Dining Table Discworld
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dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Dining Table Discworld
@dtdiscworld.bsky.social
590 followers 490 following 310 posts
A monthly podcast where a geeky, British couple rereads & discusses the Discworld books, at their dining table.
https://diningtablediscworld.podbean.com
Available on most pod catchers also YouTube & Facebook.

@davegotsu.bsky.social @ctjhill.bsky.social
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dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - November 2002
The Librarian by David Wyatt
It's our favourite literary ape, in his natural environment. Surrounded by books, magic and bananas.
An orangutan, the Librarian, is sitting on a book on a cataloguing desk, reading a book that he's holding with his feet. He's throwing a banana peel behind him with one arm and reaching down to a drawer of bananas. Around him are tall wooden shelves filled with books, stretching away to distant walls. Various books are flying into the air around the Librarian, straining at the end of hefty chains. Under the cataloguing desk is a green blanket.
November 11, 2025 at 6:08 PM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - November 1999
Maskerade by Josh Kirby
It's all going wrong at the operahouse. In this crowded scene, there's trolls, witches and watchmen about, but where's the opera ghost and will he kill again? The fat lady is singing but it doesn't look over just yet.
A view from the ceiling of an opera house, or maybe the chandelier? The proscenium arch and balconies are all decorated in swirly, ornate gold. On the stage a large man wearing a small mask is singing. Besides him, a large woman with curly brown hair and wearing a green dress is singing, and standing in front of her a thin, blonde woman in a white dress is singing. Behind this trio is a small Watchman with a suit, axe and helmet, behind him are some yellow trolls in suits. Right at the back is a sinister-looking figure in black and probably another figure in a mask welding a knife, though it's not very clear. Peeking around the curtain is another black clad figure. In front of the stage human and troll musicians are playing. In a private box a man surrounded by plush red curtains is leaning over to look at the stage. Above him there's a massed rows of audience made up of people in formal wear, all looking towards the stage, some leaning over the balcony. The central leaner is a witch with red boots, stripy stockings, a black dress and pointy black hat with a grey cat perched on it. She has her feet on the chests of 2 men in the audience and is leaning over the balcony with a pipe clamped between her lips.
November 6, 2025 at 7:47 PM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - October 2007
Ginger the Somnambulist by Les Edwards
A good picture for spooky season, as Our Heroine is compelled by unknown forces to wander in the nigh. At least the little dog is paying attention.
A quiet nighttime street. A blonde woman wearing a long, loose, white nightdress, which is revealing at the top, walks with her arms stretched out ahead of her. Her gaze is fixed ahead, she doesn't seem to notice the small black and brown dog that has clamped his teeth on the hem of her nightgown and is trying to pull her back. Around the woman and dog the town is dark except the yellow light shining from windows. Behind them a two-storey building has a sign outside saying The Blue Lias. From a top-floor window a troll leans out and looks down at the woman with a worried expression. To the right of the picture a barrel is sitting against a wall and on top of it, mostly hidden in shadow, a black cat has its tail up and all its fur on end.
October 30, 2025 at 12:04 PM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - October 2005
Thud by Paul Kidby
A bit of a creepy picture in some ways; an uncanny space, stern statues and Vimes clearly not happy about what he sees.
A black and white checkerboard pattern on the floor is the whole background. The focal point is a white man (Sam Vimes) wearing a helmet, breastplate and leather uniform. He's holding a flaming torch ahead with one hand and a book behind, his pose alert with legs apart. He's staring up and ahead, and doesn't like what he sees. Surrounding him are man-sized, stone playing pieces, some are blocky trolls holding clubs, others are bullet-shaped dwarves. At Vimes feet a stone dwarf has fallen with blood on its head and pooling on the white tile beneath.
October 26, 2025 at 5:55 PM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - October 2004
Darktan to the Rescue by Jackie Morris
The art style here is great for the rustic setting, and interestingly belies how unpleasant the situation depicted is. You have to zoom in to see the dead rats around the dog. Though it's clear this is seen from a rat's POV.
