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bunnyofdoom posted:Man, you know, I'd really like to see a smaller stakes Watch Book. It seems like pretty every one is about a big threat to AM, or a huge change on the Disc. I'll like just a standard murder mystery that isn't going to result in the disc being changed completely by it. I guess what I want is an 87th precinct story set in AM. Man, I'd like to see this too. Although at this point I have my doubts about how good it would be. 
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Apr 14, 2014 23:15
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If you thought that Raising Steam was good, or even ok... I'd really love to know why. Or how. Or what. Or when. What was the character arc for... any of the characters? What was the theme, and how did the story develop it? What were the jokes that you found funny? What were the jokes that you even understood were supposed to be jokes to begin with?
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Apr 15, 2014 18:22
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I just finished Raising Steam, it was better than Snuff and I laughed at a few passages, I'll be honest though the last good discworld book was Thud. Its very sad, seriously I've never understood people who profess to love famous people that they obviously don't know, but maybe with Pratchett I understand it a little.
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Apr 15, 2014 20:21
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supermikhail posted:I'm again confused. Why is Vimes so resentful of the title of duke at the end of Jingo, and what does the Patrician buy with it? It felt like it was a reward for participating in stopping a war, and I didn't get the sentiments at all. quote:Vetinari: I have noted before that you have a definite anti-authoritarian streak, Commander. Relevant passage.
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Apr 15, 2014 22:12
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supermikhail posted:Okay. But what's the Patrician's angle (or as Vimes sees it)? One of Vetinari's main obstacles to any kind of progress or reform in Ankh-Morpork is the city's entrenched nobility and upper class. Promoting Vimes to their ranks and empowering him to run around upsetting the status quo is the Patrician's best weapon for destabilizing and neutralizing them. As Drumknott points out at the end of Feet of Clay: quote:"The thought occurs, sir, that if Commander Vimes did not exist you would have had to invent him."
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Apr 16, 2014 00:33
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Xander77 posted:If you thought that Raising Steam was good, or even ok... I'd really love to know why. Or how. Or what. Or when. I thought the bit with Colon and Nobby checking out the train was hilarious. The rest... bleh.
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Apr 16, 2014 04:33
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Rhymenoserous posted:Relevant passage.  I'm not familiar with Zen, though, so starting from about there the whole conversation began to fly over my head. I get the idea now, after having it repeatedly explained to me, but I don't understand why it's so hard. Am I dumb, too non-native, unfamiliar with certain essential aspects of popular culture, or is it innately complicated?
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Apr 16, 2014 11:09
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Xander77 posted:If you thought that Raising Steam was good, or even ok... I'd really love to know why. Or how. Or what. Or when. Raising Steam (I haven't even finished it, and I'm a voracious speed reader) was terrible, and was really depressing.  Badly written, constant unending monologues and all the characters sounded identical.Moist turning into a badass dwarf-killer was just... confusing as hell.
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Apr 22, 2014 14:54
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The Long Mars is up for preorder on Kindle for £6.99 atm
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Apr 22, 2014 16:28
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Oh, I guess that's what they mean by "his hobby is also writing". Gonna go read the original Long Earth.
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Apr 22, 2014 16:47
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I don't think raising steam is as bad as some people here make out. Is it a great read? No Is it comparable to pretty much any of his earlier works? No Does he take some characters in questionable directions? Yes Is it, as a stand alone novel, a bad read? No. I bought the book in a sale but it was a hardback for like £10, and it kept me mildly amused for a few days. I don't know about you but that didn't seem like a huge waste to me. Oh and I read all the negative comments in this thread before deciding to buy it too, so maybe it was just a case that you all sufficiently lowered my expectations enough for my to enjoy it, in which case carry on I guess?
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Apr 22, 2014 21:54
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Yeah, it wasn't as good as past Discworld books, but I still enjoyed it. I don't think I'll go back and re-read it as many times as I've re-read earlier books in the series, but it wasn't the end of the world. I'd rather have Raising Steam than no Discworld books at all, which seems to be a divisive point on this forum.
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Apr 22, 2014 23:34
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Wahey, just been notified that I've got a membership for DWCon 2014. I was a bit annoyed with myself that I forgot to register, so while it's a shame for the concession who had to drop out it's good for me.
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Apr 22, 2014 23:42
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That looks as cringeworthy as it sounds.
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Apr 23, 2014 03:43
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How many people do you get who think the DW refers to Doctor Who and then write negative reviews along these lines or something?
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Apr 23, 2014 07:39
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supermikhail posted:How many people do you get who think the DW refers to Doctor Who and then write negative reviews along these lines or something? None, because it's a convenient abbreviation for Discworld Convention (and the domain name for the website).
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Apr 23, 2014 08:00
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Kitchner posted:That looks as cringeworthy as it sounds. Discworld conventions are the least cringe inducing conventions ever. I've seen and heard from friends who've been that everyone is so nice.
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Apr 23, 2014 09:45
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The only problem is that three-quarters of the attendees are going dressed as Sergeant Colon, and a lot of them don't even realize it.
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Apr 24, 2014 02:59
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As long as supply plenty of sugar cubes, I'm sure it will be fine.
