#discworld monthly

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Rob Wilkins on Colin Murray BBC Radio Five (it's a whole segment about Terry, also there Marc Burrows, Discworld Monthly and more, it's available to listen until May 27th 2023, Terry segment starts about 2:11:00) ❤❤❤

CM: He replied to every single letter. And one of your jobs early doors wasto sift through all of that fan mail. Can you give us a real first person insight into how much Terry Pratchett valued those who bought his books?

Rob: He valued them to the point where if he didn't reply to the mail, he could have easily, easily completed another novel. And I know the value on to him for completing another novel, not just financially, but another novel. Another novel out there. All of those ideas tipped within the pages and he gave that up for the fans to reply to the fan mail. And that really isn't an exaggeration. It wasn't just a few hours here and there replying to the fan mail. He dedicated a lot of time to it. And the fan mail ranged from, I love everything that you do, that's it just an outpouring of love, to really in depth taking apart the words and looking for the deep meanings, some of which were not there. And Terry didn't intend them to be there. But whatever people got from the novels, Terry was all is very respectful in his replies. And he took that incredibly seriously. Yes, he took that job as seriously as he did the VAT returns.

[its-to-the-death]

Battle of the Gingers Bracket A Round 2

Chiyo Sakura (Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun) vs Carrot Ironfoundersson (Discworld)

[dandelion-jester]

🕷November TBR🕷

So, because I have been reading four books a month for the last few mouths, for November I'm going to attempt five!!! Because I'm ridiculous. So here they are:

🕷Boudicca: Dreaming the Eagle by Manda Scott

🕷 Fool's Quest by Robin Hobb

🕷Assassin's Fate by Robin Hobb

🕷Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames

🕷Jingo by Terry Pratchett

[betterthanapokeintheeye]

My Dad died on Friday 28th July at 8.30am.

He was an engineer and he had a huge passion for reading books which he passed onto me.

That is the reason I ended up as part of the team at Discworld Monthly.

Terry Pratchett's writings have always been a great source of comfort when things got tough and whilst news of my dad's passing needed to be shared, I used Terry's words to bring comfort to those who would never have read his works otherwise.

Most fans of Terry's know the ripples quote, but for those who cannot remember it here it is in full.

"No one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away, until the clock wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone's life is only the core of their actual existence."

My Dad, Anthony Heaton Rowlands touched so many people with his brilliant mind and wicked humour.

His ripples will take a long long time to fade away.

GNU Anthony Heaton Rowlands.

[dragonfire42]

Fan Fic Writer Interview

What fandoms do you write in?

All my current stories are Good Omens on AO3! But I do a lot of crossovers, including Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Neverending Story, Casablanca, Discworld, and The Seventh Seal. These are all GO stories:

How many words have you published in 2024?

So far – 177,152, but I have enough written on other stories not yet on AO3 to proudly say I passed 200,000 words this year!

What is your greatest achievement this year?

I wrote and performed an hour long solo show for a local Fringe festival, telling a true personal story using 30 puppets I made and 8 magic tricks I performed. It was very stressful and very fulfilling. And I hope to continue to hone this show and take it on the road eventually!

What are your favourite top three fics you wrote this year?

1. Fowl Play – The GO / Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy crossover I wrote in honor of turning 42 this year. Crowley gets ab-DUCK-ted by the alien ducks in S1 and has a post S2 space adventure.

2. Here’s Looking at You, Angel – the Casablanca inspired post GO S2 story I wrote for the Silver Screen Bang, with amazingly lovely art from GingerJo and Sae

3. The Neverending Archive – The Neverending Story / GO crossover I wrote as my very first posted fanfic as my love letter to AO3 and the fandom.

What was your biggest pit of despair moment?

In this fandom – SO many this year, trying to ride the waves of new information day by day. Since then:

-  I joined the We're On Our Own Side Fundraiser, to help bring awareness and raise money for the Take Back the Night Foundation. I’m currently finishing a piece for the fundraiser and another one for the zine. @ourownsidefund

- I plan to stay active in the fandom, support the fans, and specifically the Terry Pratchett estate for merch (www.discworld.com).

