The Terry Pratchett/Discworld Thread

[Niamh Sage]

Welcome to the Terry Pratchett & Discworld thread! Much like all the other author/book threads, this is where you can chat about Pterry's writings, catch up on the latest news, and generally hang out with other Discworld fans. Much of the emphasis will probably be on the Discworld books, but discussion of the others is also welcomed

First, a little about the Man Himself (cribbed from TerryPratchettBooks.com:

Terry Pratchett sold his first story when he was thirteen, which earned him enough money to buy a second-hand typewriter. His first novel, a humorous fantasy entitled The Carpet People, appeared in 1971 from the publisher Colin Smythe. Terry worked for many years as a journalist and press officer, writing in his spare time and publishing a number of novels, including his first Discworld novel, The Color of Magic, in 1983. In 1987 he turned to writing full time, and has not looked back since. To date there are a total of 33 books in the Discworld series, of which three (so far) are written for children.

Some useful/interesting sites:

The very splendid L-Space Web, which has been around for yonks and is Wonderful.

Colin Smythe's Terry Pratchett page - Colin Smythe is Pterry's agent. There is an extensive bio-cum-bibliography at this site, which makes interesting reading.

Paul Kidby's Discworld Art

A Conversation with Terry Pratchett on the Writers Write website (old, but still interesting).

Verbal Wit, the Terry Pratchett Fan-listing.

Sky's Hogfather tv film page

A listing of Pterry's Discworld novels so far, colour-coded for each story arc:

Rincewind books
Witches books
City Watch books
Tiffany Aching books
Death/Susan books
Standalone books

THE COLOUR OF MAGIC
THE LIGHT FANTASTIC
EQUAL RITES
MORT
SOURCERY
WYRD SISTERS
PYRAMIDS
GUARDS! GUARDS!
ERIC
MOVING PICTURES
REAPER MAN
WITCHES ABROAD
SMALL GODS
LORDS AND LADIES
MEN AT ARMS
SOUL MUSIC
INTERESTING TIMES
MASKERADE
FEET OF CLAY
HOGFATHER
JINGO
THE LAST CONTINENT
CARPE JUGULUM
THE FIFTH ELEPHANT
THE TRUTH
THIEF OF TIME
THE LAST HERO
THE AMAZING MAURICE & HIS EDUCATED RODENTS
NIGHT WATCH
THE WEE FREE MEN
MONSTROUS REGIMENT
A HAT FULL OF SKY
GOING POSTAL
THUD!
ANKH-MORPORK CITY WATCH WARRANT CARD
WHERE'S MY COW?
WINTERSMITH

Ok, this is only roughly done, and there is a lot of overlap - for example, the Wizards of Unseen University play a major role in a lot of these books too, but it's hard to colour code something twice For a more detailed list of who appears in which book (and some additional and interesting information about motifs and cultural references, go to the Wikipedia page.


Aaaand...by way of introduction, here is a mini-questionnaire to do:

1. How did you find out about Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, and which did you read first?

2. What do you like best about Pterry's writing?

3. Which is your favourite book?

4. Which is/are your favourite character/s?

5. Have you ever indulged in the following fannish activities:
- dressed as a Discworld character for Halloween/a costume party/just because you felt like it
- named a pet after a Discworld character
- arrived at a bookstore signing two hours before the shop actually opened, just to be sure you'd be first in line
- tried any/all of the recipes out of Nanny Ogg's cookbook, especially the carrot and oyster pie (carrots so's you can see in the dark, and oysters so's you've something to look at )
- looked up/learned all the verses of The Hedgehog Song
- played Cripple Mr Onion?

6. What scenario would you like to see in an upcoming Discworld book?

7. How do you pronounce Pterry?


Pile in everyone! And have fun

Niamh

[Niamh Sage]

Well, here goes my questionnaire.

