Pratchat - a Terry Pratchett and Discworld book club

What do we want? Truth, Justice, Freedom, Reasonably Priced Love, a Hard-Boiled Egg...and a Bonus Episode of Pratchat! Join us for a discussion of some special topics in celebration of the Glorious 25th of May - and our Eeek tier subscribers, who've decided what we'll be talking about.

It's noisy enough in a pre-teen's head without worrying about tiny blue fairy men, magical powers you can't yet control, fitting in with the local coven, and two (or three) mentors in witchcraft. And that's before the monster stepped in there as well... For #Pratchat43 we’re joined by writer and poet Sally Evans to talk about Terry Pratchett's 32nd Discworld, the second to star Tiffany Aching: A H...

Extra, extra! Read all about it! Journalism, cronyism and vampirism in Ankh-Morpork! Conspiracy and mystery! Amusingly shaped vegetables! Get the full story right here in #Pratchat42...and Pratchett's 25th Discworld novel, The Truth, with author, editor and journalist Stephanie Convery.

Mau's entire Nation has been wiped out by a tsunami. Now his dead Grandfathers are talking to him, the god anchors are missing, his only companion is a ghost girl who wears trousers, and he's between souls... Educator Dr Charlotte Pezaro joins us to talk about Terry Pratchett's own favourite book, 2008's standalone young adult novel NATION.

Vampires! Werewolves! Dwarfs! A Scone! It's all happening in Uberwald as Sam Vimes goes from policeman to ambassador in Terry Pratchett's THE FIFTH ELEPHANT, and we welcome back comedian Richard McKenzie.

Someone told Granny Weatherwax to be nice, so er...we'll just be down here in this bomb shelter... Luckily, we discovered comedian, musician and unofficial Terry Pratchett biographer Marc Burrows was in the same one! So we recorded this episode with him about the 1998 Discworld short story "The Sea and Little Fishes".

CONTENT ADVISORY: this podcast contains frequent use of the word Moist. It may also include the terms "fecund", "stagnant", "pible" and "post office". Luckily it also contains an extended discussion of one of Terry Pratchett's most beloved books, GOING POSTAL, with guest magicians and scam experts, Nicholas J Johnson and Lawrence Leung.

Leaving something behind in the past can really mess with history - especially if it's one of your best friends! Will Kostakis puts on his trousers of time and talks with us about the third and final of Terry Pratchett's Johnny Maxwell books, 1996's Johnny and the Bomb.

Lancre is neck-deep in vampires - but these ones have read TV Tropes! And all is not well with our favourite country coven. Has Granny quit the band? With Magrat newly a Mother, can Nanny really take over as...uh…”the other one”? Will Agnes’ inner witch come out to play? Find out as Gillian Cosgriff joins us to talk about vampires, phoenixes and pride in Terry Pratchett's twenty-third Discworld no...

A disc on a turtle with four elephants in between sounds pretty ridiculous...but who are we to talk? We live on a giant spinning ball of rock... Liz, Ben and science communicator Anna Ahveninen look at our cosmos from a wizard's-eye view in 1999’s The Science of Discworld, Terry Pratchett’s first collaboration with Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart.

What if a talking cat ran the Pied Piper's operation - and the rats were in on it? Join Liz, Ben and writer Michelle Law as they discuss Terry Pratchett's first Discworld book for younger readers, 2001's deliciously dark "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents".

What's two apples high, blue, asks if yer mother can sew and is looking for a hag? One of the Nac Mac Feegle of course! Librarian Meaghan Dew joins Liz and Ben to meet the youngest witch ever, Tiffany Aching, and her pictsie friends, in Terry Pratchett's 2003 Discworld book for younger readers, THE WEE FREE MEN.

What on Earths...plural? Grab your best potato and flick the switch on your stepper box to go sideways into one of millions of alternate Earths - none of them populated by humans... The brilliant Joel Martin returns to talk with Liz and Ben about science fiction, gold and artificial intelligence in the first book of Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's sci-fi series, THE LONG EARTH.

