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

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But de Worde's got an inside line on the hot story concerning Ankh-Morpork's leading patrician, Lord Vetinari. The facts say Vetinari is guilty. But as William de Worde learns, facts don't always tell the whole story. There's that pesky little thing called . . . the truth. William just wants to get at THE TRUTH. Unfortunately, everyone else wants to get at William. And it's only the third edition... I´ve already posted this in my review of Woodward´s book Rage, but I deem it worth mentioning, because it´s the hilarious real madness regarding the news: PLOT (no spoilers): The printing press with movable type comes suddenly into the flat world — on the heels of the invention of photographs and the film industry in Moving Pictures. With wild enthusiasm The Ankh-Morpork Times is embraced by eager citizens as the newspaper transforms the worlds of society, politics, and thief-taking. Overnight, it mesmerizes and captivates Ankh-Morpork, with everyone wanting to see their name (and age) in print. his father was right about one thing, at least, when he’d said that lies could run around the world before the truth could get its boots on. And it was amazing how people wanted to believe them.

Aged nine or 10, his daughter Rhianna drew a picture of a hat and wrote underneath it: “I love my father but he is very busy.” 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] A Terry Pratchett novel scarcely needs another review from me, but I have just re-read this for the third or fourth time and thought I'd add my voice to the chorus of praise for it. The bar "Biers" is a take off on "Cheers" the bar in the American TV show. Biers is also a frame to place a coffin on (appropriate given the general undead state of most of the clientele at this bar) and is German for beer.

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Another turning point this book represents, is that this theme and concept feel brand new. Look at the Death series in the Discworld for example, where Death takes a vacation in nearly every single one of his books. There’s only so many variations on the same theme one can do before it starts to get stale. In that regard, this book does feel like a breath of fresh air as it blows new life into the Discworld series. Pin and Tulip manage to catch off-guard the normally impassible Patrician with Charlie, a witless Vetinari look-alike that they had previously kidnapped and forced to collaborate. Gaspode's alias, "Deep Bone" comes from Deep Throat, the anonymous informer who leaked information to the Press. William uses the gems on Mr. Pin's person to help the Dwarves buy a new press, and then confronts his father, Lord de Worde, at his mansion, almost getting captured. Otto Chriek, his vampire iconographer, saves him though, despite nearly falling victim to his species' bloodlust, and lets Lord de Worde go. 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 theme of this novel is the TRUTH. And journalism. And if there is any connection between the two. While William strives to find the big TRUTH, his friend Sacharissa, a writer for his newspaper, sees the small truths of the small people: William de Worde is the accidental editor of the Discworld's first newspaper. Now he must cope with the traditional perils of a journalist's life -- people who want him dead, a recovering vampire with a suicidal fascination for flash photography, some more people who want him dead in a different way and, worst of all, the man who keeps begging him to publish pictures of his humorously shaped potatoes.Mr. Tulip shows his range of interests when he talks about painting (ones he would like to steal) Woman holding a Ferret by Leonard de Quirm is a reference to Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine. The painter Gogli is likely van Gogh but Mr. Tulip adds"If ----ing Gogli painted that, it was with his ----ing foot" a reference to Christie Brown, the Irish artist and author of My Left Foot. His comments about "[...] the P'gi Su dynasty" is a reference to Peggy Sue', the title of one of Buddy Holly's hits and a reminder of the previous novel ''Soul Music.' but also a play on the various Chinese Dynasties. 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?" When William de Worde meets with the civic leaders, Mr. Slant says that "Mr. Scrope has sent a note...It appears he is ill". William's response is to say, "Was it signed by his mother." A reference to schools requiring a note for absence signed by parent or guardian so that the student couldn't just be faking it (which obviously Mr. Scrope is doing). Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip reminded me of two characters, pairs too if I remember it right, from one of Gaiman´s novels and one of Tad William´s series, Otherland, who had the same potential to greatly entertain. Such a marvelous duo of lunatic evil guys, no matter in which novel, evil is just too sexy.

When William de Worde needs to meet Gaspode (Deep Bone) he tells Sachrissa that he is "going to see a dog about a man" a play on the line, "going to see a man about a dog" which is a euphemism for taking a piss. You can always tell when my favorite author is on his ‘A’ Game and when he is off. When the plot for a book is a bit weaker than the norm the easy jokes start coming through. The obvious ones, more likely to come from the fun guy at a party or a start up standup comic. I think of all the bad jokes that permeated through Soul Music and Moving Pictures and I cringe. So it is with great pleasure that I will point out that nowhere in The Truth did a character shout out some paraphrasing of ‘you can’t handle the truth.’The last one is an argument for the ‘yellow’ press, compared here with one of C. M. O. T. Dibbler sausages: “Filled with rubbish of suspicious origin?” The headline for the newspaper "The Truth Shall Make Ye Free" is from the bible - John 8:32: "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Sacharissa is dismissive of the motto saying, "I think its just a quote." Later on as things get more complex a type setting error changes this line to "The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret" and still later it becomes "The Truth Shall Make Ye Fred". 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!”

It's a big news week: the most powerful man in the city has been arrested, leaving Ankh-Morpork without a leader. And a dangerous criminal organisation will do anything to control the story... 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. 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. As with all of Pratchett’s books, we have the evolution of the newspaper over a matter of a week rather than the hundred or so years that it took in our world. Soon there is competition across the street with headlines like “Woman gives birth to snakes” and “Man abducted by Demons.” William de Worde however, is obsessed with truth, stories come flooding in, and soon he has hired Sacharissa as a story writer, and Otto the vampire as a photographer. I have to admit that the first time Otto takes a picture for the paper literally cause me to snort my drink out through my nose, and tears to come to my eyes from laughing so hard. I think that scene is one of the funniest moments I have ever read in a book. Sacharissa is the daughter of an engraver who becomes quite the excellent reporter, and ends up being key to the discovery of the truth at the end of the book. Otto, a vampire from Uberwald has joined the temperance group and given up the red stuff, not that he doesn’t have his moments, but he tries so hard to keep himself under control. Together, William and the dwarves publish the ‘The Ankh-Morpork Times’, ushering in a new episode of the Industrial Revolution on Discworld. The birth of the fourth estate will make a lot of people ‘fret’ before they correct the spelling to ‘free’, giving us, the readers, one of the funniest adventures in the whole series while on the sidelines we get to debate the nature of truth, of the public as consumers of news and of power hungry little tyrants who dream of hitching this powerful force to their chariots.William de Worde, a ne'er do well noble who is ashamed of his noble heritage, has until now made his living by painstakingly collecting news and sending off a sort of newsletter to foreign peoples of import who are willing to pay him for it. Then some dwarfs roll into Ankh-Morpork with something called a printing press, and suddenly, what if they printed a bunch of them and sold them for like, fifty cents? And maybe hired some people to sell them? And maybe pay some people to tell them things that are going on in town? Like bake sales and fires and robberies and whatnot. The denizens of Ankh-Morpork fancy they've seen just about everything. But then comes the Ankh-Morpork Times, struggling scribe William de Worde's upper-crust newsletter turned Discworld's first paper of record. At the same time, there is a plot against Lord Vetinari (again). And the conspirators are bringing in outside help (their first mistake).