Pratchat

A very brief little episode to say that we won't have any episodes in May. We didn't want to leave you without anything at all! As Ben suggests, why not listen to The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret's special 25th of May episode, “Gender on the Discworld”, released today? You can find it in all major podcast directories, at thetruthshallmakeyefret.com, and there's even a video version on YouTube. Or you could listen to #Pratchat54, “The Land Before Vimes”, our 2022 episode about Night Watch. We'll be back in June with #Pratchat86, our episode about Snuff. And we will be producing an all-questions Eeek Club episode later in the year, so if you're an Eeek-tier subscriber, please send us your question or topic for discussion!

Liz and Ben delve deep into the archives and come back with some highlights from the collected Discworld Diaries from Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs' The Ankh-Morpork Archives Volumes I (2019) and II (2020), plus Terry's 2004 collaboration with Bernard Pearson, The Discworld Alamak. Between 1998 and 2003, Discworld fans got an extra little treat: an in-universe diary themed around one of the Guilds or other major institutions of the Disc, full of new Discworld history and gags penned by Pratchett with the assistance of Stephen Briggs, and illustrations by Paul Kidby. In 2004, they got something a little different: a Roundworld version of the Celebrated Discworld Almanak, a publication famed for its wisdom, length and absorbency, co-authored by Pratchett and Bernard Pearson. After a brief break, two more diaries with new gags and Discworld lore appeared in 2007 and 2008, but any subsequent diaries or journals were just compilations of quotes and existing material. Like all diaries, these were smaller print runs and never reprinted, so for most fans these extra tidbits were lost to time. But then, in 2019 and 2020, Stephen Briggs and Paul Kidby brought all that weirdness back in two new books: The Ankh-Morpork Archives Volume I, and Volume II, each collecting the original content from four of those diaries and presenting them in a coffee-table style larger format, with new layout, updated or new art, and all the charm of the originals. Did you ever have one of the diaries? Did you write in it? What do you think of the new presentation of all these gags? Do the more unusual diaries have the same charm, or does it feel a bit like the best themes had already been used? And if you were to see new books based on any of this stuff, what would you want to see? Note your answer in your diary, then send it to us using the hashtag #Pratchat84. You can find episode notes and errata on our web site. Next month we knock off one of our few remaining Discworld novels: Sam Vimes' detective's holiday in the country, Snuff! Get your questions in via email (chat@pratchatpodcast.com), or social media using the hashtag #Pratchat86. (Our numbering got a bit messed up due to the delay of this episode, but trust us: the next one is 86!)

To mark ten years since Terry Pratchett's death, Liz, Ben and guest Myfanwy Coghill discuss his 2010 Richard Dimbleby lecture, “Shaking Hands with Death”. Please note that this episode includes discussions of death, terminal illness, assisted dying and suicide. Pratchett was the first novelist to give the Richard Dimbleby Lecture, an annual talk broadcast on the BBC in memory of Dimbleby, a BBC broadcaster who died in 1965. His subject was a turning point in his activism: from raising awareness (and money) for Alzheimer's Disease, to talking openly about the inevitability of death, and the importance of being able to choose a good one, safely and legally. The speech was collected in A Slip of the Keyboard in 2014, and published in a standalone volume with an introduction by Rob Wilkins in 2015. The televised version is also (currently) on YouTube. We hope we've done Pratchett justice in carrying on this discussion. We are lucky to live in Australia, where citizens in most states have access to assisted dying - even if under more narrow circumstances than Pratchett might have liked. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill provides similar access, and was introduced in the UK parliament by backbench Labour MP Kim Leadbeater in November 2024. It's currently at the committee stage. (See our episode notes for more details.) Guest Myfanwy Coghill (she/her) has been many things, including an opera singer, a teacher, a funeral director, and a Dungeon Master (of the Dungeons & Dragons variety). She previously appeared to discuss Maskerade in #Pratchat23, “The Music of the Nitt”, in September 2019. GNU Elspeth Sutherland; Kat Muscat; Stella Young; Cal Wilson; DJ Ian; and Terry Pratchett. We'd love you to consider supporting the Kat Muscat Fellowship, which provides support and development for a young Australian writer or editor each year; or helping to fund a new documentary about Stella Young, I Am Not Your Inspiration (which coincidentally launched in between us recording and publishing this episode). You can find episode notes and errata on our web site. Next month is our rescheduled discussion about both volumes of the Ankh-Morpork Archives, which collect material from the Discworld diaries, and their sibling publication The Discworld Almanack! There's still time for a few more questions; send them in via email (chat@pratchatpodcast.com), or social media using the hashtag #Pratchat84.

Our recording of #Pratchat83 was delayed at the last minute, so our discussion of The Ankh-Morpork Archives and The Discworld Almanak will have to wait until later in the month - hopefully around the 25th February. But subscriber Molokov suggested it might be fun to discuss some of the other, less book-like Discworld merchandise available, so in this shorter bonus episode, Ben does just that! We'd love to hear about your favourite merch, official or fan-made! Drop us a line and/or a photograph using the hashtag #PratchatMerch on social media, via email, or chat to us via our subscriber Discord. The merch Ben mentions this episode from the Discworld Emporium includes the Ankh-Morpork Doodle Map, Terry Pratchett's Hat silver pin badge; Death's Omega cloak pin; the Band with Rocks In tour T-shirt; the plushie Greebo and rat-onna-stick; beermats of pubs and brands; and the dried frog pills box. It's not as easy to link to individual items at Discworld.com, but things Ben mentioned from there include various pins and badges; rare collectible pins; shopper bags; acrylic beanies; and the Great A'Tuin golf umbrella. The Anoia tea towel Ben liked was also from the Emporium, not Discworld.com, though they have tea towels too. He forgot to mention Discworld.com's notebooks - the Unseen University and Assassin's Guild ones are especially good. And their T-shirts aren't as “subtle” as he remembered, though their socks are certainly a bit less subtle than the Emporium's. The episode title is a reference to a specific scene in Mel Brooks' 1987 Star Wars parody Spaceballs. We'll be back in late February with #Pratchat83, discussing The Ankh-Morpork Archives Volume I and Volume II, and The Discworld Almanak. If you're very quick you could still get a question in about those! In March we're commemorating the tenth anniversary of Terry's death by discussing his thoughts on dying from “Shaking Hands with Death”, the Richard Dimbleby lecture he gave (with help from Tony Robinson) in 2010. It's most readily available in A Slip of the Keyboard, but you can also watch the original speech on YouTube. It gets pretty heavy, but we'll approach this discussion with empathy and kindness. Get your questions for that one in using the hashtag #Pratchat84.

Liz and Ben are joined by guest Dr Tansy Rayner Roberts PhD (Classics) to chat about fashion, faith, food...oh, and football. Yes, join us for an episode that goes well into extra time (i.e. it's over 3 hours long) as we discuss Terry Pratchett's 37th Discworld novel, Unseen Academicals. The Wizards of Unseen University are still recovering from the Dean's defection to become Archchancellor of rival Brazeneck College, but they have a bigger problem: if they don't field a foot-the-ball team, they'll lose the bequest that supplies most of their dinners. But the sport has become lawless and violent - a game of the streets in which matches last long into the night and players die. And then there's the fans... But something's in the air. The game's about to change, and at the centre of it are an unlikely quartet of junior University staff: Glenda the sensible baker; beautiful and fashion-conscious Juliet; Trev, son of the game's greatest player; and Mr Nutt, a goblin who's good at everything - except explaining who and what he is... The last of the Discworld books to “star” the wizards, and the longest in the series by a fair margin, Unseen Academicals repeatedly says that it isn't really about football. And, indeed, there's a lot else going on: new ways for both dwarfs and trolls to express their femininity; the internal voices which hold us back from reaching our potential; the struggle between progress and fairness, of power and the people. And at the heart of it, four brand new characters who represent a side of Ankh-Morpork we don't usually see in our protagonists: the regular people, caught up in the Shove. What did you think of Unseen Academicals? Does it have enough football in it, or too much? What are your favourite takes on orcs? What other sports would you like to see come to the Discworld? And do you know where we can get a megapode? Shout out from the Shove using the hashtag #Pratchat83! Guest Dr Tansy Rayner Roberts PhD (Classics) (she/her) is a Tasmanian author of sci-fi, fantasy and cosy crime. Her essay series Pratchett's Women was collected into a book, and her follow up series on Pratchett's men can be found at the online magazine Speculative Insight. Tansy recently reprinted her “Teacup Magic” series of cosy mysteries, and her newest novel is the time travel comedy Time of the Cat. You can find Tansy online at tansyrr.com and as @tansyrr on social media; you'll also find her in our previous live episodes: “A Troll New World” (from Nullus Anxietas 7 in 2019) and “Unalive from Überwald” (from Nullus Anxietas IX in 2024). You can find episode notes and errata on our web site. Next month we're looking at a stack of Discworld ephemera - namely both volumes of the Ankh-Morpork Archives, which collect material from the Discworld diaries, and their sibling publication The Discworld Almanack! If you've read any of those, please send us your questions via email (chat@pratchatpodcast.com), or social media. Use the hashtag #Pratchat84.

Puzzlers and previous guests Nicholas J Johnson and Lawrence Leung return to play and discuss Leonard Boyd and David Brashaw's 2015 board game Clacks, based on Terry Pratchett's 33rd Discworld novel, Going Postal. Postmaster General Moist von Lipwig has come up with a plan to prove the Ankh-Morpork postal service is still relevant - a race against the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company! The Grand Trunk has a monopoly on the “Clacks”, a system of optical telegraph towers which transmit messages using patterns formed by a grid of six lights - surely they can beat a man on a horse? But the Grand Trunk knows Moist has something up his sleeve, and they're taking no chances - the fastest and best new Clacks operators will have to prove they're worthy of the job by racing each other first... The fifth (and so far final) Discworld board game, Clacks is the second Discworld design by Boyd and Brashaw's BackSpindle games (following Guards! Guards!). Clacks turns the race at the climax of Going Postal into a logic puzzle where up to four players must use punch cards to turn patterns of lights on and off in a grid, hoping to form another pattern which equates to a letter in Clacks code. It's a race to finish your word (or words) first, either against each other, or as a team against Moist von Lipwig - but sharing the same grid of lights makes this puzzle very unpredictable. Is it Discworldy enough? Does it feel like the Clacks technology of the books? Do you find it fun or funny, and do you prefer it collaborative or cooperative? And what else would you play to get your logic puzzle fix? Join the discussion using the hashtag #Pratchat82. Guest Nicholas J Johnson is an author, magician, educator and expert in deception, who goes by the nickname "Australia's Honest Con-Man". You can find details of Nick's shows and workshops, including his upcoming magic show for children at the 2025 Melbourne Comedy Festival, at conman.com.au, or follow him on Bluesky, Instagram or Facebook as @honestconman. Guest Lawrence Leung is a comedian, screenwriter and actor, known to Australian audiences for live and screen comedy, including the 2015 feature film Sucker, and more recently appearances in My Life is Murder, Aunty Donna's Comedy Cafe and Time Bandits. For all the latest about Lawrence, including his upcoming research into seances and mediums in Victorian Melbourne, visit lawrenceleung.com, or follow him on Instagram at @mrlawrenceleung. You can find episode notes and errata on our web site. We'll be kicking off the new year with one of the few Discworld novels we have left - and why not go large with the longest Pratchett novel of all, Unseen Academicals? We'll be lacing up our football boots and dusting off our mortarboards alongside returning guest Tansy Rayner Roberts! Send us your questions via email (chat@pratchatpodcast.com), or social media. Use the hashtag #Pratchat83.

