Pratchat - a Terry Pratchett and Discworld book club

It’s another little episode about a delay – but this time, only until later this month! To tide you over, here’s a little bit cut from the full Discworld Noir chat, in which guest Leena van Deventer helps us recommend some other games.

Some brief episode notes:

The fan-made German Discworld adventure game is Ein Scheibenwelt-Adventure by Raphael Kirschke, published in 2003.

Leena suggested looking in indie game directories, including the Interactive Fiction Archive, itch.io, and Steam. (Ben has a page on itch.io where you can find some of his tabletop RPGs.)

Ben struggled to remember the name of Esoteric Ebb, an isometric roleplaying game from Swedish designer Christoffer Bodegard.

Ben also recommended The Excavation of Hobb’s Barrow, The Drifter, Tangle Tower, the Golden Idol games, and the Frog Detective trilogy.

Leena recommended Inkle’s Overboard.

Our next episode after Discworld Noir, in August, will discuss Marc Burrows’ 2020 biography, The Magic of Terry Pratchett. Send us questions using the hashtag #Pratchat95 on social media, or via email to chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

Want to help us get to the end of our six(ish) year mission and read every Pratchett book – and more? You can support us with a tip, or a subscription for as little as $2 a month, and that’s cuttin’ our own throats! See our Support Us page for details.

Storyteller and librarian Roslyn Quin joins Liz and Ben to discover there’s nowt as queer as folklore, as we discuss Terry Pratchett’s 2008 (and 2009 and 2014) collaboration with folklorist Jacqueline Simpson, The Folklore of Discworld.

Wherever there are folk, you’ll find folklore: the stories, traditions, superstitions and more that tell people who they are, and make up their world. The curious thing is, the folklore of a flat world swimming through space on the back of a giant turtle turns out to have a considerable amount in common with that of a round world orbiting a star…

The Folklore of Discworld is part a greatest hits collection of Terry’s imagination, and part a summary of the Roundworld lore that inspired or at least resembles its Discworld counterparts. Like The Science of Discworld books it’s a collaboration with an expert in the field – in this case, Dr Jacqueline Simpson of the Folklore Society. Unlike those books, however, there’s no neat division into fiction and non-fiction chapters, with the whole thing written in one voice. It both assumes a fair amount of interest in the Discworld, but also repeats lots of lore about creatures, people and places that fans will probably know, so it’s the discussion and the comparison to Roundworld – and especially British – folklore that makes it shine.

What are your favourite bits of folklore here, whether from the Disc or from Roundworld? Do you feel like this has Pratchett’s voice, or is it mostly Simpson’s? Was there enough detail, or were you yearning for more? Which of the versions did you read? And what folklore would you love to see included if it was ever revised again? Join our online conversation via email or by incanting the magic phrase #Pratchat93 on the social media platform of your choice (assuming it’s one where we are).

Guest Roslyn Quin (she/they) is a storyteller, librarian, puppeteer, actor, clown and artist who began her performance career with the 2012 solo storytelling show The Red Bird and Death. Since then she’s performed as part of festivals, cabaret and burlesque nights, on podcasts (including the hit Australian audio comedy Love and Luck), and wherever two or more are gathered together and ready to hear a tale. These days you’ll mostly find Ros telling stories to children of all ages at Yarra Plenty Regional Libraries. As mentioned in the episode, she’ll also be telling stories at 6, 7 and 8 PM on Friday 3 July for Melbourne’s free Firelight Festival at Docklands Park! You can also find out more about Ros at roslynquin.com.

You can find episode notes and errata on our web site.

Next month it’s back to the pixels one more time, as we try and solve three missing persons cases at once in Perfect Entertainment’s third and final Discworld adventure game, Discworld Noir! Send us your questions via email (chat@pratchatpodcast.com), use the hashtag #Pratchat94 on social media, or just turn up at our office acting mysterious. That always works.

Want to help us get to the end of our six(ish) year mission and read every Pratchett book – and more? You can support us with a tip, or a subscription for as little as $2 a month, and that’s cuttin’ our own throats! See our Support Us page for details.

Another brief announcement from Ben that our Folklore of Discworld episode has been delayed for a third month! We’re very sorry about this. Hopefully we’ll be back on track soon; watch this space.

Ben mentioned the following active Discworld podcasts you could try out:

DiscWorld Order, who most recently discsused The Fifth Elephant

Dining Table Discworld, whose most recent book was also The Fifth Elephant, but also did an episode about the Wyrd Sisters animated series

I’ve Never Read Discworld, who most recently discussed Monstrous Regiment

Disc Coverers, currently closest to the end, with an episode about Making Money in February

The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret, whose most recent two-part discussion was about Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast

The Guild of Recappers & Podcasters wiki tries to catalogue all of these and more.

Want to help us get to the end of our six(ish) year mission and read every Pratchett book – and more? You can support us with a tip, or a subscription for as little as $2 a month, and that’s cuttin’ our own throats! See our Support Us page for details.

Liz and Ben were once again fortunate to be guests of the Australian Discworld Convention – this time in Sydney! In this live recording from day two of Nullus Anxietas X: A Celebration of Witches, we discuss Rhianna Pratchett and Gabrielle Kent’s 2023 book, Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being a Witch. (We previously interviewed Rhianna and Gabrielle about it in Pratchat74, “Hogswitch”.)

Tiffany Aching has been a witch for some years now, and has been writing down what she’s learned. When she gets the opportunity to publish her work, and hopefully inspire a new generation of witches, she sends the manuscript to her mentors to get their thoughts via notes in the margins. And a couple of uninvited guests give their opinions, too – on everything from proper headwear, to the relationships between witches, and the supernatural threats one is likely to face…

Which new bits were your favourites from the book? What did you think Petunia’s “pig trick” was when you first read about it in A Hat Full of Sky? Do you have a favourite witch, and why is it Nanny Ogg? (We won’t tell Granny.) Are you a Dolly Sisters fan, or a Dimwell diehard? (The reason this is important will become apparent when you listen.) What do you wish we’d do on the podcast before we finish up with all the novels – or perhaps do next, when Pratchat is over? We’d love to know! Use the hashtag #PratchatNAX on social media to join the conversation, or email us at chat@pratchatpodcast.com (we do read them all, though we’ve been a bit slow to reply of late).

Nullus Anxietas, the Australian Discworld Convention, has been running for nearly twenty years. The next convention will be in 2028 in Melbourne! You can find out more at the official convention website, ausdwcon.org. You can also follow Nullus Anxietas on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.

You can find the full show notes and errata for this episode on our web site.

Huge thanks to everyone who attended the convention; our wonderful live audience, especially Danny, Helen and Jeremy; and especially offer enormous thanks to the “big jobs” – the team of hard-working volunteers and committee members who make Nullus Anxietas happen, especially Joanne, Steve, Danny and Kurt – but there were so many others. We hope to see you all in Melbourne for the next one.

Want to help us get to the end of our six(ish) year mission and read every Pratchett book – and more? You can support us with a tip, or a subscription for as little as $2 a month, and that’s cuttin’ our own throats! See our Support Us page for details.

A brief announcement from Ben that our Folklore of Discworld episode has been delayed another month – but we’ll get you our live episode from the Australian Discworld Convention ASAP, later this month!

Our interview with Rhianna Pratchett and Gabrielle Kent about Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being a Witch can be found in #Pratchat74, “Hogswitch”, from January 2024.

While we’re a bit quiet, why not check out some of the other Pratchett podcasts catalogued in The Guild of Recappers & Podcasters? (Most of the big podcasts should be up to date – let us know if we’ve missed anything, or contact Ben to ask about joining the project!)

Want to help us get to the end of our six(ish) year mission and read every Pratchett book – and more? You can support us with a tip, or a subscription for as little as $2 a month, and that’s cuttin’ our own throats! See our Support Us page for details.