Terry Pratchett's THUD!

[Inkthinker]

I'm getting my copy tonight (soon as my girl comes home from Borders) and I suspect I'll consume the whole thing in a day or so. Anyone else read this latest (I believe this is the 30th) volume in the always-excellent Discworld series?

Don't forget to use spoiler tags to spoilers:

hide the good bits

end of spoilers.

[Expletive Deleted]

I thought it wasn't out 'til Tuesday?

[The Adventurer]

It's really not suppose to be out until Oct. 1st.

But breaking Street Dates seems to be the norm from what I'm hearing. Watchout, the internet is full of spoilers right now.

I plan to track down my copy ASAP, though I really want to import the UK edition for it's better cover.

[Matt]

A new Discworld novel? Excellent!
Would someone care to share the blurb about it? What cast of characters will it be based on?

[The Adventurer]

You know, since we're already on this new fangled thing called the Internet, we have this thing called Amazon that's great for finding books and book blurbs.

Anyway, Thud!(don't forget the '!')

Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch admits he may not be the sharpest knife in the cutlery drawer -- he might not even be a spoon. But he's dogged and honest and he'll be damned if he lets anyone disturb his city's always-tentative peace -- and that includes a rabble-rousing dwarf from the sticks (or deep beneath them) who's been stirring up big trouble on the eve of the anniversary of one of Discworld's most infamous historical events.

Centuries earlier, in a gods-forsaken hellhole called Koom Valley, a horde of trolls met a division of dwarfs in bloody combat. Though nobody's quite sure why they fought or who actually won, hundreds of years on each species still bears the cultural scars, and one views the other with simmering animosity and distrust. Lately, an influential dwarf, Grag Hamcrusher, has been fomenting unrest among Ankh-Morpork's more diminutive citizens with incendiary speeches. And it doesn't help matters when the pint-size provocateur is discovered beaten to death ... with a troll club lying conveniently nearby.

Vimes knows the well-being of his smoldering city depends on his ability to solve the Hamcrusher homicide without delay. (Vimes's secondmost-pressing responsibility, in fact, next to being home every evening at six sharp to read Where's My Cow? to Young Sam.) Whatever it takes to unstick this very sticky situation, Vimes will do it -- even tolerate having a vampire in the Watch. But there's more than one corpse waiting for him in the eerie, summoning darkness of the vast, labyrinthine mine network the dwarfs have been excavating in secret beneath Ankh-Morpork's streets. A deadly puzzle is pulling Sam Vimes deep into the muck and mire of superstition, hatred, and fear -- and perhaps all the way to Koom Valley itself.

And hey, they bumped up the release date from when I last saw it, it does officaly come out the 13th of September, Aces.

[Inkthinker]

Really... see, now I thought the same thing, that it was due the 13th, because I got an Amazon notice.

But my girl works at Borders, and when I reminded her to grab it for me Tuesday (hey, her employee discount is about the same as Amazon's savings, and I don't have to wait for it to ship), she told me that she saw it on the to-shelf cart Saturday, and she got it for me today... in fact, my copy is downstairs right now. I'll probably start on it after the Simpsons/Family Guy premieres.

But I don't know from street dates... a store could get in a lot of trouble doing that. There's some serious penalties that a distributor or publisher can slam you with.

[Matt]

A City Watch book.
Excellent. I think I shall have to go and reserve a copy immediately.

[Inkthinker]

page 122 (and for that matter, the whole scene) is just brilliant. How is there no Discworld movie, preferably directed by Terry Gilliam with effects by WETA? Pratchett writes very cinematically at times...

[Inkthinker]

Finished it, liked it, wonder about a lot of the groundwork that Terry laid into this book which is obviously meant to be developed later on.

It seems like Watch and Witch books are pretty much what he's into doing, now.

And you know... I'm cool with that. :D

[Magneto_X]

Another Vimes-based Discworld? Count me in! :)

Inkthinker:

He's still doing the occasional one-shot, the last one of those was "The Truth".

[Magneto_X]

Really... see, now I thought the same thing, that it was due the 13th, because I got an Amazon notice.

But my girl works at Borders, and when I reminded her to grab it for me Tuesday (hey, her employee discount is about the same as Amazon's savings, and I don't have to wait for it to ship), she told me that she saw it on the to-shelf cart Saturday, and she got it for me today... in fact, my copy is downstairs right now. I'll probably start on it after the Simpsons/Family Guy premieres.

But I don't know from street dates... a store could get in a lot of trouble doing that. There's some serious penalties that a distributor or publisher can slam you with.

You lucky bastard! :)

[Magneto_X]

page 122 (and for that matter, the whole scene) is just brilliant. How is there no Discworld movie, preferably directed by Terry Gilliam with effects by WETA? Pratchett writes very cinematically at times...

It would be great if HBO or Showtime did a live-action series adapting the books, with each season adapting a novel.

The City Watch books would be awesome in this format, IMHO.

[Inkthinker]

He's still doing the occasional one-shot, the last one of those was "The Truth".

I think Going Postal would also count as a one-shot, since it had about as much Vimes and Watch as The Truth did.

In truth, Pratchett does whatever he feels like doing. He's obviously got some plans though, espescially for Ankh-Morpork and the continuing accelerated technological Rennaisance that they're experiencing. I for one am looking forward to seeing where he takes it all with a bit of thrilling dread. I can only hope that he doesn't go all squirrely on us and do something really stupid, like bringing in "Mundanes" or something.

I'm not too worried, though, 'cause I trust his sense of quality more than that.

This one is definitely a Vimes book. I mean, he tries to give other characters some time, but it always comes around to Sam Vimes. It's pretty obvious that Pratchett likes it inside his head. Another interesting aspect of this book is the sense of every character growing... older. Pratchett keeps their lives moving along in time, as they must if they're to really live. I wonder how many books before Vimes's kid becomes an active character.

[Siythe]

As good as Nightwatch? I did think that was the best watch one so far partly I have to admit because of the time it was set in.

Much as I love vimes's character I would like to see another witches book soon

[The Adventurer]

He's still doing the occasional one-shot, the last one of those was "The Truth".

There have been 8 Discworld books since The Truth,

The Thief of Time (Death)
Nightwatch (City Watch)
Monsterous Regiment (Stand Alone)
Going Postal (Stand Alone)
Thud! (City Watch)
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (Stand Alone)
The Wee Free Men (Tiffiny Aching, with some Witch's ties)
A Hat Full of Sky (Tiffiny Aching, again with some Witch's ties)


Oh and The Science of Discworld 3: Darwin's Watch (Counts as a Rincewind Novel, like all the Science of Discworld books)