Podcasts about Small Gods

In this scholarly episode of Witch Hunt Podcast, hosts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack welcome historian Dr. Michael Ostling to examine one of witchcraft history's most persistent legends: the hallucinogenic flying ointment.Dr. Ostling carefully separates historical evidence from modern misconceptions, revealing how contemporary interpretations often reflect our own misogynistic projections rather than the experiences of those accused of witchcraft. Through thoughtful analysis, this episode respects the memory of innocent victims while providing listeners with a deeper understanding of how witchcraft myths evolve and persist across centuries.This conversation challenges popular assumptions and offers valuable historical context on this fascinating yet frequently misunderstood aspect of witch hunt history.Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of explicit sexual content related to historical witchcraft allegations.Michael Ostling's ResearchBuy: Fairies, Demons, and Nature Spirits 'Small Gods' at the Margins of Christendom, edited by Michael OstlingBuy: Emotions in the History of Witchcraft, co-edited by Michael OstlingBuy: Between the Devil and the Host Imagining Witchcraft in Early Modern Poland, by Michael OstlingCheck out our new podcast: The Thing About Salem on youtube!End Witch Hunts U. S. Nonprofit OrganizationSign up for our NewsletterDonate to Witch Hunt Podcast Conference Fund

Vom Computerspiel zum Mythos des guten Königs; In einem unendlichen Spiel, wo gute Menschen schlechte Dinge tun.  Chris ist zu Alexs Leidwesen diesmal vorbereitet – er hat etwas gelesen, was ihn beschäftigt. Er braucht Alex als seinen „Diamond Dog“: Warum werden Menschen in Machtpositionen gewählt, die für Chris offensichtlich fragwürdige Eigenschaften haben?Warum scheint einer der reichsten Männer der Welt (völlig unnötigerweise) bei einem Computerspiel so tun, als wäre er ein Top-Profi. Obwohl jeder echte Gamer erkennt, dass er maximal mittelmäßig ist. Das will Chris einfach nicht in den Kopf.Alex versucht, ein positives Weltbild zu bewahren, aber Chris zweifelt: Warum werden politische Entscheidungen getroffen, die nicht dem Wohl der Menschen dienen? Warum ist Housing First keine Selbstverständlichkeit? „And it all meant this:  that there are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal, kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do.“
aus Small Gods, Terry Pratchett Unser Gespräch dreht sich um Macht wie Moral. Und die Frage, ob die binare Einteilung in „gute“ und „schlechte“ Menschen uns nicht daran hindert, wahre Gründe zu erkennen für das Leid, was es gibt. Ein Folterer kann gleichzeitig ein „guter“ Vater sein. Vielleicht ist manchmal nicht der einzelne Mensch das Problem, sondern die Strukturen.Sind wir in einem „zero-sum game“, in dem es nur Gewinner und Verlierer gibt? Oder doch in einem „infinite game“, in dem es darum geht, gemeinsam eine bessere Zukunft zu gestalten?Es ist wieder eine Episode mit mehr Fragen als Antworten. Evtl. ist auch das einfach Teil der Reise. In der Folge erwähnt:Artikel von Rebecca Shaw by the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/16/i-knew-one-day-id-have-to-watch-powerful-men-burn-the-world-down-i-just-didnt-expect-them-to-be-such-losersZero sum game: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-sum_gameSmall God / Einfach göttlich: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einfach_g%C3%B6ttlichSoziopathie: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoziopathieTed Lasso: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Lasso  --------Noch ein Podcast:Perspektiven auf Software & Design von Chris & Alex.www.bessermit.design --------

Sometimes you didn't mean to write a religious text, you just wanted to keep your barrel furnished. We discuss Pratchett's big work about religion, belief, philosophy and kindness against all odds. With examples of How To Be and a variety of tangents along the way. No one expects the simultaneous inquisition. You can find the Podcast on: Facebook: www.facebook.com/DiningTableDiscworld BlueSky: dtdiscworld.bsky.social E-Mail: diningtablediscworld@gmail.com Our intro and outro music is Beyond Infinity by user BlenderTimer on Pixabay.

Kia ora e te whānau! Dirt Church Radio presents to you their 300th show! This is special because we spoke to the legend that is Dr Inia Raumati about his foundation Kia Mau Kia ora and the logistics behind his goal to be the first person in the world to to 8 stage races on 8 continents in one year. This show is special because it is the last time Eugene Bingham will take the mic at Dirt Church Radio. We say every conversation is interesting and special because it is, but this one is super special, truly the end of an era at DCR. This one is full of stories, questions, more references to ablutions than you can shake a stick at, and everything in between. Inia Raumati Rules, and So Does Eugene. Thank you for everything Eugene and here's to 300 more. Enjoy! Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running. Sign up to the DCR AidStation Episode links:SQUADRUNDirt Church Live show with Inia Raumati!Dirt Church Merch!Inia Raumati Kia Mau Kia Ora CurranzJulbo Eyewear UltrAspireDirt Church Radio on InstagramDirt Church Radio on Twitter Dirt Church Radio on Facebook CieleFurther Faster New ZealandEnjoy!Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake

We reach the finale of Small Gods! We meet a newt god, watch Brutha die, and of course: a turtle flies.Join us on Patreon next time for our Small Gods bonus episode, or back here in two weeks for the Grace Year part 1! We'll be covering half of Autumn, ending when they reach the encampment. Bonus Episodes and more available on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We continue or journey into Discworld by boat and enter into The Temptations of Brutha. Brutha wanders while Simony starts trying to make moves. Everyone here is definitely totally sane, and in the end we decide "It was time to do something about Omnia."Next episode we finish out the book!Bonus episodes and more available on Patreon. Bonus Episodes and more available on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We follow the continued adventures of Brutha and his one-eyed tortoise god, Om. Vorbis continues to be cartoonishly evil, Om makes a deal for Brutha's life, and Brutha meets the demonized Ephebians and their philosophers. Said demon philosophers spend surprising amounts of time being naked in the streets and drunkenly arguing with each other. Brutha questions a lot about how he was raised. The Omnians are bullied into signing a peace treaty - until they aren't. Vorbis enacts a long-developed plan to invade Ephebe from the desert, sacking the city. Also, we meet Death.Next week: We cover the next 25% of Small Gods, ending on the line: "It was time to do something about Omnia." Bonus Episodes and more available on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ponder the tortoise and the eagle with us as we glaze Prachett's humor and prose for a couple hours. We meet Brutha and his fierce god Om, who is a weak tortoise, the scary head of the Quisition Vorbis, and have a lie down over hoeing the melons.Next week, the next 25%~ of the book! Our final line will be: "Then the darkness poured in." Bonus Episodes and more available on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.

In the finale of A Study in Drowning, we follow Effy as things get stormy and steamy, an ill-advised nap is taken, Ianto gets a phone call and makes some observations, Effy gets on her knees, we learn a lot about Angharad's author. Also, Effy attends a party, and talks to the dean.Patrons can join us next week for A Study in Drowning bonus, where we cover the Preston bonus chapter and cast the characters both well and poorly. For the rest of you, join us in 2 weeks for the first episode of Small Gods by Terry Prachett!We'll be covering 25% of Small Gods for episode 1. The endline of our last covered scene is: '"General Fri'it has other business," said Vorbis. "Most pressing and urgent business. Which only he can attend to."' If ending on the right line sounds stressful, just read to like 30% of the book and expect us not to cover all of what you read. That's fine. Bonus Episodes and more available on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Trying meant something, didn't it?" We all knew how this was going to end. But will their stories live on? Yes. Subject matter: Character death.   == CREDITS == Cast GM: Patrick Perini Rossa: Emily Greymoore Basil: Nick Plaisance Kory: Sadie Pasley Mechanics "Last Words Are Never Enough" by Dylan Baird

"Everything is going to be different now" Pancakes? Stolen. Rossa? Nearly dead. Prophecy? Fulfilled. Will the leaders of the Taniyn be able to save their hallowed grove? Probably not. Subject matter: Endangerment to a pregnancy.   == CREDITS == Cast GM: Patrick Perini Rossa: Emily Greymoore Basil: Nick Plaisance Kory: Sadie Pasley

"When the last feather falls / The sage god shall shatter / The first leaf to burn shall / See the small gods scatter" Half-human, half-lizard, the Taniyn are the protector gods of the Eastern Wealds. But will they be able to safeguard their home from its largest-ever threat? Probably not.   == CREDITS == Cast GM: Patrick Perini Rossa: Emily Greymoore Basil: Nick Plaisance Kory: Sadie Pasley

Welcome to Walking the Way as we continue our journey through the Bible. My name is Ray and I really want to say thank you to everyone for listening in as we share in a regular rhythm of worship and devotion together.   Credits Opening Prayer https://www.faithandworship.com/ Bible verse 1 Kings 18:24 Thought for the day Ray Borrett Bible Passage 1 Kings 18 Good News Translation® (Today's English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible. Prayer Handbook Click here to download it Download the Script https://1drv.ms/b/s!AnHHJxf-hxXputALflO4UnMsm35wAw?e=sdzCld Supporting Walking the Way If you want to support Walking the Way, please go to: https://ko-fi.com/S6S4WXLBB or you can subscribe to the channel: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/walkingtheway/subscribe To contact Ray: Please leave a comment or a review. I want to find out what people think and how we make it better. www.rayborrett.co.uk ray.borrett@outlook.com @raybrrtt https://fb.me/walkingthewaypodcast --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/walkingtheway/message

"The Turtle Moves." WITNESS: as Andy is converted to Small Gods. PRAY: for PJ, refugee from religion's archives. TESTIFY: Small Gods is the novel connecting Grant Morrisson, Deadliest Catch and Geoffrey Chaucer. PRAISE BE to Terry L-Space: https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/small-gods.html Andy's YouTube: https://youtube.com/@andrewluke Small Gods audio, c. BBC. 30 second excerpt in accordance with Fair Use policies.

The Drunk Guys drink a divine amount of beer this week when they read Small Gods by Terry Pratchett. Their proof that God loves us is Power Up! by Bronx Brewery and MC^2 by Equilibrium Brewing. Join the Drunk Guys next Tuesday when they read Antigone by Sophocles The Drunk

