Norse Mythology in Art and Literature

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 23. Chapters: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, Discworld, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudr n, Norse mythology in popular culture, Everworld, American Gods, The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs, Eight Days of Luke, Runemarks, The Last of the Renshai. Excerpt: Discworld is a comic fantasy book series by English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft and William Shakespeare, as well as mythology, folklore and fairy tales, often using them for satirical parallels with current cultural, political and scientific issues. Since the first novel, The Colour of Magic (1983), 38 Discworld novels have been published as of September 2010, five of which are marketed as children's or "young-adult" (YA) books. The original British editions of the first 26 novels, up to Thief of Time (2001), had distinctive cover art by Josh Kirby; the American editions, published by Harper Collins, used their own cover art. Since Kirby's death in October 2001, the covers have been designed by Paul Kidby. Recent British editions of Pratchett's older novels no longer reuse Kirby's art. There have also been six short stories (some only loosely related to the Discworld), three popular science books, and a number of supplementary books and reference guides. In addition, the series has been adapted for the theatre, as computer games, and as music inspired by the series. The first live-action screen adaptation for television (Terry Pratchett's Hogfather) was broadcast over Christmas 2006 for Sky1. A second, two-part TV adaptation of The Colour of Magic was broadcast on 23 March 2008 in the UK. A third tw...