Dining Table Discworld

For the weekend crowd, our Carpe Jugulum episode is here
It's witches vs vampires, in a book that's a low-key sequel to Small Gods, and features the final Weatherwax ending. Including genre-savvy vampires and the varied roles of witches.
diningtablediscworld.podbean.com/e/dining-tab...

diningtablediscworld.podbean.com/e/dining-tab...

We do discuss towards the end of the episode how it works as an ending. Weren't looking ahead to Tiffany much then, but certainly something to consider when we get to Wee Free Men.

We have certainly not underappreciated Fifth Elephant, it may well be our first 2-parter (pending editing). You're right, some of the lower key bits about community in Carpe Jugulum will follow nicely into Tiffany Aching books, though we'd read them less, and it'll be a bit before we get to it.

Witches vs vampires in Lancre, and Granny is having trouble fitting 4 into 3. Omnian priest Mightily Oates is in 2 minds about most things, but does the decent thing. There's vampiric fascism & an examination of who makes necessary but unpopular choices in a community
www.podbean.com/ew/pb-mb6w4-...

Our upcoming Carpe Jugulum episode is the longest one we have released so far. Now that we are recording The Fifth Elephant, it's clear Carpe Jugulum isn't holding that record for long.
There just a lot going on in these books, even apart from them being a kind of Uberwald duology.

This was no doubt relevant when it was written in the 90s, it felt relevant when I read it in the 00s. We commented that it feels relevant now in the 20s.

Now feeling fairly vindicated that Smurfs are mentioned in our upcoming Carpe Jugulum episode. I think it's cos they're mentioned as wearing caps in their first appearance.

Yeah, luckily there wasn't as much Rolf Harris stuff as there could have been, given his popularity at the time. He just doesn't come to mind anymore unless there's a specific prompt. Some people deserve to be forgotten except as a warning

Oh yeah, good point, hadn't even thought of that as it was common to say by the time I went to uni.
Do remember meeting an American on study tour who very self-consciously said "uni" instead of "college" because he'd been studying in the UK for a bit too.

Our Last Continent episode references:
-Dune
-Hilda
-Priscilla Queen of the Desert (of course), plus briefly Mad Max & Crocodile Dundee
-We mention that the book doesn't reference Neighbours or Muriel's Wedding
-How "no worries" is just a normal phrase in the UK nowadays

Hadn't realised we were, must have been on a list we joined.
Thanks for the heads up, unfollowed and blocked.

The Last Continent
Rincewind travels across a dry continent, aided & pursued by a shape-shifting kangaroo. Ponder Stibbons despairs of the older wizards on a mysterious island. We discuss our limited knowledge of Australia & how we prefer the wizards more diluted.
www.podbean.com/ew/pb-7myzk-...

Rincewind travels across a dry continent, aided & pursued by a shape-shifting kangaroo. Ponder Stibbons despairs of the older wizards when they're stuck on a mysterious island. We discuss our limited knowledge of Australia & how we prefer the wizards more diluted.
www.podbean.com/ew/pb-7myzk-...

Seems plausible, though the former pair have a more familial relationship and the latter have had to work through some things to get where they are.

Is there space in here for Albert and Death? Which I think of mostly because we kept saying Alfred instead of Albert when first talking about Mort.

Our Terry Pratchett quote of this particular day, because I really can't be having with all this

#gnuterrypratchett #discworld #grannyweatherwax #booksky

(Credit to the artist: talayse.livejournal.com/20920.html)

@effjayem.bsky.social I think this was the observation and post we talked about a bit at FantasyCon. Though I *think* it was also quoted in that article about Mrs Palm.

Screenshot: serialephemera Thematically speaking, the most important thing Terry Pratchett taught me was the concept of militant decency. The idea that you can look at the world and its flaws and its injustices and its cruelties and get deeply, intensely angry, and that you can turn that into energy for doing the right thing and making the world a better place. He taught me that the anger itself is not the part! should be fighting. Nobody in my life ever said that before.

This is a good lesson, no matter how you come to learn it

Podcast update:
-Hogfather TV special episode - out now
www.podbean.com/ew/pb-vst6y-...
-The Last Continent - being edited, due soon
-Carpe Jugulum - read, to be recorded

The best time to have read Discworld is twenty years ago, the second best time is right now

Cover of The Art of Discworld book (published 2004) by Paul Kidby and Terry Pratchett. Using the Mona Lisa as a template there's a picture of a young woman with shoulder-length, brown hair, wearing an off-the-shoulder top that shows a hint of cleavage. She's got a big, broad grin and a winsome look in her brown eyes, one eyebrow slightly raised. On the table in front of her is a tankard, distantly behind her a mountainous landscape with a bridge over a gorge.

A framed picture using the Mona Lisa as a template, there's a picture of a thin, young woman with shoulder-length, brown hair, wearing an off-the-shoulder top. She's got a big, broad grin and a winsome look in her brown eyes, one eyebrow slightly quirked. Behind her is a balustrade, beyond which a young, blonde woman can just about be seen, looking on disapprovingly. In the distance a mountainous landscape with a bridge over a gorge. Below the picture is a note from the artist which is unreadable (my phone camera isn't great) but does date this version of the picture to 2020.

Interesting looking at both versions of the Mona Ogg (detail in alt text). My pic doesn't show the notes, but I do remember Kidby stated in the exhibition that he made her "more comely" in the new version. Having had the book for 20 years (won it at uni) the new one just looked kinda off to me.

To Liz's question about Leonard of Quirm & Gytha Ogg, Paul Kidby confirms that they did have a youthful dalliance in Lancre and has drawn them together. The info is in the notes for some of the pictures in the Designing the Discworld exhibition, will search out pics later, I only took some.

Having seen the Elderly Couple Attacked by Werewolf pic in person at the Paul Kidby exhibit, I agree with Liz that they don't seem that perturbed and aren't especially elderly, from my recollection.

Mr Harris of the Blue Cat Club is mentioned in a footnote in Jingo. There was controversy about a man joining the Guild of Seamstresses, but Mrs Palm approved saying (something like) "unnatural acts are perfectly natural". It's v much an aside, poss related to Nobby being Beti or some Guild stuff.

Discworld heraldry: 2026 - Year of the Curious Squid. (A heraldic shield stands behind a curious-looking squid!)

Seen in Another Place...

A young, white woman with long, dark brown hair wears a tall, white crown and a long, light blue dress with a snowflake-shaped hem. She is on tiptoe, grabbing the lapels of a young man and kissing him. The young man is in shades of white, grey and pale blue, his hair is pure white and spiky, his coat is long and patterned, he has calf-length, blue boots and frosty cuffs and cravat; he looks very surprised to be kissed and has his arms spread wide. The couple are surrounded by clouds, with lightning coming out of one, and transparent spikes like railings poking up out of others.

Discworld Calendar - December 2008
Tiffany Thaws by Sandy Nightingale
The final Discworld Calendar is from Wintersmith, and has a bit of unexpected romance.
Happy New Year!

I assume he's very close to the viewer, and Kid-Nobby would be very small, but yeah he looms somewhat. I think it's going for that kinda action hero type look, the hair feels a bit 80s.

Manning the Barricades by Jon Sullivan A man bare-armed man with armor, cloak, eye patch and sword, carries a chair by its legs, while a child in a red coat and top hat tries to pick his pocket. Beyond them is a sign that says Treacle Mine Road and a row of tudor-style houses with tiled roofs. In the background are 3 men with roundhead-style helmets. The sky above looks stormy and annoyed.

Discworld Calendar - December 2006
Manning the Barricades by Jon Sullivan
Perhaps a picture meant to be set in May is an odd choice for December, but the angry sky lends a blue cast to everything which feels wintery (or maybe I just feel wintery). I am questioning Vimes' bare arms in any case. Brrr

Sir Terry Pratchett is best understood as one of the most interesting, deeply ethical practical (I would say Pragmatist but I cede to actual experts) philosophers of the late 20th Century who just happened to work in deconstructed fantasy literature as his medium.

‘Hogfather,’ Terry Pratchett REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

I post this quote for Christmas every year, but usually without any context. Here's a little context.