Book:The Last Continent

The Last Continent
Cover art by Josh Kirby
Co-author(s)
Illustrator(s)
Publisher	Doubleday
Publication date	May 1998
ISBN	0552146145
Pages	416
RRP
Main characters	Rincewind, Mrs. Whitlow
Series	Rincewind Series
Annotations	View
Notes
All data relates to the first UK edition.

Blurb

This is the Discworld's last continent, a completely separate creation.

It's hot. It's dry... very dry. There was this thing once called The Wet, which no one now believes in. Practically everything that's not poisonous is venomous. But it's the best bloody place in the world, all right?

And it'll die in a few days. Except...

Who is this hero striding across the red desert? Champion sheep shearer, horse rider, road warrior, beer drinker, bush ranger and someone who'll even eat a Meat Pie Floater when he's sober? A man in a hat, whose Luggage follows him on little legs, who's about to change history by preventing a swagman stealing a jumbuck by a billabong?

Yes... all this place has between itself and wind-blown doom is Rincewind, the inept wizard who can't even spell wizard. He's the only hero left.

Still... no worries, eh?

Characters

Main characters

• Rincewind
• Mustrum Ridcully
• The Librarian
• The Senior Wrangler
• The Dean
• The Bursar
• The Chair of Indefinite Studies
• The Lecturer in Recent Runes
• Ponder Stibbons
• Mrs. Whitlow
• Creator of XXXX
• God of Evolution
• Trickster, also known as Scrappy and Snowy

Minor characters

• Strewth, a miner whose name is the Australian expression for "God's truth"
• Hex
• Death
• Mad, a dwarf
• Crocodile Crocodile, a barman aka Dongo
• The Luggage
• Petunia the Desert Princess, transvestite group, consisting of:
  • Letitia
  • Darleen, who sings Prancing Queen, a parody of ABBA's Dancing Queen
  • Neilette, an actual woman
  • Noelene, Neilette's brother, who dropped out after trying to surf in a ball gown
• Bill Rincewind, Archchancellor of Bugarup University
• B. Smoth, Dean of Bugarup University

Cameos and People Mentioned

• McAbre, the head bledlow
• Doughnut Jimmy (mentioned)
• Swallett, wizard who led expedition to find Lost Reading Room
• Professor of Recondite Architecture and Origami Map Folding
• Egregious Professor of Cruel and Unusual Geography (mentioned), a title later held by Rincewind
• Wally Sluvver, a wizard who gave lectures post-mortem (no one noticed)
• Lecturer in Creative Uncertainty, the Discworld equivalent of quantum mechanics
• Sir Roderick Purdeigh, explorer who searched for XXXX and claimed it didn't exist (but also once got lost in his own bedroom...)
• Death of Rats
• Albert
• Bewdley, former Archchancellor with a magic hole in his boots
• Medley, a medical kleptomaniac (mentioned)
• Hoki, god (mentioned)
• Creator of the Disc (mentioned)
• Ossory (mentioned in an expression)
• Hollowlog Joe, drinker in bar
• Queen Zazumba of Sumtri (mentioned)
• Daggy, sheep shearer
• Remorse, a man who owns a fast colt and purchases Snowy
• Clancy, a stock man who works for Remorse and helps invent XXXX-ian slang
• Tinhead Ned (mentioned), famous escape artist, parodying Ned Kelly
• Fair Go Dibbler
• Duncan, friend of Fair Go's, who explains "Duncan's me mate", from the Slim Dusty song Duncan
• Greg and Vince, troll-like gaolers
• Larrikin Larry, criminal whose head flew off like a cork when he was hanged
• "Dicky" Bird (mentioned), wizard particularly sensitive to high magical fields
• Dibblers around the Disc (mentioned; most of these do not appear in any other book)
  • Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler (several books)
  • Disembowel-Meself-Honourably Dibhala (from Interesting Times)
  • Al-Jiblah
  • May-I-Never-Achieve-Enlightenment Dhiblang
  • Dib Diblossonson
  • May-I-Be-Kicked-In-My-Own-Ice-Hole Dibooki
  • Swallow-Me-Own-Blowdart Dlang-Dlang
• Ly Tin Wheedle (mentioned)
• Charley, a cook depressed at the concept of naming a dessert after famed opera singer Dame Nellie Butt, especially since his father created the Orange Ormulu in honor of Dame Janine Ormulu
• Nunco, who invented the Strawberry Sackville for Dame Wendy Sackville
• Imposo, who created the Apple Glazier for Dame Margyreen Glazier
• Lisa Delight, retired opera singer
• Ron and Sid, opera house chefs
• Ronald Pants aka "Really" Pants (mentioned)
• Farter Carter (mentioned; probably not his real name)
• Trusset, a wizard with good hair, contemporary of Ponder Stibbons
• "Rubber" Houser, wizard who invented the Graphical Device
• Cartwright, an XXXX-ian wizard
• Salid, an artist (possibly a wizard artist?)
• Clive, Shirl, and Gerleen, XXXX-ers who wish to emigrate to Ankh-Morpork
• Germaine Trifle, opera singer
• Bluey, XXXX-ian watchman

