Fantasy

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, August 2020; written by Tammy Dinsmore.

I had been looking for something humorous to listen to in my car recently when I found the BBC Radio Drama Collection of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books. I’ve never been a science fiction or fantasy fan, but these stories have been so much fun. Discworld is mainly flat and rides on the backs of four elephants who are standing on the back of a giant turtle named Great A'Tuin.

There are seven stories in the collection and disc one starts with “Mort”. Mort is at a job fair having no luck at finding a job. Just before the stroke of midnight Death finds Mort and hires him to be his apprentice. He takes Mort to his home and tries to teach him the subtleties of collecting souls. Death then decides to take a holiday to learn about human experiences. Leaving Mort in charge changes history, as Mort decides to prevent a person’s death. Then they are all left trying to set things right.

In Wyrd Sisters, after King Verence I is murdered, three witches are given a crown and a baby boy. The witches decide they can’t keep the baby, so they give him and the crown to a group of traveling actors with the understanding that in time, the baby boy will grow up and defeat the man who murdered the king. The people of the kingdom don’t want to wait fifteen years, so the witches fast forward in time to when the young lad, Tomjon is old enough to become king in his own right. The problem is, he doesn’t want to be king. Things work out when it is discovered that the court jester is Tomjon’s brother and is willing to be king.

An inept army, secret brotherhoods, a stolen spell book, and dragons make up the story of “Guards! Guards!” The Brotherhood are trying to overthrow the government to install their own puppet king. They summon a dragon using a spell from the stolen book to frighten the people of Ankh-Morpork and to keep them in check. Along comes a newcomer “Carrot” to the Guards and he has memorized the rules and regulations, much to the chagrin of his fellow officers. Carrot tries to arrest thieves, only to discover that the thieves have largely been ignored and given free reign by the guard. After a while, Captain Vimes of the Guard starts investigating the appearance of the dragon and meets a breeder of swamp dragons who decides to give one of her dragons to the Guard as a mascot. All together they figure out why the dragon appeared and set the city free.

Four more stories are in this collection including “Eric”, “Small Gods”, “Night Watch” and “Only You can Save Mankind”. I am still enjoying them, and I have to admit that every once in a while I miss something and have to go back to listen again. They are a great escape into another world.

We are open! Most of our collections are now available. Library hours for now are Monday-Saturday, 10am – 6pm. We have a few chairs and are observing social distancing. If you would rather not come into the building, we will put items on hold for you and you can pick up curbside. Give us a call for more details. 225-3331.