favorite character? Carrot Ironfoundersson, a 6 feet tall dwarf (adopted) who, in the worst-kept secret in the city, is the lost heir to the throne of Ankh-Morpork. Prefers being a policeman though. And is boyfriend of the most awesome female Pratchett character ever, Angua von Uberwald - part-time vegetarian, part-time werewolf, and always awesome. It's my only Pratchett ship, actually :)

It's full moon tomorrow, Angua is edgey because of an absence of attention and can't sleep. But then, so can't Commander Vimes. AnguaxVimes. One Shot.

Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa????

Normally I’d never quibble over a fic just because it has an UC pairing (even when it busts up the only OTP I have in Discworld books, Angua/Carrot 4evah :D) but BWAAAAA????

What?

Angua. In love with Carrot. And they straightened out all their issues at the end of Fifth Elephant. If they broke up, I can see her moving on with someone else (Fifth Elephant has got to be the only book in creation which has a love triangle between a werewolf policewoman who is an aristocrat from a weird family, a wolf, and a 6ft6 policeman, who is secretly king-in-exile, and it works) but cheating with Vimes? Their immediate superior?

Vimes=Married. Not to Angua. Would not cheat on wife and certainly not with someone he works with and whom he has never ever looked at that way. Also, Vimes ever doing that (aka sleeping with someone else’s gf) to anyone, especially someone he is as close to as he is to Carrot? My brain just broke. Not to mention Vimes has a healthy dose of self-preservation and you just don’t go against Carrot. Things happen when you do. Bad bad bad things.

Speaking of that, I would love to read a book where Vimes and Carrot are on different sides (after Vetinari’s death maybe?) It would take a civil war though, and the book would be pretty grim which is not Pratchett’s speed. But it would be a great follow-up on that chilling insight Vimes got in Fifth Elephant that Carrot is the fate’s favorite (in fantastical world of Discworld, literally, I guess). Vimes being Vimes, he’d still go against him but…

Ehhh, I just have a Carrot fixation. There is a reason why Fifth Elephant is my favorite Discworld book. Most Carrot (and Carrot/Angua! ;))

Also, apparently people write Vetinari/Mary Sue fics. Now I’ve seen everything.

ETA: Man. I just found fic, a number of them, where Angua does go ‘rabid’ (like her brother in FE) and Carrot does have to carry out his promise to put her down. *meep* notreadingnotreadingnotreading. What is with angst!fic for Pratchett anyway? It’s Pratchett!

It's full moon tomorrow, Angua is edgey because of an absence of attention and can't sleep. But then, so can't Commander Vimes. AnguaxVimes. One Shot.

Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa????

Normally I’d never quibble over a fic just because it has an UC pairing (even when it busts up the only OTP I have in Discworld books, Angua/Carrot 4evah :D) but BWAAAAA????

What?

Angua. In love with Carrot. And they straightened out all their issues at the end of Fifth Elephant. If they broke up, I can see her moving on with someone else (Fifth Elephant has got to be the only book in creation which has a love triangle between a werewolf policewoman who is an aristocrat from a weird family, a wolf, and a 6ft6 policeman, who is secretly king-in-exile, and it works) but cheating with Vimes? Their immediate superior?

Vimes=Married. Not to Angua. Would not cheat on wife and certainly not with someone he works with and whom he has never ever looked at that way. Also, Vimes ever doing that (aka sleeping with someone else’s gf) to anyone, especially someone he is as close to as he is to Carrot? My brain just broke. Not to mention Vimes has a healthy dose of self-preservation and you just don’t go against Carrot. Things happen when you do. Bad bad bad things.

Speaking of that, I would love to read a book where Vimes and Carrot are on different sides (after Vetinari’s death maybe?) It would take a civil war though, and the book would be pretty grim which is not Pratchett’s speed. But it would be a great follow-up on that chilling insight Vimes got in Fifth Elephant that Carrot is the fate’s favorite (in fantastical world of Discworld, literally, I guess). Vimes being Vimes, he’d still go against him but…

Ehhh, I just have a Carrot fixation. There is a reason why Fifth Elephant is my favorite Discworld book. Most Carrot (and Carrot/Angua! ;))

Also, apparently people write Vetinari/Mary Sue fics. Now I’ve seen everything.

ETA: Man. I just found fic, a number of them, where Angua does go ‘rabid’ (like her brother in FE) and Carrot does have to carry out his promise to put her down. *meep* notreadingnotreadingnotreading. What is with angst!fic for Pratchett anyway? It’s Pratchett!

Weeeeeee, Veronica Mars tonight. I got spoiled on having the whole season on DVD so now an hour a week is dreadful torture. *drums heels like a child*

I am also wondering. Supposing the show gets renewed for a 3rd season. Veronica, Logan, Wallace and Duncan would have all graduated then. It would really throw off the format and require some major conincidences to have them all in the same place. Buffy really fell apart and contrived too much after S3, so I am kinda worried.

