Book:Discworld's Assassins' Guild Diary 2000
| Discworld Assassins' Guild Yearbook and Diary 2000 | |
| |
| Co-author(s) | Stephen Briggs |
| Illustrator(s) | Paul Kidby |
| Publisher | Victor Gollancz |
| Publication date | 1999 |
| ISBN | 0575066873 |
| Pages | 128 |
| RRP | £9.99 |
| Main characters | |
| Series | [[:Category:|]] |
| Annotations | View |
| Notes | |
| All data relates to the first UK edition. | |
One of the splendid miscellany of books about Discworld with no specific novel value, but with background details in that no fan would dream of not knowing, such as the traditions of the Assassins' Guild, full lists of teaching staff, high days and holidays, and famous dates and alumni of the Guild.
This book was first to introduce female assassins as students (though Pyramids several years prior has Lady T'malia as one of the teachers) and the new Black Widow House, as well as the characters of Miss Alice Band and Mme les Deux-Épées, and later in the Discworld short story "Minutes of the Meeting to Form the Proposed Ankh-Morpork Federation of Scouts" in A Blink of the Screen, to then becoming characters and a playable Assassins' Guild House in Discworld MUD.
Most of these details have since been incorporated into the greatly expanded Assassins' Guild entry in The New Discworld Companion, as has happened with other yearbooks and diaries, but there is at least one surprising omission of detail which did not cross to The New Discworld Companion: the back-story of Madame Deux-Epées which appears in this diary was left out. Which leads the reader to wonder if other things were missed too.
A translated version was released in 2001 in Germany as Der Scheibenwelt-Kalender 2001. It appears to be identical in format to the English-language version with the original Kidby pencil drawings, and most of the German text appears to be a "straight" translation of the English. However, the bilingual reader (or the reader trying to stretch their comprehension of German) is advised to note that some originally-English concepts appear to be difficult to render in German, and many of the character names in German are divergent from the English. Examples of this include:
- Lord Downey - Lord Witwenmacher
- Miss Smith-Rhodes - Frau Richtsgutan.
- Jasper Chrysoprase - F.D.R. Hauer
- Mr Lamister - Herr Jammer
- Professor Stone - Professor Stein (OK, some are easy)
Consult the German Wiki (many pages have a lower-left link to "Deutsch") for further information.
Memorandum To All Staff
From the Head Master
I must tell you all that, following the experiment last term, the Guild Council has voted to accept young ladies on the roll this year. I am aware that a number of you have strong feelings on this issue, but there you are. We must be seen to move with the times.
We are also taking on our first troll. Again, I am aware of the arguments. However, the Chrysoprase family is paying for the new Alchemy laboratory and I have met with the young troll in question. He has an exuberant tendency to violence that only needs harnessing to practical purposes for him to become a valuable member of the Guild.
I am sure you will all be pleased to learn that no less than AM$1,100 was raised for a memorial plaque to Mr Stanley 'Touché' Danpipe (Fencing) whose clean death at the end of last term at the hands of P.Phelps, Lower Fifth, was a lesson to us all in both style and duty. It will be engraved with his last words, which were 'Very good, boy. A marked improvement since last year. Aaargh.'
Downey
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