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Moist von Lipwig

#Pratchat79A – Cover Stamps

8 September 2024 by Pratchat Imps Leave a Comment

Scheduling issues pushed back our recording of #Pratchat80, so unfortunately we aren’t going to be able to bring you that discussion of Making Money until October. But it has been a very long time since we talked about Going Postal, so Ben thought you might like a recap to tide you over – plus a discussion of some of his favourite Discworld book covers, prompted by subscriber Ian!

We’d love to hear about your favourite covers, from any of the various editions of Pratchett’s works! Let us know about them using the hashtag #Pratchat79A on social media, or get in touch via email or our subscriber Discord.

https://media.blubrry.com/pratchat/pratchatpodcast.com/episodes/Pratchat_episode_79A.mp3

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You can find various covers of the Discworld books via the L-Space wiki, or via the Internet Speculative Fiction Database at isfdb.org. For the isfdb, make sure you choose “Fiction Titles” below the search box when searching for a specific book, then scroll down to the bottom of the list of editions and click the link which says “View all covers for [Book Title]”. Note that not all the covers Ben mentions are at those two sources; we’ve linked to other sources below where necessary.

Ben mentions these favourite covers:

  • The original cover for The Colour of Magic by Alan Smith
  • Pratchett’s own original cover for The Carpet People (the image isn’t as small as Ben remembered)
  • The new Penguin paperback designs by Leo Nickolls, incorporating Paul Kidby’s artwork, especially Moving Pictures. (The link is to the L-Space page Ben put together for these editions, which also gives you handy links to all the books in the wiki.)
  • Paul Kidby’s covers for the first UK editions, in particular Night Watch, Going Postal and The Science of Discworld, plus the back cover of the original hardcover edition of The Last Hero
  • Josh Kirby’s covers for Eric (the original large format edition), Small Gods, and especially Reaper Man
  • The cover for the graphic novel adaptation of Small Gods by Ray Friesen
  • The Penguin 25th Anniversary edition of Hogfather, with art by BoomArtwork
  • The American hardcover edition of Raising Steam, with art by Justin Gerard
  • The Mai Més Catalan editions with covers by Marina Vidal, especially Equal Rites and The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

We discussed Going Postal way back in 2020, in #Pratchat38, “Moisten to Steal”, with guests Nicholas J Johnson and Lawrence Leung.

We’ll be back in October with #Pratchat80 discussing Making Money with guest Stephanie Convery.

Want to help us get to the end of our six(ish) year mission and read every Pratchett book – and more? You can support us with a tip, or a subscription for as little as $2 a month, and that’s cuttin’ our own throats! See our Support Us page for details.

Posted in: Podcast Tagged: Ben McKenzie, Bonus Episode, Discworld, Footnote, Going Postal, Moist von Lipwig, recap, The Long War

#Pratchat82 – Clack Go the Gears

8 December 2024 by Pratchat Imps Leave a Comment

Puzzlers and previous guests Nicholas J Johnson and Lawrence Leung return to play and discuss Leonard Boyd and David Brashaw’s 2015 board game Clacks, based on Terry Pratchett’s 33rd Discworld novel, Going Postal.

Postmaster General Moist von Lipwig has come up with a plan to prove the Ankh-Morpork postal service is still relevant – a race against the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company! The Grand Trunk has a monopoly on the “Clacks”, a system of optical telegraph towers which transmit messages using patterns formed by a grid of six lights – surely they can beat a man on a horse? But the Grand Trunk knows Moist has something up his sleeve, and they’re taking no chances – the fastest and best new Clacks operators will have to prove they’re worthy of the job by racing each other first…

The fifth (and so far final) Discworld board game, Clacks is the second Discworld design by Boyd and Brashaw’s BackSpindle games (following Guards! Guards!). Clacks turns the race at the climax of Going Postal into a logic puzzle where up to four players must use punch cards to turn patterns of lights on and off in a grid, hoping to form another pattern which equates to a letter in Clacks code. It’s a race to finish your word (or words) first, either against each other, or as a team against Moist von Lipwig – but sharing the same grid of lights makes this puzzle very unpredictable.

