I just re-read Terry Pratchett - Strata - after all this time - have had it on my shelf and only ever read it the once - just after I started reading The Colour of Magic - and the Carpet People.
I did not realise at the time the start of the Diskworld.
Yes it was about a disk shaped world – I got that – but he did mention the 4 elephants on the back of the giant turtle and the Broken Drum pub – you can’t beat it…… Sir Terry obviously liked the disk so much he brought it to life.
Am I the only one who just got it? After all these years…. Was I so caught up on re-reading the Diskworld stuff that I ignored the start??
Yes, this was his first playing with the concept. It is always interesting to see concept sketches and similar exercises for things which we are most familiar with as a finished product.
While Strata and Dark Side of the Sun don’t get a lot of love, or fame, they really do show an immense amount of imagination in their depiction of alien races, societies, and settings. Good stuff.
The only problem is that they suffer from kind-of “meh” endings - I like the whole The-Space-Gods-Were-(You!/Your-Pet!)-All-Along message in both but they do kind of fizzle out towards them. Having said that, the First Sirius Bank and Silver are two of my favourite SF aliens. And props to Pterry for introducing me to Roche limits in a throwaway joke!
*The Carpet People *and Bromeliad don’t get enough love, IMO.
I was probably slow to realise. But after the second or third time I read Strata I realised we are supposed to be the decendants of the disc people that Kin Arad evacuated.
You Can’t Beat It