NEWSFLASH: The Shepherd's Crown cover art and new release date!

The simultaneous UK/USA publication date for The Shepherd's Crown, final Tiffany Aching novel (and last of all the Discworld novels), has been moved forward by a fortnight, from 10th September to 27th August. The publishers have also officially released the UK and USA cover art. Very exciting news!

Here be the UK cover, by Paul Kidby of course:





...and here be the USA edition cover:





Furthermore, UK booksellers Waterstones have their own announcement about this and some very special offers to go with it...

*** WATERSTONES' SPECIAL OFFER ON THE SHEPHERD'S CROWN IN HARDCOVER

You can pre-order The Shepherd's Crown for a special price of £10.00 – a saving of fifty per cent on the recommended retail price! Day-of publication delivery is for UK only. To ensure UK delivery on the day of publication, please select "Courier" or "Free Delivery to shop" at the checkout.

To pre-order, go to

http://bit.ly/ShepherdsCrownUK

and click on the pre-order button on the right, about one-third of the way down the page.


*** ...AND THE DELUXE SLIPCASED EDITION

"The Waterstones Exclusive Edition is a stunning real cloth slipcase, limited to just 5,000 copies. The cloth for the book itself is sophisticated grey glitter, and will feature a gold bee motif on both front and back covers. Each copy is individually stamped and numbered, and features the article 'Doing As You Would Bee Done By', written by Sir Terry Pratchett in 1975 – a witty insight into Terry's beekeeping experiences. Silver bee-printed endpapers – with different designs for front and back – complete this beautiful, must-have package. The perfect gift for any Pratchett fan. A brand new Discworld novel from the man himself, the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett. Completed in the Summer of 2014, The Shepherd's Crown features the much-loved teenage witch, Tiffany Aching, the hugely popular character (also one of Sir Terry's own favourites) who appeared in The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, and most recently, I Shall Wear Midnight. A hugely anticipated book in an iconic series, which will appeal to both adult Discworld fans and to younger readers."

The Slipcase Edition is priced at £35.00. To pre-order, go to

http://bit.ly/1ATs79E

and click on the pre-order button on the right, about one-third of the way down the page.


The UK publisher is Random House, and the ISBN for The Shepherd’s Crown is 9780857534828

82 days to go until the publication date. Start counting...

An editorial note: this doesn't count in any wise as spoilage, since I'm as much in the dark as you are, O readers – but upon first seeing the UK cover art I was struck by a thought that filled my eyes with bittersweet tears, because there seem to be hints of... well... all I can say is that I hope Sir Pterry was wise enough and brave enough to write the event that is implied, to me at least, by certain presences in Paul Kidby's cover art. And if what I think may be implied turns out to be true, I hope we legions of Discworld fans are wise enough and brave enough to accept it.

A Wossname exclusive report: the Czech Terry Pratchett fan club raised some steam!

First – some upcoming events of the Czech Terry Pratchett Fan Club...

12th June: a trip to the new premises of the Alzheimer's Disease research centre (the Club contributes financially to their support)

13th June: a "meeting" with the Club's adopted giant turtle at Prague zoo

All information about activities and club itself can be found at http://www.discworld.cz/novinky.php (a new page, with info also in English, is in the works). Committee members are reachable at klub@discworld.cz.


And now, for a special report for Wossname, by Dana Linhartova:

On Sunday, May 17, 2015 the newly translated Discworld novel Raising Steam was christened in a very stylish way. Publisher Vlastimir Talas (Talpress), translator Jan Kanturek, Terry Pratchett Club members and other friends of Terry's work went to the Railway Museum in Luzna near Rakovnik.

The trip to the museum was of course taken by train. Originally the steam train "Parrot" should have taken us, but unfortunately for all involved, the day before the locomotive rolled out steam from the wrong places, so we had to settle for a trip to with ordinary diesel locomotive.

But no-one was disappointed in the end, because we used another steam locomotive, "Kremak", for an hour's ride from Luzna to Sochov and back. Besides watching the hitching of locomotives, many of the attendees also enjoyed the ride by leaning from open car windows and observing how the train blows clouds of steam while puffing towards its destination.

Enthusiasts who were hanging out from the windows, although not covered in soot like those in the book, had no lack of settled coal-dust in their hair after the ride.

After the arrival of the steam train back to Luzna, the new Discworld book was christened quite unconventionally – Vlastimir Talas baptized it with water emitted from steam locomotive by its engineer. The Terry Pratchett Club then handed Jan Kanturek a belated birthday present, a ship-shaped bottle full of his favorite drink – rum.

The trip back to Prague was accompanied by singing, first several Discworld songs and then a selection of campfire songs. During one Discworld blues song Jan Kanturek even used his "whiskey voice" and for a while played guitar. Due to the fact that we sat in the car without a separate compartment intended only for invited fans of Terry Pratchett, a good vibe lasted until the end of the ride.

Despite the initial ill fortune of a faulty steam locomotive, it was an excellent and unique event, which was attended by around 80 fans of Terry Pratchett and steam trains.

Some images from the event: