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fluppet posted:Do we know if we're getting a discworld novel this year or is it just the long earth sequel? Raising Steam is reputedly due before the end of the year, but it wasn't finished two months ago so it will be Christmas or possibly early 2014.
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May 9, 2013 22:18
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I recently got the fourth Science of Discworld book, and while the Pratchett parts of those are rarely his best, his chapters in this one were genuinely upsetting to read. When I read Snuff, I'd put down everyone's dialogue to another reference to the genre it was satirising but here it was obviously how his writing's become. The chapter when the Dean and Rincewind visit Roundworld and Rincewind's speech in particular, I found really distressing. Not even a Pastor Oats cameo helped.
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May 10, 2013 16:45
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I thought raising steam was coming out this year, but I havn't seen it up for preorder so I may be mistaken. E: missed the new page, ignore.
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May 11, 2013 12:08
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What upsets me is that with his latest books the whole 'Pratchett' aura of condensing humanity and its foibles down into an entertaining story with captivating characters is still there, they're just lacking in writing quality. I especially noticed this with Dodger; it's just endless dialogue which seems so clunky and really detracts from the story. The thing is...all the ingredients are there, surely someone is editing these books? Couldn't they edit them a little bit better? I love Terry Pratchett and grew up reading his novels, so I find it so distressing that everyone who must be involved in the creation of these books is allowing this to happen, when it seems to me they could do something about it.
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May 13, 2013 03:20
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I've said this before...I don't think they're "allowing" it to happen so much as giving their beloved friend and coworker an easier time near the end of his life. It's one thing to bicker and fight with someone you respect when you're younger and can argue articulately your points and reach a consensus. It's far different when you've seen that same friend slowly deteriorate in body and mind until he can't argue with as much passion and clarity as he once had. Sure, if you disliked the guy, you could be as cruel as you wanted, but if you've worked with him for 20 years and have seen him slowly get more tired and weak? Honestly, his editors probably just don't have the heartlessness to be as vicious with the cuts and demands for rewrites. Writing must be hard enough as is, getting him to rewrite something when you know he's resting, exhausted, is probably just too cruel. Alzheimer's is a terrible curse on humanity.
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May 13, 2013 08:19
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At least his editors haven't appointed Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert to ghost-write the books for Pratchett.
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May 13, 2013 08:25
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JosephWongKS posted:At least his editors haven't appointed Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert to ghost-write the books for Pratchett. Ugh. UGH. Thanks for reminding me those Dune books exist, drat it.
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May 13, 2013 10:20
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Armourking posted:Ugh. UGH. Thanks for reminding me those Dune books exist, drat it. Don't tell me you wouldn't pay for a prequel trilogy of House Vetinari, House Weatherwax and House Vimes.
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May 13, 2013 10:23
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JosephWongKS posted:At least his editors haven't appointed Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert to ghost-write the books for Pratchett. Oddly, it doesn't count as ghost writing if the author is actually dead. Also, Terry has appointed his offspring to write future Discworld novels. We'll have to see how that works out.
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May 13, 2013 11:33
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JosephWongKS posted:At least his editors haven't appointed Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert to ghost-write the books for Pratchett. Urgh, don't even joke about that. There's a special circle of literary hell for those two. cptn_dr fucked around with this message at 11:03 on May 15, 2013 |
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May 15, 2013 10:59
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I finally gave up on Unseen Academicals after trying hard not to. There's always a point where I get stuck in a Discworld book, the point where I can't put it down anymore, and I just couldn't find it. Which is a pity, as Wizards and football are two things I was sure I would love. Hopefully I'll get back to it some other day. I can now understand what other people were saying here about the newest books. They seem to be missing something. 
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May 15, 2013 12:49
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I think Nutt is one of his best new characters, too. But that book badly needed editing, as I said before. It's way too rambling and takes forever to actually go anywhere. I also really liked the Fashion Industry subplot, though I think a lot of people didn't.
