Pratchat - a Terry Pratchett and Discworld book club

Another brief announcement from Ben that our Folklore of Discworld episode has been delayed for a third month! We’re very sorry about this. Hopefully we’ll be back on track soon; watch this space. Ben mentioned the following active Discworld podcasts you could try out: DiscWorld Order, who most recently discsused The Fifth Elephant Dining Table Discworld, whose most recent book was also The Fifth Elephant, but also did an episode about the Wyrd Sisters animated series I’ve Never Read Discworld, who most recently discussed Monstrous Regiment Disc Coverers, currently closest to the end, with an episode about Making Money in February The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret, whose most recent two-part discussion was about Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast The Guild of Recappers & Podcasters wiki tries to catalogue all of these and more. 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.

Liz and Ben were once again fortunate to be guests of the Australian Discworld Convention – this time in Sydney! In this live recording from day two of Nullus Anxietas X: A Celebration of Witches, we discuss Rhianna Pratchett and Gabrielle Kent’s 2023 book, Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being a Witch. (We previously interviewed Rhianna and Gabrielle about it in Pratchat74, “Hogswitch”.) Tiffany Aching has been a witch for some years now, and has been writing down what she’s learned. When she gets the opportunity to publish her work, and hopefully inspire a new generation of witches, she sends the manuscript to her mentors to get their thoughts via notes in the margins. And a couple of uninvited guests give their opinions, too – on everything from proper headwear, to the relationships between witches, and the supernatural threats one is likely to face… Which new bits were your favourites from the book? What did you think Petunia’s “pig trick” was when you first read about it in A Hat Full of Sky? Do you have a favourite witch, and why is it Nanny Ogg? (We won’t tell Granny.) Are you a Dolly Sisters fan, or a Dimwell diehard? (The reason this is important will become apparent when you listen.) What do you wish we’d do on the podcast before we finish up with all the novels – or perhaps do next, when Pratchat is over? We’d love to know! Use the hashtag #PratchatNAX on social media to join the conversation, or email us at [email protected] (we do read them all, though we’ve been a bit slow to reply of late). Nullus Anxietas, the Australian Discworld Convention, has been running for nearly twenty years. The next convention will be in 2028 in Melbourne! You can find out more at the official convention website, ausdwcon.org. You can also follow Nullus Anxietas on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. You can find the full show notes and errata for this episode on our web site. Huge thanks to everyone who attended the convention; our wonderful live audience, especially Danny, Helen and Jeremy; and especially offer enormous thanks to the “big jobs” – the team of hard-working volunteers and committee members who make Nullus Anxietas happen, especially Joanne, Steve, Danny and Kurt – but there were so many others. We hope to see you all in Melbourne for the next one. 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.

A brief announcement from Ben that our Folklore of Discworld episode has been delayed another month – but we’ll get you our live episode from the Australian Discworld Convention ASAP, later this month! Our interview with Rhianna Pratchett and Gabrielle Kent about Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being a Witch can be found in #Pratchat74, “Hogswitch”, from January 2024. While we’re a bit quiet, why not check out some of the other Pratchett podcasts catalogued in The Guild of Recappers & Podcasters? (Most of the big podcasts should be up to date – let us know if we’ve missed anything, or contact Ben to ask about joining the project!) 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.

