Discworld

The Discworld is a series of over 30 novels by Terry Pratchett set on the Discworld. Since the first novel of the series, 1983's The Colour of Magic, the series has gone from strength to strength, spawning many related works including music inspired by the series as well as cartoon and theatre adaptations. Newly released Discworld books regularly top The Sunday Times bestsellers list, with Pratchett being the UK's best selling author in the 1990s, mainly on the strength of the Discworld (he has since been overtaken by J.K. Rowling). Discworld novels have also won awards such as the Prometheus Award and the Carnegie Medal. In the BBC's Big Read, four Discworld books were in the top 100, and a total of fourteen in the top 200.

Published work

The novels

The world has been chronicled through at least 30 novels so far and several short stories. The novels prior to The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (and almost all Pratchett books to date) had cover art done by Josh Kirby (who died in October 2001), but only in the original British editions. The American editions, published by HarperCollins, do not feature Kirby's cover art. Recent British editions of Pratchett's older novels no longer feature Kirby's art. Since the death of Kirby, the covers have been designed by artist Paul Kidby.

Almost all of the Discworld novels are notable for having no chapter divisions. Instead, most of the time there are different storylines interwoven with each other. Going Postal did entirely the opposite even going so far as to include a prologue and epilogue along with brief teasers of what was to come in each chapter.

Many novels share the same lead characters and show their development over time. Some of the main characters of one book may also make a cameo appearance in another book where they are not the primary focus; for example Samuel Vimes appears briefly in Going Postal. The novels can be grouped into several story 'arcs', with characters or themes in common:

The Rincewind stories - These stories centre around a wizard of sorts called Rincewind. The 'of sorts' is because Rincewind is a complete failure at magic, but through a series of events is recognised as a wizard (for want of any other suitable term). The other wizards at the Unseen University are sometimes seen in these stories.
The Witches stories - These stories centre around the witches of Lancre, particularly Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Magrat Garlick, and later Agnes Nitt.
The Death stories - These stories centre around Death in his usual personification as a skeleton in black robes with a scythe. Death's companions are his granddaughter Susan, his butler Albert and the Death of Rats, the rat equivalent of the human Death. In later novels Susan takes centre stage, although Death is still a key player.
The City Watch stories - These stories centre around Ankh-Morpork's equivalent of a police force, the City Watch. Samuel Vimes leads the city watch, and among his officers are Carrot Ironfoundersson, Angua, Fred Colon, Detritus and "Nobby" Nobbs.
The Tiffany Aching stories - These stories centre around the character of Tiffany Aching, a young girl who has the unusual allies of the Nac Mac Feegle. The stories are primarily written as children's books. They also tie in to the Witches stories, especially A Hat Full of Sky.
The Miscellaneous stories - where none of the above five applies, or the main characters from them only appear briefly, or at least not as the main characters of the story in question. The best example of these is possibly Small Gods.

The Discworld novels are as follows:

Name	Group	ISBN	Notes	Motifs
The Colour of Magic	Rincewind	Paperback: ISBN 0552124753	First published 1983. Came 93rd in the Big Read.	Fantasy clichés; Role-playing games
The Light Fantastic	Rincewind	Paperback: ISBN 0552128481	First published 1986.	Fantasy clichés
Equal Rites	The Witches	Paperback: ISBN 0552131059	First published 1987.	Fantasy clichés, Gender equality
Mort	Death	Paperback: ISBN 0552131067	First published 1987. Came 65th in the Big Read.	Death and its personification
Sourcery	Rincewind	Paperback: ISBN 0552131075	First published 1988.	Fantasy Stories, Apocalypse
Wyrd Sisters	The Witches	Paperback: ISBN 0552134600	First published 1988. Came 135th in the Big Read.	Shakespeare, especially Macbeth and Hamlet
Pyramids	Miscellaneous	Paperback: ISBN 0552134619	First published 1989.	School stories; Egyptian mythology; Quantum physics
Guards! Guards!	The City Watch	Paperback: ISBN 0552134627	First published 1989. Came 69th in the Big Read.	Cop novels, Pedigree dog (dragon) breeding, fantasy stories, fraternal organisations
Eric	Rincewind	Paperback: ISBN 0575600012	First published 1990. Originally published as a 'Discworld story': larger format and fully illustrated by Josh Kirby; more recently reissued as a normal paperback with no illustrations.	Faust, Dante's Inferno, Homer's Iliad
Moving Pictures	Miscellaneous	Paperback: ISBN 0552134635	First published 1990.	Hollywood, The Cthulhu Mythos
Reaper Man	Death	Paperback: ISBN 0552134643	First published 1991. Came 126th in the Big Read.	Alien invasion SF, "Man With No Name" Westerns, Modernization, Shopping malls, Minority rights movements
Witches Abroad	The Witches	Paperback: ISBN 0552134651	First published 1991. Came 197th in the Big Read.	Fairy tales, Voodoo and tourism
Small Gods	Miscellaneous	Paperback: ISBN 0552138908	First published 1992. Came 102nd in the Big Read.	Religion, Philosophy
Lords and Ladies	The Witches	Paperback: ISBN 0552138916	First published 1992.	Shakespeare especially Midsummer Night's Dream, UFOs, Fairy lore
Men at Arms	The City Watch	Paperback: ISBN 0552140287	First published 1993. Came 148th in the Big Read.	Cop novels, gun control
Soul Music	Death	Paperback: ISBN 0552140295	First published 1994. Came 151st in the Big Read.	Rock music and related mythologising
Interesting Times	Rincewind	Paperback: ISBN 0552142352	First published 1994.	Imperial China, Communism
Maskerade	The Witches	Paperback: ISBN 0552142360	First published 1995.	Opera; The Phantom of the Opera
Feet of Clay	The City Watch	Paperback: ISBN 0552142379	First published 1996.	Cop Novels; Robots; Jewish Mythology; atheism
Hogfather	Death	Paperback: ISBN 0552145424	First published 1996. Came 137th in the Big Read.	Christmas; Children's stories; religion as mythology, the christ myth
Jingo	The City Watch	Hardback: ISBN 0575065400	First published 1997.	War, Diplomacy, Racism and Xenophobia, Multiculturalism, Jingoism
The Last Continent	Rincewind	Hardback: ISBN 0385409893	First published 1998.	Action/Adventure, Evolution/Creation; Australia
Carpe Jugulum	The Witches	Hardback: ISBN 0385409923	First published 1998.	Vampire novels Existentialism
The Fifth Elephant	The City Watch	Hardback: ISBN 0385409958	First published 1999. Came 153rd in the Big Read.	Diplomacy, Eastern European folklore and literature, The Maltese Falcon, Political-conspiracy novels, petroleum and the global economy, national myths
The Truth	Miscellaneous	Hardback: ISBN 0385601026	First published 2000. Came 193rd in the Big Read.	Watergate, Newspapers, The Front Page and His Girl Friday
Thief of Time	Death, or arguably Miscellaneous	Hardback: ISBN 0385601883	First published 2001. Came 152nd in the Big Read.	Wuxia and Martial arts films, Chaos, The Fab Four and the Apocalypse
The Last Hero	Miscellaneous	Hardback: ISBN 057506885X	First published 2001. Published in a larger format, fully illustrated by Paul Kidby.	Legends, Prometheus, D&D, Conan the Barbarian, the Space shuttle, Apollo 13, the designs of Leonardo da Vinci
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents	Miscellaneous	Hardback: ISBN 0385601239	First published 2001. A children's Discworld book. Winner of the 2001 Carnegie Medal.	Beatrix Potter, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, The Secret of NIMH
Night Watch	The City Watch	Hardback: ISBN 0385602642	First published 2002. Received the Prometheus Award in 2003. Came 73rd in the Big Read.	Cop Novels, Historical novels (esp. Les Misérables), time travel, the French Revolution, the Peterloo Massacre
The Wee Free Men	Tiffany Aching	Hardback: ISBN 0385605331	First published 2003. Another children's Discworld book.	Folklore, Mythic Scotland, as seen in Braveheart and Highlander, the fairy paintings of Richard Dadd; subjective experience
Monstrous Regiment	Miscellaneous	Hardback: ISBN 0552149411	First published 2003. For the origin of the title of this novel, see The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women.	Folk song (especially Sweet Polly Oliver), women who disguise themselves as men to join the army (e.g. Colonel Gauntlett Bligh Barker), the Napoleonic Wars (possibly as interpreted through Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels), First World War (especially the patriotism and "Home by Christmas" mentality)
A Hat Full of Sky	Tiffany Aching	Hardback: ISBN 0385607369	First published 2004. A third children's Discworld book.	The history and folklore of witches in Britain, mind controlling aliens in science fiction, arguably Jill Murphy's The Worst Witch
Going Postal	Miscellaneous	Hardback: ISBN 0385603428	First published 2004.	Politics, con men, corporate crime and business practices, monopolies (especially AT&T and its "Golden Boy" (http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/083004widernetgoldenboy.html)), Ayn Rand and Objectivist philosophy, history of the Post Office, the Internet, hacking; fraternal organisations
Thud	The City Watch		Future novel. A brief excerpt was read at the 2004 Convention. Due for publication in October 2005. There is a preview of the cover artwork available at Paul Kidby's website. [1] (http://www.paulkidby.com/)	Presumably relations between Dwarfs and Trolls (Thud is a game based upon a historic battle between the races).
Wintersmith	Tiffany Aching		Possible future novel, hinted at in 'The Art of Discworld'. A brief excerpt was read at the 2004 Convention. Contracted to appear by March 2006.
I Shall Wear Midnight	Tiffany Aching		Possible future novel, hinted at in 'The Art of Discworld'.
No title as yet	Rincewind		Possible future novel featuring Rincewind - From 'The Art of Discworld', Rincewind Section, "so - sigh - there is at least one future outing lined up for him" (This may however refer to the third 'Science of Discworld' book).

