Going Postal

First published on 25 September 2004 by Doubleday. It is the thirty-third Discworld novel and the first Moist von Lipwig book.

Yes — it is one of the best. Moist von Lipwig is a new character with no prior history in the series, the plot is completely self-contained, and the satire of corporate malfeasance is broadly accessible. Many readers start here.

The clacks is a semaphore-based communication network covering the Disc — towers with shutters that pass signals at speed. In Going Postal it has been acquired by a company that is running it at maximum profit while allowing the towers to decay, killing the operators. It is Pratchett's satire of deregulated privatization.

Going Postal was adapted as a two-part television film by Sky in 2010, starring Richard Coyle as Moist and Charles Dance as Vetinari. It received positive reviews.

Moist's arc is unusual in Pratchett: a villain protagonist who does not obviously feel guilt but whose actions gradually accumulate moral weight until he has to choose between the con and the thing he has accidentally built. Pratchett does not moralize — he simply shows the work.

Going Postal was a finalist for the 2005 Nebula Award for Best Novel and placed third in the 2005 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. It would also have been shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, but Pratchett withdrew it himself to avoid the stress of the ceremony ahead of that year's Worldcon. It did not win any of these.