Satire

Review: The Color of Magic

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Cover image of "The Color of Magic" by Terry Pratchett

The Color of Magic (Discworld, 1) Terry Pratchett. (HarperCollins (ISBN: 9780063373662) 2024 (first published in 1983).

Summary: A failure at wizard school is compelled to protect a rich but naive traveler with a most unusual luggage chest.

So, I’ve taken the plunge into Discworld. For the uninitiated, Discworld is a planet that exists as a flat disc with continents and oceans. Four huge elephants support Discworld. They, in turn, stand on the shell of one gigantic turtle, the Great A’Tuin, who swims through space. From that alone, you will probably deduce that this is fantasy at its zaniest. And you would not be wrong. Given the huge popularity of the series, you might be surprised to know that the original British press run back in 1983 was 506 copies.

In a way, this first book serves to introduce us to Discworld. It takes the form of an odyssey that begins at Ankh-Morpork, the biggest city of Discworld. Rincewind is a wizard school flunkout whose one accomplishment was to memorize one of the eight powerful spells, which drove any other magic out of his head. Twoflower, an insurance salesman from the Agatean Empire, approaches him to serve as a guide.. He is accompanied by the Luggage–a chest with legs. The chest is full of gold and is ferociously protective of Twoflower. He hires Rincewind as a guide for what is an exorbitant fee for the poor wizard. Rincewind, of questionable scruples, tries to run away but Ankh-Morpork’s Patrician captures him and compels him to “protect” Twoflower. Relations with the much richer Agateans are at stake.

However, thieves kidnap Twoflower. Prior to the kidnapping, Twoflower had sold an insurance policy to the owner of the tavern where they were staying. While Rincewind rescues Twoflower, the owner burns down the tavern to get the insurance money, destroying the town. Rincewind and Twoflower decide to skedaddle.

In a series of adventures orchestrated by the gods of Discworld, they visit Quirm and Wyrmberg, surviving a series of challenges, complete with trolls and dragons, only to end up in the ocean. The current carries them to edge of Discworld, but the Circumfence, a net built by the nation of Krull, catches them. A sea troll retrieves them and sends them to Krull–to be sacrifices.

Twoflower seems less worried about danger than Rincewind. He is an intrepid explorer who even wants to see the beast supporting Discworld. At one time or the other Rincewind, Twoflower, the Luggage, and even a magic picture box (camera) are responsible for rescues when things were looking bad. Death personified pursues Rincewind throughout, but through his own devices and those of the gods, he elude’s Death’s grasp.

At first, I thought all of this quite strange and a bit confusing. Then the strange became interesting and amusing. By the end, I was looking forward to the next zany escape and the next adventure. Which takes me to Book Two… (I see what you are doing Terry Pratchett!).

By the way, the color of magic is octarine, a fluorescent greenish-yellow-purple. Only magicians can see it and it occurs in the presence of magic. For what it is worth.

Review: Waiting for Al Gore

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Cover image of "Waiting for Al Gore" by Bob Katz.

Waiting for Al Gore, Bob Katz. Flexible Press (ISBN: 9798988721321) 2024.

Summary: A story that pairs a struggling writer and a struggling environmental group hoping a conference becomes a big story when Gore shows up.

Lenny Beibel is driving his old Toyota Corolla to a rendezvous to pick up two leaders of a fringe environmental group. Rachel Seagrave is the founder of EarthKare and Frederick Wolfram is her earnest but overbearing communications director and assistant. They are meeting the rest of the rag-tag team at a rural Vermont camp owned by EarthKare, which will be the site of what they hope will be a game-changing environmental story. That is, if Al Gore shows up.

Everyone is swinging for the fences here. Lenny is a struggling freelance writer and EarthKare is struggling to hold onto followers. To be sure, they invited Gore months earlier. But his agent keeps stringing them along. Then she offers them a pinch hitter, Henry Marks, a jogger turned motivational speaker with a gig he calls JogThink. His audiences tend to be company retreats and cruise ship passengers. Somehow, the offer becomes a gift–Henry is coming pro bono. Rachel is assured the crowd will love him.

