The Discworld: a distorted alternative world..

(Note: i didnt write this today.. i had written it a couple of months ago and posted it on an egroup.. so dont go thinking i didnt do any work :))

"Ankh-Morpork! Pearl of cities! This is not a completely accurate description, of course — it was not round and shiny — but even its worst enemies would agree that if you had to liken Ankh-Morpork to anything, then it might as well be a piece of rubbish covered with the diseased secretions of a dying mollusc."

This is one of many descriptions of Ankh-Morpork, a fictional city-state which features in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of fantasy novels. As cities go, it is on the far side of corrupt and
polluted, and is subject to outbreaks of comedic violence and brou-ha-ha on a fairly regular basis. It is home to the Unseen University, a centre of magical learning. Pratchett explains that the city is similar to Tallinn and central Prague, but adds that it has elements of 18th century London, 19th century Seattle and modern New York.

Terence David John Pratchett OBE (known as Terry Pratchett) is an English fantasy author (born April 28, 1948, in Beaconsfield, Bucks) best known for his Discworld series, a series that takes place in a disc-shaped world that rotates on the backs of four giant elephants supported by the enormous turtle Great A'Tuin swimming its way through space :)

Prachett has this sense of witty British humor.. the kind that doesnt make you laugh on the "pie hits the clown" kind of situation, but on normal conversations and the irony of everyday life. The series now contains over 30 novels, and tackles topics from rock & roll to religion, philosophy, monarchy and politics... His Discworld characters mostly revolve around wizards, witches, watchmen, and DEATH :) (actually he shows Death in a very funny way... makes you even
sympathize with him!! check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_%28Discworld%29 , it's really good!)

I will attach at the end a list of nice TP quotes.. if you're into that kind of humor, you may be interested in checking out www.hexoogle.com, a google site that features a new quote by him each time you refresh :)

I recommend the Discworld series. And there is another book for him i highly recommend; Good Omens, co-authored with Neil Gaiman (the Coraline guy)..

by the way, i discovered TP thru Karim as well, but long before he travels.. he got me "The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents" for my bday.. Speaking of which, i forgot whom i had lent it to!

Some quotes by TP:
"After that one thing sort of led to another and pretty soon everyone was fighting to get something - either away, out or even."

"It wasn't blood in general he couldn't stand the sight of, it was just his blood in particular that was so upsetting."

"This is Art holding a Mirror up to Life. That's why everything is exactly the wrong way round."

Tortoise: "How many talking tortoises have you met?"
Brutha: "I don't know."
Tortoise: "What d'you mean, you don't know?"
Brutha: "Well, they might all talk. They just might not say anything when I'm there."

and a favorite of mine:
"'I'm not going to ride on a magic carpet!' he hissed. 'I'm afraid of grounds!'
'You mean heights,' said Conina. 'And stop being silly.'
'I know what I mean! It's the grounds that kill you!'"


Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankh-Morpork
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld#Published_work

a list of quotes is available on:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Discworld