1. How did you find out about Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, and which did you read first?
It was towards the end of 1992 when I was sharing a house with some friends for six weeks or so, and one of them brought his Discworld books along for everyone to read. The one I picked up first was Mort, and I was immediately hooked

2. What do you like best about Pterry's writing?
I love how real he makes the Discworld and its characters. I always feel as if the Discworld is a place I might conceivably go to on holiday one year. If that were the case, I would immediately hie me to Lancre! I also like his wry observances on human nature, and of course, his wit.

3. Which is your favourite book?
Difficult to choose, because there are quite a few that I really love. Mort will probably always be my "sentimental" favourite because of it being the first one I read, but I also loved Night Watch.

4. Which is/are your favourite character/s?
Also very difficult to choose. I think Death and Granny Weatherwax, and I'm very attached to the Grim Squeaker, the Death of Rats (for obvious reasons ).

5. Have you ever indulged in the following fannish activities:
- dressed as a Discworld character for Halloween/a costume party/just because you felt like it - yes, for a book signing. I went as Agatha.

- named a pet after a Discworld character - not yet, but our car is called Granny Weatherwax (or Esme for short)

- arrived at a bookstore signing two hours before the shop actually opened, just to be sure you'd be first in line - yes, several times. It worked too

- tried any/all of the recipes out of Nanny Ogg's cookbook, especially the carrot and oyster pie (carrots so's you can see in the dark, and oysters so's you've something to look at ) - not yet but I think I will give it a bash (except the oysters. I don't like seafood. But then, the oysters aren't really for *me*, are they? )

- looked up/learned all the verses of The Hedgehog Song - I've looked them up but haven't dared sing them yet I think that's the kind of activity best done after copious quantities of apple scumble.

- played Cripple Mr Onion? - not yet, but I'd like to give it a bash

6. What scenario would you like to see in an upcoming Discworld book?
I would love to see Granny Weatherwax and Sam Vimes in a story together. I reckon there'd have to be some kind of antimatter explosion or something

7. How do you pronounce Pterry?
I find it very hard to pronounce it with a silent P. I always want to sound the P

Niamh

[CassieBaggins]

Yay questions!

1. How did you find out about Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, and which did you read first?

From a friend of mine....would've been when I was 17ish, so 10 years ago. She told me about his books and gave me Equal Rites to read. I then went back and read them in order, buying them as I went

2. What do you like best about Pterry's writing?

His sense of humour, it is so down my alley it's not even funny. I will regularly laugh out loud to his stuff, usually for several minutes. With tears. And a snotty nose.

3. Which is your favourite book?

Very difficult indeed....probably one with Greebo in it lol. Nightwatch is definitely up there too though, that was a nice deviation from the norm that really worked.

4. Which is/are your favourite character/s?

Luggage, because he's cool, and can break through walls, eat people AND do your laundry. Greebo, because of his attitude. Although I'm not a cat person he seems to lead a good life (and is rather sexy in his human form ). Finally, the camels because of their intelligence and complete disregard for anyone else

5. Have you ever indulged in the following fannish activities:
- dressed as a Discworld character for Halloween/a costume party/just because you felt like it

No.

named a pet after a Discworld character

Not yet but I'd like to.

arrived at a bookstore signing two hours before the shop actually opened, just to be sure you'd be first in line

Haven't been to a book signing yet, I always miss him

tried any/all of the recipes out of Nanny Ogg's cookbook, especially the carrot and oyster pie (carrots so's you can see in the dark, and oysters so's you've something to look at )

I need to buy the book first lol.

looked up/learned all the verses of The Hedgehog Song

Looked up yes, but not learned

played Cripple Mr Onion?

That needs to be done at an RB moot

6. What scenario would you like to see in an upcoming Discworld book?

Oh man, wrong time to ask, I'm drinking beer and eating chocolate, my brain cells aren't capable of producing ideas beyond how to not pee so much

7. How do you pronounce Pterry?

I'm with you Niamh, I can't help the "P-Terry"

[Niamh Sage]

Playing Cripple Mr Onion at a moot is a *great* idea. I think singing the Hedgehog song would also be very suitable

I love Greebo too, he's just such an evil haddock of a cat

I just got filterdragoned

[Niamh Sage]

Here's an interesting story: Terry Pratchett and his First Job.

