Book:Mort

2015-03-19T19:53:02Z

Batmanwj:

{{Book Data
|title= Mort
|cover=
[[File:Cover Mort.jpg|thumb|240px|Cover art by Josh Kirby]]
|coauthors=
|illustrator=
|date= May 1987
|publisher= Victor Gollancz
|isbn=
|pages=
|rrp=
|series=Death Series
|characters=[[Death]], [[Mort]], [[Ysabell]], [[Binky]], [[Albert]], [[Keli]]
|annotations=yes
|notes= Book #04
}}

==Blurb==
[[Death]] comes to us all. When he came to [[Mort]], he offered him a job.

After being assured that being dead was not compulsory, Mort accepted. However, he soon found that romantic longings did not mix easily with the responsibilities of being Death's apprentice ....

== Characters ==

=== Main characters ===

* [[Death]]
* [[Mort]]
* [[Ysabell]]
* [[Binky]]
* [[Albert]]
* [[Keli]]

=== Minor characters ===

* [[Lezek]], Mort's father
* [[Duke of Sto Helit]]
* [[Igneous Cutwell]], a wizard
* [[Terpsic Mims]], an angler (fisherman) saved by Death ("for later") and his wife, [[Gwladys Mims|Gwladys]] (largely the reason that Terpsic is an angler)
* [[Lord Rodley]] of [[Quirm]]
* [[Cripple Wa]], who runs a floating [[crap (game)|crap game]]
* [[Liona Keeble]], Ankh-Morpork's first job broker
* [[Sun Emperor]], boy emperor who nominally runs the Agatean Empire, though the Grand Vizier, [[Nine Turning Mirrors]], is really in charge (until his attempt to assassinate the boy emperor backfires)
* [[Rincewind]]

=== Mentioned (incl very minor speaking parts) ===

* [[Hamesh]], Mort's uncle
* [[King Olerve the Bastard]], [[Keli]]'s father
* [[Pilgarlic]], leader of a group of thieves who unwisely try to rob Mort
* [[Ammeline Hamstring]], a witch who's scheduled to die, and [[Granny Beedle]] and [[Gammer Nutley]], her colleagues
* [[Abbot Lobsang]], a monk (member of the [[Listeners]]) who's scheduled to die.. again
* [[Offler]]
* [[Mrs. Nugent]]
* [[Artorollo]], past King of Ankh

* Lesser nobles of Sto Lat:
** [[Lord of the Privy Closet]]
** [[Lady of the Small Hexagonal Room in the North Turret]]

* Staff of Sto Lat castle:
** [[Chamberlain of Sto Lat]]
** [[Yeoman of the Pantry]]
** [[Moghedron]], the wine butler
** [[Royal Astrologer]]

* The [[Patrician]]

* [[Queen Ezeriel]], a Klatchian queen who bathed in asses' milk, had many lovers, and killed herself by sitting on a snake, parodying [[Roundworld]]'s {{wp|Cleopatra|Cleopatra}}

* [[Hummok M'guk]]
* [[Ug]] and [[Zog]], names for several proto-humans

* [[Catroaster]], a philosopher with a negative (albeit short-lived) opinion of Ankh-Morpork

* [[Blind Io]] and his somewhat more blind High Priest (in Sto Lat)

* [[Heavenly Guard]], who patrol the [[Great Wall]]

* [[Ly Tin Wheedle]] (mentioned)

* King [[Zetesphut]] of Tsort (mentioned)

* [[Fate]] (mentioned)

* [[Destiny]] (mentioned)

* [[Sek]] (mentioned)

* [[Hoki]] (mentioned)

* [[Steikhegel]], God of isolated cow byres (mentioned)

== Locations ==

* [[Death's Domain]]
** [[Death's Domain#Death's library|Death's Library]]
*** [[The Stack]] for biographies more than 500 years old

* [[Ramtops]]
** [[Octarine Grass Country]]
*** [[Sheepridge]]

* [[Ankh-Morpork]]
** [[Patrician's Palace]]
** [[Curry Gardens]]
** [[The Shades]]
*** [[Ham Alley]]
*** [[Pork Passage]]
*** [[Honey Lane]]
** [[River Ankh]] (mentioned)
** [[Mended Drum]] in [[Filigree Street]]
** [[Harga's House of Ribs]], owned by [[Harga]]

* [[Bay of Mante]] (mentioned)

* [[Klatch]] (mentioned)

* [[Klatchistan]] (mentioned), there's a promising war there

* [[Sto Lat]]
** [[Wall Street]], where Cutwell lives (until he's transferred to the castle)
** [[The Quene's Head/Duke's Head|Quene's Hed]] aka [[The Quene's Head/Duke's Head|Duke's Head]] (depending on which reality you're in; presumably the King's Head before King Olerve died)
** [[Sto Lat Castle]]

* [[Cori Celesti]] (mentioned)

* [[Great Nef]] (mentioned), Ysabell's parents died there
** The [[Light Dams]]

* [[Pseudopolis]] (mentioned)

* [[Krull]] (mentioned)
** The [[Edge]] (mentioned)
** [[Hakrull River]]

* [[Carrack Mountains]] (mentioned)

* [[El-Kinte]] (mentioned)

* [[Dungeon Dimensions]] (mentioned)

* [[Agatean Empire]] (mentioned)
** [[Bes Pelargic]] (mentioned)

* [[Tsort]] (mentioned)
** [[River Tsort]] (mentioned)
** [[Pyramid|Pyramids]] of [[Tsort]] (mentioned)

[[Leshp]] (mentioned)

==Sentient Species==

*[[Humans]]
*[[Trolls]] (mentioned)

