Oh! You were there Robert?
Nah, took 2 hour to get home on the public transport, and I had to go to work the next morning before I went back to the con... It also meant I missed half the fun at the post con alcoholic-poisoning session.

i got all three i just got wintersmith for free from my voucher i stared reading the disc world series tiffany books but i'm not sure if i its gonna grab me like Fforde, and i'm not really a harry potter fan but i've committed to reading the series so i'm heading on regardless

A Kit Kat is a Biscuit

The hems thing is very old. It dates back to at least the 1940's when it was shown about the correlation between hem height and the stock market figures.

I was weak... I read Making Money already, I just couldn't resist it's sweet siren song from my bed side table. Ah well, cest la vie!
I really enjoyed it, I wonder what the chances of Moist being the Patrician in waiting are? If not him then who will replace Vetinari? sorry I haven't been on any Pratchett discussions so I appologise if this is an old topic of discussion, I am just curious for any other thoughts!

Hmmm.... I do not know.

The way Pratchett sees him (from what I can tell) is that the reason that the Patrician works is because you never really get into his head. Moist is too likeable and understood a character to be as good I think.

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

True, but still, he would have a very good understanding of city life if he does indeed get ropped into the tax system. So how would a new partician be picked/elected/written do you think?

In Night Watch what basically happened was that Lord Winder dropped dead out of fear (of the assassin in front of him), and within a few hours Lord Snapcase was sworn in, had replaced much of the staff, and was totally in control. It's not clear who did the chosing/swearing in, but he had been gaining the support of the people prior to this, and it's somewhat implied that that is why he became the new Patrician. But the actual mechanism of switching Patricians isn't explained at all.

That said, I think it will be quite some time before (if) Vetinari ever gets replaced. If certain comments in Making Money are to be believed, he has big plans for Ankh-Morpork and I highly doubt anybody would manage to get rid of him. He certainly isn't likely be assassinated (the Assassin's Guild won't even take a contract on him, and anybody else couldn't possibly catch Vetinari off-guard) and he won't step down, so unless somebody produces another dragon…

Also, he is just too cool not to keep. ;)

I love the Patrician, but he only works because he is in the background.

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Terry Pratchett has said he can't get rid of the patrician because too many young ladies would throw themselves off cliffs, and he couldn't be having with that on his conscience.
I'm not sure patricians *are* voted in- it's always read to me like a sucession of dictatorships.
"Vetinari ruled his city by the concept of One Man, One Vote. He was the Man. He had the Vote."

Don't know if I would go as far as a cliff, second step maybe. I would certainly be upset if Vetinari went. With the new dynamics of the city now would the old ways be applicable? It would be interesting to meet a character who could gain enough public support without the influence of Vetinari hence me wondering about Moist. Ah Mr. Pratchett - the genius of creating a fictional city who's politics I spend more time pondering than that of my own country as I am so fed up with the invertibrates currently squabbling on the telly!

<vague sigh of a person still looking blankly at The Colour of Magic and wondering what the fuss is all about>

The Color of Magic was pretty sub-standard (waits to lynched by Kitten next time we catch up). Don't read them in order! Try Hogfather or Small Gods first. Maybe even the Last Continent.
His early ones were not as developed as the later ones and there were many many inconsistencies betwixt them.
Good Luck!

I think that as a first in the series The Colour of Magic set the foundation for a lot of what we have come to expect. Maybe not as polished and maybe not a perfect introduction, but most of it's there.

The fact that gods come into being when someone starts to believe in them and continue to exist until they are completely forgotten, DEATH as an anthropomorphic personification, magic as a proto-science genius! Cohen, Ankh Morpork, CMOT Dibbler and Leonard of Quirm they are all there.

Mind you I started with the Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic ad read them all in order, and I miss Rincewind. I did miss Eric for some reason and it was nice to welcome back those old friends.

Start out with the witches or the city watch series.

I wont lynch you. Feather and tarring however, is still very much on the cards.

BK: Dont 'Lynch' him - just 'Ruddock' him!

As someone who read them at random I think that if you can read them in sequence of publication. Not that the quality of the first is as good as the later ones, but the references carry through, and sometimes this makes each story stronger in itself.

DEATH is not developed very much before Reaper Man in my opinion, but after knowing the story of Reaper Man you can appreciate the subtleties in the later stories. Especially in relation to Susan Sto Helit.

I must confess that my favourite story is still Hogfather but if I was deprived of any of them I would get very snakey and vicious and hide the Tim Tams until I got my books back

This reading in sequence also works where you find some series of stories not read before - such as The Saint, Bulldog Drummond, Fu Manchu, Biggles, etc. If you read out of sequence there are often writing weaknesses that are almost unbearable when the earlier stories are read.


Prolixity rules, if that is reasonabyt acceptable to all those who may be concerned.

TP has always said that with only a couple of exceptions the books can be read in any order. It is certainly true of most of the early ones.

However, it could just be that you will never get his humour, OCN.

For people who don't, I usually point them towards Tom Holt, Robert Rankin and Chris Moore as worthy of trying.

Re Skidmarks earlier comment on hems.

In the Larousse Encyclopaedia of Astronomy, 1959 edition , there is mention of the changes in variability of a particular star that were in correlation to the performances held at the Folies Bergere in the between wars period.

IS this 'action at a distance'?

Depends if those at the Folies Bergere were getting any.

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Who's a him? I'm a she ^_^ I borrowed "Bibwit Hart" from The Looking Glass Wars, couldn't think of a decent username...
Feathers eh? What's the tar for!?

To stick them on with? I understand it burns a bit though, so I'll try to make sure you aren't expecting it. Nothing worse than the anticipation of pain...