“The next Discworld novel is called Thud—the word has a nice, noirish feel to it, like the sound of a falling body, and it’s a political murder mystery, a (Commander Sam) Vimes novel. There’s civil war brewing, the Watch is falling apart, things are boiling over everywhere in the city… but Vimes has to get home each night to read ‘Where’s My Cow?’ to his infant son…

“After that, I’m writing Wintersmith, the next ‘Wee Free Men’ story.” This led to a humorous anecdote about how he substituted a chocolate for the Carnegie Medal he’d won. Biting into it at the awards ceremony, he provoked a profound silence instead of the laughter he’d expected, when everyone wondered if the medal had been chocolate all along.

Vulnerant omnes, ultima necat!