Extract from Small Gods (graphic novel)

TPS: 162x260mm (+boards +french groove: 168x266mm)

I

n the beginning was the Word. And the Word was: ‘Hey, you!’

This is the Discworld, after all, and religion is a controversial business. Everyone has their own opinions, and their own gods, all elbowing for space at the top. In such a competitive situation, it’s not exactly helpful to be reduced to the form of a tortoise, a shape far below god-like status in anyone’s book.

SPINE: 14mm FIRM

The Great God Om, tortoise, needs followers, and fast. Brutha the novice is his Chosen One – or at least the only One available.

He wants peace and justice and brotherly love. He also wants the Inquisition to stop torturing him now, please . . .

Follow the misadventures of Om and Brutha in fully illustrated form for the first time in this new adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s bestselling novel.

£12.99

w w w.t e r r y p r a t c h e t t . co . u k

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Ter r y Pratchett’s

SMALL GODS A DISCWORLD GRAPHIC NOVEL

A d a p t a t i o n by R ay Fr i e s e n

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For Louis and Welli. May Om Be With You. Always.

TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS 61–63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA www.transworldbooks.co.uk Transworld is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com Small Gods was originally published in Great Britain by Victor Gollancz Ltd, © Terry and Lyn Pratchett, 1992.

This adaptation first published in Great Britain by Doubleday, an imprint of Transworld Publishers.

Copyright © 2016 Terry and Lyn Pratchett.

Discworld® is a trademark registered by Terry Pratchett.

The right of Terry Pratchett to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9780857522962 Printed and bound in China

Penguin Random House is committed to a sustainable future for our business, our readers and our planet. This book is made from Forest Stewardship Council® certified paper.

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Let us consider

the

eagle and

the

tortoise.

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The tortoise’s horizons are minuscule.

It has survived by being no threat to anyone, and too much trouble to eat.

!

EEEEE

KREEE

?!?

By contrast, the eagle’s horizons reach to the edge of the world. It has thrived by being lightning-fast razor-sharp death on wings.

There’s good eating on tortoises, but considering the effort involved, there’s better eating on practically anything else.

No one knows why the eagle hunts this way.

Perhaps the eagle simply delights in tormenting the tortoise.

Perhaps this crude natural selection will one day result in a tortoise that can fly . . .

4

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AND LO IT CAME TO PASS

IN THE YEAR OF THE NOTIONAL SERPENT

IN THE TIME OF

THE EXPECTATION

OF THE EIGHTH PROPHET THAT THE

GREAT

GOD

OM BRUTHA S PA K E U N T O

(THE CHOSEN ONE)

Pssst!

Hey you!

Huh?

5

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Did you say something Brother Lu-Tze?

SHRUG

Yea, The Great God Om Spake Again Unto Brutha (The Chosen One): You there, boy!

What are you, deaf?

Get thee behind me, demon!

I AM behind you.

AUGGGGHHHH!

6

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. . . AUGGHH!

There is an important difference between ‘Things That Happen’ and ‘History’.

History has to be observed.

Cared for. Controlled.

In a chaotic universe* such as this one, it is all too easy for the flow of History to go in the wrong direction when no one is looking. *And I think you’ll find that all the best, most interesting universes are the chaotic ones . . .

Perhaps, during an important battle, a General’s orders are misheard . . .

Fall back!

You heard him! Attack!

Or perhaps a vital messenger gets waylaid by men with sticks and a cashflow problem . . . *Huff!

Puff!*

Har har!

Shhh!

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps!

And so, history has its caretakers . . .

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Oi Dong Monastery.

Spiritual home to the Fighting Order of Wen the Eternally Surprised.

Better known, (albeit secretly) as the Monks of History.

Hmm . . . *

*Translated from Ancient Agatean Yoohoo!

Grand Abbot?

Cooeee!

Sip.

FFFT!

. . .

LL RO OLL R

!

COUGH

AHEM! !

COUGH

Ah, Lu-Tze.

Wotcha, your Venerableishness. You sent for me?

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I am sending you to Omnia, on the Klatchian coast.

Haven’t been there since the business with that Ossory fella, what, 700 years back?

The Prophet Ossory Assignment was 696 years ago.

Now, there are some very tense pressures at work. Free will and predestination are colliding. Much todo about the power of symbols. The situation must be observed very . . . carefully.

I shall take my broom of course, and my bonsai mountains.

God speed to you.

The climate will be good for them.

Which God did you have in mind? One of the zippier sort with wings on their sandals, I should hope.

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He had to watch a couple of battles and an assassination attempt along the way, just to make sure they weren’t random events.

It took Lu-Tze four years to reach Omnia.

Philosophers are fond of asking ‘If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to observe it, does it still make a sound?’

What these philosopher types fail to realize is that in a properly organized forest there is ALWAYS someone around to do a bit of observing.

Owls, squirrels, ants . . . even the trees themselves are paying attention, whilst they quietly gossip and photosynthesize.

Go deep enough into the forest, and you’ll find the dark places where the Small Gods lurk.

Billions of them, chittering away like mad, never being worshipped by anything larger than bacteria.

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A few, however, go on to greater things . . .

For it is belief that gives a god its power.

The faith of humanity is like rocket fuel.

. . . AUGGGHHHH!

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