The Art of Discworld (GOLLANCZ S.F.)

Product Information

The name Genua is probably based on Genoa, a city in Italy. However, Genua bears a striking resemblance to the French and Caribbean-influenced American South, especially New Orleans. Local transport is by cattle- or troll-powered paddleboats with onboard gambling. The local witch, Erzulie Gogol, is a Voodoo mambo complete with personal zombie (in her case, that of the former ruler of the principality, Baron Saturday, who himself shares a name with a famous Voodoo god) and the local food is essentially Cajun cuisine, including gumbo. Genua was most likely established as a far flung colony of the Morporkian Empire, explaining why it shares more similarities with Ankh-Morpork/Sto Plains than its immediate neighbours Überwald and Muntab. The state first gained power under General Tacticus, who, having been sent there by the Morporkian Empire to stay out of the way, proceeded to declare war on Ankh-Morpork. Although they have been an empire in the past, the Sto Plains currently exist as a loose collection of independent city-states, ruled over by a close-knit (and probably interrelated) ruling class. The Sto Plains could be thought of as being similar to Germany prior to the unification of the states into the German Empire, with no overall authority. According to Mort the area was to be united in the coming decades. As reality was given a retcon in the book, the Duke who united the Sto Plains was Mort, and he did it by diplomacy rather than conquest. As a democracy, Ephebe is unusual on the Discworld. Those citizens who are not disqualified on account of being foreigners, mad, poor or female elect a Tyrant to run the city, who invariably turns out to be a criminal madman. They then elect another Tyrant, who is much the same. At the time of Small Gods (the position of which in the Discworld chronology is somewhat obscure), Ephebe was ruled by a small, fat man with skinny legs, who resembled an egg hatching upside-down. It is unknown whether he is still ruler. Large amounts of octiron make Agatean Empire home of the rare sapient pear trees. The wood of this tree is used to build luggages.

Due to the Great A'Tuin's travelling through the universe, the night sky of the Discworld changes markedly over the course of decades, as the turtle departs older constellations and enters new ones. This means that astrologers must constantly update and alter their horoscopes to incorporate all-new zodiacs. Forty-one Discworld novels were published. Apart from the first novel in the series, The Colour of Magic, the original British editions of the first 26 novels, up to Thief of Time (2001), had cover art by Josh Kirby. After Kirby's death in 2001, the covers were designed by Paul Kidby. The American editions, published by HarperCollins, used their own cover art. Companion publications include eleven short stories (some only loosely related to the Discworld), four popular science books, and a number of supplementary books and reference guides. The series has been adapted for graphic novels, theatre, computer and board games, and television. Both the flora and fauna of the continent are extremely dangerous, as Death's Library attests. A book series known as Dangerous Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians, Birds, Fish, Jellyfish, Insects, Spiders, Crustaceans, Grasses, Trees, Mosses and Lichens of Terror Incognita extends at least into Volume 29c Part Three, while a list of the harmless ones contains only "Some of the sheep." There are few poisonous snakes in XXXX, the explanation being that "most of them have been eaten by the spiders".The 32nd of December, or the day before the New Year, is known as "Hogswatchnight". Traditionally associated with pig-killing, to ensure there is enough food for the rest of the winter. Many Hogswatch traditions are parodies of those associated with Christmas, including a decorated oak tree in a pot, strings of paper sausages, and, of course, a visit by the Hogfather. Witches do not leave the house on Hogswatchnight more because of tradition than any practical reasons. The witch Nanny Ogg gets around this by simply inviting everyone to her house for the holiday instead. Seven of the short stories or short writings were also collected in a compilation of the majority of Pratchett's known short work named Once More* With Footnotes (2004). The Octarine Grass Country is an area of rich farmland which, thanks to its proximity to the Ramtops, also happens to be saturated with magic. So saturated, in fact, that it is possible to grow re-annual crops: crops that germinate and grow the spring before they are planted. This is the homeland of Mort. The Octarine Grass Country predominantly features in Reaper Man, where Death goes to work under the name Bill Door. De Lint, Charles (January 2001). "Books to Look For". F&SF. 100 (1): 24–28. Review of In the Garden of Unearthly Delights.

