Tales from the Drum
285 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 8 ratingsOn the first, second, and third Friday of every month, it’s Tales From the Drum—the Mended Drum, that is. We also bring you three-minute long mini-episodes, cleverly entitled Pratchips (like potato chips, see?) every Monday-Thursday. All of these are (usually) about the places, spaces, races, and other words that end in aces of the Discworld, that pizza-shaped place (but no anchovies) that rides through space on the backs of the massive elephants Tubul, Berilia, Jerakeen and Great T’Phon, which themselves stand atop the 10,000 mile-long world Turtle, A’Tuin. (According to the dwarfs, there was once a Fifth Elephant, which slipped of A’Tuin’s carapace and crashed into the Disc. But the dwarfs can be funny that way.) Obviously, a place such as this could exist only every normal curve must have its outliers, where the fabric of reality is thin, and magic is an everyday—well, reality. Of course, it was actually the late Sir Terry Pratchett, OBE, who created the Discworld. He chronicled those places, spaces, etc. in 41 Discworld novels. In 500 years, he will probably be the only 20th-century author who is still being read. Seriously. He was that good. He was also incredibly prolific. In a span of 32 years, he wrote 70 books. They’ve sold northward of 50 million copies, last I saw. He was knighted in 2008 by Queen Elizabeth II. Sir Terry passed away in 2015 from a rare form of early onset Alzheimer’s disease. GNU Terry Pratchett. If you don’t understand that, you can find out about it in Going Postal. Also, il miglior fabbro. That’s from T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land.” But you knew that. Thanks for listening—and mind how you go! GNU Terry Pratchett
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Life in Ankh-Morpork
December 06, 2019 23:00 - 19 minutes - 13.7 MBThe Portal is back for a fourth season, wherein we begin an exploration of the societies, cultures, and education system of the Disc. This week we focus on Ankh-Morpork’s institutions but, as always, there’s more to come. Season 4’s contest is to name the Discworld book for the quote given. This will be a progressive contest—the quotes will get tougher as the season goes on. This week’s quote is: “Bravd became aware that he had fumbled the initiative.” The winner of this season’s contest w...
The Ego of Wizards and the Pride of Witches
November 16, 2019 00:00 - 19 minutes - 13.7 MBThe Discworld Portal will return on Friday, December 6th Until then, there's the Discord server, the Patreon Page, and the Portal's home on the web. Links for all are at the bottom of these show notes. Although wizards may not have balls (there is a popular song about it) they do have egos, and this week we consider the nature of that phenomenon, and consider its relationship to the ego of witches, which they famously do not have. Instead they have pride, at least if their name happens to...
That's an Order!
November 08, 2019 15:00 - 19 minutes - 13.8 MBSeason 3 Episode 11 We conclude our look at the wizards, and wizardry, of the Discworld. Our attention centers on the evolution of wizardry during the course of the Discworld novels. We take a look at the hierarchy of wizardry in the early books, and examine the evolution of wizardry at Unseen University. UU comes to embody Discworld wizardry, after the ascension of Mustrum Ridcully to the Archchancellorship. Ridcully is indeed the fulcrum on which the concept of wizardry transforms. No mor...
Pondering Ridcully
November 01, 2019 22:00 - 20 minutes - 13.8 MBSeason 3 was supposed to be ten episodes, but I ended up doing two bonus episodes for all listeners, making the season 12 episodes long. Get the idea I love to do this show? I do. This past week I did ponder Ridcully a lot. Yes, a pune or play on words. Spontaneous, too. Ponder Stibbons ponders Mustrum Ridcully. Mustrum Ridcully frustrates Ponder Stibbons. Stibbons tries to explain things to Ridcully, and Ridcully is either willfully obtuse or finds no value in what Ponder has to say. Actual...
Boo!
October 28, 2019 14:00 - 11 minutes - 8.13 MBA free-for-all bonus episode. You can also find it (also for free) on the Portal's Patreon page. Herein you'll find some anecdotes about Dr. Terry Armstrong (the other profoundly influential Terry in my life,) a discussion of J.R.R. Tolkien and Sir Terry, and, as a Hallowe'en treat, the first-ever Portal blooper reel. Trick or treat! You can now visit the Discord site to leave feedback about the show. Just follow this link (https://discord.gg/snVHpxM), sign up, choose a username, and post ...
The Likeability Fallibility
October 25, 2019 19:00 - 19 minutes - 13.7 MBIn The Color of Magic/The Light Fantastic and Sourcery, the life expectancy of the wizards of Unseen University is distressingly short. All eight heads of the Orders of Wizardry meet a stony doom in The Light Fantastic, and of course the new Archchancellor at the time of Sourcery never even gets to officially don the pointy Archchancellor’s hat, while once again there is a veritable massacre of the senior wizards at the end of the book. In this week’s episode we take a look at why that is, ...
Rincewind and Ridcully: Alpha and Omega (sort of)
October 19, 2019 14:00 - 39 minutes - 27.4 MB[email protected] Believe it or not, I do talk about the Discworld this week. Just not for a while. There are more show notes than usual this time, but then there is also more show than usual. There are a couple of things I would like all of you to give me some feedback on, and although these are described in some detail in the first part of the show, here’s a quick recap: Would you prefer the prerecorded intro I’ve been using this season, or would you rather have the more free-form (...
Veni, Vimesy, Vetinari
October 11, 2019 19:00 - 20 minutes - 14.2 MBOh yes he did. If you've read Jingo you'll get the title reference; if not, just consider it a mangling of Caesar's words. This week we take on a topic requested by a listener-- that being the relationship between Sam Vimes and Havelock Vetinari. This relationship is a complicated one, and a single show isn't really enough to do justice to it, but it is a start. Part II will come along one of these days; either at the end of this season, or next week (bumping the wizards back to episodes 6-1...
I was Aching this morning, and I'll still be Aching tonight
October 06, 2019 18:00 - 19 minutes - 13.8 MBThe Portal's opening was delayed two days this week due to the classic "family emergency." My wife ended up in the hospital, but she's home and doing fine. And here is this week's episode, albeit two days late. This week we conclude our discussion of the witches of the Discworld with a look at the newest and youngest of their number, Tiffany Aching. To enter the season three lottery (for a copy of The Discworld Atlas) just send an email stating your favorite Discworld character to randy@m...
When shall we.... two meet again?
September 27, 2019 22:00 - 19 minutes - 13.8 MBGranny without Nanny would be like eating your vegetables without any prospect of dessert. This week we explore the relationship between these two worthies, as well as examining their exploits together and considering their difficulties in finding (and keeping) a third member for their little coven. The pair are a perfect comedic duo in addition to being the perfect complements to each other temperamentally. And do you know it was just at this moment that the Gnome learned that "temperamenta...
A Little Touch of Granny in the Night
September 21, 2019 01:00 - 19 minutes - 13.8 MBWeatherwax, that is. The doyenne of the Disc's witches, that is. Foremost among the leaders the witches do not have, she is. Whatever the score between the witches and the wizards, Granny Weatherwax is always ahead of the game. This week we begin to understand why that is, as well as getting a very useful perspective on why witches and/or wizards do not rule the world. We also consider the notion that the trajectories or arcs of development over the books for witches and wizards are mirror i...
This Just In, Sports Fans
September 15, 2019 00:00 - 4 minutes - 3.03 MBThe most up-do-date info available on the big scoring controversy between the wizards and the witches. As of this writing, the books which have been adudged as featuring one or more witches in a major role are: Witches: Equal Rites, Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade, Carpe Jugulum, Wee Free Men, Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, I Shall Wear Midnight and The Shepherd's Crown. Initially, the Wizards were given credit for The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic, Source...
Witches 11, Wizards 9
September 13, 2019 21:00 - 20 minutes - 13.9 MBNot that we're keeping score. This week we begin to explore the vast and often tumbled landscape of the topic of the Disc's witches and wizards. The wizards' level-based heirarchical approach to magic atrophies over time. By the later books wizards are best known for the magic they do not do; the tradition of Dead Men's Shoes is firmly in the past; and political bickering and jockeying for position have long since taken the place of magical duels. Witches' magic, on the other hand, becomes...
So Long and Thanks for all the.... Quantum?
August 30, 2019 18:00 - 19 minutes - 13.6 MBThis week we take another look at Jingo, to explore Fred and Nobby's (and especially Nobby's) experiences in their second undercover operation of the book. We also learn about quantum, technology, and the Trousers of Time in looking at Mr. Vimes' curious experience with his dis-organizer. With a few other morsels to bring Season 3 of the Discworld Portal to a close. We learned that Tony and Jessica were co-champions of this season's trivia contest, and that Tony has gallantly ceded the cha...
Genius, by Jingo!
August 23, 2019 21:00 - 19 minutes - 13.8 MBBelief and metaphor, the life force, and narrative causality are the three driving elements of the Discworld's "physics," all under the umbrella of magic, made possible by the fact the Discworld should not exist. We've been taking a look at all three of these elements this season. Today, using the book Jingo as an example, we look at plot, character and theme, the three driving elements of great fiction-- as any professor of literature or literary critic will tell you. Specifically, we exam...
Not the Discworld, exactly II (also?)
August 23, 2019 20:00 - 19 minutes - 13.8 MBHere's your bonus episode for season 2. By popular request, the Gnome shares some more of his checkered past, talks about cats (including Holly, the show's producer, and Ivy, the engineer. No really.) and identifies when, if not how, he became acquainted with Sir Terry and the Discworld. This is not an episode about the Discworld, so if you're looking for that, and not interested in hearing me talk about myself some more, skip this episode and go to season 2 episode 9 (Genius, by Jingo!) i...
Narratively Speaking
August 16, 2019 23:00 - 19 minutes - 13.7 MBThis week we explore narrative causality, which, like the life force and belief & metaphor on the Disc is stronger because of the rather tenuous nature of reality there. We also briefly consider the beliefs of Sir Samuel Vimes, Lord Havelock Vetinari, the Nac Mac Feegle, trolls, and Ponder Stibbons. Now that strains the nature of reality. It helps if you remember that it's probably all down to bloody quantum in the end. This week's trivia question: Which Discworld novel with a one-word titl...
Birdwalking
August 09, 2019 19:00 - 19 minutes - 13.8 MBThis week provides a classic example of the tendency of some teachers, your host included, to stray off the topic of a lesson. Even though I'm a acting as a podcast host and not a teacher, and my shows are meant to entertain an audience and not educate a class of students, old habits die hard. Some of my students didn't appreciate the birdwalks; I used to tell them that I wasn't getting off-topic, it was just that the topic was bigger than they thought it was. In any case this week's journ...
It's a Living/It's a Live!
August 02, 2019 23:00 - 19 minutes - 13.8 MBOn the Discworld, doorknobs can come to life, Death can be put out to pasture and belief precedes the object of that belief. This is all due to the interplay of the life force with the phenomena of belief and metaphor (and of course narrative causality.) Or maybe it's all, as Mustrum Ridcully might insist, because of quantum. This week's trivia question: What is Rincewind's first name? Send you answer to me at [email protected], for a bit of Discworld Portal fame, and more importantly, a...
Really Unbelievable
July 26, 2019 22:00 - 19 minutes - 13.7 MBOr not. Nuggan is the god of the Borogravians, and as we learn this week, about all he is good for is abominating things. His is another example of Discworld belief transferred from one object, institution or person to another. In this case the other is the Duchess Anagovia, who bears a passing resemblance to Queen Victoria. We also begin to find out about the power of metaphor on the Disc (which is of course closely tied to belief.) We learn some about the anthropomorphic personifications...
The Turtle Moves
July 20, 2019 00:00 - 19 minutes - 13.7 MBWe continue exploring the role of belief in the Discworld, specifically as it applies to the gods of the Disc and their religions. We learn about the relationship of Brutha the Prophet, Om his God, and Omnianism their religion. Turns out there's more to both this godding business and this propheting business than meets the eye. This week's trivia question: On what European nation is the Discworld city state of Quirm based? If you know the answer email it to me at [email protected]. We...
Oh Brutha
July 12, 2019 22:00 - 19 minutes - 13.8 MBWe continue our exploration of belief and metaphor, the life force, and narrative causality as the drivers of the Discworld’s physics. Don’t worry though, that’s not as dreadful as it might sound. In which we hear of Om, former small god desperate not to return to that status (and currently manifested in the form of a one-eyed tortoise) and of the relationship between belief and a god’s power. We also encounter Vorbis, a most unpleasant deacon of the Church of Om, and a man with who the...
"It only encourages 'em."
July 06, 2019 00:00 - 20 minutes - 13.8 MBBelief on the Discworld is a funny thing. Since the Disc is way out there on the probability curve, reality is thinner, and belief has a much greater potential to shape reality. This happens in all kinds of ways over the course of the books, and not surprisingly some of the results are pretty amusing. This week we look primarily at belief as it applies to the Discworld's elves-- which are about as diametrically opposite of Tolkien's elves as they could be-- and to Dwarfish traditions and roy...
Discworld, The
June 29, 2019 15:00 - 20 minutes - 13.8 MBIn which the show is hijacked by a mysterious force (probably Holly and Ivy) which brings to us the knowing of the Discworld's geology and natural history, as well as the knowing of octiron, the power of metaphor and belief, narrative causality and bloody quantum. No Nac Mac Feegle, though. This indeed be the beginning of season 2 of the Discworld Portal, and it was right and fitting that it begin with a reading of the excerpt from Turtle Recall, The Discworld Companion... So Far by Terry P...
"You're just a piece of cheese."
June 21, 2019 23:00 - 19 minutes - 13.8 MBThe Death of Rats must be imaginary, decides Susan Sto Helit. Tiny rat skeletons wearing robes and carrying tiny scythes do not exist. She must be imagining this one because of the cheese on toast she had at supper the night before. Thus begins the acquaintance of Susan, duchess of Sto Helit (it's complicated) and adopted granddaughter of the Death of the Discworld, and the Death of Rats, a tiny piece of Death which the Grim Reaper allowed to maintain an independent existence when he was "re...
Not the Discworld, exactly
June 21, 2019 01:00 - 19 minutes - 13.7 MBThis week we have a special bonus edition of the Portal. In it you'll get a behind-the-scenes look at the production of the Discworld Portal, with an exposition of some of the Gnome's checkered career as an educator as well. You'll also be treated to a short explanation of the difference between learning and education (to be elaborated on in episode 10 as we get to know Susan Sto Helit). So this episode is about the Portal, and not really the Discworld. This is probably because of quantum. ...
Love and Death (with apologies to Woody Allen
June 15, 2019 01:00 - 19 minutes - 13.8 MBMort and Ysabel meet, and instantly dislike each other. And as Mort makes a hash of things as Death's apprentice, he finds himself in peril. Ysabel steps up as Mort's unlikely champion, and persuades Death to let Mort live, which he does by turning over Mort's hourglass. After we witness this confrontation, we also learn that Mort and Ysabel were married, and lived happily ever after (until they died in a fiery coach crash, that is. Hey, you can't have everything. We also begin to make the...
All in the Family
June 08, 2019 13:00 - 20 minutes - 9.27 MBEveryone has family-- even the Death of the Discworld. This time we meet Mort, who will become first Death's apprentice and then his son-in-law, and Death himself. We hear an excerpt from Mort that describes Death's first meeting with Mort, at a hiring fair in the little farming hamlet called Sheepridge. Still to come are our first encounters with Death's adopted daughter, Ysabell, Albert (formerly Alberto Malich and 1st Archchancellor of Unseen University) and now Death's manservant, and th...
This Mortal Coil
June 02, 2019 01:00 - 20 minutes - 9.41 MBIn which the Gnome shares some demographic information, and we hear the Death of the Discworld in his own words, at the beginning of the series, in The Color of Magic. In the fullness of time we will come to see how much this Death does not represent the Death of the Discworld. We also begin to learn about how Death came to have a granddaughter and why the first Archchancellor of Unseen University is now Death's manservant, Some of Death's abilities, those which his granddaughter has inherit...
The Thickness of a Dream
May 24, 2019 21:00 - 21 minutes - 9.74 MBWherein we learn of the breadth of Sir Terry's genius and of one way of approaching the reading of Discworld novels. We also hear a bit about Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax, the novels featuring the Ankh Morkpork city watch, as well as those featuring Death, his adopted granddaughter, a consummate conman, and Rincewind, failed wizard and champion survivor. Although not all at once, of course. That is, not all those entities are featured in all the books-- and of course they're not all featu...
Big Pictures
May 16, 2019 01:00 - 20 minutes - 9.42 MBThis time we look at the big picture of the Discworld, through the lens of Sir Terry's foreword and prologue to The Color of Magic.We also learn of Ankh-Morpork's attitude toward fires in the city, and of its response upon first hearing of the concept of fire insurance. The episode also makes brief reference to the inspiring example of the Igors' use of thunderstorms, and explains why the show's producer and engineer are badly paid.
Monsters! Monsters!
May 11, 2019 23:00 - 19 minutes - 9.08 MBHerewith we begin our exploration of the nonhuman sapient species of the Discworld. They are some of the familiar monsters of fantasy fiction, but they're not really monstrous, for the most part-- a glaring exception being the Discworld's elves, who are the polar opposite of the Middle Earth variety. It's very hard for the Discworld's elves to actually gain access to the Discworld, and a bloody good thing that is, too. This week I also acknowledge my international listeners, and wonder alou...
Mrs Whitlow
May 08, 2019 22:00 - 19 minutes - 9.23 MBWherein you learn how to contact the Gnome, where to start in the Discworld, and why it is not a good idea to annoy Mrs. Whitlow, the head housekeeper of Unseen University.
Characters
April 30, 2019 23:00 - 20 minutes - 9.45 MBIt's all about character this week, as I introduce four of the most memorable characters in the Discworld. Three of them, Mustrum Ridcully, the Bursar, and the Librarian are on the faculty of Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork, and the fourth is Sam Vimes, member of the city watch and probably the most richly-developed of all Terry Pratchett's characters. You also get to hear a bit about Holly and Ivy, as well as how the name of the show and the on-air name of its host came to be.
Welcome to Ankh-Morpork
April 19, 2019 20:00 - 19 minutes - 9.07 MBSomeone break a champagne bottle over my head-- this is the maiden voyage. You'll meet your host, the Medieval Gnome (a.k.a. me) and hear an overview of Terry Pratchett as a writer. You'll also get a picture of the Discworld as a whole, learn how it comes to be, and finally get your maiden visit to Ankh-Morpork, "citie of 1000 surprises" and meet its ruler, the Patrician Havelock Vetenari. All this in under 20 minutes! This is a show pretty much completely bereft of bells and whistles at th...