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He has become far less whimsical in his approach to the craziness that the Disc thrives on, which is my explanation to my own head regarding why he has stopped writing people like Rincewind in books and focused more upon Vimes, Vetinari and the watch. This isn't a complaint; I like you really like the newer books such as Thud! and Night Watch for their evolving takes on Vimes and the often ruthless business he does, but I think this comes at the loss of the ludicrous background barbarity that set the tone for the Disc in the earlier books (I'm thinking in particular of the burning of Ankh in the opening third of The Colour of Magic or Cohen's OAP invasion of the Agatean Empire). I think an interesting litmus test of this is the evolution of his villains. People like Edward D'Eath rambled around on their mad little business with an almost constant nod to the force of narration that was compelling them in place of a terribly strong reason for doing whatever. Reacher Gilt however is very much a grubby little bastard who is completely understandable in what he does; he never surprises us, but you can believe why he's doing what he's doing, and from what we see of him we can be sure he'll do his best to get it. He just won't start a cult in the backroom of the tannery to summon Yog Soddof to grant him power to do it, because that's just not done anymore. In short, I think his work has certainly involved and his prose doubtlessly improved, but he's turned a corner at some point after Thief of Time where he decided to take the books into a grittier direction, perhaps to keep his own interest in them.
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Aug 12, 2007 17:11
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Trouble Man posted:Of course, the biggest allusion of them all is that sooner or later the Patrician is going to die, and when he does - well, one suspects that will be the Last Ever Discworld Book. Him and Angua. Terry's been less than subtle about that from time to time, particularly in the Art of Discworld book which collects lots of lovely Paul Kidby art. This makes me rather unhappy because, while I'm not too attached to Angua, if she pops it this is going to gently caress up Carrot and his sphere of Perfect Vision, which isn't really something I want happening. Oh, but he also implies that if Vetinari does ever cop it there will likely be a struggle for power ended with Carrot taking the throne. Hell, it'd be just about the only thing that'd stop the city from tearing itself apart. You only really get a sense of just how integral Vetinari is to the city from about Jingo onward. It'd be a scary(er, er) place without him around. On a side note: David Jason as Rincewind this Christmas! Who's looking forward to it and who remains cautious but optimistic?
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Aug 15, 2007 14:28
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Everyone likes Rincewind. Everyone  I'll agree that he's become a bit less likeable from his early appearances because he needs people to play off. So really, he should be stuck around the Faculty more.
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Sep 9, 2007 20:10
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Jeedan posted:Pratchett himself says Rincewind is a tricky character to write because he's so popular, but his motivation is to get as far away from trouble and live as boringly as possible, so he has to be shoehorned into the plot. I think he sells him a bit short. I mean in Interesting Times he did pretty much save the day and he has a thorough understanding of how the world works. Like Confusedus says, I'm a bit annoyed at how Pratchett's taken him since then. Oh and Flow, can you explain that to me? I was sure Azrael only appeared once in the series (although he got a whole page to himself  ) and it was in Reaper Man.
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Sep 11, 2007 01:17
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Big Wish? Big Wisy? I think he went a bit mad.
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Oct 1, 2007 02:04
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Krinkle posted:book related custom red titles? Or is the book barn not worth the effort? HERE IS YOUR loving COW
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Oct 3, 2007 02:38
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It wasn't Piss Harry was it? 
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Oct 18, 2007 11:59
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There's a ton of places to jump in, if I had to advise anyone I'd just tell them to steer clear of the later books at first, as well as Sourcery, Moving Pictures and The Light Fantastic. Men At Arms, Mort, Jingo or Hogfather are really easy to get into. Actually just about any of the Watch books up to and including Fifth Elephant are good starting places, but afterwards it becomes more complicated. He's doing that more recently. Making Money had a metric rear end-ton of throwbacks to earlier books. Edit: And the donkey up the minaret thing is just a "for'ner" take on the getting the wardrobe up the fire escape or whatever problem.