Author and poet* Dr Laura Jean McKay joins Liz and Ben for two of Terry Pratchett's short stories about intelligent animals: “Hollywood Chickens” (1990) and “From the Horse's Mouth” (1972). In 1973 Hollywood, a truck full of chickens overturned on a busy highway, depositing a population of chickens on the verge. A decade and a half later, scientists try to piece together the story of how they developed and evolved in pursuit of a very specific goal... In the town of Blackbury, rag and bone man Ron is amazed to discover that his carthorse, Johnno, can talk. Will their relationship be forever changed by the adventure they share together? These stories don't share too much in common beyond being about animals, but they are a nice sample of Pratchett's writing from two interesting points in his career: towards the end of his early phase of children's stories for newspapers, not long after his first novel was published; and at the height of his early fame - the year, in fact, that he published five novels. You can find “Hollywood Chickens” most readily in A Blink of the Screen, and “From the Horse's Mouth” in A Stroke of the Pen. Do you have a favourite Pratchett short story? What do you think of the way he writes animals? Should we have inserted an ad for Maggi noodles into this episode? What are your best horse pun names, and how would you get to the other side? We'd love to hear from you whether you're a horse, chicken, human or have mutant powers: join the conversation for this episode via email, or by using the hashtag #Pratchat81 on social media. Dr Laura Jean McKay (she/her) is an author, poet* and an Adjunct Lecturer in Creative Writing at Massey University. Her novel The Animals in That Country - “like Thelma and Louise with a woman and a dingo” - has won multiple awards, including the Arthur C Clarke Award. Her latest book is the short fiction collection Gunflower, published in 2023. You can find Laura as @laurajeanmckay on Twitter and Instagram, and find out more about her books on her website, laurajeanmckay.com.au. * Even if she doesn't know it. You'll find full notes and errata for this episode on our website, and you can hopefully still get tickets for Guards! Guards! at the Roleystone Theatre in Perth, which opens on 22 November 2024. Next episode we're back on track to crack the Clacks in the most recent Discworld board game: Clacks! If you have questions about this game recreating the race between Moist and the Grand Trunk company, get them in to us ASAP by tagging us or using the hashtag #Pratchat82 on social media, or emailing us at chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

Inequality reporter Stephanie Convery returns on a trip with Liz and Ben into the world of banking, high finance and monetary theory in Terry Pratchett's thirty-sixth Discworld novel, 2007's Making Money. The Ankh-Morpork Post Office is running very smoothly - which has left Moist von Lipwig, reformed con-man and Postmaster General, at a loose end. But he resists the Patrician's offer of a new job revitalising the Royal Mint and Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork. The bank's current owner is a Mark 1 Feisty Old Lady who knows her rich family are out to get her - and her little dog, too. But despite Moist's best attempts to not get involved, both dog and bank wind up in his care - putting him in the sights of the Lavish family, and especially Vetinari-obsessed Cosmo Lavish. Meanwhile, manager of the Golem Trust (and Moist's fiancée) Adora Belle Dearheart is digging up something ancient out on the desert. And Moist's past is about to catch up with him... Just a few novels after debuting in Going Postal, Moist von Lipwig is back! Making Money is about the nature of money, but also about the thrill of the chase, grappling with one's inner nature, and obsession. Aside from Gladys the Golem, Moist and Adora Belle bring few of their previous supporting cast along for the ride; instead we meet a new cast including Mr Bent, the Lavishes, another Igor, the Post-Mortem Communications Department of Unseen University, and the very good boy Mr Fusspot. Does this live up to the promise of Going Postal? Could Moist be in other Discworld books in disguise - and if so, as who? Did you guess Mr Bent's secret? And if you had a Glooper, what would you use it to change in the world of money? No purchase necessary to join the conversation for this episode; just email us or use the hashtag #Pratchat80 on social media. Stephanie Convery (she/her) is is a writer and author. Previously the Deputy Culture Editor for The Guardian Australia, she's now their dedicated inequality reporter. Stephanie's first book, After the Count: The Death of Davey Browne, was published in March 2020 by Penguin Books. (We suspect it won't be her last.) You can follow Stephanie on Twitter at @gingerandhoney, and find her work at Guardian Australia. Her previous appearances on Pratchat were for #Pratchat2, “Murdering a Curry” (about Mort), and #Pratchat42, “Truth, the Printing Press, and Every -ing” (about The Truth). You'll find full notes and errata for this episode on our website...though not just yet. Watch out for it soon! In the meantime, the newly recovered story in A Stroke of the Pen is “Arnold, the Bominable Snowman” (we've not yet found it online). Also, here's the free Quickstart for the Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork roleplaying game; it's also available via DriveThruRPG. The Kickstarter launches on 15 October. Those three upcoming Discworld plays in Australia are The Fifth Elephant from Brisbane Arts Theatre from 19 October; Maskerade by Sporadic Productions in Adelaide from 30 October; and Guards! Guards! from Roleystone Theatre in Perth from 22 November. Next episode we're continuing our Moist streak (sorry) with the (so far) latest Discworld board game: Clacks! If you have questions about this game recreating the race between Moist and the Grand Trunk company, get them in to us by mid-October 2024 by tagging us or using the hashtag #Pratchat81 on social media, or emailing us at chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

Unfortunately some scheduling issues pushed back our recording of #Pratchat80, and unfortunately we aren't going to be able to bring you that discussion of Making Money until until October. But it has been a very long time since we talked about Going Postal, so Ben thought you might like a recap to tide you over - plus a discussion of some of his favourite Discworld book covers, prompted by subscriber Ian! We'd love to hear about your favourite covers, from any of the various editions of Pratchett's works! Let us know about them using the hashtag #Pratchat79A on social media, or get in touch via email or our subscriber Discord. You can find various covers of the Discworld books via the L-Space wiki, or via the Internet Speculative Fiction Database at isfdb.org. For the isfdb, make sure you choose “Fiction Titles” below the search box when searching for a specific book, then scroll down to the bottom of the list of editions and click the link which says “View all covers for [Book Title]”. Note that not all the covers Ben mentions are at those two sources; we've linked to other sources below where necessary. Ben mentions these favourite covers: The original cover for The Colour of Magic by Alan Smith Pratchett's own original cover for The Carpet People (the image isn't as small as Ben remembered) The new Penguin paperback designs by Leo Nickolls, incorporating Paul Kidby's artwork, especially Moving Pictures. (The link is to the L-Space page Ben put together for these editions, which also gives you handy links to all the books in the wiki.) Paul Kidby's covers for the first UK editions, in particular Night Watch, Going Postal and The Science of Discworld, plus the back cover of the original hardcover edition of The Last Hero Josh Kirby's covers for Eric (the original large format edition), Small Gods, and especially Reaper Man The cover for the graphic novel adaptation of Small Gods by Ray Friesen The Penguin 25th Anniversary edition of Hogfather, with art by BoomArtwork The American hardcover edition of Raising Steam, with art by Justin Gerard The Mai Més Catalan editions with covers by Marina Vidal, especially Equal Rites and The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents We discussed Going Postal way back in 2020, in #Pratchat38, “Moisten to Steal”, with guests Nicholas J Johnson and Lawrence Leung. We'll be back in October with #Pratchat80 discussing Making Money with guest Stephanie Convery.

Recorded live at the Australian Discworld Convention in Adelaide, Karen J Carlisle and Tansy Rayner Roberts join us on stage to discuss short fiction, Death and the last of Terry Pratchett's Discworld short stories, 2004's “Death and What Comes Next”. Somewhere in time and space, a philosopher lies on his deathbed...and Death has come to collect. Only the philosopher isn't convinced he's real, or that any of this is even happening. Will “quantum” and cats in boxes be enough of an argument to dissuade Death from his job? Created for the now defunct Time Hunt puzzle website, “Death and What Comes Next” was written somewhere between 2002 and 2004. At under 1,000 words it's one of Pratchett's shorter pieces of fiction, and contains several jokes he'd go on to re-use elsewhere, as well as a word puzzle which provided a code word for Time Hunt site. You can read the story for free at the L-Space Web, which also hosts fan translations in many languages. Despite its placement in A Blink of the Screen, is this truly a Discworld story? Have you tried to solve the puzzle? How would you challenge Death to delay the time of your passing - and have you thought about what an encounter with the Discworld Death might be like for you? And is Death at his funniest here, or do you have other favourite Death moments? Join the conversation by using the hashtag #Pratchat79 on social media. Guest Tansy Rayner Roberts (she/her) is a Tasmanian author of sci-fi, fantasy, cosy crime and much, much more. Her essay series Pratchett's Women was collected into a book, and her follow up series on Pratchett's men, “Men Who Respect Witches”, can be found at the online magazine Speculative Insight. Her latest novel is a time travel comedy called Time of the Cat, and you can find Tansy online at tansyrr.com and as @tansyrr on social media. Tansy was also a guest on our previous live episode, “A Troll New World”, recorded at Nullus Anxietas 7 in 2019. Guest Karen J Carlisle (he/him) is a writer and illustrator based in Adelaide whose work spans Victorian mystery, steampunk, fantasy and yes, even (mostly) cosy murders. She has some new writing in the works, but her recent “Jack the Ripper thing” is Blood Ties, which you can find via her website, karenjcarlisle.com. You can also find her on Instagram, Twitter and various other social platforms as @karenjcarlisle. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our website. Next month it's back to the books as we rejoin Moist von Lipwig for Making Money! Send us your questions about the book ASAP using the hashtag #Pratchat80.

It's the final leg of the Long Journey as Joel Martin and Deanne Sheldon-Collins answer our Invitation! Both previous Long Earth guests return to discuss the fifth and final of Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's collaborations, the 2016 novel The Long Cosmos. It's 2070, and a message has been received across the Long Earth: “JOIN US.” Joshua Valienté hears it and gets one of his headaches, but he's still mourning the death of his ex-wife Helen, so he rejects the call to adventure. He goes off alone into the High Meggers, despite multiple warnings that he's too old for this shit. Meanwhile Nelson Azikiwe finds and loses a new family, and goes in search of Lobsang for help. And the Next find that the Invitation is more than two words long, and put into action far-reaching plans to bring everyone together to follow its instructions... The last of Pratchett's novels to be published, The Long Cosmos brings the series to a close. (If you need a recap, see our “The Longer Footnote” bonus episode.) Like the previous book, The Long Utopia, this one also takes place on a relatively small number of Earths - but it has its gaze fairly firmly fixed on the stars above, and wears its influences (especially Carl Sagan's Contact) on its sleeve. Who got their epic first contact novel in our weird parallel worlds travelogue? Is this where you thought the story would go? What would your friends be able to predict about you if they kept a detailed spreadsheet? After five books, is this a satisfying conclusion? Join the conversation by using the hashtag #Pratchat78 on social media. Guest Joel Martin (he/him) is a writer, editor and podcaster now based in the UK. He previously hosted the writing podcast The Morning Bell, and produced The Dementia Podcast for Hammond Care. Joel's previously been on the show to discuss The Long Earth, The Long Mars, The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, making him our most frequent guest. He recommended the 1989 novel Hyperion by Dan Simmons, along with its sequel The Fall of Hyperion. (There are also two more novels in the Hyperion Cantos series.) Guest Deanne Sheldon-Collins (she/her) is an editor and writer in Australia's speculative fiction scene, working for Aurealis magazine, Writer's Victoria, the National Young Writer's Festival, and as co-director of the Speculate festival. Deanne previously joined us for The Long War and The Long Utopia. She once again recommended Pratchat listener favourite, Martha Wells' series The Murderbot Diaries, which consists of seven novels and novellas. The first is 2017's All Systems Red. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our website. We're off to Adelaide to be guests at the Australian Discworld Convention, where on Friday 12 July we'll be recording a live episode with authors Tansy Rayner Roberts and Karen J Carlisle! We'll be discussing Pratchett's Discworld short fiction “Death and What Comes Next”, and probably more broadly how Pratchett writes about Death (and death). The story is available online at the L-Space Web. We'll mostly be taking questions from the live audience, but you can also share yours via social media (if you're quick!) using the hashtag #Pratchat79.

Our July episode about The Long Cosmos, fifth and final of the Long Earth series, is arriving on time! But we still thought you might appreciate a recap and reminder of what happened in the previous four novels. Was this helpful? Were you annoyed by the slight inaccuracies made for brevity? Do you double-dare us to do this for the Discworld series as whole? (Please don't...) Let us know what you think, using the hashtag #PratchatPreviously2 on social media, or get in touch via email or our subscriber Discord. The previous recap, “The Long Footnote”, has a bit more detail on the first three books. Pick up the story in #Pratchat78, “One Step Beyond”, with Joel Martin and Deanne Sheldon-Collins discussing The Long Cosmos. It should be out by the time you finish listening to this recap!

Writer, filmmaker and creative director Lucas Testro joins Liz and Ben on a trip down under to the Other Place as we discuss Terry Pratchett's first ever published short story, 1963's “The Hades Business”. Shady advertising man Crucible arrives home to find none other than old Nicholas Lucifer waiting for him in his study. But he hasn't come to take him to eternal damnation. Instead, the Devil has a business proposition for Crucible: he want to make the public conscious, Hell-wise... At age thirteen (actually fourteen), the young Pratchett scored full marks for this story as a school assignment, encouraging him to try his luck with the editor of his three favourite spec fic magazines. And it worked! As the legend goes, he used the whopping £14 he was paid for the story to buy his first typewriter, and the rest is history...with a few bumps and detours along the way, of course. Was the young Pratchett a genius? Do you know any fourteen-year-olds who've been published alongside Michael Moorcock and Harry Harrison? Are we way too harsh on a story written by a teenager, or is it fair game as an exercise in working where the author of Night Watch and Nation got his start? And what afterlife would you sell - and with what slogan? Get down with this episode's conversation using the infernal hashtag #Pratchat77. Lucas Testro (he/him) is writer, filmmaker and creative director based in Melbourne. He's worked in theatre, television and short film, including the time travel farce I'm You, Dickhead and superhero comedy Capes. He's worked in a variety of capacities with youth creative writing centre 100 Story Building. In 2022 he founded Social Storylab, a media production house that seeks to use persuasive marketing techniques for social good. (He's kind of the anti-Crucible.) You can find Lucas online at manwithajetpack.com, and his excellent three-part audio documentary about mysterious Doctor Who writer Donald Cotton is available via donaldcotton.com or to stream on Soundcloud. As usual you'll find comprehensive notes and errata for this episode on our website. Next episode we finish a long-term goal: the end of the Long Earth series, with the fifth and final novel, The Long Cosmos! We'll be joined by previous Steppers Joel Martin and Deanne Sheldon-Collins. Get your questions in by ASAP using the hashtag #Pratchat78 on social media, or email us at chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

It's the 25th of May, which can only mean one thing: Geek Pride Day! Or Towel Day. Or the Glorious 25th of May and the Battle of Treacle Mine Road...okay, that's three things. Why not add one more? This is the Pratchat Eeek Club: a bonus episode discussing Terry Pratchett-related topics selected by our "Eeek" tier subscribers. This year, the topics are: So it's been a few years of the Podcast. How are you guys holding up? How could one Discworld character use their skills and influence to change the patriarchal nature of the Disc? What is an unwritten Discworld story for you, e.g. maybe a head canon of a specific character, or a general arc of how things came into being or changed on the Disc? Why no gays? (On the Discworld.) Like learning how to not use magic is the whole point of magic, what have you had to learn not to do to make your life easier/better? What other storylines - other than The Watch - would you like to see turned into a television show? A big thank you to all our subscribers for making Pratchat possible, but especially to this year's Eeek Club contributors: Graham, Karl, Jing, the Caths, Jess and Ellie, Stephanie, Nathan and those we didn't hear from. You'll find notes and errata for this episode on our website. Want to make sure we get through every Pratchett book - or even choose a topic for next year's Eeek Club? You can support Pratchat by subscribing for as little as $2 a month and get access to bonus stuff, including the exclusive supporter podcast Ook Club! Click here to find out more.