A view from the rickety rafters of a barn, as a rat with a determined expression, and bandoliers holding various pins, climbs down a knotted string, he has something hooked on the end of his tail. Perched barn owls watch on. Below a group of human men with various hats gather round a pit, and lower 2 rats down, one of the rats is also wearing a tiny hat. In the pit is a terrier, already surrounded by the bodies of yet more rats.
October 19, 2025 at 3:04 PM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - October 2003
Carpe Jugulum by David Frankland
A good picture for spooky season, as vampires fly past the moon and most of the picture has details in stark black and white.
Monochrome and silhouettes against a dark blue sky with a massive, full moon. To the right a dark, clifftop castle, surrounded by bats. The road slopes downwards from there and a black, funereal coach pulled by two black horses is being driven furiously by a hunchbacked driver. Flying above, mostly silhouetted across the moon, are four humanoid figures with bat-like wings or capes. In the distance downhill, bathed in moonlight, are fields and a raised citadel.
October 15, 2025 at 6:29 AM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - October 2002
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Paul Kidby
The depth in this picture is very strong, with the distant towers and even more distinct mountains. The plains are only glimpsed between other things but you know they're wide.
Golden plains with rocky outcrops, under an evening sky. Low rocks in the foreground, a tall tree just beyond and in the distance tall cliffs with a towered city between them. In the foreground a gormless lad with a fancy, red hat is playing a pipe. Climbing over the rocks around him is a grumpy-looking, fluffy, ginger cat, and a lot of brown rats. One rat has a candle melted into its back, another is dancing with a hat and cane. In the branches of the tree is the Death of Rats, a rat skeleton in a cowl, holding a scythe and limned in blue light. Beside him is a raven. In the sky, visible between the branches is a thing sliver of the crescent moon.
October 10, 2025 at 8:43 PM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - October 1999
Colour of Magic & Light Fantastic by Jack Kirby
It's the edge of the world as we know it! There is a lot going on here, mostly Colour of Magic, but with some Light Fantastic characters thrown in there, maybe wondering why they're there
The edge of the Discworld is an ocean that falls into space, though space looks like a slightly cloudy blue sky here. The long net of the circumfence and it's posts curves away into the distance. Below the disc edge is the rimbow and beneath that we can see part of an elephant and turtle. In the centre is Rincewind, a wizzard with a long white beard and pointy, star-spangled hat, clinging in terror to the figurehead of a small sail boat that is caught on the net at the edge. Also on this boat is smiling Twoflower, who has glasses, and Death is lurking behind the sail with his scythe. Towing this boat away from the edge is a smaller rowing boat, filled by a watery, blue troll. To the left the Librarian, an orangutan in a purple wizard outfit, is on the circumfence. To the right, further away, a scantily clad man, with a scantily clad woman leaning on his back, is riding the Luggage (a wooden trunk with loads of little legs) over the water. The background has a bigger ship is on the water, and beyond that a small piece of land with various buildings and a rocket. In the blue sky above all this are the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse, War visible waving a mace above his head and holding a sword, Death is also there with his scythe (so who is hiding on Rincewind's boat? Scrofula?). Further away in the sky is a transparent disc with a group of black-robed figures sitting around the edge, and another in the centre. A ladder dangles from this.
October 6, 2025 at 3:51 PM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - September 2008
I Aten't Dead by Sandy Nightingale
Granny Weatherwax with the bees and her ever useful sign. It's a summery image from a summery book, but September is often still pretty summery in England.
A white thatched cottage with plants growing up the walls and from the roof. The windows are wide open and on the windowsill are three dishes. Inside an old, white woman, wearing black, is lying on a bed with her mouth wide open. The bedspread has an orange and green geometric design. Bees are buzzing around the dishes and the old woman. She has a sign around her neck saying 'I Aten't Dead'
September 29, 2025 at 5:21 PM
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Discworld Calendar - September 2006
The Lancre Morris Men by Melvyn Grant
Now this is supposed to be midsummer, but the rain and gloom makes it feel very autumnal. Presumably Jason Ogg is the big guy at the front. The shadowy elves are very sinister, and are those horns or ears?
8 burly, white men are Morris dancing down a muddy lane in driving rain. 7 of them have black trousers and boots, white shirts, red socks and neckerchiefs, with open waistcoats on top. They also have a lot of small bells strapped to their shins, and are wielding heavy, wooden sticks. The burliest man at the front has a terrifying look on his face and is clearly bellowing into the storm as he stomps and jumps with his fellows. The 8th man seems smaller than the others, but isn't jumping. He is wearing a blue, ruffly dress with big pink butterfly wings attached to the back, on his head is a blonde wig that looks like straw. He is playing the accordion, and also has the ranks of bells on his shins, but he is far more subdued than the others, walking rather than jumping. Under the white greasepaint and red lipstick his expression is put upon and fearful. Behind the dancers, indistinct in the rain, are the silhouettes of at least mounted figures with quivers of arrows on their backs and helmets with tall, thin horns, assuming those are horns.
September 25, 2025 at 5:26 PM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - September 2005
The God of Evolution designs the MK1 Elephant, later discontinued by David Wyatt
Some of the details in this could be gory or lean towards horror art, but it has a lightness that keeps it comic. The anatomical & workshop details make it an almost scientific WIP.
Imagine building an elephant, using various pieces of an elephant, but it's in a comic style not intended to be gross. So it's an elephant with the skin pulled back (or more accurately not yet attached), large ribs barely holding a sprawling pile of intestines. The front and back legs are attached to 2 axels with wheels on the outer ends, all in the colour and texture of elephant skin. The elephant is marked up with dotted lines, like a butcher's diagram, and there are labels on pins stuck in various places. In the midst of all this an old, white guy wearing a gown and slippers is standing on a wooden step ladder. Deep in thought he consults one of 2 floating leather bound books. His stuff is spread all around the floor, most of it is equipment and loose sheets with notes, drawings and diagrams, including a bird, an orangutan holding a skull and an elephant with a straw hut attached to its back and rear. There's a narrow chest of drawers next to the step ladder, one drawer is on the floor and contains neat rows of eyeballs. There are flies buzzing around the whole scene.
September 19, 2025 at 10:17 AM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - September 2004
Rincewind having trouble with the Octavo by Stuart Williams
Rincewind presumably in the midst of the drunken student dare that lead to one of the Eight Great spells being lodged in his head. Hard to say if the spell has just gone in or is about to.
A white guy with a long, pale chin beard and a very surprised expression, raises his hands in a mystical gesture. He is looking at a floating book with blue sparkles rising up from the pages, the book has knocked over a goblet of red wine. Behind him is a partly open wooden door with a sliver of stone stairs visible beyond.
September 14, 2025 at 2:14 PM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - September 2003
The Five Horsemen of the Apocalypse by John Howe
The Discworld is barely visible, hidden in cloud with only mountains, and yet high as they are the Horsemen aren't quite in space either. The character depictions here are great, especially the way each is riding.
High in the sky, the tallest mountains poke through the spinning clouds far below. 5 figures with horses are lined up. The closest (Kaos) is on a chariot and wears bronze armour and a plumed hoplite helmet that covers his face. He holds up an icy, blue-white sword, with the cold streaming off of it, it's kind of the opposite of a flaming sword. The next figure (War) has a big, red beard and black, spiky helmet, he holds a smoky black sword or a small lance, and rides a black horse wearing dragon-like, spiky, black armour with eyes and nostrils glowing red. Unless it is actually a very horsey dragon. Past him is Famine, a slightly camp looking, grey-skinned guy wearing a fancy purple hat with a white feather and an elaborate, gold and white, puffy-sleeved jacket. His horse is very bony (without being a skeleton) and either has fangs or sharp looking ornaments on the tack. The fourth rider is Death, a skeleton with glowing red eyes wearing a black cowl and wielding a scythe. His horse (Binky) is white and looks strong and healthy even when not in this company. The final figure (Pestilence) is not visible, shrouded by Death's cowl, but his horse's head and foreleg is visible, it is a very unhealthy-looking horse, it seems kinda slimy and like stuff is coming off of it.