And for anyone who gets BBC4, Mark Lawson's interview with Pterry will be shown on Tuesday 21 November at 9pm.

Hopefully Ratatosk will be able to sort out our reception problem before then (we just got digital tv, and BBC4 is one of the included channels. Unfortunately at the moment it is only managing to deliver an epilepsy-inducing flickering screen).

Anyway...enjoy!

Niamh

[Azriel]

Oops, didn't even see the thread ><



1. How did you find out about Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, and which did you read first?
I'd never heard of him until about 2 years ago when I picked up Guards! Guards! at the library. I'd picked it up before, but the cover looked a bit ridiculous so despite the description sounding amusing I had put it back down. Finally I decided to read it and I was hooked from page 1.

2. What do you like best about Pterry's writing?
The man is witty. I don't mean just funny, he's got intelligent humor there as well as parodies of famous and not-so-famous things. I love coming across a parody or reference to an obscure thing that only a select fangroup would know about. I also like that though he's funny, his serious bits are so well thought out too.

3. Which is your favourite book?
I love all the Death books, but I think Hogfather is my favorite.

4. Which is/are your favourite character/s?
Death definitely. His absence of a sense of humor cracks me up. I also love the Luggage, the poor little guy puts up with so much from Rincewind but still manages to come to the rescue in the ta-da nick of time.

5. Have you ever indulged in the following fannish activities:
- dressed as a Discworld character for Halloween/a costume party/just because you felt like it - no, I have yet to travel down that dark path :p

- named a pet after a Discworld character - not yet, but I would

- arrived at a bookstore signing two hours before the shop actually opened, just to be sure you'd be first in line - nope, only went to one signing and was 30 minutes late

- tried any/all of the recipes out of Nanny Ogg's cookbook, especially the carrot and oyster pie (carrots so's you can see in the dark, and oysters so's you've something to look at ) - actually, I don't have the cookbook yet

- looked up/learned all the verses of The Hedgehog Song - hehe, no comment

- played Cripple Mr Onion? - nope

6. What scenario would you like to see in an upcoming Discworld book?
Oh, I think I'll leave that to Pterry... being a hater of fanfic I try to stay away from even coming up with ideas about what I'd like to see.
Though I have to say, I've noticed one thing Pterry hasn't yet parodied is pirates... unless I've just not read that one yet, I haven't read all the books, only about 17 of them.

7. How do you pronounce Pterry?
I always *say* Terry. But in my head I add the "P"



To the list of useful links may I add Sky has now got an official Hogfather Movie section.

[Grungey]

1. How did you find out about Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, and which did you read first?
I read Hogfather first, because I found it on my mother's bookshelf.

2. What do you like best about Pterry's writing?
I think my favourite thing's the little rants about modern life he has in the middle of stories, during descriptions.

3. Which is your favourite book?
Interesting Times

4. Which is/are your favourite character/s?
Ponder and Susan.

5. Have you ever indulged in the following fannish activities:
- dressed as a Discworld character for Halloween/a costume party/just because you felt like it No, although I've been tempted to dress up as Susan ever since my hair started going grey in wings a few years ago.
- named a pet after a Discworld character Heheh, no, although now I rather wish I'd called my hamster Ridcully.
- arrived at a bookstore signing two hours before the shop actually opened, just to be sure you'd be first in line I studiously avoid signings, because I find the whole thing a tad creepy.
- tried any/all of the recipes out of Nanny Ogg's cookbook, especially the carrot and oyster pie (carrots so's you can see in the dark, and oysters so's you've something to look at ) No, but I want to get hold of them and do so.
- looked up/learned all the verses of The Hedgehog Song No
- played Cripple Mr Onion? No... I didn't do very well on this question, did I?

6. What scenario would you like to see in an upcoming Discworld book?
I'm not sure really, I'm sure he could do some extremely clever satire of the current political situation but I haven't read the most recent books so don't know what's been going on in them recently.

