History Literature / JoesWorld

After a TimeSkip and a NoodleIncident in nearby Prygg, the story picks up with Ignace and Greyboar back in New Sphinctr. What follows is a number of separate vignettes centered around the duo's exploits, culminating in a visit to the local underworld, and a momentous decision in regards to their ongoing career.

** Every time a famous Laebmauntsforscynneweëld and Sfondrati-Piccolomini gets cited, their first name is a reference to someone (real or fictional) related to the subject under discussion.

* AwesomeButImpractical: While fighting The Great Ogre of Grotum, Zulkah unleashes a spell which does indeed blow the Ogre to pieces, but takes so long to cast that the creature is already expired, having been slowly chopped, bitten and strangled to death by the rest of the party.

* BloodyHilarious: The freed Snarl's rampage through the Ozarine outpost in ''Forward''.

* CombatPragmatist: Benvenuti's weapons-training under his various uncles is firmly centered around this trope. If you can, stab 'em at night, in the back and/or while they are asleep. If you can't, go straight to the GroinAttack!

* ICanChangeMyBeloved: Ignace realizes at the end of ''Strangler'' that he and Greyboar are in the process of being subjected to this. [[spoiler: He accepts his fate.]]

* IHaveManyNames: While Greyboar himself only goes by that name, his grip, like his [[DeathGlare glare]], has plenty of names.

** Ignace all through getting shanghaied into joining Gwendolyn's underworld rescue expedition, but especially as he realizes that [[spoiler: Magrit the witch is only along because Gwendolyn now owes her a favor... which Ignace and Greyboar will have fulfill by invading "Project Nibelung".]]

* LongTitle: Forward The Mage does this, to the point that several chapters consisted solely of the title.

After a TimeSkip, the story picks up with Ignace and Greyboar back in New Sphinctr, after a NoodleIncident in nearby Prygg. What follows is a number of separate vignettes centered around the duo's exploits, culminating in a visit to the local underworld, and a momentous decision in regards to their ongoing career.

* BrilliantButLazy: Greyboar, in the sense that he's the greatest professional strangler in the world, but is lazy to the point of developing a, yes, personal philosophy out of it. Ignace has to constantly pester and nag him to agree to take on clients.

** And once he dies, most of the remaining offspring off each other.

** All the other characters when Greyboar sees the nude drawings of Gwendolyn that Benvenuti has done. Fortunately the strangler remains calm about the whole thing.

The first book, ''The Philosophical Strangler'' written by Flint alone, tells the tale of Greyboar, the greatest [[ProfessionalKiller professional strangler]] around, and his agent/foster brother Ignace, who live in [[HurricaneOfPuns New Sphinctr, the capital of Sphinctria, one of the kingdoms of Grotum]]. The book opens with an account of what was supposed to be a routine royal strangulation; the crown prince of Sundjhab wants his uncle, the king, dead. The job goes smoothly until Greyboar declares the king his guru, but still strangles him as a matter of [[EvenEvilHasStandards professional ethics]]. [[InsaneTrollLogic Naturally]], Greyboar then has to strangle the prince for hiring him to strangle his own guru. The fallout from this forces the duo to flee the city for a time.

The two books were published in 2001 and 2002. Flint spent portions of the next twenty years working on a third book in the series, to be titled ''A Desperate and Despicable Dwarf''. Sadly, he passed away in 2022 with the book only partially finished. He allowed some of the work-in-progress material to be posted in a [[https://jiltanith.thefifthimperium.com/site/archivebook/ADesperateandDespicableDwarf Baen Books archive]]. A bibliography on Mr. Flint's website also lists two more titles that might have been: ''Sword On Canvas'' and ''Thumbs of Eternity.''

* TheDividual: Angela and Jenny. They always appear together, and their personalities are identical.

* DistressedDude: The final adventure is ''Strangler'' is all about Gwendolyn dragging Greyboar and Ignace into [[spoiler: rescuing her lover Benvenuti from literally The Place Worse Than Hell.]]

* ArtifactOfDoom: The Pink Slips, The Rap Sheets, The Switches, The Boots, and whatever family-unfriendly artifact God was given.

* FromNobodyToNightmare: Shelyid evidently goes on to lead some sort of mass societal upheaval, acquiring a huge collection of nicknames in the process, most prominently "The Rebel."

-->''Things Change.''

* HurricaneOfPuns

** Ignace all through getting shanghaied into joining Gwendolyn's underworld rescue expedition, but especially as he realizes that [[spoiler: Magrit the witch is only along because Gwendolyn now owes her a favor... which Ignace and Greyboar will have fulfill by invading "Project Nibelungen".]]
* OverlyLongGag: This is Les Six's whole schtick. They repeat, toast and/or expound on everything six times.

* UndergroundRailroad: One exists for the dwarves as they attempt to escape their ongoing persecution. The protagonists of ''Strangler'' end up running a major "station" in the basement of their home.

* VaguenessIsComing: The Alfreadae go on about how the human protagonists will cause some sort of apocalypse, but never offer any details. And as noted, they are such UnreliableNarrators with BlueAndOrangeMorality, their definition of "apocalypse" is very much open to question.

* LoopholeAbuse: The artist Benvenuti is forced to hand over his portrait of a now-dead nobleman to the man's family without getting paid... so he re-does it so it gruesomely depicts the man's moment of death, with Greyboar's hands around his neck.

The two books were published in 2001 and 2002. Flint spent portions of the next twenty years working on a third book in the series, to be titled ''A Desperate and Despicable Dwarf''. Sadly, he passed away in 2022 with the book only partially finished. He allowed some of the work-in-progress material to be posted in a [[https://jiltanith.thefifthimperium.com/site/archivebook/ADesperateandDespicableDwarf Baen Books archive]].

* ShoutOut: The Lajatang weapon originally appeared (at least under that name) in ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' and ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons.''
* SolidGoldPoop: Dwarves' already-miserable lives get significantly less pleasant when it is discovered that it is trivially easy to transform dwarf excrement into pure gold. (This is another NoodleIncident in the first novel, Ignace mentions that things really suck for the dwarves without ever going into detail.)

* CoversAlwaysLie: ''Strangler'' has a roughly accurate depiction of Greyboar and Ignace meeting an underworld denizen. ''Forward'' shows much more inaccurate versions of Zulkeh and Shelyid, meeting a woman and a gang of bipedal bat-like monsters. This is probably intended to depict the duo's brief meeting a mysterious unnamed women who appears out some woods with a large pack of Snarls, who are described more as enormous cat-like quadrupeds.

Since then, the bosses, police, priests and God himself have fallen short of Joe's expectations. Even mentioning Joe is considered heresy (even though just about every feature of geography on the continent is named after him) and the common man is downtrodden. Luckily, there is [[LaResistance a resistance movement]] going on, led from the libertarian/anarchist nation of Mutt. And now, Joe's about to come back.

The first book, ''The Philosophical Strangler'' written by Flint alone, tells the tale of Greyboar, the greatest [[ProfessionalKiller professional strangler]] around, and his agent/foster brother Ignace, who live in [[HurricaneOfPuns New Sphinctr, the capital of Sphinctria, a kingdom on the continent of Grotum]]. The book opens with an account of what was supposed to be a routine royal strangulation; the crown prince of Sundjhab wants his uncle, the king, dead. The job goes smoothly until Greyboar declares the king his guru, but still strangles him as a matter of [[EvenEvilHasStandards professional ethics]]. [[InsaneTrollLogic Naturally]], Greyboar then has to strangle the prince for hiring him to strangle his own guru. The fallout from this forces the duo to flee the city for a time.

After a TimeSkip, the story picks up with Ignace and Greyboar back in New Sphinctr, after a NoodleIncident in Prygg. What follows is a number of separate vignettes centered around the duo's exploits, culminating in a visit to the local underworld, and a momentous decision in regards to their ongoing career.

* ArtifactOfDoom: The Pink Slips, The Rap Sheets, The Switches, The Boots, and whatever artifact God was given.

* CoversAlwaysLie: ''Strangler'' has a roughly accurate depiction of Greyboar and Ignace meeting an underworld denizen. ''Forward'' shows inaccurate versions of Zulkeh and Shelyid meeting a scantily-clad woman who is possibly supposed to be Gwendolyn (who they never in fact meet) along with a gang of bat-like monsters, who also never appear.

** And even more so Hrundig the barbarian swordmaster, who is a shrewd veteran of many wars and is probably the ''second'' most dangerous man in the kingdom.

* InsufferableGenius: Zulkeh drives all the other characters crazy with his endless pedantic discourses, but everyone also admits he's very possibly the most powerful and knowledgeable magician alive.

* RunningGag: Again, mentions of the countless members of the Laebmauntsforscynneweëld and Sfondrati-Piccolomini clans and their various claims to fame.

** Also the Cat, who wanders around with the protagonists, but only really cares about finding Schrodinger.

The two books were published in 2001 and 2002. Flint spent portions of the next twenty years working on a third book in the series, to be titled ''A Desperate and Despicable Dwarf''. Sadly, he passed away in 2022 with the book only partially finished. He allowed some of the work-in-progress material to be posted in a [[https://jiltanith.thefifthimperium.com/site/archivebook/ADesperateandDespicableDwarf Bean Books archive]].

* GeniusBruiser: Greyboar has a taste for philosophy. He is also regarded as the most technically adept strangler in history, but not the strongest.

The second book, ''Forward the Mage'', written by Flint and Roach, and (mostly) focusing on supporting characters from the first tale, has two separate storylines. One details the meeting and travels of the Ozarine artist/mercenary/adventurer Benvenuti Sfondrati-Piccolomini and Greyboar's sister Gwendolyn, and the other on the wizard Zulkeh and his [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarven]] apprentice/slave Shelyid. The book is largely set during the TimeSkip of the first book, providing more background on the general situation and shedding light on the Noodle Incident.

* AssholeVictim: A (fallen) angel comments in passing that pretty much all the people that Grayboar has strangled have gone to hell.

* BloodBrothers: This is essentially Ignace's relationship with Grayboar and Gwendoline, though they never swore a formal oath or anything.

* BrilliantButLazy: Grayboar, in the sense that he's the greatest professional strangler in the world, but is lazy to the point of developing a, yes, personal philosophy out of it. Ignace has to constantly pester and nag him to agree to take on clients.

* CoversAlwaysLie: ''Strangler'' has a roughly accurate depiction of Grayboar and Ignace meeting an underworld denizen. ''Forward'' shows inaccurate versions of Zulkeh and Shelyid meeting a scantily-clad woman who is possibly supposed to be Gwendolyn (who they never in fact meet) along with a gang of bat-like monsters, who also never appear.

* GirlWithPsychoWeapon: The Cat.

* HiddenDepths: Shelyid is constantly described as just being an ugly stupid dwarf, but he's a Snarl-friend, immensely strong, a terrifying fighter if you manage to actually make him mad, and breaks a magical seal just by touching it. (The books never reveal what's going on, but one possibility is he's [[spoiler:an avatar of Joe]].)

* ICanChangeMyBeloved: Ignace realizes at the end of ''Strangler'' that he and Grayboar are in the process of being subjected to this. [[spoiler: He accepts his fate.]]

* LeftHanging: Neither book ends on an overt cliffhanger, but all sorts of plotlines are left dangling: [[spoiler:Newly anointed Heroes Grayboar and Ignace are going off to fight a dragon (and owe Magrit the witch an official favor), Ozarine armies are overrunning the continent, the Dwarves are all being herded into some sort of death-camp "experiment" evidently related to poop-gold, and most momentous of all, Joe is reportedly coming back in some form]]. As noted above, Mr. Flint spent the next twenty years working intermittently on a third book which would have detailed more of Zulkeh and Shelyid's adventures during the time-skip, and shown the events of the first book from Bevenuti's perspective.

* OhCrap: Ignace all through getting shanghaied into joining Gwendolyn's underworld rescue expedition, but especially as he realizes that [[spoiler: Magrit the witch is only along because Gwendolyn now owes her a favor... which Ignace and Grayboar will have fulfill by invading "Project Nibelungen".]]

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: ''Strangler'' and ''Mage'' climax with some of the protagonists assembling to (respectively) [[spoiler:rescue Benny from The Place Worse Than Hell]] and [[spoiler:steal the Rap Sheet]], and they spend a great deal of time bickering, snarking at and insulting each other.

* WouldntHitAGirl: Gwendolyn grudgingly lets her brother Grayboar become a Professional Strangler on the condition that he never accepts a contract with a woman as his target. He rigorously abides by this, except for one instance where Gwendolyn gives him explicit written permission. (And the target is the one hiring him to do the job.)

The first book, ''The Philosophical Strangler'' written by Flint alone, tells the tale of Greyboar, the greatest [[ProfessionalKiller professional strangler]] around, and his agent/foster brother Ignace. The book opens with an account of what was supposed to be a routine royal strangulation; the crown prince of Sundjhab wants his uncle, the king, dead. The job goes smoothly until Greyboar declares the king his guru, and strangles him as a matter of [[EvenEvilHasStandards professional ethics]]. [[InsaneTrollLogic Naturally]], Greyboar then has to strangle the prince for hiring him to strangle his own guru.

After a TimeSkip, the story picks up with Ignace and Greyboar back in [[HurricaneOfPuns New Sphinctr, the capital of Sphinctria, a kingdom on the continent of Grotum]], after a NoodleIncident in Prygg, among other things. What follows is a number of separate vignettes centered around the duo's exploits, culminating in a visit to the local underworld, and a momentous decision in regards to their ongoing career.

The second book, ''Forward the Mage'', written by Flint and Roach, has two separate storylines. One focuses on the artist/mercenary/adventurer Benvenuti Sfondrati-Piccolomini and Greyboar's sister Gwendolyn, and the other on the wizard Zulkeh and his [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarven]] apprentice/slave Shelyid. The book is set mostly during the TimeSkip of the first book, providing some background on the first one and shedding light on the Noodle Incident.