The scheduling goblins got us this month, and we've had to delay our planned short story episode. But while we get that sorted out, Ben's embracing the chaos - and the theme of Terry Pratchett Day 2024, “Start in the Wrong Place”! Join him as he shares some of your stories of unusual places to start reading Pratchett. If you'd like to honour Terry, you can find a list of his preferred charities (and a recipe for banana daiquiris) at the Terry Pratchett Day page at terrypratchettbooks.com. If you'd like to hear us discuss any of the Terry Pratchett books mentioned this episode, you can find our episodes in our handy list, or this list by book. Or use the Guild of Recappers and Podcasters, where you'll also find Dining Table Discworld, and the “Starting in the Wrong Place” episode of The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret, which Ben can't believe he forgot to mention during this episode. You can find the threads of responses at the links below, and add to them by replying, or using the hashtag #PratchatDay2024. Use #TerryPratchettDay as well to really get into the spirit of things! (Note that on several of these platforms you'll need to be logged in to see some of the responses. Reddit and Twitter had the most if you don't want to visit them all.) Our Reddit post on r/discworld The Twitter thread (yes, we still refuse to call it “X”) Our Instagram post Our Facebook post The Bluesky thread The Mastodon post We'll be back next month on the 7Ath; keep an eye on our social media for confirmation of the next book or story, though also listen out in the feed for something before then!

Kiwi writer and poet Freya Daly Sadgrove joins Liz and Ben from Sydney as we adjust our uniforms and march into the horrible realities of war (class, gender and literal) to discuss Terry Pratchett's thirty-first Discworld novel, 2003's Monstrous Regiment. Polly Perks has cut off her hair, put on some trousers and joined the army under the name of Oliver, all so she can find her strong but gentle-minded brother, Paul. Is soon turns out that her regiment, led by the infamous Sergeant Jackrum who swears to look after “his little lads”, is quite possibly the last one left in all of Borogravia. In her search for Paul, Polly will have to deal with the enemy, the free press, a vampire who might kill for a coffee, Sam Vimes, and The Secret: she might not be the only impostor in the ranks... Coming in between the first two Tiffany Aching novels, Monstrous Regiment - which is also monstrous in size, possibly Pratchett's second longest novel - is the last truly standalone Discworld story. It introduces a wonderful cast of characters who, sadly, we'll never see again. Not only that, but it gives major supporting roles to old favourites Sam Vimes and William de Worde, with a side order of Otto von Chriek! Critics at the time compared it to Evelyn Waugh, Jonathan Swift and All Quiet on the Western Front, and it remains one of Pratchett's most beloved and celebrated novels - both for what it says about war, and about gender. Did you know The Secret before you read Monstrous Regiment? What's it like re-reading it when you do know? How do you feel about the ending(s)? How does Pratchett's handling of gender hold up against our modern understanding? What would you prohibit, in Nugganite fashion? And would you rather have a type of food or clothing named after you? Get on board the conversation for this episode with the hashtag #Pratchat76. Freya Daly Sadgrove (she/her) is a pākehā writer and performance poet from New Zealand, currently living in Sydney. Her first book of poetry, Head Girl, was published in 2020 by Te Herenga Waka University Press, and she is one of the creators of New Zealand live poetry showcase Show Ponies, which presents poets like they're pop stars. Her first full-length live show, 2023's Whole New Woman, blended poetry with live rock music. Freya has a website at freyadalysad.com (though it might not be available at the moment), and you can also find her as @FreyaDalySad on Twitter. As usual you'll find comprehensive notes and errata for this episode on our website, including lots of photos of the components we discuss. Next episode we're discussing two short stories about animals: “Hollywood Chickens” (found in A Blink of the Screen) and “From the Horse's Mouth” (from A Stroke of the Pen). Our guest will be the author of The Animals in That Country, Laura Jean McKay. Get your questions in by mid-April 2024 by replying to us or using the hashtag #Pratchat77 on social media, or email us at chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

Our Monstrous Regiment episode still isn't quite ready, so we've had to push it to April. In the meantime, Ben gets nerdy about some recent Discworld and Pratchett news about books and roleplaying games. A few brief notes: “50 Years of Terry Pratchett” was actually announced in November 2021, marking fifty years since the publication of The Carpet People in 1971. (In Ben's defence, those early pandemic years all blur into one.) It kicked off with a new print and audiobook edition of that book; the new audio version was read by David Tennant! The new Discworld audiobooks and paperbacks from Penguin were published between 2022 and 2023, though the audiobook of Hogfather was released early for Christmas 2021, using the same artwork as the 25th anniversary paperback edition. For more on the books released as part of 50th anniversary celebrations, see the L-Space wiki “50 Years of Terry” article. You can check out the cover design for the new edition of The Last Hero on the Gollancz website. The new paperback edition of Eric was published on 23 February 2023. The new audiobook, read by Colin Morgan, had been previously released with the other Wizards books on 7 July 2022. The Collector's Library edition of Dodger can be seen in the terrypratchett.com announcement. You can see the “Forty Years of Discworld” logo at terrypratchett.com. The “Year of Discworld” was announced on the day of the fortieth anniversary, promising “more on that soon”. Both the terrypratchett.com announcement and Modiphius announcement for Terry Pratchett's Discworld: Adventure in Ankh-Morpork include links to Modiphius' fan survey (it's a Google form). Modiphius also has a mailing list you can sign up to for more news. Ben forgot to mention this, but Modiphius' license is for Discworld “tabletop games”, including board games. No news on those yet, though! We'll be back with #Pratchat76, our proper Monstrous Regiment episode on 8 April. Then in May we'll be reading “Hollywood Chickens” (which you can find in A Blink of the Screen) and “From the Horse's Mouth” (from A Stroke of the Pen, or in earlier form as “Johnno, The Talking Horse” in The Time Traveling Caveman and Other Stories) with guest Laura Jean McKay. Send in your questions about those stories via email, or using the hashtag #Pratchat77 on social media.

Our Monstrous Regiment episode won't be ready until later in the month, but we didn't want to let International Women's Day pass without some kind of comment. So here's a mini episode in your feed recommending some other Pratchett and Discworld podcasts hosted by women and non-binary folks. Here's a list of the Discworld podcasts Ben mentioned: The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret, hosted by Francine Carrel and Joanna Hagan. They covered Monstrous Regiment over three episodes in April 2023: “[REDACTED]”, “The Implication of Hippo” and “Gender is a Fake Drug”. You can support them on Patreon. Disc Coverers, hosted by Iris Jay, Grace Lovelace, Balina Mahigan, and Juniper Theory. Nanny Ogg's Book Club, hosted by Tessa Swelha and Nigel. Their Monstrous Regiment episode was in September 2023. Teaching My Cat to Read, hosted by Eli, M, Ro and Lotti. You can support them on Ko-Fi. Fiction Fans, hosted by Sara and Lily. You can support them on Patreon. Other links from this episode: Our wiki indexing Discworld podcasts is the Guild of Recappers and Podcasters. There's a page for Monstrous Regiment listing all the episodes discussing it. The Melbourne-based charity is independent feminist organisation the Victorian Women's Trust. They've produced their own podcasts, including Money Power Freedom, which was co-hosted by Cal Wilson. We won't link to it, but don't go to internationalwomensday.com; instead you want the official UN Women site, unwomen.org. Our April episode, #Pratchat77, will be with guest Laura Jean McKay, author of The Animals in That Country. We'll be discussing the short stories “Hollywood Chickens” from A Blink of the Screen, and “From the Horse's Mouth” from A Stroke of the Pen. An earlier version of “From the Horse's Mouth” is “Johnno, the Talking Horse”, which was collected in The Time-Travelling Caveman and Other Stories, and in deluxe editions of The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner and Other Stories.

In this very three-quarters-of-a-century episode, Liz, Ben and guest Dr Melissa Rogerson get out the eight-sided dice and roll for initative - or at least cunning - as we play the 2011 board game, Guards! Guards!, designed by Leonard Boyd and David Brashaw, and based on the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. The eight great spells have escaped from Unseen University's library, ready to unleash chaos on Ankh-Morpork! Thankfully Commander Vimes has taken charge. He's assigned members of the Watch (that's you) to liaise with four of the Guilds to round up volunteers and bring those spells back. But Guild rivalries run deep, and surely the Patrician will look kindly on whoever saves the day the most. So if one of the other Guilds' volunteers should go missing or explode or fall into the Ankh, your Guild would only be too willing to shoulder more of the burden of saving the city... Created by two Irish Discworld fans who approached Terry with the idea (see David Brashaw's great interview with The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret), Guards! Guards! A Discworld Board Game sees players roaming about a hexagon-based map of Ankh-Morpork collecting Discworld characters, casting spells from scrolls, equipping magic items and occasionally fighting dragons. Which sounds suspiciously like a very different kind of game... Originally published in 2011 by BackSpindle Games and Z-Man Games, and reprinted with a revised rulebook in 2012, Guards! Guards! was a hit with fans - but board game hobbyists were less enthusiastic. Have you played Guards! Guards! - and if so, how long did it take you? Do you like the kind of game where being mean to the other players is part of the fun? Do you think it captures the essence of the source material, and if so, which books in particular? Is this the best name for the game, or do you have a better suggestion? (Ours was Guilds! Guilds!) And should we play an exhibition match at the Australian Discworld Convention, of this or one of the other games? We'd love to hear what you think: use the hashtag #Pratchat75 to join the conversation. Dr Melissa Rogerson is a Lecturer and Assistant Professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems at The University of Melbourne. She was last on for #PratchatPlaysThud, “The Troll's Gambit”, discussing the first Discworld board game in Nivember 2022. Melissa's current research is about hybrid games which use both physical and digital components, as well as the possibility of using games to tell the stories of older people. You can find out more about her work at hybridgameresearch.net, melissarogerson.com, or find her on Twitter and Mastodon as @melissainau, and on BoardGameGeek as melissa. (A mentioned last time, Ben is on there too, as beejay.) As usual you'll be able to find notes and errata for this episode on our website...but not just yet. Watch this space! Next episode we'll be discussing a Discworld novel for the first time in ages - and not just any Discworld novel, but one of the most beloved! Yes, for #Pratchat76 we're finally talking about Monstrous Regiment. Get your questions in before the last week of February to give them a chance of getting on the show! Use the hashtag on social media (Mastodon, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and BlueSky), or email us at chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

In this very special Hogswatch-adjacent episode of Pratchat, Liz and Ben don't discuss a Terry Pratchett book! Instead, they interview Rhianna Pratchett and Gabrielle Kent, authors of Tiffany Aching's Guide to Being a Witch. Tiffany Aching's Guide to Being a Witch is a new lavishly illustrated guidebook to witchcraft, compiled by the famous young witch of the Chalk - with a little help from her friends, of course. Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Miss Tick, Mrs Letice Earwig and more have all annotated the manuscript - as have Tiffany's fairy allies and protectors, the Nac Mac Feegle. We'll return to the book for a regular discussion in a future episode, but for now, please enjoy our chat with Rhianna and Gabrielle - though note that as Tiffany Aching's Guide is set after The Shepherd's Crown, you might catch a couple of brief spoilers for the final Discworld novel in this interview. The same is true for their previous appearances on our spiritual sibling podcasts, The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret and The Compleat Discography, which you will probably also enjoy. You can send us comments and questions about this episode using the hashtag #Pratchat74. And as usual you can find errata and other notes for this episode on our website. Guest Rhianna Pratchett is a writer best known for her work in videogames, most famously the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider, and most recently Lost Words: Beyond the Page with Sketchbook Games. Rhianna also works in film and television production, and since 2012 has co-run Narrativia, the company which manages Terry Pratchett's intellectual property. Rhianna recently made her first podcast series, Mythical Creatures, for BBC Radio 4; find it via your favourite podcast app, or on the BBC Sounds website. You can also follow Rhianna on social media at @rhipratchett on Twitter and Mastodon, and as @rhi.bsky.social on Bluesky. Guest Gabrielle Kent is now best known as a children's author, but worked in videogames as an artist and lecturer for many years. Her books include the Knights and Bikes series based on the videogame of the same name; the Alfie Bloom series about a boy who inherits a magical castle; and most recently Rani Reports, a series about a young aspiring journalist, co-written with her husband Satish Shewhorak. You can find out more about Gabrielle via her website, gabriellekent.com. Gabrielle is also on social media as @gabriellekent on Twitter and Bluesky. Next month we get our game one again as we play and discuss the second published Discworld board game, Guards! Guards!, designed by Leonard Boyd and David Brashaw of BackSpindle Games. Get your questions in via social media using the hashtag #Pratchat75, or send us an email at chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