Hello hello! Today I've got for you another between-season bonus episode. This time we're breaking format to talk about i know the end, a module I published earlier this year about going back home after a long time away and all the horrors that entails. Because if you can't occasionally publish something self-indulgent in your podcast feed, what's even the point of having one?My cohost for this is my friend Nico MacDougall, the current organizer of The Awards, who edited i know the end and had almost as much to say about it as I did.For maximum understanding of this episode, you can pick up a free copy of the module here and follow along (or skim it in advance).Further reading:The original i know the end cover artThe “oops all PBTA moves” version of i know the endThree of my short filmsMy previous written designer commentaries on Space Train Space Heist and CouriersJohn Harper talking with Andrew Gillis about the origins of Blades in the DarkThe official designer commentary podcasts for Spire and HeartAaron Lim's An Altogether Different River, which comes with a designer commentary versionCamera Lucida by Roland Barthes, a photography theory book that we talked about during recording but which I later cut because I remembered most of the details about it incorrectlyWhat Is Risograph Printing, another topic cut from the final recording because I got basically everything about it wrong while recording (the background texture of the module is a risograph printed texture)Before Sunrise by Richard LinklaterQuestionable Content by Jeph JacquesSocials:Nico's carrd page, which includes links to their socials, editing rates, and The Awards.Sam on Bluesky, Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.The Dice Exploder logo was designed by sporgory, and our theme song is Sunset Bridge by Purely Grey.Join the Dice Exploder Discord to talk about the show!Transcript:Sam: Hello and welcome to Dice Exploder. Normally each week we take a tabletop RPG mechanic, bait our lines with it, and cast them out to see, to see what we can catch. But you hear that different intro music? That means this episode I'm doing something much more self indulgent, a designer commentary on a module I released earlier this year called I Know the End.And just a heads up here at the top, to get the most out of this, you probably want to have at least read through the module in question before, or as, you're listening. I threw a bunch of free copies up on itch for exactly this purpose, so feel free to go run and grab one. I'll wait.Anyway, I love designer commentaries. You can find a few of my old written ones, as well as links to a few of my favorites from other people, in the show notes. But I wanted to try releasing one as a podcast, because one, that sounds fun, and two, what's the point of having a podcast feed if you can't be ridiculously self indulgent in it on occasion?And I picked I Know The End to talk about because it is... weird. I don't know. It's weird. I describe it on itch as a short scenario about returning home and all the horrors that entails. But you'll hear us take issue with, I don't know, maybe every word in that sentence over the course of this commentary. It was a strange experience to make this thing, and I figured that might be interesting to hear about.It was also the first time I ever worked with an editor Nico MacDougall my friend and the organizer behind The Awards since 2023. Nico was excellent to work with and you can find their rates and such in the show notes and they are with me today to talk through this thing in excruciating detail as you probably noticed from the runtime we had a lot to say. Definitely contracted two guys on a podcast disease. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this. But regardless, I'd love to hear what you think of it. Should I do more? Never again? Want to organize the Dice Exploder Game Jam we mused about doing at the end of this? Hit me up! I'd love to hear from you. And now, here is myself, I guess, and Nico MacDougall, with a full designer's commentary on I Know The End.Nico: Well, Sam, thanks for being here on your podcast to discuss your... adventure.Sam: You're welcome.Nico: Yes.Sam: for having me.Nico: Very first question is adventure: is that really, like, the right term for this?Sam: Are we really starting here? Like, I, I don't know. I, I feel like I got, I really went into this thing with true intentions to write a proper module, you know? Like I was thinking about OSR style play for like the first time in my life, and like, we were both coming out of the awards 2022 judging, and a lot of the submissions for 2022 the Awards were modules. I thought that was great but it really was sort of like opening the floodgates of this style of play that I knew basically nothing about. And, at the same time that we were reading through all 200 submissions for the awards, I was also reading Marcia B's list of 100 OSR blog posts of some influence.And so I was really drinking from the fire hose of this style of play, and also, I wasn't playing any of it. Like, I was experimenting with Trophy Gold a little bit, which is this story game that is designed to try to play OSR modules and dungeons as, like, a story game kind of experience. And I was kind of figuring out how it works and like how I wanted to run it and how to make it go And Joe DeSimone, who was running the awards at the time was just encouraging everyone to make weirder shit and like, that was his ethos and those were the people that he got to submit to the awards. Like, it was just the weirdest stuff that I had ever read in the RPG space and... That's probably a lie. There's some weird stuff out there.It was just like so much weird stuff. It was like stuff on the bleeding edge of a whole side of the hobby that I didn't participate in in the first place. My intro to this part of the hobby was the bleeding edge of it. And I was like, alright, I, I just wanna make something there, I wanna try playing around there and see what happens.And Joe tweeted out the tweet was like, Now we're all making modules based on songs that make us cry. And I was listening to the Phoebe Bridgers album Punisher on loop at the time to inspire a screenplay I was working on. And the last track is called I Know the End, and just ends with this, primal scream.And it was, it was a hard fall for me, at the time. And the primal scream felt really cathartic. And I was spending a lot of time in the, small town where I grew up. And, this horror monster idea of a town that is, itself, an entity and like is a whole monster, and like, what does that mean exactly? I don't know, but intuitively, I like, understand it, and we're just gonna kind of drive... towards my intuitive understanding of what this thing is supposed to be. I just decided to do that and see what happened. And did that give us an adventure in the end? I don't know. Did that give us a 32 page long bestiary entry in the form of a module? Like, that sounds closer to right to me, but also, taxonomies are a lie and foolish anyways.I don't know, I made a weird thing, here it is. Nico: Yeah. So I was scrolling back in our, in our conversation to where you first shared this with me, and I... I would like to share with the audience the text that accompanied it. It was the Google Doc, and then it said, This might be completely unplayable, it might actually be a short story, or, like, a movie, but I'm gonna publish it anyway, and, you know... If that isn't exactly it, like...Sam: Yeah I like that stuff. I don't know, another thing I've been thinking about a lot this fall is writing by stream of consciousness. Like, I realized that I don't have a lot of confidence in any of my work that I feel like I created quickly. Like, the RPG thing I'm most well known for, I think, is Doskvol Breathes, which I just pumped out in an afternoon. It was just a thought that I had on a whim about how you might play blades in the dark maybe. And I finished it and then I released it and people were like, this is amazing. And I still get complimented on it all the time. I'm still really proud of it, but it, I don't have any confidence in it because it came so quickly.And, like, I know that this is something I need to, like, talk about in therapy, you know, about, like, It's not real art unless I worked on it for six months straight, like, really worked my ass off. But this process, I sort of looked back over my career as a screenwriter, as a short filmmaker, as a game designer, and started realizing just how many of my favorite things that I've made came from exactly that process of the whole idea kind of coming together all at once in like one sitting. And even if it then took like a bunch of months of like refining like it's wild to me How much of my favorite work was created by following my intuition, and then just leaving it be afterwards.Nico: Yeah, I actually did want to ask about the similarity between your, like, process for TTRPG design versus screenwriting, cause... While I have read, you know, edited this, but also, like, read your your game design work and know relatively well your thoughts on, like, you know, just game design sort of theory and stuff in general, I have never read any, like, screenwriting stuff that you've done. Although, lord knows I hope to see it someday. Sam: Well, listen, if anyone listening to this wants to read my screenplays, I'm on Discord. You can find me and I'll happily share them all. My old short films are largely available on the internet, too. You know, maybe I'll link a couple in the show notes.Nico: oh yeah,Sam: But I I think of my process for screenwriting as really, really structural.Like, I, I'm a person who really came out of needing a plot and needing to know what happens in a story, and to really especially need to know the ending of a story so I know kind of what I'm going towards as I'm writing the thing. I outline like really extensively before I write feature or a pilot, like there's so much planning you have to do, I think it is really, really hard to write any kind of screenplay and not have to revise it over and over and over again, or at least like plan really carefully ahead of time and like really think about all the details, revise a lot, run it by a lot of people for feedback over and over. But especially for me that, that having an ending, like a target in mind when I'm writing is so important. I just don't know how to do it without that.Except occasionally when I get some sort of idea like this one where I have a feeling of vibe and I just start writing that thing and then eventually it's done. And I, I've never had that happen for a feature film screenplay or like a TV pilot kind of screenplay.But I have had a couple of short films come together that way where I don't know what the thing is, I just know what I am writing right now, and then it's done, and then I go make it. And I I don't know why that happens sometimes. Nico: Yeah, I mean I would imagine length plays a factor in it, right? Like a short film, or, I mean, gosh, how many pages did I know the end, end, end up being? Sam: 36. Nico: But I find that really fascinating that, too, that you say that when you're screenwriting, you have to have it really structural, really outlined, an end specifically in mind, when, to me, that almost feels like, well, not the outlining part, but having an end in mind feels almost antithetical to even the idea of, like, game design, or, I guess, TTRPG design, right?Even the most sort of relatively pre structured, Eat the Reich, Yazeeba's Bed and Breakfast, like, Lady Blackbird games, where the characters are pretty well defined before any human player starts interacting with them, you can never know how it's going to end. And it's kind of almost against the idea of the game or the, the sort of art form as a whole to really know that.Even games that are play to lose, like, there are many games now where it's like, you will die at the end. And it's like, okay, but like, that's not really the actual end. Like, sure, it's technically the end, but it's like, we have no idea what's gonna be the moment right before that, or the moment before that. As opposed to screenwriting Sam: yeah, it's a, it's a really different medium. I still think my need to have a target in mind is something that is really true about my game design process too.Like the other game that I'm well known for, well known for being relative here, but is Space Train Space Heist, where I was like, I have a very clear goal, I want to run a Blades in the Dark as a one shot at Games on Demand in a two hour slot. And Blades in the Dark is not a game that is built to do that well, so I want to make a game that is built to do that well, but like, captures everything about the one shot Blades in the Dark experience that I think is good and fun .And that may not be a sort of thematic statement kind of ending, like that's what I'm kind of looking for when I'm writing a screenplay, but that is a clear goal for a design of a game.Nico: Yeah. even In the context of I know the end, and to start talking a little bit about my role in this as well, as, as the editor, I think the point of view, the vibe, the, like, desired sort of aesthetic end point Was very clear from the start, from the jump. And I think that in many ways sort of substitutes for knowing the end of the story in your screenwriting process.So that really helped when I was editing it by focusing on like, okay, here's the pitch. How can I help sort of whittle it down or enhance it or change stuff in order to help realize that goal.And sometimes it kind of surprises me even, like, how much my games shift and change as they reach that goal. Like, sometimes you can, like, look back at old versions of it, and you're like, wow, so little of this is still present. But, like, you can see the throughline, very sort of Ship of Theseus, right? Like, you're like, wow, everything has been replaced, and yet, it's, like, still the thing that I wanted to end up at.Sam: Yeah, another thing that is, I think, more true of my screenwriting process than my game design process is how very common that in the middle of the process I will have to step back and take stock of what was I trying to do again? Like, what was my original goal? I've gotten all these notes from a lot of different people and, like, I've done a lot of work and I've found stuff that I like.And what was I trying to do? Like, I have, all this material on the table now, I have, like, clay on the wheel, and, like, I just gotta step back and take a break and refocus on, like, what are we trying to do. I Think it's really important to be able to do that in any creative process.To Tie together a couple of threads that we've talked about here, talked at the beginning of this about how much this felt like a stream of consciousness project for me, that I really just like, dumped this out and then like, let it rip.But also, I mean, this was my first time working with an editor, and I think you did a lot of work on this to make it way better, like really polish it up and make those edges the kind of pointy that they wanted to be, that this game really called for. And that makes this, in some ways, both a really unstructured process for me, and then a really structured process, and... I don't know what to make of that. I think there's something cool about having both of those components involved in a process. Nico: Yeah, it is. I I very much agree that like, yeah, most of my sort of design stuff have, has proceeded very much the same way of just kind of like sporadically working on it, changing stuff, like revamping it, whatever. And it's like, it's sort of, yeah, in a constant state of fluxx up until the moment where I'm like, okay, I guess it's done now.What I was gonna say, I was gonna jump back just a point or two which is you mentioned Clayton Notestein's Explorer's Design Jam. And I was curious, like, what was your experience, like, using that design template? Sam: Yeah I really enjoyed it, I really had a good time with it. I had already gotten really comfortable with InDesign just teaching myself during lockdown. Like, that's what I did for 2020, was I, like, laid out a bunch of games myself and they all looked like shit, but they all taught me how to use InDesign as a program.And I think templates are really, really valuable. Like it's so much easier to reconfigure the guts of another template than it is to create something from scratch.And I like Clayton's template. I think it's nice and clean. I think you can see in all the publications that have come out using Clayton's template, how recognizable it is. How little most people stray from the bones of it, and on the one hand, I think it's amazing that you can just use the template and go really quickly and like, get something out.And also I just want to push on it a little bit more. I want something, like the template is designed to be a template. It is not a suit tailored to whatever your particular project is. But also, I think if I had tried to lay this out without a template, it would look substantially worse, and there are a few notable breaks here and there that I, you know, I enjoyed experimenting with. I like the use of the comments column for little artwork. I think that was a nice little innovation that I added.And, you know, I didn't write this originally to have that sort of commentary column as a part of it. Like, all of the text was just in the main body of it. And I like the way it turned out to have that sort of, like, director's commentary thing hanging out in the wings. lot of people have talked about how much they like that in Clayton's template. so I, I don't know, like I, think that on the one hand a template really opens up a lot of possibilities for a lot of people and really opened up a lot of possibilities for me, and on the other hand I do still look at it and I see the template And I'm like, I hope this doesn't look too much like every other person whoNico: Right, right. I mean, that is definitely the difficulty of providing those kinds of tools, because like, it makes it very easy to make things especially if you're sort of just getting started, or if you don't have a lot of confidence or familiarity with it inDesign or anything like that. But ultimately, I feel like Clayton himself would say that the Explorer's Design Template is not intended to be, like, the final template, right? It's intended to be, like, a tool that you can use to varying effects, right?Yeah, I was thinking about it when I was going through this earlier, and I was like, Oh, yeah, like, you only use the comments, column a few times, and then I literally only realized maybe five minutes before you said it, I was like, oh, wait, all the little artwork is also in that little column thing, like you just said, and I was like, oh, that's like, that's actually a really cool way to use the template, because that space is already provided if you include that column, but just because you have the column that's, you know, quote unquote, intended for commentary, doesn't mean you have to use it for commentary, doesn't mean you have to put text in there.Sam: Yeah, you definitely like learn a lot of stuff about the guts of the thing as you start playing with it.Nico: Yeah. is probably getting on the level of, like, pretty pointless, sort of what ifs, but I'm curious... If Clayton hadn't done the Explorer's Design Template Jam, or if you had, for whatever reason, like, not been inspired to use that as the impetus to, like, make this and get it edited and laid out and published or whatever, like, Do you think you still would have tried to use that template, or would you have just tried to lay it out yourself, like you've done in the past?Sam: Honestly, I think without the jam this wouldn't exist. I have like a long to do list of things at any given time, like creative projects I wanna on, youNico: Oh, yeah,Sam: know? And the thing that brought this to the top of that to do list was just wanting to have something to submit into that jam. You know, I wanted to work with you as an editor. I Always want to clear something off the to do list. I always want to have some kind of creative project. And, I wanted to submit something to that jam, but I think if you took any one of those away, I might not have put the thing out at all. Nico: Yeah, that's really interesting. But I guess that's also, again, kind of what a good template or layout or just tool in general can help is actually get these things made. Sam: That's what a good jam can do, too, right? I mean, there's a reason the Golden Cobra contest is something that I love. It's like 40 new LARPs every year and they only exist because the Golden Cobra is throwing down the gauntlet.Nico: That's very true. Well, maybe it's time to move along to more practical concerns Sam: Maybe it's time to do the actual commentary part of this episodeWe've done the waxing philosophical part, butNico: we, yeah, checked off that Dice Exploder box. Now it's time to do the actual game talk.Sam: your bingo cards Nico: Yeah, Sam: Yeah, so let's start with the cover.Nico: Yes, the cover, which I only realized it was a teeth, that it was a mouth with teeth open when you said in the outline, ah yes, it's a mouth with teeth. And I looked at it and I was like... Oh my god, it is. Like,Sam: I did my job so well. I wanted it to be subtle, but I always like looked at it and was like it's so obviously teeth, I'm never gonna get this subtle enough. But I'm I'm glad to hear that I succeeded.Nico: I truly don't know what I thought it was before, but it definitely wasn't teeth.Sam: Yeah. Well, it started as I'll share this in the show notes. It started as this image. It was like a 6x9 layout, and, the teeth were still there, and it was like, all black, and the teeth were this much wider, gaping maw, like, inhuman, unhinged jaw kind of situation. And then, in the middle of it, was a, like, live laugh love kind of Airbnb sign with I Know The End on it. It was like the mouth, like, eating the sign.And I liked that. I felt like, the problem with that was that... As much as creepy, live, laugh, love sign is kind of the like, vibe of this, I didn't really want to bring in the like, kitsch of that at all, like, I felt like that kitschiness would hang over the whole thing if I made it the cover, and I mean, this whole thing is just about my own personal emotional repression, right? And my feelings about my small town that I'm from, andabout like, my ambition, and, exactly, yeah.But I, I write a lot, and I make a lot of art about emotional repression , and I think the particular vibe of this game's repression doesn't have space for irony, or satire, or like, Do you wanna live, laugh, love? Like, I don't know how else to put it. Like, it just felt really wrong.It was like, if you put that into the space at all, it's gonna curdle the whole feeling. Nico: it's about the framing of it. I, know that Spencer Campbell of Gila RPGs has written something about this on his blog. I don't remember specifically what the context is, but he's a psychologist by training and is talking about how, like, the way that you frame something matters a lot to how people respond to it, right?So you like, if you're framing it as like, oh, you have, twelve things and I take away six from you, versus like, oh, you have nothing and then you are given six things. It's like, both scenarios, you like, end up with six but Sam: One feels like a letdown and one feels great. Yeah,Nico: yeah, and so I think in his article he was talking about in the, yeah, you know, tying that into the game design context, obviously.And I think it matches here where like, sort of runs the risk of like, priming people to expect kitsch, and I don't think that that's really present in the rest of the game. And that kind of mismatched expectations could really, like, lead to some problems when people are trying to, like, play the game.Sam: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I mean this cover is just kind of like, oh. Like, it doesn't it doesn't really tell you much other than just like there's something back there that's maybe vaguely menacing, and that's kind of it. That's kind of Nico: Yeah.Sam: Alright, speaking of which can we, can we talk about my favorite interaction between the two of us as we were working on this?Nico: Oh, yeah, I was not sure how to bring that up. yes, please do. Now that we're moving on to... For everyone following along at home, we are proceeding to the credits page.Sam: The comment I got from you while you were editing this was, IDK if it would look different in print, but having the text so close to the edge of the page is activating my fight or flight response. And I just replied, working as intended.Nico: It yeah, I had the feeling, I think, even when I sent that, I was like, this, this is not like an accident. Like, like, like no one makes this like no one does this by accident. But, yes, truly, I hope that you are following along at home because I believe that Sam generously gave a whole bunch of community copies of this game, or made them available. Sam: I believe it was 42, 069 I'm usually doing some number like that. This game, I might have done a different number, but that's, the other games that I've done.Nico: So, but the text on this, for credits page specifically, it's truly, like, at the edge of the page. Like, it looks like it could be cut off. It's like, in print, it would be like, cut off by the process of actually like, making it. In fact, feels like if you try to send it to a printer, they could almost send it back and be like, you've gotta give us some space there. Like, you simply can't do that. There needs to be a gutter, or bleed, or whatever the term is. Like, Sam: I love it. maybe one day I will print this. Honestly, like if I become a super famous game designer or something, like, this is one of the ones that I Nico: screen, slash screenwriter.Sam: yeah, yeah. This is one of the ones I'd like to go back and hold in my hand, but I also I don't know, I just love it. I, I love designing for digital as, like, a primary thing, because I just feel like most people who play the thing are gonna play it out of digital.And I don't know if that's, like, the primary audience for a lot of modules. Like, I think there are a ton of people out there who just, like, buy the zine and hold the zine in their hand and probably never get around to playing it. But I, I love the digital. I've always loved the digital. I don't know, I just like making for it.Nico: Well I mean I was even thinking about it in the context of like, you know, how you talked about how you changed the aspect ratio, I was like thinking about that and I was like, I mean, it's not like that would be impossible to print, but like, most standard commercial printers operate in like, one of the more standard like, page sizes. Even the risograph you said is what it's called, right?Sam: The, the RISO. Yeah, I don't know if it's Rizzo or RISO, but I'm gonna sayNico: The RISO background also makes the, again, just from like a fully practical point of view, it's like you're adding color to the whole thing,Like there are many potential barriers to this as like a physical product that would, that are simply not there when you're designing for digital, so like, it is nice to have that sort of freedom, like, when you're thinking about how to lay this out or, or put stuff on here, it's like, you're freed from a lot of those practical considerations.Sam: There's a few other details I want to talk about on this page just kind of like references I'm making that are not obvious.So the first is that the header font and title font of I Know The End is a font that I ripped from Lilancholy, which is this amazing book by Snow, which is ostensibly a game, but but also a reflection on childhood and personal relationship to emotions and trauma.And I love the look of the font, but I also intentionally wanted to reference that game while I was making something that felt really personal in a similar vein. And another another reference here is that the color of the whole game, like this red, is pulled from the cover art for the Phoebe Bridgers album Punisher that I know the end is off of. I, I just found the, like, most saturated red pixel that I could on the album and was like, that's the color! I love hiding little references in every little detail that I can. Nico: Yeah, it's so interesting because I did not know any of that, you know, prior to this conversation or seeing that stuff on the outline. What did you sort of hope to achieve with those references, right? Because I can't imagine that you're plan was like, for someone to look at it and be like, oh my god, that's the Lilancholy font, and that's the Phoebe Bridgers album Sam: that's one pixel from that album cover.Yeah.What am I trying to achieve? I don't know, like there's, so the Paul Thomas Anderson movie Phantom Thread Is an amazing movie, and it's about Daniel Day Lewis being incredibly serious, scary Daniel Day Lewis, making dresses, being a tailor, and an element of the movie is that he hides his initials inside the dresses, like, when he's making them, he, like, sews his initials in.And that's a real thing that, that people did, and maybe it's just for him. It's also kind of an arrogant thing to do, you know, that all these, like, women are gonna be walking around wearing these dresses with, like, his initials kind of, like, carved, it's like this power thing. But my favorite part of it is that Phantom Thread is PT, also known as Paul Thomas Anderson.Nico: Ha Sam: And, like, like, I, I just feel like when you're doing that kind of thing, it's just, what an act, it's just so beautiful and arrogant and satisfying. Like I think doing that kind of little reference and joke for myself brings me into the mindset of what I am trying to convey with the game.Like, if I'm thinking in the detail of the font selection, what do I want to reference? What do I want to bring to this game? Then, I'm gonna be I'm gonna be thinking about that in every other choice I'm making for the game, too. And even if half of those choices end up being just for me, I will have been in the headspace to make the other half that are for everyone else, too.Nico: Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. like, You could almost even call these, like, Easter eggs, right?But it also made me think about, I had to look this up actually as you were talking, because I was like, about that, the CalArts classroom number that like all of the animators that studied there fit into like Pixar movies and stuff, like, A113, A113. And I think that's also sort of a good example of it in some ways, because it's like now, with the advent of the internet, and you know, and a certain way of engaging with media, like, everyone knows what that, what that means now, or they could if they just looked it up, or they just see some BuzzFeed, you know, article that's like, you know, 50 easter eggs that you missed in the latest Pixar movie.But yeah, it's like, it's very interesting because it kind of asks who is the movie for? What's the intended or imagined audience for all of these things? And it sort of shows that, like, you can have multiple audiences or multiple levels of engagement with the same audience, like, at the same time. Maybe, I would say, it's very unlikely that any random person would just like, look at the cover of I Know The End and be like, oh, that's the Lilancholy font, but,Sam: I have had someone say that to me, though. Yeah.Nico: but, so, what I was just gonna say is like, but I don't think it's hard to imagine that like, the type of person who would, who would buy, who would be interested in I Know The End or Lilancholy, I think there's a pretty decent chance that they would be interested in the other if they're interested in one of them, right?And so it is interesting as well, where it's like, I am often surprised by like the ability of people to sort of interpret or decipher things that far outweighs my sort of expectations of their ability to do so.If only just because I have the arrogance to be like, well no one could ever have a mind like mine. Like, no one could ever think in the specific bizarre way that I do. Then it's like actually a surprising number of people think in a very similar way. Sam: Another thing I think about with making these really, really tiny references, easter eggs, it's the, not making a decision is making a decision, right? CentrismNico: Oh,Sam: Like, if you have literally anything that you have not made a choice about with intention, that is a missed opportunity, I think.And... I