It’s the final leg of the Long Journey as Joel Martin and Deanne Sheldon-Collins answer our Invitation! Both previous Long Earth guests return to discuss the fifth and final of Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter’s collaborations, the 2016 novel The Long Cosmos. It’s 2070, and a message has been received across the Long Earth: “JOIN US.” Joshua Valienté hears it and gets one of his headaches, but he’s still mourning the death of his ex-wife Helen, so he rejects the call to adventure. He goes off alone into the High Meggers, despite multiple warnings that he’s too old for this shit. Meanwhi ..read more

Our July episode about The Long Cosmos, fifth and final of the Long Earth series, is arriving on time! But we still thought you might appreciate a recap and reminder of what happened in the previous four novels. Was this helpful? Were you annoyed by the slight inaccuracies made for brevity? Do you double-dare us to do this for the Discworld series as whole? (Please don’t…) Let us know what you think, using the hashtag #PratchatPreviously2 on social media, or get in touch via email or our subscriber Discord. The previous recap, “The Long Footnote”, has a bit more detail on the first three books ..read more

It’s the 25th of May, which can only mean one thing: Geek Pride Day! Or Towel Day. Or the Glorious 25th of May and the Battle of Treacle Mine Road…okay, that’s three things. Why not add one more? This is the Pratchat Eeek Club: a bonus episode discussing Terry Pratchett-related topics selected by our “Eeek” tier subscribers. This year, the topics are: So it’s been a few years of the Podcast. How are you guys holding up? How could one Discworld character use their skills and influence to change the patriarchal nature of the Disc? What is an unwritten Discworld story for you, e.g. maybe a head ..read more

The scheduling goblins got us this month, and we’ve had to delay our planned short story episode. But while we get that sorted out, Ben’s embracing the chaos – and the theme of Terry Pratchett Day 2024, “Start in the Wrong Place”! Join him as he shares some of your stories of unusual places to start reading Pratchett. If you’d like to honour Terry, you can find a list of his preferred charities (and a recipe for banana daiquiris) at the Terry Pratchett Day page at terrypratchettbooks.com. If you’d like to hear us discuss any of the Terry Pratchett books mentioned this episode, you can find our ..read more

Our Monstrous Regiment episode still isn’t quite ready, so we’ve had to push it to April. In the meantime, Ben gets nerdy about some recent Discworld and Pratchett news about books and roleplaying games. A few brief notes: “50 Years of Terry Pratchett” was actually announced in November 2021, marking fifty years since the publication of The Carpet People in 1971. (In Ben’s defence, those early pandemic years all blur into one.) It kicked off with a new print and audiobook edition of that book; the new audio version was read by David Tennant! The new Discworld audiobooks and paperbacks from Pe ..read more

Our Monstrous Regiment episode won’t be ready until later in the month, but we didn’t want to let International Women’s Day pass without some kind of comment. So here’s a mini episode in your feed recommending some other Pratchett and Discworld podcasts hosted by women and non-binary folks. Here’s a list of the Discworld podcasts Ben mentioned: The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret, hosted by Francine Carrel and Joanna Hagan. They covered Monstrous Regiment over three episodes in April 2023: “[REDACTED]”, “The Implication of Hippo” and “Gender is a Fake Drug”. You can support them on Patreon. Disc Cov ..read more

In this very three-quarters-of-a-century episode, Liz, Ben and guest Dr Melissa Rogerson get out the eight-sided dice and roll for initative – or at least cunning – as we play the 2011 board game, Guards! Guards!, designed by Leonard Boyd and David Brashaw, and based on the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. The eight great spells have escaped from Unseen University’s library, ready to unleash chaos on Ankh-Morpork! Thankfully Commander Vimes has taken charge. He’s assigned members of the Watch (that’s you) to liaise with four of the Guilds to round up volunteers and bring those spells back ..read more

In this very special Hogswatch-adjacent episode of Pratchat, Liz and Ben don’t discuss a Terry Pratchett book! Instead, they interview Rhianna Pratchett and Gabrielle Kent, authors of Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being a Witch. Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being a Witch is a new lavishly illustrated guidebook to witchcraft, compiled by the famous young witch of the Chalk – with a little help from her friends, of course. Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Miss Tick, Mrs Letice Earwig and more have all annotated the manuscript – as have Tiffany’s fairy allies and protectors, the Nac Mac Feegle. We’ll retur ..read more

In this very special Christmas episode, Liz and Ben fly without a guest as they turn the seasonal silliness up to maximum and discuss all eleven stories in Terry Pratchett’s 2017 collection of short Christmas stories, Father Christmas’s Fake Beard. It’s not always easy being Father Christmas. You might be forced out of home by a rogue submarine or the harsh reality of a job where you only work one day a year; you might be sent fifty thousand identical letters by a computer or put on trial for three thousand counts of breaking and entering. But at least you don’t live in Blackbury, where giant ..read more

24 November 2023 marks forty years since Terry Pratchett’s The Colour of Magic was first published. That’s right – it’s Discworld’s fortieth birthday! To celebrate, join Pratchat producer and co-host Ben McKenzie as he – and a bunch of special guests – try to figure out why that book, and moreso the Discworld series it started, have endured for so long. This episode is something of an experiment for Pratchat, and as Ben says during the episode, this can’t possibly cover all the reasons why the series is so beloved. We want to hear about your favourite Discworld books, and what it means to you ..read more