In this very special Christmas episode, Liz and Ben fly without a guest as they turn the seasonal silliness up to maximum and discuss all eleven stories in Terry Pratchett's 2017 collection of short Christmas stories, Father Christmas's Fake Beard. It's not always easy being Father Christmas. You might be forced out of home by a rogue submarine or the harsh reality of a job where you only work one day a year; you might be sent fifty thousand identical letters by a computer or put on trial for three thousand counts of breaking and entering. But at least you don't live in Blackbury, where giant pies explode, the snow falls so thick you have to dig tunnels to see your granny, and where weird creatures show up every other day. And you won't believe the true stories behind some of your favourite Christmas songs... While he later claimed short stories “cost me blood”, Pratchett wrote scores of stories every year while working in his first newspaper jobs between 1965 and 1979, and continued to sell them to his old papers even after he went to work for the Central Electricity Governing Board. These included plenty of Christmas stories - and eleven of them (well...eight plus three wintery ring-ins) from between 1967 and 1992 are collected in this third volume of his early work for children. Have you read Father Christmas's Fake Beard? Is “Father Christmas” more British than Santa Claus? Do you prefer these (close to) original versions of the stories, or some of the later re-written versions unearthed for A Stroke of the Pen? Have you ever seen one of these stories in their original habitat, the Southwestern British Newspaper? And what should we name our Prod-Ye-A'Diddle Oh team? Join in the conversation on social media using the hashtag #Pratchat73! “Guest” Elizabeth Flux is a freelance writer and editor, and also currently Arts Editor for The Age newspaper in Melbourne. You can find out where Liz's short fiction has been published via her website, elizabethflux.com. “Guest” Ben McKenzie is a writer, game designer and educator who doesn't usually work in short fiction. But you can find a few short Twine games on his website, benmckenzie.com.au. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our website. Next episode we have two actual very special guests: Rhianna Pratchett and Gabrielle Kent! They're joining us for a chat about their new book, Tiffany Aching's Guide to Being a Witch. This will be more an interview than an in-depth discussion about the book (which, we feel we should warn you, include spoilers for some key events and characters for The Shepherd's Crown, but we'll try to keep those spoilers to a minimum). As well as asking our own questions, we want to ask them yours! So send them in using the hashtag #Pratchat74 or via email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com, but be quick: we'll be recording on the 15th of December!

24 November 2023 marks forty years since Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic was first published. That's right - it's Discworld's fortieth birthday! To celebrate, join Pratchat producer and co-host Ben McKenzie as he - and a bunch of special guests - try to figure out why that book, and moreso the Discworld series it started, have endured for so long. This episode is something of an experiment for Pratchat, and as Ben says during the episode, this can't possibly cover all the reasons why the series is so beloved. We want to hear about your favourite Discworld books, and what it means to you. And we'd love to know what you thought of this episode, and whether you'd like to hear more like it in the future! Tell us via the hashtag #PratchatRuby on social media, or get in touch via email or our subscriber Discord. Huge thanks to everyone who contributed to this episode: Rachel and Jason of the newsletter Better Than a Poke in the Eye (previous known as Discworld Monthly) Marc Burrows, author of The Magic of Terry Pratchett and creator of the one-man stage show of the same name Adam Ford, poet; find his zines and other gear in his Gumroad shop Danny (aka Molokov) from Nullus Anxietas, the Australian Discworld Convention, coming to Adelaide in July 2024 (hopefully we'll be there!) Ian Banks Aaron from The Compleat Discography podcast Pratchat's own Elizabeth Flux Francine Carrel and Joanna Hagan of The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret Our original discussion of The Colour of Magic can be found in #Pratchat14, “City-State Lampoon's Disc-Wide Vacation”, from December 2018. Our December episode will be #Pratchat73, discussing the stories of Father Christmas's Fake Beard. But we are hoping to bring you one more little extra before the year is out. Want to help us get to every Pratchett book? You can subscribe for as little as $2 a month - and that's cuttin' our own throats! (Sorry.) Check out our Support Us page for details.

Unlike some DJs, Liz and Ben do take requests - like this month's short story! They're joined by comedian and DJ Andrew McClelland to spin discs with the soul collector, as they discuss Terry Pratchett's 1989 short story “Turntables of the Night”. John, one half of the “Hellfire Disco” mobile DJ business, is helping the police with their enquiries. His latest gig, a fairly sedate Halloween party, did not go smoothly - and it all revolves around a mysterious visitor to the dancefloor, who had an unusual request for DJ Wayne... Written for Diana Wynne Jones' 1989 collection of original fiction Hidden Turnings, “Turntables of the Night” came to Pratchett title first. It's a spooky tale of obsession, records, music and death - or rather Death, appearing outside the Discworld for perhaps the first time in Pratchett's writing. Is this fantasy or horror? Did Pratchett really know who Ian Curtis was? Who did he call up to get insight into the DJ trade? What would Death ask you to curate for him? Who would be the crown jewel in his collection now? And which of Pratchett's other short stories do you want us to devote an entire episode to? Join in the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat72 on social media. Guest Andrew McClelland (he/him) is a writer, comedian and DJ who has often mixed in his other loves, like history, music, DJing and Gilbert & Sullivan, to create the “niche” nerdy and gentlemanly comedy for which he's known. Andy has also frequently collaborated with #Pratchat38 guest Lawrence Leung. As a DJ, Andy works constantly in Melbourne and did indeed open for Cher during her 2018 Australia and New Zealand tour. His club night Andrew McClelland's Finishing School doesn't run as regularly as it used to, but as of this episode it has a 15th anniversary night on 10 November, and an annual 90s night on 24 November. Find Andy on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (if you must) or at his website djandrewmcclelland.com. Finishing School is on Facebook. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our website. Next episode we get into the Hogswatch spirit by opening an entire book of season stories, as we discuss the 2017 collection of Pratchett's children's fiction, Father Christmas's Fake Beard. You can send us questions about any of the stories (which we'll list on our website for reference), or about the book in general, using the hashtag #Pratchat72 on social media. Or send them in via email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

Liz and Ben are blessed by two returning guests, the Rev Dr Avril Hannah-Jones and Dr Charlotte Pezaro, as they go on one last visit to Roundworld - this time as clerics, wizards and librarians clash over who should take ownership. It's Terry Pratchett's fourth and final collaboration with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, 2013's The Science of Discworld IV: Judgement Day. Ponder Stibbons has just activated Unseen University's latest “Great Big Thing”, the culmination of six years' research (and spending) into the frontiers of magical knowledge. It summons a side effect: improbably-named librarian Marjorie Daw, from the even less probable universe in a bottle, Roundworld. Marjorie decides to stick around when she discovers her entire universe is under threat: the Church of the Latter-Day Omnians, who believe the Disc is round, think Roundworld should be theirs. After surviving elves and Auditors, will it be lawyers and priests who decide Roundworld's fate? This time in the (really short!) fiction chapters, the wizards barely visit Roundworld at all; Ridcully spends most of his time talking to Marjorie, before the last few chapters detail the trial - sorry, hearing - of the century. In the non-fiction chapters, Jack and Ian do talk about science...but mostly about religion. Their big idea this time revolves around Gregory Benford's ideas of human- and universe-centred thinking. As the fiction pits priests against wizards, you can probably see where this is going. We certainly could, and we'll be blunt: we didn't like it. Is this really a book about science? How do the authors' ideas of “religion” gel with yours - or even Pratchett's previous books and writing on the subject? What did you think of Marjorie Daw? Do you want us to do a special episode with Avril about Scott Morrison's book? And were we too harsh on this book? Join in the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat71 on social media. Guest Rev Dr Avril Hannh-Jones (she/her) is a Minister in the Uniting Church. While she should be known for her tireless activism for marginalised communities, most people know her for the Church of the Latter Day Geek: an occasional service where science fiction and fantasy stories serve as parables, and cosplay is allowed in the pews. Avril previously appeared on Pratchat back in 2019 to discuss Small Gods in #Pratchat16. Avril posts weekly Reflections on her blog, Rev Doc Geek, tweets as @DocAvvers, and would love to see you at a Sunday service at North Balwyn Uniting Church. Guest Dr Charlotte Pezaro (she/her) is an educator with a PhD in pedagogy and years of experience communicating science and technology, and shaping how it is taught in Australian schools. She last joined us in 2021 for #Pratchat41 to discuss Nation, which is both Charlotte's and Pratchett's favourite Pratchett book. You can find out more about Charlotte at charlottepezaro.com, or her education work at dialogic.com.au. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our website. Next episode it's time for another short story: this time a young adult one Pratchett wrote for Diana Wynn Jones in 1989, “Turntables of the Night”. It was originally published in the anthology Hidden Turnings, but you'll most easily find it in Pratchett's short fiction collection A Blink of the Screen. We'll be discussing this tale of record collectors and DJs with superstar DJ and comedian, Andrew McClelland! Have a read and send us your questions using the hashtag #Pratchat72, or via email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

Liz and Ben are joined by guest author Caimh “C. K.” McDonnell as they read a very early and very short chapter in the history of the Watch: Terry Pratchett's 1993 short Discworld story, “Theatre of Cruelty”. When the Watch discover a murdered entertainer with pockets full of change, a string of sausages round his neck, and no witnesses to the crime, the Clues are very unhelpful. But Corporal Carrot is on the case - and when it comes to solving the crime, he knows the way to do it... Written for W H Smith's free Bookcase magazine - a pristine copy of which now fetches a few hundred dollars - “Theatre of Cruelty” was published not long before the second Watch novel, Men at Arms. It packs more jokes into 1,000 words than most people write in a lifetime, and is also a delightful extra outing with the original officers of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. But don't take our word for it: you can read it yourself at the L-Space web. Is it a satisfying murder mystery? Why does Pratchett seem to have a thing for Punch and Judy? And how on Earth did we talk for nearly two hours about such a short piece of writing? Join the conversation - and send us your favourite short stories and cruel bits of theatre - using the hashtag #Pratchat70. Guest Caimh McDonnell is a comedian, writer and author best known for two series of books. The first is the “Dublin Trilogy” comic thrillers, starring Bunny McGarry and a cast of loveable rogues, beginning with A Man With One of Those Faces in 2016 (though see the reading order on his website). The other - as C. K. McDonnell - is the comic urban fantasy series The Stranger Times, about a weird newspaper called The Stranger Times, and beginning with the novel titled...er...The Stranger Times in 2021. Aside from his books you can hear his writing on two podcasts: The Bunnycast for further crime stories, and The Stranger Times Podcast for more Stranger Times. You might also catch him live this Halloween via his Facebook or YouTube accounts! Caimh is on Twitter at @caimh, and his website is whitehairedirishman.com. The Stranger Times series has its own site at thestrangertimes.co.uk. You'll find notes and errata for this episode on our web site. For our October episode, we're going on one last trip to Roundworld as we read and discuss The Science of Discworld IV: Judgement Day with two special guests, including our old friend and Uniting Church minister, the Reverend Doctor Avril Hannah-Jones. We're recording around the 25th of September, so don't delay - get your questions about the book (or the Science series as a whole!) in ASAP via email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com, or on social media using the hashtag #Pratchat71.

