Discworld

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This article is about the novels. For the Discworld itself see: Discworld (world). Diskworld, spelled with a "k", was a disk magazine for the Apple Macintosh, later renamed Softdisk for Mac.

Image:TCoM.cover.jpg Discworld is a series of thirty-four fantasy novels and a number of shorter works by Terry Pratchett set on the Discworld, a flat world on the back of a giant turtle that adheres (loosely) to the conventions of classical and current fantasy literature. The books are comic and satirical, and frequently parody ideas from Tolkien, Robert E. Howard and HP Lovecraft, as well as myth, folklore and fairy tales, often also using them to parallel current cultural, technological and scientific issues.

Since the first novel, The Colour of Magic (1983), the series has expanded, spawning related works including music inspired by the series, as well as cartoon and theatre adaptations. Newly released Discworld books regularly top The Sunday Times bestsellers list, with Pratchett being the UK's best-selling author in the 1990s, mainly on the strength of the Discworld. He has since been overtaken by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, but still holds the record for the most shoplifted books.

Discworld novels have also won awards such as the Prometheus Award and the Carnegie Medal. In the BBC's Big Read, four Discworld books were in the top 100, and a total of fourteen in the top 200.

Contents

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Published work

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The novels

The world has been chronicled through at least 34 novels and several short stories so far. The novels up to and including The Truth had cover art done by Josh Kirby (who died in October 2001), but only in the original British editions. The American editions, published by HarperCollins, do not feature Kirby's cover art. Recent British editions of Pratchett's older novels no longer feature Kirby's art. Since the death of Kirby, the covers have been designed by artist Paul Kidby.

Almost all of the Discworld novels have no chapter divisions. Instead, most of the time there are different storylines interwoven with one another. Going Postal did entirely the opposite, going so far as to include a prologue and epilogue along with brief teasers of what was to come in each chapter. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was divided into "books", as was Pyramids.

Many novels share the same lead characters and show their development over time. Some of the main characters of one book may also make a cameo appearance in another book where they are not the primary focus; for example, Samuel Vimes appears briefly in Going Postal. The books take place roughly in real time, and the characters' ages change to reflect the passing of years. The novels can be grouped into several story arcs, with characters or themes in common:

  • The Rincewind stories - These stories centre on a "wizzard" (the label on his hat) of sorts called Rincewind. The "of sorts" is because Rincewind is a complete failure at magic, but through a series of events is recognised as a wizard (for want of any other suitable term). The other wizards at the Unseen University are sometimes seen in these stories.
  • The Witches stories - These stories centre on the witches of Lancre, particularly Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Magrat Garlick, and later Agnes Nitt.
  • The Death stories - These stories centre on Death in his usual personification as a skeleton in black robes with a scythe. Death's companions are his granddaughter Susan, his butler Albert and the Death of Rats, the rat equivalent of the human Death. In later novels Susan takes centre stage, although Death is still a key player. Death appears in all but one novel in the series, The Wee Free Men.
  • The City Watch stories - These stories centre on Ankh-Morpork's equivalent of a police force, the City Watch. Samuel Vimes leads the city watch, and among his officers are Carrot Ironfoundersson, Angua, Fred Colon, Detritus and "Nobby" Nobbs.
  • The Tiffany Aching stories - These stories centre on the character of Tiffany Aching, a young girl who has the unusual allies of the Nac Mac Feegle. The stories are primarily written as children's books. They also tie in to the Witches stories, especially A Hat Full of Sky.
  • The Miscellaneous stories - where none of the above five applies, or the main characters from them only appear briefly, or at least not as the main characters of the story in question. The best examples of these are possibly Small Gods and Pyramids.

This distinction is by no means clear-cut. Many stories (such as The Truth and Thief of Time) nominally stand alone but nonetheless tie in heavily with main storylines. A number of characters, such as the Unseen University staff, the Monks of History, or the Elves, appear prominently in many different storylines without having titles of their own. As it is, many of these 'stand alone' stories deal with the development of the city of Ankh-Morpork into a technologically advanced metropolis. For example, The Truth catalogues the rise of a newspaper service for the city, and Going Postal similarly deals with the development of a post service and the rise of the Discworld's telecommunications system called 'the clacks'.