The two books were published in 2001 and 2002. Flint evidently spent portions of the next twenty years working on a third book in the series, to be titled ''A Desperate and Despicable Dwarf''. Sadly, he passed away in 2022 with the book only partially finished. He allowed some of the work-in-progress material to be posted in a [[https://jiltanith.thefifthimperium.com/site/archivebook/ADesperateandDespicableDwarf Bean Books archive]].

* BagOfHolding: The sack that Shelyid lugs around is huge and bulky, but still holds a whole lot more than a nonmagical one could; it is made from the skin of a certain species of fish.

** When [[spoiler: Shelyid]] finally loses his temper, it is described, before HilarityEnsues, with an OverlyLongGag that ends with [[spoiler: Shelyid]] lost his temper like Dispater, the archduke of hell, lost the keys to paradise and the hope of eternal salvation.

* DistressedDude: The final adventure is ''Strangler'' is all about Gwendolyn dragging Greyboar and Ignace into [[spoiler: rescuing her lover Benvenuti from The Place Worse Than Hell.]]

* FictionalDocument: Numerous books are referred to by the characters, usually written by some member of the Laebmauntsforscynneweëld or Sfondrati-Piccolomini clan.

* LeftHanging: Neither book ends on an overt cliffhanger, but all sorts of plotlines are left dangling: [[spoiler:Newly anointed Heroes Grayboar and Ignace are going off to fight a dragon (and owe Magrit the witch an official favor), Ozarine armies are overrunning the continent, the Dwarves are all being herded into some sort of death-camp "experiment" evidently related to poop-gold, and most momentous of all, Joe is reportedly coming back in some form]]. As noted above, Mr. Flint spent the next twenty years working intermittently on a third book which evidently would have detailed more of Zulkeh and Shelyid's adventures during the time-skip, and shown the events of the first book from Bevenuti's perspective.

* NoodleIncident: Along with the big one mentioned above, events and people are often alluded to by Ignace and not discussed, a typical example being how a section of the bar in The Trough came to be cursed and thus is never ''ever'' used. Also, Zulkeh and Shelyid have further adventures during the time-skip which don't get detailed in the prequel.

* OhCrap: Ignace all through getting shanghaied into joining Gwendolyn's underworld rescue expedition, but especially as he realizes that [[spoiler: Magrit the witch is only along because Gwendolyn now owes her a favor... which Ignace and Grayboar will have fulfill.]]

* ICanChangeMyBeloved: Ignace realizes at the end of ''Strangler'' that he and Grayboar are in the process of being subjected to this. He accepts his fate.

* CoversAlwaysLie: ''Strangler'' has a roughly accurate depiction of Grayboar and Ignace meeting an underworld denizen. ''Forward'' shows inaccurate versions of Zulkeh and Shelyid meeting a scantily-clad woman who does not remotely resemble any character in the story, along with a gang of bat-like monsters, who also never appear.

* LeftHanging: Neither book ends on an overt cliffhanger, but all sorts of plotlines are left dangling: [[spoiler:Newly anointed Heroes Grayboar and Ignace are going off to fight a dragon (and owe Magrit the witch an official favor), Ozarine armies are overrunning the continent, the Dwarves are all being herded into some sort of death-camp "experiment" evidently related to poop-gold, and most momentous of all, Joe is reportedly coming back in some form]]. Evidently, Mr. Flint spent the next twenty years working intermittently on a sequel, "A Desperate and Despicable Dwarf", but it was sadly unfinished at the time of his passing in 2022.

* TakeThat: When the protagonists visit the underworld, one chapter is a vicious parody of ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Dante' Inferno]]''.

* LeftHanging: Neither book ends on an overt cliffhanger, but all sorts of plotlines are left dangling: [[spoiler:Newly anointed Heroes Grayboar and Ignace are going off to fight a dragon, Ozarine armies are overrunning the continent, the Dwarves are all being herded into some sort of death-camp "experiment" evidently related to poop-gold, and most momentous of all, Joe is reportedly coming back in some form]]. Sadly, it's been twenty years now, and co-author Flint is deceased, so any further installments are very unlikely.

* NoodleIncident: Along with the big one mentioned above, events and people are often alluded to by Ignace and not discussed, a typical example being how a section of the bar in The Trough came to be cursed and thus is never ''ever'' used. Zulkeh and Shelyid evidently have further adventures during the time-skip which don't get detailed in the prequel.

* FictionalDocument: Numerous books are referred to by the characters, often written by some member of the Laebmauntsforscynneweëld clan.

* ThreeWaySex: Ignace ends up in this kind of relationship with Jenny and Angela.