Heh. I haven't read 'Going Postal' yet, but I've been in love with Vetinari for ages. A shame there is so little Vetinari fanfic... it was very frustrating going through that first obsession without finding much to feed it!
Oh, if you're a Vetinari girl, you've got to read "Going Postal"! He makes a couple of truly memorable appearances there. I've always liked the Patrician, but after "Going Postal" I'm absolutely smitten.
copperbadge has written a few Vetinari fics, but you might know that already.
I read a few excerpts, but I can't afford the hardcover at the moment, so I'll have to wait until it comes out in paperback. I think I truly fell in love with Vetinari at the end of 'Guards! Guards!' because of this passage:
'Down there,' he said, 'are people who will follow any dragon, worship any god, ignore any iniquity. All out of a kind of humdrum, everyday badness. Not the really high, creative loathsomeness of the great sinners, but a sort of mass-produced darkness of the soul. Sin, you might say, without a trace of originality. They accept evil not because they say yes, but because they don't say no. I'm sorry if this offends you,' he added, patting the captain's shoulder, 'but you fellows really need us.' (...) Vimes paused at the door. 'Do you believe all that, sir?' he said. 'About the endless evil and the sheer blackness?' 'Indeed, indeed,' said the Patrician, turning over the page. 'It is the only logical conclusion.' 'But you get out of bed every morning, sir?' 'Hmm? Yes? What is your point?' 'I'd just like to know why, sir.' 'Oh, do go away, Vimes. There's a good fellow.'
I've read any bit of Vetinari fic I could get my hands on, including copperbadge's.
I got "Going Postal" for Christmas, thank God (and my brother). I downloaded it a few weeks ago, but I can't truly enjoy reading a novel on screen. I'm oldfashioned that way.
I don't remember when I developed a crush on Vetinari - it happened so gradually, I was in the middle before I knew I had begun. But "Night Watch" and now "Going Postal" have cemented that affection. He says so many intelligent things and he's got so much style. And a "pianist's hands".
I've got to get "Feet of Clay". Is one of the few novels I don't own, and it was one I very much enjoyed. Apart from Vetinari, I also like the golems.
Do you print out novel-length fanfic, then, or do you just not read stories that long? I'm completely used to reading things on screen now.
Vetinari is such a fascinating character, intelligent and slightly dark and ruthlessly practical, and he just hits all my buttons. (& he's amazing in 'Feet of Clay', too - out of commission for most of the time, but still managing to run the show his way.)
I've got no problem whatsoever reading fics on screen. My brain makes this weird distinction between "literature", which has to be enjoyed in form of a book, and "just some stuff that can be read in passing".
I can read novels on screen, though, if I don't care much about them and if I know that I would skip passages anyway. But if I truly want to indulge in a story, I want the book.
I don't like printing out at all. Dunno why. I've never truly enjoyed any fic that I printed out to read.
What I love about Vetinari is that he has this reputation of being a bloodthirsty, ruthless ruler (scorpion pit), but we never really see him do anything particularly bloodthirsty. He's pragmatic, but not unneccesserily brutal.
And, of course, he knows how to pull the strings and push people's buttons. That's not a bad quality in a man.
BTW, I can send you the Going Postal file I downloaded, if you like.
Oooh, if you would? What do you want for that, my firstborn? (Something I can promise safely, I suppose... ;-) ) My e-mail is doratrobadora [at] yahoo [dot] de.
I never print out fic either, and with just reading it doesn't make much difference for me whether it's on screen or on paper, but with 'real literature' (yeah, right) I like to be able to make annotations in the margin, so it has to be books for that.
Vetinari's reputation is a fascinating thing. He must have got it from somewhere, yet despite the cracks about mimes and scorpion pits we never see him do anything worse than using people's own weaknesses against them. I like characters who come out on top by cleverness and thinking. He's the embodiment of everything Slytherins should be, not that JKR is ever going to write them that way.
Vetinari probably worked for many years on carefully designing his reputation. Aided by Lady Margolotta and his aunt whatshername, the Madam from "Night Watch", most likely.
