Writer Elizabeth Flux & comedian Ben McKenzie discuss every Terry Pratchett book with special guests!
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It takes a village to make a fan convention, and we’ve been having such a blast at thanks to these folks - the con committee! Huge thanks also to every volunteer, special guest and attendee for such a huge and wonderful weekend. We hope to see you in Sydney to do it all again in 2026!
JOIN US (including guests Joel Martin and Deanne Sheldon-Collins) for a last hurrah in Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's Long Earth!
Catch up on the first four books in : https://pratchatpodcast.com/2024/07/08/pratchatpreviously2-the-longer-footnote/
Then hear our discussion of THE LONG COSMOS in : https://pratchatpodcast.com/2024/07/08/pratchat78-one-step-beyond/
In our next episode, , Joel Martin and Deanne Sheldon-Collins join us for the end of the Long journey in The Long Cosmos!
Get your questions in this week - we record next Saturday.
Did a teenager sell his soul to be published alongside Michael Moorcock, Mervyn Peake and Harry Harrison? Or was he always a genius?
Lucas Testro joins us to find out as we travel back to 1963 to discuss Terry Pratchett’s first ever published story, “The Hades Business”!
https://pratchatpodcast.com/2024/06/08/pratchat77-how-to-get-below-in-advertising/
Our next episode, , goes back to the very beginning as we discuss Pratchett’s first ever published fiction, the short story “The Hades Business” - written when he was just 13!
We’ll be joined by the wonderful Lucas Testro, who will provide excellent perspective on both the youth writing and advertising fronts.
We record this weekend, so get your questions in ASAP!
May the fourth 25th be with you! Or something like that.
Yes, it’s our fourth annual “Eeek Club” episode where we discuss topics and questions posed by our “Eeek” tier backers on the Glorious 25th of May.
out now in your podcatcher of choice.
https://pratchatpodcast.com/2024/05/25/eeek-club-2024/
Our emergency replacement May episode is here! Join Ben McKenzie as he shares some of your stories of “starting in the wrong place” in a celebration of this year’s theme.
The scheduling goblins got us this month, and we’ve had to delay our planned short story episode. But while we get that sorted out, Ben’s embracing the chaos – and the theme of Terry Pratchet…
The scheduling gremlins have got us again - we’ve had to delay our previously announced short story episode. But we are embracing the chaos! Our May episode will now be all about this year’s theme: “Start in the Wrong Place”.
We’ll be discussing the weird and wonderful ways you might get into the Discworld, or Terry’s work, but we’d love to hear from you, if you have a story you’d be happy to share.
Where did you start that was “the wrong place”? And where did you go from there to get to being fan enough to listen to our humble podcast?
‘Pon our souls, we are not a boastin’ podcast, but we reckon this episode with Freya Daly Sadgrove discussing Terry Pratchett’s Monstrous Regiment is a First Blast of Discworld goodness!
You are our little listeners, and we will look after you.
https://pratchatpodcast.com/2024/04/08/pratchat76-notes-and-errata/
Hard to believe it’s been nine years.
He’s there in every footjoke*, chapter-less novel, fantasy that feels more real than reality and pune or play on words.
Thank you for writing the silliest smart satire and the cleverest stupid jokes. AND FOR THAT GUY.
.
* Pratchett never used this term as far as we know, but social media character limits being what they are it seemed right to debut a portmanteau in honour of Terry today.
As previously mentioned, we couldn’t bring you our Monstrous Regiment episode today. But to mark , here’s a brief episode recommending some other book podcasts hosted entirely by women and non-binary folks.
The shows mentioned are:
The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret
Disc Coverers
Nanny Ogg’s Book Club
Teaching My Cat To Read
Fiction Fans
Special mention to Wyrd Sisters Podcast, who we didn’t list because they’ve wrapped up, but who definitely count!
Also please do check out the Victorian Women's Trust and their programs, or another organisation near you. “Invest in Women” is the UN Women theme for IWD this year because women still suffer immense economic disadvantage, and programs to address gendered inequality are vastly underfunded.
