Archive-name: pratchett/mini-faq
Posting-Frequency: weekly (every monday)
Last-modified: 29 Sep 1997
URL: http://www.lspace.org/faqs/
*** Welcome to the Pratchett newsgroups! ***
Who is Terry Pratchett?
-----------------------
Terry Pratchett is an author of humourous fantasy-based novels.
In order to find out more, read the list of Frequently Asked
Questions
(FAQ). The FAQ is posted monthly, but is also available from the
Pratchett Archives on L-Space Web (see below).
What newsgroups?
----------------
There are three different newsgroups devoted to Terry Pratchett's
work.
- alt.fan.pratchett.announce is a moderated, low-volume newsgroup
where
announcements of general interest are posted. You really should
subscribe to it if you are interested in Terry's work at all.
- alt.books.pratchett is an unmoderated medium-volume newsgroup
where
all aspects of Terry's novels and other related,
"Pratchett-relevant"
issues are discussed. Subscribe to it if you are primarily
interested
in talking about the books themselves.
- Alt.fan.pratchett is an unmoderated high-volume meeting place
for the
fans of Terry's books. The discussions often have nothing to do
with
Terry or his writing at all. Subscribe to it if you are
interested in
hanging out with a bunch of friendly people, who also happen to
be
Pratchett fans.
What books has he written?
What is the (chronological) order of the Discworld novels?
----------------------------------------------------------
In order to find out, read the Terry Pratchett Bibliography, also
posted
monthly, and also available from the Pratchett Archives.
Did you notice that in novel X ...?
What is the 'N-word' in Soul Music?
------------------------------------
Terry Pratchett's work is chock-full of references, allusions,
parodies
and in-jokes. We have collected 1300 of such annotations in a
huge
document called the Annotated Pratchett File (or APF). This file,
too,
is available from the Pratchett Archives.
Discussing annotations is a favourite pastime in these groups,
but if
you want to post something along those lines please check out the
APF
first, to make sure you are not wasting bandwidth on something we
already know. Also, please use the tag "[A]" in your
Subject to make
sure the APF editor will get to see your article.
So where are these Pratchett Archives, then?
--------------------------------------------
The Terry Pratchett Archive Site is an anonymous ftp-site located
in
Europe, with identical mirror sites all over the world.
Besides the FAQ, the Bibliography and the APF, the Pratchett
Archives
also contain many other items of Pratchettian interest, including
a
quotes file with almost 500 quotes, the rules to the Cripple Mr
Onion
card game, different versions of the Hedgehog Song, and scanned
images
of most of the original covers of the novels.
The Pratchett Archives can be reached via WWW by visiting the
L-Space
Web:
http://www.lspace.org/
Or by committing anonymous FTP directly to:
ftp://ftp.lspace.org/pub/pratchett/
The e-mail Archive server, alas, is no longer available.
Um, what *is* anonymous ftp? What does "http" mean?
---------------------------------------------------
If you are new to Usenet and are not familiar with the
terminology, you
might want to read the general introductory articles found in the
newsgroup news.announce.newusers. Doing so will make your life on
the
net much easier, and will probably save you from making silly
beginner's
mistakes.
If you think that right now you are reading an echo, a
conference, or a
bboard, I'd also strongly suggest a trip over to
news.announce.newusers.
(It is true that some of you may indeed be receiving this group
as an
echo, or conference, or what have you, but that just means
somebody set
up a gateway. Generally, it will be wise not to forget that most
of the
articles in these newsgroups originate (and end up!) on Usenet.)
--
Leo Breebaart (leo@lspace.org)
The presented texts may contain copyrighted material. Trademarks are property of their respective owners.
© 1999 
Uwe Milde
visits to this site.
Last edited on 18.04.99.