Tales from the Drum

Sir Terry didn’t intend or probably even know that he was going to write 61 Discworld books. Some of the elements that appear in the early books just didn’t work, for reasons you’ll learn when you listen to this episode. Evolution has its casualties, and this week we learn about some of the things that disappeared from the books forever, as well as considering how Sir Terry accomplished this.

Remember that we have two contests going on: The Portal Haiku Contest, and the Name That Show Contest.

        The Haiku Contest is your chance to get creative, and to maybe win a custom episode of the Portal just for you. Send you haikus to me at [email protected], and I will read them on the show. I’ll also select three winners from among the entries, and those three winners will each receive their own custom episode. Deadline for entries is September 20th. You aren’t limited to one haiku—send is as many as you’d like. 

        The Name the Show Contest also has a deadline of September 20th, and as with the Haiku Contest you can send in as many name suggestions as you want. My decision as to the winner will be final, and alas! the winner will have to sign a legal thingie transferring rights to the name to Medieval Gnome Productions.

        The goal is simple: to come up with a new name for the show which is more likely to attract Terry Pratchett/Discworld fans and readers. The name does not have to include the word portal. Check the names of other Discworld-related podcasts if you need some inspiration.

        The winner of this contest will be announced on October 1st (the last episode for season 10.) The prize for this contest is a copy of the brand-new book, The Ankh-Morpork Archives. The book won’t be published until August 10th, but I have pre-ordered a copy for our lucky contest winner.

        So tell me, what should the new name for this show be? 

And, PLEASE send me some new questions for Granny! You can ask her anything.

You can send your emails to me at [email protected].

You’re also invited to come join our Discord community, Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions! Just go to the main Discord page and enter “Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions.” Alternatively, you can use this link: https://discord.gg/45JxBKUYuA. Btw, it costs nothing to join the server, and there’s a lot of exclusive content on there.

You can also pop onto our Patreon page if you’re in the mood to underwrite the efforts of Medieval Gnome Productions (or just want to see some more exclusive content). There’s also patron-only content there. Here’s the URL. 

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=21210045&fan_landing=true

GNU Terry Pratchett 

The Turtle Moves

Mind How You Go

Magrat started out with the deck stacked against her—or at least with the aces removed—but she turned out to be an iconoclastic witch, an exceptional queen, and an outstanding herbalist to boot. Respect, Magrat. 

If you have thoughts about Pratchips, please shoot me an email at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you; I will answer you; and if you are a first-time emailer I’ll include a recording of the Clacks episode with my reply. That’s the only way you can get a copy of the Clacks episode, short of using a second email addy and a fake name! 

You are also cordially invited to come join our Discord community, Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions! Just go to the main Discord page and search “Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions.” Alternatively, you can use this link: https://discord.gg/45JxBKUYuA. Btw, it costs nothing to join the server, and there’s a lot of exclusive content on there, plus the opportunity to interact with other Pratchett fans, and participate in our Discord person, place or thing challenge. Sort of like 20 questions, and lots of fun.

You can also pop onto our Patreon page if you’re in the mood to underwrite the efforts of Medieval Gnome Productions (or just want to see some more exclusive content). There’s also patron-only content there. Here’s the URL. 

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=21210045&fan_landing=true

I also ask that you consider sending a one-time PayPal payment to [email protected]. Our listenership, alas, is shrinking, as are our Patreon supporters. If you don’t want to commit to a monthly subscription, please think seriously about a one-time PayPal donation. Even the price of a latte will help with our expenses. 

The Turtle Moves

Mind How You Go

GNU Terry Pratchett 

Sam Vimes didn’t like the idea, because he doesn’t like non-humans. He doesn’t like humans either, though, so that’s ok. 

If you have thoughts about Pratchips, please shoot me an email at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you; I will answer you; and if you are a first-time emailer I’ll include a recording of the Clacks episode with my reply. That’s the only way you can get a copy of the Clacks episode, short of using a second email addy and a fake name! 

You are also cordially invited to come join our Discord com         munity, Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions! Just go to the main Discord page and search “Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions.” Alternatively, you can use this link: https://discord.gg/45JxBKUYuA. Btw, it costs nothing to join the server, and there’s a lot of exclusive content on there, plus the opportunity to interact with other Pratchett fans, and participate in our Discord person, place or thing challenge. Sort of like 20 questions, and lots of fun.