The Discworld novels are as follows:

Name Group ISBN Notes Motifs
The Colour of Magic Rincewind Paperback: ISBN 0552124753 First published 1983. Came 93rd in the Big Read. Fantasy clichés; Role-playing games; tourism
The Light Fantastic Rincewind Paperback: ISBN 0552128481 First published 1986. Fantasy clichés; tourism
Equal Rites The Witches Paperback: ISBN 0552131059 First published 1987. Fantasy clichés, Gender equality
Mort Death Paperback: ISBN 0552131067 First published 1987. Came 65th in the Big Read. Death and its personification
Sourcery Rincewind Paperback: ISBN 0552131075 First published 1988. Fantasy Stories, Apocalypse, Kubla Khan
Wyrd Sisters The Witches Paperback: ISBN 0552134600 First published 1988. Came 135th in the Big Read. Shakespeare, especially Macbeth and Hamlet
Pyramids Miscellaneous Paperback: ISBN 0552134619 First published 1989. School stories, Egyptian mythology, Quantum physics, Greek philosophy
Guards! Guards! The City Watch Paperback: ISBN 0552134627 First published 1989. Came 69th in the Big Read. Cop novels (with some hints of film noir), show dog (dragon) breeding and dragons in general, fantasy stories, fraternal organisations, monarchists, million-to-one chances
Faust Eric Rincewind Paperback: ISBN 0575600012 First published 1990. Originally published as a 'Discworld story': larger format and fully illustrated by Josh Kirby; more recently reissued as a normal paperback with no illustrations. Faust, Dante's Inferno, Homer's Iliad
Moving Pictures Miscellaneous, The Wizards Paperback: ISBN 0552134635 First published 1990. Hollywood, the Cthulhu Mythos
Reaper Man Death, The Wizards Paperback: ISBN 0552134643 First published 1991. Came 126th in the Big Read. Death, Alien invasion SF, "Man with No Name" Westerns, Modernization, Shopping malls, Minority rights movements
Witches Abroad The Witches Paperback: ISBN 0552134651 First published 1991. Came 197th in the Big Read. Fairy tales, Voodoo, and tourism
Small Gods Miscellaneous, the History Monks Paperback: ISBN 0552138908 First published 1992. Came 102nd in the Big Read. Religion (especially Christianity and the Spanish Inquisition, with major thematic references to Nietzsche), Philosophy (especially Ancient Greek)
Lords and Ladies The Witches, The Wizards Paperback: ISBN 0552138916 First published 1992. Shakespeare especially A Midsummer Night's Dream, UFOs, Fairy lore
Men at Arms The City Watch Paperback: ISBN 0552140287 First published 1993. Came 148th in the Big Read. Cop novels, gun politics, racial prejudice, Tolkien-type 'kings in hiding'
Soul Music Death, The Wizards Paperback: ISBN 0552140295 First published 1994. Came 151st in the Big Read. Rock music, and related mythologising (A running joke, "He looks elvish", refers to the myth that Elvis is not dead). Also scenes taken from The Blues Brothers film (eg: "We're on a mission from Glod")
Interesting Times Rincewind, The Silver Horde Paperback: ISBN 0552142352 First published 1994. Imperial China, Communism
Maskerade The Witches Paperback: ISBN 0552142360 First published 1995. Opera, The Phantom of the Opera, the Gothic subculture,
Feet of Clay The City Watch Paperback: ISBN 0552142379 First published 1996. Cop Novels, Robots (RoboCop and Terminator 2: Judgment Day come in for particular attention), Jewish Mythology, atheism, murder (or, here, attempted assassination) mysteries, ethnicity and minorities, heraldry, slavery/serfdom
Hogfather Death, The Wizards Paperback: ISBN 0552145424 First published 1996. Came 137th in the Big Read. Christmas; Children's stories; religion as mythology, the christ myth, and settling the two big Questions for a child: Is there a Santa Claus (Hogfather), and What does the toothfairy do with all those teeth, anyway?, belief
Jingo The City Watch Hardback: ISBN 0575065400 - Paperback: ISBN 055214598X First published 1997. War, Diplomacy, Racism and Xenophobia, Multiculturalism, Jingoism, Imperialism, Leonardo da Vinci, submarines
The Last Continent Rincewind, The Wizards Hardback: ISBN 0385409893 - Paperback: ISBN 0552146145 First published 1998. Action/Adventure, Evolution/Creation, Australia
Carpe Jugulum The Witches Hardback: ISBN 0385409923 - Paperback: ISBN 0552146153 First published 1998. Vampire novels, Existentialism, Tradition versus Change, morality
The Fifth Elephant The City Watch Hardback: ISBN 0385409958 - Paperback: ISBN 0552146161 First published 1999. Came 153rd in the Big Read. Diplomacy, Eastern European folklore and literature, The Maltese Falcon, Political-conspiracy novels, petroleum, the global economy, national myths, werewolves