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Oct 24, 2007 14:26
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Sulevis posted:I'm still holding out for a Susan/Lobsang/Death book. Oh yeah! I really liked that he set that up and yet here we are, x years and number of books later and there's not even a mention of Lobsang in an artbook, nevermind a book proper. The ending of Thief of Time is one of his strongest, ah reckons.
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Nov 13, 2007 18:49
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Loutre posted:So yeah, Aching books: are they as good as the rest? I've read the Wee Free Men and skimmed over Wintersmith, and what I saw was really rather more impressive than I thought it would be. It was quite witchy, mostly on account of her being taught by witches but you know what I mean. It's not nearly as sharp as his normal books but handwalks you a lot more comfortably though it. Of course I'm a college student so what my opinion on a children's book counts for is, well it's not much is it?
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Nov 15, 2007 20:39
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I'm pretty sure The Watch are his favourite group and he's just going to keep banging them out until his head explodes.
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Nov 26, 2007 12:42
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Sulevis posted:Today, I found out what the Scone of Stone refers to. Apparently, there is a thing called the Stone of Scone, on which Scotland's kings were crowned. I laughed very hard at that, much to the bemusement of my classmates. If we're being pedantic, it's also most likely/probably not! the Stone of Fail (there's a fada there somewhere), which was taken to Scotland from Ireland what we can only call "hella long time ago" and which uttered a shout whenever the true High King of Ireland sat upon it. That's where the other part of the Scone's mythos about the hands comes from. The first and third Science of Discworld books are pretty good, but the story and to a degree the science bits do flow from one book to another, so get the first one first. The second one is easily the weakest of the trio because it consists mostly of the Elves on one hand and telling you why your religion is wrong on the other. The third one isn't as heavy handed though. Nilbop fucked around with this message at 13:29 on Nov 29, 2007 |
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Nov 29, 2007 13:27
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Pratchett explained this in, ooooh, one of Kidby's art collection books, that they're not based on anyone. If you have a gang consisting of two members, narrative perrogative demands that one of them be weasely and the brains of the outfit, and the other big and fick and talk like dis. He goes on to say that the same holds if you introduce a third character to the group, except this one will be named "Fingers".
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Dec 10, 2007 15:15
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gently caress. gently caress fuckity friggety jiggity jib jabbery wabbery flappity happity gently caress. And he's being so nice about it. He even did the smiley thing. Argh, gently caress it, someone shrink me down. I'm going into his brain to beat up this disease.
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Dec 12, 2007 18:33
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It'd be even better if there were some new hot-shot author with a similar flair like Pratchett's. Much like how Douglas Adams' descent into ... something was made easier by Terry.
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Jan 10, 2008 01:01
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That was pretty much it, yeah. The last Hitchiker's book Adams wrote was essentially "and now all the characters are dead forever, so move the gently caress on and let me drown my sorrows." I can't remember what exactly he was depressed about, but he eventually got over it and regretted his decision.
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Jan 13, 2008 16:23
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If you've ever seen something like Sharpe on TV, you'd be amazed at the similarities.
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Jan 13, 2008 20:46
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thrakkorzog posted:The thing is that the those in power weren't in favor of the war, it was the common people agitating for a fight. Vetinari & Vimes, the two most powerful figures in AM politics, were against the war. The rabble roused itself, and all without the benefit of a free press. I saw it pretty much the opposite, funnily enough. The two father and son duos, Les and his dad and ... Ach ... med .. dul, both disliked each other based mostly on pubspeak ("oh well he is, isn't he? He's forrin") but despite all their yelling and yahoing not only do they not actually fight, they both live on the same little bit of Leshp for a while. The ruling elite of both Ankh and Al Khali both very much wanted the war. The Patrician himself makes it very clear that he only stays in power by playing the big players off each other, and he still has to cowtow to their decisions in situations as highly emotional as this one, which is why Rust and his fellow idiots ended up leading the army of Ankh and not Vetinari. The Prince, who's name I've currently forgotten but am almost sure it begins with a C, is even more lead around by his viziers, despite having a firm head on his shoulders. Anytime we inevitably get a mention of the grunts their opinions tend to be, at the best, mixed, with one saying "Oho! There may be ten times the amount of us in sandal-riding-towel-wearing angry forriner over there, but once we give them a taste of cold Ankh steel I 'spect they'll soon be for it." and the other all "oh god oh god must panic no time for punctuati." I'll agree that it was initially the mob who raised the momentum for this (as actually tends to happen in all the City books) but without the call to arms of Lord Rust and Grand Vizier Whosits I think we're meant to see it would all have fizzled away anyhow.
