Pratchett II: The Wrath of Om

[Lord Toblerone]

As far as I've gathered from interviews he no longer types himself, but has someone to do it for him (dictating, is that the word?). Or maybe that was just The Long Earth, I can't really recall.

Pratchett has always been on my toplist, and while I don't consider him any stronger now than Sourcery onwards (he does swing a bit, I'm not the biggest fan of all the witches books and some of Rincewind are weaker than Vimes, which is not really criticism since it's still wicked awesome), he certainly hasn't gotten any weaker overall either.

The Long Earth is written by someone else with some input from Pterry (I don't know exactly how much).

He has a speech-to-text computer program and an assistant to help him write.

[TempusFugit]

Should I bother with any of his collaborations?

Good Omens, written with Neil Gaiman, is a classic so, yes, you should definitely bother with that one.

As far as I know, the only other collaboration worth the name that he has done is The Long Earth, written with Stephen Baxter. That one didn't work for me. I got about half way through before giving up.

[polishgenius]

I liked The Long Earth. Got a good fantasy/sf Western theme going on, and a very good concept behind it.

[SkynJay]

The Pratchett team released through twitter that the next book will be "Raising Steam." The informed us in the next tweet that that the book is not done, so no release date or other info.

[3CityApache]

Hmm. Raising Steam instead of Raising Taxes then. It looks to me like a Dodger follow up.

[SkynJay]

Tweet said Disc world specifically. Dodger wasn't part of the series. I am guessing railroads maybe? I hope he doesn't go pure Steampunk on us.

[3CityApache]

Interesting. But that would mean changing a concept for the next Moist book, right? And abandoning (or at least postponing) a taxation book. Weird.

Anyway, some time ago I heard PTerry saying in some review that the next book will be probably Dodger 2.

[polishgenius]

He said a while ago that Raising Taxes wasn't going to be the next one coz he couldn't figure how to make the plot interesting. Which makes sense - I thought Making Money was already largely a retread of Going Postal and I really don't see how Raising Taxes can be significantly different. If he's going to use Moist again, take him out of the comfort zone.

This isn't too surprising; technological and social advancement has been a major theme of the Ankh-Morpork set books since Jingo at least, and steam power, be it railways or something else, is a logical step to take.

[Werthead]

Interesting. I wonder if this is going to be about an above-ground railroad or The Undertaking? The latter has been set up a lot in previous Ankh-Morpork books, so that might be more likely. I also wouldn't be surprised if Raising Steam did involve Moist in some fashion. Looking at the Twitter pics, Pratchett announced the book by holding up two cards, the first with "RAISING" on it and the second with "STEAM". I'm pretty sure he knew fans would assume it was going to be Raising Taxes when he did that.

[Jussi]

Raising Steam will be published in October. The novel stars Moist von Lipwig!

Change is afoot in Ankh-Morpork - Discworld's first steam engine has arrived, and once again Moist von Lipwig finds himself with a new and challenging job.

The new Discworld novel, the 40th in the series, sees the Disc's first train come steaming into town.

http://www.amazon.co...3049818&sr=1-25

[Jussi]

Pratchett has switched his US publisher from HarperCollins to Doubleday. Because of this move, Raising Steam won't be published in the US until March 2014. Here are some quotes from Edelweiss catalog:

Marketing:

Creation of special artwork to be packaged with pre-ordered books and made available to booksellers

Tour of "The Artifacts of Moist Von Lipwig" - a set of objects including a portrait, accessories and costume items belonging to Raising Steam's hero that will be displayed at bookstores, conventions, and other relevant locations.

Key Selling Points:

DISCWORLD COMES TO DOUBLEDAY: Spring 2014 marks the start of Knopf Doubleday’s Discworld publication program, which includes 10 titles published by Doubleday and Anchor. The Folklore of Discworld, an Anchor paperback original, will be published to coincide with this Doubleday hardcover.

Pratchett’s books have been translated into 38 languages and have sold more than 75 million copies worldwide.

SERIES CHARACTER: Raising Steam is the third novel to feature Moist von Lipwig. Fans have been looking forward to it since 2007’s Making Money, which hinted that Moist—after restoring order to the banks—might be the best man to reform the tax system

FANTASY ZEITGEIST: The public appetite for fantasy has reached a fever pitch, from the mainstreaming of Harry Potter and Twilight to the shockingly popular Game of Thrones (both the bestselling books by George R. R. Martin and the HBO series they inspired). With his sharp humor and social commentary, Pratchett will appeal to fantasy aficionados and newcomers alike.

