(by 22 people)
The premise for the Discworld series of books is as simple as it is ridiculous. The world is flat, and it is being carried on the backs of four elephants, who in-turn stand of the back of a giant turtle swimming through space.
I read my first Discworld novel in 1985, it was the second book in the series, "The Light Fantastic"... yes, I am that old. I have stuck with the series for the past 21 years (yikes!) and the odd thirty something books.
The series started out as a parody of the fantasy genre, but over the years it has evolved, and can now be best described as hilarious social commentary set in an imaginary world that is only slightly LESS ridiculous than our own reality.
While the series has had its share of ups and downs, it remains the best humorous fantasy series available today.
Do you mean to say that you've never read a Discworld book?! Heathen!
DISCWORLD FANS: vote on the current poll - New Professions for CMOT Dibbler. Also new: vote for your favorite Discworld novel.
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Discworld Lens: Lens of the Day July 24, 2006
On July 24th this lens was selected as Squidoo Lens of the Day!If you have not done so already, I would deeply appreciate your support. Simply rate this lense by clicking the star rating at the top of the lense.
Many thanks!
The Author: Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett was born in 1948, in England. His first novel, a humorous fantasy entitled The Carpet People, appeared in 1971. It is actually quite funny.Pratchett is best known for his Discworld series, which currently spans 34 books (including the upcoming release of Wintersmith). Pratchett's books have sold over 40 million copies (heck, I bought about 150,000 of them myself) and have been translated into 33 languages.
In 1998 Pratchett was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. It's this silly knighthood thing that the Britts are so fond of.
Pratchett is internationally reknowned for his power to make me laugh myself silly. As the biography included in many of his books says, "Occasionally he gets accused of literature."
To visit Terry Pratchett's homepage, click here.
The Latest Discworld Novel: Making Money - Buy it Here!
Making Money (Discworld)
Amazon Price: $17.13 (as of 07/26/2008)
A Video Introduction to Discworld
You can watch this video, but you have to stop after about a minute - when the introduction ends. The rest of the clip is painfully horrible. Seriously, the books are so much better that it's not even funny.
Discworld - Long Intro
This is the long intro to a short animated series based on the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett
Wintersmith - Last Year's Discworld Novel
Wintersmith
Amazon Price: $11.55 (as of 07/26/2008)
Discworld Quote
The Storylines of Discworld
Wizard - My favorite, the wizards' storyline covers the (mis)adventures of Arch-Chancellor Ridcully, Rincewind, the Librarian and other colorful wizard types. Many of the adventures are set in Unseen University, Ankh-Morpork's school of magic.Books in the series include: The Color of Magic; The Light Fantastic; Moving Pictures; Reaper Man, and others.
Guards - A close runner-up to being my favorite is the guards storyline. Its main heroes are the Ankh-Morpork police, and it features Commander Sam Vimes; Carrot (who considers himself a dwarf); Angua the werewolf; and the ever hygenic Corporal Nobbs and a cast of thousands...
Books in the series include: Guards! Guards!; Men at Arms; Night Watch, and others.
Witches - the witches storyline is set away from Ankh-Morpork, mostly in the mountain kingdom of Lancre. The main characters are three witches, Granny Weatherwax; Nanny Ogg; and Magrat Garlick (the newbie). These are not your typical storybook witches, they are sharp, cynical and a hell-of-a-lot-of-fun.
Books in this series include: Wyrd Sister; Witches Abroad; Lords and Ladies; and others.
DEATH - Death on Discworld is a rather amusing if perplexing chap. He is very dedicated to his job (of killing people), but he does it with grace and a sense of humor. You'd expect his... errr, life to be rather boring but you'd be wrong. Other characters featured in this storyline include Susan (DEATH's step daughter...), Mort (his apprentice), Albert (his butler) and Binky his horse...
Books in this series include: Mort; Reaper Man; Soul Music; Hogfather; and more.
Foreign Lands - Occassionally, Pratchett takes the Discworld series to a whole new land, which is clearly a parody on some real world location. The characters in these books are typically new ones and many do not appear in the series again. These books tend to be fresh and hilarious.
