Category Archives: Discworld

All in How You Spell ‘Em

Posted on October 14, 2021 by Nathan

I saw something recently about the difference between the words “fairy” and “faerie.” Really, there’s no difference; the latter is just an archaic spelling. The word comes from the French for “fate,” and therefore “enchantment”; and was applied to many different … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, British, Celtic, Discworld, Etymology, Greek Mythology, J.R.R. Tolkien, L. Frank Baum, Language, Magic, Mythology, Norse, Oz, Oz Authors, Ruth Plumly Thompson, Terry Pratchett | Tagged aleister crowley, dennis wilson wise, dwarves, elves, fairies, fairyland, gnomes, goblins, immortals, john william polidori, lee speth, lord of the rings, noldor, nomes, nymphs, orcs, ozma of oz, spelling, the baum bugle, the hobbit, the hungry tiger of oz, vampires, words | Leave a comment

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Posted on December 31, 2020 by Nathan

The Stand, by Stephen King – This was a long book, even more so since I read the unabridged edition, but I don’t know that I’ll have a long review for it. I did like it, and it’s pretty timely since … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Art, Authors, Book Reviews, Comics, Discworld, Health, Humor, Jasper Fforde, Mario, Monsters, Politics, Prejudice, Terry Pratchett, Video Games | Tagged bouldergeist, caleb cook, coronavirus, dr. mario, foxes, kooper, luigi mario, mario and luigi: partners in time, new super mario bros. wii, paper mario, paul kidby, puns, rabbits, stephen king, super mari-old, super mario manga mania, super mario sunshine, super mario-kun, super paper mario, superflu, sushie, the art of discworld, the constant rabbit, the stand, time travel, weasels, yoshi, yukio sawada | 3 Comments

Where the Worlds Have No Name

Posted on October 14, 2020 by Nathan

One night last week, I had a fitful sleep with a bunch of weird dreams. I remember one of them had me ranting about how J.R.R. Tolkien was never clear on whether Middle-Earth was his entire imaginary world or just … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, C.S. Lewis, Captain N: The Game Master, Cartoons, Chronicles of Narnia, Discworld, Dragon Quest, Dreams, Final Fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien, L. Frank Baum, Language, Maps, March Laumer, Mario, Mythology, Names, Norse, Oz, Oz Authors, Places, Ruth Plumly Thompson, Television, Terry Pratchett, Video Games, Zelda | Tagged alefgard, Arda, calormen, continent of imagination, dragon quest ii, dragon quest iii, final fantasy iv, final fantasy ix, final fantasy vii, gaia, galaxies, hyrule, jupiter, mars, middle-earth, midgard, moon, mushroom world, narnia, nonestic ocean, planets, professor wogglebug, saturn, sun, super mario bros. 3, the royal book of oz, world tree, yggdrasil | Leave a comment

Fearsome Furnishings

Posted on December 5, 2019 by Nathan

Living versions of inanimate objects are common in fiction. The Oz books have a lot of them, although most of them are friendly. There are, however, many animated objects that are deadly, especially in role-playing games. I was recently thinking … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Authors, Discworld, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Focus on the Foes, Games, Jack Snow, Kid Icarus, Magic, Mario, Monsters, Oz, Oz Authors, Terry Pratchett, Video Games | Tagged angler whelk, anglerfish, bag of devouring, canniboxes, demon wall, doorbusters, doors, dragon quest iii, dungeons and dragons, final fantasy iv, final fantasy vi, hidon, interesting times, kid icarus uprising, luggage, mad piano, manticores, mimics, mimicuties, piano, piranha plants, pit, rincewind, super mario 64, super mario rpg, the colour of magic, the light fantastic, the magical mimics in oz, trap doors, treasure chests, tv tropes, twoflower, urnexpected | Leave a comment

You’re in Luck

Posted on August 4, 2019 by Nathan

I’d thought before about how the appellation “lucky” is applied to so many Oz characters. Well, only three that I can think of, but that’s still kind of weird. They were introduced by three different authors, however. The first is … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising, Authors, Characters, Comics, Discworld, Greek Mythology, John R. Neill, L. Frank Baum, Melody Grandy, Mythology, Oz, Oz Authors, Philosophy, Religion, Roman, Ruth Plumly Thompson, Terry Pratchett | Tagged atreyu, carl barks, cereal, charles lindbergh, davy jones the wooden whale, deadpool, deadpool 2, domino, donald duck, dragons, falkor, fate, fortuna, fortune, fred meyer, fred otto, fuchur, fukuryu, giants, gladstone gander, interesting times, jenny jump, lady luck, leif erikson, leprechauns, leprechauns in oz, loxo the lucky, luck, luck dragon, luck o' the irish, lucky bucky in oz, lucky bucky jones, lucky charms, lucky the leprechaun, margolotte, mark haas, michael ende, ojo, ojo in oz, oziana, prince pompadore, prince pompadore in oz, probability, psychopompus, rincewind, speedy in oz, the colour of magic, the forbidden cave of grapelandia, the lady, the last hero, the neverending story, the patchwork girl of oz, the seven blue mountains of oz, the wonder city of oz, tyche, x-force, zazie beetz, zim greenleaf of oz | 1 Comment

