Discworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki - User contributions [en]

Talk:Book:Where's My Cow?

2016-09-18T04:49:34Z

AnnieBudgie: Just something...

==Rorshach Blot?==

If you look closely at the black-on-white markings on the cow's rump in the Melvyn Grant illustration, is it just me, or is that a slightly distorted map of the main continental masses of the Discworld? And the cow's tail, and what lies beneath, seems quite coincidentally to map where you'd expect to find Ankh-Morpork... [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv|talk]]) 02:13, 17 December 2012 (PST)

I seem to remember that this book was read by Rob Anybody I think it was in one of the Tiffany Aching books (A Hat full of Sky or Wintersmith I think) but it's not mentioned on this page. Should this be mentioned in this page, or is it already on one of the other pages? --[[User:AnnieBudgie|AnnieBudgie]] ([[User talk:AnnieBudgie|talk]]) 04:49, 18 September 2016 (UTC)

Talk:Book:Jingo

2016-09-05T11:46:56Z

AnnieBudgie: Wanted to ask something...

A disappearing island resolves 30 years of conflict. It's not just Jingo its real.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100324/ap_on_sc/as_india_disappearing_island (unsigned comment by 129.119.237.249, 14:25, 24 March 2010‎)

Okay, so I was reading Jingo today and I read the bit with Carrot's Wolf Pack. I saw that their saying-thing they said at the end of the meeting was clearly a scouting reference, so I went to see if that was mentioned and I discovered that there is no page for the Wolf Pack. Should I create it, or don't we need that page? --[[User:AnnieBudgie|AnnieBudgie]] ([[User talk:AnnieBudgie|talk]]) 11:46, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

57

2016-08-11T10:18:37Z

AnnieBudgie: links

As with the number 23 in Robert Anton Wilson's ''{{wp|Illuminatus!|Illuminatus!}}'' novels, there appears to be a certain metaphysical or perhaps even occult dimension to the repeated occurence of this number in the works of Terry Pratchett.

This list will no doubt be added to over the coming months, but one that immediately springs to mind in the absence of the books is that in {{TLH}}, this contributor recollects that precisely '''fifty-seven''' pedigree varieties of [[swamp dragon]] are illustrated in a double-page spread.

References claimed by other contibutors and elsewhere on the Wiki have been brought together as follows:-

*In {{ER}}, when [[Esk]] is stranded in the trading settlement of [[Zemphis]] and looking for a way to get to [[Ankh-Morpork]], she accosts a harrassed-looking trader who is counting bales of tobacco. He gets as far as "Fiftysevenfiftysevenfiftysevenwell?" before he is forced to acknowledge her presence;

* In {{WS}}, Queen Grimnir the Impaler (1514-1553, 1553-15'''57''', 15'''57'''-1562, 1562-1567 and 1568-1573) was a vampire queen of [[Lancre]];

* In {{G!G!}}, [[Carrot Ironfoundersson]] quotes "the Public Order Act of 14'''57'''";

* In {{MP}}, ''Golde Diggers of 14'''57''''', and its sequel ''The Golde Rushe'', a reference to ''{{wp|The_Gold_Rush|The Gold Rush}}'';

* In {{MP}}, the [[Librarian]] believes that of all of the things that he has seen, the sight of a 50-foot tall [[Ginger]] being pursued by eight wizards on an antique wheelchair is "undoubtedly the '''57'''th strangest";

* In {{FOC}}, Carrot is showing [[Angua von Überwald]] the wonders of the [[Dwarf Bread Museum]]. He reverentially handles the fabled battle-bread of [[B'hrian Bloodaxe]] and tells her:- "It's the actual bread he personally wielded at the Battle of Koom Valley, killing '''fifty-seven''' trolls"

* Also in {{FOC}}, when we first see [[Wee Mad Arthur]], there is mentioned to be '''fifty-seven''' rats lined up against the wall.

* In {{H}}, something is said to weigh "EQUALS 17,8'''57''' TONS";

* In [[Ankh-Morpork]], there is a location called [[Five-and-Seven Yard|'''Five-and-Seven''' Yard]].

* The author [[Felicity Beedle]] has written '''57''' books.

* In {{SN}}, [[Crundells]]' hermit, [[Stump]], has been "''following the noble art of herming here for nigh on '''fifty-seven''' years''".

* It has been calculated that based on an interpretation of {{DM}} and extrapolation from scales and background research, the journey time by coach between Ankh-Morpork and Genua would be 57 days.

==Annotation==

In its advertising campaigns and even on its product labels, the Heinz Corporation made this number its very own by proudly proclaiming "Fifty-Seven Varieties!" (Except in the universe of the ''Watchmen'' graphic novel, where observant readers noted a ''58'' varieties caption on the tin of beans that Rorshach consumes in the first chapter.

Fifty-seven varieties of ''what'', exactly, are never precisely defined, (just as Cadbury's famous "glass-and-a-half of milk in every bar" is never scientifically defined according to size of the glass), but for whole generations of consumers, Heinz is synonymous with the number 57.

Among car enthusiasts, 1957 is considered a banner year for both American (last year for the two seat Ford Thunderbird, '57 Chevy, Forward-Look Chryslers) and European (last year for the Oval Window VW, first year for the Morris Minor 1000) cars.

1957 marks the beginning of the Space Race with the USSR's launch of Sputnik on 4 October, 1957.

1957 is also the last year that Aston Villa won the FA Cup. May only matter to one contributor, but matter it does.

It was in 1957 that Terry Pratchett and his family moved (briefly) from Beaconsfield to Somerset at the age of nine.

[[Category: Discworld concepts]]

57

2016-08-11T10:14:57Z

AnnieBudgie: Just been reading...

As with the number 23 in Robert Anton Wilson's ''{{wp|Illuminatus!|Illuminatus!}}'' novels, there appears to be a certain metaphysical or perhaps even occult dimension to the repeated occurence of this number in the works of Terry Pratchett.

This list will no doubt be added to over the coming months, but one that immediately springs to mind in the absence of the books is that in {{TLH}}, this contributor recollects that precisely '''fifty-seven''' pedigree varieties of [[swamp dragon]] are illustrated in a double-page spread.

References claimed by other contibutors and elsewhere on the Wiki have been brought together as follows:-

*In {{ER}}, when [[Esk]] is stranded in the trading settlement of [[Zemphis]] and looking for a way to get to [[Ankh-Morpork]], she accosts a harrassed-looking trader who is counting bales of tobacco. He gets as far as "Fiftysevenfiftysevenfiftysevenwell?" before he is forced to acknowledge her presence;

* In {{WS}}, Queen Grimnir the Impaler (1514-1553, 1553-15'''57''', 15'''57'''-1562, 1562-1567 and 1568-1573) was a vampire queen of [[Lancre]];

* In {{G!G!}}, [[Carrot Ironfoundersson]] quotes "the Public Order Act of 14'''57'''";

* In {{MP}}, ''Golde Diggers of 14'''57''''', and its sequel ''The Golde Rushe'', a reference to ''{{wp|The_Gold_Rush|The Gold Rush}}'';

* In {{MP}}, the [[Librarian]] believes that of all of the things that he has seen, the sight of a 50-foot tall [[Ginger]] being pursued by eight wizards on an antique wheelchair is "undoubtedly the '''57'''th strangest";

* In {{FOC}}, Carrot is showing [[Angua von Überwald]] the wonders of the [[Dwarf Bread Museum]]. He reverentially handles the fabled battle-bread of [[B'hrian Bloodaxe]] and tells her:- "It's the actual bread he personally wielded at the Battle of Koom Valley, killing '''fifty-seven''' trolls"

* Also in {{FOC}}, when we first see Wee Mad Arthur, there is mentioned to be '''fifty-seven''' rats lined up against the wall.

* In {{H}}, something is said to weigh "EQUALS 17,8'''57''' TONS";

* In [[Ankh-Morpork]], there is a location called [[Five-and-Seven Yard|'''Five-and-Seven''' Yard]].

* The author [[Felicity Beedle]] has written '''57''' books.

* In {{SN}}, [[Crundells]]' hermit, [[Stump]], has been "''following the noble art of herming here for nigh on '''fifty-seven''' years''".

* It has been calculated that based on an interpretation of {{DM}} and extrapolation from scales and background research, the journey time by coach between Ankh-Morpork and Genua would be 57 days.

==Annotation==

In its advertising campaigns and even on its product labels, the Heinz Corporation made this number its very own by proudly proclaiming "Fifty-Seven Varieties!" (Except in the universe of the ''Watchmen'' graphic novel, where observant readers noted a ''58'' varieties caption on the tin of beans that Rorshach consumes in the first chapter.

Fifty-seven varieties of ''what'', exactly, are never precisely defined, (just as Cadbury's famous "glass-and-a-half of milk in every bar" is never scientifically defined according to size of the glass), but for whole generations of consumers, Heinz is synonymous with the number 57.

Among car enthusiasts, 1957 is considered a banner year for both American (last year for the two seat Ford Thunderbird, '57 Chevy, Forward-Look Chryslers) and European (last year for the Oval Window VW, first year for the Morris Minor 1000) cars.

1957 marks the beginning of the Space Race with the USSR's launch of Sputnik on 4 October, 1957.

1957 is also the last year that Aston Villa won the FA Cup. May only matter to one contributor, but matter it does.

It was in 1957 that Terry Pratchett and his family moved (briefly) from Beaconsfield to Somerset at the age of nine.

[[Category: Discworld concepts]]

Glorious Revolution

2016-08-04T23:58:11Z

AnnieBudgie: Just adding something...

''Truth, Justice, Freedom, Reasonably Priced Love, and a Hard-Boiled Egg!''

{| style="float: left; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; clear:right;"
| [[Image:La.jpg]]
|}

The People's Revolution of the Glorious Twenty-Fifth of May ended the increasingly tough reign of [[Lord Winder]]. Tension had been rising, and while the nobility arranged a quiet succession by [[Mad Lord Snapcase|Lord Snapcase]] in the background, the people on the streets started a revolution and attacked Watch Houses all over the city.

A few streets around Treacle Mine Road were barricaded at first. Soon more people started barricading streets, barricades were moved forward and merged together, covering at least a quarter of the city - including the food industry. The resulting area was called The [[People's Republic of Treacle Mine Road]]. The watchmen of the Treacle Mine Road Watch House led the Republic together with some enthusiastic angry young men, among them the then-living [[Reg Shoe]].

Although the Republic originally was invaded succesfully, the change of history recorded in ''[[Book:Night Watch|Night Watch]]'' resulted in [[Sam Vimes]] under the name of [[John Keel]] saving the Republic until Lord Snapcase had become Patrician. But because history finds a way, those who died in the original revolution still died, in an attack planned by [[Carcer]] prompted by Snapcase's concerns about what "Keel" could get up to if left alone for a month after serving as such a prominent leader after less than a week in the city.

Each year, on the 25th of May, a group of survivors of the uprising gathers at Small Gods' Cemetery to honor the casualties with lilacs and, affectionately, one hard-boiled egg (from Madam Roberta Meserole). The seven killed were mostly Watchmen from Treacle Mine Road : [[John Keel]], [[Cecil Clapman]], [[Horace Nancyball]], [[Billy Wiglet]], [[Dai Dickins]], [[Ned Coates]], and, temporarily, [[Reg Shoe]] - he will lie in his grave for a time during that day, and then leave.

The 25th of May is also memorialized, among those who survive, by [[Lilac|the wearing of lilac]] on that date. Persons known to wear it include Sam Vimes, [[Fred Colon]], [[Nobby Nobbs]], [[Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler]], and, improbably, [[Havelock Vetinari]] (he, at the time a young assassin, has kept his and his aristocratic aunt [[Lady Roberta Meserole]]'s, not-insignificant involvement in the affair entirely secret).

The date is not publicly known as it was one of those revolutions where everybody likes to pretend in the aftermath that it never happened, with many new Watchmen uncertain of its relevance to the point that one new recruit tried wearing lilac only to be sharply criticised by Fred Colon. Vetinari once speculated about erecting a statue in memory of the soldiers, but Vimes rejected the idea, stating that the dead men would not want to be immortalised and inspire others to be heroes after they were betrayed for going beyond the call of duty, requesting that the men be simply left in peace.

==Note==
Following Terry's announcement about Alzheimer, [http://www.matchitforpratchett.org/2008/03/wear-the-lilac.html calls have been made to wear lilac] on the 25th of May as a tribute, and to raise money for Alzheimer research.

In the Earth history the name "Glorious Revolution" is usually ascribed to the overthrow of King James II of England by the Dutch invasion force under William of Orange in 1688.

It is noted that in Earth history the 25th Of May was national holiday in former Socialist Yugoslavia as it was birthday of Yugoslav communist leader and WWII resistance leader Josip Broz- Tito. Holiday was also known as "Day of youth". It is also a day in 1944 when German paratroopers tried and failed to capture him.

Also, the 25th of May of 1810 is recorded in Argentina as the start of the Revolution against Spain, the "Revolución de Mayo" ("May Revolution", in english), centered around Buenos Aires, but pretty much igniting the revolution fires across Latin America.

In WWII in Yugoslavia many partisan-held territories were called "Republics" or "Peoples Republics"

May 25th is also national Geek Pride Day and Towel Day, a day in honour of Douglas Adams. This has led to some fans having to choose between the two, until someone came up with the lilac towel.

[[Category:Discworld Historical Events]]
[[de:Glorreiche Revolution]]

Probability Math

2016-08-02T11:11:31Z

AnnieBudgie: Just thought I'd add this...

'''Probability Math''' also known as ''P-Math'' is the science of foretelling the future studied by P-Mathematicians in {{TDSOTS}}. Probability Math comes from the idea that we live in a truly infinite totality, that time and space have no limits, that there are worlds without end, an area so massive that our universe is inconceivably small compared to it.

Some of the best known P-Mathematicians are of the [[Sabalos family]].

Interestingly enough, over here we too have a section of maths concerning probability. However, it is the kind that has questions along the lines of ''if I had three red, two blue, and five green marbles in a bag, and I pulled one out randomly without looking, what is the probability that the sun will swing off course and crash into the Earth with the stupidity of this question?'' It too is used to foretell the future, but in a very minor way. The which-horse-will-win kind of way, to be exact.

{{Stub}}
[[Category:The Dark Side of the Sun]]

Short Story:The Secret Book of the Dead

2016-07-30T10:32:37Z

AnnieBudgie: Created page with "In this family, it's a fact of life that pets die. They get the flu, or rabbies, or get laminated to the road. But most of all, really, they die of the family. First publishe..."

In this family, it's a fact of life that pets die. They get the flu, or rabbies, or get laminated to the road. But most of all, really, they die of the family.

First published in the anthology ''Now We Are Sick'' in 1991, this poem was supposedly written in the same style as a 13 year old. And yet it's not that dissimilar to Terry Pratchett's normal style...hmm...
Republished in {{BS}}.

[[Category:Short Stories]]

Discworld & Pratchett Wiki:Mended Drum

2016-07-30T09:57:34Z

AnnieBudgie:

'''This is a location to discuss non-content matters (what do we do with content disputes, vandalism, etc, what do we want to do with this wiki, and so on).'''

<div class="usermessage">This is the page for current discussions.

Archives
*[[Discworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki:Mended Drum/Archive 1]]
*[[Discworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki:Mended Drum/Archive 2]]
*[[Discworld & Pratchett Wiki:Mended Drum/Archive 3]]
*[[Discworld & Pratchett Wiki:Mended Drum/Archive 4]]
*[[Discworld & Pratchett Wiki:Mended Drum/Archive 5]]
</div>

==The Long Earth==
I've finally gotten around to listening/reading [[Book:The Long Earth|The Long Earth]] series. Loving the concept! --[[User:Osiris|Osiris]] ([[User talk:Osiris|talk]]) 17:07, 23 January 2015 (UTC)
: This series was amazing! --[[User:Osiris|Osiris]] ([[User talk:Osiris|talk]]) 04:34, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
I enjoyed looking for Terry Pratchett's footprints throughout the text.

==Taking leave ==
I'll be off buying cigars and incommunicado next week. Somebody might pull an extra shift on watch. Hasta luego! --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 01:19, 2 February 2015 (UTC)
:will do what I can.... how long are you visiting [[Sumtri]] for? [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv|talk]]) 19:10, 2 February 2015 (UTC)
Hola! I'm back. Stuff seems to have been done. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 04:13, 10 February 2015 (UTC)

==Namespaces==
The new page [[Book:The Rince Cycle]] points out a need for one or more namespaces for works that aren't Books or Short Stories, unless I'm missing something: this one's a playscript but there are other things. Discuss. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 01:59, 11 February 2015 (UTC) 
(''copied from Talk:Book:The Rince Cycle''): 
:Well, we've done LP records, CD's, TV adaptations, computer games..... and the playscripts are listed in the biography and all appear to be redlinked, as if the option is there to create articles.... I'd say why not? [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv|talk]]) 18:55, 12 February 2015 (UTC)

Why indeed, but the question is how to define a namespace (or what to call it). It could be Peripherals: as the category, but shorter would be better. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 22:54, 12 February 2015 (UTC)

: '''Misc''' --[[User:Thnidu|Thnidu]] ([[User talk:Thnidu|talk]]) 17:57, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

==Mirabile Dictu==
Chaffinch's [[Ancient and Classical Mythology]] is now the fourth most popular page here. Huh? --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 01:29, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

:I'm wondering if people looking for ''Bulfinch's Ancient and Classical'' are getting their ornithology wrong on a Google search; they can vaguely remember the guy they're looking for is ''some'' sort of finch but not which exact kind. I hang around on Yahoo Answers now and again just for fun and to do some corrective trolling. it's amazing how many disinterested schoolchildren put up please for people to do their homework for them when they can't be bothered to do their own research, and to be honest, a lot of them are not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier. I have a lovely picture in my head of a fairly dense American schoolchild being told to look up Greek mythology, steered to look for Mr Bulfinch, who gets it wrong and ends up on our wiki instead. Thus ending up writing about Blind Io, Petunia, Offler, Epidity, Bissonomy and the rest of the Dunmanifestin gang. Then confidently handing it in.... [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv|talk]]) 11:21, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

The [[Special:Popularpages|statistics]] continue to boggle my mind. The main page approaches 3.5 million views, up a million since the New Year. The popularity ranking of views for individual pages may be obvious or wildly unlikely. At the end of 2014 I put up a short history of the wiki to fill in the "About" page. Who looks at the "About" page? They may reach 10,000 by the end of February! [[Lies-To-Children]] is more popular than [[Ankh-Morpork]]! [[Ptraci]] and [[Pseudopolis]] don't make the top 500. [[Ankh]] languishes at 2630th...Wot's it all abaht, then? --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 02:46, 19 February 2015 (UTC)

I also cannot help but notice that new pages I started, to fill in gaps about obscure or very minor characters and situations/ places, went from 0 views to well over 600 within hours of posting. In my experience a brand-new page tends to get 8-20 hits in the first few days, I guess from regulars looking at it out of curiosity. But 644? Something odd is happening. [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv|talk]]) 22:57, 7 March 2015 (UTC)

:Think bots! Remember just because spammers now find it difficult to post here it doesn't mean we don't still get scanned. --[[User:Osiris|Osiris]] ([[User talk:Osiris|talk]]) 13:08, 10 March 2015 (UTC)

==Possible Outage==
I've asked the cabal to make a DNS change. This should be transparent to you guys but there was a small unplanned outage last time we made a change. This change will let me cut my hosting costs by about a third so that's a good thing. --[[User:Osiris|Osiris]] ([[User talk:Osiris|talk]]) 04:34, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
: Never noticed. Glad to hear the financial burden is reduced. I'm still hoping to get together with my son-in-law the interweb marketing wallah to discuss revenue possibilities. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 04:32, 7 March 2015 (UTC)
::They apparently haven't made the change yet. But once they do this won't be a big deal to afford. I'd over engineered to begin with but now it's only costing about $25/month. --[[User:Osiris|Osiris]] ([[User talk:Osiris|talk]]) 13:10, 10 March 2015 (UTC)

=='''Thursday, March 12, 2015'''==
What are we supposed to write today? A good journalist (like Terry Pratchett) would suck it up and write a thousand words of inspiring prose and biographical notes. I'm not that good; I'm too depressed. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 20:22, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
:It was just so sudden...--[[User:Zdm|Zdm]] ([[User talk:Zdm|talk]]) 20:40, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
::I have, on occasion, thought about how terrible it would be to wake up one day to the news that Sir Pterry had died, but actually waking up to the news was shocking and a very different thing. I don't know what there is to say or write here beyond what has already been said by countless others... [[User:TC01|TC01]] ([[User talk:TC01|talk]])

[https://www.reddit.com/r/discworld/comments/2yt9j6/gnu_terry_pratchett/cpcvz46 A man is not dead while his name is still spoken.] [[User:TC01|TC01]] ([[User talk:TC01|talk]]) 02:18, 13 March 2015 (UTC)
:That is brilliant. Thanks for help making me smile on such a sad day.--[[User:Zdm|Zdm]] ([[User talk:Zdm|talk]]) 03:19, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

Copied from my FB page.
On the death of Sir Terry Pratchett, first thoughts. Having spent a lot of time trying to turn other people on to Terry and his writings and having gifted some of the most intelligent people I know copies of the books with notes attached saying "read this, you'll like it.".