have so much respect for people who will just pump something out, like, write a page of a game and, like, upload as a DocX to itch. Like, Aaron King is a genius, and I know a lot of games that are put out that way, and I love that stuff. But for me, like, the kind of art creation process that I enjoy and like doing is so based on finding meaning in every crevice, finding a way to express yourself in every detail. just love doing it.Nico: you are the English teacher that the, the curtains are blue meme is referencing, in fact.Sam: Yes.Nico: The curtains are blue in I Know The End because,Sam: Well, and I know the end they are red, but Nico: yes.Imagine that being the new version of the meme: the curtains in this are red because there's a Phoebe Bridgers album that has a single pixel that is that color.Sam: Yeah, I don't know. It's true, though.Nico: Exactly. it is in fact true. But so would, in some ways, any other interpretation of...Sam: Yeah.Nico: of the red color, right? It's like you picked it because of the association with the album cover. Someone else could be like, Oh, it means this otherthing. And like that interpretation is correct. Sam: Yeah, I mean, I also picked it because of its association with blood, you know, like I, I wanted to kind of evoke that feeling too, so.Shall we do the table of contents? HehNico: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think the most interesting thing to talk about, and I want to know when this entered the sort of the design process, is the blacked out Table of Contents entry which corresponds to an almost entirely blacked out, or in this case, redded out,Sam: Yeah, Nico: messily redacted,part of, the book,Sam: Yeah, I think this was always there, I think I started writing a list of locations very early on, and on that list of locations was, like, I work in Google Docs to begin with for most of my stuff, and it was a bullet pointed numbered list, and the last list item was struck through, and it was your mom's house.And I just thought that was a funny little joke. It's like really dark? Another, just like a little detail, I have such a great relationship with my parents. Like really just a better relationship with my parents than anyone I know. And, so much of my art ends up with these like, really bad, fucked up relationships with parents, and I don't know what that's about.But, there's, there's something about, there's a piece of your hometown that is like so traumatic that you can't bring yourself to look at it. There's a piece of yourself, or your childhood, or like, where you came up, there's something from your origin story that you can't bear to face is a lot of what this is about. And even as the climax of this thing is I think in a lot of ways turning to face everything that you left behind.I mean the whole module is about that but I think fact that even when you are doing that, there's one piece of it that you can't bear to look at is really tragic and a mood to me. You know, it really felt right. Nico: it's sort of like, yeah, I'm finally gonna stand my ground and face my fear, or whatever, except for that thing. That thing, that part over there, for whatever reason, because I'm actually just very afraid of it. It really, as always, is sort of like the exceptions to the rule make the rule, or emphasize the rule. You're kind of carving out the negative space around it. And it makes it clearer in so. so Well, Yeah, so like, then the first thing of the game text itself, so to speak, is like the front and back of a postcard. And where's the picture from? It looks kind of old timey in a sort of non specific way.Sam: It's from Wikimedia Commons, I believe. I was looking for pictures of old postcards, and I wanted a small town, and, this is what I found.The postcard image is actually like a hell of a photo bash too. The stamp on it is from a real postcard I received from my cousin. The handwriting was me on just like a piece of paper that I scanned, and then the postcard is another like open source postcard image.Nico: Yeah. I am, once again, sort of showing, showing a lot of my bias here. I am often kind of against a lot of little, like, accessories, or sort of, like, physical things that are often part of crowdfunding, like, stretch goals, you know, like, it's, I don't know. I don't think it's, like, ontologically evil or anything like that, it's just, I understand, it's part of the reality of crowdfunding, and, like, attracting attention, and yada yada yada, I just personally don't love that reality. Which, of course, is easy to criticize when you're not part of a project is trying to do that, but that aside, I think it would actually genuinely be very cool to have, like, this postcard as, like, a physical object like, if the game were to be printed.Sam: You gonna make me like, handwrite every one of the postcards too? Cause that isNico: I did not say that. Oh, is that really? Well, but then, then you have it already, you can just print it off, like, or you make that the, like, I don't know, the hundred dollar stretch goal, you know, they back it at that level and then the postcard just appears inside their mailbox. Like,Sam: That wa that is creepy. I will tell you that,Nico: You say that as though it's happened to you before. You're like, well, let meSam: well, I'm not, I, I revealing nothing. How autobiographical is this? Nico: Yeah. so I guess, yeah, so getting, So this is the introduction page, the background, the introduction, giving the context to what this module, extended bestiary, what have you, what it is. My question here from a sort of meta perspective is like, how much are you trying to sort of give away at the start of this? How do you pitch this to , like to someone you know?Sam: that's a great question. I'm pretty proud of the execution here. I think I do a good job of, like, leaving some juicy hints here as to what might be going on without giving anything away. Like, the fact that I advertise this as maybe closer to a bestiary entry than a module, like, uh, what? Like, like you, you have an idea of what that means, but also like, where's the monster, what is the thing that I'm looking like, that is kind of planted in your mind in a way that I think is intriguing and sets expectations without giving the whole thing away.And, also, this is just me, like, trying to figure out how to describe this thing in real time as I'm writing. It really came from intuition. Nico: yeah. I know that, you know you're on, very much on record talking about how, you know, like, taxonomy is fake and, you know, et cetera, et cetera. Sam: As much as I love it.Nico: right, right, exactly, I mean, I feel the same way, but I, I am curious as to like if you were trying to sell someone on the idea of even just playing this game, like, how effective do you think it is of like communicating whatever this is, you know, like, is it effective to say it's kind of this, or it's not this, or maybe it's this, like, Sam: I think this is going to be really good at reaching the kind of person who will love this, and really bad at selling this to like a mass audience, you know? But luckily, I'm not trying to sell this to a mass audience. I'm like trying to make Joe Dissimone proud, you know? Like I'm trying to make like something as weird as fucking possible.and I think there's a kind of person who really appreciates that and this struggle to define what this is using existing terminology, I think is going to really appeal to the people who like this.Nico: yeah, I agree, I think it signposts well hey, you, there, like, look at this thing. Isn't that interesting. And if they're like, If they're like, no, that's confusing and I don't know what to do with it, and they go somewhere else, in some ways, it could be argued that that is like, working as intended, right, likeSam: I kind of find it interesting in the sidebar here to watch me sort of like struggle with how you're supposed to play this game, like what rule system are you supposed to use?I do think with some distance from this, the best way to experience this is as a solo game. Like to just read the thing but pause and journal about your character's experience as you sort of walk through it. I have started playing more solo games since I wrote this in preparation for a Season 3 episode of the show, and I think this would serve that experience really well.I considered even, like, rewriting this to be more of explicitly a solo experience, but I, ultimately was really happy leaving it in its sort of nebulous, provocative, what if, is this, what is this sort of state. Nico: Yeah. I would genuinely be interested to have like, the two of us play the game, like this game, like one running it, one as the player, because I don't necessarily disagree with what you said, might be better suited as a solo game, but I really do think that there is something that can be gained about, like being in a room with, like, one other person, or, you know, being on a call with one other person, or whatever and going through this,Sam: Yeah, yeah, I can feel the intensity of that as you describe it. And it sounds harrowing and... Amazing. I do, I do have this dream of like running a Mork Borg dungeon, like over the course of like three sessions, and then like taking one of the players who survives and being like, I've got another module that I think we should play with the same character. Nico: yeah. Anyways, you go home and you think you're safe, but actually, like, Sam: I do think that this as a response to OSR play is really an interesting way to try to play the game, like to Nico: just sort of experienceSam: Yeah, to try to take the kind of character that you would have coming out of that and the experience you would have coming out of that and then like get tossed into this, like that disorientation I think would serve this really well and would do something that I found I really like to do with the OSR kind of play of like finding ways to bring in more character stuff, to just have people to reflect on their person, rather than on the logistical problem solving.Nico: Mm hmm. Which, of course, in some ways also is like, I don't want to say direct contradiction, but like, moving perpendicular to a lot of the sort of OSR principles, rightSam: But yeah, I mean, fuck em. Nico: exactly, I mean, I'm not, saying that to discourage you from doing it, I'm just saying, like, I just think it's an interesting for those to come into sort of, conflict or, or whatever in, in that specific way.Sam: I mean, that's what the bleeding edge of something is all about, right? It's like, what are our principles? What if we throw them out? What does thatNico: Right, right. What if we smash things together that, like, should sort of repel each other like magnets? Like,Sam: Yeah.Nico: Let's move on to the town?Sam: Yeah. So this is the, like, GM spoiler page.Nico: Right.Sam: I don't know that I have a lot to say about this particular page. It's, it's the town. There are, like, two suggestions in the first chunk of this book that came from you that I think are really valuable to this. Like, the first is that the town is always capitalized throughout. Which I like sort of was doing, but you really emphasized, and I think was a great decision.And, the second is that there aren't any contractions in this book except for possessives. And, that was another suggestion that came from you, to have this sort of stilted, formal, slightly off kind of language of not having contractions, that I think serves it really well and is just really cool.Nico: Yeah, I have to give credit for that, to the Questionable Content webcomic, which is a webcomic that has been running forSam: God, is it still going?Nico: oh, it very much is still going, I, it updates Monday to Friday, and I, am reading, I am seated and reading,Sam: stopped reading that like a decade ago.Nico: It is officially 20 years old. It started in 2003.but so one of the characters in that she initially never uses contractions. It is always, it is, it is never, it's. Do not, not, don't, you know, is not, not, isn't and over time, as the character sort of gets more comfortable and starts to open up about her kind of mysterious past, and they'll deal with a lot of the sort of like, serious emotional turmoil that is present in the character, she like, starts to use contractions.And so, it's a specific device that is very weirdly ingrained in my head at this point, because I remember, like, realizing that when it was called out the first time, and then I will fess up and say I have re read the webcomic from the beginning several times. I have a lot of time on my hands sometimes. And it is always kind of a delight to go back to the beginning and see this character and to really notice that device because you know where she ends up and how much more comfortable she is and so to see that difference in the beginning makes it very effective on a reread in a way that is sort of present in the maybe subconscious the first time on the way through.Thank you. And I feel like it's similar here, not quite the same because I don't know if you would ever necessarily actively realize, like, oh, there are no sort of contractions here.Sam: and the town is never gonna stop being a entity of repression.Nico: Yeah, exactly. And so it's giving this like underlying anxiety kind of like,like, you're just like, Ooh, this is Sam: Yeah. It's like, what is going on? What's wrong with the language here?Nico: Yeah. And you might not even really be able to, articulate it because it's sort of hard to articulate the absence of somethingSam: And like, that's the feeling of the whole module. yeah, It's, it's just, it's a great decision. Nico: Yeah. And then of course, capitalizing town, you know, are you even really a game designer if you're not capitalizing some random words in Sam: yeah. gotta have one at least, come on.Sam: I will say I really enjoy the fact that I give no origin story for the town. I think that's also really powerful, of leaving a hole that people can fill in if they want.The mom repression stuff is kinda like that too, the like, the blacking out sharpie. Of like, that's a hole you could fill in in play if you wanted to, but I, I'm not going to. I'm gonna intentionally leave that hole there.Nico: It also is the kind of thing, right, of like, oh gosh, Nova was saying this in the Dice Exploder Discord recently, where like, part of the reason the OSR can be so sort of rules light and stripped down is because like, it is relying a lot on the sort of cultural script of like, what is a fantasy role playing game, or even just like a fantasy story in general, you know? What your knowledge of an OSR game is.And this, in a similar way, is sort of like, you know what a hometown is. Like, you know, I don't need to tell you what the backstory of this is, because you know what it's like to be from somewhere. Cause it's also worth saying, like, this game does not give any character creation instructions, right? I mean, actually, I guess that's not entirely true, because underneath the postcard, you know, it just says, A decade or more gone since you fled the small backwater town that spawned you.And it's like, yeah, that's basically all the sort of character creation information you need, like,Sam: yeah, yeah, like wait, gonna play yourself and you're gonna be sad about this, like uh, Nico: Right, or, like, or if you're not playing yourself, you are playing a person who's sad about it, like, you know, it's like, it's kind of all you really need, Sam: you have internalized the tone of this thing, like, your character is in ways the negative space of the voice of the text. Nico: Like, a weird relationship with your small hometown, we just don't need to spend very much, time covering that broad background. It's much better spent covering the specific, like, locations and people in this town that also sort of help to convey that, feeling, that information.Sam: Temptations and terrors?Nico: Yes, probably The closest thing to a system that is in here, inasmuch as it's taken roughly verbatim from Trophy Dark Sam: yeah, I do think it is notable that when I wrote this I had not played Trophy Dark, and Trophy Dark is the one where you definitely die,Nico: Right. Right. Sam: My intention was not that you would definitely die in this. I really want escape to be a big possibility at the end and so it's interesting that I went with Trophy Dark as, like, the obvious system.Yeah, I like these lists. This is just a lot of tone setting, basically, right? I don't have a lot to say about the details here. The first terror, a children's toy, damp in a gutter, is a reference to another song that makes me cry. The Rebecca Sugar song for Adventure Time, Everything Stays.But most of the rest of this is just, vibes. Here's some vibes. I don't know, I re read these lists and I was like, yeah, they're fine, great, next page. But I don't know, is there anything that stands out to you here?Nico: I mean, I think the most important thing about these lists, these kinds of things, you could maybe even sort of broaden this to like pick lists in general, is that, they kinda need to do two things, like they need to both give you a good solid list of things to pick from, if you're like, at a loss, or if you just are like, looking through it, and you're like, this is good, I want to use this.Or, the other purpose of using it is to have it sort of identify the space that you're playing in to the point where you can come up with your own thing that like, could just be the next entry on that list, right? For me at least, the whole point of like, buying a game is like, I want something that I like, can't essentially come up with by myself, you know? Because I like to be surprised, I like to be sort of challenged, I like to be inspired, and so I think a really good game is one that you sort of like, read it, and you're like, okay, like, there's great things to use in here that I'm excited to use. I also, after having read this, am coming up with my own ideas. Like, equally long, if not longer, list of things that like, fit into this perfectlySam: Bring the vibes of your small town. Nico: Yeah, exactly, that I could also use. It's like, and so it's like, it's kind of funny that like, for me at least, the mark of a good game is like oh yeah, you both want to use everything that's contained in it, and also you immediately get way more of your own ideas than you could ever use when you're running the game.Sam: Yeah. Next?Nico: Yes. Act 1. Sam: I love this little guy, I love Wes he's just kind of a pathetic little dude, and I feel sad for him.Nico: It's so funny, too, because this particular little guy, like, doesn't look very pathetic to me. Like, he looks like he's kind of doing okay. Sam: I definitely like drew, like all the art in the book I drew, and I did it by just drawing a lot of little heads, and then assigning them to people. Like, there were a couple where they were defining details about how the people looked, that I knew I needed to draw specifically. But in general, I just drew a bunch of heads and then doled them out, and like, this is the one that ended up on Wes. And, I think that the contrast between, like, in my mind, Wes is this skinny, lanky, little kid, you know, he's like early 20s, finally making it on his own, and he has no idea what the hell's going on with the world, and he always looked up to you, and he's finally getting out of town. And then he's, he's like overcompensating with the beard for the fact that he's like balding really early, and like, you know, he's, I don't know, like, I think the contrast is just fun.Nico: I love this whole life that you have for this, this little, this little guy, like, which is, I can't stress this enough, mostly not contained in the text,Sam: Yeah. yeah. I think a good NPC is like that. I think it's really hard to transcribe the characters we get in our heads.Nico: yeah, Sam: I really like the, the pun in the Town Crier, I mean like the Town Crier feels like a horror movie trope, like the old man who's gonna be like, You got don't go up to the cabin! But it's also, like I wrote that down first and then just started describing this Wes guy and then I was like I'm gonna just like make a pun out of this.This is something I did all the time while writing this, was I had, like, a little oracle going, actually, at a certain point, like, in the same way that you would in a solo game with an oracle. Like, if I was stuck for an idea, I would just roll on the oracle table and then, like, fill in a detail that was somehow related to the oracle. Nico: Mhm. Sam: That, that didn't happen here, but the idea of, Oh, I want a little bit more description for this guy, like, what should I do? I, like, pulled the word crier, and then was like, Oh, that's really interesting, like, when would this guy have cried? Like, oh, that's a great question, let's just, like, put that to the player. I'm always, like, a thing in screenwriting that is really hard to do, and that I'm always looking for is, like, really good, pithy character descriptions.Like, a friend of mine loves the one like, this is a woman who always orders fajitas at a Mexican restaurant because she loves the attention that she gets when the fajitas come out.She hates fajitas. And that description just says Nico: That's Sam: much. It's so good, right? And that one's even a little bit long for like a screenplay, but it'd be great for like an RPG thing, right?And something about like Here's a little bit about this guy. You remember when he was crying once, like a baby? What was the deal with that? Like, it's such a, like, defines everything else about him. Like, I, I, I'm really proud that.Nico: Yeah. No, that's, that's how I felt a little bit with I ran Vampire Cruise at Big Bad Con this year. And that game has some of, like, the best random NPC generating tables that I've, like, ever seen and played with.I remember one specifically, it was, like, I was like, rolling to generate a passenger, and I think it was like, the secrets part of the table, or something like that, and what I rolled was like, regrets that she never got to see the dinosaurs, and it's like, what does that mean?Like, like, Sam: She had a traumatic experience at a science museum as a kid, or maybe she's like 10 million years old, like, I don't...Nico: or, yeah, or she's just like a weirdo who like really loves dinosaurs? It's like, it's, Like, it really gives you sort of what you need to just sort of like, spin a world out of that specific detail. Sam: It's weird because I like completely agree with you, and you know, I was tooting my own horn about like this question about Wes sobbing and also like, in every single spread of this thing, I'm taking like two full pages to talk about like one or two NPCs, which is a terrible way to do the thing that we are talking about doing. Like,Nico: That is true, that is, it must be said,Sam: it makes it feel so much more like a short story, or maybe like a solo game, right? It's like, eh, spend two pages, like, getting to know this guy. Nico: who won't come up again, spoiler alert, Sam: Yeah, it feels like the right call for this thing where like, I mean it's like the text is forcing you to sit with the memory of this guy, it's like forcing you to come in and like spend more time than you would like to like back at home with these people.And there's some like location context built into all these descriptions too, and we like learn about the bakery thing here and like old stories and stuff. And like, already it's like, do we need that shit to run this game? Like, absolutely not, like, get, get out of the way, like, but also, I don't know, it feels right?And it's one of the things that makes all this weird and, you know, unrunnable.Nico: Which is of course the goal, we don't want people to run this. Yeah, no, that's something that I've thought about in my own games as well, is, is, and just sort of like, my life, I guess, is sort of like, what makes a place that place, you know, like, what makes a town a town, what makes a city a city, like, is it the people who live there? Is it the places? Like, again, kind of back to the sort of Ship of Theseus metaphor, it's like, if everyone you know leaves, and a lot of the stores turnover, like, is that still your hometown? Like... Does your relationship to it change?And so I, in defense of, of what we're doing here, it makes a lot of sense to spend so much time thinking about the people and the places that are here because that also basically is the game, right?Like, like, this is not a dungeon crawl, right? Like, this is not a hack and slash thing, It's not a dungeon crawl, like, Sam: it's a person crawl. Nico: Yeah, exactly, you're yeah, the point of you coming home is you're trying to find Sidra, the person who sent you this postcard, asking you to come home, and yeah, you're basically doing a point crawl, trying to find this person.And then there are various conditions that need to be in place for you to actually find them = And yeah, so it's like, using more words than a sort of your standard OSR like dungeon crawl or point crawl or whatever, or hex crawl, but like, it's kind of the same way where it's like, yeah, but like, that's the game, that's the adventure, like, Sam: yeah, yeah. Another detail here I'm really proud of is the like, offhand remark about how Wes and Sidra aren't talking for what are probably romantic reasons. Because the implication, there's like a strong implication that you, player, have some sort of romantic history with Sidra, like, whether it was ever consummated or not. And I love the just sort of, like, offhand, Wes and Sidra had a thing that didn't work out, because it both... leaves open your potential romantic relationship with Sidra, but also like complicates it and like darkens it from whatever sort of nostalgic quote unquote pure like memory of it you had.And I love that it just sort of brings a little complexity into what happens when you leave for 15 years. And then like what it feels like when you like, hear, oh yeah, your ex has been like, dating someone for a couple years. What were we talking about? Like just that, like sometimes like a bolt of like, information about like, someone from your past that like, you care a lot about will just hit you and you'll be like, oh, wait, what? And we're just I'm supposed to just like, take that and move on? Like, yeah, yeah, Nico: It's also a very small town, right, where it's a sort of like, oh yeah, passing reference to this because everyone knows this already, right? Like, this is old news as well as, like, in a small town, it's like, there's a small pool of people your age that you're interested in, so, not like you're gonna get with all of them inevitably, but it's like, yeah, there's a pretty high chance that you might.Last thing I did wanna say on this, do you wanna share what Wes's name was in the first draft of this that I received?Sam: What was it? I don't rememberNico: It was Glup Shitto. It was, it was one of the first comments I left! It was one of the first comments I left! I was like, Sam, you've gotta know this can't be the final thing, right?Sam: knew it couldn't be the final name. But there was something really funny to me about like the one person who like doesn't fit into town, like this little fucking Star Wars fanboy like schmuck kid is just Glup Shitto. And he's leaving town cuz like when you got that name, it doesn't fit anymore. You gotta get the fuck out of there.No wonder the town couldn't absorb him. His name was Glup Shitto.Nico: I want to say, like, I might have, like, made my first round of comments because I was, like, yeah, feeling the same way of, like, okay, obviously this is not the finalSam: yeah, yeah, I just didn't change it and you were likebruh Nico: and then, yeah, and then you, like, made changes based on the comments that I left, and I went back to it, and I'm like, it's still Glup Shitto. Like, it simply can't be this! It's not allowed! It's, it's not legal! Like, Sam: there ought to be a law.Nico: yeah.Sam: Alright, let's do Act 2 gosh.Yeah, so I made this little map. I like the little map. This is just my hometown, incidentally. Like, there's so much in this that is just, like, pulling details directly from my hometown. That oracle that I mentioned earlier, like, Northfield, Minnesota was, like, one of the things on the oracle. And you can see that here in like, the riverwalk and this little bridge over it was very Northfield. the Rube, which we're getting to next, these two bars, the kind of cowboy themed bar thing was a thing.Nico: Again, it's a very small town of just like, no sort of reasonable business person would have these specific Sam: yeah, but they, they exist here for some reason Nico: it almost feels like the kind of thing where it's like, like they can exist in a really small town, because it's sort of like, well they're the only things here, and they can exist in like New York City Sam: yeah. Nico: everything's in New York city, and like every kind of place is there, but like anywhere in between, people would just be like, I don't understand, and then it goes out of business,Sam: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, doctors always also a big portion of my childhood and my past always coming up in my stuff just because I spent so much time in hospitals as a kid. So the, inclusion of a doctor here is also very much something coming out of my hometown.I like the little mechanic here of, like, rolling and you, like, add one every, every time. I think that's a nice sort of way to handle trying to find Sidra. Nico: as like a classic Nico mechanic 'cause I simply haven't made and published that many things. But in my mind, my narcissistic fantasy, it is a classic me mechanic.Sam: I believe that came from you.Nico: I fucking love a table that like evolves over time.And it's not like I invented it, but like, I think my more standard thing is sort of like you have a table of like 12 things, and then you change which die you roll on it, you know, it's like, oh you can do like a d4 through d12 or whatever and that's like, I really like the ability to sort of go back to a table and, like, use it multiple times as opposed to, like, Okay, we have one table for this, we have a different table for that, you know.Sam: Additional persons. I really like this format for sort of generic NPCs, like, I'm not gonna tell you anything about this person, but I am gonna tell you what you think about them and your relationship to them.I think it's a really cool way of doing... Oh, do you just need to, like, bring someone in? You, like, met someone on the street or whatever? In a lot of other settings, you would just have, like, a random person, and it would be, like, the Vampire Cruise thing. If you give them an interesting detail in here, it'd be a cool thing.But I think, especially in, like, a small town format, the, like, here's your relationship to this person, because everyone knows everyone, and, every character that comes in, like, is gonna have to inspire some kind of feeling and past in you. I think this works really cool, reallyNico: It also feels very sort of true to life in terms of, at least, how I often GM things. Someone will be like, hey, can I, like, ask just, like, the next person I see on the street what they know about this thing? And I'm like, I mean, I fuckin I guess, like, it'll shock you to learn I don't have a name for that person, but, you know, I just have to, like, come up with, like, here's a weird voice, and like, a random thing they know, and like here's a name, Sam: This is a great way to turn that experience back on the player.Nico: exactly, yeah, there's this random person, you're like, alright, this is someone who owes you an apology, why is that?Like, Sam: yeah, Nico: I also wanna say that I feel like this was actually a relatively late addition to theSam: Yeah, it was. I always intended to write these, but it was like the last thing that I wrote.Nico: Yeah.Sam: Yeah.Nico: There was definitely some time when I sort of came back and looked at it, and all of a sudden there was this relatively large additional persons section in here, and I was like, huh, interesting.Sam: Yeah. I'm happy with how it came out. I think these are my best little guys. Nico: Oh yeah, Sam: I really like the unfinishedness of these little guys that you can project a little bit of yourself onto them while there's still some, like, major details there. This someone you seek vengeance upon looks a lot like a penis, and I don't know how I feel about that one, butNico: I was gonna say, I find that one fascinating as the ide

