Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

Because some other projects got in the way, I am composing this post about Small Gods approximately fifteen weeks after I finished reading it. And I have to admit, coming back to it after such a delay, I’m hard pressed to remember much about the experience.

Mostly I remember its satiric tone. On the cover, the Houston Chronicle is quoted as saying “Think J. R. R. Tolkien with a sharper, more satiric edge,” and that’s a fair enough description. But in the realm of fantasy and science fiction, I’d personally peg Pratchett somewhere between Piers Anthony and Douglas Adams.

I only dogeared one page, and it leads me now to one short highlighted paragraph; something, I think, I marked more because I liked its turn of phrase than its connection to Pratchett’s theme or plot.

Fear is strange soil. Mainly it grows obedience like corn, which grows in rows and makes weeding easy. But sometimes it grows the potatoes of defiance, which flourish underground.

Although, now that I reflect on it, I at least remember that the book is about gods, faith, and dogma -- and the strange effects that they often have on people, their fates, and the ways in which they accept or reject them. And in that context, perhaps this lone highlighted snippet does make some contextual sense.

Sorry. I can’t offer you much else.

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This post first appeared on Eric Lanke's blog, an association executive and author. You can follow him on Twitter @ericlanke or contact him at eric.lanke@gmail.com.