Wossname -- September 2015 -- Main issue part 2

Wossname
Newsletter of the Klatchian Foreign Legion
September 2015 (Volume 18, Issue 9, Post 2)

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WOSSNAME is a free publication offering news, reviews, and all the other stuff-that-fits pertaining to the works and activities of Sir Terry Pratchett. Originally founded by the late, great Joe Schaumburger for members of the worldwide Klatchian Foreign Legion and its affiliates, including the North American Discworld Society and other continental groups, Wossname is now for Discworld and Pratchett fans everywhere in Roundworld.
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Editor in Chief: Annie Mac
News Editor: Vera P
Newshounds: Mogg, Sir J of Croydon Below, the Shadow, Wolfiekins, Mss C, Alison not Aliss
Staff Writers: Asti, Pitt the Elder, Evil Steven Dread, Mrs Wynn-Jones
Staff Technomancers: Jason Parlevliet, Archchancellor Neil, DJ Helpful
Book Reviews: Annie Mac, Drusilla D'Afanguin, Your Name Here
Puzzle Editor: Tiff (still out there somewhere)
Bard in Residence: Weird Alice Lancrevic
Emergency Staff: Steven D'Aprano, Jason Parlevliet
World Membership Director: Steven D'Aprano (in his copious spare time)

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INDEX:

01) MORE QUOTES OF THE MONTH
02) EDITOR'S LETTER: ABOUT LITERATURE AND "LITERATURE"
03) THE SIR TERRY PRATCHETT MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
04) THE SHEPHERD'S CROWN: REVIEWS
05) THE SHEPHERD'S CROWN: FAN TRIBUTES
06) MORE ODDS AND SODS
07) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS (UPDATE)
08) THE SHEPHERD'S CROWN: THE WOSSNAME REVIEW
09) MORE IMAGES OF THE MONTH
10) CLOSE

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01) MORE QUOTES OF THE MONTH

"The Shepherd's Crown and all the Tiffany Aching adventures are a New York Times bestselling series. Fabulous news!"
  – @terryandrob, 10th September 2015

"I fancy a memorial scholarship in my name. Speak to David Lloyd and make it so."
  – Sir Terry Pratchett, in his final to-be-opened-after-death letter to Rob Wilkins

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02) LETTER FROM YOUR EDITOR

  Most Pratchett fans will be aware of the stir that ensued a few weeks ago when an arts critic for The Guardian newspaper savaged and dismissed the works of Terry Pratchett without having read them. Apart from showing rank unprofessionalism by critiquing a body of work without reading any of it first, the piece was a sad display of the kind of egregious literary snobbery – "all genre novels are bad because only impenetrable and tortuously-written novels about Serious Subjects(TM) can possibly be good" – that gives big-L Literature a bad name among the multitude who read for pleasure. Or in simpler words, said critic was a self-important twit pitching to an audience of self-important gits.

  And yet... and yet...

  ...what this critic did was a good thing, because he brought the spotlight back onto the literature-versus-Literature debate and placed that light squarely on the works of an author who wrote a vast series of high literary quality – in the fantasy genre.

  Look at any list of so-called greatest novels in the English language and you find a plethora of of "worthy" writing: books built on themes rather than on stories, books that take the inward eye to boring extremes, books that may have been significant in their original era and then failed to age gracefully but remain on the "greatest" lists due to the power of memes and traditions. The predictable inclusion of Moby-Dick, of the novels of Austen and Joyce, of writers whose entire oeuvre celebrates the repellent lives of personal or societal failures in ways that are more misery-inducing than uplifting (coughBukowskicoughMcCarthycough)... of course these have their place, and some of them are even well-written, but to deny beautifully-crafted literature an uppercase L simply because it belongs to a less mainstream field is an insult to good writing.

  Great literature, in my unapologetic opinion, needs to contain both superb wordcraft and emotionally-involving subject matter, plus what I would call "flow of story". Many of the books that find their way to those "greatest" lists lack one or more of these qualities – again, this is my own arrogantly unapologetic opinion, but for the record, yes, I *have* read the bulk of them so I am speaking from a base of evidence. Many of the novels of "genre author" Stephen King have all three in abundance. Most of the novels of Terry Pratchett have all three in abundance *plus* an undercurrent of moral and social observation that raises them to the highest level of big-L Literature.

  I would also include, in the category of great and enduring literature, stories that are so filled with life and flow that they transcend their time, for example the novels of Robert Louis Stevenson. But sometimes a cracking story is not nearly enough, and for an illustration of that we can look to the myriad bestselling novels of Michael Crichton: cracking stories, yes, but Crichton's wordcraft is simply wooden and his inability to create characters that were more than one-dimensional ciphers suffused his entire body of work; so no, Crichton is very likely to be read several generations down the line. (Crichton was also, if you want to get technical, possibly the most successful genre author in the history of popular publishing – hellooo, the plots and subject matter of most of his work are science fiction – but for some reason his books were never filed in the SF and Fantasy section. Go figure.)

  Confession time: I got over PG Wodehouse a long time ago. Once upon a time I loved his books, but by the time I'd come back for a third re-read I realised that the scope of them was too narrow, the stories too formulaic, to retain their sparkle for me – and that there were quite simply too many of them cut from the same cloth with little to relieve their sameness. It used to bother me that Pratchett was compared, in the early days of his career, to Wodehouse as if this were conferring a great honour upon a novice author. I suppose The Colour of Magic had a certain Wodehouse-like playfulness to it, but Pratchett's writing rapidly transcended those narrow confines. Wodehouse wrote well, but he wrote only about the madcap stupidities of the uppercrust of one place and era. Pratchett wrote about vampires and werewolves, golems and trolls, dwarfs and pictsies, but what he was really writing about was the human condition – and books about the human condition are as Literature as you can get.

  And now, on with the show...

– Annie Mac, Editor

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03) THE SIR TERRY PRATCHETT MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

The University of South Australia's media release:

  "Marking his passion for lifelong learning, curiosity and exploration, the estate of the late Sir Terry Pratchett has announced the endowment of a unique scholarship at the University of South Australia to honour the memory of the best-selling author. The Sir Terry Pratchett Memorial Scholarship will be awarded by the University of South Australia in perpetuity, every two years and will support a student to undertake a Masters by research at UniSA's Hawke Research Institute, covering stipend, travel and accommodation expenses as well as research costs. The $100,000 scholarship will additionally provide an extraordinary opportunity for students to conduct their research both at UniSA and at Trinity College Dublin, in Ireland for up to a full year in the course of their two-year's study...

  "UniSA Vice Chancellor Professor David Lloyd says that the University is humbled by the generosity of the scholarship. 'This extraordinary gift is the largest student scholarship of its kind in the history of the University,' Prof Lloyd says. 'Terry was someone who was never shy of contributing to the things he believed in and as recipients of this wonderful bequest we are reminded of his commitment to inquiry and to learning. The fact that this is a perpetual scholarship means that, like Terry's books, this gift will endure for generations to come. The scholarship will support worthy students to complete cultural research relevant to, or inspired by Terry's work and linked to the Hawke Research Institute's theme of identity transformations. That opens a vast field for creative and sharp minds – anything from the study of satire and its impact on societal identities right through to the impact of information and communications technology (ICT) in society. Whatever the research proposal in this field, we want to see topics that consider social impacts and investigate tangible benefits to society – it's an exciting challenge and one that we think Terry would have loved.'

  "The collaborative scholarship builds on a growing relationship between two very different universities in two hemispheres, who share links both through research and their strong associations with Sir Terry Pratchett and is underpinned by an MOU between Trinity College Dublin's Trinity Long Room Hub and UniSA's Hawke Research Institute.

  "Dean of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Trinity College Dublin, Prof Darryl Jones, says the School of English at Trinity was honoured to have Sir Terry Pratchett as an Adjunct Professor. 'His wit, his warmth, his intelligence and above all else, his humanity made him an unforgettable friend and colleague,' Prof Jones says. 'We miss him dearly, and we're delighted to be part of this joint endeavour with the University of South Australia. The Sir Terry Pratchett Memorial Scholarship is a fitting tribute to a wonderful writer and a remarkable man.'..."

http://bit.ly/1VkFLH7

In Indaily:

  "The $100,000 biannual scholarship will support a student studying a Masters by research at UniSA's Hawke Research Institute. In addition, scholarship holders will be given the opportunity to study at Trinity College Dublin, in Ireland, for up to a year during their two years of study. The estate of the late, and much loved, author announced the endowment of the Sir Terry Pratchett Memorial Scholarship in Adelaide today. UniSA Vice Chancellor Professor David Lloyd said the perpetual scholarship, like Pratchett's books, was a gift that would endure for generations. 'This extraordinary gift is the largest student scholarship of its kind in the history of the university,' Lloyd said. 'Terry was someone who was never shy of contributing to the things he believed in and as recipients of this wonderful bequest we are reminded of his commitment to inquiry and to learning.'

  "He said the scholarship would support students to complete cultural research relevant to, or inspired by Pratchett's work, and linked to the Hawke institute's theme of identity transformations. 'That opens a vast field for creative and sharp minds – anything from the study of satire and its impact on societal identities right through to the impact of information and communications technology in society...'""

http://bit.ly/1KZuQBf

In The Australian:

  "In an envelope sealed until after his death in March, best-selling British author Terry Pratchett kept a $1 million secret, honouring a great friendship, a love of science fiction and his respect for higher education. Half a world away, the University of South Australia will now benefit from Pratchett's generosity in perpetuity, thanks to his close relationship with vice-chancellor David Lloyd. 'Last time we saw Terry, we went to his house in the UK last year and the kids were out feeding the sheep,' Professor Lloyd said. 'The next day he gave a letter to (manager) Rob Wilkins and in the letter he said he wanted to give this to the university. It was only opened on his birthday in April this year,' Professor Lloyd told The Australian... It is the largest endowment the university has received...

  "Professor Lloyd first met Pratchett when he recommended his favourite author for an honorary doctorate while working at Trinity in 2008. Pratchett had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease a year earlier, but Professor Lloyd said he remained intellectually sharp and gave regular guest lectures until his death from pneumonia. When Pratchett would lecture at Trinity, he would visit Professor Lloyd and his wife for dinner. He went to family birthdays, and they would discuss literature. 'He was just Terry to us,' Professor Lloyd said. 'My children knew he was Sir Terry and they thought he would have a sword.'"

http://bit.ly/1QHTpmq

And some iconographs...

The sandwich board announcement:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CP8ucRyWcAAQT98.jpg

David Lloyd and Rob Wilkins holding a replica Bank of Ankh-Morpork cheque signed to the university for $1,082,753.00:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CP8-UspWcAAhzp_.jpg

Rob delivering the announcement:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CP86Lt6VAAAUwRX.jpg

And there's even some video! This is a four-minute selection of bits from the formal announcement, featuring David Lloyd, Rob Wilkins... and The Hat!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE4coOWdeKI&feature=youtu.be

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04) THE SHEPHERD'S CROWN REVIEWS

BE WARNED!!! IN LARGE, UNFRIENDLY LETTERS!!! WITH MULTIPLE EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!! HERE BE SPOILERS!!! NOT IN THE QUOTED EXTRACTS, BUT DEFINITELY IN THE REVIEWS THOSE EXTRACTS CAME FROM. IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE SHEPHERD'S CROWN YET AND DON'T WISH TO READ SPOILERS, *DO* *NOT* *CLICK* ON THE ACCOMPANYING LINKS!!!! INSTEAD, GO TO ITEM 7, BELOW, FOR THE ONLY REVIEW OF THE SHEPHERD'S CROWN GUARANTEED TO BE FREE OF ANY SPOILERS WHATSOEVER – Ed.

By David G. Lloyd, Arch-Chancellor, I mean, Vice-Chancellor and President at University of South Australia and admiring friend of Sir Terry Pratchett, on The Conversation:

  "I knew and counted Terry among my friends since 2008, and I watched Alzheimer's slowly and insidiously strip him of attributes and faculty over that time. The 41st and final Discworld novel – published five months after its author's death – wasn't something I ever wanted to face. But I am glad I did. It's a joy to read. Terry knew in 2014 that this was the likely curtain call for his time on the Disc. He was still incubating ideas for future books. He wasn't quite finished with Sam Vimes or the wizards of Unseen University – but he was a very clever and, above all, realistic man...

  "Shepherd's Crown wasn't an easy write for Terry. Rob Wilkins' afterword to the book hints both at that and that there was still more finishing to be done on this novel, had there only been more time. We can only wonder what that may have been... This is not a fantasy novel intended for 'younger readers' as it is wont to be pigeonholed... This is a book for all ages, the tour de force of one of the English language's greatest authors, who, in the midst of encroaching darkness and facing so many terrors of his own, has contrived to astound us one last time with his craft. Terry's razor-sharp insight to the human condition, through an unusually turtle-shaped lens remains strong. Pratchett liberally sprinkles his text with instructions to his readers – read books if you want to learn things, make choices when faced with them, stand your ground, don't tolerate the intolerable from others. Simple, yet sound advice for life..."

http://bit.ly/1Q3o79R

In The Telegraph by Kat Brown, who gives it five out of five stars:

  "This isn't just a great Discworld book, it's extraordinary; a proper send-off for Pratchett and this mammoth series. It is shot through with an elegiac tone, you have a sense of it being his own 'play's last scene'. If this wasn't intentional, it's a bloody good coincidence. Earlier themes and characters return for a last hurrah (impressively without once feeling like an episode of This is Your Life) anchored by one of Pratchett's most popular recent characters, young witch Tiffany Aching... Pratchett has never been a sentimental writer, but there is an expansiveness here that is new and reflective... Having spent the last 30 years raising an amused eyebrow at the quirks of human nature, Pratchett uses his final novel to examine the power of humanity... There is the potential for decency in all of us, he says. None of this is to say that Pratchett has gone soft. His trademark wisdom and seemingly bottomless knowledge remains sharp... As ever with this series, there is a delight to be had in knowing you will spot another intriguing reference when you read it again..."

http://bit.ly/1VqebrU

By Nicholas Tucker in The Independent:

  "The Shepherd's Crown, the 41st addition to his Discworld series, continues the story of young witch Tiffany Aching, first met four novels ago in The Wee Free Men. But this final work contains no bewildering flashbacks or anything else taken for granted in the Discworld cosmology. Sir Terry had a new tale to tell, and launches into it at top speed... There is no evidence that Sir Terry's degenerative illness affected the quality of this prose. Some scenes were written two years ago, given that he usually had more than one novel on the go. A few cliches of the 'foaming tankard' type get past, but this is still an author delighting in the fertility of his imagination..."

http://ind.pn/1X42TND

Also in The Independent, by David Barnett:

  "It's impossible to open the book without a sense of melancholia, and it feels like the author embarked upon the writing of it weighted with the same. He knew when he sat down to write it that it would be his last Discworld, his final book. As such, it's difficult to see The Shepherd's Crown as anything other than Sir Terry's farewell letter to his legion of fans – though of course, this being a Pratchett, it's pretty fine novel in its own right... This is essentially Tiffany's coming of age novel, of a young woman on the cusp of adulthood who has greatness thrust upon her... The Discworld series has outgrown its comic fantasy roots – despite the central conceit of a flat world balanced on four elephants on the back of a giant turtle swimming through space – to become astute observations on the human condition... The Shepherd's Crown is a sometimes sad, often funny and eminently suitable testament to the life and career of Terry Pratchett."

http://ind.pn/1JGbQqG

...and Christopher Stevens in the Daily Mail:

  "His publisher categorises these as books for 'young adults', but that's ridiculous because any teenager (or any 70-year-old, for that matter) could find fun in a Discworld book. The point about the Tiffany tales is that they are also suitable for much younger children. A bright seven-year-old could easily be engrossed, even if half the plot and most of the sly cultural references were too subtle for them to spot. Bookish children know they're skating over some of the literary layers but they don't care, as long as there's lots to enjoy. Terry, who was a bookish child all his life, understood that. These 'young witch' novels are also especially good for parents who want to read aloud to their children. I can attest to that: there's endless scope for over-acting and dreadful accents. Most entertaining for bedtime stories are Tiffany's tiny guardians, the brawling, drunken fairy folk called the Nac Mac Feegle. They curse and threaten and blather in a rollicking Glasgow dialect, like Billy Connolly fighting his way out of a vat of whisky, and such is Terry's skill with language that he never writes a word you'd be shocked to hear a child repeat... There's no condescension, however, no coyness about life's cruelties just because this is a children's book..."

http://dailym.ai/1KjoS9A

In the Christian Science Monitor, by Yvonne Zipp:

  "To open the final Terry Pratchett novel is an emotional thing. To close it is even harder. Many wonderful writers, from Neil Gaiman to A.S. Byatt, have expounded on Pratchett's brilliance, the righteous anger that powered the prolific writer, his unfailing sense of fairness. The man also wrote a beautiful footnote. Over 41 novels, he created a fantasy world rich enough for readers to steep in and wry and wise enough to come back for another dip... this is less of a review and more of a thank-you letter. Other folks can debate the relative literary merits of 'The Shepherd's Crown' – I was just grateful there was one more book..."

http://bit.ly/1NyCjtd

In The Guardian, by AS Byatt:

  "Tolkien's mystic and lordly elves have an ambivalent relationship with humans. Pratchett's are glamorous and nasty. They destroy things – washing, children – for the pleasure of it. As a child I knew that elves were nasty not nice, but also exciting. Neil Gaiman has famously said of Pratchett that he was not 'a jolly old elf' – he was angry. He wrote increasingly about worlds in which real harm happens and increasingly about real efforts to prevent it. In The Shepherd's Crown, which is part of a group of novels claiming to be for 'young adults', evil and anger still take the form of fairy story and myth. But the reader experiences them sharply...

  "I started to read Pratchett out of a need for other worlds as well as the one I lived in. I like the alien geography, the octarine colour, the magic that was tough and neither technical nor sentimental. I was happy enough with the clacks, a system of message towers cleverly rhyming with fax when we first knew faxes, a kind of telegraph in mountains and wildernesses. I used to argue with journalists who asked me if the Discworld was not all simply satire of our world and I would say, no, no, it is an imaginary world with its own ways..."

http://bit.ly/1IhYvj5

Also in The Guardian, by Amanda Craig:

  "Pratchett, with his sardonic inventiveness, social satire, play on language, deep feeling for landscape and love of what is best in human nature, had less critical praise than he deserved. His heroes and heroines are not royalty in disguise, but thieves, con-men, shepherds, soldiers and midwives. In his championing of the ordinary, the sensible and the slightly silly he went against the grain – and never more so than in creating Tiffany Aching... Of course [The Shepherd's Crown] is riotously funny, with the gloriously irrepressible Nac Mac Feegles having the best jokes and fights; as bright blue warriors otherwise known as the Wee Free Men they are shrunken but fearsome Scottish Nationalists; the Elves and their quarrels may well recall other politicians south of the border. The real battle, however, is between selfishness and duty. Pratchett has rarely been so direct. It's tempting to think that in this, his last book, he felt able to drop his customary teasing through footnotes and explain what empathy is... We are so used to the way George RR Martin or Joe Abercrombie or even Ursula le Guin show us fantasy worlds riven with cruelty, that perhaps the kindliness of Discworld is more subversive than it seems. It is, in essence, a humanist's creation in which laughter, as Nabokov said, is the best pesticide, and humour as potent as swords... This is not a perfect example of Pratchett's genius, but it is a moving one..."

http://bit.ly/1hMrs1T

By Michael Dirda in The Washington Post:

  "'The Shepherd's Crown' is certainly a worthy crown to Terry Pratchett's phenomenal artistic achievement, though sharp readers will recognize that some elements ... are never fully developed. Moreover, anyone expecting lots of laughs will need to revisit some of the other books set on Discworld. While the Nac Mac Feegle are consistently amusing, much of this novel concerns itself with death and life's purpose, while also examining the claims of tradition against the need for change and progress. Above all, though, 'The Shepherd's Crown' — like all of Pratchett's fiction — stresses the importance of helping others. Beyond this, I think that Pratchett's farewell advice would be to follow his witches' sensible principle: 'Just do the work you find in front of you and enjoy yourself.'..."

http://wapo.st/1Kn91gu

The Huffington Post's review, by David Kudler:

  "The characters were always the strong suit of Pratchett's novels — that and the wild humor. Throughout, we meet up of some of the most memorable characters from the previous forty Discworld novels, particularly the women — Eskarina Smith, Agnes Nitt, Queen Magrat, Nanny Ogg, and of course the indomitable Granny Weatherwax. In fact, Granny Weatherwax has what I found to be the most memorable scene in the book, a somber, quiet passage that set the tone for the whole novel... Most of Pratchett's writing was notable for its biting satire and wild humor. While there is definitely humor in The Shepherd's Crown, it feels very subdued. Nanny Ogg and the Nac Mac Feegle crack jokes, but there's a whistling-in-the-graveyard feel to them. Even the author's notoriously random footnotes feel more wistful than riotously funny..."

http://huff.to/1LECUU9

In the New Statesman, by Deputy Editor Helen Lewis:

  "Since March, I have been reading the few remaining Discworld books I never tackled during Pratchett's lifetime. I had never got round to reading his series about the junior witch Tiffany Aching. Shamefully, I think I saw 'young adult' and my inner dowager duchess reached for the smelling salts. That was my stupid mistake. The Aching books are some of Pratchett's best, and I fell so instantly in love that I had a passage from one of them at my wedding this summer. So The Shepherd's Crown was a double sadness: not just goodbye to Terry Pratchett, but goodbye to new adventures for Tiffany Aching, to Nanny Ogg, to Greebo the smelly, one-eyed tomcat and to Magrat, the drippy hippie queen who nevertheless shot an elf in the eye with a crossbow through a keyhole when her friends were in danger... And that is what I was really saying goodbye to, as I snuffled quietly to myself on the train, surrounded by strapping Danes on a day trip to the countryside. I'm never going to love another author like I loved Terry Pratchett..."

http://bit.ly/1F8vY4L

By Natalie Bowen, in the Lincolnshire Echo:

  "This is not the place to start exploring the series, as it is impossible to read without being familiar with the satirical world he created over 40 previous novels. Newcomers will be baffled by unexplained references to canonical events and apparently random characters given the barest introduction – and there are a lot of these cameos, a pleasing nod to fan favourites. Pratchett's last adult novel, Raising Steam, was criticised for lacking his typical biting wit, but this does not seem as obvious in young adult fiction, which has always had a gentler approach. Yes, some of the punchlines are predictable, but Pratchett's signature twists on real events still raise a smile..."

http://bit.ly/1glh1kf

On Den of Geek, by Juliette Harrison. WARNING!!! THIS REVIEW CALLS ITSELF "SPOILER-FILLED" AND YES, THEY REALLY MEAN IT!!! But here be a spoiler-free extract:

  "It was not entirely deliberate that The Shepherd's Crown is, as the back cover reminds us, the final Discworld novel. Rob Wilkins' Afterword offers a tantalising glimpse of the other stories that will never now be written down, and this novel is not an ending. The Discworld goes on and Tiffany Aching has a lot of future ahead of her. It may say 'The End' at the bottom of the last page, but this is not a story that has an end, just a point where we have left it to go and do other things. The story carries on, and while there will be no more Discworld novels, it will continue in other ways, in plays and (probably) screen versions, through games and cosplay events... But this is a Discworld book, and no matter how tragic and weighty they may be, there is always a light heart at the centre of any of these novels. And so it is with this one; the hilarious footnotes are present and correct as ever, and the references to everything from Shakespeare to Dad's Army to Margaret Thatcher will ensure that readers are smiling through their tears..."

http://bit.ly/1UQnaTc

Den of Geek also offers a "spoiler-free" review, also by Juliette Harrison:

  "The Shepherd's Crown is a funny, sad and extremely moving farewell to Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels... Reading this book first will, of course, spoil the endings of several other Discworld books, predominantly those featuring Tiffany Aching, but it has resonances reaching right back to the third book, Equal Rites, and forward to the fortieth, Raising Steam. But the story itself will make perfect sense and offer an enjoyable tale filled with pop culture references and people trying out new ways of thinking – and most importantly of all, it is funny as well as heart-breakingly sad. The Discworld is still, at its heart, comedy, even if tragedy has been seeping through its bones for a long time now... For a long-time Discworld reader, this is not a book that can easily be quantified as 'good' or 'not quite so good' (no Discworld novel is 'bad'). It is neither of those things. Like all Discworld novels, some will come to think of it as an all-time favourite, while others will consider it pretty good, even if it doesn't have the Watch in it. No one is likely to think of it as a weaker novel in the series, and most will likely consider it one of the strongest, and certainly one of the most – possibly the most – moving..."

http://bit.ly/1Khryo8

Charlie Jane Anders' review on i09:

  "The latest Discworld book, The Shepherd's Crown, doesn't just have the task of wrapping up the story of Tiffany Aching, trainee witch. It's also the very last Discworld book, since author Terry Pratchett sadly passed away earlier this year. The good news is, this is a solid ending to both stories... There's not much glory in the life of a witch, as Pratchett has imagined it, and the main enemies that Tiffany must battle against include pervasive sexism and idiocy. So the coming-of-age, hero's-progress story for Tiffany is as much a matter of accepting one's lot in life as it is rising to some kind of fantastic world-beating challenge. That said, The Shepherd's Crown is surprisingly upbeat, especially as compared to the somewhat darker previous Tiffany Aching book, I Shall Wear Midnight. This is very much the culmination of Tiffany's journey, and a major theme is that she's no longer a struggling young girl, but a fully-fledged witch who deserves, and demands, respect. And Tiffany's arrival as a proper, important witch in her own right, is balanced with a story about how Discworld has changed, and the nature of progress in general... The Shepherd's Crown is bittersweet for a number of reasons, including the fact that we'll never get any more Discworld books from Pratchett's pen...

  "As a final Discworld book, meanwhile, Shepherd's Crown presents a beautifully panoramic view of Discworld as a place in flux. Pratchett does a good job of giving cameos to a number of other great Discworld characters, without being too obtrusive, while also giving kind of an overview of how his world is moving into a new era of industrial progress... this is a beautiful ending to Tiffany Aching's story, with a blend of sadness and hopefulness that will stick with you long after you've closed the pages..."

http://bit.ly/1Qca8xG

By Villordsutch on Flickering Myth:

  "The Shepherd's Crown will be the Terry Pratchett book which will be known for both breaking your heart and mending it at exactly the same time. As a grown man I bear uncanny resemblance to a 6ft Viking and I don't think a book – which is technically classed as young adult fiction – has ever brought me to such an emotional state before. Just after the first fifty pages I needed to stop reading and resolve myself due to the sadness that had fallen upon the Discworld. This book of gender discrimination and equality, acceptance and humility, coping with loss, and the circle of life which has been all wrapped up in a YA fantasy setting has become a landmark in my mind; a true emotional marker that will never be forgotten..."

http://bit.ly/1Lt6cVI

By Gopal Sathe on Gadgets NDTV:

  "Pratchett's genius often lay in his asides, which were full of knowing glances and cheerful nudges to the brain, to make you think about things in completely different ways. And where Raising Steam seemed like it was in a hurry to tie up all the loose ends that had come up in Snuff, The Shepherd's Crown is a slower book that has been building up ever since Pratchett wrote The Wee Free Men in 2003. There are parts where The Shepherd's Crown still feels rushed, but it is an excellent work which feels much more like Pratchett than some of his other, recent books. It carries his trademark humour, with its blend of jollity and savagery. As is typically the case for his books, he takes a closer look at any kind of accepted truth, and goes on to upend our understanding of things. That he does so now with the characters and characterisations he himself had created in the past might not appeal to everyone. But that is not what this book is about..."

http://bit.ly/1K8Pz1v

By Tasha Robinson, for NPR:

  "The book is unmistakably a personal, meaningful, but no-fuss goodbye to the world. And significantly, it's largely about how life goes on for everyone else... A note at the end of the book explains that Pratchett did complete it, but didn't have time for the second passes he usually took to flesh out the story. That omission is obvious throughout The Shepherd's Crown: The writing is unusually blunt and artless in places, and there's an unevenness to the storytelling — some colorful side moments play out at rapturous length, while key action whisks by, and characters occasionally get lost in the blur. But Shepherd's Crown is still recognizably Pratchett, from the giggle-fit-inducing footnotes to the stern moral message about selflessness, empathy and caring for others..."

http://n.pr/1LUHnaZ

Cassandra Khaw's review on Ars Technica:

  "Terry Pratchett is ostensibly a voice of humorous fantasy. He made atheist golems, literary orangutans, a cowardly wizard who dealt with his role as a Hero by running away very, very quickly. But as Neil Gaiman observed in his introduction for A Slip of the Keyboard: Collected Non-fiction, Discworld's venerable creator was also often furious. His books snarled. They railed against today's storms, its innumerous injustices. Monstrous Regiment lampooned the pointlessness of war. Equal Rites shouted at sexism, Small Gods at the problem of blind faith, Carpe Jugulum the privileged's proclivity to demean those beneath them. In comparison, The Shepherd's Crown feels quieter and tauter, although no less fierce. It feels like an acknowledgement. No matter Pratchett's influence, there is only so much he could do, has done, can continue to do even as the effects of his writing ripple outwards. And he seems at peace with that..."

http://bit.ly/1KNavRz

A review by Lucy Sussex in the Sydney Morning Herald:

  "The Shepherd's Crown, his final book, belongs to a series aimed at young adults, centred on young witch Tiffany Aching. They were among his best, very English pastorals, with a strong sense of place. Here, Pratchett revisited earlier novels, drawing in characters as if tying up loose threads... Pratchett gave joy to millions of readers and his personal millions enriched good causes. The Shepherd's Crown is an uneven epitaph, but under the circumstances, a fitting one."

http://bit.ly/1OlefKB

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05) THE SHEPHERD'S CROWN: FAN TRIBUTES

Anna Mulch:
"Thank you Sir Terry for writing girls and women as heroes and well rounded characters. Thank you for not creating caricatures of women. You are more of a feminist than quite a few that I know, and what is great about it is that it wasn't overt, it wasn't anarchistic, it wasn't forced. You wrote the girls and women the way you did because that's how they were. Thank you."

Kereth Makura:
"I've just finished the Shepherd's Crown, and a sense of loss is upon me. Though I am thankful for my visits to a strange world that sat upon the backs of four elephants; that in turn stood atop a Turtle's shell. I am glad that I can always revisit such places, in the pages of a book. In my head – I have wandered the Streets of Ankh Morpork, I've seen the distant Ramtop Mountains, and Far Off Uberwald. I have travelled from Lancre to the deserts Djelibeybi across The Circle Sea, and have sat upon the Chalk and watched the "Ships," As occasionally I'd swore that I heard someone small, blue and unseen but often nearby give out the yell of "Crivens" I've met many strange folk upon my travels, The Good, The Bad and The Witchy. I've been drunk on Scumble and sang of Hedgehogs and Wizzard's Knobs, and even witnessed DEATH. . .And for these moments of joy, and many others...I thank you (Sir) Terry, and if there is a World beyond the Black Desert of Death's realm? I hope that you have found peace there. . ."

Jac Chamberlain:
"Finished the last book, would like to thank a great man for making me laugh, cry and most of all think!"

Chris Browne:
"Does it count as a spoiler if I say I did not find ANY trace of Embuggerance in the whole book? The Shepherd's Crown will stay in the Overhead forever I think."

Merredy Jackson:
"Having finished the last book, I intend to go back and re-read every witches book. I don't think of it as ending; I always pick up new things when I read Discworld. But I grieve for what is lost; Terry's brilliance, and the stories we will never hear. Young Sam growing up to be a Watchman, Moist's son trying to pull cons on his father, continuing adventures of Susan, the Wizards, and all the other characters I love so much."

Martine KB:
"Today I pay my homage. I open my bottle of wine and toast to a man that has been an enormous part of my life. On this day, the day his last story comes out into the world, I will drink to his greatness and his family. I will mourn his loss and will rejoice his life. His world has given me much more that he will ever know. He has been there in the good and the bad and he will continue to be there for ever more. The last of his series has come out today, the end of an era. I will read it, the moment it arrives at my door. After that, I will read it again and again, just like I did with all his books. They will stay with me, his characters will live inside my own imagination and have great adventures. They will live on in me and in all the people who have been touched by his works. Sir Terry Pratchett will never really die, for his name is spoken by all his readers and his fans. Tomorrow I will start spreading the word and tell people about his Discworld, the great A'Tuin riding through space, on his back 4 elephants that carry the disc, a world where everything is possible! Tomorrow I will spread the word, today I will remember."

Daniel Harrowven:
"Over the last few years when Terry's illness was getting worse I still loved the new publications but if I am completely honest I felt that the 'depth' of the plot and humour was slightly lacking compared to earlier works, but the books were still amazing and even more so considering what Terry was dealing with. This afternoon I have cried my eyes out (Danny, 37, skin head heavy metal fan) but also laughed louder than I have in years, The Shepard's[sic] Crown reads like a Discworld book from the 90's-early 2000's when Terry was at the peak of the fantasy/comedy scene. The comedy is razor sharp and the plot gripping and intense."

Maire Wilcox:
"I guess each of us is going to get something different from it and I was left with the realisation that Terry was making peace with himself and the world, He left us with a legacy to always look at the world from a different angle and to never lose sight of what's important which is different from personal. I'm going to be digesting this for a long time to come."

Jay Bolt:
"Terry, you weren't good. You were amazing. You can never begin to understand the impact you had on me or my family, never mind the wider Discworld community. I can never thank you enough for what I have personally gained from you and your work. I am ever in your debt."

Katy Rewston:
"I wish I had had the guts to write sir Terry a letter whilst I still had the chance, thanking him from the bottom of my soul for the Discworld books. They got me through the hell of school, and through times of deepest depression and weeks of insomnia because in the dark of night my mind just will not shut up. The audiobooks sooth me, and I find so much wisdom and comfort in them, and even now when i go through them after almost 15 years of reading the books and listening to the audiobooks I still find new wit and wisdom that i did not notice before. I would have thanked him for writing the most 'real' women I have ever encountered in books, in such a huge variety of ages and personalities. Susan for her no nonsense strength, Angua for just being so badass and Cheery for her bravery in the face of so much prejudice. His women are so real, so strong, and it helped me accept things about my own personality as i have so often felt out of place in the modern world.

"The witches made me think about how much I think about reality and other people, about nature and the complex relationships of communities. Agnes Nitt was one of the first larger girls i encountered in fiction and i could relate so much to her when I was in school. The Tiffany books make me think of my childhood as i grew up in Yorkshire near where the floodplains gave way to the chalk (near a white horse too), and in a way they make me homesick.

"In Vimes I found a reflection of my own cynicism, it let me create my own watchman on my thoughts, and think about the meaning of Justice and the law, and I still maintain that Night Watch is one of the finest books ever written.
Death made me not so scared of dying, if only for the thought that I would love to give that big lovable skeleton a hug as I doubt he gets many.

"The wizards made me laugh, and the books like Small Gods and Thief of Time really made me think, something that is one of the greatest things about his books. They make you see the world in a whole new light. The sheer complexity and depth to the world and its characters never ceases to amaze me and they feel like old friends. The observations he made about people are just incredible and so witty and funny that they still make me laugh after all this time.
I sit here with the Shepherds's crown in my lap and some part of me does not want to open it, I do not want to say goodbye to the series, and yet I know I never will because I will always keep coming back to it, always. Thank you Sir Terry....from the bottom of my heart and soul for giving us the Discworld and for making the world a better place for so many people."

Nick Mays:
"I wasn't disappointed. It really is a fitting end to the fantastic Discworld series, marrying together the 'Adult' and 'Young Persons' DW strands brilliantly... it really felt that Sir Terry was giving his fans a really fond farewell. There's a lovely and moving afterword from Rob too. When I read the final page, I felt the tears spring to my eyes and I whispered "Thank you, Terry." Just one thing though: I really DO feel that Discworld isn't gone. It's still there, it will always be there... and Rhianna is going to make sure that it lives on still further with the City Watch series and adaptations of the novels, the calendars, the diaries, the games.... We have all this to come, as well as our fond memories. Discworld will never die – it will live forever. We're not just lucky to have been a part of this continuing journey... we are blessed. Thank you indeed, Sir Terry."


Mandy Cosser:
"It is not my place to grieve for Terry Pratchett. For I will always have the books, to read and to reread. The Discworld will never die. Yes, there will be no new Discworld, but there will also be no new Middle Earth. For me, I believe the true grief belongs to those who knew him and loved him personally. I have a very strong belief about Death. When I die, I don't want to be remembered for the fact that I am gone, or how I went. I want to be remembered for how I lived. We, as readers, have a luxury that his family don't. Every time we open one of his books, the worlds he created come alive again."

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06) MORE ODDS AND SODS

6.1 PAUL KIDBY'S DISCWORLD AND BEYOND

...is available for tour bookings. This is from Mr Kidby's official page:

  "The Discworld & Beyond Touring Exhibition is currently available for bookings at museums & galleries around the UK in 2016. For details please contact Steve Marshall, Exhibitions Curator, St. Barbe Museum & Art Gallery Lymington, Hants, SO41 9BH Email steve.marshall@stbarbe-museum.org.uk Phone 01590 676969"

6.2 REVIEWS: THE LONG UTOPIA

Reviewed in The Independent by Barry Forshaw:

  "The late Terry Pratchett was the undisputed master of comic fantasy, cheerfully channelling everything in his armoury to produce witty, immensely imaginative novels. Steven Baxter also sits comfortably in the pantheon, but in his case as Britain's principal writer of 'hard' science fiction, using underpinnings of real science which make his outrageous narrative leaps utterly plausible – and with not a hairy-footed troll to be seen. In other words: Pratchett=Magic/Baxter=Science. But against all the odds, The Long Utopia, the latest in a continuing, now-posthumous collaboration, demonstrates that this forced marriage of disparate talents has produced a diverting offspring, with the scientific comfortably seeing off the supernatural... Those looking for the steady stream of Pratchett wit will be disappointed, though humour is certainly in evidence – but this is very much a science-fiction novel, rich in an awe-inspiring sense of wonder, with mind-boggling concepts thrown out like sparks from a Catherine wheel..."

http://ind.pn/1MWVgDY

...and in The Guardian by Adam Roberts:

  "Our supply of original Pratchett is running dangerously low. Since he continued working almost to the end, there are several posthumous titles in the offing: one more Discworld novel (The Shepherd's Crown, due at the end of August) and two Long Earth books – this one and the series finale. After that, having been so busy a feature of the literary landscape for so many decades, and having inspired a devotion in his readers unparalleled in contemporary writing, Pratchett's voice will finally pass into silence. Something of that melancholy seems to have worked itself into the fabric of this novel, too. Earlier Long Earth books possess various degrees of whimsical warmth and inventive charm. A more autumnal breeze blows through The Long Utopia. It's a book much concerned with things coming to an end, with cosmic-scale disease and with the limits of knowledge. A premise that started as an infinite number of open doors is starting to close them around its characters... If you go to these books looking for the rich comedy of Discworld, you will be disappointed. It's worth remembering that hilarity isn't Pratchett's only mode. He started out as a science fiction writer (and fan), and jotted down the conceit for the Long Earth before he wrote the first Discworld novel. Indeed, one of the things that made his fantasy writing so distinctive was the scientific rigour with which he pursued even the most absurd of his premises. Baxter, similarly prolific, is Britain's leading writer of 'hard' SF, a seemingly inexhaustible fount of thought-provoking, imagination-tickling and sometimes mind-blowing ideas. Their collaboration is more a hymn to the joys of unfettered world-building than it is to story or character. But if the pace of plotting is gentle, the restless inventiveness more than compensates..."

http://bit.ly/1TYCNcs

6.3 WATERSTONES BLOG: LOOKING BACK ON THE DISCWORLD SERIES (CONTINUED)

Our Booksellers' journey through the Discworld continues...