Still feeling very sad as if a lot of colour has drained out of the world. Like many others, thinking he would "diminish" over a period of quite a few years. Sadly, the "diminishing" process appeared evident in his last few published books, as if he was, perhaps, creating a broad outline, filling in such detail as he could, but others (Rob Williams? Rhianna?) were completing the books. The Discworld story in "Science of Discworld 4" read as if other people had written it - the authentic Pratchett voice was missing, there were continuity problems with other books, and it read like second-division fanfic. That is, it told a good story, but the Pratchett voice and tone either weren't there or only intruded in ocassional flashes of the old brilliance.

"Unseen Academicals" was... well, Terry was in there. But it read as if at least one other writer was in there too. As well as all the continuity glitches concerning well-established characters and callbacks to previous books. Not that it wasn't good, but it could have been better.

I guess the next stage is going to be like it was with Tolkein - they'll milk unpublished writing and fragments for all they're worth (although Terry did once say he wanted all the files and hard drives wiped when he died, so nobody could come along and use him as a PhD thesis in literature). right down to, what did "Private Eye" once "publish", "The JRR Tolkein Laundry Lists" , or equivalent of.... a terribly sad morning.

And Jeremy Clarkson and Jeffrey Archer are both still alive... (unsigned comment by [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 13 Mar 2015)

'''''“No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away”''''' ({{RM}}) …(unsigned comment by [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 14 Mar 2015)
:So, some thinkers and writers born more than two thousand years ago are not reslly "dead", let alone Chaucer, Shakespeare or Swift. This compels us to continue the wiki for a few hundred years, at least, in whatever form advancing technology dictates. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 01:11, 15 March 2015 (UTC)
::Absolutely! We're just lucky enough to have been around during his lifetime, to have enjoyed the books as they came out and be the ones to help keep the ball rolling, rather than having to look back in time to enjoy his works. I remember thinking, when first hearing that phrase, of the Ancient Egyptian philosophy which follows much the same lines (that memory grants immortality) - and still, ''well'' over 2000 years on we know so much of them, and they lacked the modern printing press, globalisation and internet we have now.
:: Besides, theres no reason why there might not be many further additions to make in future, especially if his daughter continues the series or if Narrativia manage to make more films or the rumored TV series [Mind drifts to Douglas Adams whose film of Hitchhikers Guide only managed to be progressed upon after his unfortunate passing].--[[User:GallifreyanWitch|Verity]] ([[User talk:GallifreyanWitch|talk]]) 17:24, 16 March 2015 (UTC)

just re-read [[Book:A Slip of the Keyboard]]. There's a bit where Terry relates a near-Death-experience he had on the operating table during what might have been a routine op to insert arterial stents. Apparently the surgeons had "fun and games" when a major artery started to spurt. This wasn't helped by Terry sitting up on the operating table and addressing an invisible presence, who apparently was {{death|offering him sandwiches}}. Did this make its way into the ham sandwich scene in {{W}}. and were sandwiches offered on a recent occasion? [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv|talk]]) 23:03, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

A book I haven't gotten to myself and not well described in the wiki. I had no tendency to hallucinations when I got my stents (even the big one) and {{Death|death didn't seem interested}}.--[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 01:22, 18 March 2015 (UTC)

== ==
I do miss the User Merge and Delete. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 15:25, 3 April 2015 (UTC)

==Aaand, we're back!==
These short naps are great. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 23:05, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

==Milestone==
Somewhere in the next couple of months will be this wiki's tenth anniversary. The history being lost and uncertain anyway, in those days, it may be hard to pin down a date. I must ask [[User:Death|Death]] if he can recall or look up a day. Any other recollections? --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 00:18, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

==clacks-overhead:GNU Terry Pratchett==
:I don't log on here very often, but ... Today I was starting to create a page about the website [http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/ GNU Terry Pratchett], when I realized it should probably go in another namespace, such as "Meta" if there were one. This is as far as I got on it.
:'''Please advise:''' Where should I post it? I'd prefer to be answered by email, to the same user-ID at gmail.com.

Such articles on Roundworld subjects have always been in the main namespace: [[Alt.fan.pratchett]], various [[:Category:People|People]], etc. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 20:00, 13 June 2015 (UTC)
----
----
After the death of his son [[John Dearheart|John]] while repairing a [[clacks]] tower, [[Robert Dearheart]], the inventor of the clacks system, arranged to [[John Dearheart#After his death|keep his name running continuously on the clacks]]: ''So as the name "John Dearheart" keeps going up and down the line, this tradition applies a kind of immortality as "a man is not dead while his name is still spoken".''

After [[Biography#Other_personal_facts|Sir Terry's death]] a number of fans decided (probably independently in several cases) to perpetuate his name in this way. [http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/ GNU Terry Pratchett] gives information about doing so on many servers, platforms, services, etc. And here is a way to do it ''ad hoc'' (take out the hyphens from h-r-e-f):

<nowiki><a h-r-e-f="clacks-overhead:GNU Terry Pratchett">.</a></nowiki>

Insert this string into any HTML text and it will display as a single period ("full stop" to Terry's compatriots) with a hyperlink. The hyperlink is present but does not go anywhere, because
:The address wasn't understood
:[Your browser] doesn't know how to open this address, because one of the following protocols (clacks-overhead) isn't associated with any program or is not allowed in this context.

That code doesn't work on Mediawiki pages such as this wiki, apparently because the software sensibly but unfortunately checks for valid HTML protocols, such as ''http'', and rejects invalid ones like ''clacks-overhead''. But you can use this:

<nowiki>[http://clacks-overhead-GNU_Terry_Pratchett .]</nowiki>

This displays as
: [http://clacks-overhead-GNU_Terry_Pratchett .]

which is a formally valid hyperlink to a nonexistent server.
----
----
:--[[User:Thnidu|Thnidu]] ([[User talk:Thnidu|talk]]) 19:13, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

==No Help==
[[Help:Editing]] has disappeared from the bottom of the edit page at some point. I don't see anything I can do about it. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 15:08, 28 August 2015 (UTC)

==Has our Favicon vanished?==
I don't know if anyone else is having this problem but on my computer the site's [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favicon Favicon] seems to have disappeared into the Dungeon Dimensions. --[[User:Zdm|Zdm]] ([[User talk:Zdm|talk]]) 22:37, 9 September 2015 (UTC)
:Nope, still there in my Firefox, but I notice most of them are missing in Opera. What are you using? --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 02:15, 10 September 2015 (UTC)
::I am using Chrome though I would seriously consider switching if it didn't mean I had to redo my folders of bookmarks. I'll try deleting the cache and see if that helps, if not oh well I can live without it. --[[User:Zdm|Zdm]] ([[User talk:Zdm|talk]]) 06:34, 10 September 2015 (UTC)
:::I just checked, when I took the place over I didn't receive a favicon.ico file. If any of you have it and can send it to me, I'll add it back. --[[User:Osiris|Osiris]] ([[User talk:Osiris|talk]]) 05:35, 1 December 2015 (UTC)
:Right...it's the same as ever in Firefox but doesn't show in my wife's Chrome on Win10. [http://lspace.org L-Space] ''does'', though, so you could probably get it from Leo. (A Google search for "favicons don't display..." brings up reams of stuff but I no spikka da langwich.) [[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 18:26, 1 December 2015 (UTC)...but wait! The Firefox on Ubuntu I just installed on a laptop has the problem too: Leo's favicon shows, not ours. You wouldn't think it would be very difficult for everybody to get together on that very small graphic. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 04:35, 8 December 2015 (UTC)

==Maintenance==
I just moved a bunch of stuff around on the backend. Everything seems to be working but let me know if you find any issues. --[[User:Osiris|Osiris]] ([[User talk:Osiris|talk]]) 05:36, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

==No Help II==
...again, is it not possible to restore the "Help:Editing" link to the editing page? I find this pretty useful myself (for the title acronyms) and there must still be some who have no idea of wiki markup. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 18:21, 18 December 2015 (UTC)
:It would be really nice to have it back. I constantly forget the book acronyms. --[[User:Zdm|Zdm]] ([[User talk:Zdm|talk]]) 01:50, 20 December 2015 (UTC)
:::Just add whatever you wish to [[MediaWiki:Editnotice-0]] --[[User:Osiris|Osiris]] ([[User talk:Osiris|talk]]) 05:03, 20 December 2015 (UTC)
::::I can't edit [[MediaWiki:Editnotice-0]] though it appears I could create a discussion page for it. I hope Old Dickens and the other administrators have the power to change it. --[[User:Zdm|Zdm]] ([[User talk:Zdm|talk]]) 08:19, 21 December 2015 (UTC)
::Oh good. Of course I forgot that "Help" was on the toolbar with even more markup examples. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 19:16, 20 December 2015 (UTC) It would be administrators-only of course (it doesn't even show up as a SpecialPage). Do you have a suggestion? --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 14:56, 21 December 2015 (UTC)
::::You are an administrator... --[[User:Osiris|Osiris]] ([[User talk:Osiris|talk]]) 03:33, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
::Yep, not [[User:Zdm|Zdm]], though. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 04:04, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

==Over-excited spam filter==
I couldn't edit the page because the spam filter rejects the word for "the original body of work" (also the name of a major Japanese optical company). I changed it above, but that's an odd word to filter out of this site. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 16:41, 29 February 2016 (UTC)
:Help! Same here! I'd explain what's going on but the bloody spam filter keeps blocking me[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv|talk]]) 21:01, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
::I removed the "canon" that was blocking me (and now it's acceptable here!) Can't you find the naughty word in your post? --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 22:20, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

Apparently the naughty word is ''that device which makes a hard paper copy of a computer document'', which baffles me as I was trying to add the long form of the Worm Herders' Guild to the list of [[Guilds]] and it kept rejecting it... not a ''that device which makes a hard paper copy of a computer document'' in sight.... which must muck up any attempt to edit copy on Gunilla Goodmountain and those of his/her trade! [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv|talk]]) 22:35, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

Yup. Just tried to make a minor edit to the article [[Gunilla Goodmountain]] which uses the short form of the definition ''"that device which makes a hard paper copy of a computer document"'' . My edit was perfectly innocuous but the spam filter - I assume installed recently - refused to accept the pre-existing use of the offending word that was already there....[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv|talk]]) 22:49, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

'''prìnter.''' That's ''almost'' the offending word if you use an unaccented "i". But the phrase I was using was did not contain this word. Strangely, I got it in the wiki as an entry title in its own right. The spam filter just refused to accept it (Ancient And Alluvial Lodge of the Fraternal Herders Association) as part of the [[Guilds]] entry. Odd. [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv|talk]]) 23:07, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:My edit didn't contain Can*n, either, it was in an edit from Jun 2015. [[Guilds]], likewise, already contains "Pr*nters". Funny, Can*n makes pr*nters... --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 00:00, 10 March 2016 (UTC)
::Now "pr*nters" works in [[Guilds]] but not here! --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 16:07, 10 March 2016 (UTC)
----
Now the offending word is "outl00k", not associated with electronics advertising at all. The word worked on 22 May in [[Ankh-Morpork City Watch]]. (This prevents editing Book:Eric, Igorina and others, as well.) --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 17:06, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

==When We Forget==
The whole wiki missed the anniversary of Mr Pratchett's death on Saturday. My excuse is that I'm old and daft; I suppose each has his own. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 02:51, 15 March 2016 (UTC)

==Spam filter again==
Now I'm prevented from editing the Main page because of the supposed content "101,502,138,396" (without the commas), which I don't see in the page nor does the the browser's "find" function. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 03:38, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

[[Category:Wiki Data|Discworld & Pratchett Wiki:Mended Drum]]

==Question==
Depending on usage, I spend ~$40 USD per month hosting this site. That cost has fluctuated as usage has gone up or down over the years. For example, Terry's passage forced a major resource increase for about a week tripling costs that month. Right now the site is sitting on an AWS T1/medium server which hosts both the database and website.

Originally, I had this site setup pretty slick. It sat on a single webserver using a separate Amazon RDS database server and depending on the volume of requests the site spun more instances up as necessary to scale with traffic. I stopped that because using a database on another server doubled the cost and the wife and I were going though a lean stretch.

I'd like to get back to that setup. It's more robust and I don't have to worry about much maintenance. But we're back in that lean time. So my question to the rest of you is would you object to a small paypal donate button being placed on the site to help defray the costs? Donate or not as you see fit. Thoughts? --[[User:Osiris|Osiris]] ([[User talk:Osiris|talk]]) 01:31, 30 July 2016 (UTC)
:I'm up for it, since you say advertising revenue can't be had. I've had near ten years of free entertainment; I don't know how generous the reading public might be. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 03:36, 30 July 2016 (UTC)
:Sounds good, but we'd need to make sure any donate button was clearly enough displayed that any reader could see it, but not so obnoxiously placed as to be annoying. --[[User:AnnieBudgie|AnnieBudgie]] ([[User talk:AnnieBudgie|talk]]) 09:57, 30 July 2016 (UTC)

Talk:Reading suggestions

2016-07-21T11:31:33Z

AnnieBudgie:

==New Catagory?==
...perhaps a new category could be created, like [[:Category:Influences]], since I think they were influenced by or influences of Terry Pratchett. --[[User:AutisticMajor|AutisticMajor]] 22:21, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

I thought of making [[Reading suggestions]] a category including articles about such "foreigners"; it would avoid the presumption of knowing what anyone's influences were. Any other category suggestions? --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 23:14, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

==Numbers==
The author list looks tidier after alphabetically re-arranging them in order of surname. One little shame, though: Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson are no longer in the 23rd position. Could it be possible to "tweak" things so they go to number 23? Anyone familiar with their writings will know why they should go here, even though the alphabetical ordering is slightly out... 
and then Douglas Adams will have to be 42: it's going to get complicated. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 18:27, 13 January 2010 (UTC) ...and it'll need maintenance if there are additions before "M".

Oh, wow... just noticed. --[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 02:44, 31 January 2010 (UTC)
:Ah, I warned you. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 23:13, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

Douglas Adams now firmly fixed at his correct home at no.42. --[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 14:24, 23 September 2011 (CEST)
:Um...it's at 43 I believe...ah well. We could put in a note asking people to just pretend it's 42 or something. --[[User:AnnieBudgie|AnnieBudgie]] ([[User talk:AnnieBudgie|talk]]) 11:31, 21 July 2016 (UTC)

==Link Locations==
I know [[User:C3POwen|C3POwen]] did a lot of work moving the links from the titles to the bottom of the entries but I actually preferred them the old way. What does every one else think? --[[User:Zdm|Zdm]] 08:10, 3 November 2011 (CET)
:Me too. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 22:39, 3 November 2011 (CET)
:It also bugs me a bit that it wash't discussed on the talk page at all beforehand.--[[User:Zdm|Zdm]] 07:49, 4 November 2011 (CET)
::Apologies. I've found that some talk pages do not always seem to generate a response, for whatever reason that may be. You're more than welcome to revert them, using the undo function. --[[User:C3POwen|C3POwen]] 18:06, 4 November 2011 (CET)
:::That happens to everyone unfortunately, but I am going to undo that edit. --[[User:Zdm|Zdm]] 03:38, 6 November 2011 (CET)
I just realized that because of AgProv's edits I can't just go back and undo C3POwen's edits; any advice?--[[User:Zdm|Zdm]] 03:44, 6 November 2011 (CET)

Just before I go to bed: is it possible to selectively choose in History which edits you undo? Skip mine, and tick an earlier edit? If not, I don't mind losing my apercu about Piers Anthony, who by his own confession or boast is a "dirty-minded old man" (which is true, but there's dirty-minded and there's dirty-minded... I'm not into censorship or book-burning, but iI don't think I'll be reading ''Firefly'' any time soon...)--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 04:11, 6 November 2011 (CET)

Some books should come with a ''this book describes practices which are by anyone's standards of morality somewhat illegal and antisocial in your jurisdiction'' warning...--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 04:13, 6 November 2011 (CET)
:You can also go back to any previous version and then re-create whatever you want since. It's just more work. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 04:32, 6 November 2011 (CET)
Unfortunately when you try to selectively undo an edit it won't let you due to 'conflicting intermediate edits', so I will undo them and then recreate AgProv's work but I will wait untill I am less tired.--[[User:Zdm|Zdm]] 06:08, 6 November 2011 (CET)

I just tried to undo AgProv's edits so I could get to C3POwen's, But I ran into some trouble and had to undo my undo. Can someone else try and see if they can figure out why it would let me undo the edits.--[[User:Zdm|Zdm]] 08:18, 7 November 2011 (CET)
:It's getting complicated. I'd have to replace the page with the version of 18:43, 2 November 2011, then copy and paste the additions since. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 00:24, 8 November 2011 (CET)
::It has reached a point where it may be pointless to try to undo it. I'll just do it manually. --[[User:Zdm|Zdm]] 00:38, 8 November 2011 (CET)
:::One Moment.... --[[User:Fhh98|Fhh98]] 02:25, 8 November 2011 (CET)
:::RegEx Search and Replace is your friend... --[[User:Fhh98|Fhh98]] 02:40, 8 November 2011 (CET)
::::Thanks!!!!!!!! That was much faster then I could have done it manually. --[[User:Zdm|Zdm]] 02:54, 8 November 2011 (CET)
:Rocket98 to the rescue again...--[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 03:13, 8 November 2011 (CET)...oh, but we still have the duplicate Wikipedia links below. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 03:51, 8 November 2011 (CET)
::At this point I don't care about that as much, besides I had the idea that after the paragraph on the author we could have some external links to places like the authors website (if they have one), biographys and other information related to the author that isn't in their little description.--[[User:Zdm|Zdm]] 04:12, 8 November 2011 (CET)

I left the links at the bottom since it isn't always obvious that the header is also a link.--[[User:Fhh98|Fhh98]] 04:58, 8 November 2011 (CET)
:You don't think the page is long enough? Zdm just restates C3POwen's reason for the original makeover, to which he objected. I'm confused. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 23:44, 8 November 2011 (CET)
::I realize that my comment was a little confusing, I'm sorry about that. What I meant was that we have the Wikipedia page about the author already linked to in the title so we could get rid of the links at the bottom ''but'' it would be nice to also have a link to the authors website as well. --[[User:Zdm|Zdm]] 00:44, 9 November 2011 (CET)

==Exit==

Ray Bradbury isn't in here: probably too obvious... 
'''Ray Bradbury''' taught us all about Mars and the magical events here at home that usually go unnoticed except by a few children. He taught me (although not enough others, sadly) to distinguish between labels and referents. He wrote a lot of good prose over more than seven decades.

