Discworld

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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.

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.

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...

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