(no subject)

Still not dead. :)

Cleaning the hotel room while I wait for the headache meds to kick in. More later, I promise...

Commentary post-hack: Why was I cleaning the hotel room? WHO CAN SAY.

(no subject)

So I've been traveling...

The peanuts are not nearly as interesting as they sound. It's just that I opened a bag and they exploded everywhere.

I've never really comprehended the whole peanuts-and-soda gestalt that the airlines rock. You're sitting in a big can of recycled air which is very dry to begin with, and they feed you salty food that makes you want to drink, then offer you soda, which is basically a sodium solution to dehydrate you further. And it makes you need to pee, which is annoying in an airplane. Southwest has pushed it into an art form, though -- salted peanuts and a crumbly-dry oatmeal bar.

Yum.

Anyhow, I'm here now, the hotel room is sorted, and I'm dining in. I had to clean out my own stuff -- lots of things to sort and unpack and hang up, et cetera. Must iron my trousers for tomorrow and such.

Signing off for now. See y'all on the flip side.

(no subject)

Oh, I thought of something actually intelligent to say.

When I started reading Terry Pratchett ten years ago, I had to have friends export or lend his books to me -- Pratchett novels regularly showed up five years late on American shelves if they showed up at all, and they had hideously designed covers to boot. So I can't say how much it pleases me to see Thud!, not only in hardback in America at the same time as Great Britain but being sold in airport bookshops.

And on that note, Welcome back, Mr. Pratchett. Where were you during the writing of your last two books? I've missed you.

I haven't quite finished Thud! yet, but it's rippingly good and hearkens back, stylistically, to Fifth Elephant and Night Watch. It's funny, clever, sharp, fast-paced, and Vimes is Vimes again. I missed you too, Sir Samuel.

Plus there's some awfully good Vetinari. I particularly appreciate the good Patrician's views on Art. Fred Colon's definition of Art is almost as good.

In short, if you doubted him during Monstrous Regiment, have no fear. Buy Thud. It's the first time I've paid full cover price for a hardback Pratchett, and it was totally worth it.