After thirty episodes - and while entering lockdown - Liz and Ben take a break from the books to get into bigger Terry Pratchett questions. Get their opinions on which book you should you start with, which of Dibbler's schemes they'd fall for, which book has been their least favourite so far, and much much more.

We’ve made a change in our schedule! Our next book will indeed be The Long Earth , as announced last episode, but we’ll be postponing that to May. Our thirtieth episode, #Pratchat30 , will instead feature Liz and Ben answering your broader Pratchett questions. Listen or read on for more information. If you’re new to Pratchett, this is your chance to ask how or why to get into his...

Trapped in Fourecks? Plants acting weird (and delicious)? No worries! Grab your corked wizzard hat and stock up on hay and pie floaters: returning guest Fury joins Liz and Ben to head down under - or perhaps far over? - to Fourecks, Terry Pratchett's loving parody of Australia, in THE LAST CONTINENT!

Twelve-year-old Johnny Maxwell is just a normal, slightly boring kid...until the aliens in his videogame surrender to him. That's new. What's even weirder, though, is that when he tries to lead them to safety, they disappear from everyone else's copy of the game too... Writer and editor Steve Lamattina joins us to talk kids, war and videogames in Terry Pratchett's 1992 novel ONLY YOU CAN SAVE MANK...

There's a new bit of land in the middle of the Circle Sea - which means both Ankh-Morpork and its arch-rival, Klatch, want to claim it as theirs! With the Patrician gone AWOL, the Lords of Ankh decide its time for war...unless Sir Samuel Vimes, Commander of the Watch, can figure out who's really pulling the strings. Psychologist Craig Hildebrand-Burke joined us to discuss nationalism, prejudice an...

There's no Christmas on the Discworld, but - as in every fantasy universe - there's something very like it: Hogswatch! But this year, the Hogfather seems bonier, struggles with the laugh, and he SPEAKS LIKE THIS. Someone's in the big red suit handing out presents, but it's not the Fat Man... Michael Williams, Director of The Wheeler Centre joins us for Terry Pratchett's very Christmassy 1996 Discw...

In this bonus mini-episode of Pratchat, Liz asks Ben about Night Terrace, the time travel radio comedy series from Splendid Chaps Productions! Get the lowdown on the characters, hear some excerpts, and find out how or if it connects to the Discworld. Season three of the show is crowdfunding right now ; the campaign ends very soon, so get in before November 22 if you want to help it get made!

Everyone knows that on the Discworld, the eighth son of an eighth son will become a wizard. But what happens with the eighth son of an eighth son...is a daughter? Elizabeth, Ben and Noongar writer and poet Claire G. Coleman meet Granny Weatherwax and Esk in Terry Pratchett's third Discworld novel, 1986's EQUAL RITES.

It's a who- what- and how-dunnit as Commander Vimes of the Watch tries to solve two murders and a poisoning with the help of new recruit Cheery, the Discworld's first forensic alchemist. ABC News Breakfast's Nate Byrne joins us to discuss Terry Pratchett's 1996 novel FEET OF CLAY.

Get out your masks, your mirrors and your cooking supplies because it's time for a chat about MASKERADE! The Pratchat team are joined by guest opera singer Myf Coghill to talk opera, ghosts and Greebo in Terry Pratchett's eighteenth Discworld novel.

Terry Pratchett teams up with cartoonist Gray Jolliffe to do for cats what The Campaign for Real Ale did for beer, in his 1989 non-fiction humour book, THE UNADULTERATED CAT. We invited the only appropriate guest for this International Cat Day episode: resident “Pratcat”, Elizabeth’s cat Asimov!

Unseen University has received a message from the distant land of Agatea: "Send the Great Wizzard". (The spelling was very specific.) Said "wizzard" is currently marooned on a desert island without a care in the world - and for Rincewind, peace never lasts long... David Ryding of the Melbourne City of Literature office joins us to talk INTERESTING TIMES, Terry Pratchett’s 17th Discworld novel from...