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.

In this mini episode, the team asks the questions they didn't ask before in the full review of Small Gods by Terry Pratchett. For the full book review, see series 1 episode 10.Support the showP.s If there's a book you want to recommend to us to read, just send us a message/email and we'll pop it on our long list (but please read our review policy on our website first for the books we accept).Social MediaWebsite: https://teachingmycattoread.wordpress.com/Email: teachingmycattoread@gmail.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/teachmycat2read/Twitter: https://twitter.com/teachmycat2read?s=09Tumblr: https://teachingmycattoread.tumblr.comYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFXi9LNQv8SBQt8ilgTZXtQ

On this special episode, we're joined by poet Maya Williams to discuss depression, Black girlhood, and creating our own eden in The Secret Life of Bees (2008) directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and starring Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Sophie Okenedo, and Alicia Keys. Our recommendations: In the Pockets of Small Gods by Anis Mojgani, The Woman King (2022) Judas & Suicide, Maya's debut collection of poetry, is out now on Game Over Books: https://www.gameoverbooks.com/product-page/judas-suicide Visit Maya's website: https://www.mayawilliamspoet.com/ Follow Maya on Twitter: @emmdubb16

It started with a challenge from Marie Vibbert's twin sister. “I'll give you a gift for every 100 rejections you get.” Today Marie has placed 88 short stories with magazines like Fantasy and Science Fiction, Analog and Clarkesworld. She talks about how she does it, plus gives us a quick intro to worldbuilding using the example of her latest novel “The Gods Awoke” in this episode of Indie Book Talk. Mentioned in this episode: Small Gods by Terry Pratchett Website: www.marievibbert.comInstagram: @marievibbertFacebook: @MarieVibbertYouTube: @MarieVibbert

In this week's episode of the Get Lit Minute, your weekly poetry podcast, we spotlight the life and work of poet, Anis Mojgani. He is the author of five books of poetry. His work has appeared on HBO, NPR, and in journals Bat City Review, Rattle, Buzzfeed Reader, Thrush, and Forklift Ohio, amongst others. His latest book is In the Pockets of Small Gods. SourceThis episode includes a reading of his poem, "Hon or We have both traveled from the other side of some hill, one side of which we may wish we could forget,"  featured in our 2021/23 Get Lit Anthology."Hon or We have both traveled from the other side of some hill, one side of which we may wish we could forget."Love me stupid.Love me terrible.And when I am nomountain but rathera monsoon of imperfectthunder love me. WhenI am blue in my facefrom swallowing myselfyet wearing my best hearteven if my best heartis a century of hungeran angry mule breathinghard or perhaps evenhopeful. A small sun.Little & bright.Support the show

Danielle Zalopany, is a beautiful and talented actress from Kaneohe, O‘ahu. She has acted in many powerful Hawai'i made films such as Waikiki, River of Small Gods, Hae Hawai'i, and Moloka'i Bound. Through her acting she lifts the Native Hawaiian community. It's A Hawaii Thing Productions. Quality content for the Hawaii Enthusiast and traveler. Celebrities, artists & community leaders vomming together to showcase the spirit of the islands. New weekly program dedicated to anything and everything unique to life in Hawaii. To Learn more about It's A Hawaii Thing visit: https://www.itsahawaiithing.com/ It's A Hawaii Thing is a https://www.wikiocast.com/ production.

WELCOME TO B-SIDES AND BEERS EPISODE 75! TONIGHT WE'RE HANGIN WITH CHRIS…FOUNDER AND CO OWNER OF SMALL GODS BREWING OUT OF SIDNEY BC!

In the 28th episode of Beer Life, Jorden chats with Chris Bjerrisgaard and Jonny Kostiuk from Small Gods in Sidney BC and Isaiah Archer and Matt West-Patrick from Whistle Buoy in Victoria. They talk about Island Life, the Chicago Chubs, brewery theft, and lagering tanks in an underground parking garage.

Today we are welcoming Brian Wilkins, magician, poet, and taijiquan teacher in the Hudson Valley, onto the podcast to chat about his recent poetry book, A Wheel of Small Gods, published through Revelore Press with art by Brennen Reece. This interview is chock full of praxis wisdom listeners won't want to miss. How do we take our rituals and turn them into art? In what ways does inviting the spirits of the decans into our lives change the way we process pain and disease in the body? How does healing in the body affect emotional healing in the heart and mind? Where does the concept of Time fit into all this anyway? All these answers plus some laughs and poetry readings by Brian himself in today's episode of SaturnVox. You can find out more on Brian, check out his his work at www.wilkinsbrian.com or on Instagram @wilkinsbrian1 To find more on SaturnVox, check out their instagram and twitter @saturnvox, or, visit their website saturnvox.com. If you want to support the show towards goals of better equipment, merch, and bonus material, please check out the Patreon at www.patreon.com/saturnvox. Original music by Jules M. Dooley, traditional astrologer and sound artist. Follow his experiments with astrology + sound + ai visuals on IG: @glitches_in_the_night_sky SHOW NOTES: A Wheel of Small Gods by Brian Wilkins, art by Brennen Reece The Sacred Book of Hermes to Asclepius Flatland by Edwin Abbot 36 Faces by Austin Coppock Moon Matters Podcast The Cancer Grimoire

Two small-minded men discuss Small Gods for almost an hour. It's in Richie's Top 5 books of ALL TIME. Why is it so legendary?If you're interested in reading Small Gods & want to show us some support, here's our affiliate link to the book! https://amzn.to/3JPpgEVOur social media:https://linktr.ee/2ToRamble

Poet, author, taiji instructor and intentionist (this will make sense shortly), Brian Wilkins joins the show this week, on the occasion of the publication of his book, A Wheel of Small Gods. We discuss how poetry can be a container or place for spirits, different methods of experiencing and understanding energy, healing magic, magic-as-time-travel as well as the how's and why's of coming into relation with star spirits. Super fun discussion. Enjoy! Show Notes Get A Wheel of Small Gods. Brian's website.

On this episode I was joined by Brian Wilkins. Brian is a poet, a magical practitioner, a teacher of taiji, and a tarot and geomancy consultant. We had a great chat about his upcoming book, A Wheel of Small Gods (get it at and the companion oracle deck at www.revelore.press). Brian also shared some stories with me about exorcism and possession, as well as the healing spirit encounters from the book. We also talked about what makes mannequins so scary (so sexy?), the Christ spirit, being delicious, and so much more.Thanks for listening and enjoy the show!You can find Brian at www.wilkinsbrian.comIntro MusicA Cosmic Jump by Shahead Mostafafar

Jim Harrison was born in 1937, in Grayling, Michigan. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Playboy, and The New York Times.Harrison was also the author of over thirty books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, including seven volumes of novellas, Legends of the Fall (1979), The Woman Lit by Fireflies (1990), Julip (1994), The Beast God Forgot to Invent (2000), The Summer He Didn't Die (2005), The Farmer's Daughter (2010), and The River Swimmer (2013); eleven novels, Wolf (1971), A Good Day to Die (1973), Farmer (1976), Warlock(1981), Sundog (1984), Dalva (1988), The Road Home (1998), True North (2004), Returning to Earth (2007), The English Major (2008), and The Great Leader (2011); thirteen collections of poetry, including most recently Songs of Unreason (2011), In Search of Small Gods(2009), and Saving Daylight (2006); and three works of nonfiction, the memoir Off to the Side (2001) and the collections Just Before Dark(1991) and The Raw and the Cooked: Adventures of a Roving Gourmand (2001).The winner of a National Endowment for the Arts grant, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Spirit of the West Award from the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Letters (2007) and was named Officier des Arts et Lettres (2012) by the French Ministry of Culture for his “significant contribution to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance.” He has had his work published in twenty-seven languages.Harrison lived in Montana and Arizona before his death in 2016 at the age of seventy-eight.From https://groveatlantic.com/author/jim-harrison/. For more information about Jim Harrison:Previously on The Quarantine Tapes:James McBride about Harrison, at 24:05: https://quarantine-tapes.simplecast.com/episodes/the-quarantine-tapes-092-james-mcbrideSaving Daylight: https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/books/saving-daylight-by-jim-harrison/“Jim Harrison, The Art of Fiction No. 104”: https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2511/the-art-of-fiction-no-104-jim-harrison“Jim Harrison”: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/jim-harrison

The Three Rivers Boys just finished Small Gods and recorded an overview for this week's episode. We review Terry Pratchett's 13th Discworld novel and also cover characters, plotlines, and some of our favorite moments. This is the first Discworld book we've covered, and it certainly won't be the last! Full book spoilers begin at 4:27. Enjoy! Please follow us at @ThreeRiversBoys on Twitter!

In this week's episode, Jake makes a very convincing argument as to why we should all read the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. Steve and Zach agree to read Small Gods as soon as humanly possible. We also have a brief discussion about our Elden Ring addictions. Please follow us at @ThreeRiversBoys on Twitter!

Pastor Ian Graham looks at the way we often try to negotiate with God so that we can compartmentalize our lives and give him part of it. We try to craft a certainty that we know what God is like and who he is and, in doing so, often miss the "fresh word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4). Support the show (https://ecclesianj.churchcenter.com/giving)

Your hosts talk about Small Gods, arguably the best Discworld novel. They also discuss malicious gods, fake gods, and redeemed gods. If you aren't interested in Discworld as a series, you should still read this book.Pratchett also suggests a great “Words Are Weird” segment about diction, and the type of boss who says “enter.”Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”- Scott Buckley for the use of “Twilight Echo”Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Lice

We are joined by multiple award winning author Seanan McGuire to discuss the 26th novel in the Discworld series, Thief of Time. At the time of recording, three of the four of us were either currently sick or recently recovering from being sick with the 'rona, so this one's a little loopy. Bear with us! Also, there's a series of Information Hazards around 3/4 of the way through recording.Editor's note: there's a moment I, Aaron, did not clock during the recording but heard during editing that made me have to walk away from my computer and have a good cry. I'll leave you to figure out where that was.Seanan McGuire is the author of the October Daye urban fantasies, the InCryptid urban fantasies, and several other works both stand-alone and in trilogies or duologies. In case that wasn't enough, she also writes under the pseudonym "Mira Grant." For details on her work as Mira, check out MiraGrant.com. You can find her on twitter at @seananmcguireThe Small Gods Project, mentioned in this episode, can be found at https://smallgodseries.tumblr.com/Check us out on twitter at @atuin_podHelp us keep the lights on via our Patreon!Follow individual hosts at @urizenxvii, @The_Miannai, and @JustenwritesWe can also be found at www.compleatdiscography.pageOur art is by the indomitable Jess who can be found at @angryartist113Music is by Incompetech and used under a Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution license.Take a Chance by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4457-take-a-chanceFuzzball Parade by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5044-fuzzball-paradeLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Media-eval ventures into the Discworld! Sarah and guest Bridget Kennedy discuss two of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, Wyrd Sisters and Small Gods. Join us as we get into the Inquisition, witch persecution, and medievalism in the Discworld series. Social Media: Twitter @mediaevalpod E-mail: media.evalpod@gmail.com Rate, review, and subscribe!

Freelance writer and journalist Ben Riley joins Liz and Ben for a magical history tour as Susan Sto Helit teams up with a couple of monks to stop time...er...stopping in the twenty-sixth Discworld novel: 2001's Thief of Time. In Ankh-Morpork, a mystery woman tasks the odd but talented Jeremy Clockson to build a clock so accurate it can measure the tick of the Universe. In mountain monastery of Oi Dong, Lu-Tze, sweeper of the History Monks, gains a new apprentice: the unmotivated but gifted Newgate "Lobsang" Ludd. And in his domain, Death senses that the Auditors of Reality, grey entities who count every atom, are once again seeking to curb the chaos of life. He recruits his granddaughter Susan to help find the son of Time. If they can't, he'll have to get the old band back together and ride out for the end of the world - at precisely one o'clock, this Wednesday... Pratchett brings back a string of old favourites for this action-packed romp through...well, not quite through time, but it's certainly "about" time. It's the last book to properly star Susan Sto Helit, and for that matter Death; it brings back Lu-Tze, the sweeper who nudged Brutha in the right direction back in Small Gods; and Nanny Ogg is here too, in her first major appearance since the last Witches book, Carpe Jugulum. Oh, and there's a main character named Lobsang, and we know all about that name... Is this what you were hoping for in a third outing for Susan? How do you feel about the fate(s) of Lobsang and Jeremy? Where do you land on having an in-universe excuse for continuity errors in Discworld? And are the monkish wisdom jokes okay because they're based more on kung fu movie tropes than actual Tibetan culture, or is it still a bit on the nose? Join the conversation using the hashtag #Pratchat48 on social media! Guest Benjamin Riley (not to be confused with Spider-Man clone Ben Reilly) is an award-winning freelance writer and journalist. He's written for Junkee, SBS Online, PopMatters, Overland, the Star Observer and many other publications. Ben also works in AIDS research and in HIV and sexual health policy, organises queer community events, and co-hosted and produced the queer political podcast Queers with Simon Copland from 2015 to 2019. (You can still find old episodes in most podcast directories and via the Queers acast page.) For more on what Ben's up to, follow him at @bencriley on Twitter or hit up his website at benjaminriley.com.au. In other Ben news, the videogame Table of Tales: The Crooked Crown, written by a certain Ben McKenzie, is now available on Steam! As usual, you can find notes and errata for this episode on our web site. Next episode we take another little breather - it's been a long lockdown here in Melbourne, folks - to read a Pratchett short story: his take on Arthurian myth, Once and Future! It was originally published in 1995 in the collection Camelot, but like most of his short fiction you can find it in A Blink of the Screen. Send us your questions using the hashtag #Pratchat49, or via email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com. And yes, we are planning something a little different and special for our fiftieth episode in December - watch our website and social media for news on that soon!

The New York Times describes Helen Joyce's book, Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality, as “an intelligent, thorough rejoinder to an idea that has swept across much of the liberal world seemingly overnight.” Joyce reminds us that her book is not about trans people, but rather, it is about the idea “that people should count as men or women according to how they feel and what they declare, instead of their biology.” Helen explains the ways it's more acceptable for men to “give up some privilege” and strategies women in other cultures have used to opt out of unfavorable circumstances. Perhaps denying sex leads to a perfectly clear demonstration of just how different men and women can be. We also reflect on the differences between American's tendency to double-down on bad policy and the hopefulness Helen feels with the unfolding UK reckoning with gender self-ID. In this episode, we discuss the many ramifications of “you are exactly who you say you are.” Links: Helen Joyce's Website:  https://thehelenjoyce.com/ (Thehelenjoyce.com) Helen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HJoyceGender (Twitter.com/HJoyceGender)   Book Review by Jesse Singal  https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/books/review/trans-helen-joyce.html (Nytimes.com/2021/09/07/books/review/trans-helen-joyce.html)   Helen's interview with Andrew Doyle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAYR8GUJsqo (Youtube.com/watch?v=KAYR8GUJsqo)   Stella's Book Review in The Evening Standard:  https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/books/trans-when-ideology-meets-reality-helen-joyce-review-b944183.html (Standard.co.uk/culture/books/trans-when-ideology-meets-reality-helen-joyce-review-b944183.html)   Becoming Julia (Gender Transition Documentary):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNjV37vp5qk (YouTube.com/watch?v=kNjV37vp5qk)   The End of the World is Flat by Simon Edge:  https://www.eye-books.com/books/the-end-of-the-world-is-flat (Eye-books.com/books/the-end-of-the-world-is-flat)   Survivorship Bias:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias (En.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias)   Small Gods by Terry Pratchett:  https://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/books/small-gods/ (Terrypratchettbooks.com/books/small-gods)   Extended Notes: NY Times reviewed Helen's new book, Trans, and Sasha is even in the book! Helen didn't even think her book would get published because of its taboo topic. Are people fascinated with gender or with sex? Non-binary people are trying to redefine everybody and trying to change a “fundamental truth.” Of course, it gets people upset. What is the difference between transsexualism and gender self-ID? This book is not about trans people, it's a book about ideology. If being trans was an ideology, a belief system, that'd be okay. However, this movement is trying to change gender facts, and that's a harder thing to get behind. Right now it's very difficult to determine what stance is going to be on “the right side of history.” The trans movement is structured as “the next thing” that needs to be liberated from oppression. However, will it be? Why do men commit more transphobic acts than women? People say that when you call people trans, you're committing cultural imperialism. Helen expands on this. Children are suddenly baby adults. When did this happen? What happened to the mother/child bond? People think we can overcome natural human problems with technology. We'd like to think we're above it, but human instincts/nature will always take over. People like to think we're like lego pieces; easily replaceable body parts. If you are a male that wants to be female, the truth is, you can't be. What does that mean for you? It means you have to remake the world. Historically, men have been the dominant ruler. By becoming female, you're giving up power. In society, this is allowed. The same is not true if the genders were reversed. If you change your legal sex from... Support this podcast

The Women's Prize For Fiction was finally announced last week, and the winner was ... PIRANESI by Susanna Clarke! We wanted to put out an episode on the winner, but since we have already discussed this one at length, we are rereleasing that episode with a new intro and outro for you guys. It's a good one! Currently ReadingShanna:  "Small Gods" by Terry Pratchett Jen: "The Only Good Indians" by Stephen Graham Jones Here are a couple of the cult podcasts Shanna was talking about:Heaven's Gate Podcast:https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/heavens-gate/id1292069401Last Podcast on the Left | Jonestown :https://www.lastpodcastontheleft.com/episodes/2018/1/12/episode-300-jonestown-part-i-everyone-in-the-world-is-my-friendDon't forget about book club!  We are reading "The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old" by Hendrik Groen.  So pick it up and get ready to join in on the discussion over on our Instagram or send us an email at best_bookclub@outlook.com to let us know what you thought of the book!Find Us Atwww.bestbookclub.caInstagram

What idolatries exist in our tradition today, which we must say “no” to in order to embrace a more meaningful experience of the holy?

In this special edition we’ll be listening to poems from four regular contributors to the podcast and hearing a little about their approaches to writing poetry.  The presenter is Sally Walker-TaylorSound recordings in this podcast were made by the contributors and sound design, mixing and music were by Chris Gregory The poems in this podcast are  Binder’s Blue by Marie Claire WoodThe Afternoon Route by TAK ErzingerBellwether by Kevan MawaringLittle Red Morrigan by Sarra CullenoKintsugi in the Age of Social Media by Marie-Claire WoodChemical Bonds by TAK Erzinger Calving of the Berg by Kevan Manwaring Ab-Zohr’s Temple Sonnet (Offering To The Waters) by Sarra Culleno My Mother’s Dresser by Marie-Claire Wood Canto de mi Sangre (Song of My Blood) by TAK ErzingerChoices by Kevan Manwaring The Beach-Goers by Sarra Culleno Marie-Claire Wood is an actor, writer, model and presenter.  She has presented several episodes of Alternative Stories and appeared in our dramas Backdrop. Hare Spell and Out of The Darkness for which she was a co-writer.  She is an accomplished poetry reader and can be heard reading poems by Phoebe Stuckes and Maria-Taylor in series 3 of Alt Stories and as the lead voice in our audiobook version of the Invisible Borders anthology by Hypatia Publications.   Marie-Claire will be appearing in the new audio drama series Small Gods soon. Find out more about Marie-Claire and follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/MarieClaireWood TAK Erzinger is an American Swiss writer with Colombian background currently living in Switzerland.  Her collection “At The Foot of The Mountain” has recently been published by Floricanto Press and is available to buy via links in TAK’s twitter feed and from Amazon.  TAK was the writer of our recent audio drama “Stella’s Constellation” which was based on part of an upcoming novel.  She is also an accomplished artist and has contributed poems to our “Through The Trees” anthology.  Find out more about TAK and follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/ErzTak Dr Kevan Manwaring is a Senior Lecturer in creative writing at the Arts University in Bournemouth.  The author of many works of fiction and poetry he was the writer of our audio drama Black Box which was based on his award-winning novel of the same name.  A committed ecologist and writer in the field of climate fiction, Kevan also contributed to our special edition on that subject as well as to out discussion on folklore recently.   We are planning further projects with Kevan and you should follow him (and us) to find out more about them. Follow Kevan on twitter here https://twitter.com/bardicacademicAnd visit his website here https://thebardicacademic.wordpress.com/ Sarra Culleno may be best known to Alternative Stories listeners as one of the writing team behind our acclaimed audio drama Hare Spell.  That drama was partly inspired by Sarra’s original story The Hares of  Horsenden Hill which we also dramatised alongside Hare Spell. Sarra has contributed poetry to a number of editions of the podcast and we are incredibly proud and pleased to announce that her debut short fiction collection “Bonds” will be published later this year.  We’ll hear much more about that on Alternative Stories soon.  Follow Sarra on twitter here https://twitter.com/sarra1978 We hope you enjoy listening to poems from all four contributors.  