Is it Discworldy enough? Does it feel like the Clacks technology of the books? Do you find it fun or funny, and do you prefer it collaborative or cooperative? And what else would you play to get your logic puzzle fix? Oh, and if you want to try making the longest sentence you can out of our Clacks words, the ones we drew were SHINE, SONKY, MAGIC, URIKA, ADORA, TOMAS, GUILD, QUIRM, RUFUS, GROAT, MONKS, GNOME, PIXIE, TROLL, TURVY, ANDRE, AHMED, CELYN, THIEF and KLOTZ. Let us know how you went using the hashtag #Pratchat82.

https://media.blubrry.com/pratchat/pratchatpodcast.com/episodes/Pratchat_episode_82.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:26:24 — 40.0MB)

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Guest Nicholas J Johnson is an author, magician, educator and expert in deception, who goes by the nickname “Australia’s Honest Con-Man”. You can find details of Nick’s shows and workshops, including his upcoming magic show for children at the 2025 Melbourne Comedy Festival, at conman.com.au, or follow him on Bluesky, Instagram or Facebook as @honestconman.

Guest Lawrence Leung is a comedian, screenwriter and actor, known to Australian audiences for live and screen comedy, including the 2015 feature film Sucker, and more recently appearances in My Life is Murder, Aunty Donna’s Comedy Cafe and Time Bandits. For all the latest about Lawrence, including his upcoming research into seances and mediums in Victorian Melbourne, visit lawrenceleung.com, or follow him on Instagram at @mrlawrenceleung.

You can find episode notes and errata on our web site. One quick correction: Marc Burrows’ one man show The Magic of Terry Pratchett is on in Adelaide from 21 February to 7 March. See the full notes for details.

We’ll be kicking off the new year with one of the few Discworld novels we have left – and why not go large with the longest Pratchett novel of all, Unseen Academicals? We’ll be lacing up our football boots and dusting off our mortarboards alongside returning guest Tansy Rayner Roberts! Send us your questions via email (chat@pratchatpodcast.com), or social media. Use the hashtag #Pratchat83.

Want to help us get to the end of our six(ish) year mission and read every Pratchett book – and more? You can support us with a tip, or a subscription for as little as $2 a month, and that’s cuttin’ our own throats! See our Support Us page for details.

Posted in: Podcast Tagged: Ankh-Morpork, Ben McKenzie, board game, Discworld, Elizabeth Flux, Lawrence Leung, Moist von Lipwig, Nicholas J Johnson

#Pratchat38 Notes and Errata

8 December 2020 by Ben Leave a Comment

These are the show notes and errata for episode 38, “Moisten to Steal“, featuring guests Nicholas J Johnson and Lawrence Leung, discussing the 33rd Discworld novel, and the first to feature Moist von Lipwig, 2004’s Going Postal.

Iconographic Evidence

  • David Lynch’s 1984 film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel Dune is famous for many things. One of them is British singer Sting’s supporting role as Feyd-Rautha, sadistic nephew of the evil Baron Harkonnen. He is introduced stepping out from jets of steam wearing only a pair of winged metal underpants, as captured in this gif:

Notes and Errata

  • The episode title plays on the phrase used to refer to envelopes you have to lick in order to seal them – “moisten to seal”.
  • Ben is actually thinking of the music video (or “film clip” as he calls it) for Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”, the third single from Jackson’s 1982 album Thriller. The dance fight in question takes place during the guitar solo, and you can see it on YouTube here. (You can also see a parody of it in the music video for Weird Al Yankovic’s “Eat It”.)
  • Though the first editions of The Colour of Magic were published by Colin Smythe in 1983, it likely wasn’t available in Australia until the release of the Corgi paperback edition in 1985. This isn’t easy to verify though, so if you have any information on this, let us know!
  • We’ve previously discussed all three books in the Book of the Nomes trilogy, aka “The Bromeliad”: Truckers, Diggers and Wings.
  • We’ve also covered all three of the Johnny Maxwell books: Only You Can Save Mankind, Johnny and the Dead and Johnny and the Bomb.
  • We discussed Guards! Guards! with Aimee Nichols back in #Pratchat7A, “The Curious Incident of the Dragon and the Night Watch“.
  • We discussed Mort all the way back in our second episode, #Pratchat2, “Murdering a Curry“.
  • The Terminator is the titular protagonist of James Cameron’s 1984 science fiction film The Terminator. Arnold Schwarzenegger starred as the Terminator, a cyborg sent back in time by the artificial intelligence Skynet to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). By doing so it hopes to alter the future in which her unborn son leads a resistance movement against Skynet’s machine army. The film was a success, and its direct sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) even more so, resulting in a franchise of comics, novels, games, a TV series (The Sarah Connor Chronicles starring Lena Heady) and three further feature films. Cameron himself was only directly involved with the most recent film sequel, 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate, which while getting the best critical response of the later films made the least money. Schwarzenegger appears in nearly all of the films as a version of the Terminator, creating an iconic character with his deadpan delivery.
  • Several news outlets, including The Guardian, reported in September 2020 that Australia Post management asked its office workers to volunteer to deliver mail – in their own cars – to help clear a backlog of deliveries.
  • The Clacks first appear in 1999’s The Fifth Elephant (discussed in #Pratchat40, “The King and the Hole of the King“), forming an important part of the plot. By the time of that book, semaphore towers have proliferated across Ankh-Morpork. The Watch seem to have their own system, but the Clacks stretches as far as Überwald and has caught on quickly since its invention. The Grand Trunk company does not yet have a monopoly on the system, though a trunk to Genua is being planned. It may also be the Dearheart system was just so superior that it outperformed all rivals, though it is more likely from the description of Gilt and his cronies’ business tactics that they bought up any competitors after they took over the company.
  • On Roundworld (i.e. our world), the earliest kind of semaphore tower first appeared around the 4th century BCE in Greece. Rather than a symbolic system of flags or lights, they used vessels of water which were emptied for an amount of time indicated by the sender through torch signals. The water would run out until it reached the level marked with the message the sender wanted to transmit. The more modern kind of tower, which resembles the Clacks, was the optical telegraph, inspired by military semaphore of the time – see the note below.
  • Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (in English, The Count of Monte Cristo) is a French serialised adventure novel written by Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) and first published between 1844 and 1846. The hero, honest sailor Edmond Dantès, is on his way home to marry his fiancée in 1815 when he is framed as a traitor and sentenced to imprisonment in an island fortress. There he is mentored by a fellow prisoner, who helps him identify the three men who betrayed him. Dantès escapes, and secures the hidden treasure belonging to his mentor, but ignores his advice and uses it to seek revenge, disguised as “the Count of Monte Cristo”. One of his revenge plots includes Dantès bribing the poorly paid operator of an optical telegraph tower to send a false message, which is picked up by an official and passed indirectly to the Count’s victim.
  • There have been multiple versions of the optical telegraph. The best-known is the French system created by engineer Claude Chappe for the Revolutionary government in 1793, which is the one appearing in Dumas’ novel. Inspired by naval semaphore flags, Chappe created a system of pulleys that moved one large beam with a smaller rotating beam on each end; these could be quickly moved into many different shapes. He also devised the code used by the telegraph, and a set of rules for its operation, so he would likely have got along well with the crackers of the Smoking Gnu! The Clacks grid of shutters is probably mostly based on the system invented by Lord George Murray for the British admiralty in 1795, though this was superseded in 1816 by the simpler and easier to see system invented by Sir Home Popham.
  • Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd is set in the IT department of Reynholm Industries, where nerds Moss (Richard Ayoade) and Roy (Chris O’Dowd) end up with a new manager, Jen (Katherine Parkinson), who knows nothing about computers. It ran for four series from 2006 to 2010, plus a double-length finale in 2013. In the episode “The Speech” from series 3, Jen makes Roy and Moss write her an acceptance speech for an award; they decide to embarrass her by convincing her that a small black box with a blinking light is “the Internet”.
  • ADSL is a type of Digital Subscriber Line, a technology allowing fast transfer of digital information over old copper telephone lines by using frequencies not used by standard voice communication. The A stands for Asymmetric – ADSL provides a much faster speed for downloads than for uploads. Because there may be a great deal of noise on the line, depending on the gauge and quality of the copper network, ADSL is not suited to long-distance use so it is only deployed for up to a few kilometres from an exchange – and you are likely to get less noise over shorter distances, so if you’re closer to the exchange your signal will be clearer and consequently your speeds will be faster.
  • The Sting is a 1973 film directed by George Roy Hill and starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. It won a slew of Oscars in 1973 and was so influential that according to Nick, there are two kinds of con artist films: those made before The Sting, and those made after! We don’t want to give anything away here, but if you want to know more, check out episode 21 of Nick’s old podcast Scamapalooza, in which he discusses the film with American author Matthew Specktor.
  • We’ve talked before about The Shawshank Redemption, Frank Darabont’s 1994 adaptation of the Steven King short story starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. It’s one of Liz’s favourite films; you can find some of the biggest mentions in #Pratchat14 and #Pratchat28.
  • Lawrence Leung’s Sucker began life as an award-winning solo comedy show in 2001, but was adapted into a feature film in 2015, starring John Luc as young Lawrence, Timothy Spall as a conman known as “the Professor”, and Lily Sullivan as his daughter, Sarah. It’s narrated by Lawrence as “The Real Lawrence Leung”.
  • Christopher Nolan’s 2005 film Batman Begins presents a bit of a departure from the standard origin story of Bruce Wayne; his parents’ murderer Joe Chill is caught and goes to prison, but is paroled when he testifies against mob boss Carmine Falcone. Now a young adult, Bruce plans to murder him but is beaten to it by a hitman working for the mob. It’s a conversation with Falcone himself that convinces Bruce to become a symbol of fear to criminals, but even after his return to Gotham he faces significant setbacks on the road to becoming Batman.
  • In the 2008 Bond film Quantum of Solace – referred to rather rudely by certain people on this podcast as “the shit one” – Bond is driving an investigation into a secret criminal organisation known as Quantum. They successfully frame him for murder and he is cut off from MI6, forced to go it alone.
  • Frank Abagnale Jr was a notorious conman of the 1960s who spent six years between the ages of 15 and 21 scamming banks, stealing money through elaborate schemes, and pretending to be a doctor, a lawyer and even an airline pilot. After he left prison he helped the FBI catch other conmen and eventually became a security consultant to banks and other organisations, helping them avoid being scammed. His 1980 autobiography Catch Me If You Can was adapted into a 2002 Hollywood film directed by Steven Spielberg, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank and Tom Hanks as an FBI agent trying to catch him. It was also adapted into a Broadway musical in 2011.
  • Ferdinand Waldo “Fred” Demara (1921-1982) was another impostor who not only pretended to be a doctor but also a school teacher, a psychology professor and a Christian Brother. He was caught several times but continued to assume new roles until he began to make money from his fame; television appearances on game shows made it more difficult for him to pretend to be someone else. In his later years he apparently tried to go straight, but was dogged by his past actions. He still managed to be friends with many high profile people, including the actor Steve McQueen. His life story was adapted into the 1961 film The Great Impostor, starring Tony Curtis.
  • We’ve previously talked about Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798) and his Discworld dwarfish counterpart Casanunda in our episodes about Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies and Carpe Jugulum. The real Casanova left an indelible mark on Western culture by publishing a no holds barred autobiography, Histoire de ma vie (Story of My Life), which as well as giving us an accurate idea of 18th century European society made his name synonymous with “womaniser”.
  • The “Jedi mind trick” first appears in the original Star Wars (1977). Obi-Wan Kenobi uses the Force to convince some Stormtroopers that C-3PO and R2-D2 “aren’t the droids you’re looking for”, and explains to an impressed Luke Skywalker that “the Force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded.” Luke, Qui-Gon Jinn and Rey all use similar mind tricks in later films, but they don’t always work. It was first referred to as a “mind trick” by Jabba the Hutt in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

These show notes were delayed by Ben moving house in December, but he’s catching up!

Posted in: Episode Notes Tagged: Adorabelle Dearheart, Ankh-Morpork, Ben McKenzie, Discworld, Elizabeth Flux, Moist von Lipwig, Mustrum Ridcully, Patrician, Sacharissa Cripslock

#Pratchat38 – Moisten to Steal

8 December 2020 by Pratchat Imps Leave a Comment

Writers, comedians, magicians and con-men experts Nicholas J Johnson and Lawrence Leung join us as we meet the distressingly named Moist von Lipwig in his 2004 debut, Terry Pratchett’s 33rd Discworld novel, Going Postal!

Con-man Moist von Lipwig (aka Albert Spangler) thinks he’s come to the end of the line when he’s hanged by order of Lord Vetinari, Patrician of Ankh-Morpork. But while the world believes him hanged, the city’s tyrant has actually saved him for something bigger: he wants Moist to revitalise the city’s derelict post office. It seems like a hopeless task with no chance of success or escape, what with the mountains of mail, unsatisfactory staff, golem parole officer, and the communications monopoly of the Grand Trunk Sempahore Company, run by the piratical Reacher Gilt. But every con-man needs a challenge…

Pratchett’s first Moist book is a great in to the Discworld at large, with a gripping self-contained story of new technology vs old, capitalism vs the public good, and one man’s lifetime of criminal habits vs his better nature. As well as Moist himself, it introduces such memorable characters as Mr Pump, Stanley the pin collector, and the one and only Adorabelle Dearheart. (Everyone in this book has an amazing name.) It’s not a short book, and we struggle to cover all its themes, twists and turns. Do you love Moist von Lipwig? Could you get over his name? Could you operate a Clacks tower? And just how deep did Vetinari’s plan go, anyway? Join the discussion using the hashtag #Pratchat38.

https://media.blubrry.com/pratchat/pratchatpodcast.com/episodes/Pratchat_episode_38.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:24:42 — 66.7MB)

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Guest Nicholas J Johnson is an author, magician and expert in scams and swindles, earning himself the nickname “Australia’s Honest Con-Man”. His new children’s book, the “autobiographical” Tricky Nick, features magic and time travel and all sorts, and is available now from Pan Macmillan. Find out more about Nick’s live performances and workshops at conman.com.au, or follow him on Twitter at @countlustig.

Guest Lawrence Leung is a comedian, screenwriter and actor, known to Australian audiences from his roles in Offspring and Top of the Lake, and his own shows including Lawrence Leung’s Choose-Your-Own-Adventure and Maximum Choppage, and the feature film Sucker. Find out all the latest about Lawrence, including when you can catch his live-streamed comedy shows, at lawrenceleung.com, or you can follow him on Twitter at @Lawrence_Leung.

You can find episode notes and errata on our web site.

Our plan to cover Sir Terry’s short fiction was via live shows, but since that hasn’t worked out for us this year, in January we’re going to discuss 1998’s short witches story, The Sea and Little Fishes. We’ll also be welcoming our first international guest: Marc Burrows, author of the Pratchett biography The Magic of Terry Pratchett! Send us your questions via social media using the hashtag #Pratchat39.

Want to help us get to the end of our six(ish) year mission and read every Pratchett book – and more? You can support us with a tip, or a subscription for as little as $2 a month, and that’s cuttin’ our own throats! See our Support Us page for details.

Posted in: Podcast Tagged: Adorabelle Dearheart, Ankh-Morpork, Ben McKenzie, Discworld, Elizabeth Flux, Moist von Lipwig, Mustrum Ridcully, Patrician, Sacharissa Cripslock

#Pratchat80 Notes and Errata

8 October 2024 by Ben Leave a Comment

These are the episode notes and errata for Pratchat episode 80, “Always Believe in Your Golems”, discussing Terry Pratchett’s thirty-sixth Discworld novel, 2007’s Making Money, with returning guest Stephanie Convery.

Iconographic Evidence

The Count’s first appearance on Sesame Street, from the fourth season in 1972. He was created by long-time Sesame Street writer Norman Stiles, and was the longest running character performed by veteran muppet performer Jerry Nelson. Matt Vogel took over performing the Count in 2013, though he was made much less sinister fairly early on.

Notes and Errata

  • The episode title is a riff on British pop group Spandau Ballet’s hit song “Gold”. It was released in 1983, the fourth single from their third studio album, True, and is probably their most famous song, though at the time the title track from the same album was more popular. ”Gold” was heavily inspired by the film music of John Barry, including his work on many James Bond themes; the original lyrics from the chorus are: “Gold! (Gold) / Always believe in your soul / You’ve got the power to know / You’re indestructible / Always believe in…” It’s been featuring in subsequent pop culture; Ben remembers it from the 1998 comedy Four Men in a Car where a CD gets stuck, looping the line “you’re indestructible” as the car’s occupants try and fail to destroy the car CD’s player.
  • Ben covers some Pratchett news at the end of this episode, but we’re putting the notes about them up front to make them easier to find. (Notes below continue in the usual chronological order.)
    • The newly recovered story in A Stroke of the Pen is “Arnold, the Bominable Snowman”. We’ve not yet found where it’s available online, but we can confirm that digital editions of the book have been updated to include it.
    • You can find the free Quickstart for the Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork roleplaying game on the Modiphius website. It’s also available via DriveThruRPG. The Kickstarter launched on 15 October and ended on 7 November.
    • The three upcoming Discworld plays in Australia are The Fifth Elephant from Brisbane Arts Theatre from 19 October; Maskerade by Sporadic Productions in Adelaide from 30 October; and Guards! Guards! from Roleystone Theatre in Perth from 22 November.
  • William Morris (1834 – 1896) was a British artist, poet and novelist. His “terrible utopian novels” include News from Nowhere (1890), in which a member of the Socialist League falls asleep after a meeting and wakes up in a future society built on socialist and Marxist ideals. Morris is also known for his fantasy novels, which were among the first such popular novels to include supernatural elements and were hugely influential, including on J. R. R. Tolkien. These books include The Roots of the Mountains, The Wood Beyond the World, The Well at the World’s End, and The Water of the Wondrous Isles; many of these included socialist themes as well.
  • Making Money comes just three books after Going Postal. Moist doesn’t appear in any books in between, but he is mentioned briefly (though not by name) in Thud! He shows up again in the penultimate Discworld novel, Raising Steam, but doesn’t make any cameos in other books.
  • Robert E Howard’s Conan stories are set in the fictional “Hyborian Age” of Earth, estimated to be somewhere between 10,000 and 25,000 years ago. It’s meant to represent prehistoric Europe and Northern Africa, and thus Cimmeria is the ancient home of Celtic peoples, but it’s based on ahistorical stereotypes and is functionally a collection of fantasy analogues for modern nations. The real Cimmeria was an ancient “micro continent” that was originally part of Gondwana, the southern supercontinent. It became detached around 250 million years ago and moved north as part of continental drift, eventually colliding with and becoming part of Eurasia around 150 million years ago. It now forms part of the Middle East and western and south-eastern Asia.
  • “WORDS IN THE HEART CANNOT BE TAKEN” is from a heartbreaking scene towards the end of Feet of Clay, and the words are from Dorfl.
  • Squashing bread does not make it sweeter, but chewing on it does. The missing ingredient is saliva, which begins the process of breaking down the complex carbohydrates in the bread into sugars.
  • The compulsive need to count is known as “arithmomania”, and is a feature of European vampire lore. It was usually other kinds of grains, rather than rice, though this may also be the reason for throwing salt over your shoulder to ward off the Devil – he would be compelled to stop and count every grain.
  • The jiāngshī (殭屍) or Chinese hopping vampire is a form of undead from Chinese folklore, similar in some ways to both vampires and zombies. There are many varied accounts of their powers, limitations and vulnerabilities, but they don’t seem to have to count grains of rice – instead, one method for stopping them is through a ball of sticky rice at them which will draw out the evil in their soul. They have inspired an entire genre of films, most famously the Mr Vampire comedy horror movies made in Hong Kong in the 1980s and 1990s. These popularised the hopping version of jiāngshī, gave them a standard look (traditional mandarin robes from the Qing dynasty), and established some common ways to deal with them (e.g. placing a spell written on a piece of paper on their forehead) in much the same way as early vampire films solidified European vampire lore.
  • Bram Stoker (1847-1912) drew on various bits of vampire folklore when creating Dracula, but he also incorporated real life science, beliefs about disease, recent events, and other unrelated supernatural stories. The most prominent vampire-adjacent belief at the time was that contagious diseases were caused by corpses which still contained blood in the heart. This led especially poor folk in rural areas to dig up corpses and destroy them to try and halt the spread of illness, a practice which seems to have directly inspired parts of the novel. Stoker wrote fifteen novels, the second most famous being his last, The Lair of the White Worm (1911), another horror story incorporating various elements from folklore.
  • More notes coming soon.

