Tag Archives: Terry Pratchett

A Level of Hell that Dante Forgot: A Note from Discworld

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

Terry Pratchett is about as weird and wonderful an author as I could ever want. A master world-builder, he trades in irony, parody, and satire the way the TV show Glee trades in stereotypes. And yet, despite the constant self-degradation … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, Memorable Quotes | Tagged C.S. Lewis, children's literature, Dante, Discworld, fantasy, Faust, Fictional Universes, Glee, Goethe, hell, intertextuality, Terry Pratchett, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters | 30 Comments

Digital Dust? Thoughts on my 300th Post

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

300 posts. Wow. When I began this project, I had little sense of an end in sight. It really began as a way of reading C.S. Lewis out loud. Over time, as my roots have deepened, the tree has branched … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Writing, Fictional Worlds, News & Links, Original Research, Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, fantasy, Guy Gavriel Kay, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, King Arthur, literature, Madeleine L'Engle, Neil Gaiman, Ransom Trilogy, Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, ursula le guin | 19 Comments

Thoughts and Prayers: The Ottawa Terror Attacks

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

A delightful little post on marriage that comes out of my reading of John Crowley’s Little, Big was scheduled to post this afternoon. With the Ottawa terror attacks in play, I decided it was time for a more sober reflection, … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged 9/11, Barack Obama, Canada, culture, evil, John Crowley, London, Moncton Murderer, Ottawa Shooting, Politics, religion, Stephen Harper, terrorism, Terry Pratchett | 2 Comments

The Banality of Evil: A Thought by Terry Pratchett

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

“The Banality of Evil” is a phrase by Hannah Arendt in her book, Eichmann in Jerusalem. The idea emerged out of the aftermath of WWII, as the public slowly came to consciousness about the Holocaust. There were Nazi hunters in … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged Banality of Evil, Discworld, evil, good, Guards! Guards!, Hannah Arendt, holocaust, Nazism, Terry Pratchett, theology, WWII | 24 Comments

Chance, Providence, and a Third Option: A Walter Mitty Reflection

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

It was my son’s night to pick our family film, and of all the superhero, gang-busting, technicolour films he could have chosen, he picked The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Granted, Ben Stiller is on our nine-year-old’s radar as a … Continue reading →