We engage the matrix drive and set course for the Discworld that might have been, as EJ Mann joins us to discuss Terry Pratchett's first attempt at writing a flat Earth, 1981's Strata. 200-year-old human Kin Arad works for the Company building planets - the traditional, oblate spheroid kind. So when deep space pioneer Jago Jalo shows up wearing an invisibility cloak, and says he's discovered a flat Earth full of advanced technology, she can't resist. She's joined by Marco, a four-armed paranoid Kung pilot who thinks he's human; and Silver, a huge, gentle, bear-like and potentially ravenous Shand linguist. But the expedition soon goes wrong: betrayed by Jalo, their ship destroyed, the trio are stranded on a bizarre Disc-world full of dragons, demons and humans with strange beliefs. It's also a duplicate of medieval Europe - but the world is breaking down. It's a race against time as they journey to the centre of the Disc looking for a means of escape - and something is watching them all the way... Pratchett's third novel, the last before The Colour of Magic changed his life forever, Strata is a direct parody of Larry Niven's 1970 sci-fi classic Ringworld. Many of Pratchett's favourite ideas, jokes and themes appear here for the first time. You'll find talking ravens, magic mixed with technology, characters who TALK LIKE THIS and an author taking the fantastic seriously to the point of absurdity. There are even a few bright young things who'll later make it big on the Discworld, like the Broken Drum and Mrs Widgery's Lodger. Did you know this was a parody of Ringworld? Does it stands on its own, or is it doomed to live in the shadow of it's more successful younger sibling? Could Pratchett have made it as a science fiction writer if he hadn't switched to fantasy? And what standalone novel do you wish would inspire a series of 41 similar-but-different novels? Let us know! Use the hashtag #Pratchat68 to join the conversation. Though not on Bluesky, if you're joining us there, because apparently they're too good for hashtags? Guest EJ Mann (they/them) is spec fic fan, occasional spec fic writer (as E. H. Mann), nature nerd and long-time participant and organiser on the Australian convention scene. You can read some of their short fiction at their website, ehmannwrites.com. As mentioned at the top of the episode, EJ currently works for conservation charity Bush Heritage Australia, who work to preserve Australian wildlife by buying and caring for bushland in consultation with traditional owners. You can find out more about them at bushheritage.org.au. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our website. Next month we get back to the actual, honest-to-Glod Discworld with the short story “Theatre of Cruelty”, which we'll be discussing with Irish author Caimh McDonnell! You can most easily find the story in Pratchett's fiction anthology A Blink of the Screen. Get your questions in via social media using the hashtag #Pratchat70 (again, not on Bluesky), or send us an email at chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

We travel from Victorian London to the ends of an Earth as Deanne Sheldon-Collins returns to the podcast to face the consequences of three books' worth of bad decisions in the fourth Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter Long Earth novel, The Long Utopia. It's 2052. Datum Earth is dying a slow death in the wake of the Yellowstone eruption. The Earths next door are building space elevators, while a new way of living emerges in the high meggers. Lobsang has died, Maggie Kaufman has retired, Sally Linsay is off helping settlers, and the Next are covertly recruiting more of their kind to join them in their “utopia”. Joshua Valienté - now fifty and further estranged from his ex-wife and son - says yes when Nelson Azikiwe offers to track down the father he never knew. But Joshua is also having another one of his headaches, which can only mean trouble is brewing in the Long Earth. Sure enough, in the high meggers settlement of New Springfield, fresh pioneers “George” and Agnes discover something is deeply wrong with their new planet. The solution might have long-reaching consequences for all of humanity - and especially for Sally... The first of Pratchett's novels to be published after his death, The Long Utopia feels different to the ones that came before it. (If you need a recap, see “The Long Footnote” bonus episode.) The action takes place mostly on just a few worlds - there's no picaresque travelogue of weird new Earths. One plot thread goes further back in time than we've been before to fill in backstory for one of our main characters, while another stars someone we've never met (and won't meet again). The biggest plot starts like a horror film, but shifts gears into old-school big concept science fiction. Was this what you came to the Long Earth for? Did it feel like a fitting end for...certain characters? Was Pratchett's voice in there for you, or was something perhaps lost as he moved on quickly to other work he wanted to finish? And if stepping could join up different universes, which of Pratchett's fictional worlds would you like to talk to one another - and how would stepping change the Disc? Let us know! You can use the hashtag #Pratchat69 on social media. Guest Deanne Sheldon-Collins (she/her) is an editor, writer and a fixture in Australia's speculative fiction scene, working for Aurealis magazine, Writer's Victoria, the National Young Writer's Festival, and co-directing Speculate, the Victorian Speculative Fiction Writers Festival. Deanne didn't have anything to spruik, but she did recommend - as have many of you! - Martha Wells' series The Murderbot Diaries, which begin with the 2017 novella All Systems Red. The seventh book, System Collapse, will be published this year. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our website. We're getting back on track in August with #Pratchat68, our delayed episode discussing Pratchett's proto-Discworld novel, Strata, with guest EJ Mann. In September we return to the Disc proper with the short story “Theatre of Cruelty”, which we'll discuss with UK author C. K. McDonnell. Get your questions in for “Theatre of Cruelty" via social media using the hashtag #Pratchat70, or send us an email at chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

Our July episode about The Long Utopia, fourth of the Long Earth series, is going to be late! To tide you over for the next week or so, here's a long footnote of a bonus episode presenting a quick recap of the Long Earth so far. Was this helpful? Would you like a recap like this for any of the other series we cover? Do you dare us to do this for the Discworld series as whole? (Please don't...) Let us know what you think, using the hashtag #PratchatPreviously on social media, or get in touch via email or our subscriber Discord. As mentioned by Ben at the top of this footnote, Liz and Ben appeared alongside hosts from The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret and Who Watches the Watch on the June 18th episode of Al Kennedy's Pratchett interview podcast Desert Island Discworld, “7A.1 Discworld Podcasters and Eric”. Our own discussion of Eric is #Pratchat7, “All the Fingle Ladies”, from May 2018. Our next episode is still #Pratchat69, with Deanne Sheldon-Collins discussing The Long Utopia. Watch out for it in mid July. Want to make sure we get through every Pratchett book (etc)? You can support Pratchat for as little as $2 a month and get access to bonus stuff, including the exclusive supporter podcast Ook Club! Click here to find out more.

We had very little wriggle room this month, so when we couldn't record at the scheduled time, we had to postpone our episode about Strata. That's still coming for the 25th of June, but to make sure you're not left hanging, Ben has conjured up this bonus episode on his own! He'll discuss the latest news in the world of Terry Pratchett - and there's surprisingly a lot - and also have a quick chat with Danny Sag, Vice-Chair of Nullus Anxietas, the Australian Discworld Convention, to talk about what makes fan conventions - and Nullus Anxietas - tick. Which of the upcoming Pratchett projects has you most excited? Are there any specific short stories you think we should have on our list for a whole episode? Have you read any of Gabrielle Kent's books? Are you keen to go to a Discworld convention? Do you really want to hear a bonus episode about how the sausage...sorry, the podcast gets made? And why is this last-minute bonus episode still nearly an hour long??? Use the hashtag #PratchatElsewhere on social media to answer these questions, or get in touch via email or our subscriber Discord. Big thanks to Danny Sag for making time for this episode at the last minute - and for dropping so many hints that he wants us to be guests for Nullus Anxietas 9... We hope we can! That website again is ausdwcon.org. We also mentioned the Pratchett podcasts The Compleat Discography; Radio Morpork; The Death of Podcasts; Wyrd Sisters; I've Never Read Discworld; Desert Island Discworld; The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret; and Who Watches the Watch. Plus two others edited by Ben: Kate and Adele's Bridgerton podcast What Would Danbury Do?, and Brock Wilbur's big weird heart of a show, Caring Into the Void. Next episode is the rescheduled #Pratchat68 discussing Strata with someone who's no stranger to fan conventions, EJ Mann! Then in July, Deanne Sheldon-Collins returns for the fourth Long Earth novel, The Long Utopia, in #Pratchat69. Send in questions using those hashtags on social media, or send us an email at chat@pratchatpodcast.com. You'll find the full notes and errata for this episode on our web site.

It's a third instalment of the Pratchat Eeek Club! Each year, on the Glorious 25th of May, we release a bonus episode discussing topics selected by our "Eeek" tier subscribers. This year, the topics are: What are your ultimate actor castings for Discworld characters? Is there a Discworld equivalent of podcasts? What are your possible Discworld reading orders, and what are their strengths and weaknesses? How would social media work on the Discworld? Do women carry the physical and mental load of the Discworld? Which Discworld characters would you love a “Where are they now” update for? What would the Discworld be like if Terry were creating it today, and how would you help him? A big thank you to all our subscribers for making Pratchat possible, but especially to our Eeek Club contributors: Frank, Jing, Graham, Karl, the Caths, Jess and Ellie, Nathan and the others who didn't send in questions this year. You'll find detailed notes and errata for this episode on our website. Want to make sure we get through every Pratchett book - or even choose a topic for next year's Eeek Club? You can support Pratchat by subscribing for as little as $2 a month and get access to bonus stuff, including the exclusive supporter podcast Ook Club! Click here to find out more.

This month we welcome back the very game Steve Lamattina as we put on our witch's hats, grab our brooms and head out into Lancre to solve problems in Martin Wallace's The Witches, the fourth official Discworld board game. As Tiffany Aching or one of her fellow apprentice witches, you'll run around Lancre solving problems big and small with headology and magic, helped by an assortment of local characters. But it's not just about getting the highest score - you'll also need to watch each other's backs or everyone in the kingdom could lose! Be sure to stop and share tea, or you might end up a cackler... Which witch is your favourite? How does The Witches rank against the other Discworld board games? Do you see it as a great family game, a mediocre co-op challenge, or something in between? Who do you wish had been included as a card or playable character? And would you use the game to introduce your friends to board games, the Discworld, or both? Check out the episode notes for pictures of the game components, and use the hashtag #Pratchat67 on social media to join in the conversation on this one! Steve Lamattina is a writer and editor whose work spans film, music, education and technology. He was once CEO of the youth publishing company Express Media, whom we still stan, and currently works for the Victorian Department of Education. You can find him on Twitter as @steve_lamattina. Next month we're going back...back to nearly the beginning! Yes, for #Pratchat68 we're setting the procrastinator coordinates for 1981 as we read and discuss Pratchett's proto-Discworld sci-fi novel Strata. It's a nice short book to get in before we tackle The Long Utopia in July... Use the hashtag #Pratchat68 to send us questions about Strata! You'll find the full notes and errata for this episode on our web site.

Returning guest, author Amie Kaufman heads back to the Chalk with Liz and Ben to face the rough music in a bumper-size discussion of the penultimate Tiffany Aching book, 2010's I Shall Wear Midnight. Tiffany Aching, nearly sixteen, is no longer an apprentice. Now two years under the witch's hat, she cares for those as can't care for themselves, and deals with the harsh realities of rural life. But all is not well in the Chalk: the unending need for its only witch is pushing Tiffany to the edge, and an act of violence - and its consequences - test her limits. Roland, the Baron's son, is engaged - but not to Tiffany. While he's away, the old Baron dies, and Tiffany must fetch him home to take his place. And on top of all that, something is stirring: something old and evil that stirs up old prejudices and fears about witches - and is aiming them directly at Tiffany Aching... Content note: this episode contains discussion of (fictional) intimate partner and family violence, miscarriage and suicide.If you or anyone you know needs help, use the Wikipedia list of crisis lines to find one local to you. Nearly three years after she danced the Dark Morris and kissed the Wintersmith, we rejoin Tiffany Aching, who is discovering that even fixing her mistakes can have consequences. But is this really a book for younger readers - or even young adults - when it includes some of the heaviest stuff of any Discworld novel? Does it all hang together, or are there a few ideas fighting each other in this plot? Who knew what and when about the Cunning Man, and is he Pratchett's creepiest villain yet? What spill words do you not say when you're listening to the show? Join in the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat66 on social media! Returning guest Amie Kaufman is the author of (so far) twenty novels for middle grade and young adult audiences, including the Illuminae Files and Aurora Cycle sci-fi trilogies with Jay Kristoff; the Elementals, Starbound and Unearthed series with Meagan Spooner, and the World Between Blinks books with Ryan Graudin. For Pratchett fans she recommends her upcoming YA fantasy novel Isles of the Gods, launching in May 2023. As mentioned in the episode, Amie also produces two podcasts about writing: Amie Kaufman on Writing, a 10-minute masterclass on writing techniques, and Pub Dates, in which she and co-writer Meagan Spooner take you behind the scenes on writing and publishing a novel, and what comes after. For more of Amie's exploits visit amiekaufman.com or sign up for her Substack newsletter Finding North. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our web site. Catch Liz in person when she's one of the speakers for the Sci-Fight science comedy debate “Should we fear AI?” on Thursday, 13 April 2023 at Howler in Melbourne! It's hosted by previous guest Alanta Colley and features a great line-up of comedians, writers and scientists. Get all the details and book tickets vis moshtix. Next month, now that we've met all the characters who'll appear in it, we'll be playing and discussing the 2013 board game The Witches: A Discworld Game, designed by Martin Wallace! Send us your questions using the hashtag #Pratchat67, and if you're a subscriber, watch out for an unboxing video via our Ko-Fi page soon. And while our plans for #Pratchat68 in June aren't quite fixed yet, here's an earlier than usual heads up that in July we'll be discussing the fourth Long Earth novel, The Long Utopia, with returning guest Deanne Sheldon-Collins. Those books are long, so you might want to get started now! Send in your questions for that one using the hashtag #Pratchat69 - or drop us an email at chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

Liz and Ben are joined by writer and publisher Peter M Ball for Pratchat's first foray into Pratchett's nonfiction! We discuss fandom, genre, Sharknado, figgins and even fit in six pieces from “A Scribbling Intruder”, the first section of Pratchett's 2014 nonfiction anthology A Slip of the Keyboard. Pratchett writes about the letters he receives from various kinds of fans as a popular genre author in “Kevins” (1993), before revisiting the same topic in the email age and explaining why he quit his own newsgroup in “Wyrd Ideas” (1999), both for The Author magazine. Then its time to discuss fantasy as a genre - both advice for writing it in “Notes From a Successful Fantasy Author: Keep It Real” for the 2007 edition of The Writers and Artists Notebook, and reasons why children should be reading it in “Let There Be Dragons”, a speech given at the Booksellers Association Annual Conference in 1993. Finally, best mates Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman tell us how they feel about each other, Terry in “Neil Gaiman: Amazing Master Conjuror” for the Boskone 39 convention booklet (2002), and Neil in his Foreword for A Slip of the Keyboard (2014). As we've discussed before, Pratchett was never one to let a good idea only be used once - and you may have heard him talk to some of the themes in these pieces when being interviewed. Short stories may have cost him blood, as he used to say, but he never lost his journalistic mojo for writing fact and opinion - or replying to reader mail! Have you ever written to a famous author (a nauthor, if you will)? Would you want them to read your fanfic? What was the first book you read by choice? Can you pin down exactly what makes Pratchett's writing almost a genre unto itself, when others could be said to follow his advice? And go on, you can tell us: which of Liz and Ben is the Terry, and which is the Neil? Join the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat65. Guest Peter M Ball is an author, publisher and avid roleplayer based in Meanjin (aka Brisbane) in Queensland. Peter teaches creative writing, worked for the Queensland Writers Centre on the Australian Writers Marketplace and GenreCon, and is currently completing a PhD in Writing at the University of Queensland. You can find all of Peter's social media links, and discover more about his own work - including a free sampler of some of his writing - at petermball.com.au. Peter also runs the small press publisher Brain Jar Press, who specialise in shorter works of genre fiction and genre nonfiction. They've published Peter's work, but also that of friends of this podcast Sean Williams (#Pratchat56) and Tansy Rayner Roberts (#PratchatNA7). Peter suggested Pratchett fans might enjoy Tansy's brand new short story collection about seven women from Greek mythology, Gorgons Deserve Nice Things, or the Writer Chaps series of sci-fi and fantasy writers writing about writing. You'll find notes and errata for this episode on our web site. Grab your broom and your pointy hat and watch out for giants and pictsies, because next month we get back to Pratchett's novels with the fourth Tiffany Aching novel, I Shall Wear Midnight! And we're delighted to welcome back as a guest author Amie Kaufman, last heard discussing some of Pratchett's other tiny people nearly five years ago in #Pratchat9, “Upscalator to Heaven”. Get your questions in before the last week of March via email (chat@pratchatpodcast.com) or social media using the hashtag #Pratchat66.