7. How do you pronounce Pterry?
Err, like the 'Pt' is at the end of 'except,' if that makes any sense? Sort of silent but not silently... err... it's just a non-English syllable.

[Azriel]

Just finished reading Eric...
Now, I've never read Faust, but thanks to Wishbone I know the basic story
I'm wondering, has anyone read both Faust and Eric and how closely does Pratchett parody it? All through the book I got the feelilng that it would be so much funnier if I'd read Faust.

[Velhachwen]

From reading all of your reviews - I've been wanting to get into this series, but is there a particular order I should follow?

[Azriel]

The books do make sense when read alone as they are each individual stories. However since they are set in the same world and there are recurring characters it's probably best to start with the first of one of the 5 main story groupings. Each 'arc' as they are called has a specific group of recurring characters, but often one or more characters from a different 'arc' will have cameos.

The first book in each arc is as follows:
The Rincewind arc - "The Colour of Magic" (also first Discworld book)
The Lancre Witches arc - "Equal Rites"
The Death arc - "Mort"
The City Watch arc - "Guards! Guards!"
The Wizards arc - "Moving Pictures"

(Wikipedia's Discworld article has a lovely table in which each book is listed chronologically along with which arc it belongs to and what 'motifs' it has)

The first Pratchett book I read was "Guards! Guards!" which though I am biased I would still say is an excellent introduction to Pratchett's humor and writing style.

[Velhachwen]

Thanks Az!! This helps alot.

[Niamh Sage]

I read Mort first, and then went back and started from the beginning (mind you, I started in 1992 when they'd only been around for a short time ). Like Azzy says, it doesn't matter too much so long as you bear the different story arcs in mind, but if you do read the whole lot from the beginning to end in the order of release, you will notice (and perhaps enjoy) the way Pterry settles into the Discworld in terms of how he writes the characters and just his writing in general. It's quite cool. From time to time I read the whole series that way, for that reason

[Velhachwen]

Thanks Niamh - I think I'll try to read them in chronological order - I haven't looked at the table on Wiki yet but if I did read them in chrono order would I still be reading all of the stories within one arc before moving on to the next one? If that's the case maybe I'll try reading the arcs in chrono order???

Am I confusing anyone besides myself!?

[Niamh Sage]

If you do it chronologically, you won't be reading each arc in its totality before moving onto the next one, because Pterry tends to write in a more "scattered" way. That is, the arcs are always progressing forwards, but you might get a guards book, and then a witches book, and then something that's a standalone book, etc. I might see if I can make a map of it, actually...

BRB

ETA: ok, done (in the first post), but rather repulsively I'm afraid - the colours that will show up well on an olive green background are a bit limited. Anyway, it's a start, and you can always hop over to the Wikipedia page for more details.

[Velhachwen]

Super Excited.

I ordered 2 books from amazon. The Colour of Magic and the Light Fantastic. After much debate and confusion (all within my own head ) I decided to just read the books by arc in the order Niamh listed them on here. So basically I'll read The Rincewind ones in order, then the Witches in order and so on down the line...

Az and Niamh: Thanks for all of your help in trying to lessen my confusion!

[Niamh Sage]

Live chat with Terry Pratchett tonight 2 May, 8pm British summer time (7pm GMT). See link for more info and transcripts of previous chats with other interesting people.

[Niamh Sage]

In case anyone's interested, you can already go in there and start posting questions

[Niamh Sage]

The transcript is up, complete with nice photo of Pterry with rats. Four of my questions got answered! I was totally thrilled about that

[Azriel]

Wow, I didn't know he did that sort of thing. Thanks for posting that Niamh.

Haha, did you see in that thread? One person was like "Who is that Camilla person? She seemed to get the most questions answered"

Edit: Woah, Stephen Fry will be there on June 14th. I'll have to remember that and go back. I love him.