- (I also made a shadow puppet pumpkin with my feelings on S3.)

What have you learned?

What it means to be part of a fandom. I’ve always been a fan of all kinds of media. But this is my first time actually having fun with strangers on the internet (here’s a video about me learning Discord). Since I wrote that first fanfic in January, I’ve joined 15 different GO Discords, at least 7 FB GO groups, I have two GO blogs on Tumblr, (and just joined Bluesky), and did 7 different fanfics for four different bangs (The DIWS Silver Screen Bang, GO Theatre Bang, GO Spooky Bang, and Fairytale GO bang), and just finished three holiday exchanges (Dreamwidth, GO Reference Discord, and SVD FB Advent Calendar), and I've written monthly ficlets for SOSH Guess the Author and hosted my own round recently too! I’ve had the chance to work with so many amazing writers, artists, editors, readers, creators, and mods who provided so much support and encouragement to feed this delicious collective brain rot and have made so many new friends from around the world. I’ve grown as a writer, met huge deadlines, written more this year than any previous year of my life, and I’m better for it – and want to thank each and every one of you for helping me on that journey too.

What three fics have you read this year that you love?

This was the hardest one to answer. I've very literally read over a million words of fanfic this year and still have 70 tabs currently open of amazing stories from dear friends I'm still trying to read, and I'll have to do a long list later of all the ones I love! But to start with I want to share these three:

Naked and Afraid: Jingle Hell by @klikandtuna for the Sauntering Vaguely Downward Advent Calendar

Couples Therapy – Jurassic Park Edition by @rainwritings for the DIWS Silver Screen Bang

For another gives its ease by @andromeda4004 for the GOMM Reverse Bang

What ideas are percolating for next year?

I’m currently working on these stories:

- A GO 5+1 sickfic (15k written so far), posting in January

- A piece for the star themed GO On Our Own Side Zine

- An original sci-fi book

- A few new pieces for theatre

- Some sequels to previously written AO3 GO stories

- A couple of outside fandom stories, for Doctor Who, Our Flag Means Death, and Blucifer (a weird well known statue in Denver).  

Thank you specifically to @curiouspupsicle for tagging me in this and for all your support too!

Please consider yourself tagged if you read this and want to play, just copy the questions and post! (And also tagging - @naturallyteal, @stillsurfacequietpond @phoen1xr0se, who are always great at tagging me in fun things too!)

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: September 2024

……….FILM……….

Army of Darkness (1992) Having now seen the original trilogy, it baffles me that all of the Evil Dead reboots exclusively lean into horror. Two thirds of the these movies are practically Saturday-morning cartoons! I love everything about this, from the humour to the puppetry to the insane haircuts.

Mad Monster Party? (1967) This is the first feature-length Rankin-Bass production that I've seen and you can tell the animators were invested in this one. 80% of the film is visual gag it's all so much fun. Zero complaints though I am a sucker for anything that lumps a bunch of public domain monsters together.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) While I wish they'd gone with the original sequel premise (Beetlejuice goes to Hawaii), this is still a solid comeback. Does it all work? No. But it is a great pitch for a Beetlejuice limited series.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) Loved the original, loved this even more.

……….TELEVISION……….

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Episode 1.21 to 1.22) Okay didn't watch much of this in September but it's taken a nosedive into a pool of existential dread. I mean it was always there but it feels like the end is going to be a battle with conflicting ideologies instead of the Angels. Wild stuff.

……….YOUTUBE……….

The Sustained Two-Shot by Every Frame a Painting It's been years since EFAP posted a video and I implore you to check out their back catalog of really insightful film analysis. If you like this video, you'll like the others. VIDEO

The Question No One Asks Shigeru Miyamoto by Good Blood Great insight into game philosophy and design, as well as a unique lens with which to explore the Zelda series of games. VIDEO

AB Dictionary by Allison Bornstein For those who may not know, I have a passion...for fashion! I keep going back to a few core resources for inspiration and guidance and Allison Bornstein's youtube channel is one of them. She leans towards women's wardrobes, but this introduction to her approach is fairly universal (leaning towards personal style vs "wear this not that".) VIDEO

……….READING……….

Murder at Hazelmoor by Agatha Christie (Complete) Really digging into Christie's work has given me some more perspective on which sorts of mysteries I connect. This one, which spends some time with the suspects, but not as much as in other books, made it much harder to keep track of everyone. But dang if the endings don't deliver so much satisfaction that I can't help but finishing it and thinking "Yeah! That was good."

The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett (Complete) The Discworld series of novels are always great but sometimes one just really clicks for me. Loved the monsterverse setting, loved the politics, loved it all. I'm not sure I'd recommend this as a good entrypoint but if you've read any of the Discworld books featuring the Watch and you haven't read The Fifth Elephant, definitely check it out.

Richard Stark's Parker: Slayground by Donald E Westlake and Darwyn Cooke (Complete) Darwyn Cooke's adaptation are always so stylish I always feel a little sad reading it, knowing it's his final rework of the Parker series. And such a gut punch at the end when it says Parker will return. Darwyn Cooke has been such an inspiration for me and his work is incredible; please check out this series or the DC: The New Frontier comics OR his run on Catwoman OR his contributions to Spider-Man's Tangled Web.

FF Volume 1: Fantastic Faux and FF: Volume 2: Family Freakout by Matt Fraction, Lee Allred, Michael Allred, Laura Allred, Joe Quinones, and many more (Complete) I loved Matt Fraction's work on Hawkeye and Michael and Laura Allred's work on Silver Surfer so I was excited for this pairing...but it didn't really click. The writing felt surprisingly dated and even across the two volumes I felt like I was missing a lot of context. I wish I could recommend it but there are better stories from these creatives and about these characters.

……….AUDIO……….

Flight b741 by King GIzzard & The LIzard Wizard (2024) The beauty of King Gizzard's prolific output is that they have the freedom to experiment. Sometimes I don't connect with what they're doing, and sometimes they put out an album like this. Into it.

Shingangumi by Ginger Root (2024) The vibes are right on the mark but the majority of the album just kinda washes over you. Some of Ginger Root's singles are really catchy and it's a shame I haven't connected with any individual tracks just yet.

……….GAMING……….

Wonderland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) With the book's upcoming release, our Tuesday group decided to take a break from Oz and Neverland and do a few dungeon delves. It was a whirlwind that included a character death and exploring a secret secondary realm! If you want to read the campaign diary then it's over here!

And that's it. See you in October!

[accidentalspaceexplorer]

April Monthly Recap:

This month, I was participating in Magical Readathon by BookRoast on Youtube, and I smashed it! I read 13 of the 14 class prompts, as well as 4 quest books, plus four that didn’t count for the readathon, bringing me up to a total of 21 books this month! Clearly life is calming down a little bit and I have more time to read than February/March. Unfortunately, despite my reading quantity, my quality wasn’t awesome - my average rating this month was 3.6, compared to my typical average rating of around 4. This was also my first month without a 5-star read this year. However, I did read and really enjoy Babel, Half a Soul, and Unnatural Magic.

Tommy Cabot Was Here by Cat Sebastian: 4.25/5

Tell the Machine Goodnight by Katie Williams: 2/5

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske: 4.5/5

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater: 4.75/5

Bryony and Roses by T. Kingfisher: 4.5/5

Peter Cabot Gets Lost by Cat Sebastian: 4.5/5

Babel by R. F. Kuang: 4.75/5

The Kraken’s Sacrifice by Katee Robert: 1.75/5

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman: 2/5, dnf

The Bright Ages by David M. Perry & Matthew Gabriele: 3/5, dnf

An Embarrassment of Witches by Jenn Jordan & Sophie Goldstein: 2.5/5

Obsessive, Intrusive, Magical Thinking by Marianne Eloise: 2.5/5, dnf

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier: 4.5/5

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho: 3/5

You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo: 4/5

Umbertouched by Livia Blackburne: 4/5

Silver Moon by Catherine Lundoff: 2.5/5

The Councillor by E. J. Beaton: 4.25/5

Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore: 4.25/5

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. LeGuin: 4/5

Unnatural Magic by C. M. Waggoner: 4.75/5

Goal progress below the cut:

23 in 2023: 10 [+3]

Read 100 books: 63 [+21]

Translated works: 1 [+0]

Physical TBR: 8 [+5]

Top of TBR: 3 [+1]

Books in Spanish: 0

Read 40% AOC: 22.2% [-4.0%] *BOY is this going in the wrong direction

Discworld books: 1 [+0]

Series: 9 started vs. 16 caught up on/finished [+6/+4]

Storygraph recs: 1 | avg. 3/5 [+0]

Indigenous authors: 1 [+0]

[illusoryfem]

2023 Reads

(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞ Will reblog and update monthly. 

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (💖)

The Beauty and the Spindler by Neil Gaiman

The Nutcracker by E. T. A Hoffman

Burnout Society by Byung-Chul Han (💖)

House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (💖)

How Fiction Works by James Wood (💖)

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (💖)

 The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy (💖)

 Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

Quarto de Despejo / Child of the Dark by Carolina Maria de Jesus (💖)

 O Sujeito na Contemporaneidade by Joel Birman

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez (💖)

Cunk on Everything: The Encyclopedia Philomena by Jason A. Hazeley, Joel P. Morris

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

Western Attitudes Toward Death by Philippe Ariès (💖)

Equal Rites (Discworld, #3; Witches, #1) by Terry Pratchett

Wyrd Sisters (Discworld #6; Witches, #2) by Terry Pratchett (💖)

The Palliative Society by Byung-Chul Han

Death with Interruptions by José Saramago (💖)

Suspiria de Profundis by Thomas de Quincey

The Horror Film essays organized by Stephen Prince (💖)

Carrie by Stephen King (💖)

A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh

The White Album by Joan Didion (💖)

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

The Psychology of C. G. Jung by Jolande Jacobi

Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones

O que é Arte by Jorge Coli

The Battle of Versailles by Robin Ghivan

Intercourse by Andrea Dworkin (💖)

The Devil Crept In by Ania Ahlborn

Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué

Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon

On Dreams & Death by Marie-Louise von Franz

Bunny Lake is Missing by Evelyn Piper

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo (💖)

[penna-nomen]

9 Favorite Books

Thanks for the tag @cultofsappho!

It was a pleasure to think about favorites, and it was a challenge. What can I say? English major who devours books, with 36 books marked as comfort reads in the Libby app! My favorites change at least monthly… So I went with some that are favorites because of the memories attached / impact on my life, and some that are favorite examples of a theme I enjoy.

Harold and the Purple Crayon series by Crockett Johnson - These are the first books I remember my Mom reading to me, and they're associated with my first memories of visiting a library. A couple of years ago I picked them up again to see if they were as delightful as I remembered, and they were! The themes of creativity wrapped themselves around my heart.

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen - This was the book that shook my world my first year in college, when I'd decided that "literature" meant depressing. It was a shock to realize the book really was SUPPOSED TO BE FUNNY. This and books inspired by it are frequent re-reads for me. Runner up is If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino, which I read my senior year.

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett - My best friend in college recommended this when I mentioned that I was only reading class assignments and I'd gotten out of the habit of pleasure reading. The Discworld series pulled me back into reading for fun, and it inspired me to write again, so it will always have a place in my heart. Plus, Pratchett's style and sense of humor are truly amazing. And in case you're wondering, yes, I love Good Omens, too.

Absolutely, Positively by Jayne Ann Krentz - This represents my post-college romance phase. I picked this one because of the humor, the hints of sci-fi elements, and the fact that JAK's Seattle settings were one of the things that convinced me I'd like living in the Pacific Northwest. Runner up from my romance phase is Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Crusie. I just this summer heard that she has new books out, and I really hope the new ones live up to my memories of snarky humor.

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li - Now we're moving on to themes and tropes I love. As a writer in the White Collar fandom, it's not a big surprise that I love a good heist story, and this one had excellent twists. Runner up is Little Thieves by Margaret Owen, which has a fantasy/fairy tale setting.

Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall - This represents my love of stories about cooking and baking. Extra ingredients include romance, humor, and a well-balanced story about mental health. I've enjoyed several books by Alexis Hall, and I'm looking forward to reading more.

The Twelve Points of Caleb Canto by copperbadge on AO3 - Music, musicians, singers -- love, love love these elements. Plus a sweet love story for a neurodiverse character. Runner up is the Tinkered Starsong series by Gail Carriger -- so far I've read the first two books in the trilogy, and it's a fun combo of pop singers and sci-fi.

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells - I adore the whole Murderbot series, but if I had to pick a favorite, this would be it. This fills my need for sci-fi and snarky narrators, and sometimes it's nice to take a break from romances with an aroace lead character. And the audiobooks narrated by Kevin R Free perfectly capture the distinctive voice of Murderbot. These books got me through the time last year when I needed to escape from a toxic job and needed an escape from the pressures of job interviews. And I keep listening to the audiobooks now that I’m in a great job, because they're such perfection.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune - This fills my need for gentle stories with limited conflict, the kind of stories that teachers used to tell me weren't valid. I have so many favorites in this category! Runners up include: A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Legends & Lattes, and Sal & Gabi Break the Universe.

Such a pleasure to think about books I love!

I'll gently tag @edupunkn00b and @silbrith and @thesymphonytrue if you want to participate

[lizziestudieshistory]

Ten Most Read Authors

I was tagged by the lovely @dauen! Thank you!

What are your ten most most read authors? And how many books have you read by them? Also tag someone who you would like to do this!

Instructions: scroll to the bottom of your goodreads shelves and most read authors is listed underneath.

Note: my Goodreads is woefully neglected and hasn't accurately represented what I've read for years. As such, I've had to look back through YEARS of journals and my bookshelves, so this might be a bit incorrect due to human error.

Terry Pratchett (36)

Pratchett is the author I expected, I've ALMOST finished Discworld (I'm saving the rest for miserable days) and Pratchett almost warrants his own bookcase never mind shelf!

William Shakespeare (26)

Much like Pratchett I'm not surprised. This includes a lot of the plays, plus the sonnets, The Phoenix and the Turtle, Rape of Lucrece, and A Lover's Complaint. I need to restart my monthly reading of Shakespeare but I fell off because the next one on my list was Merry Wives of Windsor and I LOATHE Falstaff with every fiber of my being...

Brandon Sanderson (19 or 21 depending if you count Wheel of Time)

I'm half in disbelief and half not surprised in the slightest. The worst part of this is that I don't really like Sanderson outside of Stormlight! I NEED to sort out my priorities!

Gail Carriger (18)

I'm surprised I've read so many but Carriger is a FANTASTIC comfort read/fluffy fun author.

Robin Hobb (16)

Another given as I've read the entire Realm of the Elderling, including the novella, except Assassin's Fate because I hated Fitz and the Fool. Still bitter about the last trilogy.

Robert Jordan (14 or 11, depends if you count the Jordan & Sanderson)

I have no explanation for how I finished Wheel of Time but I did and that almost guaranteed Jordan a place on this list.

J.R.R. Tolkien/Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien (14)

If we counted rereads I think Tolkien would win by a mile 😅 however, this counts the 5 main works, the 3 great tales, unfinished tales, and a handful of his other works.

