The Dark Side of the Sun
I am somehow gratified that so many people commented that they'd read and indeed loved this book. I thought it was a relatively obscure bit of Pratchett. I had planned to use the First Sirian Bank's lovely phrase of half-praise as my description of the Secret History book on my recent spot on BBC Radio London: "I praise it as imaginative thinking of the highest order."
I have probably reread it more closely this time than any of the previous couple of dozen times I've done so. ( I did say I liked it a lot.)
This time through, I've noticed lots of inconsistencies that I missed before:
- Korodore is described as being from Earth and from Terra Novae:
p24: "... the mitigating circumstance that he was Earth-born..."
p30: "Korodore, a true-born Terra Novaean, which meant food concentrates..."
- The Bank is mentioned as not moving around (p64): "I assume you don't mean he should have roved across the universe, Roche limits being what they are. [A phrase repeated verbatim on p74.] A thing the ssize of the Bank would disrupt the balance of the average solar system, probably." But then does so, several times, firstly to Tau Ceti - the Laoth system - then to "CY Aquirii" (presumably, actually the Cepheid variable CY Aquarii), the Widdershins system.
- Dom initially has never heard of P-math, but then weeks later on, he thinks that "all the loose ends tied together neatly, just like in a good probability math equation". (p150)
- Dom's Swamp Ig has a bomb implanted in it by the Joker Institute's head, Asman. "The bomb should be implanted inside the rib cage, I suggest." (p94). Later on, he is checked: "There had been a row when Ig was taken to a laboratory and probed for every conceivable weapon, to the little animal's distress. Nothing was found, but Ig, coiled across Dom's shoulders, was strangely silent today." (p134)
. Subsequently, Ig himself says to Dom: "By the way, I have small bomb surgically implanted in me. The Earthmen did it. I wouldn't worry; I have inactivated it." (p155)
And I did enjoy the reference to Hrsh-Hgn fiddling with a "slideball" to work out some arithmetic, while sharing a small starship cabin with a robot of human-equivalent intelligence.
- One I've long wondered about: if the Bank's avatar, a robot with most of its shielding removed, including the head, is smoking a cigar, then where does it stick it? The book says "through an extended tube" (p78), but extended from where? Sticking out of its neck? This "HELPS TO PUT SOME OF MY MORE NERVOUS VISITORS AT THEIR EASE"? (p79)
None of these are mentioned in the APF entry, either.
I have probably reread it more closely this time than any of the previous couple of dozen times I've done so. ( I did say I liked it a lot.)
This time through, I've noticed lots of inconsistencies that I missed before:
- Korodore is described as being from Earth and from Terra Novae:
p24: "... the mitigating circumstance that he was Earth-born..."
p30: "Korodore, a true-born Terra Novaean, which meant food concentrates..."
- The Bank is mentioned as not moving around (p64): "I assume you don't mean he should have roved across the universe, Roche limits being what they are. [A phrase repeated verbatim on p74.] A thing the ssize of the Bank would disrupt the balance of the average solar system, probably." But then does so, several times, firstly to Tau Ceti - the Laoth system - then to "CY Aquirii" (presumably, actually the Cepheid variable CY Aquarii), the Widdershins system.
- Dom initially has never heard of P-math, but then weeks later on, he thinks that "all the loose ends tied together neatly, just like in a good probability math equation". (p150)
- Dom's Swamp Ig has a bomb implanted in it by the Joker Institute's head, Asman. "The bomb should be implanted inside the rib cage, I suggest." (p94). Later on, he is checked: "There had been a row when Ig was taken to a laboratory and probed for every conceivable weapon, to the little animal's distress. Nothing was found, but Ig, coiled across Dom's shoulders, was strangely silent today." (p134)
. Subsequently, Ig himself says to Dom: "By the way, I have small bomb surgically implanted in me. The Earthmen did it. I wouldn't worry; I have inactivated it." (p155)
And I did enjoy the reference to Hrsh-Hgn fiddling with a "slideball" to work out some arithmetic, while sharing a small starship cabin with a robot of human-equivalent intelligence.
- One I've long wondered about: if the Bank's avatar, a robot with most of its shielding removed, including the head, is smoking a cigar, then where does it stick it? The book says "through an extended tube" (p78), but extended from where? Sticking out of its neck? This "HELPS TO PUT SOME OF MY MORE NERVOUS VISITORS AT THEIR EASE"? (p79)
None of these are mentioned in the APF entry, either.