When the New Firm is trapped in the basement of the newspaper building, Mr. Pin says, "I wasn't born to fry." a play on burning in the building but also on dying in the electric chair. Ultimately he does in fact fry, when he is reincarnated as a potato which is turned into chips. The dwarf Gunilla Goodmountain's name is Gutenberg translated from German to English. Johann Gutenberg invented movable type in the 1450s and printed the Gutenberg Bibles. The name of Caslong who is Goodmountain's assistant comes from the Caslon typeface named after its creator William Caslon. Boddony, another assistant is named after Bodoni another common typeface designed by Italian printer Giambattista Bodoni. Another dwarf is named Gowdie which is a reference to Frederic William Goudy, the American type designer who designed the Berkeley Old Style font as well as several Goudy fonts he named after himself. The two newspapers competing show mainstream journalism, with its heroic abilities, that are sometimes beyond those of the police, and yellow journalism (also known as "red-top" in Great Britain), with its potential to do damage.

Pin is a short, fast talking foxy character while Tulip is a brawny monster who kills. This pairing of little guy / big guy toughs is a frequent device in literature and it was fun to see how Pratchett employs the concept. The opening line regarding rumour spreading like wild fire particularly since Ankh-Morpork had discovered fire insurance is a reference to the Colour of Magic when TwoFlower sells insurance to the owner of the Broken Drum only to have him set fire to the whole city in an attempt to collect on the policy. Later on when there is a fire, Pratchett points out the the Ankh-Morporkians were averse to Fire Brigades because they figured that if they were being paid to put out fires this would give them an incentive to start them. In the early days of Fire Brigades, this was in fact the case.But then he thought about it more seriously. “I wish I had started writing for a living earlier,” he said eventually. “I could probably have started to write full time about 10 years before I did.” So before long William is the owner of a successful business that employs several dwarfs, a teetotaling vampire, a troll, and a handful of vagabonds. He also has a bunch of money, and a bunch of trouble on his hands. 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. Truer to the family motto, Le Mot juste, than his disapproving father can ever realize, de Worde soon finds that his Ankh-Morpork Times is a success. So big, in fact, that certain nefarious factions would like nothing better than to put him out of business. They begin their own rival Ankh-Morpork Inquirer--full of salacious bits -- to do just that. Soon, though, de Worde has more than just the competition to fret over. Lord Vetinari, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, is accused of a serious crime in a seemingly airtight case. But William de Worde knows that facts aren't always the truth. Along with a much too prim and proper assistant, a roving photographer vampire with a nasty reaction to his flashgun, and a talking dog who holds the key to the mystery, William de Worde will stop at nothing to get the truth. William de Word doesn't want to live the way his family has for generations. Instead, he lives in Ankh-Morpork and got a job. While he pays his bills by writing letters to different people from different other places he comes across a few industrious (see what I did there? ;P) dwarves who have invented a rather advanced printing press. Thus the Ankh-Morpork Times is born. The problem is not that paper is now used to spread stories; the problem is that de Word believes in the truth and only reports about actual events.

A civilization runs on words, Your Reverence. Civilization is words. Which, on the whole, should not be too expensive. The world turns, Your Reverence, and we must spin with it.” Not that there is anything wrong with the way that Mathew Baynton has interpreted the part of Vetinari (or indeed any of his (and his director’s) choices in voicing all the characters he portrays in this production.

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Goodmountain says, "...Never use spades, Farmers use spades. But I call a shovel a shovel." a reference to the old adage in regard to being plain spoken - calling a spade a spade. Zer philosopher Heidehollen tells us zat the universe is just a cold soup of time, all time mixed up together, and vot we call zer passage of time is merely qvantum fluctuations in zer fabric of space-time.”

And of course I had, this was a fun re-visit to Sir Terry’s 25th Discworld book, something of a standalone but in the Industrial Revolution sub-canon. Soon, there is a feud between Ankh-Morpork's first newspaper and the one the opposition has started while The Watch has to solve the almost-murder Veterinari is accused of. Maybe the truth can help? The protagonist does not exactly stand out. He’s probably one of the most “normal” protagonists you’ll find in the Discworld series. This does make him relatable though and through his eyes we also have the pleasure of seeing familiar and loved characters like Sam Vimes in a new light. There’s just too many people in the city,” Mr. Windling repeated. “I’ve nothing against .... outsiders, heavens know, but Vetinari let it go far too far. Everyone knows we need someone who is prepared to be a little more firm.” In fact, I might just use this as a replacement habit to give up swearing, since my son's been begging me to. Kind of a nicotine patch for potty-mouths.I know that many feel loyalty to the excellent work that Nigel Palmer and Stephen Briggs did in the past, reading the Discworld books. I, like many, felt that disconnect when Stephen took over from Nigel, and I took a few books to become comfortable with the change. 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. Apparently, this book is not classified as part of the City Watch sub-series because the City Watch characters have limited roles and are seen mainly from de Worde's perspective. Personally, I do classify it as City Watch. Where else would it go? William de Worde wants to publish truthful stories, but not everybody signs in on this agenda. Almost immediately after the first issue of the A-M Times, a new paper is published by the guild of wood engravers, sponsored by dark money and filled with sensational stories and conspiracy theories. The public seems more interested in this ‘yellow’ press of gossip and outright invention than in the investigative efforts of William.