You can also pop onto our Patreon page if you’re in the mood to underwrite the efforts of Medieval Gnome Productions (or just want to see some more exclusive content). There’s also patron-only content there. Here’s the URL. 

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=21210045&fan_landing=true

I also ask that you consider sending a one-time PayPal payment to [email protected]. Our listenership, alas, is shrinking, as are our Patreon supporters. If you don’t want to commit to a monthly subscription, please think seriously about a one-time PayPal donation. Even the price of a latte will help with our expenses. 

The Turtle Moves

Mind How You Go

GNU Terry Pratchett 

First among equals is all well and good, but you have to look at who really has the power at good old UU. Today it’s Ponder Stibbons, who would find being named Archchancellor his worst nightmare. In the time of the coming of the Star, a wizard named Ymper Trymon wasn’t satisfied with de facto power. He wanted to be Archchancellor as well. Both men advocated the modernization of magic. Their motives, though, were very different. As were their fates.

If you have thoughts about Pratchips, please shoot me an email at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you; I will answer you; and if you are a first-time emailer I’ll include a recording of the Clacks episode with my reply. That’s the only way you can get a copy of the Clacks episode, short of using a second email addy and a fake name! 

You are also cordially invited to come join our Discord community, Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions! Just go to the main Discord page and search “Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions.” Alternatively, you can use this link: https://discord.gg/45JxBKUYuA. Btw, it costs nothing to join the server, and there’s a lot of exclusive content on there, plus the opportunity to interact with other Pratchett fans, and participate in our Discord person, place or thing challenge. Sort of like 20 questions, and lots of fun.

You can also pop onto our Patreon page if you’re in the mood to underwrite the efforts of Medieval Gnome Productions (or just want to see some more exclusive content). There’s also patron-only content there. Here’s the URL. 

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=21210045&fan_landing=true

I also ask that you consider sending a one-time PayPal payment to [email protected]. Our listenership, alas, is shrinking, as are our Patreon supporters. If you don’t want to commit to a monthly subscription, please think seriously about a one-time PayPal donation. Even the price of a latte will help with our expenses. 

The Turtle Moves

Mind How You Go

GNU Terry Pratchett 

Men at Arms is one of those transitional books in the Discworld series. I’ll be talking about that at length in this month’s second Patreon episode, which you will receive as usual if you are a $10/month subscriber, or if you just have to have it you can send me ten bucks by PayPal and I’ll send it to you.

          Today though I’m discussing a single sentence from the book which highlights the way Sir Terry crafted the puns he put in the Discworld books. The sentence in question just stopped me in my tracks as I was re-reading Men at Arms. 

If you have thoughts about this experiment in three-minute podcasting, please shoot me an email at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you; I will answer you; and if you are a first-time emailer I’ll include a recording of the Clacks episode with my reply. That’s the only way you can get a copy of the Clacks episode, short of using a second email addy and a fake name! 

You are also cordially invited to come join our Discord community, Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions! Just go to the main Discord page and search “Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions.” Alternatively, you can use this link: https://discord.gg/45JxBKUYuA. Btw, it costs nothing to join the server, and there’s a lot of exclusive content on there, plus the opportunity to interact with other Pratchett fans, and participate in our Discord person, place or thing challenge. Sort of like 20 questions, and lots of fun.

You can also pop onto our Patreon page if you’re in the mood to underwrite the efforts of Medieval Gnome Productions (or just want to see some more exclusive content). There’s also patron-only content there. Here’s the URL. 

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=21210045&fan_landing=true

I also ask that you consider sending a one-time PayPal payment to [email protected]. Our listenership, alas, is shrinking, as are our Patreon supporters. If you don’t want to commit to a monthly subscription, please think seriously about a one-time PayPal donation. Even the price of a latte will help with our expenses. 

The Turtle Moves

Mind How You Go

GNU Terry Pratchett 

Announcing two contests this week: The Portal Haiku Contest, and the Name That Show Contest.