I think he may be the last of the great group of sci-fi writers who began in the thirties but emerged after WWII as an elixir against the drab, unimaginative post-war existence. [[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 02:31, 7 June 2012 (CEST)

==More? ==

Should we include David Langford? He wrote the two discworld quizbooks, but he also wrote ''The Leaky Establishment'', a book which Terry rated highly:
"''I'd rank this book alongside Michael Frayn's The Tin Men, another neglected classic. I've wanted for years to see it back in print. It is one of those books you end up buying several copies of, because you just have to lend it to friends. It's very funny. It's very real.''" He also said: "''Dave Langford: Wit, slightly deaf person, raconteur and finest swordsman in all of christendom.''"--[[User:Stanley Howler|Stanley Howler]] 10:33, 8 June 2012 (CEST)
:If you recommend it, of course, that's what it's for. On the other hand, the page is getting very long: the index doesn't fit on one screen. A couple of articles are too long for "suggestions" and other entries may be too obscure and hard to find. What about splitting it into ''Fantasy, Sci-Fi'' and ''Straight'' sections (generating arguments over what's fantasy and what's sci-fi, of course)? [[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 15:22, 8 June 2012 (CEST)

Reading suggestions

2016-07-21T11:21:35Z

AnnieBudgie:

A question that regularly pops up is: ''I'm enjoying Pratchett, what other books are there I could possibly enjoy?''. This page is here to help you. If you like Pratchett, these books are recommended by the fans.

=={{wp|Piers Anthony|Piers Anthony}}==
{{wp|Xanth|Xanth}} series. Xanth is a very punny fantasy world. Piers Anthony also writes the "Terry Pratchett is fast, funny, and going places. Try him!" blurb found on many of Terry's books.

Xanth is probably best thought of as the ''Chronicles of Narnia'' played as a ''Carry On'' film.

I personally have found Anthony more corny than funny, with a very robotic, formulaic, writing style and a very dirty mind, even for purported "kids'" books. The humor is far sillier and more lowbrow. -[[User:Cidolfas|Cidolfas]]

Piers Anthony's other series (eg, {{wp|Incarnations_of_Immortality|''Incarnations of Immortality''}} and {{wp|Apprentice_Adept|''Apprentice Adept''}}) are not humorous, and are not similar to Terry's works. At best, the ''Incarnations'' series revolves around the idea that anthropomorphic personalities may "retire" from their jobs and return to the real world as they choose, and may select and train a successor. Anthony's Fate, for instance, takes it a step further and plays with the idea that this anthropomorphic personality might well run down a family dynasty, the female members of which each adopt one of the three faces of the classic Greek Fate. Death, in Anthony's world, is not so much a person as a job description. But this is only superficially similar to Death and Time each being a family business on the Discworld.

"I tried reading ''A Spell for Chameleon'' back in 1986 and threw it across the room after three chapters. I tried again in 2007 and lasted for five chapters. Just can't do it". This illustrates the idea that Xanth, while a tour-de-farce of the imagination, can in some readers evoke a reaction similar to that of Susan Sto Helit when she contemplates dancing across the rooftops with a cheeky cheery chimney sweep. Susan would see nothing wrong in a spoonful of sugar, but gallons of cloying syrup might well provoke a vomiting reflex. Xanth, with its heavy archness, is best approached when in a mood of whimsy and minimal critical function. In this frame of mind, it is not unpleasant, but too much syrup can kill tastebuds. The concept of the Adult Secret involves a perceived Adult Conspiracy to keep children in the dark about sexual matters for as long as possible.

Re-reading Piers Anthony lately - not just Xanth but more mainline novels - I also felt v. uneasy about Piers A's occassional lapses into fascination with the physical development of pubescent girls. In one of the ''Incarnations'' books, for instance, he has an eleven year old girl strip naked while an older relative has a private inner reverie about the attractive shape of her body. It isn't pornographic, and the plot that calls for it isn't too contrived, but it's written in enough loving detail to make me feel uneasy and voyeuristic about reading it. And this isn't exactly an isolated occurence in his books, ref. an interest in pre-teen girls...--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 11:39, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

As a forensic psychologist, I'm writing further to what AgProv has written on the Piers Anthony sexual storyline with the 11 year old child. Frankly, Anthony's writing verges on unlawful pedophilia writings and I am amazed that a mainstream publisher would actually give credence to Anthony's perverted and sick fantasies involving children that are truly DISTURBING. He is like a dirty old man leering over a legal minor in the kind of graphic and sick sexual detail that makes my hair stand on end. Let's be clear - this kind of pedophilia-type "prose" would be condemned almost anywhere, if it wasn't dressed up as 'literature'. Piers Anthony is way out of the league of Terry Pratchett, and shouldn't even be compared. He is not even a poor imitation. I would welcome what others have to say, but for me, Xanth far from being a Chronicles of Narnia, is a poorly-written tripe. What bothers me most is how Piers Anthony writes such plainly disturbing pedophilia sexual accounts involving a minor, which is typical pedophile behavior both pre- and post-action. This should be wholeheartedly condemned by all responsible adults... --[[User:Jongerman|Jongerman]] 09:11, 29 January 2011 (EST)

Further details about PA's approach to sexual content ''[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AuthorAppeal here]''. No editorialising, judge for yourself.

And while the purpose of this entry isn't to try the man, but to point out he HAS written some eminiently readable sci-fi and fantasy ('''''Prosthro Plus'''''. about an Earth dentist abducted into Space and having to get up to speed with alien oral hygiene ''very quickly'', is hilarious and recommended), it is perhaps germane to consider a "quest" book Anthony wrote in the Xanth series. It becomes of extreme importance for the questing party to get a true answer to a mystery which gives the novel its name - '''''The Color of Her Panties'''''. In which female knickers pertaining to younger ladies are discussed and described at length. - --[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 19:59, 12 May 2011 (CEST)

* {{wp|Piers_Anthony|Piers Anthony}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Kelley Armstrong|Kelley Armstrong}}==
Author of a series of books concerning how members of magical and Undead races have had to "go underground" to survive in the modern USA. '''''"Men of the Otherworld"''''' is about a young Werewolf growing up in his Pack and learning how to behave so as to fit into human society. He is taught who he can eat, when he can eat them, about Pack dynamics and politics, and how not to stand out at school (eating the class guinea pig is a great big no-no).

In '''''"No Humans Involved"''''', the location is a Haunted House TV show. In the UK these are shot in green light in an allegedly haunted house while it is cooling from the day in the wee small hours of the morning. Therefore there are a lot of creaks and drips for an ex-childrens' TV presenter and a camp scouse "psychic" to get excited about.
In Kelley Armstrong's USA, what happens when a ''real'' psychic, in fact a trained and hereditary Necromancer, joins the presenting team on such a show...

Horror done with wicked humour.

Reccomendation by --[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 17:15, 27 August 2010 (UTC)

* {{wp|Kelley_Armstrong|Kelley Armstrong}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Robert Asprin|Robert Asprin}}==
Author of the hilarious {{wp|Mythadventures|''Mythadventures''}} series of novels, featuring a young magician, his pet dragon, a tough-but-lovable demon friend, a sexy trollop assassin, her hairy troll brother, a couple of mafia hitmen, a moll, and more.

* {{wp|Robert_Asprin|Robert Asprin}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Josef Assad|Josef Assad}}==
Released his first novel [http://www.archive.org/details/JosefAssad_TheBanjoPlayersMustDie ''The Banjo Players Must Die''] under a free Creative Commons license. Reading like a misanthropic Terry Pratchett, it is a dystopian and self-referential history of how Judgment Day came about, for very small values of 'came about'.

* {{wp|Josef_Assad|Josef Assad}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Clive Barker|Clive Barker}}==
Clive Barker is a fantasy writer known for painting amazing watercolors to accompany his writing. Some of his works include the award winning series '''[[Wikipedia:Abarat|Abarat]]''', '''[[Wikipedia:Imajica|Imajica]]''' and '''The Damnation Game'''. The book ''Abarat'' and its sequels tell the story of Candy Quakenbush, a teenage girl who gets pulled into a strange archipelago called The Abarat. The Abarat consists of twenty five islands, each one a different hour of the day, and one island that is time out of time. The series centers around the conflict between the islands of day and the islands of night. While ''Abarat'' and other books by Clive Barker are not a funny as Pratchett's they more then make up for it in oddness and the insanity of the worlds and characters.

* {{wp|Clive_Barker|Clive Barker}} on Wikipedia
* Clive Barker's website: [http://www.clivebarker.info/]

=={{wp|James Bibby|James Bibby}}==
The author of ''Ronan the Barbarian'' and its two sequels, all of which fit perfectly in the genre of comic fantasy. Much like Pratchett's earlier novels (although admittedly, much more ''adult''-oriented), the novel plays on the clichéd fantasy genre, but also includes genuinely interesting and likable characters. The book may be hard to find -- as it was only published in 1995, and once more in 1996 -- but definitely worth the trouble, being close-to the funniest author I've had the pleasure of reading. - [[User:Quoth|Quoth]]

* {{wp|James_Bibby|James Bibby}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Susanna Clarke|Susanna Clarke}}==
The author(ess?) of ''Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell''. This is an enormous book, written as an alternate history set in 19th-century England around the time of the Napoleonic Wars. It is based on the premise that magic once existed in England and has returned with two men: Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange. Centering on the relationship between these two men, the novel investigates the nature of "Englishness" and the boundary between reason and madness. It has been described as a fantasy novel, an alternate history, and an historical novel. The narrative draws on various Romantic literary traditions, such as the comedy of manners, the Gothic tale, and the Byronic hero. The novel's language is a pastiche of 19th-century writing styles, such as those of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. Clarke describes the supernatural with mundane details. Neil Gaiman, no less, described it as "unquestionably the finest English novel of the fantastic written in the last 70 years". Look it up on Wikipedia - the way Bloomsbury pushed its publication is jaw-dropping - and even more so when you know it was her first novel! Recommended by --[[User:Knmatt|Knmatt]] 18:23, 7 February 2010 (UTC)

* {{wp|Susanna_Clarke|Susanna Clarke}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Ernest_Cline|Ernest Cline}}==
The author of the novel {{wp|Ready Player One|''Ready Player One''}}. A story set in a dystopia future that is so bleak that humanity collectively lives through the OASIS, a full immersion computer game, where the games creator has left his huge fortune to whoever can find his hidden 'Easter Egg.' A great novel for fans of sci-fi and humour similar to Terry Pratchett, he's even mentioned a couple of times. Recommended by [[User:Jagra|Jagra]] 17:06, 17 September 2015 (UTC).

*{{wp|Ernest_Cline|Ernest Cline}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Eoin Colfer|Eoin Colfer}}==
Eoin (pronounced "Owen") Colfer has come up with another world not too dissimilar to ours, but this time it's our world as we know it interfacing with the world of the Lower Elements: fairies, trolls (even thicker than TP's!), goblins, dwarves and the like. It even has a reason why the word Leprechaun exists: it comes from LEP Recon – the reconnaissance and recovery side of the Lower Elements Police. They are nominally childrens' books, but none the worse for that. So, essentially, is ''The Hobbit'' (see also comments for Diana Wynne Jones). The books centre around one "Artemis Fowl" - a twelve-year-old criminal mastermind. Swallow that, and the books are delightful. There is a large dollop of Pratchett-esque humour: witness why dwarves are such good diggers!!!! --[[User:Knmatt|Knmatt]] 18:57, 25 July 2007 (CEST)

'''Breaking News:''' Eoin Colfer has been selected to complete a largely unstarted sixth volume of [[Douglas Adams]]' h2g2 series:-
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/17/douglasadams] The resultant book has now been released under the title of '''''And Another Thing....''''' I'm reading it. It's good! --[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 09:04, 16 October 2009 (UTC).

He's pretty darn good. And the Artemis Fowl timeline is essentially a budget version of the Disc's: as convoluted as you can make it in seven books. --[[User:Dragon4|Dragon4]] ([[User talk:Dragon4|talk]]) 21:16, 13 January 2013 (GMT)

* {{wp|Eoin_Colfer|Eoin Colfer}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Edward Conlon|Edward Conlon}}==
Written in 2004, Conlon's autobiography '''Blue Blood''' came too late for it to have directly influenced most of the Watch books. Conlon is the third generation of his family to have served in the New York Police Department, following his grandfather and father. In 560 pages, he relates many accounts of the events likely to happen to an NYPD patrolman in the course of his duties. These can be horrifying, amusing, or just plain weird by turns. Many of them, such as the possibly rabid domestic cat that could make [[Greebo]] look like a placid neuteree, could have been scripted for the Watch to deal with. The everyday frustrations of police work, such as the bureaucracy, the chore of report-writing, political interference from above, and the personality types of his fellow cops, could all be background for a Watch novel. Among many other little details of police life, conlon also has an interesting take on the whole grey area between legitimate "perks" and outright bribe-taking. He also describes his grandfather with love and affection, a beat cop who Fred Colon would have hailed as a long-lost brother. Conlon does for the NYPD what Joseph Wambaugh (a known influence on the Watch) does for the LAPD on the other coast. Recommended by [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv|talk]]) 15:10, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

* {{wp|Edward Conlon|Edward Conlon}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Diane Duane|Diane Duane }}==
Again, another writer of YA books, but very ''very'' good ones. Her {{wp|Young Wizards|''Young Wizards''}} series, starting off with "So You Want to be a Wizard", explores what ''really'' happens when you sign up to be a wizard, eg: travelling to alternate dimensions with friendly, ''sentient'' micro-stars, inviting alien foreign exchange students to stay the planet, and helping whales perform ancient rituals underneath the sea to prevent the earth from cracking like an egg. I could go on, but I think a quote from TVTropes sums up the series perfectly: "Infamous in its fandom for a tendency to grab you by the heart and squeeze" --[[User:Varriount|Varriount]]

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Duane Diane Duane] on Wikipedia
* [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/DianeDuane Diane Duane] on TVTropes
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Wizards Young Wizards] on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Jasper Fforde|Jasper Fforde}}==
Author of the Thursday Next books which started with ''The Eyre Affair.''

Perhaps the closest thing to the Pratchett theme of story-driven reality, but start with ''The Eyre Affair''; we were pretty disappointed with ''Something Rotten'' at our house.--[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]]
:I'll go with that - ''Something Rotten'' was pretty rotten, but the four '''Thursday Next''' books are excellent. --[[User:Knmatt|Knmatt]] 18:57, 25 July 2007 (CEST)

Fforde is very apt at twisting the narrative conventions, and his humour is very Pratchett-like indeed. I also recommend the Nursery Rhyme series, starting with The ''Big Over Easy'', starring Marlowe-like detective Jack Spratt. --Abie, 25 May 2010.

Indeed, the [[Terry Pratchett|Creator]] himself said of ''The Eyre Affair'': "Ingenious. I shall watch Jasper Fforde nervously."

His books are very good: The Last Dragonslayer books are hilarious, and the first one especially has quite a clever premise. One of his latest books had a review along the lines of 'Watch out Terry Pratchett,' on it, so that should give you some idea...--[[User:AnnieBudgie|AnnieBudgie]] ([[User talk:AnnieBudgie|talk]]) 11:21, 21 July 2016 (UTC)

* {{wp|Jasper_Fforde|Jasper Fforde}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|George MacDonald Fraser|George MacDonald Fraser}}==
Fraser was cited by Terry Pratchett as one of five authors whose books he would buy immediately on publication. His best-known works are the ''Flashman'' series (the cowardly but lucky Harry Flashman has many points of similarity with Rincewind) and the [[Daft Wullie|''McAuslan'']] series (whose Gordon Highlanders are [[Book:The Wee Free Men/Annotations|Roundworld Nac Mac Feegle]].) Fraser's books are usually scrupulously accurate history with a few fictitious characters inserted, and include copious footnotes and endnotes.

While the accepted Discworld referent for Flashman is usually taken to be Rincewind, Flashman is also a bluff, genial, con-man whose whole life is predicated on persuading people to accept he is something he is not. He pulls some almightily audacious bluffs in his career, and on one occasion, his wholly reasonable tendency towards self-preservation (which could uncharitably be described as cowardice) is subverted by a chemical substance which his lover of the moment assures him is a nice relaxing tonic. This enables him to fight and lead a battle without any fear at all and in fact to avert a Russian invasion of India whilst British attention is focused on the Crimea. A similar thing happens to Moist von Lipwig in {{RS}}...

* {{wp|George MacDonald Fraser|George MacDonald Fraser}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Neil Gaiman|Neil Gaiman}}==
Co-author of {{GO}}, so an easy choice. Pratchett fans seem to prefer ''Neverwhere'' and ''American Gods''. One of the latest novels is ''Anansi Boys''. {{wp|Neil_Gaiman|Gaiman}} is known for his ability to create fascinating pantheons - if you're at all interested in comics, the ''Sandman'' series (which rightfully catapulted Gaiman to the fame he enjoys today) is one of the best ever written. His perky-goth Death is the best anyone's ever done with the character after Pratchett.
Terry himself says that his novel, ''Coraline'', "...has the delicate horror of the finest fairy tales, and is a masterpiece."

Neil was a founder-member of the [[H.P. Lovecraft Holiday Fun Club]].

Recommended by [[User:Sanity|Sanity]].

* {{wp|Neil_Gaiman|Neil Gaiman}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Craig Shaw Gardner|Craig Shaw Gardner}}==
''Ebenezum'' and ''Wuntvor'' series are quite humorous, though the latter tends to drag a bit.

