Posted by Britt Hellman on March 13, 2010
UK’s best-selling author Terry Pratchett’s latest novel Unseen Academicals (2009) is a parody on the cultural phenomenon of European football (soccer) and everything that surrounds it. As such, it may be better understood and enjoyed by Europeans than Americans; in particular since football hooliganism, a distinctly UK phenomenon, plays a central role in the story.
But really, the book is about so much more than football (soccer) and makes for fabulous entertainment for anybody, American or British. It is also a book about fashion super models (and their association with football super stars); pies of every conceivable variety (and their association with football fans); as well as goblins and orcs (association to football unknown).
In typically characteristic Pratchett-fashion, everything on the Discworld mirrors things in our own world with a slight and hilarious twist. For example, a tail-gate market on the Discworld becomes a cart-tail market. And instead of cheerleaders, there are naiads dancing on the sidelines.
The book has many heroes, in particular a goblin-turned-orc by the name of Mr. Nutt. Because he’s one of only a handful of surviving orcs on the Discworld, two of the world’s most powerful leaders take him under their wings to help him save himself as well as his dying race.
It bears mentioning that the two leaders in question, Lord Vetinari and Lady Margolotta have been at this before. Their previous projects have included rock trolls, werewolves, golems, and vampires, all of which they assisted in becoming integrated and accepted members of human society.
Mr. Nutt gets sent from Lady Margolotta’s Uberwald to Lord Vetinari’s Ankh-Morpork and assigned the task to accumulate ‘worth’ in human society. In doing so, Nutt gains many loyal friends and admirers in his workplace, the Unseen University. Co-worker Trev Likely goes to any length to defend his orc friend, and the head mistress of the Night Kitchen, Miss Glenda Sugarbean (creator of the crusty onion pie) becomes a staunch admirer, which later leads to a budding romance.
By impressing his superiors at Unseen University with his knowledge and knack for strategic thinking, Mr. Nutt eventually gets placed in charge of coaching the school’s new football team. And then one thing leads to another.
Unseen Academicals may be a parody on the phenomenon of European football (soccer), as well as a number of other things thrown in for good measure, but soccer fan or not, this book will give you many hours of joyous reading and barrels of laughs.
Mrs. Hellman resides in North Carolina with her husband and their three boys. She’s a professional copywriter and does book reviews as a hobby. Visit her web-site named after The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett, where you can order Unseen Academicals and all the other 36 novels in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.
Posted by Jim Slate on November 30, 2009
Social networking technology has changed the way communication works. There are a variety of new levels of interaction that are possible. This is not only connecting people in new and unique ways, but it is also allowing people to tell stories across a whole new range of media. On the cutting edge of this new technology, creative individuals are experimenting with the basic elements of the story itself.
Roleplay is an act of imagination, where you gather a group of people together, and each one assumes the role of a character. Then they act as that character, in order to further the story. Everyone adds their own perspective to the piece, and the resulting story is made up of the whole.
Social networks such as facebook were created to allow people to tell stories. You are supposed to use them to tell the story of you real life, through the use of pictures, videos, and written submissions in a variety of forms.
This ability to tell stories can, with a little tweaking, be used to tell fictional stories. You don;t necessarily have to talk about yourself on these networks, you could sign up as just about anyone or anything you can imagine.
The story can then be told and expanded on through a series of interactions with others on the site. These can be other fictional characters, or they can be real people. The addition of extra people to the story breathes new life and energy into the tale, invigorating it.
The problem is that most of the big social networking sites expressly forbid their members from creating fictional characters. They want the site to remain a haven for real people to interact. This is often stated in their terms of service,a nd violation can result in your character being banned from the site. While this rule is usually not strictly enforced, its presence alone is enough to hamper most roleplaying endeavors.
http://www.RolePages.com is a community that was created to fill the void in creative social networking. Similar in structure to facebook, the site describes itself as being a social network for fictional characters. Members are encouraged to sign up as anyone that they can imagine, and then to tell the story of their character through a series of forums, blogs, chat rooms, as well as through the submission of pictures, videos, and audio files.
Social networks are a new frontier in the art of communication. Using them as a medium for telling stories is a trend that is just starting to catch on. As the sophistication of the technology increases the ability to create fictional works using these tools is only going to improve.
To read more about this subject visit RolePages.com an in character roleplaying social network where you can sign up as anyone or anything that you can imagine. There you will find more information on facebook roleplaying, as well as an eclectic cast of members including werewolves, vampires, fairies, psychics, aliens, madmen, monsters, demons, and anyone else that you can imagine.