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May 15, 2013 20:55
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Tardigrade posted:I finally gave up on Unseen Academicals after trying hard not to. There's always a point where I get stuck in a Discworld book, the point where I can't put it down anymore, and I just couldn't find it. Which is a pity, as Wizards and football are two things I was sure I would love. Hopefully I'll get back to it some other day. The recent anthology of his earlier writing, A Blink of the Screen, seems ot be worth the read though. It's slightly less depressing to approach his reading from that side!
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May 16, 2013 16:59
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Man, I like The Truth's story, but with every Watch book that comes out William looks worse and worse.
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May 23, 2013 02:10
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Justin_Brett posted:Man, I like The Truth's story, but with every Watch book that comes out William looks worse and worse. All of the books make the other protagonists look worse than their own books do. Mostly because the viewpoint characters for the different series generally don't like each other.
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May 23, 2013 04:54
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Stroth posted:All of the books make the other protagonists look worse than their own books do. Mostly because the viewpoint characters for the different series generally don't like each other. Yeah, William doesn't much care for Carrot and Vimes in Truth. Nor do Nutt and David Beckham like the Watch in general in Unseen Academicals. Moist surely dislikes Angua.
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May 23, 2013 04:56
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Yeah, look what a total rear end in a top hat Vimes comes off as in The Truth.
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May 23, 2013 12:56
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Pope Guilty posted:Yeah, look what a total rear end in a top hat Vimes comes off as in The Truth. Thing is, Vimes IS an rear end in a top hat. He's fully aware of it, too. Other characters acknowledge it in the Watch books, but they also say they respect him. We have POV sympathy for him because we can see his thoughts, but I bet a good exercise would be to remove any of Vimes' internal dialogue and just go completely with what he says to people. It actually is kind of fun to go over the series and note which main characters actively dislike the other ones. The shifts of POV definitely show how we all perceive ourselves differently than the rest of the world. Some more: Rincewind doesn't like Vetinari. Nor does Moist, somewhat. Tiffany butted heads with the Watch when she came to Ankh-Morpork. I think Ponder doesn't much like Carrot in The Last Hero. Oh, and fun trivia: Someone really really hates the Duck Man. In one of the Assassin's guild books, he's got a really high price. Mister Roboto fucked around with this message at 14:43 on May 23, 2013 |
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May 23, 2013 14:40
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Here's something extremely nerdy. Has anyone calculated the exchange rate between AM$ and say US or CAN $? I mean, I know a Watchman Captain gets $30 a month in Salary, and a good pair of boots costs $5, but I have no idea how much that ends up being relative to my paycheck etc.
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May 23, 2013 14:59
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Mister Roboto posted:Oh, and fun trivia: Someone really really hates the Duck Man. In one of the Assassin's guild books, he's got a really high price. That just means that he would be difficult to kill.
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May 23, 2013 15:29
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withak posted:That just means that he would be difficult to kill. Yes, but someone had to take out the contract. It's not as if every begger and shopkeeper and peasant in AM has one on their head.
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May 23, 2013 15:32
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bunnyofdoom posted:Here's something extremely nerdy. Has anyone calculated the exchange rate between AM$ and say US or CAN $? I mean, I know a Watchman Captain gets $30 a month in Salary, and a good pair of boots costs $5, but I have no idea how much that ends up being relative to my paycheck etc. People have been very thorough in gathering various financial references in Discworld. I haven't found any 'actual' conversion rates but I think something like this at least gives a decent guideline.
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May 23, 2013 15:41
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Stroth posted:All of the books make the other protagonists look worse than their own books do. Mostly because the viewpoint characters for the different series generally don't like each other. Yeah, but William only has one book. And he'll probably only ever have one book.
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May 23, 2013 18:10
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Justin_Brett posted:Yeah, but William only has one book. And he'll probably only ever have one book. I dunno. Pratchett may do a book about some sort of Disc equivalent of news blogs if he wanted to.