This month, Ben flies solo with guest Andy Matthews as they reach back into Pratchett's earliest fiction to discuss Beatrix Potter, writing practice, The Matrix...oh, and Terry's 1973 short story for the Bucks Free Press, “RIncemangle, the Gnome of Even Moor”! The suspiciously familiar-sounding Gnome Rincemangle lives a sad, solitary life on the strange and mysterious (but also wet and cold) Even Moor. One day an owl tells him about the wonders of the nearby human village of Blackbury, so off he goes, accidentally hitching a ride on a lorry to department store. There he discovers he's not the only Gnome in the world - but is the Store truly as much of a paradise as it seems? Written on Thursday evenings for “Uncle Jim's” children's page when Pratchett himself was just 25 years old, this story forms the blueprint for the novel Truckers, published sixteen years later. How has Pratchett's writing evolved over time? Is Andy right that “yearning” lies at the heart of his most successful work? Would this story amuse or frighten your children? Which of his other short stories should we give the full episode treatment? And is Pratchett the undisputed king of “fishing in his own stream” (sorry again, Ryn), or is this something all writers do, just less obviously? Join the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat64. Guest Andy Matthews is a comedian, podcaster and most recently an author. He writes and performs sketch comedy with Alasdair Trembly-Birchall, both live and on the podcast Two in the Think Tank, and the pair previously hosted the ABC radio comedy science quiz The Pop Test. Andy is also the Director of Stupid Old Studios, a podcast and video production studio in Melbourne, and the author of two volumes (so far) of Gustav & Henri, a "science fiction mystery time travel detective story” about friendship and snacks starring a dog and a pig, illustrated by Peader Thomas. You can find Andy on Twitter at @stupidoldandy, and his podcast at @twointank. You'll find notes and errata for this episode on our web site. For our March episode, we're going where Pratchat has never gone before: into Pratchett's nonfiction! Author, publisher and roleplayer Peter M. Ball joins us for a collection of Pratchett's scribblings about genre, fandom and Neil Gaiman. The specific pieces are “Kevins”, “Wyrd Ideas”, “Let There Be Dragons” and “Notes From A Successful Fantasy Author”, plus “Neil Gaiman: Amazing Master Conjuror” and Neil's foreword to the book in which all of these were collected, 2014's A Slip of the Keyboard. You'll find all of those (except the foreword) in the book's first section, “A Scribbling Intruder”. Send us your questions about them via email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com, or on social media using the hashtag #Pratchat65.

In this final fourth part of our Thud! trilogy, Liz and Ben are rejoined by designer and educator Matt Roden. As we wait for the biscuits to arrive, we turn our attention to this month's agenda items: the 2005 Discworld short story “A Collegiate Casting-Out of Devilish Devices”, and squeezing in a bit more discussion of Thud! Every Thursday the senior faculty of Unseen University have a committee meeting, during which they do very little except wait for the biscuits and tea to arrive - much to the annoyance of Ponder Stibbons. But this week, Ridcully announces that their latest magical mishap has annoyed the Patrician - and as a result, they have a few questions to answer from one A. E. Pessimal, newly appointed “Inspector of Universities”... Written for the Times Higher Education Supplement and published a few months before Thud!, this very short story draws on Pratchett's own experience on a committee. Does it tally with yours? Are you a Ponder, a Ridcully, or a Pessimal? Do you agree with Matt's characterisations of the other faculty members? Plus we get back into Thud! - are we off the mark with our thoughts about whether it's copaganda? What is Pratchett trying to say about religious extremism, if anything? And what Discworld cocktail would you make? Join the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat63. Guest Matt Roden was here just two months ago for #Pratchat61 discussing Thud! He is still the Creative Learning Manager for the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, as well as an accomplished graphic designer and educator. There are now even more photos of his dog on his Instagram at @matthewrodeo. You'll find notes and errata for this episode on our web site. We're easing into the year slowly with another short story for February, this time one of Pratchett's earliest: “Rincemangle, the Gnome of Even Moor” from his time at the Bucks Free Press in 1974. Its available in both A Blink of the Screen and The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner. Send us your questions about it using the hashtag #Pratchat64, or via email, which you can send to chat@pratchatpodcast.com. Oh, and don't forget to check out the all-new Pratchat Reading Challenge for 2023! All the details are on our website, and you'll also find it on the StoryGraph.

In this very special episode, Liz and Ben are joined by fellow Discworld podcasters Joanna Hagan and Francine Carrel on an existential journey deep into our very souls! Yes, it's part three of our Thud!-related trilogy, in which we discuss Where's My Cow? Every night at six o'clock, Sam Vimes, Commander of the City Watch, reads the picture book Where's My Cow? to his one-year-old son, Young Sam. But tonight, in between doing the barnyard noises, Vimes starts to question whether this is really the right story for a child of Ankh-Morpork. Released at the same time as Thud!, Where's My Cow? is a picture book based on a novel inspired by a board game. Lavishly illustrated by newcomer to the Discworld Melvyn Grant, it takes the couple of pages explaining the book - and the "Vimes street version" - and brings them vividly to life, along with wonderful new visions of some of our favourite Discworld characters. But is Young Sam cute, or in the uncanny valley? What's the deal with that flying book? What do you think the Discworld's answer to duct tape would be? Are are you, in some way, looking for your cow? Join the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat62. Guests Joanna Hagan (chef, poet, playwright, author) and Francine Carrel (writer, editor) are the hosts of the Discworld podcast The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret, which is about to reach its 100th episode! Their format splits each novel up into three weekly episodes per month, and they're going through the Discworld books in mostly publication order, with side trips to Pratchett's non-Discworld work along the way. Find them wherever good podcasts are available, but also at their website, thetruthshallmakeyefret.com, and on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit, TikTok and probably something else by the time you read this. If you like what they do, please consider supporting them on Patreon. You'll find notes and errata for this episode on our web site. As mentioned above and at the end of the episode, we've decided to cut ourselves some slack in the new year by extending the "Thud! trilogy" to four parts. In January we'll be welcoming back Matt Roden to discuss the Discworld short story "A Collegiate Casting-Out of Devilish Devices", featuring A. E. Pessimal and available in A Blink of the Screen. We'll also tackle some more of your brilliant Thud! questions! If you have questions about the short story, send them via social media with the hashtag #Pratchat63 or via email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com. Finally, if you want to catch The Amazing Maurice before the rest of the Australia, and you're in Adelaide, the Australian Discworld Convention's fundraiser screening is on Saturday, the 10th of December, at 3 PM at the Palace Nova Prospect. Get details and book your tickets here! (We won't be there, but do tell us if you go!)

Designer and educator Matt Roden delves deep under Ankh-Morpork with Liz and Ben as they unravel the mystery of the penultimate City Watch book, 2005's Thud!. As the anniversary of the Battle of Koom Valley approaches, the dwarfs and trolls of Ankh-Morpork find their ancient enmity stirred up - not least by Hamcrusher, a conservative leader of the "Deep Down" dwarfs, who has preached hatred against the trolls. But now Hamcrusher's dead - not that the other deep downers want the Watch to know about it - and Vimes must solve the puzzle of his murder before tensions explode across the city. On top of that, he's also been sent a government inspector, he's had to take on the Watch's first vampire, someone's stolen the most talked-about painting in town - and he has to get home at 6 o'clock sharp, every night, to read Where's My Cow? to his infant son... While most Watch books have a mystery that needs solving, none so far have felt as much like a contemporary thriller as Thud! There's an awful lot going on, with politics, religion, art and history all in the mix. Is it too much for one book? Are there threads that get dropped along the way? Is Pratchett having his cake and eating it too with his fantasy abstractions of real world issues? And who do you think should star in Discworld legal drama "The Good Dwarf"? Join in the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat61 on social media! Guest Matt Roden is a graphic designer, educator and the Creative Learning Manager for the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Matt has a long history with storytelling and education; he helped set up The Ministry of Stories in London, and was the first volunteer and a long-running Storyteller with Sydney's Story Factory. You can follow Matt on Instagram (where you can see photos of his dog) at @matthewrodeo. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our web site. We apologise that this episode has gone out much later than planned. While our schedule has gotten a little out of whack, we'll still be continuing our "Thud! trilogy" next episode with our special crossover with sibling Pratchett podcast The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret. We'll be joined by Jo and Francine to discuss Where's My Cow?, the hottest children's book in Ankh-Morpork! Plus we have plans to extend our Thud! trilogy to four parts - details coming in our very next episode.

Things are a bit hectic in Pratchat land this month, so to fill a gap in our schedule while Liz was unavailable, Ben has joined forces with guest academic and professional board game nerd Dr Melissa Rogerson to play and discuss Thud, the game that inspired the novel of the same name! Have you played Thud? Have you ever won as the dwarfs? Is it true that the trolls have an advantage? Are you a Thudmaster with insight to share about standard openings and endgames? We'd love to hear your Thud stories! (Ben really is keen to play some more, so there may be a follow up on this in future!) Be sure to check the episode notes for some pictures of the game, and use the hashtag #PratchatPlaysThud on social media to answer join the conversation. Dr Melissa Rogerson is a Lecturer and Assistant Professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems at The University of Melbourne. Her PhD thesis was titled "Between Cardboard and Computer: The hobbyist experience of modern boardgames". Melissa's currently studying the use of digital tools in hybrid games - which included the "Biometric D&D" project, where they used a facial recognition algorithm to assign you a Dungeons & Dragons character! You can find out more about her research at her website, melissarogerson.com, or find her on Twitter (or Mastodon) at @melissainau, and on BoardGameGeek as melissa. (Ben is on there too, as beejay.) Our "Thud trilogy" continues in our next two episodes! #Pratchat61 will be a discussion of the 34th Discworld novel, 2005's Thud!, with guest Matt Roden, scheduled for release on November 25th. (Gazpacho Soup Day! ...if you know, you know.) Then, bumped to December 8, we're teaming up with Jo and Francine from The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret to read a discuss the very meta book-from-the-book, Where's My Cow? You still have time to ask questions for this one! Use the hashtag #Pratchat62 (or #MakeYeChat, if you want to include both podcasts). You'll find the full notes and errata for this episode on our web site.

For our sixtieth episode - our troll's teeth anniversary - Liz and Ben are once again devoting an entire show to answering your questions, about the Discworld, Pratchett's other work, and their own - with an eye on what's still to come. (And yes, we allowed ourselves to break the 2.5 hour limit, just this once.) What would your ideal Pratchett adaptation look like? Who's the best Dicsworld villain? If one of your possessions could be made from sapient pearwood, what would it be? Which books have been the worst, the most challenging, and the most surprising? If Vetinari died and the people of Ankh-Morpork could queue up to see his body, what would happen? And which is the most confused bird? You asked these and many more amazing questions! Plus we specifically asked you: Do you have other people in your life with whom you share your love of Pratchett? How are you reading - or re-reading - the books, if you are? What do you do when you listen to the show? Can you follow the show if you haven't read the book? Do you have a word or phrase you've said most of your life that you discovered was wrong? What joke did you not get until years later? Use the hashtag #Pratchat60 on social media to answer any of the above. (Thanks again to listener Jodie for this eternally useful idea.) You can find Elizabeth on Twitter as @elizabethflux, and on Instagram at @elizabethflux. Watch out for her amazing self-made outfits. You can find Ben and via his web site benmckenzie.com.au, on Twitter at @McKenzie_Ben and Instagram at @notongotham, where you might catch a glimpse of his T-shirt collection. Special thanks to our sibling Pratchett podcasts for their questions: Who Watches the Watch, Desert Island Discworld, Wyrd Sisters and The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret. And thanks to each and every one of you listens, asks questions or sends in answers. Next month is a special double-header: we'll be reading the 34th Discworld novel, 2005's Thud!, with guest Matt Roden. Get your questions in via the hashtag #Pratchat61 by late October! Plus we're teaming up with Jo and Francine from The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret to tackle the book-within-a-book, Where's My Cow? Ask questions for this team-up using the hashtag #MakeYeChat. You'll find the full notes and errata for this episode on our web site.