Our March episode has been delayed. To mark International Women’s Day 2026, here’s a bonus episode in which Ben passes on recommendations of women to read if you like Terry Pratchett – mostly from listeners like you! You can find all the authors and podcasts mentioned in this episode below. The official home of International Women’s Day is unwomen.org – don’t let Google etc tell you otherwise. (00:02:41) The Grab Bag – authors recommended by one listener, in alphabetical order Charlie Jane Anders Margaret Atwood Lauren Buekes Kaliane Bradley Lois McMaster Bujold Stephanie Burgis C. J. Cherryh Robin Hobb India Holton Gabby Hutchinson Crouch Eleanor Janega N. K. Jemisin Karen Joy Fowler Tanith Lee R. A. MacAvoy C. L. Moore Audrey Niffenegger Andre Norton Rebecca Roanhorse Kristine Kathryn Rusch K. B. Spangler J. A. Stevens Sue Townsend Catherine Webb (00:20:05) Liz’s Picks in no particular order – and note you can also read Liz’s own writing! Agatha Christie (we’ll try and find the previous episode Ben mentions with the Christie recommendation, though it might be a bonus subscriber-only episode) Shirley Jackson Diana Wynne Jones (00:23:32) Pratchat Guests – also in alphabetical order Stephanie Convery (#Pratchat2, #Pratchat42, #Pratchat80) Claire G. Coleman (#Pratchat25) Karen K Carlisle (#Pratchat79) Kat Clay (#Pratchat92) Dr Kat Day (#Pratchat59) Freya Daly Sadgrove (#Pratchat76) Amy Gray (#Pratchat15) Amie Kaufman (#Pratchat9, #Pratchat66) Gabrielle Kent (#Pratchat74) – Ben forgot to include Gabrielle! Dr Laura Jean McKay (#Pratchat81) Marlee Jane Ward (#Pratchat13) Dr Tansy Rayner Roberts (#PratchatNA7, #Pratchat79, #Pratchat83) Rhianna Pratchett (#Pratchat74) Lili Wilkinson (#Pratchat20) Cal Wilson (#Pratchat1, #Pratchat3, #Pratchat50) (00:25:32) Ben’s Picks – ones also recommended by listeners first Naomi Novik Susannah Clarke C. M. Waggoner Tamsyn Muir (00:31:25) The Big Ones – authors recommended by multiple listeners, in ascending order of how many recommendations we got for them Emily Tesh Anne McCaffery Arkady Martine Jessica Townsend Mary Robinette Kowal Theodora Goss Ursula Le Guin Becky Chambers Seanan Maguire Martha Wells T. Kingfisher (00:44:38) Other Book Podcasts as sources of further recommendations PseudoPod (and, though Ben didn’t mention them, its Escape Artists stablemates: Escape Pod for sci-fi; PodCastle for fantasy; and Cast of Wonders for YA speculative fiction) Fiction Fans Trash or Treasure The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret (and Joanna Hagan’s own books) What Would Danbury Do? We’ll be back in April with #Pratchat93, our episode about The Folklore of Discworld – get your questions in now if you haven’t already! 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.

Writer and game designer Kat Clay joins Liz and Ben to point and click on Rincewind once more, as we discuss the 1996 graphic adventure game Discworld II: Missing, Presumed…!? from Perfect Entertainment. When the wizard Windle Poons dies, no-one comes to collect his soul – and this isn’t the first time Death has been derelict in his duty. Something must be done, and the Archchancellor knows just the man for the job: so-called wizard and veteran videogame protagonist, Rincewind! Can he – that is to say, you – navigate an ever more fiendish chain of elaborate tasks to summon Death, and persuade him to go back to work? Or will the Disc be doomed to immortality? The first Discworld point-and-click graphic adventure, released in 1995, was a hit. So of course Perfect Entertainment – the merged form of Teeny Weeny Games and Perfect 10 Productions – returned just one year later with a sequel. While not quite as well known as the original, Discworld II: Missing, Presumed…!? (or Discworld II: Mortality Bytes in the US) once again features Eric Idle as Rincewind, a cast of thousands (voiced by three), and a plot constructed from bits of Discworld novels (mostly Reaper Man and Mort). It also features an original song written and performed by Idle, a brand new visual style, and more fourth wall breaks than you can shake a Suffrajester at. The team, headed by Angela Sutherland and Gregg Barnett, would go on to produce one more Discworld game: Discworld Noir, a brand new story with an original protagonist. But like its stablemates, Discworld 2 is currently out of publication. Have you played Discworld 2? Did you find it easier than the first one? Was it written with an awareness that women play videogames? Do you prefer the cel-animation look of this game, or the cartoony pixels of the first one? Does it feel more like the Discworld, or a spin-off from Monty Python? And for subscribers especially, would you like to watch Ben stream these games and play along? Join our online conversation by using your fingers with the social media platform, and then clicking on the hashtag #Pratchat92. Guest Kat Clay (she/her) is a writer of fiction and tabletop roleplaying games from Melbourne, Australia. Her writing is mostly horror, and has included short stories, game reviews, novellas and hopefully an upcoming full-length novel. Kat won a Silver ENNIE award for her Call of Cthulhu adventure, The Well of All Fear, and her recent modern-day Cthulhu adventure, Resort, won Best Scenario at the 2025 Australian Industry Roleplaying Awards. You can find out more about Kat, and read some of her work, at katclay.com. You can also find her on social media, including Bluesky as @katclay.com, and buy her adventures via DriveThruRPG – where they’re all bestsellers! You can find episode notes and errata on our web site. Next month we’re getting schooled in legends and lore via Pratchett’s collaboration with Jacqueline Simpson, The Folklore of Discworld! We’ll be looking at the third edition, which references all the novels up to Raising Steam. Send us your questions via email ([email protected]), or send us a magpie via social media using the hashtag #Pratchat93. 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.

Liz and Ben do a little light Summer reading as they tackle one of the biggest Discworld books of all – Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs’ The Discworld Companion, in all its various editions (but mostly 2021’s The Ultimate Discworld Companion). From the Abbott of the History Monks, to dimensionally-displaced traveller Jack Zweiblumen, the Discworld Companion is an alphabetical encyclopaedia of everything Discworld! Flip to your favourite character, location or thing from across the Disc, and rediscover what made you fall in love with this world all over again. After Stephen Briggs started adapted the Discworld novels for the stage, he started to make notes about how the pieces of this fictional world fit together. He started by suggesting it would be possible to draw a map of Ankh-Morpork, and then advanced to trying to encompass the whole of the world in a single reference work. That was in the 1990s, at the height of Discworld’s fame and success – and before the world wide web was on everyone’s desk (or in everyone’s pocket). But there have been four major editions (and multiple other revisions) of The Discworld Companion since then, each bigger than the last – and the Dunmanifestin expanded edition of The Ultimate Discworld Companion is probably the biggest Discworld book of all time! Do you have a copy of the Companion? Which edition is it? How do you read it, and what are your favourite entries? What would you compile an encyclopaedia about, and what would you put into the Discworld Companion if you got the chance? And do you know where Mr Harris and the Blue Cat Club come from – if they come from anywhere? Let us know your answers via social media (optionally using the hashtag #Pratchat91), send us an email, or comment on our website to join the conversation! You can find episode notes and errata on our web site. Next month it’s back to the digital Discworld, as we play and discuss the second Discworld adventure game, Discworld II: Missing, Presumed…!? (aka Discworld II: Mortality Bytes.) Send us any questions you have via email ([email protected]) or social media, optionally using the hashtag #Pratchat92. 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.

Psychologist Craig Hildebrand-Burke rejoins Liz and Ben as we don our flat caps and anoraks, as we make sense of Terry Pratchett’s penultimate Discworld novel, 2013’s Raising Steam. Dick Simnel has created Iron Girder, the Disc’s first steam engine – and he’s brought it to Ankh-Morpork seeking an investor. He finds one in Sir Harry King, who is keen to be known as the King of something other than what brought him his wealth. As excitement and interest in the “steam engines” starts to build, Lord Vetinari sees its potential – but only if someone oversees this new enterprise on behalf of the city. That someone is, of course, Moist von Lipwig, who is in need of a new way to live dangerously. And dangerous it will be, since the conservative dwarf grags are once again moving against their progressive King. They’re attacking anything too new to be traditionally dwarfish – which means modern dwarfs, clacks towers, goblins with jobs…and the steam train… Terry Pratchett clearly had a love of steam engines – he particularly requested a steam roller be the thing to destroy his unfinished works after his death. This at least partly explains why – instead of the announced Raising Taxes – the next Moist von Lipwig book would see him helping to bring the Discworld into the age of steam. Written in 2012 and 2013, as Pratchett’s illness started to worsen, it had a troubled journey into existence, with Rob Wilkins writing in the official biography that ‘the real triumph of Raising Steam was that it existed at all.’ But while it might lack the sharpness of plot and theme and structure that mark Pratchett’s best work, there are still plenty of great jokes, characters, observations and ideas in Raising Steam – especially for the Discworld fan who’s also a bit of a gunzel (that’s Fourecksian for “train spotter”). Have you read Raising Steam? How do you rate it, compared to the previous novels in the series? How many words did you have to look up? What were your favourite allusions to the history of steam, and to railway fiction, that we didn’t mention? Get aboard the comment train by using the hashtag #Pratchat90 on social media, or comment on our website, to join the conversation! Guest Craig Hildebrand-Burke (he/him) is an educational and development psychologist who last joined us way back in January 2020 for #Pratchat27, “Leshp Miserablés”, to talk about Jingo. He specialises in working with neurodivergent children and young people and their families, as well as d/Deaf and hard of hearing children and families. We can’t advertise his actual practice, but you can find him on Instagram as @craighbpsychologist. (There are only a few posts in the grid, but he shares a lot of great stuff as reels!) You can find episode notes and errata on our web site. Now we’re nearly at the end of the Discworld, it’s time to make sense of it all – so next month, we’ll be sifting through the A-Z of the series, The Discworld Companion! (We’ll be using The Ultimate Discworld Companion as the default, but any version you have should do!) Send us any questions you have about this encyclopaedia-like tome via email ([email protected]), or send a clacks over your social network of choice using the hashtag #Pratchat91. 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.

A cult of malcontents have summoned a dragon in Ankh-Morpork to topple the Patrician! And of course the only one who can save the city is...Rincewind? It’s a familiar story with a new twist as games journalist and PC Gamer editor Jody Macgregor joins Liz and Ben to talk about the 1995 point and click adventure game Discworld, as shouted at by Terry Pratchett!

We’re discussing one fewer book with one fewer host than originally planned this month, but it’s all turned out pretty well as goblin-loving illustrator, educator and game designer Brendan Barnett joins Ben to discuss all the weird, weird creatures of Paul Kidby’s 2024 book, Designing Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. (And don’t worry - Liz will be back next month!)

No episode this month, and a sad farewell to a beloved Pratcat.

Our August episode has been delayed! In this bonus bit of Pratchat to fill the gap, Ben takes us for a quick look at the stuff on his Pratchett shelves which probably won't make it into another episode.

The Patrician is missing! So of course Liz, Ben and guest Richard McKenzie have to go head-to-head for control of the biggest (and grossest) city on the Disc… Join us as we complete our collection of Discworld board games by discussing Martin Wallace’s 2011 design, Discworld: Ankh-Morpork.

Liz, Ben and guest Pratchett scholar Freyja Stokes head downriver to the Shires for an adventure featuring Vimeses, goblins, murderers, double meanings and one Wonderful Fanny. Join us as we discuss Terry Pratchett’s last Watch-focused Discworld novel, 2011’s Snuff.

A very brief little episode to say that we won’t have any episodes in May. We didn’t want to leave you without anything at all! As Ben suggests, why not listen to The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret’s special 25th of May episode, “Gender on the Discworld”, released today? You can find it in all major podcast directories, at thetruthshallmakeyefret.com, and there’s even a video version on YouTube. Or you could listen to #Pratchat54, “The Land Before Vimes”, our 2022 episode about Night Watch. We’ll be back in June with #Pratchat86, our episode about Snuff. And we will be producing an all-questions Eeek Club episode later in the year, so if you’re an Eeek-tier subscriber, please send us your question or topic for discussion! 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.

Liz and Ben venture into the archives and come back with their highlights from the diaries, yearbooks and guides to some of Ankh-Morpork's most famous instutions - plus that venerable publication, the ever-reliable Almanak!

Liz, Ben and guest Myfanwy Coghill talk not about DEATH but death, and specifically the idea of being able to choose a good one for yourself, as we discuss Terry Pratchett's 2010 Richard Dimbleby lecture, "Shaking Hands with Death". This episode includes discussion of death, terminal illness, assisted dying and suicide.

Our episode discussing The Ankh-Morpork Archives and The Discworld Almanak is delayed, so here Ben’s discussing some of the most interesting and fun Discworld merchandise that isn’t shaped like a book.

Pratchat United have added some real talent to the conversation with Dr Tansy Rayner Roberts PhD (Classics), which is just as well because a few late scoring questions from the Listeners look set to push things into extra time... Lots of excitement in this, Terry Pratchett’s 37th Discworld match, UNSEEN ACADEMICALS!

Welcome to the final round of selection for Grand Trunk Semaphore Clacks Operators! We only take the best, so you’re going to have to race the other candidates to show you have what it takes to send a message all the way to Genua faster than a speeding horse. You’ll be competing against potential “friends of Moist" Nicholas J Johnson and Lawrence Leung, current champion Elizabeth Flux, and distractible monologuer Ben McKenzie. We’ll be using the official simulation: BackSpindle Games’ CLACKS, based on Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal.

Our Clacks were jammed this month, so here’s a Pratchat we prepared earlier: Dr Laura Jean McKay joins us to discuss talking animals, class relations, extreme evolution and existential dread as we talk about Terry Pratchett’s short stories “Hollywood Chickens” and “From the Horse’s Mouth”.