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Apr 24, 2014 03:03
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Many years ago I was left with The Fifth Elephant as reading material for a flight back to California by a relative of mine and shortly thereafter became a solid Pratchett fan and continued to be one for many years up to the publication of Making Money and Thud! While both of these books were good they seemed to slip far from Pratchett's previous laurels. Making Money seemed like a repeat of The Truth and Going Postal (which also seemed just a little too similar for comfort but were both reasonably solid) while Thud! just seemed to go off on odd tangents. Since then I've picked up Unseen Academicals but haven't read it and can't seem to convince myself to even thumb through Snuff or Raising Steam. Considering Pratchett's current condition which, chances are, will only get worse... I'm wondering if I should bother picking up and reading these last three or if I should just sort of stop where I am and let the characters ride off into the sunset as it were.
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Apr 24, 2014 10:02
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You love Discworld right? Just read it and drat the consequences. Then you can join us bitter goons moaning about how things suck!
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Apr 24, 2014 19:10
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I don't think Unseen Academicals is bad.
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Apr 24, 2014 19:14
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I liked Unseen Academicals, and Thud is one of my favorite Vimes books. The "Where's My Cow" scene was comedy gold.
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Apr 24, 2014 19:39
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I think the really tragic thing is that with his rate of turnout Terry Pratchett could easily have been a pen-name for a whole writing conglamerate, and thus real authors could come and go, and humor remain. Unfortunately, life doesn't work like that.
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Apr 24, 2014 19:44
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SeanBeansShako posted:You love Discworld right? I think this is the main reason to do anything. If you haven't read it yourself, how could you possibly post on the forums you paid $10 for claiming it is below your personal literary standards?
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Apr 25, 2014 00:14
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Kitchner posted:I think this is the main reason to do anything. If you haven't read it yourself, how could you possibly post on the forums you paid $10 for claiming it is below your personal literary standards? Mostly because I did pick it up because I love Discworld and most of Pratchett's works but I can never get more than a few pages in. I don't know if it is the goblin-thing, the cook kid, or just a general ambivalence towards the sport. It just doesn't grab me in the slightest. Still, you folks are right. I should probably at least try Snuff and Raising Steam. If my problem with UA really was just a lack of interest in the topic and its associated humor that's not the book's fault.
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Apr 25, 2014 11:06
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Erev posted:while Thud! just seemed to go off on odd tangents. I honestly think that Nightwatch and Thud! are possibly Pratchett's best books. Especially Vimes' recitation of Where's My Cow? near the end is goosebumps provoking everytime.
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Apr 25, 2014 12:01
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I have to say I really liked Thud. The whole idea that Sam Vimes struggles to keep the darkness in so he created his own sort of mental policeman is great. It's a man who is only truly scared of two things: Losing his family and himself. It is really cool how it takes the thought that his family has been murdered to allow the summoning dark to overcome Vimes' fear of himself. I think everyone can associate with that struggle people have inside themselves on a daily basis.
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Apr 25, 2014 13:47
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Mr Shine, he diamond. I don't know why but that sticks with me the most from Thud. Also, it was pretty awesome the whole Koom Valley issue was put to rest.
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Apr 25, 2014 14:38
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As much as I like Thud, the girls' night out stuff is really bad and the only part of any of his books I skip every time I read it.
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Apr 25, 2014 17:06
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I really like the parts from the Summoning Dark's perspective. It's just so confused about what's going on, it's great.
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Apr 25, 2014 17:22
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Unseen Academicals isn't really bad, just about a hundred pages longer than it should be. Snuff is pretty decent, and I've yet to read Raising Steam.
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Apr 25, 2014 18:18
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SeanBeansShako posted:Also, it was pretty awesome the whole Koom Valley issue was put to rest. It's also the first time Chrysoprase the troll makes an actual appearance, it all the other books we just get secondhand descriptions of him.
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Apr 25, 2014 18:56
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Alhazred posted:It's also the first time Chrysoprase the troll makes an actual appearance, it all the other books we just get secondhand descriptions of him. I'm pretty sure Chrysoprase turns up in Moving Pictures.
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Apr 25, 2014 18:59
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FactsAreUseless posted:As much as I like Thud, the girls' night out stuff is really bad and the only part of any of his books I skip every time I read it. When I came across it, It reminded me of the really really bad stuff posted on Fanfiction.net. Jedit posted:I'm pretty sure Chrysoprase turns up in Moving Pictures. He showed up in Men At Arms too, didn't he?
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Apr 25, 2014 19:14
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Chrysoprase isn't in either Men at Arms or Moving Pictures. I believe he's in Soul Music, but I'm not positive. He definitely appears in the old cartoon version, but I forget if he had lines.
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Apr 25, 2014 20:20
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SeanBeansShako posted:When I came across it, It reminded me of the really really bad stuff posted on Fanfiction.net. I thought it was intentionally really awkward because that's how the characters are in that situation.
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Apr 26, 2014 00:59
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FactsAreUseless posted:Chrysoprase isn't in either Men at Arms or Moving Pictures. I believe he's in Soul Music, but I'm not positive. He definitely appears in the old cartoon version, but I forget if he had lines. When he appeared previously, if he appeared at all, he had a different spelling of his name. This could be because trolls are haphazard when it comes to spelling, it could be because there are different trolls (I mean how many troll names can there really be?) or it could just be that PTerry writing it differently each time. So it's pretty much up to the reader whether they think it's the same troll.
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Apr 26, 2014 02:18
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Given that they're spelled either with or without a second H, we can safely assume it is due to the fact that
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Apr 26, 2014 17:37
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The only thing I thought was weird about Thud! was how Nobby gets into a perfectly happy relationship and everybody takes it for granted that they have to split him up because she's too good for him.
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Apr 26, 2014 17:47
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