This month on Mineral House, we are going to enter Terry Pratchett's Discworld universe, begin with "Equal Rites". Published in 1987, "Equal Rites" is the third book in Discworld series and the first book in Witches sub-series. Pratchett wrote this novel based on his daughter, Rhianna Pratchett.

Terry Pratchett or Sir Terence David John Pratchett was an English author, humorist, and satirist, best known for the Discworld series of 41 comic fantasy novels published for over 32 years (between 1983–2015), and co-wrote the apocalyptic comedy novel "Good Omens" (1990) with Neil Gaiman, now it is also adapted as TV series. In December 2007, Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer and died in 2015 at the age of 66. The final Discworld novel, "The Shepherd's Crown", was published in August 2015, five months after his death.

Wizards always know when they're going to die and Drum Billet traveled to places to pass on his magic to someone worthy. In this case, an eighth son of an eighth son. He came to this blacksmith family in a village called Bad Ass, who just had a baby, an eighth child. Unfortunately he forgot one tiny matter - to check that the baby is actually a boy before he makes the exchange, but it's too late. The wife was giving a birth to a baby girl, Eskarina Smith (or Esk) and Billet just gave her a lifetime access to magic she never should have.

In Discworld, everybody knows there's no such thing as a female wizard. Growing up having a latent wizard magic, Granny Weatherwax who helped Esk at birth, decided to take Esk as her apprentice. Noticing Esk's power is so strong, Granny has no choice but to take her to Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork, before she hurt herself and others. She sent a letter to the uni prior to their departure, but had been recognized as a joke by the Arch chancellor Cutangle. With Granny's help, Esk sneaks her way into the magical Unseen University and befriends apprentice wizard, Simon, on her way to the uni. His magic, however, is so powerful that it causes a hole to be opened into the Dungeon Dimensions and they both find themselves tangled in it.

• Links:


• Read samples from Equal Rites here (https://www.amazon.com/Equal-Rites-Discworld-Novels-Audio/dp/0753140268?asin=B000W9393Y&revisionId=7626bf11&format=1&depth=2)

• Terry Pratchett's speech about the difference between witch and wizard magic "Why Gandalf Never Married" (1985) (https://ansible.uk/misc/tpspeech.html)

• Learn more about Discworld and Pratchett's other works here (http://terrypratchettbooks.com) and here (https://www.terrypratchettforums.com)

Tracklist:

• Opening theme Discworld (taken from Equal Rites Audio CD, 2008)

• A'Tuin the Turtle - Dave Greenslade

• We Can Rule You Wholesale (Ankh-Morpork National Anthem) - Carl Davis & Scottish Symphony Orchestra

• Funny Little Bird - Sam Scranton

• Rokoreke Taribaku - Nicolas Gaunin

• Disworld (feat. NTsKi) - Giant Claw

• Donne Moi - KOKOKO!

• Of the Sorcerer - Trev

• Ile Ye (feat. Jadson Xabla, Gabriel Santana) - Àbáse

• Loose Lips (feat. Lyric L) - Seiji

• Once Again (feat. Henrik Schwarz & Fumio Itabashi) - Kuniyuki Takahashi

• MOTF - Cengiz

• Oi! (Nauts Bruk Rican-struction) - Afronaut, WheelUP

• The Leak - Nikitch & Kuna Maze

• Pressure Roll - Coen

• Revolution - Mala

• Papel - Aylu

• Bang This - GHÖSH

• Apocolypse (feat. Fracture) - Flobama

• Jeep Beats - Future Forces Inc.

• Monsoon Season - Tim Reaper

• Sensi (feat. Stevie Hyper D) - Ricky Force

• Bongo Loop 64 - BRUK

• We Must Proceed - The Council, Stekker, DJ SoFa

• Screwface - Brainkillers

• *including excerpt from "Equal Rites" Audio CD (2008), narrated by Celia Imrie