* {{wp|Craig_Shaw_Gardner|Craig Shaw Gardner}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Mary Gentle|Mary Gentle}}==
Mary Gentle's masterwork ''Ash: A Secret History'' must be recommended here as one of those books that lingers in the mind and fires neurons into new and different arrangements. There is certainly humour here: most obviously in the Rabelaisian adventures of a mediaeval mercenary company, hiring itself out to the highest bidder and finding laughter where it can in, a mediaeval landscape straight out of ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''. There is also a deeper, rather black, humour of a more satirical kind, as the book deals with deeper and more profound issues of time and history and the way we perceive the passage of both. There are two interleaved stories here: one deals with the adventures of the mercenary company of the Lion, commanded by the warrior-woman Ash. The second story takes place in our own time, and deals with a historian trying to make sense of the legend of Ash, who starts to discover that the historical certainties of the past are slipping and changing around him wherever he looks. There can only be ''one'' past, right? Dead wrong. His suspicions are confirmed when archaeologist colleagues start to unearth artefacts relating to a past that by all rights should never have happened, and which start to prove the established history books are utterly dead wrong.

History is changing. All the indications point to the trigger point being somewhere in the late 1400's and somehow, Ash the warrior captain is intimately involved. Something happened in or around the year 1476 to completely alter the course of history - and belatedly, the late 1990's are changing to conform to that time-rift. The sequence of events in the late 1400's very nearly destroyed the world and ''something'' moved to correct it, to rewrite history into the form in which we knew it. Until the history professor started looking into the life of Ash and pulling together the random shreds that remained, out of place and time, of that secret history...

As well as being a thrilling fantasy/sci-fi adventure, Ash is also a satire on the practice and teaching of history, which (as Vetinari and the History Monks know) is neither fixed nor objective. Indeed, it offers insight into how the History Monks might operate, were they to exist on Roundworld, to restitch time and history after, say, a Sourcerer or a Glass Clock nearly blew it into smithereens. It vividly describes what people might notice, what would be observed, during a time-slip of this nature, and what loose ends would be left flapping afterwards that not even a Lu-Tze could tidy away. It even suggests a mechanism, which has to do with pyramids, and suggests that some VERY strange things happened in the latter 1400's in known history that are strange and anomalous...

Did TP read this book before, say, writing {{TOT}}? Ash was published in 1999, ten years after TP wrote {{S}}, but definitely released before {{TOT}} (published 2001). It's a very tempting thought... oh, and there are golems in this book. Like and unlike to those of the Discworld.

In a far lighter vein, Mary Gentle has also written '''''Grunts!''''', an account of the Eternal War between Good and Evil, as seen through the jaundiced eyes of those expendable foot-soldiers of the dark and sword-fodder for Heroes, the Orcs. Both repulsive and oddly sympathetic at the same time, the Orcs discover a trans-dimensional dragon whose hoard includes an entire United States Marine Corps armoury.

Equipped with high-tech weapons, the Orcs then see about carving out a corner of the fantasy world they can call theirs.

As Mary Gentle, along with Neil Gaiman, is a founder-member of the [[H.P. Lovecraft Holiday Fun Club]] to whom an early Discworld novel is dedicated (the HPLHFC consists of members of the new wave of British sci-fi/fantasy authors), then it would appear reasonably certain that TP is aware of her books. There are fairly unmistakeable references to '''''Grunts''''' in the pages of {{UA}}, which given the subject matter would be even more remarkable by their absence.

Much recommended!

Both books recommended by [[User:AgProv|AgProv]].

* {{wp|Mary Gentle|Mary Gentle}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Alan Gordon|Alan Gordon}}==
Alan Gordon (born 1959) is the author of several mysteries, the first of which is based on the characters from William Shakespeare's '''''Twelfth Night'''''. He writes about jesters as advisers to the king, who actually make up a super-secret spy ring that try to keep peace and control the leaders of different countries. The Fool's Guild of these novels is portrayed as a mockery to the church, and they refer to Jesus Christ as "Their Saviour, the First Fool".

Alan Gordon began writing his novels about fools and jesters as a supra-national spy ring in 1999. This is exactly the same idea TP came up with a year or two earlier to explain the survival of the otherwise increasingly irrelevant Fools' and Clowns' Guild into the modern era - that the Guild's graduates go everywhere, end up in some very high places, and periodically report back to Doctor Whiteface. Making him both very rich and very powerful.

Is it possible AG got the basic idea for his seven Fools' Guild novels from Pratchett? I hope to track down at least one Alan Gordon novel today, read it, and report back here, as the similarities to Pratchett's Fools' Guild are just so obvious...

Just finished reading ''A Death in the Venetian Quarter'', about Byzantine plots in old Constantinople. The jokes are funnier - although in some places have a desperate Prachettian cod-mediaeval ring to them - the jesters, Fools and troubadours (ref ({{TLH}}) are happier and enjoy their vocation, and there is a Guild HQ which assigns both surface tasks (''"you are to proceed to Constantinople where you will be resident Fool to the Empress and the Princesses of the royal house of Byzantium"'') and hidden, clandestine, ones (''"while you are there you will assist and take a leading role in deposing the current Emperor, who is a drooling inbred dolt and not the man we need to keep out the Pope's crusaders on one side and the Turks on the other"'').

Fools serve both leaders in a war and can cross the lines freely to interchange information and updates, as well as acting as informal diplomats and heralds. This was apparently so in mediaeval times, as most people didn't take them seriously. (In Gordon's world, they also have useful Assassin skills, although outside the world of [[sloshi]], Lord Downey might have a demarcation issue with Doctor Whiteface.)

Reccomended!

* {{wp|Alan Gordon|Alan Gordon}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Michael Green|Michael Green}}==
While perhaps a little bit dated now, Mike Green's series of comic "how-not-to-do-it" guides, dating from the 1950's and 1960's, are masterpieces of a certain sort of British humour. The ''Art of Coarse...'' books are based on the premise that only a precious few, a stellar minority, of us can ever be genuinely good and gifted at any given sporting or leisure pursuit. The rest of us... well, we are fated to be only Coarse practitioners, spear-carriers and extras in the theatre of life. Green illustrates this fact of essential glorious mediocrity over a series of books, dealing with topics as wide and varied as rugby football, sailing, golf, sex, and amateur dramatics. A Coarse Sailor is defined as one who, in extremis, forgets all nautical language, and shouts "For God's sake, turn left!" ''The Art of Coarse Acting'' develops the theme of am-dram in a manner that Vittoler's strolling players would recognise, and indeed there is a lengthy discourse on why Shakespeare's clowns and fools are so abjectly unfunny, ''however'' you say the lines. This may be familar to readers of Pratchett, although there is no certainty that he has read these books. I would not be surprised, though! A cast of recurring characters, including Green's totally loathsome friend Askew, help carry the stories, all drawn from his real-life experience. (Although Green was better at rugby than he claims - he turned out, if only once, for the Leicester first fifteen, which is akin to playing for a premiership soccer side.) The series was continued by Spike Jones, although his books are nowhere near as good as Green's.

* {{wp|Michael_Green|Michael Green}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Simon R. Green|Simon R. Green}}==
For something a little darker, try the ''Nightside'' series by Simon R. Green. Imagine Neil Gaiman's ''Neverwhere'' tossed in a blender with the noir detective template and every bit of myth, fantasy and sci-fi you 've ever seen or read and you'll get the delicious smoothie that is Nightside. Set in a secret city-within-a-city at the heart of London, follow John Taylor, a hard-nose private-eye as he sorts out cases both horrifying and fantastic.

Green's definitely a name-dropper, and references tons of stories and myths, but his own characters and plots are original and fascinating, and utterly steeped in darkness. (Seriously... This guy's darker than Neil gets sometimes...) But it's all tied together with subtle English wit in the (almost obligatory to the noir genre) first-person narrative. (I've even heard a review with a favorable comparison to Terry, so there! Proof!) It's at least an M rating, but a heartily recommended read.

* {{wp|Simon_R._Green|Simon R. Green}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Harry Harrison|Harry Harrison}}==
Prodigious author of science-fiction, ranging from potboilers through more "serious" exploratory sci-fi works and counterfactual histories, to out-and-out science-fiction humour.
Anyone who perceived the slightly tongue-in-cheek aspect of '''''Strata''''' and '''''Dark Side of the Sun''''' will appreciate the parodic quality of Harrison's '''''Bill, the Galactic Hero''''' series of comic sci-fi novels. These send up every aspect of the classic gung-ho shoot 'em up space operas, in which, generally, American domestic paranoia about those goddamn Commies was projected out into space and time, and gave all-American heroes the chance to stand and fight for those good ol' fashioned values and Mom's apple pie. (Is it a matter of time before the space enemy starts to manifest recognisable aspects of Middle Eastern culture?)

Harrison's funniest sci-fi comedies by far, though, are the nine or ten books of the '''''Stainless Steel Rat''''' series. In a future that has largely eliminated crime, Jim diGriz is one of the last crooks left in the galaxy. While he is not averse to the occasional bank robbery, he prefers other, largely non-confrontational and consensual, methods of separating people from their money. He is principled and ethical enough to absolutely refuse to kill in the line of business, and has a ball as he travels the galaxy, bilking, bunco-ing, cheating and generally con-man-ning in a thousand inventive ways. But one day he comes a cropper and is offered the choice of (i) having his mind re-programmed to remove all criminal tendencies; or (ii) working on the side of the angels, as a member of the Galactic "Special Corps", an elite unit of part-detectives, part-policemen, part special agents. Choosing to accept his Angel, in the form of the Machiavellian Special corps Director Inskipp, diGriz bites the bullet and reluctantly becomes poacher-turned-gamekeeper. His first assignment is to track down and arrest the beautiful and deadly Angelina, a woman with serious anger management issues and strong criminal tendencies. He does this so well they end up married, and adopt the nicknames of "Slippery Jim" and "Spike" for each other. (Do the descriptions remind you of anyone in the Pratchett character list?) Later books chart a marriage made in larcenous heaven, and the birth of twin sons who take after Mum and Dad...

''The Stainless Steel Rat For President'' relates a tale of DiGriz and his family collaborating to fix the elections on a repressive planet ruled by a tyrant and dictator. The most rigged, bent and skewed election in the Universe then ensues, with both parties doing what they can to gerrymander, fix and fiddle the vote. A real lesson, as these things have all apparently been done in Roundworld elections... this was especially prescient of Harrison, as the electronic vote-counting machinery is rigged to the point of falling over. And this was written a ''long'' time before a certain business in Florida...
Recommended by [[User:AgProv|AgProv]].

* {{wp|Harry_Harrison|Harry Harrison}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Reginald Hill|Reginald Hill}}==
Author of some very funny police procedurals, the Dalziel and Pascoe series (these have been adapted for TV), and the more humour-based adventures of Luton PI Joe Sixsmith. In an internet interview, Hill has identified Terry as one of his favourite authors. His novels are set in the real world, although there are occasional touches of the supernatural in the Dalziel and Pascoe books. Hill's stories can be odd (Jane Austen's ''Emma'' rewritten as a murder thriller, anyone?), but are always satisfying. A good place to start is probably the Dalziel and Pascoe book ''Dialogues of the Dead'' and its direct sequel ''Death's Jest-Book'', or the Joe Sixsmith novel ''The Roar of the Butterflies'', which pays tribute to P.G Wodehouse.

* {{wp|Reginald Hill|Reginald Hill}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Tom Holt|Tom Holt}}==
Author of various parodies and stories based on mythology or other tales (sound familiar).
First novel based on Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' is called ''Expecting Someone Taller''. Although most books are standalone, there is a series of sorts starting with ''The Portable Door'', which can arguably be termed a more adult and crankier Harry Potter in a cubicle farm.

Holt's books combine what might otherwise be called ''chick-lit'' from the male point of view - there is invariably a romance between a man and a woman who almost completely fail to communicate nor see the subleties of the other gender's form of world-view - made even more complex by the intrusion of magic and the supernatural. The paradoxes of using magic are dealt with at great length, as are the staples of fantasy fiction and folklore. Old pantheons of Gods who nobody seriously believes in any more are shunted off to a ''very special'' old peoples' home on the south coast of England. They proceed to have ''Last of the Summer Wine'' style adventures involving lash-up machinery and half-remembered magical artefacts. ''You don't have to be evil to work here, but it helps'' develops the theme of Hell being a Human Resources department full of management bollocks-speak and continual assessments with Health and Safety Law making it impossible to go out and slay dragons. A very tall dwarf and a very short giant feature as characters...

* {{wp|Tom_Holt|Tom Holt}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Nick Hornby|Nick Hornby}}==
To be more specific; for the non-British reader to better understand {{UA}} and the importance of football the autobiographical ''Fever Pitch'' is a must read. Written by a left-leaning intellectual well versed in feminist theory who to the amazement of his peers spent much of his formative years on Highbury's North Bank.

This specific recommendation by [[User:Iron Hippo|Iron Hippo]] 20:13, 23 October 2009 (UTC), and backed by --[[User:Knmatt|Knmatt]] 20:08, 8 November 2009 (UTC). It's a fantastically funny and searingly true book, but don't bother reading any of his others. Nanny Ogg's got a word for them. And it's not complimentary.

* {{wp|Nick Hornby|Nick Hornby}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Robert Shea|Robert Shea}} and {{wp|Robert Anton Wilson|Robert Anton Wilson}} (Honorary #23)==
A cautionary note: Shea and Wilson are rightly famed, in alternative circles, for the '''''Illuminatus!''''' series of novels. The trilogy is a joyously anarchic and irreverent romp through the whole scope of the occult, politics, conspiracy theory, secret societies, not-so-secret societies, et c, and sends up many genres of writing including the police procedural, horror, fantasy, political polemic (Ayn Rand gets a kicking), et c.

The novice approaching ''Illuminatus!'' for the first time should not try to understand what's going on, as that way lieth doom. It's like trying to appreciate opera ''and'' understand the lyrics. On a first read, just see it as a series of loosely connected episodes but don't try too hard to comprehend the relationship between them. Just accept as a unifying theme that unless something is done to stop it, the Eschaton is about to be Immanetized (ie, the world is about to end in a manner loosely reminiscent of {{GO}}. Hell, there's even a [[Kraken|Leviathan]] as well as some unpretty denizens of Earth's [[Dungeon Dimensions]]).

You get characters like the cynical street policeman who's seen too much; the hippies who really ARE about to be made streetwise (man) whether they want to be or not; the occupants of a submarine (which for some reason is painted bright yellow), whose mission is to prevent a war starting -initially out of a dispute over ownership of a [[Leshp|small, hitherto unregarded, island]]; the arch-villain Putney Drake, who controls all crime in the USA but has decided he wants to find his angel and go straight; the arch-manipulator Hagbard Celine who saves the world but has an agenda all of his own; 0023, the secret agent Britain is not proud of, and who gets all the weird X-files-like assignments that Bond sneers at; and a cast of eldrich supernatural entities, who are partly or wholly not human. Oh, and there are lots of Justified, Illuminated and Elucidated secret societies, with their own passwords and doorway ritual, administered by Brother Gatekeepers...

(As an aside. Flawed criminal mastermind Putney ''Drake'', who controls all organised crime in the USA but still wants more. Compare to Eoin Colfer's Artemis ''Fowl''?)

James Joyce is referenced many times and indeed even enters the book as a character at one point. This has to be said, as the structure of the book owes something to Joyce, the episodes stepping in and out of linear time and causal order. Therefore it's not an easy book to read but it rewards time, attention and frequent re-reading.

It's also very, very, funny.

I can guarantee you will never see the Reverend Billy Graham in quite the same light again after the manner of his cameo appearance! (Indeed, if the book has any conventional political stance, it can be discerned by the way the Republican/Religious Right Middle-American world-view is remorselessly sent up).

Slipping in under the radar, and done with humour, is a lot of interesting philosophical stuff. For instance, what is the nature of money? (Ref. {{MM}}). We blithely refer to political affiliation as being left-wing, right-wing, anarchist, communist, et c, but what do these convenient labels ''really'' mean? Does the conspiracy theory or the cock-up theory govern human history, or a mixture of both, and at bottom is there really a difference? What is conspiracy theory? Do you have to be paranoid to believe it exists? Is there any validity to magic, occult, and psychic thought and practice? Can one Leader really exert a difference? What is the mystical all-importance of the number 23, and all its associations, like the letter "W"? Did the events of ''The Lord of the Rings'' really happen, making Tolkien not so much an author as an observer?

This trilogy is believed to have influenced Terry Pratchett - there are just too many allusions and associations in the Discworld books. Recommended!

Shea and Wilson went on to write a second trilogy, '''''The Universe Next Door''''', that develops Illuminatus themes and ideas while being true to the original. This deals a lot with quantum physics and the multiple-worlds model of the multiverse, whilst remaining extremely funny.

Possibly far more accessible as novels, while still being in the spirit of ''Illuminatus!'', are the books Shea and Wilson wrote solo: '''''The Historical Illuminatus''''' trilogy, by Wilson, charts the life of Neapolitan wunderkind Sigismundo Celine in the latter part of the eighteenth century. There's sound history, intriguing discussions on the origins of Freemasonry, the decline of Catholicism, the Occult underground in Europe, why revolutions happen (lilac may or may not be included), and the ''true'' nature of scholarly footnotes at the bottom of the page. (they're a separate rogue novel, a kind of parasitic literary form trying to break into the reality of the main text) A jolly good story with believable characters, not without humour. Sigismundo Celine even invents a theoretically working steam locomotive - but evidently Naples and Paris are not the right orchards for this idea to blossom into steam-engine time, as he is derided and laughed out of university, much to his chagrin.

Shea wrote a series of novels where the themes of Illuminatus! are further explored, where West met East in the mediaeval crusades and the western world suddenly became too small for old orthodoxies. (''All Things Are Lights'' and ''Saracen!''). In a second series, the underlying themes of ''Illuminatus!'' are seen through the eyes and experiences of a Zen warrior-monk, in what on the surface of things is nothing more than a rip-roaring adventure story set in mediaeval Japan and Kublai Khan's China. ( ''Shiké: Last of the Zinja'' and ''Shiké: Last of the Dragons'')

Sadly, both authors are now deceased, having left their respective solo works unfinished, and their central characters hanging in limbo. (Although Robert Shea has placed many of his writings on his website, including completed and partially completed novels, so that they may be accessed for free). But - worth reading! Recommended by [[User:AgProv|AgProv]].

* {{wp|Robert Shea|Robert Shea}} on Wikipedia
* {{wp|Robert Anton Wilson|Robert Anton Wilson}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Tanya Huff|Tanya Huff}}==
The Keeper's Chronicles are a set of three (so far) books taking place in Canada, a sort of urban fantasy-comedy. More overt than Discworld but a lot of fun.

* {{wp|Tanya_Huff|Tanya Huff}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Barry Hughart|Barry Hughart}}==
''Bridge of Birds'' - "A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was."

Li Kao is a great scholar with a slight flaw in his character. His patron and servant, by turns, is Number Ten Ox, a peasant lad of unusual size and strength and more wit than anyone expects. The two engage in fantastic adventures in a version of Seventh-Century China unknown to historians. Annotators might find more amusement than even Pratchett provides (if they are serious students of Chinese history) trying to separate the research from the imagination.

The similarity between Li Kao and another wrinkly little old man with unusual powers will strike most Pratchett readers. Don't tell the British press; they'll be off to Arizona to pester Mr. Hughart for his reaction to the outrageous plagiarism (again.)

The series continues with ''Eight Skilled Gentlemen'' and ''The Story of the Stone'', but these are rare and expensive.

