SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
[READ: April 2022] The Truth
This story is set in Ankh-Morpork but it’s not about the Watch. Or Lord Vetenari. Well, it sort of is about both of them, but not really.
This story is about The Truth. And also about a new character called William de Worde. William is a black sheep of a famous and wealthy Ankh-Morpork family. He has always been interested in writing and in finding the truth.
His job was to write an occasional message to various important figures around the Disc with information about what’s going on in Ankh-Morpork. He quickly learned that he could write his message, have the Engraver’s guild print multiple copies and just change a few things for each one. This made him a lot more money.
Then there was big news in Ankh-Morpork–the arrival of movable type from the dwarfs, particularly Gunilla Goodmountain.
William, through a series of events, inadvertently becomes the spokesperson for the movable type (even though he had nothing to do with it) and starts a newspaper. The paper is supposed to be named Ankh-Morpork Items but they get the type wrong and it became The Ankh-Morpork Times.
He is assisted by the dwarfs and Sacharissa Cripslock–a fiery reporter who proves very useful.
This story is actually an excellent introduction to the whole Discworld series because we see most of the main Ankh-Morpork caharacters but they are all seen from William’s point of view and as such are “introduced” again.
The story also features a somewhat regular occurrence-an attempt at an overthrow of Lord Vetinari. In this case various guild members coordinated with some very bad guys –Mr Tulip and Mr Pin–to replace Lord Vetinari with an exact double. They plan to make it look like Vetinari committed murder and planned to run away with a ton of gold. Pin and Tulip are the most genuinely evil people that Pratchett has concocted and they are formidable.
Their plans are foiled somewhat by Vetinari’s dog Wuffles who becomes a major plot point.
This story also shine a light on some other background characters in Ankh-Morpork. The Canting Crew is a group of beggars living under Misbegot Bridge. Other beggars don’t even want to be mentioned as being close to them, possibly because of Foul Ole Ron’s Smell. Members of the Crew are: Foul Ole Ron (known for saying “Bugrit!” and “Millennium Hand and Shrimp”), Coffin Henry, The Duck Man, Arnold Sideways, Altogether Andrews and of course, Gaspode.
It’s pretty mazing how often Gaspode features in these stories (because didn’t he die in Moving Pictures?). But in this case, he is able to communicate with Wuffles and they can quickly figure out the various plot attempts on Vetinari.
This is the kind of story that Pratchett tells so well–lots of twists and turns with lots of parodies of reality while stull making a point. Plus, it adds the newspaper to Ankh-Morpork, something that will become a daily staple of life by the next book.
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