In the opposite corner, we have Machiavellian tycoon Reacher Gilt, head of the Grand Trunk company. The Ankh-Morpork Post Office is in what could be politely termed a moribund state, ever since the Grand Trunk company, with its ubiquitous semaphore 'clacks' towers, has made it possible to send messages everywhere almost instantly.īut things are not going too well with the clacks towers.

A petty con artist whose deeds have finally caught up with him, von Lipwig is spared from the gallows - actually, he's only just 'almost' hanged - by Lord Vetinari, ruler of Ankh-Morpork, if he agrees to take on the job of postmaster. In this corner, the lamentably named Moist von Lipwig (Roger Ebert has an axiom about 'funny' character names, in that they're almost never funny, and this seems to be another rule the infuriatingly capable Pratchett effortlessly violates). This one may finally break him out of category.Going Postal is the outrageous story of a massive rivalry between two professional crooks. 28)įorecast: Despite sales of more than 35 million copies of his books worldwide, Pratchett has yet to become a U.S. ) may capture more of the American audience he deserves.

Thanks to the timely subject matter and Pratchett's effervescent wit, this 29th Discworld novel (after 2003's Monstrous Regiment Readers will cheer Moist on as he eventually finds himself in a race with the dysfunctional clacks system to see whose message can be delivered first. The place is also haunted by dead postmen and guarded by Mr. Moist must then deal with the musty mounds of undelivered mail that fill every room of the decaying Post Office building maintained by ancient and smelly Junior Postman Groat and his callow assistant, Apprentice Postman Stanley. Pump, his golem parole officer, quickly catches him. Moist's first impulse is to try to escape, but Mr. The post office hasn't been open for 20 years since the advent of the Internet-like clacks communication system. Soon after Moist von Lipwig (aka Alfred Spangler), Pratchett's not-quite-hapless, accidental hero, barely avoids hanging, Lord Havelock Vetinari, the despotic but pretty cool ruler of Ankh-Morpork, makes him a job offer he can't refuse-postmaster general of the Ankh-Morpork Post Office. British fantasist Pratchett's latest special-delivery delight, set in his wonderfully crazed city of Ankh-Morpork, hilariously reflects the plight of post offices the world over as they struggle to compete in an era when e-mail has stolen much of the glamour from the postal trade.

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett