Wossname -- April 2019 -- main issue
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wossnameWossname
Newsletter of the Klatchian Foreign Legion
April 2019 (Volume 22, Issue 4, Post 1)
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WOSSNAME is a free publication offering news, reviews, and all the other stuff-that-fits pertaining to the works 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, Mss C, Alison not Aliss
Staff Writers: Asti, Pitt the Elder, Evil Steven Dread, Mrs Wynn-Jones
Staff Technomancer: Jason Parlevliet
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) QUOTES OF THE MONTH
02) EDITOR'S LETTER
03) GOOD OMENS NEWS
04) ODDS AND SODS
05) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS
06) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS
07) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
08) ROUNDWORLD TALES
09) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
10) CLOSE
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01) QUOTES OF THE MONTH
"Episode four, look out for a scene in a small movie theatre where Crowley is watching a cartoon about bunnies. Not only will you see me passed out dead drunk in the audience, but all of the voices of the bunnies are me."
– Neil Gaiman on Twitter, 11th March 2019
"Although a price-tag for the big-budget adaptation has yet to emerge, the David Tennant and Michael Sheen-fronted Good Omens – the first co-production between BBC Studios and Amazon Studios – is a technicolor feast for the eyes, elevated by state-of-the-art tech that creates an immersive and otherworldly experience for audiences."
– journalist Manori Ravindran, in conversation with the Good Omens production team
"If you look at Lord Of The Rings on the big screen now, you can see where certain things are stitched together. You won’t see that with Good Omens. We’re now at that point with CGI where it is entirely believable. It’s the first time in history where TV budgets are at that level."
– Rob Wilkins throws down the Gauntlet of Hyperbole
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02) A LETTER FROM YOUR EDITOR
The best way to remember Sir Terry Pratchett on the day of his birth? I'd say read and re-read, introduce new readers to his body of work, encourage young readers to investigate the Johnny Maxwell books and the Tiffany Aching books and Nation and Dodger, quote from the Discworld books whenever an opportunity arises, learn more about orangutans and dementia and support the relevant charities and research organisations whenever you can, and re-read again and again and again...
...and keep his name in the Overhead.
GNU Terence David John Pratchett, 1948-2015
*
A wee birthday remembrance from Rob Wilkins: https://twitter.com/terryandrob/status/1122478012044382208
...and one from the Ankh-Morpork Consulate aka the Discworld Emporium: https://twitter.com/Discworldshoppe/status/1122455011957645312
Department of editorial about an editorial: it's worth having a read of the editorial in the most recent Discworld Monthly (issue 265). It's about rude fan behaviour, or should I say misbehaviour. And since I generally agree with the "...say nothing at all" ethos (which is why I don't promote some new Discworld covers and Discworld artwork), I have to add my voice to this with an eye-roll-accompanied "oh FFS do play nice, people" when it comes to social media. Nuff said.
Meanwhile, here be an adorable "trailer" for NADWCON 2019. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/W3iuE_Zwtlg?t=51
And now, on with the show!
– Annie Mac, Editor
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03) GOOD OMENS NEWS
3.0 SNIPPETS
A behind-the-scenes trailer (halfway down the page):
https://www.chortle.co.uk/video/2019/04/18/42845/good_omens:_behind_the_scenes_trailer
According to Neil Gaiman, Sir Pterry's hat and scarf make an appearance in the Good Omens miniseries, hanging up in Aziraphale's bookshop.
News about about a certain omission in the series: "In the novel, War, Famine, Pollution and Death trick members of the Hell's Angels bikers into joining them, promising them a place in their group. They invite them to come with them to the very location where the end of the world will begin. The bikers then start brainstorming potential apocalyptic names for themselves. If the real McCoys represented the worst things imaginable like famine and war, the ideas they threw around were relatable but not as horrible sounding. They thought of stuff like Grievous Bodily Harm, Embarrassing Personal Problems and Things Not Working Properly Even After You've Thumped Them. The horsemen, even though they liked to roll on their motorcycles, didn't keep their promises with their fellow bikers. They only wanted these mortals to die a fiery death as part of their affinity for trivial pursuit. In the end, all horsemen sidekicks except one met their demise in a catastrophic road accident before all of them could choose their names. Death, naturally, reaped their souls not long after. This was a shocking moment in the book that further demonstrated the monstrosity that the real horsemen are capable of. Unfortunately, fans won't be able to see it happen in the small screen..."
https://www.latintimes.com/good-omens-series-had-cut-4-characters-due-budget-constraints-435892
3.1 TIE-IN BOOKS FOR GOOD OMENS!
From The Bookseller:
"Headline has acquired two books to tie-in with a new TV series based on Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens. The deal between Headline and BBC Studios Productions was negotiated by Neil Gaiman’s agent Merrilee Heifetz at Writers House. Gaiman wrote the programme and is its showrunner. Produced by BBC Studios Productions in association with Narrativia and the Blank Corporation, it will air on Amazon Prime Video on 31st May 2019 and appear later on the BBC. Headline will publish Gaiman’s screenplay, The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book, which will feature a foreword and commentary by him, including deleted scenes. Headline is planning a major, multi-platform campaign to support its release. It will also publish the fully illustrated making-of book, The Nice and Accurate Good Omens TV Companion, which provides behind-the-scenes insight into the making of the show, in-depth interviews, photographs, costume boards and set designs. Writer Matt Whyman had extensive access to the TV set and the people who worked on the show. Both books will be published on 31st May. Mari Evans, Headline managing director, said: 'It is our absolute privilege to be a part of the extraordinary production that Neil and the Good Omens cast and crew have made a reality. Neil’s reinvention of the novel he wrote with Terry Pratchett is nothing short of magical and is sure to delight old fans and bring in hordes of new ones. Readers and viewers are going to be amazed by the scope of the production and by the insight into it these two books are going to give them.'..."
https://www.thebookseller.com/news/headline-acquires-two-tie-books-gaimans-good-omens-tv-series-959891
3.2 ...AND, OF COURSE, THE PAUL KIDBY VERSION:
From Paul Kidby's newsletter:
"The end is nigh! With an impending deadline looming, I’m in the final throes of finishing the additional illustrations drawn exclusively for the Good Omens Dunmanifestin editions... There are three steps to every illustration – the pencil drawing, a tonal sketch and finally the colour version. Over these last few months, I have worn countless colour pencils into stubs… Once the artwork is finished, my sigh of relief will be a swift one, as there are still a few more things to do. That is, adding the final touches to the wonderfully varied and eclectic collection of ephemera, to accompany the Ineffable and Celestial editions. The content of this ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous – it’s been a lot of fun making it!
"It goes without saying that producing the artwork and overseeing the design of these editions has been a big responsibility. I am extremely grateful for my amazingly good-tempered production team – my wife Vanessa, Harry Hall and Alex Stott: they have all shared the load and brought invaluable creative input. And of course, not forgetting our loyal whippet studio helper…. Designing a book, from concept art to final publication, is a multi-faceted project. The illustrations themselves are only part of the journey. There are a myriad of decisions to make, ranging from choosing paper to selecting the fonts, colours and formatting styles. We have pushed the parameters of what is possible with our long-suffering printers; at times, I’m sure, we’ve driven them mad with our relentless requests for foiling, laminating and embossing. Every element of the production has been carefully considered and either created in-house or in close collaboration with skilled artisans. We have given each Good Omens edition its own unique design identity, from the colour of the ribbon markers to the engineering of the presentation boxes. Hopefully, you will be just as thrilled with them as we are..."
...and an update:
"I hope you all enjoyed the sunshine over the Easter weekend. I got out into the great outdoors, planted up the veg patch and spent time with my family. I am now returned to work feeling refreshed and my signing hand is back in overdrive. I have to write a total of 4000 signatures overall, so it will be a welcome relief to get back to illustrating. The internal pages for Good Omens are now printed – it was an exciting moment to see them in their unbound form and realise the scale and heft of the Dunmanifestin editions. All the illustrations for the collection of ephemera to accompany the Ineffable and Celestial editions are finally finished, my last drawing was of Aziraphale by 'Leonardo'. This was a fitting bookend to complete the project as my very first drawing was of Crowley, as drawn by Leonardo.
"We are now just making the finishing touches to the three presentation boxes, including the beautiful wooden box for the Celestial edition which has been commissioned from a local cabinet makers. I am also focusing on the artwork and layout design for the 2020 Collectors Calendar, Discworld Destinations. I am revisiting some earlier illustrations and revising them, such as this picture of the Dunmanifestin, the home of the gods. Signed copies are now available to pre-order from my website..."
© Paul Kidby http://www.paulkidby.com
[Also see the Merch Corner segment in Odds and Sods, below – Ed.]