Euripides (11 plays and a lot of fragments)

I'm in shock however I did read A LOT of Euripides for an ancient Greek module in my 3rd year at undergrad.

Rick Riordan (11)

Percy Jackson as a teenager 🤷‍♀️

George R.R. Martin (7 or 9)

This slot could've been filled by SO MANY authors, particularly classic authors, I've read 7 books by... Austen, Dickens, Trollope, Wilde, etc. However, I chose Martin because of how many times I've reread his books and we can technically split A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms into 3 novellas to say I've read 9 books instead of 7.

This was very interesting! And surprising how this list compares to my top 10 authors. There's not THAT much cross over! Some of that is because those authors just haven't written as much but for others it's just my own reading habits.

I'm tagging @oneardentstudybuddy, @dooareyastudy, and anyone else who feels like doing this.

[tresca]

More Discworld Rambling

I finished Mort last week and I was gonna jump into the next chronological book and realized it was another Wizard book (Sourcery). So instead today I jumped back to Colour of Magic which I had only gotten halfway through before jumping ahead to Equal Rites.

It’s better so far, maybe because audiobook instead of paperback? (Although I’m disappointed there was no audio indication that names like Li!ort’s have an exclamation point- which I only discovered by going to find the below quotes)

Anyhow I’m not sure I’m gonna make it through 3 wizard books in a row now but so far it’s been worth it if only for things like the brief glimpse into roundworld plane dragon descriptions. And these quotes too..

Rincewind is growing on me but I will not be surprised if I skip back up to the witches after this one.

Also anyone else kind of hate Spotify’s audiobook controls? I’m so used to the ones on Libby, but these are available without waiting on Spotify so I’ve been using my monthly premium hours, but ugh - twice now it has put an audiobook on random. Why?! No one would ever do that.

Would they?

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Update for November from the upcoming Good Omens Graphic Novel! :) ❤

Apparently I’m a demon and I lied: we won’t be doing more frequent updates, split between information and reveals. We had heard feedback that the updates were too long; then last month, we heard even more feedback that people liked the comprehensive updates after our last one, so instead of promising a particular amount, we will mostly stick to monthly, but play it by ear if anything special comes along…

We did say we’d be back with some exciting things: we’ve already shared with you Rachael Stott’s beautiful alt cover featuring Crowley and Aziraphale, but here is Bookshop Blaze, the print included in Loot Box #1 (Serpent Tier+). Isn’t she a beauty?

What we’re also hearing, every time Aziraphale is illustrated alongside ducks is, “More ducks”, so meet the duckling enamel pin (Demon Tier+). Any angelic duck names welcomed.

As for the mystery packs, we promised more pins and more pins you shall have. These mystery packs are add ons, and these five are just a sampling of what is to come. To keep track of the enamel pins, you can visit goodomenshq.com.

We’ve had sample pins showing up and while most that we have in person we’re yet to reveal, here is the fearsome hellhound Dog in all his glory:

Some eagle-eyed fans spotted another pin cameo: Sir Terry Pratchett pins appeared at Neil Gaiman and Rob Wilkins’ event at the British Library, which celebrated the Worlds of Terry Pratchett, just in time for the 40th anniversary of Discworld. You can watch that event here. 

PledgeManager

Onto more logistical updates, while PledgeManager is closer to being ready, we will now be launching this in March. We’re working on some additional versions of items based on your suggestions, ensuring everything is locked in for shipping everywhere, dotting the is, crossing the ts. This is a busy time of year for everyone, and so it seems best for all, rather than to rush the process, we instead give everyone a decent bit of notice with a much firmer date, and hit 2024 with some gusto.

On that note, as a reminder, PledgeManager is where we will process shipping addresses and payment, so don’t worry about not supplying addresses yet, or indeed moving in between now and the graphic novel's release. There’s still plenty of time before this is needed.

Cameos

We are working through cameo admin at the moment. Note that Archangel Tier backers have their survey with a deadline of 30 November, the higher level cameos should expect to hear more in December. If you have purchased a cameo and have any questions, please drop us a message.

Staying up to date

As always, you can hear more about Good Omens more widely at Good Omens HQ and sign up to our mailing list for news and more.

p.s. We’ve had some Crowley artwork, let’s end with some Aziraphale.

[its-to-the-death]

Battle of the Gingers Bracket A

Round 1

Linda Flynn-Fletcher (Phineas and Ferb) vs Ishmael (Limbus Company)

Riley Daring (The Replacements) vs Ylva av Skogen (Vikingskool)

General Armitage Hux (Star Wars) vs Chiyo Sakura (Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun)

Tartaglia/Childe (Genshin Impact) vs Carrot Ironfoundersson (Discworld)

Briefers Rock (Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt) vs Ako Shirabe/Cure Muse (Suite Pretty Cure 🎵)

Vislor Turlough (Doctor Who) vs Fujimoto (Ponyo)

Bandana Waddle Dee (Kirby) vs The Flash/Wally West (DC/Justice League Unlimited)

Ashlyn Banner (School Bus Graveyard) vs Ruff Ruffman (Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman)

Sonia (Pokemon) vs John (The Vampire Dies in No Time)

Highnoon (Hero Killer) vs Tigress (Kung Fu Panda)

Charles (Coral Island) vs Rena Ryugu (Higurashi: When They Cry)

Beaker (The Muppets) vs Ahiru/Duck (Princess Tutu)

Mirai Komachi (Vocaloid) vs Orihime Inoue (Bleach)

Futaba Sakura (Persona 5) vs Moira O'Deorain (Overwatch)

Lee Kanker (Ed, Edd, n Eddy) vs Willow Rosenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Henrik (Nordlys) vs April O'Neil (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012)

Round 2

Linda Flynn-Fletcher (Phineas and Ferb) vs Ylva av Skogen (Vikingskool)

Chiyo Sakura (Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun) vs Carrot Ironfoundersson (Discworld)

Ako Shirabe/Cure Muse (Suite Pretty Cure 🎵) vs Fujimoto (Ponyo)

Bandana Waddle Dee (Kirby) vs Ashlyn Banner (School Bus Graveyard)

Sonia (Pokemon) vs Tigress (Kung Fu Panda)

Rena Ryugu (Higurashi: When They Cry) vs Beaker (The Muppets)

Orihime Inoue (Bleach) vs Futaba Sakura (Persona 5)

Willow Rosenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) vs April O'Neil (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012)

[brightlotusmoon]

‘Good Omens’ Recap, Season 2, Episode 5: The Ball

"The “seamstress” joke is straight out of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books, where the Seamstresses’ Guild in Ankh-Morpork are, in fact, sex workers. Many a girl with a steady hand at needlepoint has gone to the guild seeking her fortune and, well, found it. Just not how she’d expected it."

[betterthanapokeintheeye]

Yesterday, Discworld Monthly and Llamedos Holiday Camp turned up to Swansea Pride.

Assassins, Witches, Wizards, the Luggage, Seamstresses and Feegles all walked the parade and celebrated the diversity of life.

The sun shone brightly and the atmosphere was electric.

Huge thank you to the organisers, volunteers and entertainers who made the day so colourful especially our Section E marshal who was eager to know more about Terry's works.

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: February 2024

A real grey month broken up by the colours and beauty of art. Here's how I spent the month of February.

……….FILM……….

The Beekeeper (2024) Perfect February movie.

……….TELEVISION……….

Succession (Episode 1.01 to 2.04) Wasn't sure I was going to like this (every single character is just awful) but now I'm keen to see how these awful people are increasingly awful to each other. So far I'm really appreciating every shot that shows the staff and just the sheer number of people responsible for making the lives of these awful people as low-friction as possible. We 100% need to tax the rich more.