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Jan 15, 2008 18:23
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I rather liked the televised Hogfather too, however it did have it's share of problems. Ponder was completely off. I can see what they were going for with him and it was completely the wrong thing. It was loving Barry from Last of the Summer Wine. The director cut between scenes way, way too much. And of course, Mr Teatime. Looked the part, sounded like Michael Jackson. Everyone else was bang on though, particularly Susan and Ridcully. Bibulous was good too. I really don't know a thing about Nation. It would be interesting to see a critique of a nation's reaction to an atrocity, if that's what he's going for. Or it could just be about Derek Nation, a scrimshaw artist from Stoke who gets offered a job by Lord Vetinari. Of Stoke.
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Jan 28, 2008 11:42
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precision posted:Rincewind is being played by the actor who played Alfred in Hogfather. David Jason is a national treasure but he is far too loving old for this role. Personally, I hoped for Simon Pegg. He just looks the part.
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Jan 29, 2008 13:57
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He's initially a student, albeit the worst one possible. I put him in his twenties somewhere.
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Jan 29, 2008 22:03
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This is pretty much how I got into, albeit with Interesting Times and ten years later, because the old cover art was, well, poo poo. I'm sorry, it had it's charm but really, everything was all melty.
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Jan 30, 2008 03:02
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Well there may be hope yet: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-discover-way-to-reverse-loss-of-memory-775586.html Come on scientists you stupid, mostly-smart jerks!  If anyone doesn't want to read it, it's about scientists who may have stumbled upon a cure for memory loss while eletrocuting a fat man. Why are they electrocuting him you ask? Well apparently our pudgy friend was seeking help to rid himself of obesity, but literally every other avenue had failed so he resorted to brain surgery. One has to wonder what he actually went through before deciding "You know what? gently caress it, hack my brain open and stick electrodes into it."
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Jan 30, 2008 13:31
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Oh you're pterrible.
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Feb 20, 2008 12:30
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The Sun newspaper have another interview with him today (or, quite possibly, more of the same one), with an opening diatribe from him about how wonderful Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is, particularly so, he posits, if the reader's last interaction with videogames was staring at Lara Crofts buttocks. loving hell.
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Mar 14, 2008 15:07
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1 posted:Granny Weatherwax: "There's no greys, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is." I love that little exchange so much. As relating to Night Watch, it was fairly clearly a parrallel to me of the Glorious Uprising complete with the Black and Tans or whatever they were called in that place at that time. Mind you, I come from Northern Ireland so the Black and Tans are the only Secret Government Bastard group I can remember.
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Mar 21, 2008 22:31
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Entropic posted:I think Patsy Byrne could make a convincing Nanny Ogg. Nanny Ogg has to be likeable though. I swear to God my Granny was the exact spit of Nanny Ogg; she owned a pub, was well-known and liked for miles around and was always smiling and having a craic. She even looked alike. Except for the, y'know, sexual deviancy and witchcraft bit. That ... that never happened.
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Apr 30, 2008 11:36
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Personally I think there's about as much chance of Vimes ever consenting to be Patrician as there is of me running it. Nevermind his statutory distate for all the fop and circumstance and beauracracy of political life he's intensely disliked every preceding leader, Patrician or King. Carrot or Moist though, those'd be much more likely choices, although I think it's fair to say Vetinari has Moist twisted around his thumb much better than he has Carrot, who's probably the only person in the City as key'd to the job as he is.
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Jul 21, 2008 00:05
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Calenth posted:Vetinari isn't ever going to step down; as has been pointed out by many characters, even if he died, getting him to stay dead is an entirely separate question. This is sort of what I was arguing around. I can't see Havelock ever "appointing" anyone to the post he's best at, but if he were to suddenly be unincumbered by the demands of office then I'd say Moist or Carrot would be most likely to fill that role, assuming we can discount the noble contention from families like the Selachiis or Venturis. I can't see Carrot ever stepping down in favour of Vimes; Carrot is smart enough to know Vimes would hate the and hate him for offering it, and he always seemed to share Vetinari's concern for what Ankh-Morpork actually needs anyway. Moist might fit neatly into the role if Carrot was really set on not accepting his birthright, although I rather think it's implied he would if needed.
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Jul 22, 2008 02:37
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I thought someone made a typo and we just ran with it 'cos it was cute.
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Aug 5, 2008 22:47
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Entropic posted:I remember Terry saying somewhere that there were rough speculations on maybe doing a Watch miniseries that would have Guards! Guards! as a double-length pilot and then Men At Arms adapted for the series itself. My God, my dream is coming to life. Does this mean they've finished the time machine and are even as we speak going back to get 80's Hugh Laurie and Clint Eastwood for the central roles?
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Aug 8, 2008 23:12
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LooseChanj posted:I thought the guy they had in Hogfather was perfect for Nobby. He looked the part, he just sounded completely wrong. He acted like a guest on Last of the Summer Wine instead of a greasy Cockney runt. See also, Ponder Stibbons. Anyway, howzthis?  More like Lieutenant Ironfoundersson, haha.  A younger Vimes. C'mon, this is pretty much what Kidby is thinking when he draws him.   And two different Colons! The one guy from Heartbeat, who's got the voice down pat and has history playing a specifically useful copper, and Jack Duckworth, possibly the most likeable old man on television.
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Aug 9, 2008 12:25
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I'd love to see Polly and Malicanta again as long as we never have to revisit the festering fungus festy fest that was Warzone Setting With Reveals. I'm really astounded how much I disliked that book. What was the place called? Borogravia? Did I make that up?
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Aug 21, 2008 23:13
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LooseChanj posted:It's not even discworld. Does Dr. Rjinswand appear?
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Sep 8, 2008 12:21
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I'm pretty sure both the director and David Jason himself have said that he won't be appearing in this one. So hopefully a more age-consistant cast is on the cards.
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Sep 8, 2008 16:25
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LooseChanj posted:What's the source of that? I keep thinking it's a reference to something, but I have no idea what. I'm re-reading Jingo right now, and while I haven't yet seen it spelt out I have no problem believing that Ahmed is smart enough to notice this.
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Sep 9, 2008 14:24
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Sulevis posted:Actually, Ahmed is a policeman, his guest was a criminal who had poisoned the sole well of a village. Ahmed killed him as soon as he found out, without waiting for the 72 hours to expire. Actually, Ahmed amasses quite a bit of evidence before the deed, including interviewing the guy who sold him the poison, and a witness who saw the poisoner poison the poisonees. He did kill him one hour early though, taking advantage of the fact that all Klatchians knew D'regs were anal about that stuff. Why are we spoilering this?
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Sep 9, 2008 19:33
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The Frozen One posted:Even if Carrot would become king, Vimes would eventually kill him, and everybody knows that too. I throw serious doubt on the credibility of this statement, sir! While I'll grant that Carrot is less a moral compass for Sam now the concept of The Watchman Within has been introduced, I just can't picture a reality where Sam Vimes kills Carrot. It'd be like Sam Vimes striking Sybil. It's a bit of what makes him Vimes. Hell any other Captain of the Night Watch probably would have got Carrot killed by now.
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Sep 12, 2008 16:44
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Loutre posted:It may be Young Adult, but it was easily as entertaining as almost any Discworld novel. I can't recommend it enough, although I was kind of hoping for the fairy tale ending with her staying on the island. Goddamnit I thought you were talking about the Tiffany Aching books.
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Oct 7, 2008 19:10
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GhostDog posted:Small Gods is definitely my favorite stand-alone, and also a good one to get people hooked on Pratchett in my experience. Right, okay, two things I've learned from today: a) I need to read Small Gods, quite soon. b) Robert Plant is a Commander of the British Empire.
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Jan 14, 2009 18:44
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