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Royal Mail to Issue “Terry Pratchett’s Discworld” Stamps
- topynate 3y agoKidby's still got it. These are great.
- namdnay 3y agoHe is, but for me the gloriously over the top Kirby covers are what I see when I think Discworld
- bloopernova 3y agoI wish we could have gotten one for each city watch member, and Vetinari too. But they do look good, and Vimes is included so I'm happy.
- robotnikman 3y agoThis made me curious if they also released Warhammer stamps at some point. I did a quick search and it turns out they did in June this year!
- dukeyukey 3y agoHah, I posted a discussion on that! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36260116 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36260116
- IanCal 3y agoI'll be disappointed if there's not a cabbage stamp in the mix.
- TillE 3y agoAlas, no Lord Vetinari stamp seems like a real missed opportunity. I was surprised at how much I liked "Going Postal", it's a different tone from the earlier Discworld stuff, but still great.
- Ekaros 3y agoGoing Postal and Making Money were great. After those it started to feel slightly off. Sadly.
- slater 3y agoDeath, but no Binky? Harrumph.
- cameronfraser 3y agoputs usps to shame with their themes like floral geometry and strawberries and schoolbuses
- bombcar 3y agoI mean they have a ton of different stamps (and you can find older ones, too) - but you have to dig to find them, they rarely appear in your local post office: https://store.usps.com/store/results/stamps/ https://store.usps.com/store/results/stamps/
- qingcharles 3y agoHere's a USPS stamp set o_O https://www.mysticstamp.com/Products/United-States/1549/USA/ https://www.mysticstamp.com/Products/United-States/1549/USA/
- pavon 3y agoNot really a fair comparison since those USPS examples are all "extra postage" stamps that you only use if you have oversized letters or are trying to use up old stamps. The equivalent Royal Mail stamps are even less imaginative - just different hues of the same drawing of the Queen[1]. [1] https://shop.royalmail.com/postage-and-packaging/make-up-values https://shop.royalmail.com/postage-and-packaging/make-up-val...
- insin 3y agoThey even come with an explanatory pamphlet.
- swyx 3y agoif anyone here hasn't had the joy of reading Terry, just know that it was absolutely delightful and nails both humor and fantasy and social commentary in a way that very few people in history have ever done. I regret many things in life but reading the Discworld Novels is not one of them. opinion is also split on where to start, since it is generally agreed that the early books weren't the best, and yet the recurring characters do develop over time. I started with Feet of Clay, which took me like 3 attempts before i finally "got it". I now often recommend Small Gods to people, because it is a self contained book with only cameos from recurring characters, and it has really nice commentary on religion, reflexivity, and the role of belief in our actions and realities. I also particularly recommend the Night Watch series, just because Vimes is pretty much Terry's self insert, and as a business minded person I also loved the later Moist series (eg Going Postal). GNU Terry Pratchett. may your timeless stories be endlessly told and retold.
- thechao 3y agoSmall Gods and Good Omens are the best starts; then, I'd hit up the Granny Weatherwax books, eg, Equal Rites, Wyrd Sisters, etc.
- EdwardDiego 3y agoBeen watching the 2nd season of Good Omens, was thrilled to see a reference to C.M.O.T. Dibbler in it.
- bombcar 3y agoI think it varies for people; if you're at all into "cop thrillers/mysteries" than I think starting with the Watch books is a great introduction. Honestly, the only thing NOT to do is read them in order of publication - his earliest works are good, but they're better read when you already know Discworld (imho).
- teddyh 3y agoThe first in the “witches” series is “Equal Rites”, but is, IIUC, considered a very weak entry. The rest of the witches series don’t really acknowledge the events in it, and they start off the next book with a blank slate, not assuming that you have read the first one. If you really just want to read the witches series, I’d suggest that you instead start with the second book, “Wyrd Sisters”.
- DizzyDoo 3y agoRelated - has anyone listened to the new audiobooks with Bill Nighy, Peter Serafinowicz, and so on? I'm interested because they're unabridged and look like they have very high production values, but they're also quite pricey (understandably so) if you want to buy them and download them permanently.
- lolinder 3y agoI have not, but I listened to all of them as narrated by Steven Briggs and quite enjoyed them. They are also unabridged, and were all available for free through Libby through my library. Having different voices for the footnotes is the main thing from the new one that I could see being a big improvement—Briggs's footnotes are read in the same tone as the rest of the narration.
- robotresearcher 3y agoBriggs is very good. I will always have his voice and cadence in my head for Vimes. I was very happy with the audio books, and sadly I can’t often say that. The Audible versions are of mixed audio quality, some pretty bad, which is strange.
- gyrovagueGeist 3y agoSo far I've found them good (Small Gods & Witches), but Bill Nighy, who does the footnotes in the most bland ADR tone after an annoying charm effect, is by far the worst part. If you can get past or enjoy those the rest is great.
- WalterBright 3y agoAfter WW2, the post offices around the world discovered that philatelists would pay for mint (unused) stamps. This was extremely profitable for the post office, because they could sell you a piece of paper for $$, and never have to deliver any mail. The result was the end of philately. A veritable blizzard of stamps of every description were issued. Stamps printed after WW2 have simply no collector value. You might as well use them for wallpaper. The same thing happened with coins.
- Thrymr 3y agoOn the other hand, stamps themselves got more interesting for non-collectors. For people who aren't interested in "collecting" or investing in stamps, just using them, it got easier to choose fun, aesthetic, and meaningful stamps for the same price as boring ones.
- xkcd-sucks 3y agoThis is a fairly significant plot point in "Going Postal" btw, not including the devaluation phase
- Ekaros 3y agoHasn't Discworld gotten multiple rounds of stamps or am I remembering wrong?
- tpoacher 3y agoSince it has not been mentioned yet: Discworld Noir is easily one of the best adventure games of all time. And apart from it being very difficult to get running due to heavy reliance on platform specific hacks and DRM of the time, once you get past that it holds remarkably well (meaning in terms of graphics and music etc) for its age.
- lproven 3y agoNot so much as a passing mention of the official Discworld Stamps, designed by Bernard Pearson and officially endorsed by Sir Pterry himself. :-( http://www.discworldstampcatalogue.co.uk/shshome.php http://www.discworldstampcatalogue.co.uk/shshome.php