Hi! So... I've been lurking here a long while after following some of the Usual Suspects for an even longer time, but I have mostly kept my mouth shut until the turn of the year. But now I am posting a bit more and I feel like I should probably do one of these threads. I am AMAB with some gender questions I am still chewing over, but there's definitely some transfeminine in there; I've been going by Tricia or Trish around here. I'm 32 and live in Austin. I have a main blog at eschatolegation where I mainly post about Homestuck, Steven Universe and some Marvel & Star Wars lately; I have other fandoms those are the main ones I talk about on Tumblr much. I also have a blog for tracking and reblogging and occasionally posting gender-related stuff at it-s-patsy. Talking about other fandoms is... intimidating because I love a lot of things. My top 5 authors are probably Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Donald Westlake/Richard Stark, Steven King and Dorothy Sayers. I used to be a huge roleplayer but I think that part of my life is mostly over? I am especially fascinated by how the game is constructed in Homestuck and like every third nerd on Tumblr I have my own classpect schema... um.... Brooklyn 99, Parks and Rec, Bob's Burgers, The Grinder, The West Wing, Firefly... Wilco, Gillian Welch, Andrew Bird, Beyonce, Regina Spektor, Kate Nash, Noe Venable... I also read a ton of webcomics and play Fallen London. I was raised a fundamentalist Christian in the real and sincere belief that the world would end before I grew up; got married right out of high school and that really didn't go so well; used to stock shelves and lived in some very sketchy living situations but things are better now. I still want to die pretty often but it passes faster and I have done a lot of... renovations, in my head. A lot of it had to do with letting go of rationalism and expecting to be able to think my way out of problems and just accepting my limitations and emotions. These days I'm engaged to an amazing and supportive woman and work with my best friend at a private consulting firm that does a lot of work for public sector clients, mostly helping state Medicaid agencies and such set rates and understand/work with Federal policies and programs. I do a lot of math and editing mainly; I don't have to deal much with the client-facing and decision making stuff, which is comforting because I am an introvert and... hate to make decisions. If someone else makes a decision I can execute on it like a motherfucker, though. I have a bird! A very young Green Cheek Conure named Foggy. Also I know a lot of advanced Excel tricks if anybody ever needs any help with that.
Thaaaaaat's a tough one. It's sort of a matter, I guess, of picking my favorite "sequence" first and then my favorite book within that. So that would probably be the Guards books--the Witches are a close second, because Granny Weatherwax is really important to me, but the Guards have a better ensemble and stronger plots in terms of actual facts. With a gun to my head I think it might be Guards! Guards! The Patrician's meditation on good and evil towards the end of the book has always struck me as one of the critical moments in terms of defining Vimes' character. And also in terms of the general Pratchettian philosophy. Plus, Sybil <3 I feel like that implies that everything is downhill with the Guards books, though, which feels off... and it's hard for me not just throw all this out and go with Lords and Ladies or Carpe Jugulum. (One of those two, because they have essentially the same plot and I can't decide which one does it better.) And I haven't even mentioned Death...
Ooh, what's your classpect? And why, if you feel like sharing? I love hearing about people's classpects :3 Also I admire you for being able to narrow down your Pratchett faves that much. I personally am very find of Night Watch (in no small part because it hits me right in the identity porn trope kink -_-) but also of Thud, and the Tiffany Aching books, and Monstrous Regiment, and Small Gods, etc. etc.... I've got to reread Guards! Guards!, I haven't read any of his earlier books in a while. Have you read many of his non-discworld books?
I feel most connected to the Heir of Doom lately... Heir because I see that class as very much: Someone who can be leveraged by somebody with a vision to do great things, but who left to their own devices will probably never go anywhere. And Doom because I feel like things ending and peril have hung over my head all my life tbh, going back to being raised to believe the world would end before I became an adult. And then more personal apocalypses... I sort of see myself as somebody drifting around after the world did end looking for a way to be useful. Also all the elements of systems and plans and foretelling that seem to be part and parcel of it. eschatoLegation as a username refers to an legacy (inheritance) of eschatological significance. Just lately I have been thinking about how, in an earlier part of my life, I really fit into the role of the Maid of Light, though. Right down to the verbosity... I feel like since life isn't a story, we will all play more than one role over the course of our life, and Maids especially seem to have a "before" and "after" to their story. And yeah--I read the Bromeliad, and Nation and Dodger. I think I read the one about the flat world, but it obviously didn't make a huge impression!
Belated welcome-to-Kintsugi! *internet high fives* A friend gave my mom a collection of Lord Peter stories ten or so years ago, and now we have all of the novels and re-read them frequently. (Haven't read any of her other stuff, though - theology and translations of things, I think?) What's your favourite? For me it's a toss-up between Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon. (Gaudy Night's more ... beautiful? or something, but Busman's Honeymoon is funnier.)
I am a HUGE Harriet Vane stan, so it has to be one of the later books; Busman's Honeymoon is, as you say, really really funny, and might have to get my vote, although Strong Poison has its virtues. \ When it comes to mysteries I'm mad about short stories, though; have you read Talboys?
Yes, Talboys is, I think, the last story in the collection we have. I think it's my favourite of them, although it's been so long since I read it that all I can say with certainty is that I heartily approved of them putting a snake in that annoying relative's bed. Harriet's a terrific character. I prefer the books with her in them over the rest, too.
