GOING Postal, the latest Discworld novel, should sell well in York. It covers issues close to our hearts such as one man crime waves, parking (although I don't think anybody in York has had their horse clamped - yet) and post offices.

The book is about what happens when the post gets backlogged, the post offices shut down after the desire to make money overtook the essential duty of delivering letters, and the task of sorting it out falls to a reformed confidence trickster, a golem (his probation officer), an old and less-than-fragrant postal worker and an apprentice who was raised by peas (he tends to lean towards the sun).

The clacks (like the internet, but in semaphore) have overtaken the post, leaving it in a sorry state, with things whispering in the dark. It's up to Moist von Lipwig to deliver the post, sort his staff out, and stop the whisperings while trying to get a date with Adora Belle Dearheart, a woman nothing like the image her name conjures up.

Naturally, for a Discworld novel, plans are hindered or helped by an assortment of characters, old and new, but you know that somehow everything will work out in the end, at least for some of the characters, and probably not in the way you expect. Sadly, there is no update on the carnivorous plants on the back fly-leaf.

If you have ever felt that your imagination wasn't up to picturing Pratchett's gallery of characters, another new book - The Art Of Discworld - could be for you.

There is a danger here, in that seeing your favourite characters as someone else has imagined them could shatter your own mental image. Paul Kidby, however, does the jacket illustrations for Pratchett's books and these are wonderful drawings, if not always what you expect.

With 33 books to pick from, not all the characters are represented here - but that leaves room for a second volume of Discworld art in the future.

Updated: 08:44 Wednesday, October 06, 2004