Locations

• Ankh-Morpork
  • The Unseen University
  • Museum of Quite Unusual Things (mentioned)
  • High Energy Magic Building (mentioned)
  • Library
  • Lost Reading Room (mentioned)
  • Room 5b (mentioned)
  • Moon Pond Lane (mentioned), Librarian's birth street
  • Opera House (mentioned; when stranded on a deserted island, the Dean wishes to listen to the music there), not to be confused with the Bugarup Opera House mentioned below

• XXXX
  • Dijabringabeeralong
  • Semaphore Hill (mentioned)
  • Bugarup
  • Bugarup Gaol
  • Berk Street (mentioned)
  • Bludgeree (mentioned), area of town(?) where Fair Go Dibbler was born
  • Treacle Street (mentioned), Fair Go Dibbler's birth street
  • Opera House
  • Grurt Street (mentioned)
  • Bugarup University
  • Pastoral Hotel (mentioned)
  • Cangoolie (mentioned), parodies Kalgoorlie
  • Worralorrasurfa, Neilette's home town

• Mono Island, an island near XXXX similar to New Zealand

• Slakki and Purdee Island, nudist islands

• Quirm (mentioned)
  • Kiddling Street (mentioned)

• Klatch (mentioned)

• Omnia (mentioned)

• NoThingfjord (mentioned), Mad's home town

• Sumtri (mentioned)

• Bhangbhangduc (mentioned), a place whose name parodies "bang! bang! duck" (ie, telling someone to duck after bullets have been shot)

• Quint, city destroyed by God of Evolution

Concepts, Items, Events

• slood (mentioned)
• Ceremony of the Keys, parodying the Roundworld events with the same name.
• L-Space
• Weezencake's Unreliable Algorithm
• How to Dynamically Manage People for Dynamic Results in a Caring Empowering Way in Quite a Short Time Dynamically, a truly hideous book from another universe
• droit de mortis, killing senior wizards to speed promotion
• Old Tom, university's tongueless clock
• Wasport's Lives of the Very Dull People, a book
• Wrencher's Snakes of All Nations, a book
• Dangerous Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians, Birds, Fish, Jellyfish, Insects, Spiders, Crustaceans, Grasses, Trees, Mosses, and Lichens of Terror Incognita, an encyclopedia with at least 29 volumes (probably many more, as the volumes are further broken down by letter and number, eg, "29c, part 3")
• drop-bears
• Principles of Thaumic Propagation, a studious book that turns into The Omega Conspiracy, a frivolous book
• Theoretical frivolous books working along the same general lines:-
  • The Gamma Imperative
  • The Delta Season
  • The Alpha Project
  • The Mu Kappa Pi Caper
• dwarf bread
• the Triangle, a constellation
• The Small Boring Group of Faint Stars, a constellation
• The Thunder Lizard, an animal that killed the original Egregious Professor of Cruel and Unusual Geography, but later turned into a chicken. A literal translation into Greek of the term "Thunder Lizard" is Brontosaurus. And it is thought birds evolved from dinosaurs.
• Roo Beer, a light sparkly (but still quite alcoholic) beer
• the Sapu Tree, a carnivorous plant
• Sledgehammer Plant of Bhangbhangduc, a carnivorous plant
• Pyramid Strangler Vine, a normally vegetarian plant
• Two Up, game, parodying the Roundworld game of the same name
• Tie My Kangaroo Up, a song parodying Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport
• squid, unit of currency (probably parodies 'quid', slang term for British pound) The pound (£AUS) was the unit of currency in Australia until supplanted by the dollar ($AUS) in the 1950's.
• Mugroop's Syndrome, symptom of high magical field
• meat pie floater, XXXX specialty cuisine
• Peach Nellie, a dessert
• The Galah, a Fourecksian celebration of human diversity.
• Funnelweb, a type of beer, parodying Redback Beer (both named after spiders)
• Maxwell's Impressive Separator and Bonza Charlie's Beaut Sieve, two similar spells that can separate two things (eg, salt and water from saltwater)
• HW chromosome, something wizards lack (HW = housework?)

External Links

• The Last Continent Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File

• Discworld geography (WikiPedia)

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