September 10, 2025 at 7:33 AM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - September 1999
Guards! Guards! by Josh Kirby
How is it September already? Anyway, we carry on. Never noticed the background houses before, which seem to be in the sky? Or maybe the angles are just unusual, which works with the snake-like bend of the dragon's body & receding tail
A big, red dragon flies through the middle of the scene in a curve that looks almost like a sideways S. A gout of flame comes out of its mouth, pushing a group of armored men into the bottom right corner of the picture. A tall man waves a long sword in the dragon's face and another is aiming a bow and arrow at it. Zooming in circles around the red dragon's neck is a very small green dragon. Behind the bulk of the big dragon's body is a paved area with a big group of people. There is a big, square block of stone and chained to it is a fat woman with brown hair, wearing a voluminous but very revealing purple dress. Around her are 3 yellow trolls holding axes, some armed men and beyond is a crowd of men. In the background is blue sky and various houses with red-tiled roofs.
September 5, 2025 at 6:58 AM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - August 2008
The Summer of Snakes by Edward Miller
Very summer and very snakes. Not sure which Discworld book (or thing) this relates to tbh, please let us know if you do. Witches Abroad has snakes, but is swampier. The desert suggests Small Gods or Pyramids maybe?
A rocky, desert canyon where rocks, sand and sky are depicted in different shades of orange, broken up on the horizon by distant, blue-ish mountains. The foreground is a huge mass of snakes, just so many snakes of various colours and patterns all writhing over each other. A cobra, its hood extended, rises from the mass up in the central position. Some snakes also come into frame from the side and one hangs down from the top.
August 31, 2025 at 10:52 AM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - August 2006
Dealing the Cards by Sandy Nightingale
Took a little before we realised which scene this was (there is a lot of Discworld), but the clue is Two Flower lying prone in the back. The details on the Caroc cards here are just lovely, see alt text for the full list.
The inside of a tent, hung with tasselled curtain and tapestry, plus various items of horse equipment. Rugs overlap on the floor. Scattered about are lanterns, boxes and baskets, plus the remains of a meal in a bowl. Sitting on a cushion in the centre of the picture is a pale, old woman wearing blue robes and hardware that covers her hair and flows down past her shoulders. She is sitting confidently laying out a series of illustrated cards, like Tarot, but this is the Discworld equivalent called Caroc. There are 8 cards: The Importance of Washing Hands, the 8 of Octograms, The Dome of the Sky, The Pool of Night, The 4 of Elephants, The Ace of Turtles, The Star and Death. This last card is just being laid down. In the background towards the right, lying over some sacks, is someone wearing shorts and a brightly coloured shirt.
August 26, 2025 at 8:44 AM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - August 2005
The Bursar's hitherto unrealised talent by Sandy Nightingale
Nice to see the Bursar having some summer fun and riding the waves, he just looks so happy.
A skinny white guy with a long grey beard is surfing on a black surfboard. He wears a purple, pointy hat and a blue coat, both decorated with stars, over a red and white striped swimming costume. He's standing on one leg and looks delighted. Behind and to the right is a pale green wave he's surfing on. To the left are various hands and feet poking out of the green water and a green pointy hat floating on top.
August 20, 2025 at 5:17 PM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - August 2004
Dragons over the improbability that is the Wyrmburg. When we did our Colour of Magic episode this bit made us think of Imagine Dragons.
A massive orange dragon flies in the foreground, ridden by a redheaded lady wearing mostly a red cape and high boots. Beyond them is the Wyrmburg which is a massive, invented cone of ground, with some buildings, a lot of trees and some holes leading into the ground on the wide, top area. Beneath this is the huge volume of rick that gets narrower as it goes towards the ground. Beyond this is a low, tangled forest, some crows, another orange dragon in the background, and the curvature of the Disc.