Scientist, writer and editor Dr Kat Day joins Liz and Ben on a timey-wimey to Roundworld, as the wizards once again try to save humanity in Pratchett's third collaboration with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen: 2005's The Science of Discworld III: Darwin's Watch. Roundworld - the impossibly non-magical universe in a bottle which runs on rules - has gone wrong again, and the wizards feel duty-bound to set it right. Humanity's survival depends on the publication of a specific book, but something is trying very hard to make sure its author writes a different one...or gets eaten by a giant squid. With the fate of humanity hanging in the balance, the wizards go to war - but who is their hidden enemy? And why is there one beardy fellow too many in the Great Hall? In the (short) fiction chapters, the wizards must once again travel into Roundworld history, this time with a clear mission: to get Charles Darwin onto the Beagle so he can write The Origin of Species. In the science chapters, Jack and Ian have a focus - the importance of the theory of evolution - but they also feel free to use the time travel plot to explain infinity, DNA, the nature of science and history, and much more besides. They've learned to stay away from the cutting edge - but have they come entirely out of the "philosopause" they didn't seem to know they were in last time? Does the plot rely too much on prior knowledge of the Discworld? Is that really a problem, given the nature of the book? Did you follow the explanations of Minkowski spacetime and the different kinds of infinity, or were you happy coasting across the science chapters? Do they completely miss the point in that last non-fiction chapter - and does it really matter, when the end of the fiction part is so satisfying? Join in the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat59 on social media! Guest Dr Kat Day is a chemist, a former teacher, a medical editor and a writer of both science and fiction. Kat became well known via her chemistry blog The Chronicle Flask, which is currently on hiatus; you can also find her fiction at the fiction phial. Kat is also an assistant editor for Pseudopod, the horror fiction anthology podcast from Escape Artists. Kat recommended the story "Celestial Shores" as a possible entry point for Pratchett fans, as well as "Let the Buyer Beware" from Pseudopod's sister podcast for young adult speculative fiction, Cast of Wonders. Over on Twitter you can follow Kat at @chronicleflask, and Pseudopod at @pseudopod_org. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our web site. Next episode Pratchett turns sixty! As promised back in #Pratchat30, we're doing another all-questions episode. This is your chance to send in questions about books you missed first time round, pitch your wild Discworld theories, and ask us pretty much anything you like that doesn't fit into the usual book-focussed episode. We'd also love you to answer our questions: what are do you enjoy most about the show? What kind of episodes do you wish we'd do? Which of our opinions have you most disagreed with? And have you learned anything from us? (Ben sure has!) Send us your answers, and questions, using the hashtag #Pratchat60, or via email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com. Oh, and in November, get ready for a double-header: not only are we reading Thud! with educator Matt Roden for #Pratchat61, but we're cooking up a bonus crossover episode! Yes, we're teaming up with Jo and Francine from The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret, another great Pratchett podcast, to discuss Where's My Cow?, the hottest children's book in Ankh-Morpork. We thought we'd let you know a little early, since it might be tricky to track down a copy...

We prepare to find out why infinite Earths aren't enough as writer, editor and podcaster Joel Martin returns to the podcast to fire up the fusion engine and have a close encounter of the crustacean kind in the third Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter Long Earth novel, The Long Mars. It's 2045 - five years after the eruption of the Yellowstone super-volcano on Datum Earth. The climate has catastrophically changed and there's been mass migration to stepwise Earths. Maggie Kauffman, captain of the new stepping airship Neil Armstrong II, is sent ten times further into the Long Earth than anyone has gone before, to find out what happened to the ship's missing predecessor. Meanwhile reclusive stepping pioneer Joshua Valienté is called back to the Datum by the A.I. Lobsang to search for a new kind of human emerging from the Long Earth. And Willis Linsay, who disappeared after giving Stepper box technology to the whole world thirty years ago, sends a message to his super-stepper daughter, Sally. He wants her to go on a mysterious mission to Mars... The last of Pratchett's novels to be published before his death, The Long Mars marks a turning point in the series where Pratchett's involvement was limited after the first draft, and Stephen Baxter did most of the polishing. Like The Long War it skips over the immediate aftermath of the disaster at the end of the previous book to inhabit the world of its longer term consequences. It also continues the tradition of switching between multiple narratives with at least a dozen key characters. There are old friends and new faces, but some of them are barely glimpsed. It's a book full of big ideas, but not so much plot - and even less emotional and character development. Does this one feel more Baxter than Pratchett? Is this the troubled middle episode of the series? What did you think of the portrayal of the Next? How cool are those acid snakes? Will any of these awesome ideas return in the final two books? And where the Hell-Knows-Where is Helen? Join in the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat57 on social media. Guest Joel Martin is a podcaster and writer who is now our first four-time guest. He previously joined us in #Pratchat14 and #Pratchat44 for The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, and in #Pratchat31 for The Long Earth. His independent podcasts, The Morning Bell and The Youth Vote, are currently on hiatus, but watch out for the new season of The Dementia Podcast from The Dementia Centre, produced by Joel, in September 2022. Find Joel online at thepenofjoel.com or on Twitter at @thepenofjoel. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our website. Due to some technical difficulties we ended up delaying this episode until after #Pratchat58, so thank you for your patience! We've already recorded our next episode, #Pratchat59, in which we discuss The Science of Discworld III: Darwin's Watch with science and fiction writer, Dr Kat Day. But in October for our sixtieth episode we're having an open slather questions-only special, just like we did for #Pratchat30! So please send us your general Pratchett-related questions: about the show, books we've already covered, Sir Terry himself, the Discworld in general, the Guild of Recappers & Podcasters, Liz and Ben, being Australian/Fourecksian or anything else even vaguely on-topic. Use the hashtag #Pratchat60 on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, or send us an email at chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

We explore every author's worst nightmare as writer Penny Love returns to Pratchat and finds the barrier between reality and fiction getting all wibbly-wobbly in Terry Pratchett's 1988 short story, "Final Reward". After a particularly bad row with his girlfriend Nicky - and a pint of wine - author Kevin Dogger decides to kill off the protagonist of his best-selling fantasy series. The next morning, Erdan the Barbarian appears on Dogger's doorstep with the milk. He was, after all, promised a final reward: an eternity of carousing in the halls of his creator... Content note: the story "Final Reward" contains discussion of (fictional) suicide.If you or anyone you know needs help, use the Wikipedia list of crisis lines to find one local to you. Written for the short-lived roleplaying magazine G.M., "Final Reward" is Pratchett's go at the age-old tradition of writers writing about writers. But in true Pratchett form, it's not just about that... Hailing from around the time of Wyrd Sisters and Pyramids, but "tinkered with" before appearing in A Blink of the Screen, it depicts an author ill at ease with the real world and human relationships - by all accounts not much like Pratchett himself at all. And then there's the way it ends... What did you think of this one? Have you ever written a character you'd like to meet in person? Would you swap places with them? And is this a dig at any real fantasy authors, and we've missed the joke? Join in the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat58 on social media. Guest Penelope Love is a writer best known for her roleplaying game work, especially with Chaosium for Call of Cthulhu, including the upcoming Victorian London campaign she mentions this episode. She previously joined us for #Pratchat45, "Hogswatch in Grune", discussing the quite Lovecraftian "Twenty Pence with Envelope and Seasonal Greeting". Penny is also part of Campaign Coins, who as well as making gorgeous metal coins for use with tabletop games, publish Penny's comic fantasy short story collections about “The Three Dungeoneers”, which you can find here. Penny is on Twitter as @PennyLoveWrites, or you can follow @CampaignCoins for more on their projects. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our website. As previously advised, due to some technical difficulties - and not a time machine, to Ben's disappointment - the next episode to be released will be #Pratchat57, discussing the third Long Earth novel, The Long Mars, with Joel Martin. Look for it in the Pratchat podcast feed on August 25. Next month in #Pratchat59, we're discussing The Science of Discworld III: Darwin's Watch with science and fiction writer, Dr Kat Day! And after that, in October, it's finally time for another general questions episode, #Pratchat60. This is the perfect opportunity to ask us about books you missed first time round, or general questions about Discworld, Pratchett, us and the show! Send in your questions for either of those episodes via social media (using the appropriate hashtag), or send us an email at chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

We take a last-minute step (or five) to the West, as Liz and Ben delay their chat about The Long Mars to go back to where it all began: Pratchett's original 1986 short story "The High Meggas". Larry Linsay, who perfected the belt technology that allows humans to move between parallel Earths, has shunned civilisation. He's living near the coast of what would be France in a world in the "high meggas", the weirder Earths a million or so removed from the original. Like all the other Earths, it's devoid of human life - or it was, until two guards from Forward Base, the nearest human settlement many worlds away, arrive in Linsay's world. The first one he finds, Joshua Valienté, claims he's chasing the other one: a terrorist who poisoned the other fifty personnel at Forward Base. Trouble is, that's exactly what she says about him, too... When we had to change plans at the last minute and delay our episode on The Long Mars, we decided to take the opportunity to produce a bonus episode about the story where it all started. "The High Meggas" was written in between the first two Discworld novels and never published until its ideas became a novel, and it's a fascinating look at how Pratchett's idea evolved. Some things are very similar - names like Linsay and Valienté, the concept (though not the name) of the Long Earth. Others are tweaked - the belts become boxes, movin' becomes stepping. And then there's some which are flipped entirely - compare the "Sideways Doctrine" to the idea of US Aegis. Do you prefer the more technological version of "stepping" in the original story? Does the central drama of the story work for you, or is the villain too obvious? And what do you think Pratchett's career would have been like if The Colour of Magic hadn't been a success, and this had been his next big project instead of The Light Fantastic? Join the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat57West5 on social media. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our website. This bonus episode won't stop us from discusses the third Long Earth novel, The Long Mars, with returning guest Joel Martin! That episode, #Pratchat57, will be released on the 25th of July. (It's probably too late for any more Long Mars questions, but if you're very quick we'll squeeze 'em in.) Next month, for #Pratchat58, we'll be reading another short story: 1988's "Final Reward". Send us your questions using the appropriate hashtag on social media, or via email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

We travel down a leg of a very 1990s pair of the trousers of time this month, as author and musican Sean Williams joins Liz and Ben to get stuck into the artificial reality of Pratchett's 1990 short story "#ifdefDEBUG + 'world'/'enough' + 'time'". Darren Thompson is a repairman who specialises in Seagems: artificial reality consoles that can edit aspects of your everyday life, or plug you into a whole artificial world. His latest job is to inspect a machine in which the user has died. That's not a first for Darren - but there's something about this particular corpse in the machine that makes this job feel different... Originally published in the anthology Digital Dreams alongside works by authors including Diana Wynn Jones, Neil Gaiman and Storm Constantine, "#ifdefDEBUG + 'world'/'enough' + 'time'" is a short story that packs a lot in - and potentially goes to a much darker place than most of Pratchett's other work. It's since been collected in A Blink of the Screen, Once More* *with Footnotes and the German collection Der ganze Wahnsinn: Storys (in which it's accompanied by an original illustration by Josh Kirby). Was Pratchett right to think that the virtual reality angle dates this horribly - or would he have thought differently only a few years later, as VR comes round again? Is this a happy ending, a dystopian nightmare, or the fantasy ramblings of a self-important creep? Would you want to be a ghost in the machine? And just what is going on with that illustration in the German collection? Join the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat56 on social media. Guest Dr Sean Williams is an award-winning author of science fiction novels and short stories, makes music under the name "the Adelaidean", and teaches creative writing at Flinders University. His novels run the gamut of original sci-fi and best-selling work for the worlds of Star Wars and Doctor Who, and he's also collaborated with other authors - including previous Pratchat guest Garth Nix (#Pratchat51). You can find out more about Sean via his (hopefully updated) website, seanwilliams.com, and listen to his music via his Bandcamp page. He's also (sometimes) on Twitter at @adelaidesean. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our website. Next month we continue the sci-fi theme with the third Long Earth novel, The Long Mars, which we'll be discussing with returning guest Joel Martin! Send us your questions using the hashtag #Pratchat57, or via email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

It's a second instalment of the Pratchat Eeek Club! Each year, on the Glorious 25th of May, we release a bonus episode discussing topics selected by our "Eeek" tier subscribers. This year, the topics are: What was good, fun and enjoyable about The Watch?Is Vimes a Cynic, a Stoic, or an Epicurean?What was Granny Weatherwax and Ridcully's relationship like, and why didn't it continue?What pop culture would you have liked to have seen referenced in a Discworld novel?What moments from the series hit you personally because of a personal experience?If democracy came to Ankh-Morpork, what political parties would we see? A big thank you to all our subscribers for making Pratchat possible, but especially to our Eeek Club contributors: Graham, Frank, Cath (and Eddy), Steph, Jess and Ellie, Karl and Soren! You'll find detailed notes and errata for this episode on our website. Want to make sure we get through every Pratchett book - or even choose a topic for next year's Eeek Club? You can support Pratchat by subscribing for as little as $2 a month and get access to bonus stuff, including the exclusive supporter podcast Ook Club! Click here to find out more.