Patreon backer William brings you this episode all about divine patrons whose areas of responsibility are a little less cosmic and a little more mundane. If you're enjoying the show, why not consider supporting it on Patreon? You'll get access to lots of new bonus content, including my other podcast, Patron Deities! Thanks to Ray Otus for our thumbnail image. The intro music is a clip from "Solve the Damn Mystery" by Jesse Spillane, used under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

Naked mole rats can save humans, horses killed a lot of kings named Loius, and eagle killed a playwright with a turtle. Terry Pratchett's book, "Small Gods,"retells the story of the Eagle who killed Asechylus with a turtle. Other Podcasts mentioned in today's episode for kids who love science and animals: VarmintsJust the Zoo of UsWow in the WorldEarth RangersPlanthropologyStrange Animals Podcast Melissa can be found at MelissaMcCueMcGrath.com and her book, "Considerations for the City Dog" is available for purchase!Resources: Naked Mole Ratshttps://www.lung.org/clean-air/outdoors/who-is-at-risk/disparitieshttps://www.who.int/news/item/12-05-2016-air-pollution-levels-rising-in-many-of-the-world-s-poorest-citieshttps://www.livescience.com/naked-mole-rats-have-seizures-without-carbon-dioxide.html.https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/naked-mole-rats-bathe-their-bodies-carbon-dioxide-prevent-seizures-180974798/ Technology Networks Livescience Video on Naked Mole Rats and CO2William III of Orangehttps://www.londonremembers.com/subjects/king-william-iii-of-orangehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXvvbmpz5i0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx9N0mrTPtw https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_III_of_Englandhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glorious_Revolution https://www.londonremembers.com/subjects/king-william-iii-of-orangeAeschylushttps://www.goldencharter.co.uk/news-and-info/2017/six-strange-deaths-from-history/https://www.cracked.com/article_16133_the-5-historical-figures-who-died-weirdest-deaths.htmlhttps://allthatsinteresting.com/embarrassing-celebrity-deaths/5Intro Music is “Tiptoe out the back” by Dan Lebowicz and Interstitial music is by MK2 Support the show (https://paypal.me/muttstuff)

Truth Shall Make Ye Fret is a podcast in which your hosts, Joanna Hagan and Francine Carrel, read and recap every book from Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series in chronological order. This week, Part 3 of our recap of “Small Gods”. Tortoise! Eagle! God! Flailing! Find us on the internet:Twitter: @MakeYeFretPodInstagram: @TheTruthShallMakeYeFretFacebook: @TheTruthShallMakeYeFretEmail: thetruthshallmakeyefretpod@gmail.comWant to follow your hosts and their internet doings? Follow Joanna on twitter @joannahagan and follow Francine @francibambi Things we blathered on about:/r/old_recipesCalling time on The Watch? What went wrong (and right) with the latest Terry Pratchett adaptation - By Marc Burrows A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson - Goodreads/r/retrofuturismConfessions of Georgia Nicolson Series by Louise Rennison - GoodreadsThe Annotated Pratchett File - Small Gods - the bit about steam powerThe Elder Tree - Trees for LifeGet Your Tickets For Llamedos on the Clacks!Music: Chris Collins, indiemusicbox.com

The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret is a podcast in which your hosts, Joanna Hagan and Francine Carrel, read and recap every book from Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series in chronological order. This week, Part 2 of our recap of “Small Gods”. Themes! Theories! Things!Find us on the internet:Twitter: @MakeYeFretPodInstagram: @TheTruthShallMakeYeFretFacebook: @TheTruthShallMakeYeFretEmail: thetruthshallmakeyefretpod@gmail.comWant to follow your hosts and their internet doings? Follow Joanna on twitter @joannahagan and follow Francine @francibambi Join us at Llamedos on the Clacks!Things we blathered on about:Shows - Andrew O’Neill Bruces' Philosophers' Song - YouTubeThe Discworld Timeline - The L-Space WebAllegory of the cave - WikipediaGreek Philosophy - Ancient History EncyclopediaInfinite Regress - Wikipedia Golden Age of Athens - Facts and DetailsThe History of Chain Letters - SmithsonianEddie Izzard: St Paul’s Letters - Daily Motion Jeep problem - WikipediaMusic: Chris Collins, indiemusicbox.com

The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret is a podcast in which your hosts, Joanna Hagan and Francine Carrel, read and recap every book from Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series in chronological order. This week, Part 1 of our recap of “Small Gods”. Tortoise! Porpoise! Gods! Find us on the internet:Twitter: @MakeYeFretPodInstagram: @TheTruthShallMakeYeFretFacebook: @TheTruthShallMakeYeFretEmail: thetruthshallmakeyefretpod@gmail.comWant to follow your hosts and their internet doings? Follow Joanna on twitter @joannahagan and follow Francine @francibambi Things we blathered on about:Small Gods - Colin Smythe (Find reviews here)Words from the Master - L-SpaceList of Common Misconceptions - WikiStuds Terkel discusses "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat and Other Clinical Tales" with Oliver W. SacksNo One Expects the Spanish Inquisition! - YoutubeThe Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors - GoodreadsGnosticism - Wiki The Upside Down Tortoise Enigma - BBCMusic: Chris Collins, indiemusicbox.com

One day you’re a pillar of fire doing neat tricks to impress your followers, the next you’re a tortoise hurtling towards the ground at frightening speed. Listen to our podcast to find out what happens next. Featuring, comparative reading with Ursula K. Le Guin and Neil Gaiman, and theoretical theology.What will we think, and more importantly what will the cat think?Please check out friends of the pod Colne Valley Books at https://colnevalleybooks.co.uk/Content TagsDiscussion of deathSocial MediaYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFXi9LNQv8SBQt8ilgTZXtQInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/teachmycat2read/Twitter: https://twitter.com/teachmycat2read?s=09Tumblr: https://teachingmycattoread.tumblr.comWebsite: https://teachingmycattoread.wordpress.com/Email: teachingmycattoread@gmail.comSupport the show (https://ko-fi.com/teachingmycattoread)

Episode Notes Wowee, we actually talk about the book in this one! Happy 2021, and Happy end of Who watches the Watch season 1! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/whowatchesthewatch Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/rZzbbQp Other Shows: https://goodepisodeproductions.carrd.co/#shows Support Who Watches the Watch: A Discworld Podcast by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/who-watches-the-watch Find out more at https://who-watches-the-watch.pinecast.co

Kind of a blah start to the year, but the books are fab and we can tell you what NOT to buy your sweetie for Christmas!

Episode Notes Howdy, happy new year! This week we bring you joys including: ongoing bits, jokes about the economy, references to the pope, and 5 Facts about Beavers. It's Smol Gods, uwu! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/whowatchesthewatch Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/rZzbbQp Other Shows: https://goodepisodeproductions.carrd.co/#shows Support Who Watches the Watch: A Discworld Podcast by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/who-watches-the-watch Find out more at https://who-watches-the-watch.pinecast.co

Evan Saft joins us to discuss the most philosophical of the Terry Pratchett philosophy-oriented Discworld books, a story about faith, religion, and the gray space in between. Our guest, Evan Saft, can be found at @namesequipped or at their podcast Roll Out! ft. the Young VanguardCheck us out on twitter at @atuin_podFollow individual hosts at @urizenxvii, @The_Miannai, and @JustenwritesWe can also be found at www.compleatdiscography.pageOur art is by the indomitable Jess who can be found at @angryartist113Music is by Incompetech and used under a Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution license.Take a Chance by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4457-take-a-chanceFuzzball Parade by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5044-fuzzball-paradeLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode Notes Terry teaches us about religion this week, so we spend the whole time talking instead about things like the Watch trailer, new pope rules (just dropped) and our top Richard Dawkins tweets. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/whowatchesthewatch Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/rZzbbQp Other Shows: https://goodepisodeproductions.carrd.co/#shows Support Who Watches the Watch: A Discworld Podcast by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/who-watches-the-watch Find out more at https://who-watches-the-watch.pinecast.co

SEATTLE SPIRIT: Why the Left wants to steal and destroy what makes America great. //  TEXTS and WRAP // PERSONAL NOTE:   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What is the most definitive version of your character? Where does it pop up in your comic? What part of your work most defines your main character and why? What about TV, movie, comic, and story characters? For example, Pinky from my OWN comic, Pinky TA, is best characterised by her version in Chapter 6. Looks-wise the prime Pinky is the orignal from the first couple of pages of Chapter 1, but the version in Chapter 6 is best defined in her thinking and attitude due to her direct interactions with other characters. One of my fave characters in the media is Major Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell, her first debut was her manga and then the excelent 1990s movie… but personally I feel the definitive version of her is in the TV series Stand Alone Complex. That best defined her look, taking the best from the manga and the film, as well as defining her as a thinking and feeling character and the leader of her team within section 9. If someone were to ask me how to get into Ghost in the Shell I'd direct them right to that series. And THAT is what we're taking about in this Quackcast. :) Please share your own prime versions of your characters or ones from TV and other sources. The musical feature this week that Gunwallace has given us is theme to Small Gods. It's classical, melenholly and stately. The cello sings us in and the rhythm guides us. The music layers and builds upon itself, crafting a stately pile. Hints of chaos flash through as the theme continues… then all of a sudden it comes crashing down with a clash of cymbals! Topics and shownotes Links Tantz's newspost on cultural appropriation and Mulan - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2020/sep/25/cultural-significance/ Featured comic: How Blade Got His Name - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2020/oct/20/featured-comic-how-blade-got-his-name/ Featured Music: Small Gods - - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Small_Gods/, by Boy Phaff, rated T. Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ Pitface - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/ Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/ kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/ VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! - https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Join the Discord server to chat in real time with other DD comics people - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS

Taking a few minutes away from recording Page One In Review episodes, Charles Adrian talks about a particular kind of convalescent literature.   More information and a transcript of this episode is at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/.   “Unlike wizards, who like nothing better than a complicated hierarchy, witches don’t go in much for the structured approach to career progression. It’s up to each individual witch to take on a girl to hand the area over to when she dies. Witches are not by nature gregarious, at least with other witches, and they certainly don’t have leaders./Granny Weatherwax was the most highly-regarded of the leaders they didn’t have.” from Weird Sisters by Terry Pratchett.   You can read about Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Series on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld   The first Page One In Review episode, which is Page One 157, was recorded on the 18th of March, 2020.   Ripley’s Game by Patricia Highsmith is discussed in Page One 76 and Page One 175, Germany by Neil MacGregor is discussed in Page One 177, The Cloudspotter’s Guide by Gavin Pretor-Pinney is discussed in Page One 27 and Page One 163, and Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary by M. R. James is discussed in Page One 36 and Page One 165.   Also mentioned in this episode is London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd. Another book by Peter Ackroyd, Hawksmoor, is discussed in Page One 121.   And there are mentions of books by Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and P. D. James, The Culture Series by Iain M. Banks and the Xenogenesis trilogy by Octavia E. Butler (of which Imago is the third book).   Other books by Terry Pratchett mentioned in this episode are The Colour Of Magic, Equal Rites, Mort, Reaper Man and Weird Sisters.   Episode image is a detail from the cover of Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, published in 1993 by Corgi Books; cover illustration by Josh Kirby.   Episode recorded: 9th September, 2020.     Book listing:   Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

Today we're talking about the idea that entertainment aimed at kids can only be enjoyed by kids and the reason that adults often don't like kids things is because adults just don't “get” them. I contend that everyone, of all ages should be able to enjoy General or kid rated media and the true reason we don't is not because it “isn't meant for us”, it's because it's simply badly written - specifically, it's not the content that's annoying, it's the structure. The reason why some kid's shows are so boring and awful to an adult audience is mainly because the creators are lazy with their use of tropes, cliches, plotting etc, which they do because they're underestimating their audience. They don't think their audience is worth the time and trouble to write a decent story for so they reuse plots and take shortcuts. To some extent they can get away with it because children don't have the experience to spot a lot of that but it really doesn't take long till they do and then they quickly become bored. I contend that producing such media for kids is criminal because the media we consume as children informs us creatively and culturally as adults as we remember back on our early influences. By foisting trash on kids we're doing them a horrible disservice. How can we judge this stuff? Well, if a show aimed at kids can be enjoyed just as easily by an adult, then it's a success. Great examples are things like Bug's Bunny, Tom and Jerry, Dexter's Lab, Powerpuff Girls, Total Drama Island, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Cinderella, the Muppet Show, etc. These things are well written and have extra layers that can be enjoyed by different age groups simultaneously. This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Filaments a Kerbop Story - The mysterious, dark shadowy reaches of space, glowing tendrils of a pink gassy nebula, dimly seen, distant stars, shadowy pockmarked asteroids turning lazily… a happily little junty turn plucked out on strings winds its way through the gloom, spreading cheer and light! Topics and shownotes Links Featured comic: Small Gods - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2020/sep/15/featured-comic-small-gods/ Featured music: Filaments a Kerbop Story - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Filaments_a_KerBop_story/, by Caliway, rated E. Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Pitface - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/ Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/ VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! - https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS

Slightly Foxed Editors Gail and Hazel take us between the pages of the magazine, bookmarking articles along the way. Crack the spine of the quarterly to discover T. H. White taking flying lessons, smutty book titles, a passion for romantic ruins, John Berger shadowing a remarkable GP, a rebellious Mitford ‘rescued’ by a destroyer, a night to remember on the Titanic and much more besides. From correcting proofs to welcoming writers with a host of experiences, the story of putting together an issue of enthusiasms unfolds. And in this month’s reading from the archives, a hapless apprentice at the Hogarth Press recounts his disastrous stint with the Woolfs. Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 36 minutes; 33 seconds) Books Mentioned We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch (mailto:anna@foxedquarterly.com) with Anna in the Slightly Foxed office for more information. - Slightly Foxed Issue 66 (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/slightly-foxed-issue-66-published-1-jun-2020/) - Basil Street Blues (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/michael-holroyd-basil-street-blues/) , Michael Holroyd: Slightly Foxed Edition No. 29 (6:00) - England Have My Bones, T. H. White is out of print (6:47) - Inside of a Dog (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/alexandra-horowitz-inside-of-a-dog/) , Alexandra Horowitz (11:04) - The Letters of Charles and Mary Lamb is out of print (13:04) - No Voice from the Hall, John Harris is out of print (14:33) - The Family from One End Street (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/eve-garnett-the-family-from-one-end-street/) , Eve Garnett (15:15) - A Taste of Paris, Theodora FitzGibbon is out of print (15:33) - A Fortunate Man (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/john-berger-a-fortunate-man/) , John Berger (19:38) - Rosemary Sutcliff’s Roman novels (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/a-set-of-rosemary-sutcliffs-roman-novels/) : Slightly Foxed Cubs (21:15) - Hons and Rebels (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/jessica-mitford-hons-and-rebels/) , Jessica Mitford: Slightly Foxed Edition No. 52, published 1 September 2020 (21:53) - A Night to Remember (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/walter-lord-a-night-to-remember/) , Walter Lord (23:50) - A Boy at the Hogarth Press (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/hogarth-press-richard-kennedy-plain-foxed/) , Richard Kennedy: Plain Foxed Edition (24:55) - House of Glass (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/hadley-freeman-house-of-glass/) , Hadley Freeman (31:47) - All the Light We Cannot See (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/anthony-doerr-all-the-light-we-cannot-see/) , Anthony Doerr (34:00) Related Slightly Foxed Articles - Underwater Heaven (https://foxedquarterly.com/maragret-drabble-charles-kingsley-water-babies-literary-review/) , Margaret Drabble on Charles Kingsley, The Water-Babies in Issue 66 (5:45) - Harvey Learns the Ropes (https://foxedquarterly.com/rudyard-kipling-captains-courageous-literary-review/) , Andrew Joynes on Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous in Issue 56 (6:24) - On the Shoulders of Giants (https://foxedquarterly.com/andrew-joynes-t-h-white-england-have-my-bones-literary-review/) , Andrew Joynes on T. H. White, England Have My Bones in Issue 66 (6:30) - Sarah Crowden on smut: Something for the Weekend (https://foxedquarterly.com/sarah-crowden-smut-book-titles-literary-review/) in Issue 32 and All in the Mind? (https://foxedquarterly.com/sarah-crowden-smut-literary-review/) in Issue 44 (7:57) - Unsung Heroes (https://foxedquarterly.com/alastair-glegg-childrens-books-literary-review/) , Alastair Glegg on learning to read at prep school in Issue 60 (9:59) - Dog’s-eye View (https://foxedquarterly.com/alexandra-horowitz-inside-of-a-dog-literary-review/) , Rebecca Willis on Alexandra Horowitz, Inside of a Dog in Issue 65 (11:04) - In Praise of Pratchett (https://foxedquarterly.com/terry-pratchett-small-gods-literary-review/) , Amanda Theunissen on Terry Pratchett, Small Gods in Issue 33 (11:33) - Streets, Streets, Streets (https://foxedquarterly.com/felicity-james-the-letters-of-charles-and-mary-lamb-literary-review/) , Felicity James on the letters of Charles and Mary Lamb in Issue 65 (13:06) - These Fragments (https://foxedquarterly.com/jon-woolcott-john-harris-no-voice-from-the-hall-literary-review/) , Jon Woolcott on John Harris, No Voice from the Hall in Issue 66 (14:33) - Keeping up Appearances (https://foxedquarterly.com/kate-tyte-eve-garnett-the-family-from-one-end-street-literary-review/) , Kate Tyte on Eve Garnett, The Family from One End Street in Issue 66 (15:15) - Simply Delicious (https://foxedquarterly.com/clive-unger-hamilton-theodora-fitzgibbon-a-taste-of-paris-literary-review/) , Clive Unger-Hamilton on Theodora FitzGibbon, A Taste of Paris in Issue 66 (15:33) - An Early-Flowering Climber (https://foxedquarterly.com/ursula-buchan-reginald-farrer-garden-writing-literary-review/) , Ursula Buchan on the plant-hunting and garden writings of Reginald Farrer in Issue 66 (16:01) - A Well-tempered Gardener (https://foxedquarterly.com/christopher-lloyd-well-tempered-gardener/) , Michael Leapman on the garden writings of Christopher Lloyd in Issue 59 (17:00) - Putting up Useful Shelves (https://foxedquarterly.com/richard-kennedy-a-boy-at-the-hogarth-press-plain-foxed-editions/) , Sue Gee on Richard Kennedy, A Boy at the Hogarth Press in Issue 20 (24:55) Other Links - Slightly Foxed Editors’ Diary (https://foxedquarterly.com/category/from-the-slightly-foxed-editors/) (0:28) - Sign up to the free Slightly Foxed email newsletter here (http://eepurl.com/dmxw1T)   - Slightly Foxed articles by Christopher Rush (https://foxedquarterly.com/contributors/rush-christopher-slightly-foxed-literary-review-magazine/) (12:46) - Little Toller Books (https://www.littletoller.co.uk/) (14:18) Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach Reading music: Dark Hallway, written and performed by Kevin MacLeod courtesy of incompetech.filmmusic.io (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/) The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable (https://www.podcastable.co.uk/)

A delightful, (relatively) standalone novel in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, Small Gods tells the story of a god who finds himself in the body of a one-eyed tortoise, seeking the help of a true believer. It's a quest story, but also one that tells a story of power, humanism and philosophy - all while being laugh out loud funny. Dr Murallitharan Munisamy joins us for this month's book club, and stays on to chat in our Footnotes about other books that also tackle and highlight philosophical matters.

We consider two very different priests, with superficially similar agendas this time. We're talking about Omnia and Djelibeybi. The show contains spoilers for both Small Gods and Pyramids. The second episode of the Portal's Pratchett Passages is out. Next Friday is the Portal's first birthday, so I will be publishing a special birthday/anniversary episode in addition to next Friday's regular episode. As of next Friday I will declare the anagram contest officially defunct. The two of you who have entered so far will get that command-performance bonus episodes I promised the winner at the start of the season. If by chance you would still like to enter, you can find the details at  https://mindkindle.net/season-five-contest-get-home/ I want to hear your Covid-19 stories. Email them to me at  randy@mindkindle.net. You may find the show's Discord server, Friends of the Discworld Portal, at https://discord.gg/SXp5K9r.   The show's bonus episodes are now available for the ridiculously low price of $5 apiece. You can find the back catalog at https://mindkindle.net/back-catalog-of-bonus-episodes/ or on the Discord server. I will continue producing as much content as possible DC (During Coronavirus.) To help with this, please consider supporting the show by becoming a Patreon subscriber at https://www.patreon.com/user?u=21210045&fan_landing=trueOne-time contributions (via PayPal to randy@mindkindle.net) are also welcome and greatly appreciated.  Stay CalmBe KindHave HopeLove LotsRead a PratchettStay Well  As always, no cats, turtles, camels or other superior beings were harmed in the making of this episode. GNU Terry Pratchett

A passage from Small Gods, and another from Pyramids. Please consider stopping by the Portal's Patreon page and helping to keep these episodes coming. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=21210045&fan_landing=true I highly recommend that you check out the TED Connects: Community and Hope series. It will give you hope and make you feel better. I especially recommend that you watch the first show, as well as the one featuring Elizabeth Gilbert.https://www.ted.com/about/programs-initiatives/ted-connects-community-hopeBe KindHave HopeLove LotsStay WellAnd let me hear from you at randy@mindkindle.net. 

In this season, it's so easy to serve our emotions without recognizing it. We serve distraction, fear, uncertainty, and doubt in more ways than one. But what if, in this season, God wants to do something powerful through you? What if, when you set aside your small gods, you can catch a glimpse of Who He Is?

Liz and Manning talk about faith, fact, and the Indiana Pacers on their visit to the totalitarian theocracy of Omnia in the thirteenth Discworld book. Discord Twitter Facebook Tumblr YouTube

Notes:Fable states that she believes the idea for the exercise of reading a poem and then attempting to recreate the work from memory came from Mary Oliver. This is correct, and the recommendation came from her book The Poetry Handbook.Fable uses poetry from Anis Mojgani’s book, In the Pockets of Small Gods as inspiration for the style behind her second poem.The Verbivore references a sentence from Naomi Novik’s Uprooted where all the words worked together to support an overarching feeling of solitude and emotional isolation. Here is that quote:“The bed was small and narrow, canopied and curtained in with red velvet; a single chair stood before the fireplace, beautifully carved, alone; a single book on the small table beside it with a single cup of wine, half-drunk”.The Verbivore mentions Jasper Fforde as a favorite (and absurdist) author that she may want to try to emulate in a future Prose imitation excercise. If you have not yet had a chance to read this author and would like to, The Eyre Affair is a good representation of his unique style and borrows from Jane Eyre with entertaining results.Poems mentioned:Today by Mary OliverThe Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord TennysonThe Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos WilliamsBooks mentioned:A Poetry Handbook by Mary OliverLight Filters In: Poems by Caroline KaufmanA Thousand Mornings by Mary OliverUprooted by Naomi NovikIn the Pockets of Small Gods by Anis MojganiMusic from: https://filmmusic.io’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Both on the Disc and in Roundworld there is a seasonal song about a portly gentleman who wears red, comes to your house once a year to leave you presents (or perhaps something less pleasant), and is said to be omniscient when it comes to the behavior of children. This song begins with the words, “You Better Watch Out.”As we explore the magic of the (Hogswatch) holiday season, it is best to keep the above in mind. We are talking holiday season here, and Hogswatch is a mash-up of New Year's Eve, Christmas, and the Winter Solstice. It is also much, much more. During this and next week's show, I'll be trying to describe what that “more” is. I'm going to do this without giving any spoilers. We're going to get a cosmic view of ritual and belief. At least one of the above statements is probably true.This week, the contest quote is “It is said that someone at a party once asked the famous philosopher Ly Tin Wheedle, ‘Why are you here?' and the reply took three years.” This week though, I'm giving you three books to choose from. The answer is in one of the three books, so even if you don't know you have a one in three chance of getting it right. The choices are Thief of Time, Light Fantastic, and Small Gods. Good luck!Remember you can go to https://www.patreon.com/user?u=21210045 to find out all about subscribing to the Portal's Patreon campaign, as well as finding a few free-for-everyone posts by ye olde Medieval Gnome. And our Discord server is found at “Friends of the Discworld Portal” at discord.com. The Discord server is the way to stay current on all things Portal.Happy Hogswatch—however you celebrate. And remember, chelonium mobile (thank you Jen.) 

Chris and Stu chat to the wonderful gent and incredible artist Dizraeli who came to The Whiff Inn to chat about the things he does to stop himself going crazy!.https://www.dizraeli.com/Rowan Alexander Sawday (born 26 August 1982) better known as his stage name Dizraeli, is a rapper, poet and musician from Bristol, UK. Although rooted strongly in hip-hop traditions, his work draws inspiration from old folk music, recognising the common ground shared by songs of the people from any point in history.Dizraeli has performed at the Glastonbury Festival, the Latitude Festival, the Eden Project, and the Royal Festival Hall. He has won both the Farrago UK Slam Championships and the BBC Radio 4 Poetry Slam, and written several hip-hop plays including Rebel Cell, with Baba Brinkman. Dizraeli & The Small Gods were shortlisted for the 2014 Songlines Music Awards for their album Moving in the Dark. In 2015 they collaborated on a new video for the title track, with the BAFTA-nominated director Jamie Magnus Stone. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Kieron Gillen visits the island to talk about his time as a games journalist, his teenage love of fantasy gamebooks and the 12th Discworld novel, Small Gods. Visit Desert Island Discworld at http://desertislanddiscworld.com, on Twitter at @DIDiscworld, or contact us at desertislanddiscworld@gmail.com.

There's good eating on one of those. (with special guest Matt Rowbotham)

A pretty drunk episode of Hip Hop #ShedSessions Podcast again at Nash's HQ with Elah. Guests Irie and Marvin. Quiz, Freestyles, History Facts and Music by Busta Rhymes, People Without Shoes, Ramson Badbonez, Planky & Leaf Dog, Parov Stelar, Dizraeli and The Small Gods, Gramatik and more. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hip-hop-shedsessions-podcast/message

We continue our exploration of belief and metaphor, the life force, and narrative causality as the drivers of the Discworld's physics. Don't worry though, that's not as dreadful as it might sound.  In which we hear of Om, former small god desperate not to return to that status (and currently manifested in the form of a one-eyed tortoise) and of the relationship between belief and a god's power. We also encounter Vorbis, a most unpleasant deacon of the Church of Om, and a man with who the protagonist of Small Gods, the novice Brutha (oh, brutha!) will have much to do over the course of the book.This week's trivia question: “A famous Ankh-Morpork tavern has a different name in The Color Of Magic than in later books. Give either name.” The first three correct listeners to answer correctly will get their names into the drawing for the Season Two grand prize, which my producer assures me will be quite grand indeed. As always, randy@mindkindle.net is the way to reach me. 

The Tipsy Nerds add a worthy title that did not make it onto NPR's list of the 100 best. This week they discuss Good Omens, a book first released in 1990 and co-written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and which Amazon Originals has made into a mini-series for TV. This week, the Nerds are drinking a cocktail with ingredients recommended by listeners. The drink is called "Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Great Beast that is called Dragon, Prince of This World, Father of Lies, Spawn of Satan, and Lord of Darkness." Despite the name, it's a lovely drink based on tea and gin, two very British ingredients to go with this very British book.Support the show (http://www.Patreon.com/tipsynerdsbookclub)

One of my favourite authors is Sir Terry Pratchett, who uses absurdity and humour to illustrate some of the most profound truths of human nature. In a book entitled ‘Small Gods,’ he explores the role of belief in the rise and fall of religion....

We have a thoughtful discussion diving in to priestlock and religious themes in Sherlock fanfic.  Shownotes:  That’s My Genre – Priestlock (0:09:05)↑ Consulting Fans: Alexxphoenix42, Cookie, SinceWhen, Science, Producer/Editor: Alexx We have a thoughtful discussion diving in to priestlock and religious themes in Sherlock fanfic. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough Keeping the Faith with Edward Norton, Jenna Elfman, and Ben Stiller Gallant Darling, Pray for Me by  SinceWhenDoYouCallMe_John Children of the Small Gods by alexxphoenix42 Blasphemy by Random_Nexus (Locked to AO3) Podfic of Blasphemy by aranel_parmadil Forgive me Father by IamJohnLocked4life Sacred Bond by ampersand_ch Hearts at Home series by yalublyutebya Ad Meliora (Toward Better Things) by lotherington All we Ought to Ask by achray This segment was first released on May 1, 2019 in Episode 92: Saint or Sinner. Music Credit Unless otherwise indicated, music is available for purchase through online retailers such as amazon.com and iTunes. Priestlock RT – Hozier, Hozier (Bonus Track Version): Take Me to Church Production Credits Segment Producer/Editor: AlexxPhoenix42 Banner Art: Fox Estacado Distribution funded by fans! Contact Forum: http://www.three-patch.com/forums Email: bored@three-patch.com Website: https://www.three-patch.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/threepatchpodcast LJ: http://threepatch.livejournal.com Skype: threepatch.podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/threepatch Tumblr: http://threepatchpodcast.tumblr.com/ How to Cite APA By Three Patch Productions. (2019, May 1). That's My Genre: PriestlockThree Patch Podcast Episode 92: Saint or Sinner? Podcast segment retrieved from https://www.three-patch.com/casefiles//92-TMG-priestlock

In this episode of Tipsy Nerds Book Club, the tipsy nerds discuss Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, book 13 in the Disc World series published in 1992. The Tipsy Nerds chat about the wonderful satire and philosophy in the book while sipping a delicious melon-flavored cocktail inspired by the melon patches that character Brutha tends—and the melon rinds that the small god Om likes to eat. The Tipsy Nerds find another towel connection and begin to wonder if it's a British inside joke!Support the show (http://www.Patreon.com/tipsynerdsbookclub)

Episode twice-the-number-which-must-not-be-spoken (i.e. sixteen) takes us inside the Church of Om for a story of faith, religion and truth as we're joined by the Reverend Doctor Avril Hannah-Jones to discuss the 1992 Discworld novel, Small Gods! Brutha is a lowly novice in the Omnian Citadel, dismissed by his superiors as a simpleton whose only notable talent is an extraordinary memory. He's the last person expecting to hear the Voice of the Great God Om, though Brutha has his doubts: Om is supposed to manifest as a mighty golden bull or pillar of flame, not a one-eyed tortoise. Om's not happy either: this isn't how he planned his return from the celestial realm, and no-one but Brutha can hear him. Before god or novice can figure out what's happening, Brutha is recruited by Deacon Vorbis - head of the feared Quisition - for a mission to nearby Ephebe: a nation of heretics, democracy and philosophers, one of whom has dared to pen a treatise describing the world as a flat disc which travels through space on the back of a turtle... One of the few truly standalone Discworld novels, Small Gods focuses on how humans of the Disc create gods, rather than the other way round - for good and for ill. Drawing on the best and worst traditions of monotheism, Galileo's defiance in the face of Catholic censure, and big philosophical questions, Small Gods still manages to be full of Pratchett's trademark humour and humanism, and a long-time favourite for many fans. Do you rate it amongst the best Discworld novels? Would you recommend someone start with it? We'd love to hear from you! Use the hashtag #Pratchat16 on social media to join the conversation. It's been a big year already for the Pratchat crew: we've launched our subscription service - a huge thank you to all our supporters! - and Liz and Ben will be appearing at both Speculate 2019 in mid-March, and Nullus Anxietas 7, the Australian Discworld Convention, in mid-April! Plus Ben will be performing a new show, You Chose Poorly, at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival from April 1-7. Next month it's back to the Ramtops as the witches return home in Lords and Ladies with writer, critic and editor Nadia Bailey! ! We're recording that episode hot on the heels of this one's release, so get your questions in via social media before February 16th using the hashtag #Pratchat17. Show Notes and Errata: The Reverend Doctor Avril Hannah-Jones is a Minister in the Uniting Church and an all-round wonderful human being. Always a geek, Avril rose to fame in 2011 via Adam Hills' ABC comedy show In Gordon Street Tonight with the foundation of the Church of the Latter Day Geek, which for some reason got more attention than any of the work she has done advocating for LGBTIAQ rights or asylum seekers. Avril also appeared in the Seven/Religion episode of Splendid Chaps (mostly in part two, but you may also want to listen to part one), and on Doctor Who and the Episodes of Death. You can read about her adventures at her blog, Rev Doc Geek, follow her on Twitter at @DocAvvers, or head along to a Sunday service at Williamstown Uniting Church.The film Highlander (dir. Russell Mulcahy, 1986) stars Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod, the titular highlander, who discovers he is one of the immortals - seemingly ordinary humans who cannot die unless decapitated, and who are drawn to fight each other, stealing the magical power of other immortals whom they defeat until only one remains to collect "the Prize". As well as being very 1980s, it has a killer soundtrack by Queen, songs from which can be found on their 1986 album It's a Kind of Magic.We're pretty sure the cake Liz is thinking of is Breudher, a delicious buttery Sri Lankan cake with a Dutch influence. Teen Power Inc. is a series of thirty books written by Australian author Emily Rodda (and others), first published in the 1990s. They feature six teenaged protagonists who create the titular agency to make some extra cash,

We talk about small gods, witchcraft, what to do with and around small gods, and maybe actually start getting on an update schedule.

Your Guide to Outdoor Writing, Deer Hunting & Cooking: Podcast Episode 24 This week, we're talking with outdoor writer Brandon Rapp from Pennsylvania about deer hunting, wild game cooking, and outdoor writing & blogging. Brandon is a contributing author for North American Deer Hunter Magazine and lives in Lancaster County, PA. Show Notes: Outdoor writer Brandon Rapp is a contributing writer for North American Deer Hunter Magazine, a blogger for Kinsey's Outdoors, and an active conservationist and member of PA Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. Brandon joins us this week to discuss cooking wild game, outdoor writing, how to get started blogging, his favorite authors, CWD, conservation, and deer hunting. We talk about early season preparations and scouting for whitetail deer and how that is similar and different between Pennsylvania and the NY Adirondacks. Read Brandon's articles in North American Deer Hunting Magazine by clicking on the links below: http://northamericandeerhuntermagazine.com/Magazines/spring_2018/ http://northamericandeerhuntermagazine.com/Magazines/fall_2017/mobile/index.html http://northamericandeerhuntermagazine.com/Magazines/summer_2018/mobile/index.html Brandon & Todd's Recommended Reading List: Ron Rohrbaugh - A Traditional Bowhunter's Path - click HERE to purchase on Amazon G. Fred Asbell - Stalking & Still Hunting - A Ground Hunter's Bible - click HERE to purchase Steven Rinella - The Scavenger's Guide to Haute Cuisine - click HERE to purchase Jim Harrison - In Search of Small Gods - click HERE to purchase Sean Prentiss & Joe Wilkins - Environmental & Nature Writing - A Writers Guide & Anthology click HERE to purchase Additional Resources To learn more about Powderhook's Digital Mentor Program & Phone App, click HERE LINKS: To go to the East to West Hunting Podcast Home Page, click HERE Listen to Podcast Episode 22 - How to Get Started with Adirondack Deer Hunting HERE  

Episode Notes A pair of young ninjas-in-training get into a bit of trouble while cleaning their school temple.---- Personal Notes ----Sign up for my mailing list to get weekly updates and never miss a story again!---- About Tall Tale TV ----My name is Chris Herron, and I narrate audiobooks.In 2015, poor control of my diabetes left me legally blind for the better part of a year. The doctors predicted an 80% chance I would never see again, but I changed the way I was living and through sheer willpower beat the odds.During this time I couldn't read or write. Two things that I had been turning to for comfort since I was a small child. With the sheer amount of stress I was under, this was devastating. My wife took me by the arm, lead me into the local library, and read out titles of audiobooks to me. I chose the audiobook versions of books I had loved such as the Disc World series, Name of the Wind, Harry Potter and more. They brought my favorite stories to life in ways I never thought possible, and helped me through the darkest time of my life.Once my vision recovered, I maintained a love for audiobooks. I decided I would turn my focus from being a writer to becoming a narrator. I devised Tall Tale TV as a way to help out all the amazing authors in the writing communities I had come to love before my ordeal.I created Tall Tale TV to help aspiring authors by providing them with a promotional audiobook video. A way to showcase their skills with the written word. They say the strongest form of advertisement is word of mouth, so I provide a video to a platform of readers to help get people talking. Help them spread the word.Click the share button and let the world know about this author.---- Story Submission ----Got a short story you'd like to submit? Submission guidelines can be found at TallTaleTV.com---- legal ----All images used in this video are either original or Royalty and Attribution free. Most stock images used are provided by http://www.pixabay.com . Image attribution will be declared only when required by the copyright owner. All stories on Tall Tale TV have been submitted in accordance with the terms of service provided on http://www.talltaletv.com or obtained with permission by the author. Common Affiliates are: Amazon, Smashwords

Southwest Church Meets Weekly on Sundays @ 9:30 AM & 11:15 AM Website - www.southwestchurch.org Facebook - @SouthwestChurchOhio Twitter - @SWC_Ohio Instagram - southwestchurchurchohioSupport the show (http://www.southwestchurch.org)

Radio Morpork is a podcast that discusses Terry Pratchett's Discworld one book at a time. Supernatural foes are trying to take over the kingdom and Granny Weatherwax is starting to doubt herself! Sound familiar? Colm and Steve take in the last hurrah of the Lancre Witches, discussing its similarities and differences to the mighty Lords and Ladies, and how it follows on from Small Gods with the decidedly, deliberately un-mighty Mightily Oats.

Today on "State of Wonder," we talk finalists for the Oregon Book Awards in fiction, poetry, graphic literature, and more."Strange the Dreamer" with Laini Taylor — 1:42Laini Taylor possesses an epic imagination. In her best-selling “Daughter of Smoke and Bone” series, she dreamed up a world where a girl who has a monster as a foster parent gets caught up in an epic war with not-so-benevolent angels. And now she is starting a new series with “Strange the Dreamer,” the story of a day-dreaming librarian who journeys to a fabled land living in the shadow of a war it has yet to recover from. The book received Michael L. Printz Honors for Young Adult lit and is a finalist for the YA Oregon Book Award."American War" with Omar El Akkad — 11:46Journalist Omar El Akkad has spent his career covering the Arab Spring in Egypt, military trials at Guantanamo Bay, refugee camps in Afghanistan and the Black Lives Matter movement in Ferguson, MO. Now he’s poured all of his experiences into his new novel “American War,” a story about a second American civil war over fought over fossil fuels and set in a Louisiana that is underwater from rising sea levels."Field Theories" with Samiya Bashir — 19:36In her newest book, Samiya Bashir has named her poems after scientific principles like “Plancks Constant” and “Synchronous Rotation.” Their verse plumbs the space where theory collides with real life: from the back seat of a taxi cab to jazz clubs, early morning cigarettes, gun violence, and tall tales. Bashir is a creative writing professor at Reed College and a consummate artist who can’t be contained by the page. "Field Theories” is a finalist for the Stafford/Hall Award for Poetry."Fetch" With Nicole Georges — 30:45What do we owe the pets in our lives when they don’t make our lives easy? And what can we gain from taking care of these animal companions despite their foibles? These are some of the questions illustrator and comic book artist Nicole Georges asked when writing her graphic memoir “Fetch: How a Bad Dog Brought Me Home.” The book focuses on Georges’ symbiotic relationship with a spirited, neurotic and sometimes fearfully aggressive dog named Beija, and it's a contender for the Oregon Book Award for Graphic Literature. “In the Pocket of Small Gods” with Anis Mojgani — 38:34The poet Anis Mojgani isn’t up for one of Literary Arts' Oregon Book Awards — at least not this year — but he is a Literary Arts favorite. He regularly emcees Verselandia, the annual high school poetry slam organized by Literary Arts, and he is himself a two-time National Poetry Slam Champion who tours the country reading and performing.Mojgani’s work is known for its optimism and joy, but his newest book,“In the Pockets of Small Gods,” is all about vulnerability, particularly as it relates to grief.

In this episode, Andy Weir recommends Small Gods by Terry Pratchett and Louise Erdrich recommends The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen. This episode of Recommended is sponsored by The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater. To enter the giveaway of all twelve of the books sponsoring this season of Recommended, go to FierceReadsRecommended.com.

Mark Steadman, Jon Hickman and Jon Bounds continue their mission to discuss everything in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy canon , in alphabetical order. Brantisvogan A many-faceted place where banking and bureaucracy happens. Also yes, Mark is aware he pronounced amoeboids with a G. That's how they pronounce it on Brantisvogan. The Frood: The Authorised and Very Official History of Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Brockian Ultra Cricket Jon Bounds presents his rules for what can be considered a sport, and what, quite frankly, is not. The Duckworth Lewis Method - Wikipedia Brontitall In the second radio series, we learn about a planet blighted by the Shoe Event Horizon: Erdington. Broopkidren 13 This planet has an alternative to the human phrase “the other man's grass is always greener”, so we examine axioms. Bulldozer In this chapter, Mark defends Nizlopi and, specifically, the JCB Song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGkseGFQLh4 Café Lou in Gretchen Town, New Betel A dive in which Hotblack Desiato performed, and a chance for the Jons to share some memories of weird places they've been on-stage. California A state with a city that features yellow air, for some reason. Book recommendation This week we're recommending Small Gods, a Discworld novel by Sir Terry Pratchett. Pick it up in audiobook form for free by taking out a free 30 day trial with Audible. Just head to audibletrial.com/leopard to get started. Get in touch Share your thoughts on California or who might write our new hypothetical Netflix series, via feedback@btlpodcast.com. Follow @ iamsteadman, @ bounder and @ jonhickman on Twitter. Check out the charity single for the Birmingham bin men, co-written by the Jons. Also check out Mark and Mr Hickman's side-project, Thread.

Mark Steadman, Jon Hickman and Jon Bounds continue their mission to discuss everything in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy canon , in alphabetical order. Brantisvogan A many-faceted place where banking and bureaucracy happens. Also yes, Mark is aware he pronounced amoeboids with a G. That’s how they pronounce it on Brantisvogan. The Frood: The Authorised and Very Official History of Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Brockian Ultra Cricket Jon Bounds presents his rules for what can be considered a sport, and what, quite frankly, is not. The Duckworth Lewis Method - Wikipedia Brontitall In the second radio series, we learn about a planet blighted by the Shoe Event Horizon: Erdington. Broopkidren 13 This planet has an alternative to the human phrase "the other man's grass is always greener", so we examine axioms. Bulldozer In this chapter, Mark defends Nizlopi and, specifically, the JCB Song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGkseGFQLh4 Café Lou in Gretchen Town, New Betel A dive in which Hotblack Desiato performed, and a chance for the Jons to share some memories of weird places they've been on-stage. California A state with a city that features yellow air, for some reason. Book recommendation This week we're recommending Small Gods, a Discworld novel by Sir Terry Pratchett. Pick it up in audiobook form for free by taking out a free 30 day trial with Audible. Just head to audibletrial.com/leopard to get started. Get in touch Share your thoughts on California or who might write our new hypothetical Netflix series, via feedback@btlpodcast.com. Follow @iamsteadman, @bounder and @jonhickman on Twitter. Check out the charity single for the Birmingham bin men, co-written by the Jons. Also check out Mark and Mr Hickman's side-project, Thread.

Radio Morpork is a podcast that discusses Terry Pratchett's Discworld one book at a time. Colm & Steve journey deep into the desert (of the mind) and re-emerge as literary prophets, rambling about theology and tortoises. Their discussion takes in the opposition between flexibility and certainty, the character development (and occasional strange turns) of Brutha and Vorbis, and a veritable holy war about how to rank the book.

Click here to download!In this episode, Lydia and Kevin reflect on the novel Small Gods, by the late Sir Terry Pratchett.Topics discussed include:Religious certainty and delusionThe ways belief works (or doesn't work)How can we know anything about God?Passing OnThe following books and articles were used in preparing this episode. Please check them out for more information and discussion on the subjects we dove into today!The novel itself, Small Gods, by Terry PratchettThe Folklore of Discworld: Legends, Myths, and Customs from the Discworld with Helpful Hints from Planet Earth, by Terry Pratchett and Jaqueline SimpsonThe Terry Pratchett website“Alzheimer's leads atheist Terry Pratchett to appreciate God,” by Robert Watts“Imaginary Worlds, Real Stories,” by Terry Pratchett, in Folklore 111:2Tune in next time to hear Lydia and Kevin discuss the nature of authority!

A new season begins with Ed, Del and Ross taking a look at the Folio Society's rather lovely edition of Terry Pratchett's Small Gods. The interview is Nik Vincent-Abnett, and we talk about her book, Savant. All recordings are issued under official license from Fab Radio International. The Bookworm is a Truly Outrageous Production.

Wherein we respond to the interview in the previous episode.Click here to download!In this episode, Lydia and Kevin reflect, react, and respond to our interview in the last episode with Dr. Jeana Jorgensen, Ph.D., and the topics we discussed with her.Dr. Jorgensen's work can be found online in the following places:The Foxy Folklorist at PatheosHer personal webpageHer sex education webpageand on MySexProfessor.comTopics discussed include:Good versus bad PlatonismMonasticism and its influence on Orthodox theologyThe context of patristic literatureThe significance of symbols and imagesPassing OnThe following books and articles were used in preparing this episode. Please check them out for more information and discussion on the subjects we dove into today!Theological Disambiguations: An Unconventional Handbook of Orthodox Theology, by Fr. Vladan Perišić“Pushing Back: ‘Greek Thinking' vs. ‘Jewish Thinking' is a Dualistic Error,” by Brad Jersak“Gender as Icon and Vocation,” Orthodox Institute 2012The Burden of the Flesh: Fasting and Sexuality in Early Christianity, by Teresa M. Shaw“The Monk and the Married Christian: Some Comparisons in early Monastic Sources,” by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, Eastern Churches Review, 6:1 (1974), 72-83Tune in next time to hear Lydia and Kevin review the late Sir Terry Pratchett's fantasy novel Small Gods.

Pastor Brian continues our verse-by-verse series through the great book of Genesis. Jacob breaks free of Laban in our passage today, revealing the superiority of Yahweh over Laban's small gods.

Pastor Brian continues our verse-by-verse series through the great book of Genesis. Jacob breaks free of Laban in our passage today, revealing the superiority of Yahweh over Laban's small gods.

We had a chance to briefly chat to Bristol based poet, MC, guitarist and all round top bloke Dizraeli. He discussed inspirational teachers, gave great advice on writing and the creative process, and described a very healthy meal for us! His last gigs ever with Dizraeli and the Small Gods are happening on Friday 25th September at the Islington Assembly Hall in London and then Saturday 26th September at the Marble Factory in Bristol. More info on www.dizraeli.com Track Listing: Track Album Year Maria Engurland (City Shanties)2009 Pure and simple Moving in the Dark 2013 Good God Engurland (City Shanties)2009 Never Mind Moving in the Dark 2013

Lecture by Swami B.V. Tripurari on October 25th, 2014 - Sri Govardhana Puja Festival 2014, Talk 2: The Small Gods And God With Capital G

Lecture by Swami B.V. Tripurari on October 25th, 2014 - Sri Govardhana Puja Festival 2014, Talk 2: The Small Gods And God With Capital G

The Northern Twosome this month engage with Terry Pratchett's mediation on faith and belief 'Small Gods'. On the way they: * Give a pocket history of the reformation * Consider the nature of philosophy * Discuss the institutional benefits to a society of organised religion * Decry the judgement nature and dangers of social media as discussed by Mr Gentleman B Rhymer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cn1IGR1fLU * Look at Ominia as a swipe at the Abrahamic religion * Praise Mike Duncan's revolutions http://www.revolutionspodcast.com/  and the insight it gives into religion and the English Civil War  *Mention Bernard Righton http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxFqv1QDI3Q and the prevalence of Christianity in Britain *The Dissecting Worlds Bookshelf covers Cricket and Movies!    Feedback below or https://www.facebook.com/DissectingWorlds or @dissectingwrlds or dissectingworlds AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk.