#as for the clam chowder: he mentioned at a reading that it was pike place chowder he was talking about

[pagerunner-j]

All of this is very true.

I do have to add that my favorite historical reference in a Discworld book is one he flat-out explained in an author's note. As it happened, I was standing in a bookstore in Pioneer Square in Seattle when I read it, and he was describing...that very same neighborhood. Specifically, he was describing the level of that neighborhood that existed underneath my feet. You bet I bought the book right there and then.

The note in question:

Sometimes a fantasy author has to point out the strangeness of reality. The way Ankh-Morpork dealt with its flood problems (see page 232 [US hardcover] and onwards) is curiously similar to that adopted by the city of Seattle, Washington, towards the end of the nineteenth century. Really. Go and see. Try the clam chowder while you're there.

The fact that there's a little bit of my city tucked away beneath Ankh-Morpork still makes me smile.

(Also, there's a minor character elsewhere in the series named after Humptulips. I mean, who can blame him for borrowing THAT?)

There will never be a book series quite like Discworld. One second you’re reading the silliest pun you’ve ever seen, the next second you’re either reading about how social and economic inequality leads to flaws the justice system or about how realizing our mortality can make us celebrate life more, and then several months later you finally learn about a niche historical event that Terry Pratchett used for a joke.