The region was previously united under the rule of the Unholy Empire (a play on the Holy Roman Empire), which had a two-headed bat as its symbol (a play on the double headed eagle). The Empire has long since collapsed leaving the area fragmented, chaotic, and under the rule of lore, not law. [10] The witches appear in many Discworld books, and are protagonists in seven. They also appeared in the short story " The Sea and Little Fishes". Their stories frequently draw on ancient European folklore and fairy tales, and parody famous works of literature, particularly by Shakespeare. Its name is German for " over the woods", a play on Transylvania (which is Latin for " across the woods" - a name actually used for Transylvania in some 13th century writings). The region is based less on the real Eastern Europe, and more on the Hammer Horror stereotype of the area. In keeping with the Discworld's affinity for narrative, Überwald's climate and conditions contrive to fulfill human expectations: for example, Überwaldian thunderclaps occur whenever someone makes a particularly forceful pronouncement. In The Truth this phenomenon is referred to as " psychotropic weather". Lancre is based on rural southern England. In an article in Folklore entitled, 'Imaginary Worlds, Real Stories,' Pratchett writes, "the kingdom of Lancre [...] I suspect is a somewhat idealised version of the little fold in the Chiltern Hills where I grew up, stirred in with the western area of the Mendips where I spent a great deal of my adult life." [9] Pratchett described the tiny country as "solid folklore"; it is the place all the legends of Earth's countryside really happened. Ankh-Morpork serves a similar function for urban folklore, but not as blatantly. The name seems to echo Lancashire (with the inhabitants called Lancrastians) and the associated witch trials in Pendle there in the seventeenth century.Pratchett, Terry (2013). Raising Steam. New York: Doubleday. p.137. ISBN 978-0-385-53826-8. However, for you, my friend, zis is difficult because we don't sell our birthright unless, that is, the price is extremely 'igh. And, when the news gets out about the railway the price will be extremely 'igh: you will, as my wife says, 'ave to pay dans le nez. I think, my friend, you will 'ave to find another route from here to Quirm City if you want to get ze job done before les poules aurent des dents. The Disc's nature is fundamentally teleological; its basic composition is determined by what it is ultimately meant to be. This primary element, out of which all others spring, is known as narrativium, [5] [6] [7] the elemental substance of Story. Nothing on the Disc can exist without a Story first existing to mould its destiny and determine its form. This is, perhaps, a take on the fact that nothing can ever happen on the Disc unless it is written in a story by Terry Pratchett. On the Disc, if a story or legend is told often enough and believed by enough people, it becomes true. This is known as the law of narrative causality. The Disc itself is described as roughly 10,000 miles (16,000km) wide, giving it a surface area two-fifths that of the Earth, which would make it roughly the size of the Pacific Ocean. In addition to its flatness, Pratchett gives it another principal geographic feature; Cori Celesti, a 10-mile-high (16km) mountain that lies at its exact centre and is the point of origin for its standing magical field. Cori Celesti is also the location of Dunmanifestin, the home of many of the Disc's gods and the Discworld analogue of real-world Greek mythology's Mount Olympus. The area surrounding Cori Celesti is known as The Hub, a land of high, icebound mountains that serves as an analogue to the real-world Himalayas, polar regions (since, although the Disc has no poles as such, it is as far as possible from the Disc's edge and thus the sun), and Scandinavia – the Hublanders share many features with Vikings. Polar bears are renamed "Hubland bears", while the Disc's equivalent of the aurora borealis (described as being produced by the Disc's magical field, rather than by magnetism) is known as the "Aurora Coriolis". When the market for film poster illustration dried up in the mid 1980s, Kirby switched his attention to role-playing games. He provided cover art for Duelmasters, Tunnels & Trolls and Wizards & Warriors. [3] [2]