        The Haiku Contest is your chance to get creative, and to maybe win a custom episode of the Portal just for you. Send you haikus to me at [email protected], and I will read them on the show. I’ll also select three winners from among the entries, and those three winners will each receive their own custom episode. Deadline for entries is September 20th. You aren’t limited to one haiku—send is as many as you’d like. 

        The Name the Show Contest also has a deadline of September 20th, and as with the Haiku Contest you can send in as many name suggestions as you want. My decision as to the winner will be final, and alas! the winner will have to sign a legal thingie transferring rights to the name to Medieval Gnome Productions.

        The goal is simple: to come up with a new name for the show which is more likely to attract Terry Pratchett/Discworld fans and readers. The name does not have to include the word portal. Check the names of other Discworld-related podcasts if you need some inspiration.

        The winner of this contest will be announced on October 1st (the last episode for season 10.) The prize for this contest is a copy of the brand-new book, The Ankh-Morpork Archives. The book won’t be published until August 10th, but I have pre-ordered a copy for our lucky contest winner.

        So tell me, what should the new name for this show be? 

And, PLEASE send me some new questions for Granny! You can ask her anything.

You can send your emails to me at [email protected].

You’re also invited to come join our Discord community, Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions! Just go to the main Discord page and enter “Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions.” Alternatively, you can use this link: https://discord.gg/45JxBKUYuA. Btw, it costs nothing to join the server, and there’s a lot of exclusive content on there.

You can also pop onto our Patreon page if you’re in the mood to underwrite the efforts of Medieval Gnome Productions (or just want to see some more exclusive content). There’s also patron-only content there. Here’s the URL. 

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=21210045&fan_landing=true

The Turtle Moves

Mind How You Go

GNU Terry Pratchett 

Copyright 2021 Medieval Gnome Productions 

Sir Terry uses the anthropomorphic personification of Death to make us all think about what it means to be human. He also makes us laugh at Death. That's talent! 

If you have thoughts about this experiment in three-minute podcasting, please shoot me an email at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you; I will answer you; and if you are a first-time emailer I’ll include a recording of the Clacks episode with my reply. That’s the only way you can get a copy of the Clacks episode, short of using a second email addy and a fake name! 

You are also cordially invited to come join our Discord community, Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions! Just go to the main Discord page and search “Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions.” Alternatively, you can use this link: https://discord.gg/45JxBKUYuA. Btw, it costs nothing to join the server, and there’s a lot of exclusive content on there, plus the opportunity to interact with other Pratchett fans, and participate in our Discord person, place or thing challenge. Sort of like 20 questions, and lots of fun.

You can also pop onto our Patreon page if you’re in the mood to underwrite the efforts of Medieval Gnome Productions (or just want to see some more exclusive content). There’s also patron-only content there. Here’s the URL. 

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=21210045&fan_landing=true

I also ask that you consider sending a one-time PayPal payment to [email protected]. Our listenership, alas, is shrinking, as are our Patreon supporters. If you don’t want to commit to a monthly subscription, please think seriously about a one-time PayPal donation. Even the price of a latte will help with our expenses. 

The Turtle Moves

Mind How You Go

GNU Terry Pratchett 

Why did Sir Terry give the Disc’s version of Transylvania a German name? The issue came up in a discussion on our Discord server, and I’m sharing what I learned from that discussion with our listeners. 

What we learn is that Sir Terry was well-versed in European history and an excellent linguist as well. That shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s read Monstrous Regiment, or Raising Steam, in particular. I say “in particular” because many of the Lancre books reference Uberwald, and Moist von Lipwig (Going Postal, et al.) hails from there.

There’s a big bilingual pun at the heart of it all, in fact. Great stuff, but as usual if you don’t get the pun it doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of the book(s). Uberwald is a cool name for a place with vampires, werewolves, and Igors in it, after all.

Many thanks to Bas and Malocaptain, who participated in the above-referenced discussion on Discord, and thus enlightened us about another STP pune, or play on words. 

If you have thoughts about this experiment in three-minute podcasting, please shoot me an email at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you; I will answer you; and if you are a first-time emailer I’ll include a recording of the Clacks episode with my reply. That’s the only way you can get a copy of the Clacks episode, short of using a second email addy and a fake name! 