Our Monstrous Regiment episode won’t be ready until later in the month, but we didn’t want to let International Women’s Day pass without some kind of comment. So here’s a mini episode in your feed …
There’s so much going on in Monstrous Regiment that we’re afraid our episode about it just won’t be ready by the 8th of March! Ben is preparing a little something extra to tide you over, but look for with guest Freya Daly Sadgrove later in the month.
Last reminder to get your questions in about Monstrous Regiment for , which we record at the end of February!
Our next book for is MONSTROUS REGIMENT!
We normally wait a little longer after our current episode to announce the next book, but it’s been a while since we’ve done a full novel, so we wanted to give a bit of an earlier heads up. Send in your questions in the next couple of weeks! (We’ll do a reminder closer to the deadline.)
In , Dr Melissa Rogerson returns for a game of squabbling guilds, missing spells, and the terrifying pitter-patter of hundreds of tiny feet…
Join us as we play the 2011 Discworld board game Guards! Guards! from Backspindle Games.
In this very three-quarters-of-a-century episode, Liz, Ben and guest Dr Melissa Rogerson get out the eight-sided dice and roll for initative – or at least cunning – as we play the 2011 …
Our next episode, , is all about the 2012* Discworld board game Guards! Guards! from Backspindle Games, designed by Leonard Boyd and David Brashaw with art by Stephen Player. We’re recording on the 27th of January so get your questions in by then!
* We’ll be playing the revised 2012 edition of the game.
Hogswatch isn’t just Discworld Christmas - it’s also New Year’s Day!
Which is also over.
But is a very special HogsWITCH episode: we interview the authors of Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being a Witch, Rhianna Pratchett and Gabrielle Kent, Author! Including asking some listener questions.
https://pratchatpodcast.com/2024/01/08/pratchat74-hogswitch/
A Merry Messy Hogswatch, everyone!
We hope you are happy and safe, and with your family or equivalent.
If you’re not then please know we are thinking of you too.
And please spare a moment to think of those for whom there’s no peace or safety this Hogswatch.
In case you missed the news, we have two very special guests joining us for our January episode - Rhianna Pratchett and Gabrielle Kent, Author, authors of Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being a Witch!
We’d love to ask your questions in this special interview episode, so please send them in or ask them below. But hurry: we need them by December 15th!
On the 8th of December Pratchat gave to me:
Eleven seasonal stories,
Four silly Santas,
No special guests,
And a full Prod-Ye-A'Diddle Oh!
Join Elizabeth Flux and Ben McKenzie as they unwrap ’s 2017 short story collection, Father Christmas' Fake Beard!
In this very special Christmas episode, Liz and Ben fly without a guest as they turn the seasonal silliness up to maximum and discuss all eleven stories in Terry Pratchett’s 2017 collection of shor…
We’ve been a bit lax in reminding folks, but our December episode, , will be discussing the stories in Father Christmas’s Fake Beard! Get your questions in ASAP, as we’ll be recording this weekend.
We promised to list the individual stories, and we’ve been a bit slow on that front too. But you can find the list in this post on our website, along with other places you can find a few of the stories in case you don’t have the book:
https://pratchatpodcast.com/2023/11/30/whats-in-father-christmass-fake-beard/
It’s ’s Ruby Anniversary - forty years since the publication of ’s The Colour of Magic! To mark the occasion, Ben McKenzie investigates (well, speculates) why the series has endured - with a little help from Discworld luminaries, podcasters and fans.
https://pratchatpodcast.com/2023/11/24/pratchatruby-how-did-discworld-get-to-40/
Halloween DJs John and Wayne are about to get the strangest request of all. Will there be murder on the dancefloor?
Comedian and superstar DJ Andrew McClelland joins us to talk Terry Pratchett’s 1989 short story “Turntables of the Night” in !
If you want to experience Andy’s DJ skills, check out the upcoming dates on the Mr. McClelland's Finishing School page.
(Once again, our image features the cover art for The Flying Sorcerers by Josh Kirby.)
https://pratchatpodcast.com/2023/11/08/pratchat72-the-masked-dancer/
For our next episode, , we’re reading Pratchett’s 1989 short story “Turntables of the Night” with guest Andy McClelland! Get your questions in this week.