Part Two selections:

For me, [Reaper Man] was the turning point in the Discworld novels – the first that fully uses this fictional world to satirise our own. A very clever and humorous look at the existential by a master wordsmith. – Andrea Richards, Waterstones Dunfermline

Small Gods is not your typical Discworld story; it's not a Vimes whodunnit, or Granny Weatherwax thwacking everyone with a big stick. The plot is much more personal... It explores an oft-overlooked world outside of Ankh-Morpork that's created with Pratchett's inimitable style; there are characters who don't even believe they live on a disc. And it's by far the most thoughtful of all the books, with some of Pratchett's best jokes sitting alongside his most poignant observations... – Chris Taylor, Waterstones Reading Oracle

Men At Arms: The constants of Terry Pratchett – exploring notions of inclusion, exclusion, social mobility, right and wrong, responsibility, action when necessary, faith and belief – are all here. Men At Arms is funny, clever, knowing and a bit darker than previous stories... – Thorie Hinds, Waterstones Exeter High Street

[Interesting Times] is filled with the customary wit and satire which runs through all the Discworld novels, yet it still retains something a bit different to the rest of the collection. It is the scale of the story and the "otherness" of the content which draws me back to it again and again. – Katie Hawthorne, Waterstones Newcastle Emerson Chambers

https://www.waterstones.com/blog/re-reading-discworld-part-two

Part Three selections:

The Last Continent: A story of creation and evolution, exploring myths and folklore common to our own part of the universe as much as the Discworld. It's also a fantastic study of academic institutionalism, colonialism and exploration. Pratchett at his best. No Worries! – James Gray, Waterstones Lancaster King Street

I love the hidden depths of [Carpe Jugulum], as binding together a rollicking good plot is a theme of duality. There are vampires who gives humans a sporting chance, and vampyres, who don't. There is Agnes Nitt, discovering that the little voice in her head has become a full blown second personality. There's a Phoenix, that lays not one egg but two and there is an edge between light and dark. Treading a path along that edge is the always wonderful Granny Weatherwax. Physically and emotionally she appears at her most vulnerable in the novel and her character is all the richer for it... – Rebecca Gransbury, Waterstones Sheffield Orchard Square

The Thief of Time is the apocalyptic action movie of the Discworld series, only with far better dialogue and a plot that does stuff other than blow things up (though there's plenty of that too)... There's a lot of threads to this one that Pratchett masterfully intertwines, managing to write a full-on thriller – albeit one peopled by yetis, baby monks, creepy floating cloaks, witches, clock enthusiasts and more chocolate than you can possibly imagine – without losing eye-watering humour, heart, or his trademark pitch-perfect characterisation. The Thief of Time is a sprawling blockbuster of a novel; one that will make you examine what it really means to be human. – Jenn Morgans, Waterstones King's Road Chelsea

[The Last Hero] is, for me, the best of the Discworld series. It marks the turning point between the high fantasy of the earlier books and the 'fantasy noir' of the later books. It's also a Discworld all-star team-up book, with dozens of recurring characters making appearances. And it manages to be genuinely moving, too... – James Donaldson, Waterstones Kirkcaldy

Night Watch truly demonstrates Pratchett's genius... I read this novel without any prior knowledge of Discworld, and it spurred me on to reading the rest of the series. It's perfect for new readers because it has all the elements of a Discworld story – insofar as it is bizarre, satirical, hilarious yet serious – but it also has a particular cohesion which some of other books occasionally lack. – Lucy Lyndon-Jones, Waterstones Oxford

https://www.waterstones.com/blog/re-reading-discworld-part-three

Part Four selections:

[Monstrous Regiment] is a masterpiece of comedy from Pratchett, who brings to life, for one short book, some characters you really wished popped up more often. It's brilliantly funny and, what's more, Pratchett never shies away from describing the horrors of war... – Emy Howard, Waterstones Cirencester

Going Postal: In Moist, Pratchett gives us one of the best leading men the Discworld has seen since the early Vimes books, a reluctant civil servant using his ability to spin any situation to his advantage makes for wonderful satire about the state of politics... This book also brings up the important point that in the rush of new technology and different ways to communicate it's important to remember that only real tactile letters can be S.W.A.L.K... – Jen Wooton, Waterstones Covent Garden

Wintersmith is all about balance: between the seasons, the elements and – most poignantly in Tiffany's case – between heart and head. Not only must she concentrate on the subtleties of witchcraft, she has to learn to deal with boys and the first tentative allusions to sex... It is this straightforward, no nonsense manner that I find so endearing... – Lucy Hounsom, Waterstones Exeter Roman Gate

[Unseen Academicals] is classic Pratchett (ie: hilarious). It's full of jokes, influences and ideas... as Pratchett says: the important thing about football is that it is not just about football. Plus, the goalkeeper is a librarian orang-utan. What's not to like? – Ian Farnell, Waterstones Sheffield Orchard Square

Snuff is certainly one of the more heavy hitting of the Discworld novels. Slavery, drugs, intimidation and murder cannot be tackled lightly and it is clear the author has strong feelings on the matter... [Vimes'] inner battle throughout the novel to hang onto what is Right and Just, makes this novel for me... – James MacDonald, Waterstones Scarborough

Raising Steam feels a much more expansive read than previous books in the series. Indeed, it can often feel like events are passing by at some speed as you hurtle along the narrative rails. There's a sense that there's no time for dawdling, with a greater degree of reported action than in stories such as Night Watch or Snuff, where the narrative feels almost to take place in realtime... These shifts in speed allow Pratchett to pack in glimpses of far more characters than he might otherwise have been able – which will bring smiles of delight to fans... Trains might not evoke in everyone the excitement which they obviously do in Mr Pratchett. We have now come to a place in history where they are merely functional – part of our everyday lives, and an expensive and often frustrating part at that. Raising Steam makes the idea of this invention – the revolutionary nature of it, which is filled with ideas, hope and possibilities – truly thrilling, and in doing so revitalises the entire series in the same way that Dick Simnel's Iron Girder does the Disc. – Dan Lewis, Waterstones Piccadilly

https://www.waterstones.com/blog/re-reading-discworld-part-four

6.4 ...AND AN INDIVIDUAL RE-READ EFFORT

A well-written piece by one Nat Wassell about re-reading Discworld, particularly The Colour of Magic:

"I love Pratchett's humour and I love his philosophy and I love how he could just find those words to describe something that you never would have thought could have been put into words. I love the in-jokes. I love the inversion of the expected into the unexpected, and how the way he mocks things is almost always gentle. I love Terry Pratchett because he so clearly, so dearly, loved what he did. So then, to 'The Colour of Magic'; the first Discworld book and the first I ever read. Picking it up and starting to read it feels like talking to an old friend... One of my favourite things about Discworld is the way that Pratchett treats the gods, as if they were just another group of people who happened to live on the Disc, which I suppose they kind of are. In this book, the metaphor is stark; they play dice just as they play with the character's lives. I like the concept of Fate and The Lady being the only ones that the people really seem to have any respect for. That sounds a lot like modern day to me – I know more people who believe in Fate and Luck than who truly believe in any god. It's a clever touch, I think..."

http://bit.ly/1ifGAV6

6.5 THE RETURN OF COLLECTIBLE CARROT!

A classic from Discworld.com:

  "Originally released in July 2009, this bronzed pin features Captain Carrot standing to attention, holding the Ankh Morpork flag. It was due to be the first in a series of figurative pins featuring various Discworld denizens. If fact, he turned out to be the only one. It stands at 38mm high."

