The Truth: (Discworld Novel 25) (Discworld Novels)

Product Information

So. I have gone. There were days when I felt I had already gone and so all I wish for now is a cool, quiet room and some peace to gather my addled thoughts. I think I was good, although I could have been better, but Terry Pratchett is dead and there are no more words. Truer to the family motto, Le Mot juste, than his disapproving father can ever realize, de Worde soon finds that his Ankh-Morpork Times is a success. So big, in fact, that certain nefarious factions would like nothing better than to put him out of business. They begin their own rival Ankh-Morpork Inquirer--full of salacious bits -- to do just that. Soon, though, de Worde has more than just the competition to fret over. Lord Vetinari, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, is accused of a serious crime in a seemingly airtight case. But William de Worde knows that facts aren't always the truth. Along with a much too prim and proper assistant, a roving photographer vampire with a nasty reaction to his flashgun, and a talking dog who holds the key to the mystery, William de Worde will stop at nothing to get the truth. The sequence involving a class of magic students at the Conjurers Guild below de Worde's office is a direct pastiche of one of British comedic magician Tommy Cooper's routines. Why not? You can sell as many lies as you like if it’s advertising. That’s allowed,” said Saccharissa. “Please? We need the money!” The line, 'Every day, in every vay, ve get better and better.' comes from one of the first positive-thinking mantras, coined by Emile Coue (1857-1926), French psychotherapist and pharmacist. Coue's study of hypnotism convinced him that auto-suggestion could cure anything but actual results showed no improvement. The line has come to represent trite and simplistic solutions to complex problems and is parodied in countless literature and film.

When Mr. Pin finally gets out of the basement, out of habit more than anything else, he tries to strangle William, who accidentally runs him through with a paper spike.Rhianna, Terry and Lyn Pratchett, dressed for a stage adaptation of Maskerade in 1995. Photograph: Penguin Here’s the former press officer of the Central Electricity Generating Board, South Western Region, with his name in lights – Terry Pratchett at the peak of his powers. Pratchett says, that traditional minded dwarfs "took the view that what two dwarfs decided to do together was entirely their own business." This is a variation on the famous quote by Canadian Prime Minister (then Minister of Justice) Pierre Elliot Trudeau in regard to homosexuals that, "The State has no business in the bedrooms of the nation." The line "bedrooms of the nation" was actually credited by Trudeau to Toronto Globe and Mail columnist Martin O'Malley.

Dibbler's remarks, "I could've done all right with the Fung Shooey, though." is a reference to Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese design philosophy where proper placement of objects like furniture and plants within a house influence the fortunes of the house owner.

Reader Reviews

Before long, he's got some competition in the form of THE INQUIRER, a tabloid that features headlines like Elves Stole My Husband. This inexplicably popular, lying fish-wrapper may even put HIS little paper out of business. Foul Ole Ron says, "Gottle o' geer, gottle o' geer," which is a reference to the old ventriloquist routine. When they wanted to demonstrate how good they were they included the phrase "bottle of beer" as part of their act. Since it is impossible to pronounce the 'B' without moving your lips, the phrase comes out as "gottle of geer". For someone like Foul Ron who has trouble putting two coherent words together beyond "millennium hand and shrimp" this seems an appropriate line. Mere superstition! said Otto. “All zat possibly happens is that a subject’s own morphic signature aligns zer resons, or thing-particles, in phase-space according to zer Temporal Relevance Theory, creating zer effect of multiple directionless vindows vhich intersect vith the illusion of zer Present and create metaphoric images according to zer dictates of quasi-historical extrapolations. You see? Nothing mysterious about it at all!”

Sacharissa says, "They're undermining us everywhere" in regard to the Inquirer cutting into their business but also undermining their foundations with their shaking presses. Newspapers invade the Discworld. After a while it becomes clear that articles don’t always need to necessarily tell the whole truth to sell newspapers. But when a plot to overthrow Lord Vetinari threatens to shake up Ankh-Morpork, they realize only the truth can save them. So, mostly in the spirit of experiment, the two of them started building a book together. It was a lark, really – a side project with nothing hingeing on it except their own diversion. According to Terry they were “two guys who didn’t have anything to lose by having fun”. They were also two guys who operated at different ends of the day. Neil, at this point in his life, was largely allergic to the morning and would wake around lunchtime to flurries of crisp answerphone messages from his collaborator, which were generally variations on the theme of “Get up, you lazy bastard”.Be careful. People like to be told what they already know. Remember that. They get uncomfortable when you tell them new things. New things ... well, new things aren’t what they expect.” Born Terence David John Pratchett, Sir Terry Pratchett sold his first story when he was thirteen, which earned him enough money to buy a second-hand typewriter. His first novel, a humorous fantasy entitled The Carpet People, appeared in 1971 from the publisher Colin Smythe. While the ploy works, it is touch-and-go for a minute or two--the New Firm's employers neglects to tell Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip that Vetinari "moves like a snake" and has been trained at the Assassins' Guild. They improvise, stabbing Vetinari's clerk, Drumknott, and pushing their Vetinari look-a-like into the hallway to "confess".

Infinity plus described it as an "excellently plotted tale of mystery and murder" and "an hilarious take on the newspaper business", its only fault being that the book's title was "descriptive" but insufficiently "fun". [3] The opening line regarding rumour spreading like wild fire particularly since Ankh-Morpork had discovered fire insurance is a reference to the Colour of Magic when TwoFlower sells insurance to the owner of the Broken Drum only to have him set fire to the whole city in an attempt to collect on the policy. Later on when there is a fire, Pratchett points out the the Ankh-Morporkians were averse to Fire Brigades because they figured that if they were being paid to put out fires this would give them an incentive to start them. In the early days of Fire Brigades, this was in fact the case. One of the themes explored in this book is the role of media in society. The toughest criticism of this is offered by Vetinari at the end of the book: "How come there is always the same amount of news?"

Synopsis

The Disorganiser which reveals Lord De Worde. Nixon originally denied the allegations he faced but was exposed after taped conversations were discovered, revealing him to be in charge. And of course the myriad "expletive deleted" euphemism of the Nixon transcripts finds its Discworld home in the frequent recourse to " -ing".... Goodmountain says that the Bursar's words are not properly justified - meaning that the spaces aren't set evenly in the typeface but which the Bursar misinterprets to mean that Goodmountain does not believe he has properly rationalize his argument.