* {{wp|Barry_Hughart|Barry Hughart}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Diana Wynne Jones|Diana Wynne Jones}}==
The books are intended for a younger audience but I (and other Pratchett fans with the Tiffany Aching series) have often found so-called children's books to be extremely well written, often more so than their adult counterparts. One of the major themes in her books is the "multiverse" theory--explored in Pratchett as Quantum and [[Trousers of Time|The Trousers of Time]]. She has a fairly extensive bibliography; I would recommend starting with "Deep Secret" (written in a psuedo-epistolary style) or "Charmed Life" (in The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Vol 1). "Charmed Life" has a more Tiffany Aching-esque feel to it. --[[User:Anatwork|Anatwork]] 05:27, 2 April 2007 (CEST).

Diana Wynne Jones's ''The Tough Guide to Fantasyland'' is recommended by Terry, and includes many Discworld themes, such as swords, lost heirs, and Cities of Wizards. [[User:Marmosetpower|Marmosetpower]] 14:55, 7 November 2011 (CET)

* {{wp|Diana_Wynne_Jones|Diana Wynne Jones}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Fritz Leiber|Fritz Leiber}}==
Classic sword & sorcery, but very often kind of tongue-in-cheek. TP has admitted that his early Discworld books, which can be seen as a parody of the S&S genre, were heavily inspired by Leiber's series about Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. --[[User:Havelock|Havelock]] 02:20, 1 April 2007 (CEST)

In fact, the principal city of the ''Fafhrd and Gray Mouser'' stories is named "Lankhmar", which is very similar to that of [[Ankh-Morpork]], and seems to share its social complexity.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Leiber Fritz Leiber] on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Stanislaw Lem|Stanislaw Lem}}==
Stanislaw Lem is a Polish writer of science fiction, some of which is very funny and whimsical. He has been lucky with English translations that capture the spirit of the original, and try to keep up with the word play. '''''[[Wikipedia:The_Cyberiad|Cyberiad]]''''' is a great place to start; it's a series of stories about the robot inventors Trurl and Klapaucius. Great illustrations by Daniel Mróz, too! Oh, and if you saw the George Clooney film version of Lem's great novel Solaris and that turned you off, just ignore it: see the original Russian film version instead.

* {{wp|Stanislaw Lem|Stanislaw Lem}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Roy Lewis|Roy Lewis}}==
Another suggestion from Terry Pratchett himself: he brought '''''The Evolution Man''''' to a British television show-and-tell as a book he wished he'd written. He said he'd read it in 1961 when it was nearly new and the influence on the thirteen-year-old writer is apparent. 
The book describes a family of "ape-men" who are responsible for most of the social and technological development of the paleolithic era over one generation, somewhat like {{wp|Jean_Auel|Jean Auel's}} Cro-Magnons in ''Clan of the Cave Bear'' but lots funnier. It has also been published as ''What We Did to Father'' and ''Once Upon an Ice Age''. Recently republished in the US by Vintage Books.

* {{wp|Roy_Lewis|Roy Lewis}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Dan McGirt|Dan McGirt}}==
{{wp|Jason_Cosmo|Jason Comso}} series, a tongue-in-cheek approach to swords and sorcery.

* {{wp|Dan_McGirt|Dan McGirt}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Michael Moorcock|Michael Moorcock}}==
Another author spoofed by Terry Pratchett ({{COM}}, {{E}}) and worth reading in his own right.

Known in his early writing years for prolific production of potboilers - the Elric series are well worth reading as "straight", if high-camp, fantasy fiction and provide a lot of background detail, as to where some of the jokes in the earliest Discworld novels originate.

Moorcock has tried his hand at farce and comic writing in the Pratchett mould: a novel called '''''The Chinese Agent''''', about a chaotic collision and an escalating series of misunderstandings between the world's secret services operating in London, is laugh-out-loud funny reading, with echoes of {{GO}}.

Similarly, there is a short story called ''The Stone Thing (A Tale of Strange Parts)'' in the anthology '''''The Flying Sorcerers''''' (Souvenir Press, 1997) where Moorcock attempts to take the mickey out of his own portentous high-camp style of writing, before anyone else does.--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 17:02, 9 May 2007 (CEST). This anthology also features a Terry Pratchett short story called '''''Turntables of the Night'''''. Recommended by [[User:AgProv|AgProv]].

Also worth reading is the Von Bek series, beginning with ''The Warhound and the World's Pain'', and the Dancers at the End of Time series, which begins with ''An Alien Heat'', and is full of Oscar Wilde-esque humour. Both of these series are available in omnibus editions.

* {{wp|Michael_Moorcock|Michael Moorcock}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Christopher Moore|Christopher Moore}}==
Hilariously funny novels, which while not exactly fantasy or science fiction have elements of both. Vampires, demons, cargo cults. Death turns up as well, although it's more of a Tooth Fairy-esque franchise than a single anthropomorphic personification. It's probably best to read them in publication order, as recurring characters develop over the novels. Start with ''{{wp|Practical_Demonkeeping|Practical Demonkeeping}}'', for an introduction to the barely sane inhabitants of Pine Cove.

* {{wp|Christopher_Moore_%28author%29|Christopher Moore}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|John Moore|John Moore}}==
Small but sweet novels set in a sort of alternate, anachronistic fairy-tale past. Humorous fantasy but with a definite American touch (a la Shrek). Whimsical, but with serious undertones.

* {{wp|John Moore (American author)|John Moore}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Kim Newman|Kim Newman}}==
A founder member of the [[H.P. Lovecraft Holiday Fun Club]], Kim wrote '''Anno Dracula''', the definitive "what if..." book, starting from the utter failure of van Helsing and his well-intended dreamers to destroy Count Dracula. This irritating little diversion dealt with, Dracula then resumes his trip to England, and introduces himself at Court as a member of very long-standing Rumanian royal dynasty. Which is true, to a given value of true. Queen victoria then invites her relative - well, he's European royalty, he ''must'' be related - to come and stay at Buck House, or Sandringham, maybe Balmoral, or the one on the Isle of Wight. Having been invited into the palace, Dracula, like a certain vampire noble in {{CJ}}, stays. And stays. And takes over England. And by extension the British Empire. (Does this sound like a certain Pratchett book yet?). He even marries the royal widow and becomes King-Emperor. Then invites the family over from Transylvania. The idea if a vampire dynasty ruling Britain, the degree of acceptance/rebellion it engenders, and how Dracula dealt with threats to British world rule, is continued in the following novels of the trilogy. .--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]]
* {{wp|Kim Newman|Kim Newman}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Naomi Novik|Naomi Novik}}==
A fantasy dragon-story, set in the original 17th century Roundworld! The story isn't as funny as a Discworld novel, but Temeraire's dialogue (the dragon in question) can be very tongue-in-cheek! Could be a bit girlish book, but then again, you can very well be one! .--[[User:Charlie007|Charlie007]]

* {{wp|Naomi_Novik|Naomi Novik}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Pat O'Shea|Pat O'Shea}}==
Although her book {{wp|The_Hounds_of_the_Morrigan|'''''The Hounds of the Morrigan'''''}} is aimed at children, like the best children's writers she creates a world which may also be inhabited by adults without their losing face. Set in West Galway, two children come to realise that despite St Patrick's best efforts, the old Irish gods and goddesses never went away. They just went ''over there a wee bit''.

The return of the Old Gods to modern (1970's?) Ireland has its threat: the Goddess who has awoken is the old and evil Morrigan, the triple-goddess of death and chaos and nightmare. She must be stopped...

O'Shea blends the ancient tales into a modern Irish landscape with deftness and humour. The children enter the ''other'' Ireland of myth and fable, and while at its worst the humour takes on a Disney-Oirish cuteness, the colour and texture of the book slowly darken into a mythological landscape Neil Gaiman would be proud of (not without humour). Recommended. --[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 23:15, 25 July 2007 (CEST)

* {{wp|Pat_O'Shea|Pat O'Shea}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Mervyn Peake|Mervyn Peake}}==
Have you ever wondered about the description of Lancre Castle, in the early pages of {{WS}}, as ''having been designed by an architect who'd heard about Ghormenghast, but had done the best he can despite having neither the budget nor the space?'' Or about the description of the way time and space do weird things in the precincts of Unseen University, with the effect that ''it makes Ghormenghast look like a toolshed on a railway allotment?''

Well, Peake is the source: his contribution to the fantasy fiction ouevre is the magnificent and thick-as-several-bricks ''Ghormenghast'' trilogy, a beautifully written account of life in a massive, rambling, castle-cum-city-cum-palace which has, er, accumulated over the course of several thousand years, with every new generation adding further bits to it as they see fit. Therefore it rambles a bit, like the most eccentric English stately home, and entire rooms, floors, even wings, have been lost over the centuries.

Peake richly describes the settings and populates the Castle with a civilization of grotesques, of whom the sanest and most sympathetic is possibly the good Doctor Prunesquallor, a man who like Cosmo Lavish is burdened with a dificult and sometimes embarrassing sister.

The social system is a suffocating heirarchy where a royal family rules at the top, and everyone else is born into a rigid caste system where even their very jobs are mapped out for them at birth. There is no way to change one's preordained social status, and until the advent of a rebellious kitchen scullion named Steerpike, nobody attempts to. At first a hero deserving sympathy, Steerpike climbs literally and metaphorically out of the depths of the castle kitchens and begins a calculated advance to the very top. His character subtly changes as his ambition grows, and it is clear he is seeking to depose the ruling family. After several murders, the former hero has become a monster: he is indirectly responsible for the death of the heroine Fuchsia, whose brother, Titus Groan, heir to Ghormenghast, resolves to destroy him.

A magnificent piece of fantasy and "baroque humour", a must-read for anyone into fantasy fiction, and another source of ideas and in-jokes for TP! ({{P}} is thought to be heavily influenced by Peake's characters. See [[Book:Pyramids/Annotations|here]]).

'''January 2010''': Breaking news. A fourth '''Gormenghast''' novel, started by Peake and finished, at least in draft outline, by his widow, has been dicovered among a batch of the late author's papers. There is a possibility that it will see print by 2011. More here:- [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jan/15/gormenghast-sequel-mervyn-peake-widow?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Fbooks%2Frss+(Books)|More_here]. --[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 02:52, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

* {{wp|Mervyn Peake|Mervyn Peake}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Philip Pullman|Philip Pullman}}==
An obvious choice, perhaps, but if you're looking for the fantastic and not just the hilarious, ''{{wp|His_Dark_Materials|His Dark Materials}}'' is a fabulous trilogy. It's probably the best fantasy since Tolkien. Terry Brooks, {{wp|Dragonlance|Weis and Hickman}}, {{wp|The_Dark_Is_Rising|Susan Cooper}} have all been and gone; JK Rowling's had a good go, but this is by far the best written of all of them. I know it's just become a film, but read the books first. The metaphysics is cool too. The idea of multiple worlds and realities (parallel universes?) could have come from [[Ponder Stibbons]] himself... --[[User:Knmatt|Knmatt]] 14:05, 23 December 2007 (CET)

* {{wp|Philip_Pullman|Philip Pullman}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Robert Rankin|Robert Rankin}}==
Much kookier than Pratchett, Rankin has a love affair with running gags and breaking down the fourth wall, has a style that seesaws between grandiose and I'll-break-yer-teeth, and his books generally involve small British towns and aliens, Hell, Elvis, time travel, or all of them at once. Described as "stark raving genius". His most recent book, ''The Educated Ape'', has a chimpanzee for its lead character who is oddly reminiscent of a certain orang-utan, thwarting misdeeds in a Victorian Steampunk London assisted by scientists, assassins, and wizards. Hmm.

* {{wp|Robert_Rankin|Robert Rankin}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Jonathan Stroud|Jonathan Stroud}}==
Author of the Bartimaeus Trilogy. These books are very witty with a superb use of footnotes. Told from the point of view of a wisecracking demon summoned by British magicians.

* {{wp|Jonathan_Stroud|Jonathan Stroud}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Ronald Searle|Ronald Searle}}==
A cartoonist, who created the St Trinians schoolgirls, as well as the Molesworth stories (in fact written by Geoffrey Willians) and several other books, like an illustrated adaption of Gilbert and Sullivan's work for print ''Dick Dead Eye''.

* {{wp|Ronald Searle|Ronald Searle}} on Wikipedia; {{wp|Geoffrey Willians|Geoffrey Willians}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Douglas Adams|Douglas Adams}} (''At last! Honorary and actual #42!'')==
English comic author sometimes compared to Terry Pratchett, most famous for his ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' series, who passed away in May 2001.

He developed a Pratchett-like idea in his novel ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Dark_Tea-Time_of_the_Soul The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul]'' (1988), where idiosyncratic private investigator Dirk Gently has to investigate a case involving the survival of the old Norse gods into the present day, and the nature of the dark pact they have to enter into to ensure their continued existence. This book echoes the Pratchett theme that a god may only survive so long as belief persists, and that there is no thing sadder than a god still doggedly hanging on after the need for him (or her) has ended.

The book also develops the concept of Thor (who is also encountered in ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life,_the_Universe_and_Everything Life, the Universe, and Everything]'' (1982) as an otherwise unnamed Thunder God trying to pull Trillian at a party, and being outwitted by Arthur Dent) as an over-muscled and somewhat thick god with exaggerated body language.

Some concepts are shared by Pratchett and Adams in their respective science-fiction work, most notably a debunking of the utopian ''Star Trek'' ideal that greater technological sophistication confers greater wisdom and a pacifistic world-view.

It can justly be said that Arthur Dent and [[Twoflower]] share a common characteristic: both are ignorant wanderers in a strange and foreign world, but the difference is that Arthur Dent is painfully and continually aware of how dangerous it all is, and of how much the settled inhabitants view him with condescending derision. (''Hey, monkeyman''!) Twoflower is blissfully unaware of the dangers and ambles unconcernedly through life. While it is true Arthur Dent does not have [[the Luggage]] to defend him, he is equipped with the Babel Fish (the equivalent is [[Rincewind]]'s ear for language) together with the resources embodied in Ford Prefect. Is Rincewind a parallel of Ford Prefect? Well, both have a vested interest in cheating death and running away from potential trouble by any means available. Just as Rincewind is constrained by the [[Patrician]]'s expressed wish to keep Twoflower alive and well, Ford must keep Arthur alive, as the last living being from planet Earth who may know the Question to the Answer. In both cases, a genuine friendship (of sorts) exists. --[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 17:02, 9 May 2007 (CEST) Seen otherwise, Arthur Dent shares some of ''Rincewind'''s view that he will be flung into a bad situation ''no matter what''.

* [http://www.douglasadams.com/ The official Douglas Adams website]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams Douglas Adams] on Wikipedia
* [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams Douglas Adams] on Wikiquote
* [http://h2g2.com/ h2g2] - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

=={{wp|Theodore Sturgeon|Theodore Sturgeon}}==
The father of modern science fiction and sometime writer of wonderful fantasy short stories. He is often mentioned for his apparent prediction of the DNA molecule in his novella, ''The Golden Helix'' .
Sturgeon was the kind of professional writer, like TP, who could knock off an assignment from elsewhere with imagination and force (e.g. {{wp|I, Libertine|''I, Libertine''}}), and he has similarly been accused of literature. 
Look for {{wp|More Than Human|''More Than Human''}}, {{wp|The Dreaming Jewels|''The Dreaming Jewels''}} (aka The Synthetic Man), {{wp|Without Sorcery|''Without Sorcery''}}, ''E. Pluribus Unicorn'', ''Caviar'', but any collection you stumble across will contain a gem or two.

* {{wp|Theodore Sturgeon|Theodore Sturgeon}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Joseph Wambaugh|Joseph Wambaugh}}==
like Edward Conlon above, Wambaugh is an ex-beat cop turned novelist. His first novel '''the New Centurions''' was written in 1971 whilst still a serving cop, and followed a group of misfits from police academy into their first probationary year on the beat on Los Angeles streets. A theme of New Centurions is the gradual build-up to a city-wide riot beginning in its equivalent of [[The Shades]] that put Los Angeles on the world map for all the wrong reasons. His fledgling cops have to deal with this as best they can - think {{MAA}} here. (In real life, the [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_Riots|the Watts Riot] of 1965). The work for which he is most famous, '''The Choirboys''', employs the same combination of black humour and gritty realism, and is known to have influenced Terry Pratchett in creating the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv|talk]]) 15:36, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

* {{wp|Joseph Wambaugh|Joseph Wambaugh}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|List_of_Dragonlance_novels|Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman}}==
The ''Dragonlance'' series of books are quite possibly the best all-out quintessential fantasy books since J. R. R. Tolkien. A normal premise (a relatively unassuming band of friends – who happen to be a warrior, a wizard, a knight, a half-elf, an elven princess, a hobbit-like creature, a dwarf and so on) become involved in a quest, and end up saving the world. Kitsch as that sounds, the story is genuinely enthralling and the first series spawned a massive TLR push, and there are now in excess of 50 books, Dungeons & Dragons-style RPGs &c all based on them. Go read - the first three (''Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night and Dragons of Spring Dawning'') are wonderful. --[[User:Knmatt|Knmatt]] 20:21, 15 August 2007 (CEST)

The {{wp|Darksword|''Darksword''}} trilogy and the {{wp|Rose_of_the_Prophet|''Rose of the Prophet''}} trilogy are well worth reading, too. They are a lot more original than any of the ''Dragonlance'' books. The seven {{wp|The_Deathgate_Cycle|''Deathgate''}} books are well written, too.

* {{wp|List_of_Dragonlance_novels|Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|P.G. Wodehouse|P.G. Wodehouse}}==
Wodehouse's stories feature light humor, similar to Pterry's earlier works. Flashes of Wodehouse whimsy appear regularly and young Pratchett heroes like [[Moist von Lipwig]] resemble PGW's ''Psmith''. Willikins the butler, of course, comes in a straight line from the famous ''Jeeves''. There are a number of direct references, including, in *Hogfather* a suggestion that the Hogfather's pigs be urged on with the cry "Pighoo--ooey!" an echo of a Wodehouse story by the same name.

Also like Wodehouse is the development of several distinct groups of stories with their own casts and localities. The Blandings books are set at Blandings Castle and usually have to with the Earl of Emsworth's obsession with his pig; the Mulliner Stories are set in the Angler's Rest and are increasingly tall tales about Mr. Mulliner's relatives; the Drones Club is set in London among a set of truly hapless, albeit wealthy young men.

The turn of phrase is very similar: Neil Gaiman has pointed out that he, PTerry, Douglas Adams, and Jasper Fforde can all do it. Pratchett goes into darker territory: the most threatening figures in Wodehouse are aunts. But it can be argued that both Wodehouse and Pratchett present a view of the world that is ultimately accepting and tolerant.

* {{wp|P.G. Wodehouse|P.G. Wodehouse}} on Wikipedia

=={{wp|Patricia C. Wrede |Patricia C. Wrede }}==
Humorous fantasy in a Candide-like style (very short chapters with very long titles). Her {{wp|Enchanted Forest Chronicles|''Enchanted Forest Chronicles''}} explore what happens to a beautiful 16-year-old princess who does not WANT to get married to a handsome prince. Ostensibly written for children, it has a ''Harry Potter''-like style that can be enjoyed by adults (and was written ''way'' before ''Harry Potter'', btw!). [[User:Kellyterryjones|Kellyterryjones]] 00:47, 24 December 2007 (CET) She has also written a series of fantasy books set in an alternate frontier America. [[User:Tiffany_Aching|Tiffany_Aching]] 10:43, 17 July 2014

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Wrede Patricia C. Wrede] on Wikipedia

[[Category:Reading suggestions]]

Book:The Unadulterated Cat

2016-07-20T12:17:56Z

AnnieBudgie: Putting in a link.