Short stories

There are also four short stories by Pratchett based in the Discworld: Theatre of Cruelty, Death and What Comes Next, Troll Bridge and The Sea and Little Fishes. The first two are available online (http://www.lspace.org/books/index.html). The third was published in After The King: Stories in honour of J. R. R. Tolkien, and the fourth in Legends, edited by Robert Silverberg.

In addition, all of these stories, as well as such Discworld miscelleny as the history of Thud and the Ankh-Morpork national anthem have been collected as part of a compilation of all Pratchett's shortwork, Once More* *With Footnotes.

Quiz Books

Thus far, there are also two Discworld Quizbooks compiled by David Langford:

The Unseen University Challenge, parodying the TV quiz show University Challenge
The Wyrdest Link, parodying the TV quiz show The Weakest Link

The Maps

Furthermore, there are four Maps:

The first two were drawn by Stephen Player, based on plans by Pratchett and Stephen Briggs, the third is a collaboration between Briggs and Kidby, and the last is by Paul Kidby. All also contain booklets written by Pratchett and Briggs.

Non-fiction books

Pratchett has also collaborated with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen on three books using the Discworld to illuminate popular science topics:

Diaries

Most years see the release of a Discworld Diary and Calendar, both usually following a particular theme.

Associated publications

Other Discworldesque publications include:

The Discworld Portfolio (a collection of Paul Kidby's artwork, with notes by Pratchett)
The Discworld Companion (an encyclopedia of Discworld information, compiled by Pratchett and Briggs)
Nanny Ogg's Cookbook (a collection of Discworldly recipes, combined with ettiquette, language of flowers etc., written by Pratchett with Stephen Briggs and Tina Hannan)
The Art of Discworld (another collection of Paul Kidby's art)
The Ankh-Morpork Almanack (an almanac for the Discworld year, in the style of the Diaries and the Cookbook, written by Pratchett with Bernard Pearson)

Adaptations

Stage adaptations

Stage adaptations of nine Discworld novels have been published, with proceeds from the rights going to charity. The adaptations are by Stephen Briggs, and were first produced by the Studio Theatre Club in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. They include adaptations of The Truth, Maskerade, Mort, Wyrd Sisters, and Guards! Guards!. Stage adaptions of Discworld novels have been performed on every continent in the world, including Antarctica.

