The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret
The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret
'Discworld' refers to a series of about 30 books by UK author Terry Pratchett. Usually described as comic fantasy, the books are all set on a disc-shaped world that rests on four elephants that are in turn carried through space on the back of a colossal turtle. Obviously.
PRATCHETT. Terry turns out new novels at the rate of about one a year, now. He doesn't just do books about the Discworld - there are two series aimed at a younger market (the Truckers books and the Johnny books) and a few one-offs.
Yep. Terry's books are consistently in the bestseller lists, so a lot of people think they're good enough to spend their hard-earned cash on. I know that doesn't necessarily mean he's good, it means he's popular, and many people would read popularity as being more or less inversely proportional to quality, but I'll leave that up to you to argue over.
Right. Discworld Monthly (DWM) is a FREE monthly email newsletter providing news about, and discussion of, Terry's work. Despite the name, we're not limited to the Discworld series alone, but we are monthly so it's only half an untruth. As well as the email distribution you can find each edition of the newsletter on the Web at www.discworldmonthly.org/ There's also a subscription form on that page.
Things like when a new book's coming out, what it's going to be about, performances of the theatre adaptations taking place, whether they were any good, reviews of Discworld merchandise (figurines, music, cookbooks, that sort of thing).
We carry an extensive letters section in each issue for fans to ask questions, air opinions, get assistance with the blasted computer games, that sort of thing. Each issue usually has a couple of articles about interesting or important developments in Discworld fandom, too.
Oh God, give it a rest will you? This comes up almost every month without fail. The games are unavailable at the moment, although copies still show up in bargain bins and that sort of thing. You can advertise in DWM if you really have to have a copy. As far as walkthroughs go visit www.lspace.org/games/discworld/index.html UPDATE: Discworld Noir is now available on budget for 9.99GBP in England.
Where do we start? Clarecraft do a wide range of figurines from the Discworld which you can find out about by clicking on the advert at the top of our homepage. The Cunning Artificer has his own range of models available at www.artificer.co.uk/ Videos of the 2 animated stories can be obtained from Blackstar, links are on our videos page (www.discworldmonthly.co.uk/tpvideos.php). Oh, if you actually want to buy any of the books you'll find suitable links on our Discworld Books page (www.discworldmonthly.co.uk/tpbooks.php).
Please note that DWM receives a small commission if you decide to purchase any books or videos via one of the links on our pages.
One of the best online resources for anything Discworld related is L-Space at www.lspace.org/ The newsgroup alt.fan.pratchett carries a staggering amount of Pratchett-related discussion (too much, some would say). Have a look at our Links section for some more possibilities (www.discworldmonthly.co.uk/dwlinks.php).
We've never looked at it in detail but we think the meagre income generated by affiliate links on the website just about covers the cost of uploading the material, paying for the domain name, sending out prizes and what have you. We're certainly not in it for the money, if that's what's bothering you. We do receive advance copies of the new novels and free items to review from companies like Clarecraft and ISIS which is a nice bonus.
If you feel that you would like to help us with some of our costs you can always make a small voluntary contribution to our paypal account.
Email us at While you're about it, why not try and check your spelling and punctuation if your letter is intended for the newsletter? If I had a pound for every incorrectly used apostrophe I've had to change...
Terry has made his email address available to the world at large but we hesitate to advertise it because he probably already receives quite a lot more mail than he really needs, you know? If you MUST contact him, have a hunt around on the Web, or write to him care of his publishers.
We don't know. Whenever we receive dates and places for Terry's signing tours we put them in the newsletter. We don't have some sort of hotline to a red phone on his bedside table to ring him up at 4 a.m. and dispatch him on an urgent visit to some place or other, so it's not really much use emailing us about it, I'm afraid.
I'm afraid that won't be possible. Mercifully, Terry has vetoed any attempts at fan fiction. We think that's an excellent policy and we don't touch the stuff.
DWM is brought to you by an elite team of three men who dedicate themselves to this noble task. Three lonely men. Three lonely men who have eschewed the colourful diversions and bawdy entertainments of the world outside in the pursuit of a higher calling. A bit like the one in Thunderbirds who mans the space station.
We hope this FAQ's given you some insight into what we're all about here at Discworld Monthly. If you have suggestions for improvements/amendments or whatever, please email us at thunderbird5@internationalrescue.org and we'll - oh alright, email us at