You are also cordially invited to come join our Discord community, Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions! Just go to the main Discord page and search “Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions.” Alternatively, you can use this link: https://discord.gg/45JxBKUYuA. Btw, it costs nothing to join the server, and there’s a lot of exclusive content on there, plus the opportunity to interact with other Pratchett fans, and participate in our Discord person, place or thing challenge. Sort of like 20 questions, and lots of fun.

You can also pop onto our Patreon page if you’re in the mood to underwrite the efforts of Medieval Gnome Productions (or just want to see some more exclusive content). There’s also patron-only content there. Here’s the URL. 

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=21210045&fan_landing=true

I also ask that you consider sending a one-time PayPal payment to [email protected]. Our listenership, alas, is shrinking, as are our Patreon supporters. If you don’t want to commit to a monthly subscription, please think seriously about a one-time PayPal donation. Even the price of a latte will help with our expenses. 

The Turtle Moves

Mind How You Go

GNU Terry Pratchett 

This second instalment in our experiment in three-minute podcasting is a bit of musing about the development of transportation in the Discworld series, both in terms of the form (fantasy to mundane) and of the richness and variety of transportation means over the course of the Discworld series. 

If you have thoughts about this experiment in three-minute podcasting, please shoot me an email at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you; I will answer you; and if you are a first-time emailer I’ll include a recording of the Clacks episode with my reply. That’s the only way you can get a copy of the Clacks episode, short of using a second email addy and a fake name! 

You are also cordially invited to come join our Discord community, Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions! Just go to the main Discord page and search “Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions.” Alternatively, you can use this link: https://discord.gg/45JxBKUYuA. Btw, it costs nothing to join the server, and there’s a lot of exclusive content on there, plus the opportunity to interact with other Pratchett fans, and participate in our Discord person, place or thing challenge. Sort of like 20 questions, and lots of fun.

You can also pop onto our Patreon page if you’re in the mood to underwrite the efforts of Medieval Gnome Productions (or just want to see some more exclusive content). There’s also patron-only content there. Here’s the URL. 

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=21210045&fan_landing=true

I also ask that you consider sending a one-time PayPal payment to [email protected]. Our listenership, alas, is shrinking, as are our Patreon supporters. If you don’t want to commit to a monthly subscription, please think seriously about a one-time PayPal donation. Even the price of a latte will help with our expenses. 

The Turtle Moves

Mind How You Go

GNU Terry Pratchett 

An Australian heavyweight in podcasting/broadcasting recently said he sees podcasts going to about 3 minutes in 5 years or so.  I have a hard time seeing that happening, and who knows? He may have been engaging in an elaborate leg-pull. But, whether he was or not, it sounds like a fun thing to try. 

Therefore we present, for your edification and amusement, short Portal episodes, or (you guessed it!) Shorttalls. (N.b. Shorttalls are a supplement to the regular Portal episodes. The are not a replacement. Some other cool things may be happening with them in future, too. 

A crucial question for Pratchett fans is how to encourage Pratchett-ignorant, or even Pratchett-resistant friends or family to join the congregation. This Shorttall addresses that issue. 

If you have thoughts about Shorttalls, in general or germane to this first one, please shoot me an email at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you; I will answer you; and if you are a first-time emailer I’ll include a recording of the Clacks episode with my reply. That’s the only way you can get a copy of the Clacks episode, short of using a second email addy and a fake name! 

You are also cordially invited to come join our Discord community, Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions! Just go to the main Discord page and search “Friends of Medieval Gnome Productions.” Alternatively, you can use this link: https://discord.gg/45JxBKUYuA. Btw, it costs nothing to join the server, and there’s a lot of exclusive content on there, plus the opportunity to interact with other Pratchett fans, and participate in our Discord person, place or thing challenge. Sort of like 20 questions, and lots of fun.

You can also pop onto our Patreon page if you’re in the mood to underwrite the efforts of Medieval Gnome Productions (or just want to see some more exclusive content). There’s also patron-only content there. Here’s the URL. 

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=21210045&fan_landing=true

I also ask that you consider sending a one-time PayPal payment to [email protected]. Our listenership, alas, is shrinking, as are our Patreon supporters. If you don’t want to commit to a monthly subscription, please think seriously about a one-time PayPal donation. Even the price of a latte will help with our expenses. 

The Turtle Moves

Mind How You Go

GNU Terry Pratchett