The Truth Miscellaneous, the City Watch Hardback: ISBN 0385601026 - Paperback: ISBN 0552147680 First published 2000. Came 193rd in the Big Read. Watergate, Newspapers, Neverwhere, Pulp Fiction, The Front Page and His Girl Friday
Thief of Time Death, the History Monks Hardback: ISBN 0385601883 - Paperback: ISBN 0552148407 First published 2001. Came 152nd in the Big Read. Wuxia and Martial arts films, Chaos, James Bond movies, Quantum Physics, The Fab Four and the Apocalypse
The Last Hero Rincewind, The Silver Horde Hardback: ISBN 057506885X - Paperback: ISBN 0575073772 First published 2001. Published in a larger format, fully illustrated by Paul Kidby. Legends, Prometheus, D&D, Conan the Barbarian, the Space shuttle, Apollo 13, the designs of Leonardo da Vinci, Catch-22
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents Miscellaneous Hardback: ISBN 0385601239 - Paperback: ISBN 055255202X First published 2001. A children's Discworld book. Winner of the 2001 Carnegie Medal. Beatrix Potter, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, The Secret of NIMH, Redwall
Night Watch The City Watch, the History Monks Hardback: ISBN 0385602642 - Paperback: ISBN 0552148997 First published 2002. Received the Prometheus Award in 2003. Came 73rd in the Big Read. Cop Novels, Historical novels (esp. Les Misérables), time travel, the French Revolution, the Peterloo Massacre, the Spanish Inquisition, the Grandfather paradox
The Wee Free Men Tiffany Aching Hardback: ISBN 0385605331 - Paperback: ISBN 0552549053 First published 2003. Another children's Discworld book. Folklore, Mythic Scotland, as seen in Braveheart and Highlander, the fairy paintings of Richard Dadd; subjective experience, the Smurfs
Monstrous Regiment Miscellaneous, the City Watch Hardback: ISBN 0552149411 - Paperback: ISBN 0552149411 First published 2003. For the origin of the title of this novel, see The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. Folk song (especially Sweet Polly Oliver), Joan of Arc, women who disguise themselves as men to join the army (e.g. Colonel Gauntlett Bligh Barker and Mulan), the Napoleonic Wars (possibly as interpreted through Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels), First World War (especially the patriotism and "Home by Christmas" mentality), feminism, wartime journalism
A Hat Full of Sky Tiffany Aching Hardback: ISBN 0385607369 - Paperback: ISBN 0552551449 First published 2004. A third children's Discworld book. The history and folklore of witches in Britain, mind controlling aliens in science fiction, arguably Jill Murphy's The Worst Witch
Going Postal Moist von Lipwig Hardback: ISBN 0385603428 - Paperback: ISBN 0552149438 First published 2004. Politics, con men, corporate crime and business practices, monopolies (Fox and Rupert Murdoch; and AT&T and its "Golden Boy"), Ayn Rand and Objectivist philosophy, history of the Post Office, the Internet, hacking or more specifically phreaking; fraternal organisations, stamp collecting
Thud! The City Watch Hardback: ISBN 0060815221 Published September 2005 Politics, Cop Novels, Affirmative Action, The Da Vinci Code, Plato, The Lord Of The Rings, The Silmarillion, race relations, fatherhood, chess
Wintersmith Tiffany Aching Hardback: ISBN 0385609841 A brief excerpt was read at the 2004 Convention. Due for publication September 28, 2006.  
Making Money Moist von Lipwig   Future novel, confirmed recently by Terry as the book he's begun writing as of the completion of Wintersmith. Set to be the second novel featuring Moist von Lipwig. The title and the end of Going Postal would seem to indicate that it involves the Ankh Morpork mint.  
I Shall Wear Midnight Tiffany Aching   Possible future novel, hinted at in 'The Art of Discworld'.  
No title as yet Rincewind   Possible future novel featuring Rincewind - From 'The Art of Discworld'.  
Nation Unknown   Possible future novel about a nation consisting of one person - From Orange Word interview  
Unseen Academicals The Wizards   Possible future novel about soccer/football at the Unseen University' - From Alternative Nation interview.  
Scouting for Trolls Unknown   Possible future novel - From Alternative Nation interview. The title parodies Scouting for Boys.
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Short stories

