h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

so are we to understand that the discworld in the series novels is the same one as that in strata? i've read all the books (several of them many times), and i was never sure if that was the case. it kind of lends a level of depth to the later books if we assume so, doesn't it?

I don't think they're the same, because the one in Strata was not on the back of a turtle. They would have seen it, wouldn't they, as they approached from space? But the two discworlds might be close parallel universes in the multiverse.

Definitely not the same world, as in Strata the world is powered by mechanics, to kind of "force it" into doing what worlds naturally do (like constructing seasons, gravity, etc). The premise of Strata was that it had been man-made as a "signature" piece in the universe, and points out that someone outside the universe in which the world-makers that crash land on it has played a joke on them. In other words, when they find this world it points to the fact that the universe has been constructed with them as the clueless inhabitants (much in the same way that the explorers who get to the world plant fake fossils with wrist watches to confound the eventual clueless inhabitants of that world.) Pratchett loves this theme of worlds inside worlds, and microcosmoses as well as macrocosmoses (ever read the Bromeliad trilogy?)

The Discworld does not need to run by clockwork or mechanics, as magic is what keeps it running. This is seen by the discharges of magic that occur in the mountains (Lancre, for example, has a higher proportion than usual of magical people, phenomena, etc)

Parody of Ringworld? Why was I too blind to see it?!

The earlier Discworld books also make heavy use of other genre works to establish the background, from Dungeons and Dragons style spell-casting (including levels for wizards) to Lovecraft-esque horrors. Although the bones of the discworld setting definitely come from mythology.

this is a very good point about the turtle. if it weren't for that one itsy-bitsy detail...