Pratchat moves onto the Stephanie Convery Standard as we discuss gold, obsession, wealth, money and small dogs with inappropriate toys. Yes, it's Terry Pratchett’s Making Money!

Our Making Money episode is delayed, so here’s a brief discussion of Ben’s favourite Discworld book covers, and a recap of the previous Moist von Lipwig book, Going Postal.

What’s got four legs, exists in a state of uncertainty, and probably contains quantum? The deathbed of a philosopher - though not for long, if a certain anthropomorphic personification has his way... Tansy Rayner Roberts and Karen J Carlisle join us live for this very special episode recorded live or dead (you’ll have to open the podcast to find out) at Nullus Anxietas IX in Adelaide, all about stories, Death and Terry Pratchett's final Death story, 2002’s “Death and What Comes Next”.

We invite you to JOIN US for a great leap forward to 2070, and one final story of weird alternate evolution, sideways human cultures, another Big Dumb Object and yes, still, Joshua Valienté. Joel Martin and Deanne Sheldon-Collins take one step beyond with us into Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter’s final Long Earth novel, 2016’s The Long Cosmos.

Ben provides a quick recap of the previous four Long Earth books just before we cover the finale with Joel and Deanne.

Did a thirteen year old sell his soul to be published alongside Michael Moorock, Mervyn Peake and Harry Harrison? Or was just a genius? Lucas Testro joins us to find out as we travel back to 1963 for Terry Pratchett's first ever published story, "The Hades Business"!

May the fourth 25th be with you! Or something like that. Yes, it's our fourth annual discussion of topics chosen by our Eeek tier subscribers, in celebration of the Glorious 25th of May.

In an emergency replacement episode, Ben flies solo...sort of! In honour of the Terry Pratchett Day theme for 2024, "Start in the Wrong Place", he's sharing listener's stories of how they started reading Pratchett in the "wrong" place.

'Pon our souls, we are not a boastin' podcast, but we reckon this episode with Freya Daly Sadgrove discussing Terry Pratchett’s Monstrous Regiment is a First Blast of Discworld goodness! You are our little listeners, and we will look after you.

Our monster-sized Monstrous Regiment episode needs a bit more time in the oven, so to tide you over here’s Ben with some nerdy news of Discworld books and games!

We were quite excited that our Monstrous Regiment episode would land on International Women’s Day...only it won’t! So here’s a bonus mini-episode recommending some other Discworld podcasts hosted by women and non-binary folks.

Dr Melissa Rogerson returns and joins Liz and Ben in a game of squabbling guilds, missing spells and the terrifying pitter patter of hundreds of tiny feet... It’s time to play the revised 2012 edition of Leonard Boyd and David Brashaw’s Guards! Guards! A Discworld Board Game, based on the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett.

Hogswatch isn’t just for Christmas - it’s also for new year’s eve! Which is also over. But we recorded this a while ago, and anyway this is a very special HogsWITCH, because Liz and Ben skip discussing a Terry Pratchett book to instead interview none other than the authors of Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being a Witch: Rhianna Pratchett and Gabrielle Kent!

On the eighth of December Pratchat gave to me: Eleven season's stories, Four silly Santas, Two carol chronicles, No special guests, And a full Prod-Ye-A'Diddle Oh! Join Liz and Ben as they unwrap Terry Pratchett’s 2017 short story collection, Father Christmas' Fake Beard.

How and why did a weird comic novel, originally published in an edition of 500 from a relatively unknown author, kick off one of the most beloved and long-running fantasy series of all time? Ben McKenzie investigates - well, speculates really - in this special episode looking at why Terry Pratchett's Discworld has endured so long, with contributions from Discworld luminaries, podcasters and fans.

John has had a rough night: he's narrowly escaped an explosion, his mobile disco business is up in flames, and his best mate Wayne has vanished. But that's nothing - wait until you hear who he met on the dancefloor... DJ and comedian Andrew McClelland joins us to discuss Terry Pratchett's 1989 short story, "Turntables of the Night"!

A priest, a wizard and a librarian walk into a courtroom… It sure sounds like a setup for a joke! But the Church of the Latter-Day Omnians aren’t laughing. They see Unseen University’s Roundworld as blasphemously infringing their intellectual property, i.e. the belief that the Disc is round. Complicating matters is the unexpected arrival of Marjorie Daw, Roundworld librarian, who has definite opinions about this sort of thing - as do the authors of the book itself… Liz and Ben are joined by the Reverend Dr Avril Hannah-Jones, and science educator Dr Charlotte Pezaro, for one last visit to the universe in a bottle that seems eerily familiar. It’s our discussion of Terry Pratchett’s final collaboration with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, 2013’s The Science of Discworld IV: Judgement Day.

It’s a funny old life, the theatre...though less funny when you find yourself dead in an alley in Ankh-Morpork in mysterious circumstances. Or rather, when the Watch finds you. But never fear - Carrot is on the case! Author Caimh McDonnell (aka C. K. McDonnell) joins us to talk about Terry Pratchett’s 1993 Discworld short story, “Theatre of Cruelty”.

It’s the Disc, Kin, but not as we know it! There’s a giant turtle, but no giant elephants. There’s a Broken Drum, but it’s in a space station. And there’s something wrong with the sky - but that’s partly our fault, we crashed our spaceship into it... EJ Mann joins Liz and Ben to talk all about Terry Pratchett’s third novel, 1981’s Strata.

Historical superheroes! Explicit Jesus allegories! Big Dumb Objects! Yes, it’s another typical adventure in the Long Earth. Isn’t it? Find out as Deanne Sheldon-Collins joins Liz and Ben for a long chat about the penultimate Long Earth novel, 2015’s The Long Utopia.

Ben fills in the Gap to our delayed Long Utopia episode with a quick recap of the previous three books in the series.

Due to an Act of Glod, we've had to delay our Strata episode to later in the month. To get us there, Ben has engaged the Matrix drive and headed...Elsewhere. Specifically, into two areas Pratchat has never gone: current news from the world of Pratchett, and an interview with Danny Sag from the Australian Discworld Convention!

If you don't know why we're making this Bonus Episode of Pratchat, then you weren't there at Treacle Mine Road...but that's okay! You can still join us for our third annual discussion of topics chosen by our Eeek tier subscribers, in celebration of the Glorious 25th of May.

How do you solve a problem like a sick pig? Or a death? Or an invasion of elves? Send in the trainee witches! Steve Lamattina joins us to play and talk Martin Wallace’s second official Discworld board game, The Witches from 2013.

What do you call a witch finder with no eyes? You don’t call him - he calls you. And it’s not pleasant... Tiffany Aching is back, and this time, the whole world might just turn against her...except of course for Elizabeth Flux, Ben McKenzie and guest author Amie Kaufman, as they discuss I SHALL WEAR MIDNIGHT.

You can take the author out of the newspaper, but you can't take the nonfiction writer out of the journalist... Which is to say, in this first foray into his 2014 nonfiction collection A Slip of the Keyboard, author and publisher Peter M Ball joins us to talk about four pieces about fandom and genre from the book’s first section, “A Scribbling Intruder” - as well Plus we look at what Terry and his mate Neil Gaiman had to say about each other in print!

March, 1973. Pink Floyd release Dark Side of the Moon. The first computer with a graphical user interface and mouse, the Xerox Alpha, goes on sale. Andre the Giant wrestles in his first match in America. And in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, the Bucks Free Press publishes the first parts of "Rincemangle, the Gnome of Even Moor”... Now, fifty years later, we discuss one of those events with guest comedy writer, podcaster and author, Andy Matthews!

Order, order! We call this 63rd monthly meeting of the Committee for Discussing Every Terry Pratchett Novel to order! Present are Elizabeth Flux, Ben McKenzie, and Matt Roden. On the agenda: the 2005 short story "A Collegiate Casting-Out of Devlish Devices", and some carry-over items deferred from our 61st meeting, consisting of more questions about the novel Thud! Now where are those biscuits...

Where's my cow? Is that my cow? It goes, "Hi, I'm Elizabeth Flux. And I'm Ben McKenzie. Welcome to Pratchat, the monthly Terry Pratchett book club podcast." It is #Pratchat62, with special guests Joanna Hagan and Francine Carrel, from The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret, and a very special Discworld book! That's not my cow!

The first thing Terry wrote, he wrote...actually, we don't have time for that. The 34th thing Terry wrote, he wrote about Tak, about dwarfs and trolls, about Commander Vimes, and about a board game... Join Liz, Ben and guest Matt Roden as they discuss 2005's political thriller Discworld novel, Thud!