{{Book Data
|cover=[[File:The Unadulterated Cat.jpg|220px|Cover art for {{PAGENAME}}]]
|illustrator=[[Gray Jolliffe]]
|date=1989
|publisher=Victor Gollancz
|isbn= 0752853694
|pages=160
|rrp=
|series=
|characters=
|annotations=
|notes=
}}
==Blurb==
The book of the Campaign to Save [[Real Cat]]s.

Not fluffy cute little TV advert cats but real hissing and clawing cats. The sort that not only catch mice, but also disembowel, eat and then bring the skin, and miscellaneous choice inner parts, home, to leave on your pillow as a present.

==Also see==
In the Discworld, [[Greebo]] and [[You]] are both in their distinctive ways [[Real Cat]]s.
[[Achmed The Mad|Achmed I Just Get These Headaches]] created a book of humorous cat stories.

{{stub}}
[[Category:Books by Terry Pratchett|Unadulterated Cat, The]]

Short Story:Troll Bridge

2016-07-20T10:53:10Z

AnnieBudgie:

"Troll Bridge" is a Discworld short story, written by Terry Pratchett in 1991 for a collection entitled ''After The King: Stories in Honour of J.R.R. Tolkien.''

The story stars [[Cohen the Barbarian]], who plans to prove himself by killing a [[Troll]] in single combat. Instead, he and the Troll find themselves reminiscing about how the Discworld used to be, when trolls all hid under [[Death Bridge|bridges]] to be killed by heroes, and the land was not yet settled. It ends with [[Mica]], the [[Troll]], giving him three addresses...

The story was republished in {{BS}}.

In 2011, a short film of [[TV and Film:Troll Bridge|''Troll Bridge'']] was in production by Snowgum Films.

[[Category:Short Stories|Troll Bridge]]

Short Story:Incubust

2016-07-20T10:38:04Z

AnnieBudgie: Created page with "A man, or rather magician, summons a fiend from the depths of the Pit to teach her a lesson she wouldn't forget, and as he sits triumphant, he gets a phonecall. This was a dr..."

A man, or rather magician, summons a fiend from the depths of the Pit to teach her a lesson she wouldn't forget, and as he sits triumphant, he gets a phonecall.

This was a drabble (being a story of exactly one hundred words, no more or less), originally written for the Drabble Project, and republished in {{BS}}.

[[Category:Short Stories]]

Short Story:Turntables of the Night

2016-07-20T09:39:45Z

AnnieBudgie: Damn well forgot a full stop.

Two men decide to start a disco business: John supplies the van and does all the electronics, and Wayne other supplies all the records. And the record guy is really into his stuff. Like ''really'' into it. If you know the record, he'll have it. If you don't, that doesn't matter. He'll have it anyway. He knows everything about them all, every single one of them, even the name of the lady who cleaned out the studio afterwards. Everything seems to go pretty well.
Until one day, when they organise a Halloween Disco.
Everything goes well at first, everyone dancing around in stupid masks and costumes, until a man in a black rhinestone suit, platform shoes and a skeleton mask arrives. Turns out, he's a collecter too. Got them all. Every single one...

First published in the anthology Hidden Turnings in 1989, this was republished in {{BS}}.

[[Category:Short Stories]]

Short Story:Turntables of the Night

2016-07-20T09:38:29Z

AnnieBudgie: Created page with "Two men decide to start a disco business: John supplies the van and does all the electronics, and Wayne other supplies all the records. And the record guy is really into his s..."

Felicity Beedle

2016-07-19T08:39:17Z

AnnieBudgie: Grammer

{{Character Data
|title= The Poo Lady
|photo=
|name= Miss Felicity Beedle
|race= Human
|age= Older

|occupation= Author
|appearance=

|residence= At Apple Tree Cottage, near [[Ramkin Hall]] in [[the Shires]]

|death=
|parents= Mr Beedle (Father), mother raised by goblins.
|relatives=
|children= None
|marital status= widowed

|books= {{SN}}
|cameos=
}}

'''Miss Felicity Beedle''' is the bestselling author of [[57]] books, many of which have to do with poo. She is the favorite author of [[Young Sam]].

Her mother had been found by [[goblins]] in [[Uberwald]] when she was three and was raised by them. They embraced her as one of their own -- teaching her the language, giving her a mushroom farm plot, allowed her to look after a rat farm. However, when she was eleven, humans came into the goblin cave and massacred most of them, but took the young girl and 'tutored' her -- largely by whipping her whenever she spoke the goblin tongue. She had enough sense to learn to be sufficiently normal for them to trust her in the garden, where she vaulted over the wall and escaped. Until she met Mr Beedle, some of her best memories had been of the goblin cave. As a result of this, however, she often swore in Goblin.

She became a writer -- after all, the words are out there, and it can't be too hard to put them together -- for children. Titles include:

*''[[Book:The World of Poo|The World of Poo]]''
*''The Joy of Earwax''
*''Melvin and the Enormous Boil''
*''The Wee Wee Men''
*''The War with the Snot Goblins''
*''Geoffrey and the Land of Poo''
*''The Boy Who Didn't Know How To Pick His Own Scabs''
*''The Little Duckling Who Thought He Was an Elephant'' (but not ''The Elephant Who Thought it Was a Duckling'', because that would be silly)
*''Daphne and the Nose Pickers''
*''Gaston's Enormous Problem'', which won her the Gladys H. J. Ferguson Award, for the fifth time
*''Geoffrey and the Magic Pillow Case''
*''Wee''

As has often been pointed out, she gets children interested in reading, even if it is reading about poo and brain-dead ducklings.

She did have a husband, although no children, but he died shortly after the marriage in the Klatchian war recounted in {{J}}. When she moved to Apple Tree House in [[the Shires]], she changed her title from 'Mrs' to 'Miss', because it tends to be more authory.

She seems to have an interest in education; she finances scholarships at the [[Quirm College for Young Ladies]] and also teaches goblins in secret to read, play music, and so forth. It has been hinted that the 'A for Apple' system is not working, as the goblins didn't know what one was before she had brought one in. It should be noted, however, that she is not teaching them to be miniature humans, but to be well-educated goblins. For example, she is improving the sanitation of the caves, and is introducing greens to help with digestion. She concentrates on the females on the basis that they are more prone to be maternal and sensible. The male goblins think that a rabbit on a stick is healthy eating taken to extremes.

The goblin girl, [[Tears of the Mushroom]], is her star pupil. Her large hands are helpful when she plays the harp. It is unknown what she would think of [[Stinky]]...

She's probably the only publishing phenomenon mentioned living on the Discworld, which seems (surprisingly) to have less of them than on our world (fill-in-names here...)

[[Category:Discworld characters]]
[[Category:Discworld publications]]

57

2016-07-19T08:33:07Z

AnnieBudgie:

As with the number 23 in Robert Anton Wilson's ''{{wp|Illuminatus!|Illuminatus!}}'' novels, there appears to be a certain metaphysical or perhaps even occult dimension to the repeated occurence of this number in the works of Terry Pratchett.

This list will no doubt be added to over the coming months, but one that immediately springs to mind in the absence of the books is that in {{TLH}}, this contributor recollects that precisely '''fifty-seven''' pedigree varieties of [[swamp dragon]] are illustrated in a double-page spread.

References claimed by other contibutors and elsewhere on the Wiki have been brought together as follows:-

*In {{ER}}, when [[Esk]] is stranded in the trading settlement of [[Zemphis]] and looking for a way to get to [[Ankh-Morpork]], she accosts a harrassed-looking trader who is counting bales of tobacco. He gets as far as "Fiftysevenfiftysevenfiftysevenwell?" before he is forced to acknowledge her presence;

* In {{WS}}, Queen Grimnir the Impaler (1514-1553, 1553-15'''57''', 15'''57'''-1562, 1562-1567 and 1568-1573) was a vampire queen of [[Lancre]];

* In {{G!G!}}, [[Carrot Ironfoundersson]] quotes "the Public Order Act of 14'''57'''";

* In {{MP}}, ''Golde Diggers of 14'''57''''', and its sequel ''The Golde Rushe'', a reference to ''{{wp|The_Gold_Rush|The Gold Rush}}'';

* In {{MP}}, the [[Librarian]] believes that of all of the things that he has seen, the sight of a 50-foot tall [[Ginger]] being pursued by eight wizards on an antique wheelchair is "undoubtedly the '''57'''th strangest";

* In {{FOC}}, Carrot is showing [[Angua von Überwald]] the wonders of the [[Dwarf Bread Museum]]. He reverentially handles the fabled battle-bread of [[B'hrian Bloodaxe]] and tells her:- "It's the actual bread he personally wielded at the Battle of Koom Valley, killing '''fifty-seven''' trolls";

* In {{H}}, something is said to weigh "EQUALS 17,8'''57''' TONS";

* In [[Ankh-Morpork]], there is a location called [[Five-and-Seven Yard|'''Five-and-Seven''' Yard]].

* The author [[Felicity Beedle]] has written '''57''' books.

* In {{SN}}, [[Crundells]]' hermit, [[Stump]], has been "''following the noble art of herming here for nigh on '''fifty-seven''' years''".

* It has been calculated that based on an interpretation of {{DM}} and extrapolation from scales and background research, the journey time by coach between Ankh-Morpork and Genua would be 57 days.

==Annotation==

In its advertising campaigns and even on its product labels, the Heinz Corporation made this number its very own by proudly proclaiming "Fifty-Seven Varieties!" (Except in the universe of the ''Watchmen'' graphic novel, where observant readers noted a ''58'' varieties caption on the tin of beans that Rorshach consumes in the first chapter.

Fifty-seven varieties of ''what'', exactly, are never precisely defined, (just as Cadbury's famous "glass-and-a-half of milk in every bar" is never scientifically defined according to size of the glass), but for whole generations of consumers, Heinz is synonymous with the number 57.

Among car enthusiasts, 1957 is considered a banner year for both American (last year for the two seat Ford Thunderbird, '57 Chevy, Forward-Look Chryslers) and European (last year for the Oval Window VW, first year for the Morris Minor 1000) cars.

1957 marks the beginning of the Space Race with the USSR's launch of Sputnik on 4 October, 1957.

1957 is also the last year that Aston Villa won the FA Cup. May only matter to one contributor, but matter it does.

It was in 1957 that Terry Pratchett and his family moved (briefly) from Beaconsfield to Somerset at the age of nine.

[[Category: Discworld concepts]]

Beagles

2016-07-18T07:12:05Z

AnnieBudgie: Needed a capital letter.

The Beagles are a race of canine-derived beings whose path to sentience made them the dominant mammal on their homeworld, known to us as Earth West [[1,617,524]]. On this planet they occupy the evolutionary niche taken by humans on [[Datum Earth]] and inhabit a planet ruled by warring Clans, who periodically indulge in destructive wars with each other. They are ruled by a matriarchy composed of the oldest and most cunning bitches in each pack, and males, such as [[Brian the Beagle]] are scorned. Humans have Stepped through this world. The [[Combers]] who have passed this way have a warped sense of humour and a knowledge of Datum Earth television and film trivia, seemingly, as not only did they bestow the name "Beagles" for a proud race (think of comic art's most famous beagle, Snoopy), individual dominant animals are proud to carry names like "Petra", "Brian" and "Snowy".

[[Joshua Valiente]] is invited to play [[The Game]], and leaves an arm behind him here.

[[Category: Long Earth Characters]]

Pyrites

2016-07-18T07:08:29Z

AnnieBudgie:

{{Character Data
|title= Pyrites
|photo=
|name= Pyrites
|age=
|race= [[Trolls|Troll]]
|occupation= Owns a bridge
|appearance=
|residence=
|death=
|parents=
|relatives= [[Beryl]] (niece)
|children=
|marital status=
|books= {{TB}}
|cameos=
}}
Mentioned in {{TB}} as [[Beryl]]'s uncle. Pyrites owns a large wooden bridge, commonly used by merchants, although he collects a toll on this bridge rather than continuing the more ancient traditions of trolling preferred by his nephew, [[Mica]]. According to [[Beryl]], [[Mica]] should have gone in with him when he had the chance...but he says he would rather eat worms.

==Annotations==
On [[Roundworld]], {{wp|pyrite|pyrite}} is another name for Fool's Gold.

[[Category: Troll characters]]
[[de:Pyrit]]
{{stub}}

Clay

2016-07-18T07:00:55Z

AnnieBudgie:

Mentioned in {{TB}} as [[Mica]]'s fat merchant brother-in-law, this troll lives in [[Bitter Pike]], and convinced his brother [[Chert]] to replant [[Cutshade Forest]] so that they could re-sell it.
It is insinuated that [[Mica]] gives [[Cohen the Barbarian]] his address at the end of the story; I'm sure we can all guess why.

On [[Roundworld]], {{wp|clay|clay}} is a naturally occurring material, composed primarily of fine-grained minerals, so this does qualify as a "rock" name.

[[Category: Troll characters]]
{{stub}}

User talk:AnnieBudgie

2016-07-18T06:46:41Z

AnnieBudgie:

Oh, dear. Our [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] is the boss of Discworld fanfiction and I've tried a little myself. Still, it's good to have contributors who don't write it ''in the wiki''. Our American members probably call you a parakeet and might have to be forgiven. Welcome to the zoo. (Or aviary?) --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 15:11, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

Heh. I do ''try'' to distinguish between canon and my expanded take on it... and I keep any self-advertising or plugs to the discussion pages.... G'Day, Annie! Welcome to the Menagereie and we hope you'll be very happy here. [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv|talk]]) 20:17, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

==''The Hades Business''==
Nothing wrong with the article except some duplication: the "stub" template will create the category entry itself (but I don't think it needed to be a stub anyway). Using the signature icon or typing four tildes (<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>) would provide links to reply to and a date stamp (quicker to do and makes replies easier). --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 13:55, 17 July 2016 (UTC)

Thanks a bunch. I'll remember that. --[[User:AnnieBudgie|AnnieBudgie]] 18 July 2016

User talk:AnnieBudgie

2016-07-18T06:46:26Z

AnnieBudgie:

Oh, dear. Our [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] is the boss of Discworld fanfiction and I've tried a little myself. Still, it's good to have contributors who don't write it ''in the wiki''. Our American members probably call you a parakeet and might have to be forgiven. Welcome to the zoo. (Or aviary?) --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 15:11, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

Heh. I do ''try'' to distinguish between canon and my expanded take on it... and I keep any self-advertising or plugs to the discussion pages.... G'Day, Annie! Welcome to the Menagereie and we hope you'll be very happy here. [[User:AgProv|AgProv]] ([[User talk:AgProv|talk]]) 20:17, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

==''The Hades Business''==
Nothing wrong with the article except some duplication: the "stub" template will create the category entry itself (but I don't think it needed to be a stub anyway). Using the signature icon or typing four tildes (<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>) would provide links to reply to and a date stamp (quicker to do and makes replies easier). --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 13:55, 17 July 2016 (UTC)
Thanks a bunch. I'll remember that. --[[User:AnnieBudgie|AnnieBudgie]] 18 July 2016

Short Story:The Hades Business

2016-07-17T09:13:31Z

AnnieBudgie:

The Hell business is just not paying. No-one's been down there for two thousand years except some chap called Dante, who got ''quite'' the wrong impression. The Devil wants Crucible, the owner of the Square Deal Advertising Company, to help him get it back up, with people having day trips, a grand day out for all the family and such. The entire place becomes increasingly popular, with restaurants and bars poping up all over the place, and teenagers flocking there, until it's only Hell for one person: the Devil himself.

Originally posted in ''Science Fantasy Magazine'', and redone in {{BS}}, this was the first piece of writing ever published by [[Terry Pratchett]], when he was thirteen. He apparently wrote it for a piece of homework...

Categories
[[Category:Short Stories]]
[[Category:stubs]]

{{stub}}

Talk:Short Story:The Hades Business

2016-07-17T09:11:14Z

AnnieBudgie: Created page with "Okay, I made this. Is there anything else I need to do for/with it? Just wanted to check; I'm still kinda new to this... --AnnieBudgie 17 July 2016"

Okay, I made this. Is there anything else I need to do for/with it? Just wanted to check; I'm still kinda new to this... --[[User:AnnieBudgie|AnnieBudgie]] 17 July 2016

Short Story:The Hades Business

2016-07-17T09:08:52Z

AnnieBudgie: Just saw this page needed to be created and I thought 'may as well...'

The Hell business is just not paying. No-one's been down there for two thousand years except some chap called Dante, and the Devil wants Crucible, the owner of the Square Deal Advertising Company, to help him get it back up. Have day trips, a grand day out for all the family and such. The entire place becomes increasingly popular, until it's only Hell for one person: the Devil himself.

Originally posted in ''Science Fantasy Magazine'', and redone in {{BS}}, this was the first piece of writing ever published by [[Terry Pratchett]], when he was thirteen. He apparently wrote it for a piece of homework...

Categories
[[Category:Short Stories]]
[[Category:stubs]]

{{stub}}

Talk:Ermintrude Fanshaw

2016-07-17T06:09:18Z

AnnieBudgie:

Henry's (and Ermintude's) numbers in the order of succession have been batted around here and elsewhere as if by Journalists! It's like this, folks. The book states (pp.69, 379) that 138 people have to die for Henry to become King. The first of these would be the King himself, number 0. Henry, then, is 138th in succession, and Ermintrude is 139th. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 22:01, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

you mean the queen it would be queen Victoria in the mid 19th century she would be 0

did Ermintrude (Daphn) ever become queen wee know here father did but did she (unsigned comment by 86.162.133.23 4 Dec 2009}
:Yes, sh didde. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 22:13, 4 December 2009 (UTC)
I know I wrote that before finishing the book but you can’t blame me it’s not written down on her page (now it is)
:Please, whoever it is who are posting from 86.162.133.23, as a reader and fan of the works by Terry Pratchett you are most welcome to this wiki. However please read the guides to posting, please sign all of your contributions (there is a button on top of the edit-box) and if you are going to post regularly please register. Sysop --[[User:Iron Hippo|Iron Hippo]] 21:35, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
:Also; please don't hesitate to ask questions at [[Discworld & Pratchett Wiki:Mended Drum]], noobs are allowed to ask stoopid questions, old hands are not allowed to take the mickey, much ---[[User:Iron Hippo|Iron Hippo]] 00:56, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Oh, come on...I could hardly restrain myself there, could I? --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 02:30, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

==Queen Ermintrude?==
One wonders what name she assumed as Queen. Surely not Ermintrude nor Daphne? --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 02:06, 12 April 2014 (UTC)

Um, I'm pretty sure in the book it mentions she gets married...should this be mentioned in there? --[[User:AnnieBudgie|AnnieBudgie]] 16 July 2016
:It wouldn't hurt, but I think all we know about the Prince Consort is that he was Danish. Of course, with her children being mentioned, it would have been pretty exciting if she weren't married. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 14:52, 16 July 2016 (UTC)
Right, I might add that in next time I read the book if no-one else does it. --[[User:AnnieBudgie|AnnieBudgie]] 17 July 2016

Talk:Watchman

2016-07-17T06:02:41Z

AnnieBudgie:

Should we add that the Librarian was made a 'special officer' in Guards! Guards!? I mean, I know it was only for a short time so he could get his book back, but I'm pretty sure he got a badge. There's also the special watchmen, can't remember what they were called, who appear and help out in Thud. Are they in this list as well? --[[User:AnnieBudgie|AnnieBudgie]] 17 July 2016
:There are lots more Watchmen, see [[Ankh-Morpork City Watch]]. I'm not sure this page is necessary at all. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 03:43, 17 July 2016 (UTC)
Ah...well, that was rather pointless then. Perhaps this page should just be deleted, then? All the information is over on the Ankh-Morpork Watch page. --[[User:AnnieBudgie|AnnieBudgie]]

Talk:Watchman

2016-07-17T02:49:08Z

AnnieBudgie: Just a query about the page.

