My Favourite Rule of Speculative Fiction...

Last night was a bit hectic so I never made it round to writing a blog post for today. Lets just say for now that 'Alien: Romulus' was as good as I'd hoped it would be; not brilliant but good, solid 'Xenomorph Fun'. Maybe I'll even go into a little more detail about that soon, we'll see.

All of which led me to looking for an old post (from an older blog) that I could purloin. I found this quote instead, I think it's one that we can all do with remembering every now and then.

'This is the reader's book. All proper names are therefore to be pronounced in any way he chooses, except in conversation with another reader, in which case the two must settle their differences as best they can, for there is no rule.'

From the 'Author's Note', 'The Well of the Unicorn' (Fletcher Pratt)

Because if life is too short to be reading books that you don't enjoy, it's certainly too short for you to be tying yourself in knots over whether you've pronounced a made-up word correctly or not. And honestly, who is going to notice anyway if you're reading the book in your head ...? ;o) 

It has reminded me though that I never got round to reading 'The Well of the Unicorn'... Has anyone here read it? What did you think of it...? Leave a comment and let me know.

Comments

  1. Bookstooge20 November 2024 at 03:14

    I've never even heard of it, or the author. Guess it's off to devilreads to see what other people say about it :-D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Graeme20 November 2024 at 12:40

      It has been on my bookshelf for years now and I've somehow never got round to reading past the 'Authors Note'. I would say that I'll pick it up now but I don't want to embarrass myself... ;o)

      Delete

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