Hacker News Reader

Surely that's a reference to the biologist mentioned in another comment, who said God had "an inordinate fondness of beetles".

Pratchetts's books are full of that kind of reference.

Cockroaches aren't beetles.

True, my summary was inaccurate, I don't think Pratchett specifically mentioned cockroaches as any of the-insects-in-question.

The god was obsessed with making different beetles.

But then he was talking about the "pinnical" of life and evolution. Ponder thought he meant humans, capable of mastering their world.

Then he looked down and saw the leg twitch...