Watchman

2016-07-17T02:44:59Z

AnnieBudgie: Just adding some extra info...

A member of the city watch, most notably the [[Ankh-Morpork City Watch]]. Equivalent to a Roundworld policeman. In the first few books, there are only a few, however over the course of the series the number of members has grown significantly, with some watchmen being trolls, dwarfs, zombies, and in one case, [[Nobby Nobbs|probably human]].

A list of some of the known watchmen:
*[[André]]
*[[Bluejohn]]
*[[Brakenshield]]
*[[Fred Colon]]
*[[Cuddy]]
*[[Detritus]]
*[[Dorfl]]
*[[Downspout]]
*[[Emile]]
*[[Fittly]]
*[[Flint]]
*[[Hacknee]]
*[[Haddock]] doubles as Watchman at the [[Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork]]
*[[Sally von Humpeding|Salacia "Sally" Delorisista Amanita Trigestrata Zeldana Malifee...von Humpeding]]
*[[Igor#Igor at Ankh-Morpork City Watch, Ankh-Morpork|Igor]]
*[[Carrot Ironfoundersson]]
*[[Precious Jolson]]
*[[Cheery Littlebottom]]
*[[Mica]]
*C. W. St. J. [[Nobby Nobbs|"Nobby" Nobbs]]
*[[Pediment]]
*[[A.E. Pessimal]]
*[[Ping]]
*[[Schist]]
*[[Reg Shoe]]
*[[Lars Skulldrinker]]
*[[Abba Stronginthearm]]
*[[Buggy Swires]]
*[[Hrolf Thighbiter]]
*[[Angua von Überwald]]
*His Grace Sir [[Samuel Vimes]]
*[[Visit-the-Infidel-with-Explanatory-Pamphlets]] ("Washpot")
----
{{Stub}}

[[Category:Discworld concepts]]
[[Category:Groups]]

Talk:Ermintrude Fanshaw

2016-07-16T09:22:00Z

AnnieBudgie:

Um, I'm pretty sure in the book it mentions she gets married...should this be mentioned in there? --[[User:AnnieBudgie|AnnieBudgie]]

Henry's (and Ermintude's) numbers in the order of succession have been batted around here and elsewhere as if by Journalists! It's like this, folks. The book states (pp.69, 379) that 138 people have to die for Henry to become King. The first of these would be the King himself, number 0. Henry, then, is 138th in succession, and Ermintrude is 139th. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 22:01, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

you mean the queen it would be queen Victoria in the mid 19th century she would be 0

did Ermintrude (Daphn) ever become queen wee know here father did but did she (unsigned comment by 86.162.133.23 4 Dec 2009}
:Yes, sh didde. --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 22:13, 4 December 2009 (UTC)
I know I wrote that before finishing the book but you can’t blame me it’s not written down on her page (now it is)
:Please, whoever it is who are posting from 86.162.133.23, as a reader and fan of the works by Terry Pratchett you are most welcome to this wiki. However please read the guides to posting, please sign all of your contributions (there is a button on top of the edit-box) and if you are going to post regularly please register. Sysop --[[User:Iron Hippo|Iron Hippo]] 21:35, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
:Also; please don't hesitate to ask questions at [[Discworld & Pratchett Wiki:Mended Drum]], noobs are allowed to ask stoopid questions, old hands are not allowed to take the mickey, much ---[[User:Iron Hippo|Iron Hippo]] 00:56, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Oh, come on...I could hardly restrain myself there, could I? --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 02:30, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

==Queen Ermintrude?==
One wonders what name she assumed as Queen. Surely not Ermintrude nor Daphne? --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] ([[User talk:Old Dickens|talk]]) 02:06, 12 April 2014 (UTC)

Death's Domain

2016-07-16T08:26:49Z

AnnieBudgie:

'''''For the book see [[Book:Death's Domain]]'''''

'''Death's Domain''' is a realm outside of space and time. This is where [[Death]] lives together with his manservant [[Albert]], his horse [[Binky]] and (after the events of {{RM}}) the [[Death of Rats]]. Almost everything in Death's Domain is in different shades of black (which is also made up of eight colors, for those who can see them) where it isn't deep purple or shroud-white. Lilies grow in abundance and perfume the air. A later addition are the fields of billowing corn blowing in a non-existent wind, which remind the Reaper Man to take good care of the harvest. There is also a tree in the garden with a swing attached to it, however as the two branches the ropes are tied to are on ''opposite sides of the tree'' there is a large section cut out of the centre.

The main house, Mon Repos, ([[Quirmian]] for "My Place of Rest"), from the outside appears to be much like any other home though once inside the differences are obvious. As well at the expected black with skull motif, size and scale are out of perspective. The inside is larger than the outside, and, for some people, there are very large gaps of space which others do not see. As an example, Susan sees Albert enter Death's Study and step instantly to the carpet near the desk, as though the intervening hundreds of feet of space does not exist; she realizes that, for him, it doesn't.

In addition to the normal bedroom, kitchen and bathroom Death's house also contains the Library and the Room of Lifetimers, with its extra section for supernatural entities.

== Death's library ==
Death, like most passionate about their job, likes to keep a record. Death's library, which is peculiar in more than one aspect, serves as a kind of record of the Disc's living (and non-living) population.

The library is unique in several respects;

Firstly, its collection consists mainly of biographies. As a on-going record of all living, (and dead, past and present) creatures, the library is huge and old, so huge that inside the library space and time are merely suggestions, not in any kind of way rules or laws... It's so old, that among the earliest works are stone tablets, wood carvings and scrolls made of animal skins. These are kept in [[The Stack]].

Secondly, the books in the 'more recent' wings of the library are constantly writing themselves, describing the lives of their subjects. Some are short, sad little books, some are expanded into multi-volume sets, (or, in the case of Albert, still expanding). Books in the older sections of the library are silent, their subjects being long-dead.

Before Mort came along, the only regular reader was Ysabell, who liked to read tragic-but-romantic stories about princes and princesses. Now once more, the books lie there, quietly scribbling among themselves, plotting out the lives of those that live on the Disc.

Given that it is, as a library, a huge collection of books, Death's Library will be accessible through [[L-space]], but so far, it has not been hinted whenever-or-not the [[Librarian]] has used L-space to venture there, or is even aware of it.

The library will work for as long as Death himself works, until great A'tuin reaches the end of his journey, and the Discworld comes to an end.

The largest section is "A," which includes "Anon," for those who were never named. Most of these are very short books.

==Annotation==

A recurring theme in occult and spiritualist belief is that of the {{wp|Akashic_records|Akashic Records}}, which are visualized as an immensely vast, though not infinite, library recording the individual life histories of everything that has ever lived, anywhere. Even Christianity, a religion usually keen to twitch its skirts away from anything it regards as ''occult'' or ''ungodly'', has an echo of this belief. Note the concept of the {{wp|Recording_angel|Recording Angel}}, personified as {{wp|St_Peter#Popular_culture|St. Peter}} who, according to tradition, meets the newly-deceased at the Gates of Heaven, consults the book, and tells you, based on the record of your life, whether you are getting in or not. This is based on the Book of Life in Revelations, which contains the charge-sheet and mitigating circumstances for every human on Earth. Mystics and visionaries such as Swedenborg, Edgar Cayce, Madame Blavatsky, Dion Fortune, even Betty Shine and Doris Stokes, are united in asserting that the Akashic Record exists and can be accessed. Edgar Cayce, a man with full lending rights to this library, literally saw a library with an individual book for each person: it even had its (alas, human) Librarian, who helped him locate the trickier records.

The Library in Death's domain appears to be there for completion's sake, rather than as an aid to Judgement - well, if every other world in the [[Multiverse]] has an Akashic Record, why not the Discworld?

[[category:Locations]]
[[de:Tods Reich]]

Death Bridge

2016-07-14T06:17:36Z

AnnieBudgie:

In {{TB}}, this is the titular "troll bridge" guarded by [[Mica]], and looks just as you'd expect it to: old, crumbling, and made of stone, with the only path to it being little-used as of {{TB}}. It seems this bridge had been passed on to [[Mica]], and has been in his family for many years, and he loved it and hoped to pass it on to his son. However, he also had a wife who didn't want her son to grow up just to be killed by some barbarian hero. As there is also mention of a troll by the same name in the [[City Watch]], it is possible they did moved to the city, in which case the bridge would now be abandoned.

[[Category: Discworld geography]]
{{stub}}

We Can Rule You Wholesale

2016-07-14T06:07:57Z

AnnieBudgie:

Mentioned in {{MP}}, this song is [[Ankh-Morpork]]'s "national" (civic) anthem. It was written by a widely travelled vampire who noticed that in every country, all patriots know only the first verse of the national anthem and then mumble along and sing the bits they do remember very loudly to give the illusion they know it all. Thus inspired he decided to cut out the middleman, as it were, and write the version that would be sung by patriots regardless of the officially sanctioned version. During the revolution of the [[Glorious Revolution|Glorious 25th of May]] (documented in {{NW}}), the singing of this anthem by [[Reg Shoe]] was considered evidence of rebel activity. In {{UA}} the anthem was sung, as is traditional, before the start of the [[Football|Foot-the-Ball]] match at [[The Hippo]]. It was also recorded in the book {{BS}}, along with some information about it.

==Lyrics==

''"When dragons belch and hippos flee'' 
''My thoughts, Ankh-Morpork, are of thee'' 
''Let others boast of martial dash'' 
''For we have boldly fought with cash'' 
''We own all your helmets, we own all your shoes'' 
''We own all your generals - touch us and you'll lose.'' 

''Morporkia! Morporkia!'' 
''Morporkia owns the day!'' 
''We can rule you wholesale'' 
''Touch us and you'll pay.''

''We bankrupt all invaders, we sell them souvenirs'' 
''We ner ner ner ner ner, hner ner hner by the ears'' 
''Er hner we ner ner ner ner ner'' 
''Ner ner her ner ner ner hner the ner'' 
''Er ner ner hner ner, nher hner ner ner (etc.)'' 
''Ner hner ner, your gleaming swords'' 
''We mortgaged to the hilt'' 

''Morporkia! Morporkia!'' 
''Hner ner ner ner ner ner'' 
''We can rule you wholesale'' 
''Credit where it's due."''

==Annotations==
The song title might be a reference to the Philip K Dick [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Can_Remember_It_For_You_Wholesale We Can Remember It For You Wholesale]. In Roundworld it was written for the BBC Radio 3 programme ''The Music Machine'' by Pratchett (words) and Carl Davis (music) and performed by Clare Rutter, a soprano, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

It might possibly be approximately sung to the Roundworld tunes ''Tannenbaum'' or ''The Red Flag''

Note: Wholesale really is another name for trade, but it doesn't just mean to trade something. When you buy something in a shop 'trade' you expect to buy it at a lower price, likewise if you sell wholesale you expect to sell it for a higher price than retailers. In other words, retailers keep the customer's price high and the stock price low. This is probably why wholesale appeals to Ankh-Morpork.

The Anthem was performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the soprano was Claire Rutter in 1999. It was also performed at that year's Proms by the Prommers' Orchestra and Chorus. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAqCbOJc6RU Link]

[[Category: Discworld culture]]

We Can Rule You Wholesale

2016-07-14T06:06:25Z

AnnieBudgie:

Mentioned in {{MP}}, this song is [[Ankh-Morpork]]'s "national" (civic) anthem. It was written by a widely travelled vampire who noticed that in every country, all patriots know only the first verse of the national anthem and then mumble along and sing the bits they do remember very loudly to give the illusion they know it all. Thus inspired he decided to cut out the middleman, as it were, and write the version that would be sung by patriots regardless of the officially sanctioned version. During the revolution of the [[Glorious Revolution|Glorious 25th of May]] (documented in {{NW}}), the singing of this anthem by [[Reg Shoe]] was considered evidence of rebel activity. In {{UA}} the anthem was sung, as is traditional, before the start of the [[Football|Foot-the-Ball]] match at [[The Hippo]]. It was also recorded in the book [[A Blink of the Screen]], along with some information about it.

==Lyrics==

''"When dragons belch and hippos flee'' 
''My thoughts, Ankh-Morpork, are of thee'' 
''Let others boast of martial dash'' 
''For we have boldly fought with cash'' 
''We own all your helmets, we own all your shoes'' 
''We own all your generals - touch us and you'll lose.'' 

''Morporkia! Morporkia!'' 
''Morporkia owns the day!'' 
''We can rule you wholesale'' 
''Touch us and you'll pay.''

''We bankrupt all invaders, we sell them souvenirs'' 
''We ner ner ner ner ner, hner ner hner by the ears'' 
''Er hner we ner ner ner ner ner'' 
''Ner ner her ner ner ner hner the ner'' 
''Er ner ner hner ner, nher hner ner ner (etc.)'' 
''Ner hner ner, your gleaming swords'' 
''We mortgaged to the hilt'' 

''Morporkia! Morporkia!'' 
''Hner ner ner ner ner ner'' 
''We can rule you wholesale'' 
''Credit where it's due."''

==Annotations==
The song title might be a reference to the Philip K Dick [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Can_Remember_It_For_You_Wholesale We Can Remember It For You Wholesale]. In Roundworld it was written for the BBC Radio 3 programme ''The Music Machine'' by Pratchett (words) and Carl Davis (music) and performed by Clare Rutter, a soprano, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

It might possibly be approximately sung to the Roundworld tunes ''Tannenbaum'' or ''The Red Flag''

Note: Wholesale really is another name for trade, but it doesn't just mean to trade something. When you buy something in a shop 'trade' you expect to buy it at a lower price, likewise if you sell wholesale you expect to sell it for a higher price than retailers. In other words, retailers keep the customer's price high and the stock price low. This is probably why wholesale appeals to Ankh-Morpork.

The Anthem was performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the soprano was Claire Rutter in 1999. It was also performed at that year's Proms by the Prommers' Orchestra and Chorus. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAqCbOJc6RU Link]

[[Category: Discworld culture]]

Bursar

2016-06-25T01:14:57Z

AnnieBudgie:

{{Character Data
|title= The Bursar
|photo=
|name= A. A. Dinwiddie
|age= 71 in {{TT}}
|race= [[:Category:Human characters|Human]]
|occupation= Bursar
|appearance= Elderly, with beard and often cross-eyed if he's just had he's dried-frog pills.
|residence= [[Unseen University]]
|death=
|parents=
|relatives= A sister in the Ramtops
|children=
|marital status= Never Married
|books= [[Book:Eric|Eric]] [[Book:Moving Pictures|Moving Pictures]] [[Book:Reaper Man|Reaper Man]] [[Book:Lords and Ladies|Lords and Ladies]] [[Book:Soul Music|Soul Music]] [[Book:Interesting Times|Interesting Times]] [[Book:Hogfather|Hogfather]] [[Book:The Last Continent|The Last Continent]] [[Book:The Truth|The Truth]]
|cameos= {{J}}
}}

The [[Bursar]], real name Dr. A. A. Dinwiddie, (spelled with an "''O'',") D.M.(7th), D.Thau., B.Occ., M.Coll., B.F., is an "''[[wikipedia:Idiot savant|idiot savant]]''," who has been sadly unsettled by his work at the [[Unseen University]]. When he first appeared in [[Book:Eric|Eric]] and [[Book:Moving Pictures|Moving Pictures]] the Bursar actually appeared relatively sane, but during the events of [[Book:Reaper Man|Reaper Man]] he became increasingly unhinged. As a consequence he requires regular ingestion of [[dried frog pills]] to maintain normality, though he is essentially overdosed until his mind is in a heaven of pink clouds and his body is stiff. As he could still apparently function as a bursar - a job no-one else wanted - it was initially a minor consequence to his fellow wizards.

When there is a threatening situation, the Bursar tries to contribute to the discussion, but his contributions are rarely relevant. Sometimes he speaks as though he's doing something else, e.g. calling for a pub landlord while he's really at a college council meeting. Sometimes he talks as though he has imaginary alternate personalities. Sometimes his sayings are entirely incoherent. On at least one occasion, the Bursar went through the previous day... backwards. Also, he has hallucinated that he could fly at least once, which led to [[Mustrum Ridcully|Ridcully]] trying to get him away from the ceiling. His insanity is so renowned, that "''going bursar''" has become a byword for "''going crazy''" in [[Ankh-Morpork]].

The Bursar's original personality could be considered quiet and reserved, and he became the UU Bursar because no-other wizard was so happy as he could be when working with numbers. However, Mustrum Ridcully's promotion to Archancellor led to the Bursar's current insanity, as Ridcully's personality wore away at his own, and he had eventually reached his current-level of (in)sanity. The Bursar's idea of excitement was originally a soft-boiled egg, and Ridcully's presence made him highly strung and nervous. Nowadays there are many kinds of "''health restrictions''" for him, like only using a wooden spoon at meals, and not eating anything sugary.

Happily, just very recently, the Bursar's colleagues had figured out that they could make the Bursar hallucinate that he's sane, (since events in ''[[Book:The Truth|The Truth]]'',) which most of the population already do without the help of dried frog pills. The Bursar now acts rational and coherent except that he really does fly around, and that it's still relatively easy to upset him.

In {{TLC}}, it is revealed that he suffers from [[Planets]], an occupational hazard of wizards.

Like many members of the faculty and college council, the Bursar is usually referred to by his job-title rather by his name, (the only other prominent faculty to be named are [[Rincewind]], [[Mustrum Ridcully]], [[Ponder Stibbons]], [[John Hicks]], [[Senior Wrangler|Horace]] and [[Dean|Henry]].) Dr. Dinwiddie's first definite appearance is in ''[[Book:Moving Pictures|Moving Pictures]]''. He may also have been the Bursar in ''[[Book:Eric|Eric]]'', since it is not a post that wizards kill the incumbent to attain. In {{TLC}}, it's mentioned that the Bursar first enrolled at UU at a time when wizards' training began at a very young age.

As of {{UA}}, it seems that his insanity has reached the point where he could not properly fulfil his duties. He is said to have developed a specialised form of dyslexia, where he is unsure as to where the decimal point goes. Perhaps his increasing addiction to the sort of higher mathematics which can only be understood by three other people as well as those who habitually write in crayon, dribble a lot, and require serious medication, has rendered him unfit for the more mundane sort of number-juggling. His role as Bursar has since been taken on by the increasingly-overburdened [[Ponder Stibbons]].