Thanks for reading our notes! If we missed anything, or you have questions, please let us know.

Posted in: Episode Notes Tagged: A Stroke of the Pen, Adorabelle Dearheart, Ben McKenzie, Elizabeth Flux, Making Money, Moist von Lipwig, Short Fiction, Stephanie Convery, Vetinari

#Pratchat80 – Always Believe in Your Golems

8 October 2024 by Pratchat Imps 2 Comments

Inequality reporter Stephanie Convery returns on a trip with Liz and Ben into the world of banking, high finance and monetary theory in Terry Pratchett’s thirty-sixth Discworld novel, 2007’s Making Money.

The Ankh-Morpork Post Office is running very smoothly – which has left Moist von Lipwig, reformed con-man and Postmaster General, at a loose end. But he resists the Patrician’s offer of a new job revitalising the Royal Mint and Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork. The bank’s current owner is a Mark 1 Feisty Old Lady who knows her rich family are out to get her – and her little dog, too. But despite Moist’s best attempts to not get involved, both dog and bank wind up in his care – putting him in the sights of the Lavish family, and especially Vetinari-obsessed Cosmo Lavish. Meanwhile, manager of the Golem Trust (and Moist’s fiancée) Adora Belle Dearheart is digging up something ancient out on the desert. And Moist’s past is about to catch up with him…

Just a few novels after debuting in Going Postal, Moist von Lipwig is back! Making Money is about the nature of money, but also about the thrill of the chase, grappling with one’s inner nature, and obsession. Aside from Gladys the Golem, Moist and Adora Belle bring few of their previous supporting cast along for the ride; instead we meet a new cast including Mr Bent, the Lavishes, another Igor, the Post-Mortem Communications Department of Unseen University, and the very good boy Mr Fusspot.

Does this live up to the promise of Going Postal? Could Moist be in other Discworld books in disguise – and if so, as who? Did you guess Mr Bent’s secret? And if you had a Glooper, what would you use it to change in the world of money? No purchase necessary to join the conversation for this episode; just email us or use the hashtag #Pratchat80 on social media.

https://media.blubrry.com/pratchat/pratchatpodcast.com/episodes/Pratchat_episode_80.mp3

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Stephanie Convery (she/her) is is a writer and author. Previously the Deputy Culture Editor for The Guardian Australia, she’s now their dedicated inequality reporter. Stephanie’s first book, After the Count: The Death of Davey Browne, was published in March 2020 by Penguin Books. (We suspect it won’t be her last.) You can follow Stephanie on Twitter at @gingerandhoney, and find her work at Guardian Australia. Her previous appearances on Pratchat were for #Pratchat2, “Murdering a Curry” (about Mort), and #Pratchat42, “Truth, the Printing Press, and Every -ing” (about The Truth).

You’ll find full notes and errata for this episode on our website.