[Niamh Sage]

Haha, did you see in that thread? One person was like "Who is that Camilla person? She seemed to get the most questions answered"

I didn't realise that! I hadn't been back since the transcript was posted. I've signed up to the board so I can reply to my fan mail

I suspect the only reason I got lots of questions answered was because I sat in front of the computer for two hours before the start of the conversation, wringing my brain dry for interesting, unusual things to ask. I think I posed a total of 8 questions in the end, so I feel very lucky to have had four of them answered! Actually, it was kind of fun thinking up the questions.

Oooo. This gives me an idea. I'll have to come back later on and post it though - we've got visitors arriving in 30 min and I haven't made the fruit salad yet!

[highlyeccentric]

I just heard from Fresher Me that a new Moist Von Lipwig book is due out in October :D:D

I would marry Moist, i truly would. Failing that, I'd marry Adora Belle Dearheat

[Niamh Sage]

Yippeee!! I am so hanging out for a new Pterry book

I am currently doing a marathon read-through of all his Discworld books. I'm up to Sourcery so far - very good stuff! It's amazing the little details you pick up when you read things in this way.

[highlyeccentric]

Guess what i'm seeing tonight?

The Archchancellors Men present
Men at Arms
Thursday 28 June - Saturday 14 July
Special Preview Wednesday 27 June - 8pm
Times: All performances 8pm
Tickets: Adult $20, Conc $15, NUTS Adult $18, NUTS Conc $13
Bookings: Seymour Box Office 02 9351 7940

[Niamh Sage]

Ooooh, have fun! Oh wait, you've already seen it - how was it?

I went and saw Hogfather at Murdoch University a few years back

[highlyeccentric]

it was good i had a review but lost it when i reformatted Sauron

[Niamh Sage]

Well, bugger

[Niamh Sage]

Just heard about this on the Beeb this morning: Pratchett tells fans 'I have Alzheimer's but keep it cheerful'.

Here is his statement on Paul Kidby's website:

Folks,

I would have liked to keep this one quiet for a little while, but because of upcoming conventions and of course the need to keep my publishers informed, it seems to me unfair to withhold the news. I have been diagnosed with a very rare form of early
onset Alzheimer's, which lay behind this year's phantom "stroke".

We are taking it fairly philosophically down here and possibly with a mild optimism. For now work is continuing on the completion of Nation and the basic notes are already being laid down for Unseen Academicals. All other things being equal, I
expect to meet most current and, as far as possible, future commitments but will discuss things with the various organisers. Frankly, I would prefer it if people kept things cheerful, because I think there's time for at least a few more books yet


PS I would just like to draw attention to everyone reading the above that this should
be interpreted as 'I am not dead'. I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as
will everybody else. For me, this maybe further off than you think - it's too soon to tell.
I know it's a very human thing to say "Is there anything I can do", but in this case I
would only entertain offers from very high-end experts in brain chemistry.

I know he wants everyone to keep cheerful, but...

[Niamh Sage]

Pterry has just donated 500,000 pounds to the Alzheimer's Research Trust in the UK (read his speech here). On hearing about this, someone on LJ had the brilliant idea of trying to match his donation with donations from Pratchett fandom. As a result of this, the "Match it for Pratchett" campaign was born.

I've you've ever loved a book by Pterry (or even if you haven't!), please join in with Match it for Pratchett and make a donation to help fund research into finding a cure for Alzheimer's Disease. Feel free to pimp this around the known universe, too.

[Niamh Sage]

[center]Wear the Lilac for Alzheimers[/center]

On May 25th, fans of Terry Pratchett's novels "wear the lilac" in honor of the events in the novel Night Watch. Now, we have an even more important reason to do so - supporting Alzheimer's research around the world.

Auronsgirl on LJ has been raising money for Alzheimer's research by selling sprays of silk lilac (made by her). In the beginning, she was aiming for $100. She's just announced that she's raised $840! Now she would like to raise a nice, round $1000 to donate, in time for May 25th. If you'd like to help her, you can order here.

Thanks!

Niamh