The Bursar has a special knack for casting the spell 'Eringyas' Surprising Bouquet'. Useless, but it makes nice roses.

==Previous Bursars==
Dr. Dinwiddie is the current and long-running Bursar in the ''[[Discworld]]'' series since the University's politics stabilized with the Archchancellorship of Mustrum Ridcully. However, there had been previous Bursar(s) who had been named earlier in the series.

* [[Spelter]]: Bursar in ''[[Book:Sourcery|Sourcery]]''.
* In {{TLF}}, the bursar "''was not a wizard''," however Spelter was a Fifth Level wizard and Dr Dinwiddie has a string of UU qualifications after his name, suggesting that this is not a fixed policy. Or that dual-qualified wizard/Accountants are hard to find.

==Bursars in other Guilds and trades==
* It is possible the [[Assassins' Guild]]'s Bursar, Mr [[Winvoe]], is showing the early signs of requiring Dried Frog Pills. The business with the [[Auditors]] and discovering his book-keeping is out by three and a half million gold pieces appears to cause him a certain amount of occupational stress.
* [[Mavolio Bent]] occupies a similar position at the Royal Bank, and is a mass of nervous tics and complexes. Although in his case, having run away from the circus to join a bank might explain things. Coming to terms with being a born Clown and accepting a seriously repressed side of himself appears to have helped.

[[Category:Discworld characters]]
[[Category:Serial characters]]
[[Category:Supporting characters]]
[[Category:Human characters]]
[[Category:Wizards]]
[[de:Quästor]]

Night Kitchen

2016-06-05T08:53:27Z

AnnieBudgie:

The Night Kitchen is the second most important place at [[Unseen University]] after - not the [[Great Hall]] - but the main kitchen. [[Wizards]] do '''not''' like going hungry, so somebody needs to make the ''hundreds'' of pies needed to keep them going through the night.

Those somebodies are the denizens of the Night Kitchen, led by [[Glenda Sugarbean]]. Here she was less-than-ably assisted by [[Juliet Stollop]] before she set off as [[Jewels]]. Also with Mrs Hedges on cheese boards, and Mildred and Rachel the vegetable women.

Mrs [[Whitlow]] does not seem to like the Night Kitchen workers, and is under the impression that only the girls from the main kitchen should be allowed in the University itself.

{{stub}}

[[Category:Locations]]
[[Category:Unseen University Locations]]
[[de:Nachtküche]]

Maurice

2016-05-09T10:02:12Z

AnnieBudgie:

{{Character Data
|title= The Amazing Maurice
|photo=
|name= Maurice
|age= indeterminate
|race= [[cats|feline]]

|occupation= scam artist
|appearance= that of a streetwise tomcat, ie barely any ears left and scars all over his nose

|residence= no fixed abode

|death= has an Arrangement with [[Death]] re number of lives left
|parents=
|relatives=
|children=
|marital status=

|books= {{TAM}}
|cameos= {{RM}}
}}

A [[cats|cat]] who is ''good'' at doing what cats do, ie steering people.
''A miouw here, a purr there, a little gentle pressure with a claw...''Add a human-level intelligence induced by eating somebody he shouldn't ([[Additives]]), whilst foraging in the [[Unreal Estate]], and we have a master scam artist with a vastly expanded repertoire.

His human-level intelligence is similar to [[Gaspode|Gaspode's]] in that he has also gained the ability to speak human, and similarly uses it in order to influence a person (thinking his voice is their conscience) or a crowd (thinking it was another crowd-member talking).

The whole idea with the rat-piping was Maurice's brainchild... all it took was a clan of intelligent [[rats]] and a [[Keith the Piper|stupid-looking kid]] who could play the pipes a bit. With his intelligence he also develops other human-like attributes such as compassion but after a successful conclusion in [[Bad Blintz]] he opts to leave the area.

He is still allowed to catch rats, as long as they are [[Keekee|Keekees]]: If a rat he has caught can't speak on request, he can eat it.

While the whole story of what awaited Maurice, the rats, and the stupid-looking kid in Überwald is told in {{TAM}}, it is clear from anecdotal evidence presented in {{RM}} that they have previously tried the rat-piping scam in Ankh-Morpork.'''(1)''' Maybe this why they moved the operation to Überwald (ie, far from [[Ankh-Morpork]]'s jurisdiction), as this is the sort of thing you only try once with [[Vetinari]]...especially as it seemed to work, and Vetinari was scammed out of a reported $1,000 in gold dollars.

It is also mentioned in a note in [[The Shepherd's Crown]] that there was to be another book featuring Maurice as a ship's cat...

'''(1)''' (Corgi PB, p98, p218)

[[Category:Discworld characters|Maurice,The Amazing]]
[[Category:Leading characters|Maurice,The Amazing]]
[[Category:"The Amazing Maurice" characters|Maurice, The Amazing]]
[[de:Maurice]]
{{stub}}

Hat

2016-05-09T09:56:25Z

AnnieBudgie:

Mentioned in {{P}}, Hat is [[Djelibeybi]]'s Vulture-headed God of Unexpected Guests.

The [[Ptaclusp]] pyramid builders bought a statue of Hat several years ago for a great deal, and now despite Ptaclusp I's best efforts the thing remains with them. It even seems to have been rejected by the manifestation of the [[god]] it represents.

No, it's not the thing you wear on your head.

[[Category: Supernatural entities]]
[[de:Hut]]
{{stub}}

Opera

2016-05-09T09:35:17Z

AnnieBudgie:

The only difference between Opera and madness is (according to [[Salzella]]) better scenery. The plot doesn't make any sense and relies entirely on people not recognizing their servants and husbands, mostly because the plot is just there to fill in time until the next song.

Opera is expensive. It doesn't make money--you put money in, and you get ''Opera'' out. And ballet shoes are very expensive. Very few things are more expensive than ballet shoes; violins just happen to be one of them. If you think there is passion onstage, you should see backstage. Everybody hates everybody and half the crew won't speak to each other.

Whistling on stage, live flowers, wearing new makeup on opening night and yellow are Bad Luck, but more horrific than these is stopping a performance: THE SHOW MUST GO ON[[Multiple exclamation marks|!!!!!]]

Operas are performed mainly at the [[Opera House]] in [[Ankh-Morpork]], in [[Bugarup]], in [[Genua]] and [[Brindisi]] as well as in various [[Dwarfs|Dwarfish]] and [[Trolls|Trollish]] venues.

== Roundworld Versions ==

Most operas resemble [[Roundworld]] operas.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left" border="1" cellpadding="3"
|+Operas
|-
! Discworld opera
! Roundworld opera
! Roundworld composer
|-
| ''Die Meistersinger von Scrote''
| {{wp|Die_Meistersinger_von_Nürnberg|Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg}}
| {{wp|Wagner|Wagner}}
|-
| ''The Ring of the Nibelungingung''
| {{wp|The_Ring_of_the_Nibelung|The Ring of the Nibelung}}
| Wagner
|-
| ''Lohenshaak''
| {{wp|Lohengrin_(opera)|Lohengrin}}
| Wagner
|-
| ''Chicken lake
| {{wp|Swan_Lake|Swan lake}}
| {{wp|Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky}}
|-
| ''The Barber of Pseudopolis''
| {{wp|The_Barber_of_Seville|The Barber of Seville}}
| {{wp|Rossini|Rossini}}
|-
| ''La Triviata''
| {{wp|La_Traviata|La Traviata}}
| {{wp|Verdi|Verdi}}
|-
| ''Il Truccatore''
| {{wp|Il_Trovatore|Il Trovatore}}
| Verdi
|-
| ''The Enchanted Piccolo''
| {{wp|The_Magic_Flute|The Magic Flute}}
| {{wp|Mozart|Mozart}}
|-
| ''Cosi fan Hita''
| {{wp|cosi_fan_tutte|Cosi fan Tutte}}
| Mozart
|-
| ''Miserable Les''
| {{wp|Les_Miserables|Les Miserables}}
| {{wp|Victor_Hugo|Hugo}}/{{wp|Arnold_Schoenberg|Schönberg}}
|-
| ''Guys and Trolls''
| {{wp|Guys_and_Dolls|Guys and Dolls}}
| {{wp|Frank_Loesser|Loesser}}
|-
| ''Hubwards Side Story''
| {{wp|West_Side_Story|West Side Story}}
| {{wp|Leonard_Bernstein|Bernstein}}/{{wp|Stephen_Sondheim|Sondheim}}
|-
| ''[[Ich bin Ein Rattarsedschwein]]''
| {{wp|The_Student_Prince|The Student Prince}}
| {[wp| }}
|-
| ''Seven Dwarfs for Seven Other Dwarfs''
| {{wp|Seven_Brides_for_Seven_Brothers_(musical)|Seven Brides for Seven Brothers}}
| Kasha/Hirschhorn
|-
| ''[[Bloodaxe and Ironhammer]]''
| Inconclusive, see separate article
| -
|-
| ''Walter Plinge's unfinished''
| {{wp|The_Phantom_of_the_Opera_(1986_musical)|The Phantom of the Opera}}
| {{wp|Gaston_Leroux|Leroux}}/{{wp|Andrew_Lloyd_Webber|Lloyd-Webber}}
|}

== Annotations ==

=== Ring ===
[[Salzella]] sells ''The Ring of the Nibel.....'' a bit short when he calls it "Three days of gods screaming at each other". The Roundworld {{wp|The_Ring_of_the_Nibelung|counterpart}} has '''four''' days of gods screaming at each other, for a running time of 15 to 17 hours depending on the pacing of the conductor.

=== Meistersinger ===
The German {{wp|Nuremberg| city of Nürnberg}} has a rich history in culture and science, particularly astronomy and grand historic architecture, the city of [[Scrote]] less so.
Nürnberg boasts the {{wp|Nuremberg_Castle|Nürnberg Castle}}, [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heilig-Geist-Spital_(N%C3%BCrnberg) the Hospital of the Holy Spirit] and several notewothy {{wp|St._Lorenz_(N%C3%BCrnberg)| cathedrals}}. Scrote merely boasts.

Several Nazi rallies were held in Nürnberg. Scrote has at least something to be proud of.

=== Lohenshaak ===
May be a take on the opera ''Lohengrin'', but going downmarket by many notches, it also calls to mind the B-52's dance-floor filling stomper ''Love Shack''.

[[Category:Discworld culture]]
[[Category:Locations]]
[[de:Oper]]

User:AnnieBudgie

2016-04-23T04:18:44Z

AnnieBudgie: Created page with "Oh hey, I have a page. Anyway, my name is Annie, and I'm a budgie. If you don't know what a budgie is (and shame on you if you don't), it's a small species of parrot, native t..."

Oh hey, I have a page.
Anyway, my name is Annie, and I'm a budgie. If you don't know what a budgie is (and shame on you if you don't), it's a small species of parrot, native to Australia. I'm a trying-hard-not-to-be-a fangirl, which means although I'll help out on sites like this, I draw the line at fanfiction and fanart, and try my best not to actually fangirl...

Million-to-one chance

2016-04-23T04:10:01Z

AnnieBudgie:

In the fragile reality of Discworld, and with [[the gods]] who like to play games, a '''million-to-one chance''' succeeds nine times out of ten.

Traditionally, one has to say "it's a million-to-one chance, but it might just work!" to invoke this rule. It also has to be exactly a million to one - none of this fiddly "995,351 to 1" business, or whatever other number you might end up with. So while the list of things that people have accomplished with million to one chances is quite impressive, the list of things they have failed to accomplish with odds a few percentage points off in either direction is probably a lot longer and involves a lot more fatalities.

The deity of the Million-to-one chance (and all the other ones as well) is [[The Lady]]. Just... don't invoke her directly.

In ''Eric'' it is a million to one chance that Rincewind will escape the Dungeon Dimensions.

In ''The Last Hero'' [[Ponder Stibbons]] employs the million to one chance to rescue the kite.

[[The Lady]] may be the [[Anthropomorphic personification]] of Million-to-one chances.

In ''Guards! Guards!'' [[Fred Colon]], [[Carrot Ironfoundersson]] and [[Nobby Nobbs]] try to invoke the million-to-one chance to hit the dragon in the right spot to kill it. To ensure it ''is'' million-to-one, rather then something else, they end up trying a whole bunch of improbable circumstances to make it work. It doesn't work, unfortunately, so it must not have been quite a million-to-one chance...

Also see the [[Billion-to-One Chance]].

== Million-to-one chances that came off nine times out of ten:- ==

The Great God [[Om]] in {{SG}}:- "Landed on a pile of dirt in your ''garden''. That's eagles for you. Whole place made of rock and paved with rock and built on a big rock, and they miss."

"That was lucky. Million-to-one chance!" said [[Brutha]].

There is also a racehorse with this name. The owners knew what they are doing: the odds on victory must be 1,000,000/1. But this horse wins nine times out of ten. Stewards' inquiries are pending, however. Prudent bookies point out that in this special instance of probability, the odds on this horse winning are effectively 1/1 and that's ''exactly'' what you're getting, guvnor. put a dollar on, get a dollar back, next customer please!

{{stub}}

[[Category:Discworld concepts]]

Keith the Piper

2016-04-23T03:59:42Z

AnnieBudgie:

{{Character Data
|photo=
|name= Keith, last name unknown
|age= Indeterminate (child)
|race= [[Humans|Human]]
|occupation= Musician and Con-man
|appearance= Fair hair, young
|residence= [[Bad Blintz]]
|death=
|parents=
|relatives=
|books= {{TAM}}
}}
Commonly known as the '''"stupid-looking kid"''', [[Maurice]] hires him to play the part of a rat-piper in {{TAM}}. Maurice leads the rodents into the town where they wreak havoc, so the villagers send for a Piper: Keith turns up and plays the pipes, putting on a show and leading the rodents out of town, where he gives the profits to Maurice.

He is friends with Maurice and the [[Rats|Clan]], and eventually gains a friend in [[Malicia Grim]]. He's a quiet boy who likes to play his flute, and otherwise sits around with a faraway look on his face.

No-one ever asked him his name before Malicia, so he's not totally sure that Keith ''is'' his name. The name was given to him as a baby, when he was found abandoned on the doorstep of The [[Musicians' Guild]] with a blanket and a note: the note read "19 pints and a strawberry yoghurt". Malicia being the person she is, she at one point thought that as he is an ophan, he may be a king in disguise, and wondered whether Keith's life would have been any different had the note mentioned banana rather than strawberry yoghurt. He's been earning his own living since he was six, and even though he was treated well at the Guild, it was the Clan who taught him to read.

By the end of the novel, Keith has made Bad Blintz his home, having been ordained with the title of Resident Rat Piper.

[[Category:Discworld characters]]
[[Category:Supporting characters]]
[[Category:Human characters]]
[[Category:"The Amazing Maurice" characters]]
[[de:Keith]]
{{stub}}

Ice Giants

2016-04-23T03:55:05Z

AnnieBudgie:

The Ice Giants are giant snowmen who speak with a Scandinavian accent, and have been imprisoned under the Disc's hub by the [[God|gods]]. They ride out in [[Sourcery]], on glaciers. They also may owe the gods the return of a borrowed lawnmower. It is possible that they are a form of troll, since water trolls are known.

==Annotation==

The reference is to Jotunheim*, the cold and frozen homeland of the Giants in Nordic myth. On the Ragnarok, the Giants will seek to extend their domain of ice and gloom over lands previously held by the Gods.
(*Dubbed ''Sniffleheim'' by the [[Dean]] after he'd been at the sherry)

There is also an element of Hörbinger's "World-Ice" cosmology here. Hörbinger was a German theorist whose ideas were considered sound and Aryan by the Nazis. The concept that the world was an eternal struggle between ice and fire, as evidenced by on the one hand volcanoes and on the other glaciers, was considered to be a fine dramatic metaphor for the Master Race. (Hörbinger also thought we lived on the ''inside'' of a bubble in an infinity of solid rock. Because of this, some Nazis thought it was worthwhile to point their telescopes ''up'' and to the left a bit to see if they could pick up British ships in their home ports...)

"Whole vorld of ice. According to inevitability of history and triumph of thermo-dynamics" is straight out of Hörbinger's wacky theory...

[[Category:Supernatural entities]]
[[de:Eisriesen]]
{{stub}}

Ice Giants

2016-04-23T03:54:37Z

AnnieBudgie:

The Ice Giants are giant snowmen who speak with a Scandinavian accent, and have been imprisoned under the Disc's hub by the [[God|gods]]. They ride out in [[Sourcery]]. They also may owe the gods the return of a borrowed lawnmower. It is possible that they are a form of troll, since water trolls are known.

==Annotation==

The reference is to Jotunheim*, the cold and frozen homeland of the Giants in Nordic myth. On the Ragnarok, the Giants will seek to extend their domain of ice and gloom over lands previously held by the Gods.
(*Dubbed ''Sniffleheim'' by the [[Dean]] after he'd been at the sherry)

There is also an element of Hörbinger's "World-Ice" cosmology here. Hörbinger was a German theorist whose ideas were considered sound and Aryan by the Nazis. The concept that the world was an eternal struggle between ice and fire, as evidenced by on the one hand volcanoes and on the other glaciers, was considered to be a fine dramatic metaphor for the Master Race. (Hörbinger also thought we lived on the ''inside'' of a bubble in an infinity of solid rock. Because of this, some Nazis thought it was worthwhile to point their telescopes ''up'' and to the left a bit to see if they could pick up British ships in their home ports...)

"Whole vorld of ice. According to inevitability of history and triumph of thermo-dynamics" is straight out of Hörbinger's wacky theory...

[[Category:Supernatural entities]]
[[de:Eisriesen]]
{{stub}}

Ice Giants

2016-04-23T03:53:43Z

AnnieBudgie:

The Ice Giants are giant snowmen who speak with a Scandinavian accent, and have been imprisoned under the Disc's hub by the [[God|gods]]. They ride out in [[Sourcery]], apparently on giant glaciers. They also may owe the gods the return of a borrowed lawnmower. It is possible that they are a form of troll, since water trolls are known.

==Annotation==

The reference is to Jotunheim*, the cold and frozen homeland of the Giants in Nordic myth. On the Ragnarok, the Giants will seek to extend their domain of ice and gloom over lands previously held by the Gods.
(*Dubbed ''Sniffleheim'' by the [[Dean]] after he'd been at the sherry)

There is also an element of Hörbinger's "World-Ice" cosmology here. Hörbinger was a German theorist whose ideas were considered sound and Aryan by the Nazis. The concept that the world was an eternal struggle between ice and fire, as evidenced by on the one hand volcanoes and on the other glaciers, was considered to be a fine dramatic metaphor for the Master Race. (Hörbinger also thought we lived on the ''inside'' of a bubble in an infinity of solid rock. Because of this, some Nazis thought it was worthwhile to point their telescopes ''up'' and to the left a bit to see if they could pick up British ships in their home ports...)

"Whole vorld of ice. According to inevitability of history and triumph of thermo-dynamics" is straight out of Hörbinger's wacky theory...

[[Category:Supernatural entities]]
[[de:Eisriesen]]
{{stub}}