There are also four short stories by Pratchett based in the Discworld: Theatre of Cruelty, Death and What Comes Next, Troll Bridge and The Sea and Little Fishes. The first two are available online. The third was published in After The King: Stories in honour of J. R. R. Tolkien, and the fourth in Legends, edited by Robert Silverberg.

In addition, all of these stories, as well as such Discworld miscellany as the history of Thud and the Ankh-Morpork national anthem have been collected as part of a compilation of all Pratchett's shortwork, Once More* With Footnotes.

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The Maps

Furthermore, there are four Mapps:

The first two were drawn by Stephen Player, based on plans by Pratchett and Stephen Briggs, the third is a collaboration between Briggs and Kidby, and the last is by Paul Kidby. All also contain booklets written by Pratchett and Briggs.

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'Science' books

Pratchett has also collaborated with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen on three books using the Discworld to illuminate popular science topics through means of a completely fictional story. Each book could be seen as containing a short Discworld novel in its own right, with chapters switching between the story and notes on real science related to it. The books released are:

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Associated publications

Other Discworldesque publications include:

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Quiz books

Thus far, there are also two Discworld Quizbooks compiled by David Langford:

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Diaries

Image:Discworld diary 2000 cover.jpg Most years see the release of a Discworld Diary and Calendar, both usually following a particular theme. The Diaries released so far are:

There were no diaries for 2004 - 2006, as Pratchett and Stephen Briggs were worried about running out of ideas. Having rested the concept, the Discworld Post Office Diary 2007 has been announced.

The Discworld Almanak - The Year of The Prawn (2004) can also be listed with the diaries, as its format and general contents are very similar.

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Stealth Philosophy

Throughout many of his novels, Pratchett employs what has been dubbed "Stealth Philosophy". That is to say, he will subtly (or not-so-subtly) hide philosophical struggles, questions, and arguments within the texts of his books, without (often) overtly stating them. Pratchett is deeply concerned about the philosophy of ethics, the philosophy of religion, the mind as well as topics related to popular science - lampooning the usual misunderstandings of things like quantum physics and relativity.

His good witch, Granny Weatherwax, takes the form of an archetypical evil crone:

Mrs Earwig would definitely have objected to the cottage. It was out of storybook. The walls leaned against one another for support, the thatched roof was slipping off like a bad wig, and the chimneys were corkscrewed. If you thought a gingerbread house would be too fattening, this was the next worst thing.
"In a cottage deep in the forest lived the wicked old witch ..."
It was a cottage out of the nastier kind of fairy tale.
– A Hat Full of Sky

His good public servant, Lord Havelock Vetinari, is an assassin and a tyrant.

In general, he presents the notion that to be good quite often results in being perceived as bad or evil by the very people you're doing good for, and in many of his stories image is quite often eventually overcome, without fanfare, by substance.

Template:BsmSome people will do anything for the sheer fascination of doing it,Template:Esm said Death. Template:BsmOr for fame. Or because they shouldn't.Template:Esm
– Hogfather

In the "elf" books as elsewhere, he presents the notion that our "world" is subjective, and is constructed internally. In particular, that it is constructed out of stories. Related to this is the idea that most of our experience is filtered out before it reaches consciousness:

You build little worlds, little stories, little shells around your mind and that keeps infinity at bay and allows you to wake up in the morning without screaming!
– A Hat Full of Sky
"All right," said Susan, "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need ... fantasies to make life bearable."
Template:BsmNo. Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.Template:Esm
"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers?"
Template:BsmYes. As practice. You have to start out learning to believe the little lies.Template:Esm
"So we can believe the big ones?"
Template:BsmYes. Justice. Mercy. Duty. That sort of thing.Template:Esm
"They're not the same at all!"
Template:BsmTake the universe and grind it down to the finest powder and sieve it through with the finest sieve and then show me one atom of justice. And yet you act as if there were some sort of rightness in the universe by which it may be judged.Template:Esm
"Yes. But people have got to believe that or what's the point—"
Template:BsmMy point exactly.Template:Esm
– Hogfather

Also in the Elves books he presents elves as nasty, evil creatures, as they are in original English folk songs and stories e.g. Tam Lin , quite in contrast with how they were portrayed by Tolkien which is more commonly known these days.

"Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
...
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake..."
Lords and Ladies

A large portion of Carpe Jugulum is about internal "struggles", and how pieces of our mind do not always agree with other pieces of our mind (and how some of us feel we have "Darker" selves within us, that we keep deep, deep down). Aside from the obviously "split" mind character (Perdita and Agnes), it is shown that even characters as decisive as Granny Weatherwax have inner "selves" that they struggle with.