==Supernatural Entities==

*[[Death]]
*[[The gods|The Gods]] (mentioned)
*[[Dungeon Dimensions|Old Dark Gods from the Dungeon Dimensions]] (mentioned)
*[[Tooth Fairy]] (mentioned)
*[[Sandman]] (mentioned)
*Water Sprite (mentioned)

== Things and Concepts ==

* [[reannual plant]]s
* [[Hogswatch]], time frame at start of book
* [[Granny Weatherwax's Ramrub Invigoratore]] and Passion's Philtre, a potion accidentally consumed by Cutwell
* [[Aurora Coriolis]]
* [[Shield of Passion]] ointment, a form of birth control
* [[Maidens' Longstop]], a potion
* [[pizza]]
* [[Caroc Cards]]
* [[Ching Aling]]
* [[stardrip]], a kind of drink
* [[scumble]]
* [[Brass Gongs]] of [[Leshp]]
* [[Book of the Magick of Alberto Malich the Mage]], a book by Albert that first alerts Mort that Death's butler is more than he appears to be
* [[Rag Week]], a time when Albert's statue is traditionally (albeit unceremoniously) defiled
* [[Rite of AshkEnte]] (when Albert says this backwards many years ago, he summons himself to Death, instead of keeping Death away from himself; he later uses it to summon Mort)
* Ankh-Morpork [[Chamber of Commerce]]/[[Guild of Merchants]] (mentioned)
* [[Serpent Dance]], Discworld equivalent of the {{wp|conga_line|conga}}.
* [[Peach Corniche]], a type of drink
* Drinks sampled by Death
** [[Melon Brandy]]
** [[Spring Cordial]] (contains wasps)
** [[Old Overcoat]]
** [[Amanita Liquor]]
* [[Klatchian migratory bog truffle]]: it's pale, brown, and warty, but it's food
* [[Monster Fun Grimoire]], which contains instructions (not very good ones) on how to make fireworks
* [[deepwater puff eel]], whose bladder and spleen may only eaten by those beloved of the gods (though it suspiciously sounds like [[bloat]] could come from this animal as well)
* [[Smoking Mirror of Grism]]

==External links==
[http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/mort.html ''Mort'' Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File]

{{series|before=Equal Rites|series=Discworld|after=Sourcery}}
{{series|series=Death|after=Reaper Man}}

[[Category:Discworld Series|Mort]]
[[Category:Death Series|Mort]]
[[de:Buch:Gevatter Tod]]

Leshp

2015-03-19T15:20:03Z

Batmanwj:

Humans consider Leshp (an island, as [[Detritus]] remarks, without its teeth in) an uninhabited continent that occasionally comes back up to surface, and when Leshp does come up, countries around the [[Circle Sea]] fight over it. [[Ankh-Morpork]] on the [[Sto Plains]] and [[Klatch (country)|Klatch]] on the continent Klatch almost had a war over Leshp during the events of {{J}}, where it was discovered simultaneously by the Morporkian fisherman [[Solid Jackson]] and the Klatchian fisherman [[Greasy Arif]]. Unfortunately, regardless of the effort that these countries put in to secure Leshp, it always disappears again. Since Leshp spends most of its time underwater, it is in fact a city for the [[Curious squid]].The fabled brass gongs of Leshp can be heard far out to sea on stormy nights, as mentioned in [[Mort]].
==Annotation==

Leshp may be based in part on the [[Roundworld]] island of [[wikipedia:Ferdinandea|Ferdinandea]], an island near Sicily that rises above sea level after periodic volcanic eruptions, only to disappear again after it is sufficiently eroded. When it made its most recent appearance in 1831, it was claimed as territory by four nations (The United Kingdom, France, pre-Italian-unification Naples, and Spain).

Well, that explains the territorial feuding part, yes. However a city of squid-creatures that has lots of squiddy art about the place and occasionally rises to bedevil humanity also echoes R'lyeh, home of Great Cthulhu.

To add a third level of annotation, a theme of Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson's '''''Illuminatus!''''' trilogy concerns the world being brought to the brink of World War Three, over ownership of the hitherto disregarded island of Fernando Poo. Manipulated by the evil Illuminati, the Russians, the Chinese and the Americans each claim that their legitimate sphere of interest is being interfered with, and one of the others must have destabilised a friendly sovereign nation by starting that ''coup d'état''. (Meanwhile, the British don't want another bloody damn war, not when we've only just paid for the last one, North Sea Oil's coming on stream, and the balance of payments is straightening itself out). It falls to the intrepid crew of the free submarine ''Leif Eriksson'' to sort things out... a submarine, whose crew are on a mission to prevent war breaking out over ownership of a previously unknown and disregarded island. Hmmm...

"Fernando Poo" really exists, in the Bight of Africa on the Atlantic coast. Initially named after its Portuguese discoverer - a man with something in common with [[Ponce da Quirm]] - independence saw it retitled Sao Principe. Shea and Wilson use it as a gateway to a Lovecraftian world of squid-creatures, Unmentionables, and makers of eldrich and evil artistic artefacts.

Strangeness upon strangeness. The current edition of strange-things magazine ''Fortean Times'' (FT297, February 2013) has an article about the strange case of the Pacific atoll Sandy island, nominally halfway between Australia and Frence Caledonia. It has appeared on maps since the middle 1800's, and its existence was confirmed to the extent that it appears on Royal Navy sea-charts. It also appears in the ''Times Atlas of the World'' and even Google online maps list it. Its ownership is not disputed - it belongs in perpetuity to France as an overseas dependency. The only problem is - it has disappeared. An Australian Navy surveying ship reported nearly 5,000 feet of sea where the island was reported to be. Puzzlement has been expressed.

[[Category:Discworld geography]]
[[Category:Locations]]
[[de:Leshp]]

Discworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki - User contributions [en]

Book:Mort

Leshp