Delicious In Dungeon (Episode 1.05 to 1.08) Now having seen more episodes, the shifting animation styles feels more consistent overall and I love the frenetic style during the high-stress/combat scenes. If you like this show then know it's a near 1:1 with the manga but still worth reading.

……….YOUTUBE……….

Pinocchio is a Story About Art and God by Jacob Geller This opened me up to a wholly new interpretation of what the story of Pinocchio is about. Also go watch the Del Toro adaptation on Netflix it's truly a work of art. VIDEO

Vape-o-nomics: Why Everything is Addictive Now by Tom Nicholas In short: everything is a subscription now and it's making everything worse. Worth the watch and looking forward to further installments in this series. VIDEO

This Experiment Undid Our Cities. How Do We Fix It? by Strong Towns Push back against any local government that doesn't want to introduce mixed use zoning into neighborhoods. The suburbs are subsidized by density, it's as simple as that. VIDEO

……….READING……….

How To Watch Football: 52 Rules for Understanding the Beautiful Game, On and Off the Pitch by Tifo (Complete) So I actually read this over the course of a month or two. I'd read a rule or two, process, then read a couple more a day or two later. I don't even really watch football but this helped so much and now I expect I'll crush the fantasy premier league I'm in.

The Big Four by Agatha Christie (Complete) Only my second Christie novel and this felt SO different. Turns out that's because it really is an outlier amongst her other works. So that was reassuring. Not terrible but I wouldn't exactly recommend it as it felt thoroughly disjointed (a result of stitching together a series of unrelated short stories).

The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett (Complete) Hey I love the Discworld series. You know this. I know this. But there's always gotta be an entry that goes on the bottom of any list. I love Rincewind, but prefer the other wizards in a less prominent role. Not one I'd recommend when trying to get into the series and probably not one I'll revisit. Oh well.

Catwoman: Lonely City by Cliff Chiang (Complete) Big fan of Chiang's artistry on Paper Girls and really enjoyed this interpretation of an aging Gotham. It has such a clear and singular voice it covers so much in just four chapters! Really great read.

Silver Surfer: Black by Donny Cates, Tradd Moore, and Dave Stewart (Complete) Every time I read this I love it more and more. It's truly what I pictured comics to be when I was a kid: vibrant, dramatic, and a little bonkers. Why does the villain ride a dragon? WHO CARES it looks cool. I love it all.

Delicious in Dungeon Vol. 4 by Ryoko Kui (Complete) Watching the series and rereading the manga is really making for a great experience. This volume really highlighted that Senshi isn't a man with all the answers. In the upper levels of the dungeon, he's competent, but as they go deeper and face more dangerous monsters, the rest of the party take more of the lead. It's so good. This series is so good.

……….AUDIO……….

Wolves of Glendale by Wolves of Glendale (2024) Comedy music is always tricky but for me, the comedy is second. If I don't enjoy the music having no understanding of the lyrics then I probably won't stick with it. Some tracks strike this balance better than others but I found The Gym to be a good introductory track.

……….GAMING……….

Disco Elysium (ZA/UM) On one hand, I tend to prefer more...active games. Something that requires hitting buttons at the right time. On the other hand, I'm really digging the mystery and complexity of the game. It really feels like I can play this detective however I want without being forced to follow any one playstyle. Not sure how far into it I am but I read the review that it's less a detective game and more a game about being a detective and that really feels right. But I do have to say that it's...rather buggy on the Switch so that might not be the recommended way to play it.

Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Tuesday crew is working towards ridding the island of a competing group of adventurers. Hook wants them gone, the Gnomes want them gone, heck even the Moss Mother wants them gone. But will they be able to do it? And the more lengthy recap is over here.

Oz: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Mof1 D&D crew found a (literal) underground magic item shop so did a bunch of shopping after their big funeral heist. Everyone loves a good shopping session!

And that's it. See you in March!