Next episode we’re continuing our Moist streak (sorry) with the (so far) latest Discworld board game: Clacks! If you have questions about this game recreating the race between Moist and the Grand Trunk company, get them in to us by mid-October 2024 by tagging us or using the hashtag #Pratchat81 on social media, or emailing us at chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

Want to help us get to the end of our six(ish) year mission and read every Pratchett book – and more? You can support us with a tip, or a subscription for as little as $2 a month, and that’s cuttin’ our own throats! See our Support Us page for details.

Posted in: Podcast Tagged: Adorabelle Dearheart, Ankh-Morpork, Ben McKenzie, Discworld, Elizabeth Flux, Gladys, Igor, Moist von Lipwig, Patrician, Sam Vimes

Eeek Club 2022

25 May 2022 by Pratchat Imps 1 Comment

It’s a second instalment of the Pratchat Eeek Club! Each year, on the Glorious 25th of May, we release a bonus episode discussing Terry Pratchett-related topics selected by our “Eeek” tier subscribers.

This year, the topics are:

  • What was good, fun and enjoyable about The Watch?
  • Is Vimes a Cynic, a Stoic, or an Epicurean?
  • What was Granny Weatherwax and Ridcully’s relationship like, and why didn’t it continue?
  • What pop culture would you have liked to have seen referenced in a Discworld novel?
  • What moments from the series hit you personally because of a personal experience?
  • If democracy came to Ankh-Morpork, what political parties would we see?
https://media.blubrry.com/pratchat/pratchatpodcast.com/episodes/Eeek_Club_2022.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:41:58 — 47.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS | More

A big thank you to all our subscribers for making Pratchat possible, but especially to our Eeek Club contributors: Graham, Frank, Cath (and Eddy), Steph, Jess and Ellie, Karl and Soren!

You’ll find detailed notes and errata for this episode on our website.

Want to make sure we get through every Pratchett book – or even choose a topic for next year’s Eeek Club? You can support Pratchat by subscribing for as little as $2 a month and get access to bonus stuff, including the exclusive supporter podcast Ook Club! Click here to find out more.

Posted in: Podcast Tagged: Ankh-Morpork, Ben McKenzie, Bonus Episode, CMOT Dibbler, Eeek Club, Elizabeth Flux, Granny Weatherwax, Harry King, Moist von Lipwig, Mustrum Ridcully, Patrician, Reg Shoe, Roundworld, The Watch, Vetinari, Vimes

Eeek Club 2023

25 May 2023 by Pratchat Imps Leave a Comment

It’s a third instalment of the Pratchat Eeek Club! Each year, on the Glorious 25th of May, we release a bonus episode discussing Terry Pratchett-related topics selected by our “Eeek” tier subscribers.

This year, the topics are:

  • What are your ultimate actor castings for Discworld characters?
  • Is there a Discworld equivalent of podcasts?
  • What are your possible Discworld reading orders, and what are their strengths and weaknesses?
  • How would social media work on the Discworld?
  • Do women carry the physical and mental load of the Discworld?
  • Which Discworld characters would you love a “Where are they now” update for?
  • What would the Discworld be like if Terry were creating it today, and how would you help him?
https://media.blubrry.com/pratchat/pratchatpodcast.com/episodes/Eeek_Club_2023.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:19:16 — 36.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS | More

A big thank you to all our subscribers for making Pratchat possible, but especially to our Eeek Club contributors: Frank, Jing, Graham, Karl, the Caths, Jess and Ellie, Nathan and the others who didn’t send in questions this year.

You’ll find detailed notes and errata for this episode on our website.

Want to make sure we get through every Pratchett book – or even choose a topic for next year’s Eeek Club? You can support Pratchat by subscribing for as little as $2 a month and get access to bonus stuff, including the exclusive supporter podcast Ook Club! Click here to find out more.

Posted in: Podcast Tagged: Ankh-Morpork, Ben McKenzie, Bonus Episode, CMOT Dibbler, Eeek Club, Elizabeth Flux, Granny Weatherwax, Moist von Lipwig, Mustrum Ridcully, Patrician, Roundworld, Vetinari

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#Pratchat84 - Ankh-Morpork Archives & Discworld Almanak8 April 2025
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