Snow Day!

Yesterday was a SNOW DAY in Tucson, Arizona! Well, at least a snow half-day. The entire Duchy got the morning off due to an inch of snow on the ground. (Stop snickering, Buffalo!) And today Duke Phffer announced that no one would have to take personal time for that half-day. Whoa! Of course, then those hardy people who went in to work anyway wanted to know if they were going to be paid extra for working on a paid holiday. That question hasn't been ruled on yet. Silver spent the snow morning reading Wintersmith, a new book by Terry Pratchett. Everyone knows that Silver reads Sci-fi and fantasy and when asked what a book by Terry Pratchett is about, she says "Oh, it's fantasy" because Terry Pratchett is really hard to explain. In truth, Terry Pratchett is not fantasy at all. It's straightforward satire, which means that unlike fantasy it's about the REAL Real World. Wintersmith is about Tiffany Aching, a 13 year old apprentice witch who has unfortunately attracted the attention of the Wintersmith, the Winter Elemental responsible for bringing Winter to the world. (Anyone who doubts the existence of the Wintersmith in the Real World just needed to look out the window yesterday morning.) Tiffany has already learned the truth about witchcraft in the Real World. When she is home from her apprenticeship, her mother finds her scrubbing the floor on her hands and knees and says "I thought you could do that by just moving your hands about" Tiffany replied "That works, but only if you move your hands on the floor with a scrub brush in them." The truth about witchcraft is like nuclear weapons it's much too dangerous to use. The Wintersmith was of particular interest to Silver because it talks about the Librarians, a group like gypsies that travel from village to village in wagons full of books which they will lend for a penny. If you bring them a book you get three free loans. It is said that a Librarian can tell just what book you need just by looking at you. When the Wintersmith has dumped 6 feet of snow on them, they are in dire straits. They are running out of fuel to keep the lanterns burning so they can read. Of course, freezing to death is also a problem but that's a secondary consideration to not being able to read. (See, I told you it was about the Real World.) So that you won't worry about the Librarians when the story is really about Tiffany and the Wintersmith, I'll tell you that they are rescued by small blue men, the Nac Mac Feegles, who are the only people ever thrown out of the Underworld for singing on Charon's boat. Of course, there was also the destruction of Cerberus, the three-headed dog. I've looked for a good guide to Terry Pratchett, but there just isn't a definitive guide on the internet, so I guess I'll have to browbeat Silver into writing one to introduce people to the memorable characters like The Luggage which has feet and holds clean laundry when you open it and lots and lots of teeth when anyone else opens it. Never go into Iraq without The Luggage. That was clearly Emporer Shrub's mistake!