Movie adaptations

There have been several aborted attempts at bringing stories from the Discworld to the silver screen, including a fan attempt of Maskerade that inevitably failed through lack of funds. Australian group Snowgum Films have completed principal photography on the short story Troll Bridge. A link to their website can be found below. A fan movie adaptation of Lords and Ladies is currently being produced in Germany.

Animated adaptations

Animated adaptations of Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters were produced by Cosgrove-Hall Productions for Channel 4 in 1996. These are available on DVD and VHS in the US from Acorn Media. The soundtrack to Soul Music was also released on CD.

Radio adaptations

There have been several BBC radio adaptations of Discworld stories, including versions of Wyrd Sisters, Guards! Guards! (narrated by Martin Jarvis) and Mort.

Spin-off games

Role-playing games

In addition Terry Pratchett co-authored with Phil Masters two role-playing game supplements for Discworld, utilising the GURPS system:

An unofficial online supplement to this is:

GURPS Discworld Bye Nighte

Computer games

Available computer games are:

The Colour of Magic (Sinclair Spectrum)
Discworld 1 (PC/Windows)
Discworld 2: Missing Presumed...!? (Europe) / Discworld 2: Mortality Bytes! (USA) (PC/Windows)
Discworld Noir (PC/Windows, PlayStation)
Discworld MUD (Internet)

Board games

There is also a Discworld board game, Thud, created by puzzle compiler Trevor Truran.

Card games

There is an adaptation of the card game Cripple Mr. Onion from the novel Witches Abroad.

Merchandise

Various other types of related merchandise have been produced by cottage industries with an interest in the books, including Stephen Briggs, Bernard Pearson and Clarecraft.

Miscellaneous

It is even possible to get a character in one of the future Discworld books named after yourself. Usually people appear in the books by bidding for the privilege in charity auctions. The first one of these is Colette in Maskerade, who is briefly commented on by Granny Weatherwax, referring to the interesting earrings she is wearing. This is a reference to a girl Pratchett met at a convention, who was wearing "Anorankh" earrings – small figurines of an ankh wearing an anorak. The idea has resulted from a bit of confusion on the Pratchett newsgroup, and has become an unofficial symbol for the fanclub; they are made available as merchandise.

Stealth Philosophy

Throughout many of his novels, Pratchett employs what has been dubbed "Stealth Philosophy". That is to say, he will subtly (or not-so-subtly) hide philosophical struggles, questions, and arguments within the texts of his books, without (often) overtly stating them. Pratchett is deeply concerned about the philosophy of ethics, the philosophy of religion, the mind as well as topics related to popular science - lampooning the usual misunderstandings of things like quantum physics and relativity.

His good witch, Granny Weatherwax, takes the form of an archetypical evil crone:

Mrs Earwig would definitely have objected to the cottage. It was out of storybook. The walls leaned against one another for support, the thatched roof was slipping off like a bad wig, and the chimeneys were corkscrewed. If you thought a gingerbread house would be too fattening, this was the next worst thing.

"In a cottage deep in the forest lived the wicked old witch ..."

It was a cottage out of the nastier kind of fairy tale.

– A Hat Full of Sky

His good public servant, Lord Vetinari, is an assassin and a tyrant.

In general, he presents the notion that to be good is hard work, because to be evil is easy.

Some people will do anything for the sheer fascination of doing it, said Death. Or for fame. Or because they shouldn't.

– Hogfather

In the "elf" books as elsewhere, he presents the notion that our "world" is subjective, and is constructed internally. In particular, that it is constructed out of stories. Related to this is the idea that most of our experience is filtered out before it reaches conciousness:

You build little worlds, little stories, little shells around your mind and that keeps infinity at bay and allows you to wake up in the morning without screaming!

– A Hat Full of Sky

"All right," said Susan, "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need ... fantasies to make life bearable."

No. Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.

"Tooth faries? Hogfathers?"

Yes. As practice. You have to start out learning to believe the little lies.

"So we can believe the big ones?"

Yes. Justice. Mercy. Duty. That sort of thing.

"They're not the same at all!"

Take the universe and grind it down to the finest powder and sieve it through the finest sieve and then show me one atom of justice. And yet you act as if there were some sort of rightness in the universe by which it may be judged.

"Yes. But people have got to believe that or what's the point—"

My point exactly.