Book:Interesting Times

Interesting Times
Cover art by Josh Kirby
Co-author(s)
Illustrator(s)
Publisher	Victor Gollancz
Publication date	November 1994
ISBN	9780575058002
Pages	351
RRP
Main characters	Rincewind, Twoflower, Cohen the Barbarian
Series	Rincewind Series
Annotations	View
Notes
All data relates to the first UK edition.

Blurb

Mighty Battles! Revolution! Death! War! (and his sons Terror and Panic, and daughter Clancy).

The oldest and most inscrutable empire on the Discworld is in turmoil, brought about by the revolutionary treatise What I Did On My Holidays. Workers are uniting, with nothing to lose but their water buffaloes. Warlords are struggling for power. War (and Clancy) are spreading through the ancient cities.

And all that stands in the way of terrible doom for everyone is:

Rincewind the Wizzard, who can't even spell the word 'wizard' ...

Cohen the barbarian hero, five foot tall in his surgical sandals, who has had a lifetime's experience of not dying ...

...and a very special butterfly.

Characters

Main Characters

• Rincewind, wizard
• Twoflower
• Cohen the Barbarian and the Silver Horde:
  • Boy Willie, the only member of the horde under 80
  • Caleb the Ripper
  • Ronald Saveloy, or "Teach"
  • Truckle the Uncivil
  • Old Vincent
  • Mad Hamish
• Lord Hong, head of the Hong family, and the Emperor's Grand Vizier
• Red Army (both as an army of mostly children [some named below], and as an army of nameless golems):
  • Four Big Sandal and Three Maximum Luck, slaves rescued by Rincewind and Cohen
  • Pretty Butterfly, also Twoflower's older and wiser daughter
  • Lotus Blossom, also Twoflower's younger and more naive daughter
  • Two Fire Herb, traitor & agent provocateur
  • Three Yoked Oxen, who is tortured
  • One Favourite Pearl, a young girl whose parents were killed by the feuding warlords
• The Luggage

Minor Characters

• Gods
  • Fate
  • Offler
  • Blind Io
  • The Lady
• Feuding families, whose heads form the Serene Council:
  • Hongs
  • Sungs
  • Tangs
  • McSweeneys
  • Fangs
• Quantum Weather Butterfly (Papilio tempestae)
• Havelock Vetinari
• Wizards
  • Mustrum Ridcully
  • The Dean
  • Chair of Indefinite Studies
  • Lecturer in Recent Runes
  • Librarian
  • Ponder Stibbons
  • Hex
  • The Bursar
  • Senior Wrangler
• Death
• War and his family
  • Terror, War's son
  • Panic, War's son
  • Clancy, War's daughter-- not quite a horseman, but a member of the Pony Club
• Emperor of the Agatean Empire
• Cut-me-own-Throat Dibbler
• Mr Boggis, Thieves Guild instructor
• Wilkins, Thieves Guild student
• Imperial Guard
• Captain Three High Trees, inadvertently dispatched by Rincewind
• District Commissioner Kee
• Disembowel-Meself-Honourably Dibhala
• Five Tongs, District Commissioner of Bes Pelargic
• Two Little Wang, the Emperor's Master of Protocol
• Six Beneficent Winds, Deputy District Administrator and Collector of Revenues for the Langtang district
• One Big River
• Four Big Horns, who is promoted to Lord Chamberlain
• Horsemen of Panic:
  • Misinformation
  • Rumour
  • Gossip
  • Denial

