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Hedrigall posted:Oh hey, apparently this was just revealed? I think I've found the cover that's going to be used in the US. 
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Apr 16, 2011 17:34
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Ak Gara posted:I think I've found the cover that's going to be used in the US. It would be in comic sans.
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Apr 16, 2011 18:26
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Smello posted:It would be in comic sans. I was making a reference that our (UK) books look like this:   And the US versions look like this:  
Ak Gara fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Apr 16, 2011 |
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Apr 16, 2011 19:59
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Ak Gara posted:And the US versions look like this: The US books don't look like that. Those are the 'special edition' covers that came out a few years ago in the UK. My copy of Nation has one. I want to say they're the Waterstones editions? No, the US books look like this:    They're really dreadful.
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Apr 16, 2011 20:16
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Ak Gara posted:Am I the only one who prefers the (admittedly terrible) covers of the US paperbacks that The_Doctor just posted to these bizarre mishmashes of inexplicably bulbous body parts?
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Apr 16, 2011 20:24
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The_Doctor posted:The US books don't look like that. Those are the 'special edition' covers that came out a few years ago in the UK. My copy of Nation has one. I want to say they're the Waterstones editions? They are not Waterstones editions, other stores, such as Amazon, sell them too. Cover images aside, I prefer the black versions as they are bigger and more comfortable to hold and have larger margins so I don't need to crease the bindings to read the text.
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Apr 16, 2011 20:32
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DontMockMySmock posted:Am I the only one who prefers the (admittedly terrible) covers of the US paperbacks that The_Doctor just posted to these bizarre mishmashes of inexplicably bulbous body parts? You're definitely not the only one. Josh Kirby, god rest his soul, made some absolutely terrible covers.
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Apr 16, 2011 20:37
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John Charity Spring posted:You're definitely not the only one. Josh Kirby, god rest his soul, made some absolutely terrible covers. Indeed. Lovely man, bought me a pint at one of the Discworld Cons. But his interpretation left a lot to be desired. Take Twoflower on the cover of Colour of Magic. He has 4 eyes, based on the joke in the book. The story goes that Kirby did the artwork, Terry saw it, looked at Twoflower and said "Ron, what did you call kids at school with glasses?" Kirby: "Four ey-oh bugger!"
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Apr 16, 2011 21:04
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Paul Kidby's covers are better anyhow. 
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Apr 16, 2011 21:08
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The_Doctor posted:Indeed. Lovely man, bought me a pint at one of the Discworld Cons. But his interpretation left a lot to be desired. Take Twoflower on the cover of Colour of Magic. He has 4 eyes, based on the joke in the book. Hehe, I never knew this. I do like Pauls art better though, The mish mash of magic light steampunk and late 18th century influences fit the style of Discworld better than what Kirby was going for.
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Apr 16, 2011 21:11
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SeanBeansShako posted:Hehe, I never knew this. Oh, absolutely. When Kidby started doing the illustrations in all the diaries and the like, I knew it'd only be a matter of time before he was doing the covers.
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Apr 16, 2011 21:13
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Still kind of hoping the final book will be another collaboration with him and Terry assuring us the Discworld will happily potter along forever instead of Scouting  .
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Apr 16, 2011 21:18
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Kirby's books are at least original illustrations and therefore miles better than someone pulling up a picture of a suitcase and going nuts in photoshop for about 30 minutes.
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Apr 16, 2011 21:30
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Nilbop posted:Kirby's books are at least original illustrations and therefore miles better than someone pulling up a picture of a suitcase and going nuts in photoshop for about 30 seconds. Fixed that for ya. Most of my cheap paperbacks have the supposedly horrible american covers, but they really don't bother me. The important bits are inbetween anyway.
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Apr 16, 2011 21:36
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DontMockMySmock posted:Am I the only one who prefers the (admittedly terrible) covers of the US paperbacks that The_Doctor just posted to these bizarre mishmashes of inexplicably bulbous body parts? I like the Kirby covers. I mean, I like the new ones too, but the first Discworld books I had were all foreign editions with his art on them...I guess it's just nostalgia talking. I do think his style might be a better match for the non-Discworld books, though, like Dark Side of the Sun and Strata.
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Apr 16, 2011 22:24
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The US books now have slightly better covers that are still pretty crappy. The Unseen Academicals one: Someone completely failing to get the concept of football there.