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May 23, 2013 18:13
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bunnyofdoom posted:I dunno. Pratchett may do a book about some sort of Disc equivalent of news blogs if he wanted to. He did the internet before, and it fell kinda flat. Incidentally I had my computer repaired by the guy who is the basis of the Mad Alex character. He's not nearly as interesting as that character in real life. And far smellier.
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May 23, 2013 18:17
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Mowglis Haircut posted:He did the internet before, and it fell kinda flat. Incidentally I had my computer repaired by the guy who is the basis of the Mad Alex character. He's not nearly as interesting as that character in real life. And far smellier. Where? I musta missed it somehow
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May 23, 2013 18:42
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bunnyofdoom posted:Where? I musta missed it somehow I think he's referring to the clacks (which seems more like a very limited fax than the Internet, but I guess it's called the smoking gnu for a reason?).
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May 23, 2013 21:47
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Redmark posted:I think he's referring to the clacks (which seems more like a very limited fax than the Internet, but I guess it's called the smoking gnu for a reason?). I can see that as more of an email/telegraph alegory mostly. I have yet to see anything blog related. Even if it's just something as simple as a printing press becoming cheap enough for most AMers to own one, thereby having everyone starting their own newspapers, which would work well IMO.
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May 23, 2013 21:49
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Mister Roboto posted:Oh, and fun trivia: Someone really really hates the Duck Man. In one of the Assassin's guild books, he's got a really high price. What duck? Quack.
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May 23, 2013 22:44
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Mister Roboto posted:Oh, and fun trivia: Someone really really hates the Duck Man. In one of the Assassin's guild books, he's got a really high price. withak posted:That just means that he would be difficult to kill. I wanna read that loving story.
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May 24, 2013 00:00
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Mister Roboto posted:Yes, but someone had to take out the contract. It's not as if every begger and shopkeeper and peasant in AM has one on their head. We don't know that.
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May 24, 2013 00:53
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Mister Roboto posted:It actually is kind of fun to go over the series and note which main characters actively dislike the other ones It'd probably be faster to list the ones who like each other. quote:Oh, and fun trivia: Someone really really hates the Duck Man. In one of the Assassin's guild books, he's got a really high price. You'd have to put a huge price on him just to get someone to take the contract. "I killed someone who got kicked out of the Beggars Guild for being too pathetic" doesn't really look good on a resume.
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May 24, 2013 02:39
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Mister Roboto posted:Oh, and fun trivia: Someone really really hates the Duck Man. In one of the Assassin's guild books, he's got a really high price. Doesn't that mean someone there likes him, though? That way not many people can pay it. Or he's like Vetinari, and his existence is a corner stone to Ankh-Morpork somehow.
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May 24, 2013 07:38
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Justin_Brett posted:Doesn't that mean someone there likes him, though? That way not many people can pay it. The Duck Man's clothes are old and ragged but very fine, and he speaks like an educated man, but he has suppressed all memory of his past. The price is not there because of who he is, but because of who he used to be. The most likely scenario is that the contract was taken out on him when he was a sane, wealthy man. Then he went mad and dropped into the gutter, but the contract was not withdrawn - perhaps just in case he was only pretending because he knew the Assassins wouldn't come after him as a beggar.
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May 24, 2013 08:07
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I'd read a blog written by Foul Ole Ron.
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May 24, 2013 15:58
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You wouldn't read a blog by Foul Ole Ron, you'd experience it, mainly via your nose before it shut down in self defence.
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May 24, 2013 17:01
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The old Gurps Discworld gave a value of $1AM = $20US.
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May 24, 2013 19:04
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Beerdeer posted:The old Gurps Discworld gave a value of $1AM = $20US. So Corporals of the Watch make 60 bucks a month?
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May 24, 2013 19:09
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Beerdeer posted:The old Gurps Discworld gave a value of $1AM = $20US. Speaking of which, I'd love for somebody to do some online GURPS Discworld stuff in traditional games at some point.
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May 24, 2013 19:10
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SeanBeansShako posted:I'd read a blog written by Foul Ole Ron. I have good news!
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May 24, 2013 21:51
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