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Villains

One interesting element of Discworld, certainly one that distinguishes it from much other fantasy, is its relative lack of recurring or overarching villains. This is mainly a tribute to the complexity of Pratchett's characters; many of his potential villains, such Lord Vetinari and Lord Downey, are too multifaceted to be simplistically characterised as "evil", while other more standard villains, such as Lord Rust, are depicted merely as egocentric dullards. Principal villains in Discworld novels tend to die or be put similarly out of action by the story's end. The Lovecraftian creatures from the Dungeon Dimensions cannot be considered evil in any true sense, since they are utterly amoral and have no true motivations. There are however, two groups of villains that featured prominently in many of the stories and have, in their own ways, come to represent the force of evil in the Discworld. They are the Auditors of Reality and the Elves. These two races are, in many respects, opposite ends of the same spectrum. The Auditors, cosmic bureaucrats who prefer a universe where electrons spin, rocks float in space and imagination is dead, represent the perils of handing yourself over to a completely materialist and deterministic vision of reality, devoid of the myths and stories that make us human. The Elves, innately psychopathic beings who seek to dominate us by usurpring our free will with glamour and false magic, represent the dangers of giving yourself over completely to stories and superstition. Together they appear to reflect the philosophy Pratchett expresses in Hogfather; that while the stories we weave may not be true, we still need them to continue our existence.

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Adaptations

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Stage adaptations

Stage adaptations of eleven Discworld novels have been published, with proceeds from the rights going to charity. The adaptations are by Stephen Briggs (apart from one, Lords and Ladies, by Irana Brown), and were first produced by the Studio Theatre Club in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. They include adaptations of The Truth, Maskerade, Mort, Wyrd Sisters, and Guards! Guards!. Stage adaptions of Discworld novels have been performed on every continent in the world, including Antarctica.

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Movie adaptations

There have been several aborted attempts at bringing stories from the Discworld to the silver screen, including a fan attempt of Maskerade that failed through lack of funds. Australian group Snowgum Films have completed principal photography on the short story Troll Bridge. [1]. A fan movie adaptation of Lords and Ladies is currently being produced in Germany. [2] As of January 10, 2006, Sam Raimi is expected to direct an adaptation of The Wee Free Men for Sony Pictures following his completion of Spider-Man 3. [3][4] In the UK Sky TV have commissioned a £6 million 'made for television' adaptation of The Hogfather with David Jason playing the role of Albert, to be filmed in 2006.

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Animated adaptations

Animated adaptations of Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters were produced by Cosgrove-Hall Productions for Channel 4 in 1996. These are available on DVD and VHS in the US from Acorn Media. The soundtrack to Soul Music was also released on CD.

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Radio adaptations

There have been several BBC radio adaptations of Discworld stories, including versions of Wyrd Sisters, Guards! Guards! (narrated by Martin Jarvis), The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, Mort, and Small Gods.

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Audio book adaptations

Most of Pratchett's novels have been released as audio books, both abridged (read by Tony Robinson) and unabridged (read by Nigel Planer or Celia Imrie in the case of earlier works, or Stephen Briggs in the case of later ones).

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Music

  • Keith Hopwood: Soul Music - Terry Pratchett's Discworld, 1998 (Proper Music Distribution / Pluto Music TH 030746), soundtrack to the animated adaptation of Soul Music.
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Spin-off games

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Role-playing games

In addition Terry Pratchett co-authored with Phil Masters two role-playing game supplements for Discworld, utilising the GURPS system:

An unofficial online supplement to this is:

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Computer games

Available computer games are:

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Board games

There is also a Discworld board game, Thud, created by puzzle compiler Trevor Truran.

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Card games

There is an adaptation of the card game Cripple Mr Onion from the novel Witches Abroad.

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Merchandise

Various other types of related merchandise have been produced by cottage industries with an interest in the books, including Stephen Briggs, Bernard Pearson, Bonsai Trading and Clarecraft.

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Miscellaneous

Terry Pratchett first explores the idea of a disc-shaped world in the novel Strata, however this flat world is a projected version of the Eurasian hemisphere of Earth, not the fantasy realm of the true discworld series.

Characters in Discworld books have been named after real people. The first of these was Colette in Maskerade, whose "fascinatin' earrings" are briefly commented on by Granny Weatherwax. This is a reference to Colette Reap, who wore "Anorankh" earrings – small figurines of an ankh wearing an anorak – to one of Pratchett's signings. But usually people appear in the books by bidding for the privilege in charity auctions.

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See also

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External links

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