Books in the series include: Pyramids; Small Gods; The Last Continent; the worst Discworld novel ever written Monsterous Regiment; and others.
My Top 5 Discworld Novels
The Color of Magic
Why Recommended:This is the book that started it all. The very first Discworld novel. It also happens to be one of the Wizards storyline books. It is a great sample of early Discworld.
Synopsis: Rincewind the hapless wizzard (that's actually how he spells it), finds himself as the unwilling guide to hopelessly naive tourist Twoflower. The two have many misadventures, which ultimately bring them literally to the edge of the world.
Favorite Quote: "The only reason for walking into the jaws of Death is so's you can steal His gold teeth."
Mort
Why Recommended: This book is wholly dedicated to DEATH. Yes, the dude on the horse, with the scythe. It is so funny that it would bring tears to your eyes.
Synopsis: Death hires an apprentice... need I say more? The apprentice makes a few mistake... and yada, yada, yada challenges Death to a duel... to the... hmmm... death.
Favorite Quote: "Ankh-Morpork had dallied with many forms of government and had ended up with that form of democracy known as One Man, One Vote. The Patrician was the Man; he had the Vote."
Guards! Guards!
Why Recommended: This is the first book in the Guards story line. It introduces such perennial characters as Commander Vimes, Nobby and Sgt. Colon. Besides it is HILARIOUS.
Synopsis: The Watch is in bad condition; they are regarded as a bunch of drunks who just walk around ringing their bells (it doesn't help that this is mostly true). The arrival of Carrot changes this; Carrot has memorised the Laws and Ordinances of the Cities of Ankh and Morpork, and on his first day tries to arrest the head of the Guild of Thieves for theft in Ankh-Morpork. This is of course a big no-no.
Favorite Quote: "No-one ever saw a thousand-to-one chance come up. The odds against it are... millions to one."
Small Gods
Why Recommended: This is one of several books that is part of no major Discworld storyline, and take place away from the typical Discworld settings such as Ankh-Morpork. This along with Pyramids, The Last Continenet and a few others are what I like to call Discworld tourism. It's fun.
Synopsis: Small Gods tells the origin of the god Om, and his relations with his prophet, the reformer Brutha; in the process Pratchett satirises religion, religious people and practices, and the role of religion in political life.
Favorite Quote: "And it came to pass that in time the Great God Om spake unto Brutha, the Chosen One: "Psst!"
Going Postal: A Novel of Discworld
Why Recommended: This is one of the more recent Discworld novels, and is a good example of what the newer books in the series feel like. It is extremely funny, but its parody is not limited to the fantasy genre, rather it offers biting social commentary about things such as corporate greed, technology and racism.
Synopsis: Moist von Lipwig, con artist and all-around fraud, unexpectedly finds that instead of faking his own death to escape the law, someone has faked his death for him. Unfortunately, that someone was Lord Vetinari, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, and now Lipwig has a choice: either he tries to get the Ankh-Morpork Postal Service up and running or... he can choose certain death. Lord Vetinari believes in freedom of choice...
Favorite Quote: "There is a saying "You can't fool an honest man" which is much quoted by people who make a profitable living by fooling honest men."
CMOT's New Business - Vote!
CMOT, a prolific sales person of anything on a stick has reached the apex of his career as a vendor of skewered former creatures. It is time to reach for new horizons and lower lows!
After conquering the mystery meat on a stick market and becoming a moving picture tycoon, which new lines of business should CMOT Dibbler expand into?
Discworld Quote
You know it's time to put down that Discworld novel when...
- You are somewhat concerned about sailing over the edge of the world on your Carribean cruise vacation.
- You need your apendix removed and you look for a surgeon with a lisp named Igor to perform the surgury
- You named your dog Gaspode and swear that the damn mutt is talking behind your back.
- You ask a carjacker for his Thieves Guild license...
- You buy something on a stick from a guy claiming that if he sold it to you for any cheaper he would be cutting his own throat...
