Psychologist Craig Hildebrand-Burke rejoins Liz and Ben as we don our flat caps and anoraks, as we make sense of Terry Pratchettâs penultimate Discworld novel, 2013âs Raising Steam.
Dick Simnel has created Iron Girder, the Discâs first steam engine â and heâs brought it to Ankh-Morpork seeking an investor. He finds one in Sir Harry King, who is keen to be known as the King of something other than what brought him his wealth. As excitement and interest in the âsteam enginesâ starts to build, Lord Vetinari sees its potential â but only if someone oversees this new enterprise on behalf of the city. That someone is, of course, Moist von Lipwig, who is in need of a new way to live dangerously. And dangerous it will be, since the conservative dwarf grags are once again moving against their progressive King. Theyâre attacking anything too new to be traditionally dwarfish â which means modern dwarfs, clacks towers, goblins with jobsâŚand the steam trainâŚ
Terry Pratchett clearly had a love of steam engines â he particularly requested a steam roller be the thing to destroy his unfinished works after his death. This at least partly explains why â instead of the announced Raising Taxes â the next Moist von Lipwig book would see him helping to bring the Discworld into the age of steam. Written in 2012 and 2013, as Pratchettâs illness started to worsen, it had a troubled journey into existence, with Rob Wilkins writing in the official biography that âthe real triumph of Raising Steam was that it existed at all.â But while it might lack the sharpness of plot and theme and structure that mark Pratchettâs best work, there are still plenty of great jokes, characters, observations and ideas in Raising Steam â especially for the Discworld fan whoâs also a bit of a gunzel (thatâs Fourecksian for âtrain spotterâ).
Have you read Raising Steam? How do you rate it, compared to the previous novels in the series? How many words did you have to look up? What were your favourite allusions to the history of steam, and to railway fiction, that we didnât mention? Get aboard the comment train by using the hashtag #Pratchat90 on social media, or comment on our website, to join the conversation!
Guest (he/him) is an educational and development psychologist who last joined us way back in January 2020 for #Pratchat27, ââ, to talk about . He specialises in working with neurodivergent children and young people and their families, as well as d/Deaf and hard of hearing children and families. We canât advertise his actual practice, but you can find him on Instagram as . (There are only a few posts in the grid, but he shares a lot of great stuff as reels!)