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Apr 16, 2011 22:31
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Doc Hawkins posted:
Those covers are pretty awful too.
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Apr 16, 2011 22:33
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I'll tell you what Kirby's art style worked for - the Nome books. Truckers, Diggers, and Wings. They were kids' books (technically) so he couldn't slather them in gigantic breasts, and the bulbous ugliness of his people seemed to fit with the Nomes.
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Apr 17, 2011 00:34
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The_Doctor posted:The US books now have slightly better covers that are still pretty crappy. The Unseen Academicals one: Wha...why is Death playing this weird version of basketball too? That cover wins worst cover of them all. Jesus.
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Apr 17, 2011 00:37
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Even the font is offensively awful. It's just a really, really lovely font. What the gently caress?
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Apr 17, 2011 04:00
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Cacto posted:Dwarves can't be a fundy Islam/Christianity stereotype, because they don't even recognise gender. Their creation myths are literally on the Adam and Steve level. Maybe a dwarf couple is from different genders, but dwarves don't give a poo poo about it. No good fundy of any religious stripe would put up with that. The dwarves aren't a specific stereotype, but take elements from all fundamentalist religions around the world. Every religion is guilty of some bizarre rules at some point.
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Apr 17, 2011 15:16
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I just bought The Streets of Ankh-Morpork online. It's gonna be fun to have that around while I read the City Watch series throughout this year 
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Apr 18, 2011 09:31
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Cacto posted:because they don't even recognise gender. ..except when their children dare to THIS IS THE JOKE/ALLUSION
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Apr 18, 2011 10:58
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Hedrigall posted:I just bought The Streets of Ankh-Morpork online. It's gonna be fun to have that around while I read the City Watch series throughout this year It's loving huge. Could come in handy though. FreudianSlippers fucked around with this message at 00:47 on Apr 19, 2011 |
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Apr 19, 2011 00:14
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Gravitas Shortfall posted:..except when their children dare to THIS IS THE JOKE/ALLUSION I don't think you actually read what I posted, but sure, dwarves are fundamentalists because of intergenerational horror. More seriously, and as I wrote before, I think he just writes his commentary on the real world with whatever's available. As I said before, it's meeting "the needs of whichever terrible, awesome pun Pratchett's making at any one point in time" that seems to drive which culture has what feature. Also that Unseen Academicals cover is the worst cover I've seen in a long time.
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Apr 19, 2011 09:32
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I've seen Nation mentioned several times so I gave it a try, and I loved it. Until the very end. What a stupid ending. 
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Apr 19, 2011 21:12
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Ak Gara posted:I've seen Nation mentioned several times so I gave it a try, and I loved it. Until the very end. What a stupid ending. What was wrong with the ending? It was a little saccharine, but I liked it.
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Apr 19, 2011 21:15
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DontMockMySmock posted:What was wrong with the ending? It was a little saccharine, but I liked it. Saccharine ending? How? They don't end up together, and instead she marries and has kids with someone else. Real downer. Then the jump to the "Today" chapter is jarring and took me out of the story.
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Apr 19, 2011 21:45
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Ak Gara posted:Saccharine ending? How? They don't end up together, and instead she marries and has kids with someone else. Real downer. Saccharine in terms of what happens to the island and the general future of humanity. Yeah, they don't end up together, but should they have?
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Apr 19, 2011 22:13
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Just finished Mort and I have to say I was a little underwhelmed. I enjoyed the book and had some great laughs from it, but the pacing and progression of the plot as well as the ending and resolution were just kind of "meh" for me. Granted this is coming fresh off of finishing the entire City Watch arc so it had a lot to live up to. I'm just started on Reaper Man and I do love Death as a character so hopefully I'll enjoy the next ones a bit more.
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Apr 21, 2011 21:51
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Sammyz posted:
You should also read Soul Music, Hogfather and Thief of Time because Susan Sto Helit is a pretty awesome character.