It's an illustrated Discworld crossover special as Georgina Chadderton rejoins Liz and Ben to talk gods, dragons and outer space in the twenty-seventh Discworld novel, 2001's The Last Hero, illustrated by Paul Kidby. Genghiz Cohen, Emperor of the Agatean Empire, has deserted his throne, and along with his horde is heading for the mountain at the hub of the world. He is planning to pay a little visit on the gods, and "return what the first hero stole" - with explosive interest. According to the wizards, this will destroy the source of the Disc's magic and thus end all life on (and under) it. A rag-tag team of misfits is quickly assembled - a dangerously genius inventor, a stout and honest officer of the Watch, and a reluctant "wizzard" - to take a risky flight looping around the Disc, and intercept Cohen before its too late... The second large-format illustrated Discworld novel, The Last Hero - subtitled "A Discworld Fable" - is a relatively short story, but crosses the streams of the various sub-series more than any other book, providing Paul Kidby with the chance to showcase a whole host of characters and places - including the Disc as seen from above and below! It both feels like a throwback to some of the earlier books - the whole world at stake, Rincewind and Cohen on wild Disc-crossing adventures, the gods playing games with mortals - and a fitting last hurrah (more or less) for two of Pratchett's most beloved characters. Is this a fitting send-off for Cohen? What's happening in the Agatean Empire now its Emperor is gone? How many hours have you spent poring over the illustrations finding references, in-jokes and Easter eggs? And what do you imagine the minstrel's saga sounds like? Join the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat55 on social media. Guest Georgina Chadderton (aka George Rex) is a comic book creator and illustrator based in Adelaide. She was last our guest way back in #Pratchat7 in 2018 to talk about the first illustrated Discworld novel, Eric. Since then she's continued to make delightful autobiographical comic (including her upcoming book), run comic-making workshops, organise the Papercuts Comics Festival, and even found the time to create the cover art for Pratchat! You can find her online at georgerexcomics.com, where you can find out about Georgina's upcoming events and also buy all manner of cool comics, postcards and stickers. You can also follow her on Instagram at @georgerexcomics. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our website. Over the next two months we're returning to Pratchett's sci-fi work. In June, we're discussing his 1990 short story "#IFDEFDEBUG + 'WORLD/ENOUGH' + 'TIME'" with science fiction author Sean Williams. That'll leave us (and you) a bit of extra reading time before July for the third Long Earth novel, The Long Mars, which we'll be discussing with our old friend Joel Martin! But in the meantime, you can send us your questions for the short story using the hashtag #Pratchat56, or via email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

The Trousers of Time end up in a knot as writer Nadia Bailey rejoins Liz and Ben and we go back to the Glorious Past in the twenty-ninth Discworld novel, 2002's Night Watch. While pursuing dangerous killer Carcer across the rooftop of Unseen University, a magical bolt of lightning (or something) sends Sir Samuel Vimes, Commander of the City Watch and Duke of Ankh, thirty years into the past - along with his quarry. Carcer kills Vimes' old mentor, Sergeant John Keel, and Vimes steps into Keel's thinly-soled shoes; he'll have to show himself the ropes to keep history intact. But he's not just reliving any old past: it's almost the Glorious 25th of May. The day the people deposed the paranoid Patrician Lord Winder; the day hundreds were killed in violent clashes across the city; and the day John Keel died... Night Watch is beloved by Discworld fans, no least because it gives a double dose of everyone's favourite "honest copper", Sam Vimes. But he leaves Sybil in labour as he's thrust back intp the best and worst days of his early career, forced to grapple with the darkness in his and others' souls with only the technobabble of a few time boffin monks for guidance. It's possibly Pratchett's darkest book, and certainly takes us into one of the darkest corners of the Discworld: Ankh-Morpork before the rise of Vetinari and the Guilds. Does Vimes knows where to draw the line in this book? Is Carcer an intriguing villain, or a cookie cutter evil psychopath? Could you teach your younger self everything you needed to know to become you? And is this book in your top five, or do you fail to see what all the fuss is about? Join the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat54 on social media. Guest Nadia Bailey is a writer, editor and critic. She's published a number of pop-culture related books about such diverse subjects as Stranger Things, Frida Kahlo and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Her latest publication is The Deck of Crystals, a deck of cards which looks into the history, superstition and lore of gemstones. Nadia has just begun a PhD researching (among other things) the lives of queer women during World War I. You can find Nadia on Twitter as @animalorchestra, or visit her website at nadiabailey.com. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our website. Next month we're joining a ragtag crew of misfits on a desperate mission to save the Disc in the second big illustrated Discworld adventure, The Last Hero! And to help us navigate Paul Kidby's astonishing illustrations, we're welcoming back illustrator and comic book creator Georgina Chadderton. Send us your questions via the hashtag #Pratchat55, or via email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

Surprise! In an emergency substitution, Liz and Ben get a glimpse of everyday life in Ankh-Morpork as they dive into three very small bits of Discworld ephemera collected in A Blink of the Screen. The Ankh-Morpork National Anthem captures the experience of those forced to sing patriotic songs everywhere - but even the single complete verse tells us quite a lot about the character of the city. Meanwhile the Ankh-Morpork Guild of Barber-Surgeons have put together a few Medical Notes to keep the population informed about a few diseases peculiar to the city. And, on the occasion of Ankh-Morpork being "twinned" with a small city on Roundworld, we read A Few Words from Lord Havelock Vetinari to mark the occasion... We picked these three "Discworld Shorter Writings" as they are both about Ankh-Morpork, whose history is explored in Night Watch (our next book), and written around the same time as that book - the anthem is from 1999 (though it its based on jokes from Moving Pictures, published in 1990) while the others are from 2002, the year Night Watch was published. How do you feel about your national anthem? Does anyone know the second verse? What weird "diseases" are particular to the place where you live? Would you like to live in a town twinned with Ankh-Morpork - or somewhere else from the vast universe of fiction? And does anyone want a "sausoboros" T-shirt? We'd love to hear your answers! Join the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat53. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our website. Next month we're back on track to talk about 2002's Night Watch with guest Nadia Bailey! It's a fan favourite and we already have an absolute tonne of questions, but if you have one you're burning to have us answer, you can send it via the hashtag #Pratchat54, or via email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

This month, we've put down the books and picked up the remote control! Guests Patrick Lenton and Fury join us to discuss a show "based on characters created by Sir Terry Pratchett": 2021's The Watch. Sam Vimes was a street kid in Ankh-Morpork who joined the Watch to kill its Captain and free the imprisoned members of his gang. But he had a change of heart. Twenty years later, he's still there - a washed-up drunk of a Captain, whose force of misfits have almost nothing to police since the criminal Guilds were all legalised. But during his latest assignment - to find a missing library book - he sees someone who died twenty years ago. Soon the Watch is up to their necks in dragons, ancient artefacts and magical experiments gone wrong, and it'll take all their cunning and heart to get to the bottom of it...plus a little help from noblewoman-turned-vigilante, Lady Sybil Ramkin. After a long road through development hell, initially with Pratchett himself at the helm, The Watch eventually emerged as a surprisingly "punk rock police procedural"; a brightly-coloured Dungeon-punk explosion which wears its queerness on its sleeve. The Watch remixes characters and concepts from the books into something so different that fans and friends of Pratchett quickly disowned it. The critical reaction was middling at best, and it took six months for it to be released on Pratchett's home soil. But is it any good? Could you divorce yourself from the source material? If so, does The Watch work on its own terms? Is it funny? Is it comprehensible? Is watching it a good time? Which bits got up your nose, and which did you love? Who was your favourite character, and why was it Cheery? And given we barely scratched the surface of talking about it this episode - should we do a bonus mini-series, discussing it episode by episode? Let us know by joining the conversation, using the hashtag #Pratchat52. Guest Patrick Lenton is currently Deputy Editor: Arts + Culture for The Conversation, and previously part of the editorial staff at Junkee. He is also a freelance writer whose work has spanned journalism, theatre, fiction and comedy. As well as at Junkee and various independent work has appeared in The Guardian, His most recent short story collection is Sexy Tales of Palaeontology from Subbed In, and he writes the newsletter All the Hetereosexual Nonsense I Was Forced To Endure with Rebecca Shaw. You can find Patrick on Twitter as @PatrickLenton, and his handy LinkTree will help you find his other stuff. Guest Fury is a writer, illustrator and performer who previously appeared on Pratchat in #Pratchat19 (Soul Music) and #Pratchat29 (The Last Continent) - our last in-person episode, recorded in the before times! Their live multi-disciplinary show Gender Euphoria toured Australia in 2019 and 2020, and their book I Don't Understand How Emotions Work is (probably) still available. You can find out more about them at furywrites.com, or follow them on Twitter as @fury_writes. Their first TV show, Crazy Fun Park, is currently in production and scheduled to premiere on ABC ME and ABC iview in late 2022. As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our website. Next month we're heading to one of the books that (sort of) provided a big chunk of inspiration for The Watch, and a fan favourite, frequently topping rankings of the Discworld series: Night Watch! Meet the original Carcer Dun, Jocasta Wiggs, young Sam Vimes, and - eventually - Young Sam Vimes... Send us your questions via the hashtag #Pratchat52, or via email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

Welcome to the Year of the Lachrymating Leveret! Bestselling sci-fi and fantasy author Garth Nix joins Liz and Ben up in the Ramtops, where Tiffany Aching dances a forbidden dance and gets into more trouble in the thirty-fifth Discworld novel, 2006's Wintersmith. Two years after her first Witch Trial, Tiffany Aching is nearly a teenager and two months into her stint with her latest mentor - terrifying Miss Treason, the 113-year-old deaf and blind justice witch. In the dead of night Miss Treason takes her to witness the "dark dance", but against the rules she is given, Tiffany does more than observe - after all, what good is a dance you can only watch? But Tiffany's been noticed: the spirit of Winter himself has his eye on her now. There's something different about Tiffany, too...but that might have to wait. The Nac Mac Feegle are back, there's a witch's cottage up for grabs, the boy she's been writing went to a party with someone else, and if she can't figure out how to fend off the Wintersmith, it might be an uncomfortably long Winter... Published in one of Pratchett's rare one-book years, Wintersmith advances Tiffany Aching into adolescence - and appropriately enough deals with themes of unwanted attention, uncontrollable urges, the perils of teenage and adult politics, and hordes of tiny blue men. Plus it's full of favourite characters, both old and new. Do you think Tiffany could have chosen not to enter the dance? Have the Feegles been to our world - and do they belong in this book, or has Tiffany outgrown them? What's the most ridiculous thing someone has done to try and impress you? Join the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat51 on social media. Guest Garth Nix is a bestselling and award-winning Australian author, best known for his young adult fantasy series "The Old Kingdom", which began with Sabriel in 1995. In November 2021 he published the prequel Terciel and Elinor, about the parents of the original novel's protagonist. He's also written dozens of other novels and short stories, including the Seventh Tower and Keys to the Kingdom series of novels, 2015's Newt's Emerald, 2017's Frogkisser, and 2020's The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, which recently won the Ditmar Award for best novel. You can find Garth on Twitter as @garthnix, and info about his books on his website at garthnix.com As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our website. Next month we're not reading a book or a short story; instead we're getting in front of the television and checking out the somewhat divisive BBC America series The Watch, "based on characters created by Terry Pratchett". Is it a bold new punk direction for the Disc, or a travesty born from years in development hell and too much distance from the source material? We're going to find out! Send us your questions via the hashtag #Pratchat52, or via email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

Ho ho ho, Merry Hogswatch! To celebrate the festive season, and our own fiftieth episode, we've brought together a bunch of guests of Hogswatch Past, Present and Future - including the hosts no fewer than three other Discworld podcasts - for a special feast of additional recipes from Nanny Ogg's Cookbook. Be warned: this podcast contains bananana! Got comments on our efforts - or want to share your own? Do you want us to do this again next year? Please, join the conversation using the hashtag #Oggswatch2021 on social media. Our guests this episode are: Comedian and vaudevillian Elly Squire, aka Clara Cupcakes - claracupcakes.com; @ClaraCupcakes on Twitter and InstagramAuthor Liam Pieper - liampieper.com; @liampieper on Twitter, @liampieperwrites on InstagramAuthor Nadia Bailey - nadiabailey.com; @animalorchestra on Twitter and InstagramThe hosts of the Wyrd Sisters podcast, Manning and Liz - @WyrdSistersPod on Twitter; support them via PatreonThe hosts of The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret, Jo and Francine - @MakeYeFretPod on Twitter; support them via PatreonTwo of the hosts of The Compleat Discography, Aaron and Ana - @Atuin_Pod on Twitter; support them via PatreonScience communicator Anna Ahveninen - @Lady_Beaker on Twitter As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our web site; it might take a few days to fully appear, but we'll be adding photos of many of the dishes cooked for this episode! While our January episode is already in the can, in February we'll be discussing BBC America's series "based on characters created by Terry Pratchett" - The Watch! So have a watch yourself over the holidays, and send us questions by tagging us on social media and using the hashtag #Pratchat52, or by sending us an email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com.