Lords and Ladies, by Terry Pratchett, is the best kind of fantasy novel.

For me, the best possible thing that fantasy as a genre can do is to say something important about our world and history, ideally while also commenting in some way on the traditions of the genre itself, and being a damn good read. Add to that a whole bunch of female characters who happen to be the central drivers of the plot and…

Oh, yes. Lords and Ladies is that good.

In some ways, this book is the last third of an unofficial trilogy (with Wyrd Sisters and Witches Abroad) featuring the original trio of Pratchett’s witches: Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick. In other ways, it’s the beginning of an unofficial trilogy (with Maskerade and Carpe Jugulum) about the mortality and power of Granny Weatherwax, with bonus Nanny Ogg at every turn (she doesn’t just steal scenes, she gets them drunk and makes them blush with dirty jokes) and the growing pains of Agnes “Perdita” Nitt.

But this is also, like so many of Pratchett’s best books, a book about stories. In this case, having taken on Shakespeare and fairy tales, he looks at the role of women in English folk songs and folklore. This is a story about cold iron and fairy glamour; of midsummer rituals and blood in the snow and dodgy jokes about morris dancers and maypoles. It’s a story about how practicality trumps romance every time, if you’re lucky.

Most of all, while it has much to say about witches and wives and mothers, this is a story about queens.

[MANY MANY MANY SPOILERS]
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[SPOILER ALERT for several older Discworld novels and one key scene in recent release I Shall Wear Midnight]

Some time ago, I talked on Galactic Suburbia about how I felt Pratchett was one of those writers who you can see noticeably improving and honing his craft as he goes, and that one of the elements he hugely improved in over the years was his treatment of female characters. Someone commented that they hoped we would elaborate on that at some point, and I have always intended to, though I don’t know that Galactic Suburbia is the best place for that discussion – largely because I think I’m the only one of the three who is a huge reader of Pratchett.

I started reading the Discworld books in the early 90′s, when Small Gods was the latest release. This meant that I read all the books before that in (mostly) the wrong order, and all of the books after that in (mostly) the right order. So it took me some time to figure out what was going on with Pratchett’s women, and the chronology of those early books is still a little muddled in my head.

The first ten books of the Discworld series are quite problematic in their portrayal of female characters, particularly the younger women. I certainly don’t think this was intentional on Pratchett’s part, but an unfortunate result of the fact that in these early books he was largely writing parody of various fantasy worlds and tropes, just beginning to develop the Discworld into something more substantial and complex. I also feel that Pratchett was very much aware of some of the dreadful sexism in his source material, and the female characters he wrote were often in direct response to what he saw in the fantasy genre.

His intentions to point out the silliness of the portrayal of women in fantasy, sadly, backfired somewhat.

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Way behind on linking to the cool stuff that has come my way over the last week or two.

For a start, we have a new podcast! The Galactic Suburbia crew have launched a sister podcast, Galactic Chat, which will feature author interviews. You can head over there straight away to hear me interviewing powerhouse Australian SF writer Marianne de Pierres about her new gothy YA novel Burn Bright (as advertised on the Dolly Magazine website! Yes really!). I’ve known Marianne a long time now, and she was a great first interview subject.

A future episode we’ve already recorded has Alisa interviewing me (it’s not ego, honestly, she just wanted to practice on someone who wouldn’t be mean to her!) and we’re planning to get lots recorded at Swancon.

Speaking of interviewing me, Rowena Cory Daniells did so as part of her ‘yes, women in fantasy, we have them, they are right here, THEY OUTNUMBER YOU, DUDES’ series of blog posts. It’s a great, in depth interview and as good a way as any for me to launch my ‘ooh it’s time to start promoting my work again what with those books about to hit the shops’ season.

In reading the internet news, I recently enjoyed reading John Richards’ account of how he quite legitimately visited the now former Channel Nine centre in order to unscrew video machines and take stuff away, it being the end of an era.

Kelley Eskridge is interviewed about her recently rereleased classic SF novel Solitaire, putting that book straight to the top of my To Buy list. What a fascinating writer! I have been reading her partner Nicola Griffith’s blog for a while, but knew little about Kelley. Apparently, she’s awesome.

I also found this post on the changing face of the publishing industry by Kristine Kathryn Rusch really interesting. Not sure I agree with all of it, but it’s certainly worth the time to read it through as you drink your morning cup of coffee. I do think she has a very good point in her description of how powerless writers have been in the old publishing-distribution model. And I say this as someone waiting with bated breath for the royalty statement due this month which should give me a vague idea how my book sold between July and December last year…