Around the Discworld in 41 Books — Cultural Digest #4
Why Terry Pratchett is the gift that keeps on giving.
When I was first asked if I’d like to be involved in the new audiobook recordings of Terry Pratchett’s entire Discworld collection, I didn’t hesitate. My heart leapt, my inner child did a little wiggly dance, my intuition hollered a resounding YES, and then the giddy curious part of me suddenly perked up and begged the question, but have you even read any Pratchett before?
The next day, two of the five books I was due to record, arrived in readiness for the huge task of preparation that was to come.
I pulled out the first — wow, a proper hardbacked stunner.
A truly jaw-dropping, straight up to the nose for a deep waft, hugged tight against the chest, beauty.
Then I held it out in front of me to take it all in.
Maroon. Black. Cream. Pale blue-grey green. A little yellow. Some silver foil detailing too. Lovely. And at the bottom, a signature in white.
How have I not read these before? I thought.
Then, tracing over the detail. A skull. Made up of baubles. Candles. Holly. Surrounded by an arch — with sausages, pies, a bottle of something delicious, a basket, a drumstick, a present expertly gift-wrapped — all sketched with the delicacy of a pyrograph, those beautifully delicate wood carved decorations made with a soldering pen. Even the image felt like a metaphor — pyrography literally means, writing with fire. An invitation to explore something haunting, rich and deeply satisfying. Something, to do with Christmas.
I smoothed my hand over its plush surface my book-heart full to the brim, and rested it to one side as I reached into the box to pull out the second.
Oh.
This one was a paperback.
The colours were somehow both muted and garish at the same time with reds and greens that reminded me of the 90s British children’s show Maid Marian and her Merry Men (which I wasn’t a fan of), amid watery pastel shades of blue, purple, grey and yellow. Everything clashed but not in a good way, like a washed out bruised sky during an electrical storm. There were a bunch of people who looked a lot like gargoyles all crammed atop a crazed white horse in a blueish sky, craning for attention, eyes springing out of their heads, the sinew of their muscles popping like a group of skinny body builders, their expressions drawn as if stitched on as they careen towards… death? Except Death is floating on the right hand side looking like Mumm-Ra from Thundercats with severe dental problems. There’s a woman at the back with massive boobs, barely contained by whatever you’d call the type of thing She-Ra wore. The girl to the left hand side looks ok, with her cool grey hair and more naturalistic expression, but she’s mostly hidden by the guy in front of her whose head looks like it’s about to ping off, neck straining like Rod Hull’s emu.
Within seconds I dropped the book as if I suddenly realised I was holding taxidermy. I felt extremely uncomfortable, literally like I wanted to peel my own skin off. My response was genuinely violent and visceral. Revulsion. The image was grotesque to me, particularly the hyper-sexualised woman at the back — I’m suddenly a child again, looking at my first Terry Pratchett novel and having the same experience and I remember. That’s why I’ve never read these before.
I immediately go online to find its hardback equivalent. Phew, another drop-dead gorgeous wonder. I order it immediately and put the paperback version back in its box. I will end up giving it to charity but for now I have to lock it away like the Octavo, the most powerful book of magic on the Discworld, kept chained in the dungeons of Unseen University — or for those unfamiliar with Pratchett, it’s like when Joey in Friends has to keep scary books in the freezer.
Josh Kirby was a prolific illustrator who started out making film posters. He did some of the artwork for Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and fast became one of science fiction’s go-to artists. He designed 26 of the covers for the Discworld series before his death in 2001 and is beloved by some of Pratchett’s most ardent fans. But during that time and even still now, it is a very common trope of the fantasy genre for women to be depicted in a hyper-sexualised way as they were on many of the Discworld collection’s original covers, as well as for that very specific and quite extreme style of gouache illustration to be used — they certainly appealed to huge swathes of readers or at least those who weren’t so picky about their covers as I was, but this was the sole reason I personally never read any Pratchett from what was otherwise a slam-dunk genre for little Sian.
Now before the purists come for me, the darkness of those images (and I’m talking about them in their entirety as a body of work now, not just the way women were represented) to me in no way reflect the irreverent, silly, light-hearted JOY of Terry’s work. And that’s what this piece is all about because I now know that I adore Terry Pratchett and I’m kind of disappointed about those covers firstly because it meant I almost missed out on reading what has become one of my favourite collection of books ever, and secondly because that ‘woman’ busting at the seams on the paperback I thought about burning, was a 15 year old girl and I could smell it a mile off. I am genuinely curious how many people, like me, have not read these books because of those illustrations. Any takers? Please jump into the comments. To me they are truly such an outdated misrepresentation of the books’ actual tone and content.