Speaking of VM, here's an interview with Rob Thomas in TV Guide, which answers a whole bunch of interesting questions, including the ongoing "who did Veronica hope was at the door?" (My theory was correct, yay!).

I copied it in my lj because TV Guide page has more ads and popups than should be known to man.

( Rob Thomas Interview )

Also, I've been delving like mad into Veronica Mars fanfic. So here are my Top Half-Dozen picks of the day. They are actually so good they are worth reading even if you've never seen VM.

Some really good (read: angsty) fic dealing with aftermath of 2.01:
Wishful Thinking (Logan-centric. This is probably my fave VM fic for the moment).
11 O'Clock Number Veronica/Logan. Sort of.

Lilly:
It Begins To Crack It's a sexycereal fic! Logan/Lilly, Veronica. My favorite pre-show fic.
Worms: My favorite Lilly fic.

Some AUs:
King of the Castle This is a Logan/Veronica summer AU. By my favorite VM author sexycereal It gets NC-17 in part 2 or 3, so if it's not your thing, be warned.
The HMS 'Save My Rich Pasty Ass Please, Wallace' Wallace comes across Logan on the Coronado Bridge.

In other news, I took a "Which Discworld character are you?" quiz.

( I am...surprise, suprise )

1. I saw a copy of TV Guide that had blurbs about all the "returning favorites" shows. It seems that every other show is either cop, medical, or law show. I am sure those professions have their interesting moments, but NO profession is interesting enough to have 25 shows about it at the same time. Maybe with the exception of mercenaries. I'd watch those. But OMG, there won't be a courtroom or scalpel in sight!

2. I was also amused by the prevalence of teen soaps. Who knew that adolescence was that special time where you found out that your mother was actually your sister and that the boy you loved was a transsexual (both of which, while made up, are not too farfetched if those blurbs were any indication). My eye was especially caught by "One Tree Hill" (what happened to the rest of the trees?) and "O.C." (is it next to "E.R.?") I might even watch either one one of these days: they sound so delightfully outre.

3. Charmed is still running. Good God. Are the sisters grandmothers by this point? I think any show should get axed after 5 years. Otherwise it loses the iterative quality. Come on: I remember a girl I was friends with briefly 15 years ago, but on these shows people forget their spouses or parents after a year. Must be some powerful pills they are taking.

4. Their Veronica Mars blurb made me giggle as it said "blah blah blah Veronica also found out that Logan didn't rape her and Duncan isn't her brother which is good because she has hots for them both blah blah blah." To exclude blood relatives and rapists from the dating pool doesn't seem like too unreasonable a thing to do.

5. I have a frightening urge to write a Baltar fanfic after Pegasus. Because to see him sprawled on the floor of Gina's cell...wow.

6. And now to completely switch gears: I am reading Terry Pratchett's newest, Thud. It's not bad (in fact quite funny and clever), but there's too much Vimes and not enough Carrot. And considering that Carrot is my favorite ever Discworld character, this is making dangermousie cranky.

( Carrot centric ramblings )

1. I saw a copy of TV Guide that had blurbs about all the "returning favorites" shows. It seems that every other show is either cop, medical, or law show. I am sure those professions have their interesting moments, but NO profession is interesting enough to have 25 shows about it at the same time. Maybe with the exception of mercenaries. I'd watch those. But OMG, there won't be a courtroom or scalpel in sight!

2. I was also amused by the prevalence of teen soaps. Who knew that adolescence was that special time where you found out that your mother was actually your sister and that the boy you loved was a transsexual (both of which, while made up, are not too farfetched if those blurbs were any indication). My eye was especially caught by "One Tree Hill" (what happened to the rest of the trees?) and "O.C." (is it next to "E.R.?") I might even watch either one one of these days: they sound so delightfully outre.

3. Charmed is still running. Good God. Are the sisters grandmothers by this point? I think any show should get axed after 5 years. Otherwise it loses the iterative quality. Come on: I remember a girl I was friends with briefly 15 years ago, but on these shows people forget their spouses or parents after a year. Must be some powerful pills they are taking.

4. Their Veronica Mars blurb made me giggle as it said "blah blah blah Veronica also found out that Logan didn't rape her and Duncan isn't her brother which is good because she has hots for them both blah blah blah." To exclude blood relatives and rapists from the dating pool doesn't seem like too unreasonable a thing to do.

5. I have a frightening urge to write a Baltar fanfic after Pegasus. Because to see him sprawled on the floor of Gina's cell...wow.

6. And now to completely switch gears: I am reading Terry Pratchett's newest, Thud. It's not bad (in fact quite funny and clever), but there's too much Vimes and not enough Carrot. And considering that Carrot is my favorite ever Discworld character, this is making dangermousie cranky.

( Carrot centric ramblings )