The Curious Incident of the Dragon and the Night Watch (Guards! Guards!)

In this, the next episode after our seventh one, writer, performer and librarian Aimee Nichols talks with us about the ninth-but-one Discworld novel: Guards! Guards! Published in 1989, it kicks off the longest-running and arguably most popular Discworld sequence: the adventures of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. The Night Watch has seen better days: the Thieves' Guild has made them all but obsolete, and with the recent death of Herbert Gaskin, their company has dwindled to just three: career Sergeant Fred Colon, former street urchin Corporal Nobbs, and perpetually drunk Captain Samuel Vimes. They're shaken up by new recruit Carrot - a human raised (as far as possible) by dwarfs - who not only volunteered to join, but actually tries to uphold the law. But they'll need all the help they can get as a secret cabal of resentful men are manipulated by a charismatic leader for an incredible purpose: to bring a dragon to Ankh-Morpork... Vimes, Colon, Nobby and Carrot all make their debuts here, as do Lady Sybil Ramkin (in her biggest role), Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, Detritus the troll and the concept of L-Space, and both the Librarian and the Patrician feature prominently. It's also the first Discworld novel set entirely in Ankh-Morpork, though after appearances in all of the previous novels it already feels like home. Even nearly 30 years later, Guards! Guards! feels incredibly relevant and funny, but it's also weird to go back to Sam Vimes' beginning when he still has so much evolution and redemption ahead of him. (If you'd like to head straight to the next book, just go back in time to episode one of Pratchat when we read Men at Arms with Cal Wilson.) We'd love to hear what you thought of Guards! Guards! - use the hashtag #Pratchat7A on social media to join the conversation! (If you use the...er...other number we'll probably find you too.) It's time to step out of the Discworld again when we return from L-Space next month, when author Amie Kaufman will join us to talk about the first book of the Nomes: Truckers. As usual, if you want us to answer your questions on the podcast, get them in as soon as you can! Ask them via social media using the hashtag #Pratchat9. Show Notes and Errata: You can follow Aimee (and by proxy, her dog Winston) on Twitter at @wordsandsequins, or check our her web site at aimee-nichols.com. You can read Aimee's wonderful piece about the passing of Sir Terry on Medium. Get Smart was a sitcom created by Mel Brooks in 1965, starring Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86 for the spy organisation CONTROL which worked to thwart various ridiculous villains, especially members of rival agency KAOS. Despite being highly trained in espionage and combat, Max frequently exasperated his professional and romantic partner Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon) and their boss the Chief of CONTROL (Edward Platt). One of the classic sitcoms of the '60s, it contributed many famous catchphrases to popular culture in its original run of five seasons. It's since been repeated many times, and spawned two film sequels, a short-lived revival/sequel series, and a surprisingly good film remake in 2008 starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway. Monty Python’s Argument Clinic sketch is...well, if you haven’t seen it, you should just watch it. “Incels” are so-called “involuntary celibates”, an online community of men who believe they have been unfairly denied sex by women. Jia Tolentino’s piece “The Rage of the Incels” for The New Yorker is a good introduction, but go gently - it’s unpleasant territory. "Thatcherism" is descriptive of the politics of the Conservative party of the United Kingdom, particularly under party leader and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, from 1975 to 1990. They were a marked change from the period of the "post-War consensus", in which the two major parties broadly agreed on things like state regulation and ownership of industries. Thatcher changed all that; she and her allies believed in much more economic...