Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett

Yes! I know! I read a book without any pictures! The recent news about the BBC's forthcoming The Watch based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld series inspired me to dig into my to-read pile and pull out this novel! 

Unseen Academicals stars the wizards of Unseen University. Upon a review of university endowments, it is discovered that if the school does not produce a sports team soon, they will lose a hefty portion of their food budget. At the same time, in the city of Ankh-Morpork, Lord Vetinari is working behind the scenes to transform the illegal game of foot-the-ball into something a little more respectable. Thus, the mages of Unseen University now have permission to field a team. Only they must reorganize the rules into something a little less deadly... and they can't use their magic to win the game either!

Unseen Academicals introduces several new characters to Discworld. There's Trev Likely, whose father was a foot-the-ball legend, once scoring 2 goals in 1 game! We're introduced to the stern but rather lovely Glenda, the head mistress of the night shift kitchen. Lastly, we've got Mr. Nutt. He was my favorite of the new introductions. Nutt is a goblin who is relegated to the candle-making detail for the entire university. But there's more than meets the eye to this mythical creature who is literally a Renaissance man. 

I Googled Mr. Nutt and it appears that this book the character's only appearance. Unseen Academicals was published in 2009. Terry Pratchett sadly left us in 2015 and it seems that he never got around to giving us more of Nutt. The way this book ended, I could have seen 1 or 2 more novels continuing the evolution of the character in other realms of the Discworld. 

I devoured this book like a shark through chum. I was hungry for more Discworld and when I got my teeth on some, I couldn't put it down. Yes- I went almost a week reading nothing but Discworld. No comics or graphic novels. And I don't think my appetite has been sated yet!

A very fun book that skewers organized team sports, gender dynamics, class and status, psychology, romance and much much more!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner and Other Stories by Terry Pratchett

• A Television set that sends viewers back to prehistoric times.
• An amateur wizard with a 400 year old toothache.
• The Hobbit; if told using a hot air balloon to travel with.
• A town in Wales that experiences a number of Wild West troubles after coal is found prompting a coal-rush.

     These are just a few of the tales found inside this collection of short stories by the late Terry Pratchett (Discworld.) This is the second such volume and it was a delight to read. All of these stories were written by Pratchett when he was a junior newspaper writer at the young age of 17. 

While none of Pratchett's characters from his dozens of Discworld novels appear in this book, you can see the wheels of creativity turning in the young writer's head. The stories of wizards and witches are precursors to Rincewind, the Wyrd Sisters, and other practitioners of magic. The Wild West Wales tales are early attempts at satire and parody. While his stories of wee people, time traveling appliances and rebellious ants are the foundations of Pratchett's mastery at word puns and using asterisks to convey additional humorous asides*.

Once again, reading something from Terry Pratchett has thrown me off my game. I just want to read more or his stuff everytime I get my hands on something of his (instead of my usual plan of just reading comic books.) Plus, I find myself trying to emulate him more and more in my writings. And that's quite a challenge as you aren't supposed to imitate other writers. Yet, I find that Terry Pratchett writes often how I think: witty, somewhat odd, and full of additional words because hey, I love the English language!

I adore how totally different words sound the same and have completely different meanings. I love how you can make puns out of those and I just marvel at how Terry Pratchett could do it and now be corny or dumb-sounding doing it. 

This book might be considered for younger readers because of the age at which Pratchett was when he wrote this. But I've found very little objectionable in Pratchett's Discworld series. So perhaps a 12-year old might enjoy Feet of Clay or The Hogfather. Besides, I know of writers in their 80s who wrote children books and nobody said that they could only write stories for the elderly to enjoy. (There's that Pratchett wit coming out of my head again...)

A great short story collection that has me looking for the first collection.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

*This aside, while not so much funny, is an example of what I was talking about previously.