Magical Arts and Sciences

Posted on June 23, 2019 by Nathan

I’ve been thinking a bit recently about magic and science in fiction. I’m not saying anything at all new when I point out that a lot of what’s considered science fiction contains very little science. Sometimes it just seems to … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, C.S. Lewis, Christianity, Chronicles of Narnia, Comics, Discworld, Fundamentalism, J.R.R. Tolkien, L. Frank Baum, madeleine l'engle, Magic, Mythology, Oz, Oz Authors, Philosophy, Religion, Science, Star Trek, Technology, Terry Pratchett | Tagged a wrinkle in time, arthur c. clarke, dc comics, fantasy, granny weatherwax, headology, his dark materials, jinn, mermaids, middle-earth, naturalism, philip pullman, satan, science fantasy, science fiction, scientific method, shaggy man, superman, technobabble, the patchwork girl of oz, tik-tok of oz, witches | Leave a comment

House of Reptile-sentatives

Posted on May 21, 2019 by Nathan

The idea that the governments of the world are secretly controlled by lizard people is most prominently supported by David Icke, a former soccer player and sports broadcaster. That’s what comes of letting him hit the ball with his head. … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Authors, Chrono Trigger, Conspiracy Theories, Discworld, Douglas Adams, Greek Mythology, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Magic, Mario, Monsters, Mythology, Prejudice, Religion, Terry Pratchett, Theosophy, Video Games | Tagged alexander the great, aliens, antisemitism, apollo, caesar augustus, cecrops, david icke, draco, evil harry dread, king bowser koopa, kull of atlantis, lamia, lemuria, lizard people, nagas, olympias, protocols of the elders of zion, reptiles, reptilian humanoids, reptites, robert e. howard, serpent men, snakes, the last hero, the shadow kingdom, zeus | 1 Comment

Hello to Bygone Ages

Posted on January 20, 2019 by Nathan

Looking at Robert E. Howard’s essay on his imaginary Hyborian Age got me to thinking about a few different issues in fantasy fiction that deals with lost civilizations. The essay tells of a succession of great empires contrasted with barbarians, … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Christianity, Discworld, Evolution, History, Humor, J.R.R. Tolkien, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Maps, Monsters, Mystery Cults, Mythology, Norse, Oz, Oz Authors, Persian, Prejudice, Religion, Roman, Science, Terry Pratchett, Theosophy | Tagged agnosticism, angels, atheism, atlantis, aule, bori, cataclysms, charles darwin, charles kingsley, conan the barbarian, devolution, dwarves, elves, emperor constantine, god of evolution, h.p. lovecraft, hyborian age, hyperborea, john dough and the cherub, lemuria, middle-earth, mifkets, mithra, mitra, numenor, racial evolution, racism, rinkitink in oz, robert e. howard, small gods, the colour of magic, the last continent, the water-babies, tottenhots, valar, yasmela | 1 Comment

Bread Dead Redemption

Posted on November 3, 2018 by Nathan

Today is All Souls’ Day in the Catholic liturgical calendar, and the Day of the Dead in Mexico (which I think is actually two days; this is the second one). I never knew that much about either holiday, but I … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Aztec, Catholicism, Celtic, Christianity, Discworld, Eastern Orthodox, Halloween, History, Holidays, Mesoamerica, Middle Ages, Mythology, Native American, Religion, Roman, Terry Pratchett | Tagged all saints day, all souls day, calevara, chimalma, day of the dead, dia de muertos, diego rivera, jose guadalupe posado, la calavera catrina, lemuralia, mictecacihuatl, mixcoatl, pan de muerto, purgatory, quetzalcoatl, samhain, skeletons, skulls, soul cake duck, soul cake tuesday, soul cakes, souling, sugar skulls, trick or treat | 1 Comment

Use Your Illusion

Posted on September 16, 2017 by Nathan

There’s a fair amount of magic in the Oz series based on illusion, although exactly what that indicates is a little ambiguous. An illusion is a distortion of sensory input, different from a hallucination in that that actually is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Discworld, Edward Einhorn, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Oz, Oz Authors, Rachel Cosgrove Payes, Ruth Plumly Thompson, Terry Pratchett | Tagged delusion, glinda of oz, guardian of the muffin tree, hallucination, illusion, invisibility, mombi, mount phantastico, phanfasms, queen of the field-mice, queen zixi of ix, scarecrow, shadow mountain, the emerald city of oz, the hidden valley of oz, the living house of oz, the lost king of oz, the lost princess of oz, the marvelous land of oz, the patchwork girl of oz, the tin woodman of oz, the wonderful wizard of oz, thi, tin woodman, transformation, wizard of oz | 1 Comment

Category Archives: Discworld

All in How You Spell ‘Em

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Where the Worlds Have No Name

Fearsome Furnishings

You’re in Luck

Magical Arts and Sciences

House of Reptile-sentatives

Hello to Bygone Ages

Bread Dead Redemption

Use Your Illusion

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