The Truth

still standing. He took pictures of the white-haired old lady and the proud Captain Carrot and, in his excitement, of his thumb.
    It was a good story all round. And William was halfway through writing his part of it back at the Times when he remembered.
    He’d watched it happening. And he’d reached for his notebook . That was a worrying thought, he said.
    “So?” said Sacharissa, from her side of the desk. “How many L ’s in ‘gallant’?”
    “Two,” said William. “I mean, I didn’t try to do anything. I thought: This is a Story, and I have to tell it.”
    “Yep,” said Sacharissa, still bowed over her writing. “We’ve been press-ganged.”
    “But it’s not—”
    “Look at it like this,” said Sacharissa, starting a fresh page. “Some people are heroes. And some people jot down notes.”
    “Yes, but that’s not very—”
    Sacharissa glanced up, and flashed him a smile.
    “Sometimes they’re the same person,” she said.
    This time it was William who looked down modestly.
    “You think that’s really true?” he said.
    She shrugged. “Really true? Who knows? This is a newspaper, isn’t it? It just has to be true until tomorrow.”
    William felt the temperature rise. Her smile had really been attractive.
    “Are you…sure?”
    “Oh, yes. True until tomorrow is good enough for me.”
    And behind her the big black vampire of a printing press waited to be fed, and to be brought alive in the dark of the night for the light of the morning. It chopped the complexities of the world into little stories, and it was always hungry.
    And it needed a double-column story for page 2, William remembered.
    And, a few inches under his hand, a woodworm chewed its way contentedly through the ancient timber. Reincarnation enjoys a joke as much as the next philosophical hypothesis. As it chewed, the woodworm thought: This is —ing good wood!
    Because nothing has to be true forever. Just for long enough, to tell you the truth.

About the Author
    Terry Pratchett’s novels have sold more than thirty million (give or take a few million) copies worldwide. He lives in England.
    www.terrypratchettbooks.com
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    A bestselling sensation in America and around the globe, Terry Pratchett’s profoundly irreverent novels are consistent number one bestsellers in England, and have been translated into twenty-seven languages.
    Discover the world of Terry Pratchett.
    It’s a lot like our own. Only different.
    Outstanding Acclaim for
The Truth
    “Pratchett’s witty reach is even longer than usual here, from Pulp Fiction to His Girl Friday. Readers who’ve never visited Discworld before may find themselves laughing out loud, even as they cheer on the good guys, while longtime fans are sure to call this Pratchett’s best one yet.”
    Publishers Weekly (*Starred Review*)
    “An engaging, surreal satire…Pratchett’s Monty Python -like plots are almost impossible to describe. His talent for characterization and dialogue and his pop-culture allusions steal the show.”
    Chicago Tribune
    “Offers more entertainment per page than anything this side of Wodehouse.”
    Washington Post Book World
    “With his humor and endless invention, Terry Pratchett has rightly dominated the fantasy genre. The Truth shows that he is still the master. Twenty-five novels into the Discworld series, and Terry Pratchett’s imagination shows no signs of flagging. On the contrary, The Truth is an unmitigated delight and very, very funny.”
    The Times, London
    and Terry Pratchett
    “Trying to summarize the plot of a Pratchett novel is like describing Hamlet as a play about a troubled guy with an Oedipus complex and a murderous uncle.”
    Barbara Mertz
    “Superb popular entertainment.”
    Washington Post Book World
    “Pratchett has now moved beyond the limits of humorous fantasy, and should be recognized as one of the more significant contemporary English-language satirists.”
    Publishers Weekly
    “Think J.R.R. Tolkien with a sharper, more satiric edge.”
    Houston Chronicle
    “Discworld takes the classic fantasy universe through its logical, and comic evolution.”
    Cleveland Plain Dealer
    “Truly original…Discworld is more complicated and satisfactory than Oz…Has the energy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the inventiveness of Alice in Wonderland…Brilliant!”
    A. S. Byatt
    “Humorously entertaining…subtly