It was first published in Hidden Turnings, an anthology of new work edited by Diana Wynn Jones, and republished in A Blink of the Screen in 2012. But it’s also the first story in comic fantasy anthology The Flying Sorcerers, which used Josh Kirby’s illustration for the story as cover art.
Pratchat and the Splendid Chaps team are devastated to learn of the passing of beloved New Zealand comedian Cal Wilson.
Cal was our first guest, and one of our most enthusiastic. A delight in every way. We thought of her as “twice as alive”, and her loss is keenly felt. Our hearts go out to her friends, family and loved ones, and the entire comedy community.
No-one is dead while their name is still spoken.
GNU Cal Wilson.
After elves and Auditors, Roundworld faces its greatest peril: lawyers!
An Omnian church is suing the University for possession. But nobody expects a Roundworld librarian…
The Rev Dr Avril Hannah-Jones and Dr Charlotte Pezaro join us to discuss THE SCIENCE OF IV: JUDGEMENT DAY!
PS: please do heed the warning inserted at the start of this episode. It was…a challenging one.
Liz and Ben are blessed by two returning guests, the Rev Dr Avril Hannah-Jones and Dr Charlotte Pezaro, as they go on one last visit to Roundworld – this time as clerics, wizards and libraria…
Turns out third time is the charm…
We’ve just been informed we've won the Ditmar Award for "Best Fan Publication in Any Medium"!
Thanks so much to the organisers at Conflux Speculative Fiction Conventions (the Canberra sci-fi con, and this year's Australian national con), everyone who nominated and/or voted for us, and to the other nominated publication, Ethel the Aardvark. And of course to our listeners, subscribers, and to Terry Pratchett!
We’re so chuffed! We wish we could have been there.
Showbiz is rough in Ankh-Morpork; you could find yourself dead in an alley with sausages wrapped round your neck. Can Carrot crack the case?
Caimh McDonnell chats with us about Pratchett's 1993 Discworld short story “Theatre of Cruelty” in !
https://pratchatpodcast.com/2023/09/08/pratchat70-punching-up/
This is your slightly earlier than usual heads up that our October episode, , will be about The Science of Discworld IV: Judgement Day! We’ll be recording with two special guests around the 25th of September, so get your questions in soon.
Historical superheroes! Explicit Jesus allegories! Big Dumb Objects!
Just another typical adventure in the Long Earth.
Isn’t it?
Find out as Deanne Sheldon-Collins joins Liz and Ben for a long chat about Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's penultimate Long Earth novel, 2015’s The Long Utopia.
https://pratchatpodcast.com/2023/07/23/pratchat69-long-fall-sally/
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Pratchat is a podcast from Splendid Chaps Productions in which hosts Elizabeth Flux and Ben McKenzie are reading every Terry Pratchett novel, one a month, and discussing them with special guests. Episodes are released on the 8th (or 7Ath) of each month, are anywhere between 90 minutes and two and bit hours long, and often include footnotes!
We’re not part of a podcast network, and we don’t ever want to add sponsorship messages or ads to the show. Instead we’re turning to you! You can support the production of Pratchat by subscribing via Pozible for as little as $2 (Australian) a month – and that’s cuttin’ our own throats! In return you’ll get access to our exclusive subscriber-only bonus podcast, Ook Club. Find out more on our web site’s Support Us page.
* ...well, six-ish.
Elizabeth Flux (Pratchat Library Captain) is a freelance writer with a focus on film and pop culture, and previous editor of Voiceworks magazine. She has been published in Film Ink, Metro, Junkee, The Lifted Brow, Spook and Kill Your Darlings and can be found tweeting terrible puns @ElizabethFlux. Pratchat is Elizabeth’s first podcast.
Ben McKenzie is a comedian, writer and game designer. His work includes PlayStation VR game Table of Tales: The Crooked Crown with Tin Man Games (as lead writer), and, as actor, writer and producer, time travel audio comedy Night Terrace (as heard on BBC Radio 4 Extra). He tweets at @McKenzie_Ben, has a web site at benmckenzie.com.au, and his favourite dinosaur is Stegosaurus. Ben also co-hosts the podcasts Splendid Chaps and re:Discovery, and appears regularly as a guest on the Night Terrace after show, On the Terrace.