Cameos and Mentions

• Ly Tin Wheedle, philosopher
• "Bloody Stupid" Johnson (mentioned)
• Drumknott, Vetinari's clerk
• Reader in Woolly Thinking (mentioned), faculty position at Unseen University
• Coin (mentioned, as are the events of Sourcery)
• Adrian Turnipseed (mentioned)
• Modo
• Mad Lord Snapcase (mentioned)
• Spooner Boggis (mentioned)
• Thog the Butcher (mentioned), a barbarian hero who wasn't invited to join the horde due to his incontinence
• One Sun Mirror, first Emperor of the Agatean Empire
• Mr Whu, a dead person
• Nine Orange Trees
• Four White Fox, guard captain who is killed by Cohen
• Bruce the Hoon and his Skeletal Riders (mentioned), Truckle compares Cohen unfavorably to this barbarian hero/leader
• Noodle Jackson, trouble-making wizard from Rincewind's youth
• Seven Lucky Logs, a lucky peasant
• Leonard of Quirm (mentioned)
• P'gi Su, former Emperor, who had a famous Talking Vase, and whose name sounds like the English name "Peggy Sue", perhaps a reference to the Roundworld song of the same name
• Sung Ts'uit Li, who had a famous Jade Head
• Mad Bishop of Pseudopolis, bathed by 15 naked maidens, killed by Boy Willie
• Schz Yu, who had a legendary Diamond Coffin, and whose name sounds a bit like "says you".
• Three Solid Frogs, a painter
• Jade Fan, concubine and model for Three Solid Frogs
• Two Streams, Peach Petal, and Jade Night, ladies at court of the Emperor
• Green Necromancer of the Night, harmed by Cohen
• Lord Nine Mountains, dies from the poison intended for the Silver Horde
• Famine and Pestilence (mentioned, but absent from the proceedings)
• Horsemen of Common Cold (mentioned):
  • Sniffles
  • Chesty
  • Nostril
  • Lack of Tissues
• Horsemen of public holiday:
  • Storm
  • Gales
  • Sleet
  • Contra-flow
• Corporal Toshi, member of the Imperial Army
• Three Pink Pig and Five White Fang, Privates (approximately) in the Imperial Army
• Fafa, dwarf who made Boy Willie's sword
• Mr Schism, member of alchemist's guild who blew himself up (non-fatally)
• Voltan the Indestructible (mentioned), dead barbarian hero
• Immortal Jenkins (mentioned), dead barbarian hero
• Hrun (mentioned)
• Crowdie the Strong, barbarian hero eaten by Terrible Man-eating Sloth of Clup
• Organdy Sloggo, dead barbarian hero
• Slasher Mungo, presumed dead barbarian hero (only his head was found in Skund)
• Gosbar the Wake, barbarian hero who ironically died in his sleep
• Big Nurker, dead barbarian hero
• S'ang Dynasty, former Imperial family
• Captain Nong, killed by the Luggage

Concepts, Items, Etc.

• God games (many refer to Shakespeare plays)
  • Mad Kings, reference to King Lear
  • Star-Crossed Lovers, reference to Romeo and Juliet
  • Tempest-Wrecked Mariners, reference to The Tempest
  • Floods and Droughts
  • Mighty Empires, game played in this book
• The many meanings of Arghh!
• Pointless Albatross, bird that flies back and forth between Ankh-Morpork and the Agatean Empire for no compelling reason
• dried frog pills
• Hex's peripherals:
  • Phase of the Moon Generator
  • Unreal Time Clock, parodying the real-time clock most computers have
• Basic Firemaking, course taught at Unseen University
• Rowing Brown, award won by Ridcully
• Century of the Fruitbat, current century (Ankh-Morpork calendar)
• Silicon Anti-Defamation League (mentioned)
• pig's ear soup, peasant dish
• Art of War, a doctrine penned by either One Tzu Sung, Three Sun Sung, or possibly some unsung genius. It consists of five rules and nine principles (and perhaps other things).
• What I Did On My Holidays, revolutionary book
• Hunghungese dishes popular in Ankh-Morpork:
  • Dish of Glistening Brown Stuff
  • Dish of Glistening Crunchy Orange Stuff
  • Dish of Soft White Lumps
• Shibo Yangcong-san, game played in Agatean Empire that literally translates to Cripple Mister Onion
• rhinu, unit of Currency in the Agatean Empire
• The Ankh-Morpork Dream, parody of the The American Dream
• Ying, an Agatean holiday
• Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, Discworld version of Roundworld concept with the same name, but this one was invented by Sangrit Heisenberg, a wizard
• Guilds (mentioned)
  • Engravers' Guild
  • Assassins' Guild
  • Plumbers' Guild
  • Alchemists' Guild
• Golden Rules, legal code for the Agatean Empire
• Singing Sword of Wong
• tsimo wrestling, parodying Sumo wrestling
• Battle of Koom Valley (mentioned), Hamish was a mercenary
• Flume's Third Equation and Turffe's Law, used by Ponder to explain Hex's foul-up in returning Rincewind

