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Tasks, Groups, Rules and Everything you ever wanted to know about the Terry Pratchett Challenge
message 101:
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Lu
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Apr 10, 2012 02:36AM
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But I agree. You can use the book.
The only thing is that I think your spoiler contains a mistake, but since that isn't important as to if you can use the book or not it doesn't matter.
Thanks guys :)What was the mistake in the spoiler?
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The son of Isis and Osiris is Horus, so shouldn't your delusional character want to be impregnated to give birth to the reincarnation of Horus?
Oooh. In that case it's the book's mistake. I might have gotten it wrong, but I'm sure I remember Isis telling Houdini that the baby would now be Osiris and she would therefore leave him alone. Also, I did a search on the book and there's no mention of Horus.Like a lot of things in that book it's seems very contrived - it's just means of ending an awkward relationship between the two characters.
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Gods seem to love incest. And beastiality.In Norse mythology there's this totally whack story about Loki. He turns himself into a mare (essentially changing sex), gets himself impregnated by a stallion, and gives birth to an 8-legged horse that Odin rides. I don't know how the hell people come up with some of this stuff.
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This is one of my favorite ones:
Osiris gets killed by his brother Seth and he cuts him into little pieces and scatters them around the globe. Isis then finds the pieces except his penis (it was eaten by a fish) and puts him back together.
With "the magic of her father" she then gets pregnant by Osiris (the magic gave him a working penis) and then births Horus...
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That makes you think about some of the older cultures, doesn't it!?
Yeah, I remember doing Ancient Near Eastern mythology at the university of Pretoria and thinking what the fuck were these people on?!
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Oh and milk of the poppy!
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13) Read a book in which the main character is part of a religious movement like a priest or nun.
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If you take it less strict than you could consider his adversary also a main character and then it depends on who Janus is. Don't tell me yet who he is.
But if you think several of the other characters as important as Langdon then the answer is yes because the camerlengo is a priest and even the Swiss guard could count since the are a religious security service.
Since it is the eve of my birthday I am feeling generous and I say go for it, you can use it.
Can Grave Mercy be used for task 4 - Read a book about Death the characterSeventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.
(*fingers crossed*)
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Mortain isn't actually a character in the book though. He's the god of death the nun assassins worship, and they do everything in his name, but he never actually makes an appearance. So, I'd say no. :(
I have a question for the same task - how much of a role does Death have to play? I read a book (Westlake Soul) in which death is a character, but I didn't use it because he's not really a main character so the book isn't about him. He makes several appearances, and although he has very few lines, he is important in that the main character is battling him in an attempt to stay alive. Does that count?
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@Lauren: The task specifies that you have to read a book about Death the character. That means the story has to be about him and he has to make actual appearances. It doesn't mean he has to be the main character, but he does have to be a main part of the book in one way or the other. Is he discussed or mentioned often? What does the battle entail? Could you tell me a bit more? I read the introduction/summerary thingy that is meant to lure you in to reading the book and I am not certain that is why I need some more info.
The main character - Westlake - is in a vegetative state after a surfing accident. He has no control over his body, but he can explore his own mind like a landscape, and he can project his soul/mind beyond his body. He sees himself as a superhero and Death - known as Dr Quietus - as a supervillain. Westlake discusses him every now and then. They have 3 or 4 battles in the book, and these either happen within Westlake's mind or as invisible battles in the real world (since Westlake can astral-project). They're the standard comic book sort of battles, and there's a big one at the end, because Westlake's parents have switched off his life support and this is his last chance to try and wake up.Everything is seen from Westlake's perspective, so you can't be sure of the reality of these things, but in Westlake's view, death is something he constantly has to fight. He's battled Quietus many times, although only a few of these are on the page. Although Quietus is important, I'd say he has a smaller role than Westlake's family and his nurse, all of whom have way more lines and a stronger presence.
So yeah, a tough call. Based on the blurb I thought I could use this, but when I read it and found out that death wasn't that big a character, I decided not to use it.
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Does anyone else have an opinion on this one? I would like to hear it before I say yes or no!
Barbara wrote: "@ Liezel: Ok based on what Claudia said Grave Mercy can't be used for the task because he isn't in the book. He is only mentioned and like with the A-Z tasks people and locations have to be figured..."Figured it was a long shot, but thought I'd ask the question anyway :)
Barbara wrote: "I have my doubts. I would like to allow it because there aren't that many books about Death out there and he does play a part in this book. On what you told me I would use Quietus in the A-Z charac..."Yeah, that's why I'm so unsure as well. I also give myself a little slack on the hard tasks sometimes, but I don't want to cheat.
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For the Wyrd Sisters task, where a group of women is the main focus of the book:I just read Kingdom of Strangers: A Novel, a murder mystery set in Saudi Arabia where the bodies of 19 women are found buried in the desert.
In a parallel but unofficial investigation, it's revealed that a woman who goes missing (view spoiler).
Would you say that this counts?
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About the other book about death. You can use that too. Since no one objected and because I did some research on the book I feel that the book can be used. It isn't entirely what I meant with the task but comes close enough.
Oh cool, thanks! Especially for Westlake Soul - I'd basically given up on that one and was thinking of using a Discworld novel instead.
Ok, I finally read a book where two family members are reunited after being separated for over a decade. This is a momentous event in the novel but I definitely wouldn't say the novel is "about" it because other events/subjects are much more important. Could I still use this book, considering the fact that this is quite a hard task (and I'm still bloody kicking myself for thinking of it)?
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I'm going to hide it in a spoiler tag, because the family reuniting thing is a wee bit spoilerish.(view spoiler)
Claudia has also read it, so perhaps she can offer her opinion as well.