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I started to read that first, beautiful book though, moments after I received it and finished it the following day. I loved it. I was so surprised by it. It was properly funny. Christmassy too as I’d hoped, oh yes. And in the best way. It was more magical realism than fantasy. It was so grounded. It was so clever. It all felt so real. The characters were so clearly defined. The world of it all felt enormous but had so much detail and complexity and was somehow completely believable. My heart expanded, my inner child grinned up at me, my intuition said “See?” because somehow it knew before I did that I would get an indefinable amount of fulfilment out of reading these books.
And let me tell you, when you’re preparing for an audiobook, especially a book that a lot of people reeeeeeeally love, you read the book.
Once for joy, twice for prepping, thrice for checking. Minimum.
I was tasked with reading the Death collection from the Discworld series which includes five books:
Mort, Reaper Man, Soul Music, Hogfather and Thief of Time.
Browse my other favourites from the Discworld collection here on my Bookshop.org page.
Sandwiched deftly in the midst of other work commitments I got to spend nigh on a year with these five brilliant books. I planned each one meticulously with colour coded schemes for the (literally) hundreds of characters who appear - some of whom just got a line and I’d get to go wild with, some of whom popped up in nearly all of the Death series so needed a really strong clear sound that I could come back to.
I tried not to have favourites because I seriously love them all like children but Ridcully, the Archchancellor of Unseen University and the closest I could get to the booms of Brian Blessed, was so much fun to do, in fact I was always thrilled to get back to the whole collection of wizards who appear in most of the Death books. Asphalt the flattened troll roadie for the Band With Rocks In, in Soul Music almost completely wrecked my voice but I adored him and in my head he looks like a squashed Yoda. And the Auditors, the soul sapping celestial bureaucrats who hate the messiness of life, were always so dry and funny to do too.
Since finishing my five books I have gone back to the very beginning: The Colour of Magic and am slowly meandering my way around the Discworld’s full collection of 41 books, one chronological hardback at a time. As soon as my latest is finished, it is swapped out for the next. And as soon as I am done, I’m going to go right back to my very beginning — that maroon, cream, pale blue-grey green, with a little yellow, some silver foil detailing and a signature in white. Maybe it’s because it was the first, maybe it’s because I’ve got this real thing about Christmas at the moment, maybe it’s because it simply is one of Terry’s best. Either way, I know I will read this book over and over for the rest of my life. I feel so privileged to have been a part of this work and to have been introduced to these books by virtue of the universe and all its magical wonderings.
A note for writers: reading the Discworld chronologically you get to see a writer developing in real time. I have marvelled, especially at the risk taking which has been a huge inspiration to me, even with my work on this platform. Also witnessing the world building is a truly remarkable thing for anyone working on something that is other-worldly and demanding scale, it’s especially satisfying when you’ve read books much further into the series because of all the callbacks and the masterful level of detail you can see that Terry was able to achieve. I particularly adore when he breaks one of his own rules because it’s testament to how well Terry knew his material that he always came up with some hilarious, magical, reality shifting justification for the misnomer, not least when it came to Death.
A note for readers: the deeper you go into the series, the bigger and more complex the world gets and then you get to go back again and see how it came into being knowing everything that you know now. It is circular not linear — like a time-space continuum type thing — and it is hugely enjoyable.
All of my Discworld audiobooks are now available to listen to - I don’t benefit from you listening to them by the way, other than hoping that they might bring you joy! I genuinely just wanted to take a moment to celebrate Terry, express my appreciation and perhaps, bring these books (by word or word of mouth, if audiobooks are your thing) to an audience who might not have otherwise considered them. The moral of the story being chaps: don’t judge a book by its real bad cover!
Recently, I loved the animated adaptation of The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents if you wanted to check that out. I’m going to give Good Omens a whirl too as I believe that’s returning for a belated second season which I think is a good omen - because the writers haven’t rushed to churn out another one immediately. And I’m going to do some digging on the other adaptations as well - if anyone has recommendations for any they’ve loved, as ever please pop them in the comments.
There are lots of writers out there that are prolific but I think it’s rare to find one of Terry Pratchett’s calibre. It saddens me deeply that he wasn’t able to stick around longer to write more books because you really do feel like he could have kept going forever and I would have happily read more and more of his books forever.
Who knows, maybe he’s sat in a kitchen in a dimension where everything is a different shade of black. There’s a small hourglass hidden away on a shelf, simple but with a few flourishes, the delicate wood solderings of a pyrograph. There’s a little sand still in the top bulb, frozen in time. Someone called Albert is at the stove, he’s muttering to himself and rustling up some of the greasiest bacon and eggs known to the unknown universe, and they smells delicious.
What have you been reading, watching, or listening to this week? Any Pratchett fans that want to share their favourite book or character or even, cover from the Discworld? Maybe you adore the original illustrations and want to advocate for them! I’d love to hear from you.
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