Vote for your Favorite Discworld Books
If your favorite is not on the list, add it.
Let's see which Discworld novel gets the people's vote.
Thud! by Terry Pratchett
Best ever Discworld novel, with my favouritest (ye more...0 points
Thud: The Most Recent Book in the Guards Story Line
Thud! A Novel of Discworld
Amazon Price: (as of 07/26/2008)
Favorite Discworld Characters
Rincewind - the world's most cowardly and inept wizard. He makes his first appearance in the very first Discworld novel, Color of Magic, and has made repeated appearances since. Definitely my favorite Discworld character. He is so inept that he makes everyone else feel good about themselves.The Librarian - First appeared in the second Discworld novel, The Light Fantastic, in which he is turned into an orangutan through a magic spell. He has since discovered that being an orangutan has some advantages for a librarian and has decided to remain in his ape form... he is best known for saying "Ook" a lot and for going completely ape sh** if anyone calls him a monkey...
CMOT Dibbler - Cut-My-Own-Throat Dibbler is known for selling meat by-products on a stick (at a substantial discount), and for spontaneously appearing wherever a crowd is gathered. He first appeared in the first Discworld novel The Color of Magic and has appeared in many other books in the series since. The description "colorful" doesn't quite do CMOT justice...
DEATH - Death is one of the most popular Discworld characters, and makes an appearance in virtually all Discworld books. He rides a great white horse called... Binky. Death tried a skeletal steed, but kept having to stop and wire bits back on. Death's voice is signified by CAPITAL LETTERS throughout the series.
Lord Vetinari - The undisputed ruler of Ankh-Morpork. He is mostly undisputed because any potential disputers have a nasty habit of never being heard from again. He is a firm believer in the principle of one man one vote - so, long as he is the man and the vote is his.
Bloody Stupid Johnson - an obscure Discworld character best known for stupid inventions and idiotic lanscaping. His creations have a tendency to spontaneously detonate... You see, it's characters like Bloody Stupid Johnson that make the Discworld series so much fun...
Discworld Quote
Discworld Links and Resources
- The Discworld Compendium
- A comprehensive website that includes a vast Discworld quotes database, and character dictionary. Well worth a visit.
- L-Space Web
- A fan site containing information about events, links to discworld newsgroups, detailed information about Pratchett and more.
- Discworld MUD
- A free online text based Discworld game.
- Discworld on Wikipedia
- This massive Wikipedia article contains information about all the books in the series, as well as a range of other useful references.
Discworld Quote
The Unseen DISCussion Archive
A new topic for DISCussion every month
The month's DISCussion topic is: Minor Discworld Characters.
Which minor Discworld character is your favorite? The luggage and the librarian don't count as minor, mind you.
To start the discussion off, my favorite minor character is.... Bloody Stupid Johnson (well, I think I actually said that somewhere in this lense.
BSJ never actually makes an appearance in person, but his bloody stupid inventions are everywhere in Discworld, and include: the Archcancellor's bathroom (infested with various water spouts); the inch high Colossus of Ankh-Morport; the automatic mail-sorter that is built around round gears with a ratio of diameter to circumfrence of exactly three, as opposed to the customary three and a bit... (pi). The mail sorter actually sorts through mail that has not yet been written.
Bloody Stupid Johnson. You gotta love him.
The great god Om, who was currently the small good Om in the form of a tortoise, was my all time favourite minor character from Small Gods.
Posted January 21, 2008
Nice lens! I like the quotes! I've also created a couple of discworld lenses too!
Posted October 03, 2007
If you're a fan of Discworld, I'd love your opinion about a mythological god who takes control of the modern world.
Posted September 26, 2007
Vetinari is a supremely awesome character. He reminds me of myself, and is more minor than the rest of the characters I like.
Oh - and Cheery. She's just... interesting.
Posted January 04, 2007
HEX: The Discworld Search Engine
For the benefit of my readers, I have created this Discworld specific search engine... it is really nifty. Check out this link:HEX The All Knowing