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So Claudia, what do you think?
That's the thing though - they can't put that info in the blurb because it would spoil part of the story :(
Eep.I took the task to mean the story of two friends (not family) who are reunited and then go on to do whatever, or where the focus is on the reunion itself.
In the unmentionable book, the reunion of the lead character and her family member kind of happened on the side and the family member also had a very small roll in this book. So I don't think it fits. :(
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So sorry you have to find another book :(
The task says friends, but a while back I asked Barbara if family counts, and she said yes (the post is somewhere in this thread).Ok, fair enough.
On a side note, I thought it was stupid that the family member didn't have a bigger role. One of several problems I had with the book.
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Our personal feelings about a story or characters in a story unfortunately do not play a part in considerng whether or not a books can be used for a task.
I will try and find some suggestions for books for you for this task some time this weekend. Maybe I have better luck finding something :)
Lol, yeah I know personal feelings don't count, it was just something that bugged me about the book.Don't worry about it Barbara! I don't really expect to finish all the tasks, I'm just filling in where I can :) i might not have time to read an extra book anyway.
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Technically just to give some people a loop hole the task asks for someone who works at a paper. This could be the cleaning lady or the janitor as long as they work at a paper. Of course I meant that the person is a part of getting that paper published, but the tasks doesn't specify that. :)
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I will allow a couple of days after the challenge is done to do the final update, but don't wait to long. :)
Have fun in the last month of this challenge!
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The winners of this challenge have been known for a long time. Lauren F. won the individual challenge and The City Watch won the group challenge. Congrats guys, well done!
Of the 5 groups that participated only two managed to complete the challenge. These were the City Watch and the Witches of Lancre. Congrats!
The Unseen University completed 22 tasks (73% of their intended total), The Wee Free Man completed 18 tasks (60% of their intended total) and The Assassins Guild completed 19 tasks (47,5% of their intended total). Well Done!
In the individual challenge things went a little better. Of the 17 people who did actually participated from start to finish 9 people have completed it: Lauren F., Crusader, Claudia, Barbara, Lauren S., Jennifer, Lu, Liezel and Carolien. Of these 9 only Barbara and Lauren S managed to get an overachiever rank. Only Barbara read all 40 tasks for the individual challenge. Congrats Guys!
The scores of the other participants were: Jestersinc completed 12 tasks, Marcel completed 10, Johann completed 8, Shelagh completed 7, Niecole completed 6, Mohammed completed 5, Shannon completed 4 and Claudine completed 2. Well Done!
For the people who are interested I have a couple of statistics:
As said 17 people began and completed this challenge and they were divided into 5 groups. These 17 people have read 306 books for this challenge They wrote 8 articles and 8 short stories and designed 4 stamps and 3 coins or banknotes.
As a group the members of The Witches of Lancre read the most. Their 3 members read 87 books (29 b/p), The 4 members of the City Watch read 85 books (21 b/p), the 3 members of The Wee Free Men read 48 books (16 b/p), the 3 members of The Unseen University read 45 books (15 b/p) and the 4 members of The Assassins Guild read 41 books (10 b/p).
The most popular tasks were tasks 9 (Read a book about hell or demons), 34 (Read a mystery novel) and 40 (Read a non-fiction book). They were each read by 11 people.
10 people read tasks 21 (Read a book that takes place on an island), 23 (Read a book about vampires), 27 (Read a book about a hero), 38 (Read about a book about someone who is bullied) and 39 (Read any book published in the period this challenge is active).
9 people read tasks 1 (Read a book in which an unusual colour plays a part), 2 (Read a book about the end of a world), 29 (Read a book about time travel), 30 (Read a children’s or YA book) and 35 (Read a book in which the seasons play a major part).
8 people read tasks 4 (Read a book about Death the character), 5 (Read a book about a magical or haunted item), 11 (Read a book in which the main character is unemployed or gets fired), 13 (Read a book in which the man character is part of a religious movement), 15 (Read a book about war or going to war), 16 (Read a book where the main character is in a band or is a musician), 17 (Read a book about two friends who haven’t seen each other in a long time and are reunited again), 18 (Read a book in which one of the main characters is pretending to be someone or something they are not and write a short story), 22 (Read a book about or set in Australia), 25 (Read a book in which the main character is a journalist or works at a paper and write a small article), 26 (Read a book in which time plays an important part) and 32 (Read a book with a hat on the cover).
7 people read tasks 6(Read a book in which a group of women is the main focus of the book), 7 (Read a book about ancient Egypt) and 28 (Read a book about magical animals).
6 people read tasks 3 (Read a book about role reversal), 8 (Read a book about dragons), 14 (Read a book about elves not fairies), 20 (Read a book about Christmas), 24 (Read a book about dwarves) and 37 (Read a book about sports).
5 people read tasks 19 (Read a book about an artificial or non biological lifeform) and 31 (Read a book in which the main character is in the army).
4 people read tasks 10 (Read a book about the movie industry), 12 (Read a book that is based on a fairytale) and 33 (Read a book in which letters or email play a major part and design your own stamp)
The most unpopular was task 36 (Read a book in which the main character works in the financial/banking business and design your own coin or banknote). Only 3 people read this task.
I hope you guys had fun reading for this challenge and I hope to see you all in the Parasol Protectorate Challenge.
Oh wow, thanks for doing the stats Barbara!
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They are really interesting! I should try and do the same for the themed challenges that just started.
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Books mentioned in this topic
God Save the Queen (other topics)Kingdom of Strangers (other topics)
Westlake Soul (other topics)
Grave Mercy (other topics)
Nevermore (other topics)
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