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Apr 21, 2011 22:43
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You guys, you guys, I had a prophetic dream last night where I was reading the first chapter of Snuff.  Only it was called "Contraptions" in the UK and was in graphic novel form.Apparently the first chapter opens with three enterprising young postgrad wizards who have stolen a bunch of equipment from the university and are hiding out in the shades, using complex alchemy and some not-so-complex explosives to propel themselves around in the air and sling missiles. The ringleader of the three is an intense Calvinist-style fundamentalist from somewhere in Uberwald, and is obviously going to wind up being the main hero/antagonist. The other pair are egotistical potion-poppers who run the wizard equivalent of a meth lab, concocting dubious brews for money. In the first chapter we learn that Uberwald guy has hatched a bizarre scheme, where once they have perfected their alchemical system of what he calls 'supreme personal empowerment' they will conceal their identities in costumes stolen from the opera house and swoop down from the rooftops of Ankh-Morpork to intercept a large transit of bullion from the bank, which will be guarded by the Watch. Unfortunately they're pretty far from perfecting the system, as in order to be able to cast spells while in the air, they have to carry an inordinate number of active ingredients with them and make split-second judgements of relative quantities from memory. This time around they've smoothed over some of the bigger explosions, but an error in calculation (they use the same powdered mineral in taking pot-shots at pigeons as they use for defying gravity) leaves them thousands of feet in the air without the means for a safe descent. As they plummet, the ringleader yells to his panicking henchmen to enact the backup plan. This involves all three of them taking some herb mixture that causes them to lose consciousness and temporarily wink out of reality. They land softly in what appears to be a very strange and savage mythical paradise inhabited by lurid sharp toothed pixie-like creatures. Cliffhanger ending, and then the second chapter looked like it was going to reunite us with Vimes and whatever his subplot would be, but my dream-self closed the book and I had to stop. Does it still count as fan fiction if I wrote it in my sleep? 
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Apr 22, 2011 14:39
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Kismet posted:You guys, you guys, I had a prophetic dream last night where I was reading the first chapter of Snuff. Been skipping the frog pills lately?
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Apr 22, 2011 14:45
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Alhazred posted:You should also read Soul Music, Hogfather and Thief of Time because Susan Sto Helit is a pretty awesome character. Oh I am going to read them all. I dove into the Death series before the witches and I'll finish up with the industrial revolution books. I committed to reading every discworld book by the time I was through the 3rd Rincewind book.
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Apr 22, 2011 15:04
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The problem with reading the arcs in order before starting another is that Pterry improves so much over time. His early work is very much his early work and feels quite different from his later works. So by the time you finish, say, Thud!, going back to something like Mort or Wyrd Sisters is going to be quite jarring.
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Apr 22, 2011 15:17
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ConfusedUs posted:The problem with reading the arcs in order before starting another is that Pterry improves so much over time. His early work is very much his early work and feels quite different from his later works. So by the time you finish, say, Thud!, going back to something like Mort or Wyrd Sisters is going to be quite jarring. I have noticed thus. I thought the writing itself in Mort was fine, I just didn't dig on the way the ending rolled in so much. It wasn't terrible just wasn't up to the level of his later City Watch books (obviously).
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Apr 22, 2011 18:04
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I'm so torn on the original books. They obviously set the framework for the series...but they're honestly so terrible. I volunteer at the local children's hospital ward and I give Pratchett books out, but the early ones just would be too boring to read to them. I use Guards! Guards! as the starting point, because that's when you can see Pratchett's blood really started to FEEL Discworld. Mort is probably a decent secondary starting point for a new reader, but Guards is still the best.
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Apr 22, 2011 18:10
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Mister Roboto posted:I'm so torn on the original books. They obviously set the framework for the series...but they're honestly so terrible. Terrible? No. They're OK. Go to a bookstore and blindfold yourself in the science fiction and fantasy section and pick a book at random. More than nine times out of ten it will be worse than anything Terry Pratchett has ever written. They only seem terrible in comparison to the more awesome stuff Terry Pratchett has written.
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Apr 22, 2011 18:14
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DontMockMySmock posted:Terrible? No. They're OK. Go to a bookstore and blindfold yourself in the science fiction and fantasy section and pick a book at random. More than nine times out of ten it will be worse than anything Terry Pratchett has ever written. They only seem terrible in comparison to the more awesome stuff Terry Pratchett has written. Well, my criteria IS Pratchett's other works, so yeah...they're pretty low. I see their charm, but I mean this as respectfully as possible, they're very disjointed and lack any cohesive themes or depth his later works do. If I read one of those books first...I would not read the rest of the series. Pratchett himself has said he doesn't write Rincewind anymore because he's done with the staccato wacky-get-into-adventures with random places writing style.
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Apr 22, 2011 18:18
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I like to imagine that Rincewind is pleased to hear that.
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Apr 22, 2011 18:41
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