Discworld

The Discworld is the creation of Terry Pratchett. It is an imaginary location that appears in most of his books. (One of Pratchett's earlier novels, Strata, also features a disc-shaped world, but a different one.)

It consists of (as the name suggests) a flat disc (complete with edge-of-the-world drop-off and consequent waterfall) resting on the backs of four huge elephants (Great T'phon, Tubul, Berilia, and Jerakeen) which are in turn standing on the back of an enormous turtle (Great A'Tuin) as it slowly swims through space.

The gender of the Turtle is something of a mystery to the inhabitants of the disc, being not able to peer underneath the turtle themselves. This leads to some great debate and argument as to what position the turtle would assume should there be another cosmic big bang.

Directions within the discworld are not given as north south east and west, but rather as directions relating to the disc itself, eg hubward (towards the centre), rimward (away from the centre) and to a lesser extent, turnwise and widdershins (relation to the direction of the disc's spin). It relies on magic.

The most famous city on the Disc is Ankh-Morpork, site of the Unseen University and setting of many Discworld novels.

At the hub of the disc are some incredibly high mountains, the largest of which is Cori Celeste, upon the peak of which rests "Dunmanifestin", home of the Discworld's gods.

Chief among the Gods, by reason of having more worshippers than any of the others, is Blind Io. He is a thunder god: in fact, he is every thunder god worshipped on the disc, appearing under different guises and answering different names in various places, so as to ensure the largest possible number of worshippers. (He nevertheless comes by his position of leadership relatively fairly, since all his rivals use similar dodges.)

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.

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. The biggest advantage of not having chapters is: you can stop reading on nearly every page... if you are able to. Or you can just go through it non-stop, as some do.

The novels can be grouped into five categories:

• 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. 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 of 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 Miscellaneous stories - where none of the above four applies, or the main characters from them only appear briefly, or at least not as the main characters of the story in question.

The Discworld novels are as follows:

Name	Group	ISBN	Notes
The Colour of Magic	Rincewind	Paperback: ISBN 0552124753
The Light Fantastic	Rincewind	Paperback: ISBN 0552128481
Equal Rites	The Witches	Paperback: ISBN 0552131059
Mort	Death	Paperback: ISBN 0552131067
Sourcery	Rincewind	Paperback: ISBN 0552131075
Wyrd Sisters	The Witches	Paperback: ISBN 0552134600
Pyramids	Miscellaneous	Paperback: ISBN 0552134619
Guards! Guards	The City Watch	Paperback: ISBN 0552134627
Eric	Rincewind	Paperback: ISBN 0575600012	Originally published as a 'Discworld story': larger format and fully illustrated by Josh Kirby; more recently reissued as a normal paperback with no illustrations.
Moving Pictures	Miscellaneous	Paperback: ISBN 0552134635
Reaper Man	Death	Paperback: ISBN 0552134643
Witches Abroad	The Witches	Paperback: ISBN 0552134651
Small Gods	Miscellaneous	Paperback: ISBN 0552138908
Lords and Ladies	The Witches	Paperback: ISBN 0552138916
Men at Arms	The City Watch
Soul Music	Death	Paperback: ISBN 0552140295
Interesting Times	Rincewind	Paperback: ISBN 0552142352
Maskerade	The Witches	Paperback: ISBN 0552142360
Feet of Clay	The City Watch	Paperback: ISBN 0552142379
Hogfather	Death	Paperback: ISBN 0552145424
Jingo	The City Watch	Hardback: ISBN 0575065400
The Last Continent	Rincewind	Hardback: ISBN 0385409893
Carpe Jugulum	The Witches	Hardback: ISBN 0385409923
The Fifth Elephant	The City Watch	Hardback: ISBN 0385409958
The Truth	Miscellaneous	Hardback: ISBN 0385601026
Thief of Time	Death	Hardback: ISBN 0385601883
The Last Hero	Miscellaneous		Published in a larger format, fully illustrated by Paul Kidby.
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents	Miscellaneous		A children's Discworld book.
Night Watch	The City Watch	Hardback: ISBN 0385602642
The Wee Free Men	Miscellaneous	Hardback: ISBN 0385605331	Another children's Discworld book.
Monstrous Regiment	Miscellaneous
A Hat Full of Sky	A second Tiffany Aching novel

There are also three short stories by Pratchett based in the Discworld: Troll Bridge, Theatre of Cruelty, and The Sea and Little Fishes. All are available online.

Thus far, there are also two Discworld Quizbooks:

• The Unseen University Challenge See University Challenge (TV)..
• The Wyrdest Link See The Weakest Link (TV)..

Furthermore, there are four Mapps:

• The Streets of Ankh-Morpork (1993)
• The Discworld Mapp (1995)
• A Tourist Guide to Lancre (1998)
• Death's Domain (1999)

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

• The Science of Discworld
• The Science of Discworld 2: The Globe

Other Discworldesque publications include:

• Nanny Ogg's Cookbook
• The Discworld Portfolio

In addition Terry Pratchett co-authored with Phil Masters two role-playing game supplements for Discworld:

• GURPS Discworld
• GURPS Discworld Also

Available Discworld computer games are:

• Discworld 1
• Discworld 2: Missing Presumed
• Discworld Noir
• Discworld MUD (see external link below)

Most years there is also a Discworld Diary and Calendar out, as well. The Diaries particularly are themed.

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.

Animated adaptations of Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters were produced by Cosgrove-Hall Productions for Channel 4 in 1996.

Related topics

• Discworld characters

External link

• The L-Space Web, possibly the definitive Discworld web site
• Discworld Monthly (free monthly newsletter about Terry Pratchett OBE and his Discworld and other novels.)
• Discworld.Com The official Discworld website. Still under construction.
• A 30kb .gif showing the interrelationships between the books and series within Discworld
• Discworld MUD Allows you to enter the Discworld and become a wizzard or assassin, or whatever you choose.
• Extra Publications A - fairly - complete list of all tomes not in the official series. (Mapps, Diaries, Cookbooks...)