The Captain Carrot pin is priced at £25.00. For more information, and to order, go to:

http://discworld.com/products/collectables/captain-carrot-collectors-pin/

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07) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS (UPDATE)

Here be some upcoming events hosted by the Pratchett Partisans of Brisbane, Fourecks!

  Dining around the Disc: Uberwald. Wed 7 Oct 7pm. Black Forest German Restaurant Highgate Hill. Join us for a culinary tour of the Disc, or at least Roundworld's closest equivalent. Hosted by Jon

  Brisbane Tolkien Fellowship Dinner Dance. Sat 10 Oct 7pm. Enoggera Bowls Club. RSVP to the Official Facebook Event to get more information

  Carpe Jugul– Vinum! Halloween Party. Friday 30th Oct 7pm. Lady Margolotta's Castle. Appropriate Halloween/Discworld/Formal attire compulsory. $20 per person: platter food, games, prizes and dessert.

  Discworld games afternoon Sat 14 November 2pm-8pm. Community meeting room Brisbane Square library. Drop in during the afternoon for Discworld board and card games, then dinner and drinks starting from 6pm at a local eatery.

  Homicide at Hogswatch. Sat 19 December 6pm-10pm. Grand Central Hotel Dining Car. Will another Murder will be committed in Ankh Morpork? More details will be released soon.

Remember, you can join up at

https://www.facebook.com/groups/pratchettpartisans/

or contact Ula directly at uwilmott@yahoo.com.au

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08) THE SHEPHERD'S CROWN: THE FIRST WOSSNAME REVIEW

By Annie Mac

  This is probably the easiest review I've ever written.

  There will be a detailed review, eventually, but because The Shepherd's Crown is the last Discworld book, Wossname is likely to wait for some weeks or even months before tackling any in-depth analysis. So for now I can say that everything that needs to be said about the can be summed up in one sentence:

  The Shepherd's Crown, fifth and final novel in the Tiffany Aching sequence, was written by Terry Pratchett.

  No, really. That is the single most important quality of this book. Are you with me so far?

  Before you read any further, let me assure you that you *can* read further. Those of you who haven't taken possession of a copy of The Shepherd's Crown yet, or who are saving it to be opened at some future date when the finality of it seems more bearable, can read this entire review without learning one thing about the plot. Over the years of writing pre-publication reviews of Discworld novels and other works by Terry Pratchett, I often sweated proverbial bullets trying to write a review that discussed the contents of each book without giving away anything about its contents; but this time there was no advance copy and the lay of the land is irrevocably changed by the knowledge that there will be no more Discworld novels, not ever.

  Much as I loved them – and continue to love them – Pratchett's last Discworld books leading up to The Shepherd's Crown, especially Raising Steam, felt different in style, rather like they had been dictated (which of course they were, by necessity, as his PCA advanced, but the point is that they *felt* dictated, and this is possibly what made some long-time fans, so used to his pre-Embuggerance style, less comfortable). The Shepherd's Crown, though, feels like it was written, as in both written down and typed up by its creator.

  Yes, written.

  It matters not one whit that this was a physical impossibility; I'll say it again: The Shepherd's Crown feels like it was written, by Terry Pratchett's own hand.

  The dialogue is beautiful. The storylines have direction and flow. And best of all, there is a sweetness of spirit, a full measure of heart and soul and brim-filled affection for his characters, that in my opinion makes The Shepherd's Crown stand without qualification amidst what I consider to be his greatest works: Night Watch, Nation, the rest of the Tiffany Aching series. And I don't feel that it counts as spoilage to say that this final book has integrated Sir Terry Pratchett's great creation, brought the evolutionary changes in the Discworld series' forty-one novels together in a way that sets the stage for an imagined future.

  Oh, and I cried. More than a bit. But not from sadness at the finality of The Shepherd's Crown – no, I cried because the writing was beautiful and the story was perfect.

  They say one should go out on the crest of a wave, leave the pitch as a winner. With The Shepherd's Crown, Terry Pratchett has certainly succeeded at that.

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09) MORE IMAGES OF THE MONTH: PAUL KIDBY

Young Esk, drawn in 2009 for a Talpress edition:
http://bit.ly/1MxCTV0

One of my all-time favourite Kidby drawings – the Band with Rocks In channelling Roundworld's Sgt Pepper album cover, featuring many of my favourite Kidby renderings of favourite Discworld characters:
http://bit.ly/1Wqpxyx

An early version of the cover art from The Shepherd's Crown:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CPLBf4cWcAApUvN.jpg

Granny's boots... starting with Paul Kidby's own boots, photographed:
http://bit.ly/1RazddG

...to eventually become these (The Shepherd's Crown, chapter 5 illustration):
http://bit.ly/1iVeJKP

Discworld Massif characters identified... left to right, back row to front row!

1. Nigel the Destroyer, Moist von Lipwig, Adora Belle Dearheart, Detritus, Samuel Vimes, CMOT Dibbler, Otto Chriek, Cohen the Barbarian, Fred Colon, Magrat Garlick, Verence of Lancre, Gimlet, Nobby Nobbs, Grabpot Thundergust, Tiffany Aching, Mr Fusspot, Errol, and Of the Twilight the Darkness (and the uncredited mime "photobombing" them:
http://bit.ly/1QHWxyH

2. Casanunda, The Dean, Lord Vetinari, Leonard of Quirm, Mort as the Duke of Sto Helit, Death, Granny Weatherwax, Ponder Stibbons, Ridcully, Rincewind, Nanny Ogg, Greebo, Twoflower, The Luggage, and The Librarian:
https://instagram.com/p/8FeJOPsiDN/

3. Ysabell, Lord Downey, Constable Flint, Dr Whiteface, Susan, Albert, Carrot, Angua, Lupine (Mrs Cake's potential son-in-law), Lu-Tze, Reg Shoe, Eric Thursley (the well known demonologist – not), Cheery Littlebottom, Igor, Snorri Snorrisson, and Gaspode:

http://bit.ly/1JxLjqR

For more of Mr Kidby's Discworld art, go to https://instagram.com/paulkidby/

Also, an announcement from the Official Paul Kidby page:

  "As part of The Salisbury Arts Trail I will be signing prints & books, including 'The Shepherd's Crown' at Longford Barn, Bodenham, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP5 4EJ on Sat 3rd October 2-4pm. Items are available for sale or bring your own copies. My work will be on show at the barn throughout the trail week, 3rd -11th October, 10am-6pm daily."

http://www.plainartssalisbury.co.uk/salisbury-art-trail/

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10) CLOSE

  And this time, this really is it for September. I need a break! See you soon, and a happy autumnal equinox to most of the world and happy vernal equinox to dwellers in Fourecks and the Land of Fog. See you soon...

– Annie Mac

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The End. If you have any questions or requests, write: wossname-owner (at) pearwood (dot) info

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Copyright (c) 2015 by Klatchian Foreign Legion