Then another unusual guest makes a fleeting appearance. Oswald’s thrush was thought to be extinct. Then there are several sightings, none long enough to be confirmed, but word gets out to a group of birders. The bird is elusive, the kind you only get to see out of the corner of your eye.

Meanwhile, Henry show up in the midst of preparations for a group of unknown size. And he seems the flake to complement what seems a disaster in the making. His first act is to take the whole group on a jog, not too fast. Slow jogging together spurs creative thinking. Wolfram foresees disaster and sees it as the opportunity to come to the rescue if Henry’s keynote flops. While Wolfram prepares for the worst, both Lenny and Henry do their best to court Rachel. And Rachel is courtable, although neither appear great prospects. The clock is ticking and she is weary of leading EarthKare, despite their urgent mission.

We read on wondering what will become of this trainwreck in the making, especially when a respectable crowd shows up. Bob Katz, a writer I’ve reviewed before, constructs a tale of idealists and bumblers hoping magic will happen in service of their urgent cause. And without preaching, he gets across the point that our situation is such that its not a time to jog but to run like hell but not without hope. You never know when either Oswald’s thrush or Al Gore will turn up.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: The Star Diaries

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Cover image of "The Star Diaries" by Stanislaw Lem

The Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy, Stanislaw Lem. Harper Voyager (ISBN: 9780544079939), 2012 (First published in 1971).

Summary: Ijon Tichy’s voyages across the galaxy, satirical short pieces of science fiction by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem.

This is science fiction satire that makes that strains every idea of what is plausible in space travel. Ijon Tichy hops into his rocket and takes off on voyages across the galaxy like we might hop into a car for a spontaneous road trip. And predictably, he sometimes runs out of fuel, bringing further mishaps. The Star Diaries is a collection of short pieces Polish science fiction writer began writing in the 1950’s and added to for this 1971 publication. These are accounts of twelve of at least twenty-eight voyages by our intrepid space traveler.

In each voyage, Tichy gets in and out of difficulties, often in the most improbable ways. For example, in the first story, his rocket develops rudder problems that he needs a spare hand to fix. No problem! Just head into a space vortex and create a double of oneself. Of course, there are unforeseen problems and soon he has a ship full of doubles. Eventually he gets the rudder fixed and the doubles sent back to their own proper time. But not without a certain amount of hilarity.

In other voyages he represents earth’s petition to join a galactic United Nations, a study in bureaucratic tomfoolery. On another planet, he disguises himself as a robot to end a robot tyranny. Squamp-hunting is the focus of another voyage. Lem explores time travel and its problems by a 2166 version of himself visiting the future to persuade him to take his own place and sort out the space-time continuum. Tichy and his time alter ego end up stuck in a time loop. His trip to Dichotica represents a version of an encounter with transhumanists, with much philosophical folderol. His next voyage explores the pitfalls of extra-terrestrial proselytizing. And on a space constrained planet, people are often reduced to their atoms, and then recomposed from stored patterns (I wonder if this is where Star Trek got the idea for transporters!).

What’s really going on here? Is Lem just pulling our leg and having fun? Or is he playing a more clever game of getting his writing past Communist Party censors in Cold War Poland? Many think the latter, which I’m inclined to think credible. He portrays robotic tyrannies and states devoted to evolving their own super-species, and pokes fun at scientific and bureaucratic tensions. Meanwhile, part of the fun is the wordplay in which he creates whole paragraphs of made up words of semi-serious import. He also seems to delight in keeping the reader off balance, alternating between ridiculous satire and philosophical explorations, often in the same story! I also like to think that Lem saw himself in the venturous, resourceful, and intrepid Ijon Tichy.

Reading him, it is fun to imagine a meeting between him and Douglas Adams. Perhaps in another timeline….