August 16, 2025 at 8:29 PM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - August 2003
Death rides the Sky of Lightning by Jon Sullivan
The Soul Music in August theme continues, but this seems a lot more metal.

August is a v busy month, so hoping to get all these pics posted, but might have to see how we go.
Death, a skeleton wearing a long black robe with a cowl, has his head thrown back and his mouth wide open, so you can see all the teeth and the inside of the skull. Blue fire jets from his eye sockets, and this matches the dramatic black and blue sky full of lightning in the background. He is riding a skeletal motorbike which is very made from bones and has a skull where the headlight would be, with other bones poking out of the skull as the handlebars. The wheels look to be wooden cart wheels and there's nails and feather all around it. Death is also playing a blue electric guitar, his bony fingertips on the strings. It is very metal.
August 12, 2025 at 9:15 PM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - August 1999
Soul Music by Josh Kirby
It's summer so time for a Music With Rocks In festival. Looking at this, especially the part that's the front cover of the book, you can tell Sir Terry enjoyed Meatloaf, and I guess Josh Kirby did too or took that as inspiration.
The sky is purple and yellow with either a big yellow moon or white sun approaching the horizon. To the right a skeleton wearing a black robe (Death) rides a skeletal motorbike into the sky, surrounded by bats and stars. There's also a red and yellow guitar dangling from Death or the motorbike. It's a very Meatloaf sort of image. To the left is a high outcrop above a clustered city, where a canary yellow cart with red trim holds a band. There's a human with a guitar, a dwarf with a horn, a yellow troll holding drumsticks and an orangutan with a keyboard. To the left and across the top of the image is a tree, with various figures clustered around the bottom or hanging from the branches, so look wizardy. There's a suggestion of a distant crowd beyond the cart and the tree. A white horse, looking exhausted hangs almost off the edge of the outcrop. The red and yellow guitar is near it, dangling from a nail in a piece of masonry.
August 8, 2025 at 3:23 PM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - July 2008
The Colour of Magic by Melvyn Grant
This feels very much like the moment before Rincewind scares himself by doing some actual magic. Is it the spell in his head, the belief of Twoflower or is there just a lot of raw magic about the place?
A grumpy-looking wizzard (Rincewind) with a short dark beard, red robe and red pointy hat stands and is clicking his fingers. In front of him a much shorter man (Twoflower) looks up adoringly at the wizzard, he has glasses, brightly coloured bandana and shirt and is holding a book and a heavy pouch. Twoflower has a big, black, old camera on a long strap, poking out the top of this is a small green imp holding a palette of paints. Behind Twoflower is a big, wooden travelling chest (the Luggage), the lid is open showing the glitter of gold, at the bottom the chest is standing on lots of little legs. A raven stands on the lid of the Luggage, a very small dragon and a magpie stand on the ground either side of Rincewind, and a rat stands by Twoflower's feet. The background is dark blue with various coloured sparkles and lights that look spacey. There's a golden glow of potential around Rincewind's fingers that are about to snap.
July 31, 2025 at 6:57 PM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - July 2006
Remembering Granny Aching by David Wyatt
This is such a strong picture. The emotions Tiffany is dealing with and the detail of all the items in the drawer sections. It's totally worth stopping and having a look through them (as I had to to do the alt text).
The picture is divided into 3 horizontal sections. The central section is largest and shows a brown-haired, white girl in a blue dress sitting on the grass under a blossoming tree. She is has her chin resting in her folded arms, which rest on her knees and is pensively staring out towards the scenery, which is rolling green hills and a white chalk path leading to grey-white mountains under a blue sky with white clouds. Behind the girl is a busy group of little blue men with brihty red hair, who are mostly fighting with each other, though one stands in a frying pan and plays bagpipes. The upper and lower parts of the picture frame the image and look like a variety of items scattered in a drawer. At the top is a white clay pipe, a tiny sword, string, faded paper, a round brooch, a blue button, a tiny stoppered glass bottle, a safety pin, a box of matches and an old, sepia picture of a hit in a battered leather frame. In the bottom section is another white clay pipe, a leather bound book called Diseases in Sheep, a small pencil, more faded paper, more string, a rat skull with a little headdress of feathers, a metal button, a small bottle of Special Sheep Liniment, a round blue necklace and a snail creaking out of the drawer.
July 27, 2025 at 5:30 PM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - July 2005
Leonard of Quirm trying to explain his latest idea to Lord Vetinari by Stuart Williams
I love how the picture is titled the way Leonard of Quirm titles his inventions. Maybe it's the heatwave speaking, but that cellar looks like it'd be nice and cool.
2 white men stand in a stone cellar with a vaulted ceiling, around them are devices, sparks and eerie, cold light. On the right is a bald, old man with a bushy, white beard, holding up a diagram, his other pl held put, obviously explaining something. To the left, nearer the twisty stone staircase, is a man with short black hair and a Vulcan-ish look, holding his hand to his chin and clearly considering what he is being told. On the workbench on front of them a chemical flask produces sparks, and there are various mechanical drawings.
July 21, 2025 at 8:56 PM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - July 2004
The Night Watch by Paul Kidby
A summer of revolution? Why not? Another picture where looking closely for the alt text is really rewarding as there's so many cool details, though hard to describe them all. Of course the book this belongs too is now an official Classic.
The picture is very explicitly based on The Night Watch by Rembrandt, so everything being described is in that context. There is a big group of armed, white men wearing helmets, breastplates and leather, gathered near the wide, arched entrance of a building. The central figure is an older, grizzled man with an eye patch and a small, black cigarette, he's holding his sword as though showing it to the much younger man next to him, who is holding a crossbow. Behind them various men in the same kind of uniform are holding halberds at various angles, with variously grim expressions. To the left a man with a bloodstained breastplate and carrying 2 bloody daggers is sneaking off with a very pleased expression. To his left at the edge of the picture is a furious looking man with his arm in a cast, the cast has "with love from John Keel" written on it. There are only 7 figures not in uniform: to the far right an unpleasant man in black is pointing back across the scene; on the street in front of him a small, green dragon cowers near a discarded bell looking up at the man in black; at the back towards the left a young man with a purple sash strikes a confident pose and holds up a golden flag; in front of him is weird-looking little kid wearing an adult's hat and coat and holding a small spoon; behind them both a grey clad figure lurks ominously in the shadow of the arch, fingers steepled; on the other side of the flag a serious black-clad man holds a large syringe and tubing with red liquid. Finally there is an old east-Asian-looking guy standing almost in the foreground, just in front of the golden flag, he is wearing gold and orange Buddhist-monk-style robes and a golden hat, apparently just sweeping up lilac blooms on the pavement, but his gaze is firmly towards the man with the eye patch.
July 18, 2025 at 8:57 PM
dtdiscworld.bsky.social
Discworld Calendar - July 2003
Guards! Guards! by Fred Gambino
It's pretty hot right now (for the UK, which isn't built for heat) but not as hot as Vimes fears he's about to be in this picture.
A huge, red dragon's head and tail takes up much of the picture. We are looking down, as though perched on its left ear, past its big, scaly, red face, big white teeth, glowing eye and the fire building in its mouth. In front of the dragon, looking up and understandably terrified, is a white guy with pointed silver helmet and breastplate, leather tunic and sandals and a billowing blue cloak. Perched on his shoulders, scaly tail winding down his arm, is a small, green dragon. The green dragon is also looking up at the big red one, but it has a fierce expression, head spikes spreading out around its head, golden eyes wide and fire nearly spilling from its jaws. The tip of the big dragon's red tail is right next to the man, and the merest flick of it could send him flying. Beneath them all the street is paved by big square blocks.
July 11, 2025 at 12:30 PM