In a way, Vetinari's like Granny, who also has that reputation which she carefully cultivates. I wonder whether Pratchett will ever grant us a glimpse into Vetinari's mind, too. That could turn out rather scary, though.
Part of the attraction of Vetinari is that we never quite do know what is going on in his mind; he's an enigma, and I'm not sure how well he'd survive losing that mystique. Then again, Pterry could probably make anything work.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-28 01:21 pm (UTC)However, now I want more Vetinari/Drumknott.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-28 01:39 pm (UTC)The terrier might be dead; he was 16 a few years ago.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-29 06:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-29 07:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-29 07:56 am (UTC)'Down there,' he said, 'are people who will follow any dragon, worship any god, ignore any iniquity. All out of a kind of humdrum, everyday badness. Not the really high, creative loathsomeness of the great sinners, but a sort of mass-produced darkness of the soul. Sin, you might say, without a trace of originality. They accept evil not because they say yes, but because they don't say no. I'm sorry if this offends you,' he added, patting the captain's shoulder, 'but you fellows really need us.'
(...)
Vimes paused at the door.
'Do you believe all that, sir?' he said. 'About the endless evil and the sheer blackness?'
'Indeed, indeed,' said the Patrician, turning over the page. 'It is the only logical conclusion.'
'But you get out of bed every morning, sir?'
'Hmm? Yes? What is your point?'
'I'd just like to know why, sir.'
'Oh, do go away, Vimes. There's a good fellow.'
I've read any bit of Vetinari fic I could get my hands on, including
no subject
Date: 2004-12-29 08:37 am (UTC)I don't remember when I developed a crush on Vetinari - it happened so gradually, I was in the middle before I knew I had begun. But "Night Watch" and now "Going Postal" have cemented that affection. He says so many intelligent things and he's got so much style. And a "pianist's hands".
I've got to get "Feet of Clay". Is one of the few novels I don't own, and it was one I very much enjoyed. Apart from Vetinari, I also like the golems.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-29 09:30 am (UTC)Vetinari is such a fascinating character, intelligent and slightly dark and ruthlessly practical, and he just hits all my buttons. (& he's amazing in 'Feet of Clay', too - out of commission for most of the time, but still managing to run the show his way.)
no subject
Date: 2004-12-29 09:43 am (UTC)I can read novels on screen, though, if I don't care much about them and if I know that I would skip passages anyway. But if I truly want to indulge in a story, I want the book.
I don't like printing out at all. Dunno why. I've never truly enjoyed any fic that I printed out to read.
What I love about Vetinari is that he has this reputation of being a bloodthirsty, ruthless ruler (scorpion pit), but we never really see him do anything particularly bloodthirsty. He's pragmatic, but not unneccesserily brutal.
And, of course, he knows how to pull the strings and push people's buttons. That's not a bad quality in a man.
BTW, I can send you the Going Postal file I downloaded, if you like.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-29 09:53 am (UTC)I never print out fic either, and with just reading it doesn't make much difference for me whether it's on screen or on paper, but with 'real literature' (yeah, right) I like to be able to make annotations in the margin, so it has to be books for that.
Vetinari's reputation is a fascinating thing. He must have got it from somewhere, yet despite the cracks about mimes and scorpion pits we never see him do anything worse than using people's own weaknesses against them. I like characters who come out on top by cleverness and thinking. He's the embodiment of everything Slytherins should be, not that JKR is ever going to write them that way.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-29 10:02 am (UTC)Vetinari probably worked for many years on carefully designing his reputation. Aided by Lady Margolotta and his aunt whatshername, the Madam from "Night Watch", most likely.
In a way, Vetinari's like Granny, who also has that reputation which she carefully cultivates. I wonder whether Pratchett will ever grant us a glimpse into Vetinari's mind, too. That could turn out rather scary, though.
Vetinari is very Slytherin, indeed.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-30 06:49 am (UTC)Part of the attraction of Vetinari is that we never quite do know what is going on in his mind; he's an enigma, and I'm not sure how well he'd survive losing that mystique. Then again, Pterry could probably make anything work.