[Jussi]

UK release date of Raising Steam has been pushed back to 7th November.

Cover art:

https://fbcdn-sphoto...873430269_n.jpg

[Werthead]

Ah, it's definitely a Moist book then? That backs up the theory that this has replaced Raising Taxes.

[Jussi]

10-Book Deal for Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett, the best-selling fantasy author, has struck a 10-book deal with Doubleday and Anchor Books, the publisher said on Sunday. The first book, “Raising Steam,” will be released in March as part of a seven-figure deal. Mr. Pratchett, whose books have sold more than 80 million copies, is known for his satirical series “Discworld.” Edward Kastenmeier, executive editor at Vintage Anchor, is the acquiring editor. “Terry’s work has a huge following and an enormous footprint in the fantasy world, as they were the first adopters of his enthralling, hilarious fiction,” Mr. Kastenmeier said. “With mainstream readers warming to the work of Neil Gaiman and George R. R. Martin, we see this as a crossover moment for Terry, an opportunity to expand his audience.”

[Jussi]

Raising Steam plot synopsis:

To the consternation of the patrician, Lord Vetinari, a new invention has arrived in Ankh-Morpork - a great clanging monster of a machine that harnesses the power of all of the elements: earth, air, fire and water. This being Ankh-Morpork, it's soon drawing astonished crowds, some of whom caught the zeitgeist early and arrive armed with notepads and very sensible rainwear.

Moist von Lipwig is not a man who enjoys hard work - as master of the Post Office, the Mint and the Royal Bank his input is, of course, vital . . . but largely dependent on words, which are fortunately not very heavy and don't always need greasing. However, he does enjoy being alive, which makes a new job offer from Vetinari hard to refuse . . .

Steam is rising over Discworld, driven by Mister Simnel, the man wi' t'flat cap and sliding rule who has an interesting arrangement with the sine and cosine. Moist will have to grapple with gallons of grease, goblins, a fat controller with a history of throwing employees down the stairs and some very angry dwarfs if he's going to stop it all going off the rails . . .

http://www.amazon.co.../dp/0857522272/

[Jussi]

Blurb for The Long Childhood:

2040-2045: In the years after the catalcysmic Yellowstone eruption there is a massive economic dislocation as populations flee Datum Earth to the Long Earth worlds.

Sally, Joshua, Lobsang are all involved in this perilous work when, out of the blue, Sally is contacted by her long-vanished father and inventor of the original Stepper, Willis Linsay. He is planning a fantastic voyage across the Long Mars – but he has ulterior motives for wanting Sally to make the journey with him. For what he seeks is an advanced alien technology which he believes will help mankind’s post-Yellowstone recovery. Meanwhile Maggie Kauffman has embarked on a incredible journey of her own, leading an expedition to the outer limits of the far Long Earth.

And Joshua becomes embroiled in the appearance of the Next: super-bright post humans who are beginning to emerge from their 'Long Childhood' in the community called Happy Landings. A Next boy has been rejected by normal-human society and is incarcerated in the Madison Home and, now the authorities - inevitably afraid of anything or anyone not deemed 'normal' - order a crackdown on the abnormal Next children, sequestring them together in a military base. As Joshua and Nelson liberate the children a dramatic showdown seems inevitable over whether to eliminate this potential rival to mankind from the Long Earth . . .

http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/editions/the-long-childhood-long-earth-3/9780857521743

[Wicked Woodpecker of West]

Pity that he abandoned Raising Taxes idea.
Polish translator was really getting ready for this one.

Because litteral translation of "Going Postal" would sound a little bit dull he translated it into "Postal Hell", Making Money was "Business World", and obviously third part would be "Tax paradise" (which is "Tax haven" in Poland). Poor little guy.

[Jussi]

You can look inside Raising Steam:

http://rhwidget.randomhouse.co.uk/flash-widget/widget_lg.do?isbn=9780857522276&menu=0&mode=1&cf=336699&cb=FFFFFF&newsletter=1

There is a nice maps of Sto Plains.

[Jussi]

New interview:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/authorinterviews/10396286/Terry-Pratchett-interview-a-fantasy-writer-facing-reality.html

I learn that he didn't know how the book Small Gods was going to end until it ended – he had the characters in place and they led him to an unavoidable conclusion.

He calls this process "narrativium" and he's having the same experience with his next book, which he's already started.

[Galactus]

How weird is it that I'm not excited about a Pratchett book? That hasn't happened since I first read Man-at-Arms... (my first Pratchett)

I guess the fact that the last few books have been bad (I think the last one I really enjoyed was Going Postal) but still, it feels sad.