Locations

• Circle Sea
  • Ankh-Morpork
    • The Unseen University
      • Room 3B (mentioned)
      • Uncommon Room (most universities, of course, have a "common room")
      • Tower of Art (mentioned)
    • Sator Square
    • Brass Bridge (mentioned)
    • Broad Way (mentioned, as Broadway)
  • Ephebe (mentioned)
  • Tsort (mentioned)
  • Omnia (mentioned)
  • Klatch (mentioned)
  • Quirm (mentioned)
  • Howondaland (mentioned), Ankh-Morpork imports tea from there
  • Al Khali (mentioned)
  • Skund (mentioned)
• Counterweight Continent
  • The Agatean Empire
    • Hunghung
      • Forbidden City
        • Summer Palace, where the Emperor lives during the summer
          • Throne Room
      • Imperial Square
      • Hung River (mentioned)
    • Winter Palace, where the Emperor does not live during the summer
    • Sum Dim, city where McSweeney has 30 rebels executed
    • the Great Wall, which surrounds the Agatean Empire
    • Bes Pelargic (mentioned)
      • Street of Heavens (mentioned), main street is Bes Pelargic
    • W'ung (mentioned), a district
    • Bhangbhangduc (mentioned)
    • Tingling (mentioned)
• XXXX
• Ee, lost city
• Start (mentioned), had Mad Snake Priests
• The Place Where The Sun Does Not Shine (mentioned)
• Nadgers, mountain range near the hub (in addition to being a body part reference)
• Clup (mentioned)
• Rim Ocean (mentioned)
• Trob (mentioned)

Roundworld References

Direct references to Roundworld:

• Noh theatre
• Esperanto, an invented universal language
• Pass the Parcel, a children's game
• fuzzy logic, a mathematical paradigm

Annotations

• "'So they'll sort of be in charge of themselves, will they?', [said Rincewind]. 'Indeed,' said Lotus Blossom. 'By means of the People's Committee,' said Butterfly [...] 'My word,' [Rincewind] said [...] 'I had this sudden feeling [...] that there won't be all that many water buffalo string holders on the People's Committee. In fact... I get this kind of... voice telling me that a lot of the People's Committee, correct me if I'm wrong, are standing in front of me right now?' 'Initially, of course,' said Butterfly. 'The peasants can't even read and write.'" - the Red Army's plans sound a lot like the Bolshevik revolution

• "[21] Much later, Rincewind had to have therapy for this. It involved a pretty woman, a huge plate of potatoes and a big stick with a nail in it." - This footnote appears fairly early in the book, and sort of gives away that Rincewind will at least survive the battle, since the therapy occurs "much later".

• [Harper PB p177] "So...this is the new Great Wizard of...whom we have read so much, is...it?" I suppose it's wishful thinking, but the Japanese film Gamera features the line "Maybe it's the flying saucer that I...heard them...talk...about...so much...late...ly?", which mercilessly mocked in the 1991 season of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and was used as a callback in several other episodes.

• [Corgi PB, p195] The exchange between the sisters Pretty Butterfly and Lotus Blossum, debating the non-appearance of traitor Two Fire Herb.

• Lotus Blossom innocently says "You mean he had been caught already?"

• This echoes Winston Smith in Orwell's 1984, when in prison he is brought before O'Brien, who he innocently thinks is another dissident. In fact O'Brien is an agent provocateur whose role is to draw out sedition by pretending to be a rebel.

• "O'Brien! You mean they got you too?"

• O'Brien smiles unpleasantly and says "Oh no, Winston. They got me a long time ago", leaving the awful truth to dawn...

Adaptations

Theatre

Adapted by Stephen Briggs into a stage play in 2005.

Gallery

First Edition Cover by Josh Kirby	Book Proof	'Letterbox' Hardback	Paperback 2004	Audio Cassette	Audio CD	Cover by Michael Sabanosh
US Cover	Paperback 2012	Unseen Library Edition	Collectors Library Edition	Paperback 2022

External Links

Interesting Times Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File

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