The Clacks | Going Postal | A Discworld Fantasy Ambience
GNU Terry Pratchett
Our Terry Pratchett, Discworld-inspired ambience features the Clacks which made their first appearance in The Fifth Elephant. Going Postal is the 33rd book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series and was released in the United Kingdom on 25 September 2004. The book was on the shortlist for both the Nebula and Locus Awards for Best (Fantasy) Novel. It would also have been shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, except that Pratchett withdrew it, as he felt stress over the award would mar his enjoyment of the Worldcon. This was the first time Pratchett had been shortlisted for either award.
This soundscape started out like many before but ended up being a surprisingly emotional project - sending me down a rabbit hole of past interviews with Terry. Going Postal is by no means my favourite Pratchett book but one that I connect strongly with the author - inspiring, as it did, the posthumous tweet: GNU Terry Pratchett. If I had to say anything about this book, I would say it features one of the best openings of any novel - perhaps only surpassed by the Haunting of Hill House. I will always miss expecting (and reading of course) another Discworld novel. In my mind, Pratchett's genius is forever expressed in the opening lines of Going Postal:
'The flotillas of the dead sailed around the world on underwater rivers.
Very nearly nobody knew about them. But the theory is easy to understand. It runs: the sea is, after all, in many respects, only a wetter form of air. And it is known that air is heavier the lower you go and lighter the higher you fly. As a storm-tossed ship founders and sinks, therefore, it must reach a depth where the water below it is just viscous enough to stop its fall.
In short, it stops sinking and ends up floating on an underwater surface, beyond the reach of the storms but far above the ocean floor.
It’s calm there. Dead calm.'
As always, thanks so much for dropping by and leaving a comment :) We are always open to exciting suggestions of new soundscapes for us to make - if you have a cool idea for an atmosphere you'd love to hear, please feel free to leave your suggestion in the comments