3.3 MAKING GOOD OMENS: BEHIND THE SCENES
An article in Television Business International that includes the backstory of the new scenes added by Neil Gaiman, discussion of the special effects, and how Amazon "taste tested" the series' essential Englishness on Americans:
"The creative team is upfront about the fact that, although the show is indisputably loyal to Gaiman and Pratchett’s source material, liberties have been taken to elevate the narrative. 'We’ve taken departures because [the TV show is] a different thing,' explains Mackinnon, highlighting Jon Hamm’s archangel Gabriel character. 'That character isn’t in the book but we needed him to be around for storytelling reasons. Very often an adaptation suffers because a book is written with the voice of the reader in mind, whereas we have to expand that onto the screen.' Elsewhere, while Shakespeare is mentioned once in the novel, the English writer gets an entire sequence shot out of London’s Globe Theatre in the show. In addition, Gaiman has written a half-hour explanation of Crowley’s backstory at the beginning of the third episode that is completely original. 'But the fans of the book will see that as a treat rather than a bad diversion,' assures Mackinnon... Lead stars Michael Sheen, who plays angel Aziraphale, and David Tennant, a demon named Crowley, tell TBI that with Neil Gaiman on board, the TV adaptation was able to be comfortably creative with scenes that enhanced the source material. 'There’s a fairly major section at the beginning of episode three, which in a series of 10 or so scenes we see the development of the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley from the Garden of Eden, all the way through the history of the world, up to the present day,' says Sheen. 'It’s a major addition from the book and it was the scene we enjoyed the most.'..."
https://tbivision.com/2019/04/09/good-omens-adapting-the-unadaptable/
3.4 CRITIQUES OF THE NOVEL
Actually a critique of a critique! By Sam Jordison in The Guardian:
"The thing they say we should remember is that 'in those days Neil Gaiman was barely Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett was only just Terry Pratchett'. That’s not quite how I remember it. When I got hold of Good Omens, aged 14, I’d read just about everything Pratchett had published up to that point. The idea that he’d teamed up with a gothy longhair to write about the end of the world seemed about as big as book news got. By the time I realised the book existed in 1991, a year after it first came out, it was definitely a 'big deal'. Unusually for a so-called fantasy book, it had received favourable reviews in the UK press (alongside the notice in the Times that generated the memorable cover quote, 'not quite as sinister as the authors’ photo') – and it was selling in huge quantities. It had also launched in the US with considerable fanfare, and even more confusion. Publishers Weekly used the damning descriptor 'zany', while Joe Queenan in the New York Times seemed furious to be dealing with such an import. He first described the book as a cure for 'the recurring disease of Anglophilia' – and then really put the boot in: 'Good Omens is a direct descendant of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a vastly overpraised book or radio programme or industry or something that became quite popular in Britain a decade ago when it became apparent that Margaret Thatcher would be in office for some time and that laughs were going to be hard to come by.' I quote at length in humble appreciation of just how wrong we critics can be. It got worse for Queenan, who complained about 'an infuriating running gag about Queen, a vaudevillian rock group whose hits are buried far in the past and should have been buried sooner'. Ah yes, Queen. Who recalls them now? But I shouldn’t mock. It’s actually quite a witty review – and time embarrasses every critic sooner or later..."
https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2019/jan/15/good-omens-not-funny-neil-gaiman-terry-pratchett
...and a more personal review, also by Sam Jordison:
"Here I am, fondly describing Good Omens as some kind of panacea, when a good part of its power comes from something far darker. There may be plenty of affection for humanity here, but there’s also burning anger. There’s real rage about big, serious issues such as environmental desecration and the absurdities of religion. And there’s just as much fury about the little things. One of my favourite jokes in the book is about four bikers who try to become a back-up for the 'Four Horsepeople of the Apocalypse': War, Death, Famine and Pollution. The bikers become the four relatively minor inconveniences of the apocalypse with names such as Ansaphones, Cruelty to Animals, Things Not Working Properly Even After You’ve Given Them a Good Thumping and No-Bloody-Alcohol Lager. Harmless enough – but the joke only works because it’s bristling with genuine irritation.
"More painful to admit is the fact that the book may well have flaws. Every time I tried to think about them while I was reading, my thoughts slid away, just like they do from anyone in the book who tries to think too hard about the true nature of 11-year-old antichrist Adam. We are told, for instance that when the witch Anathema tries to work out anything about this strange boy, her thoughts 'slipped away like a duck off water'. Which pretty much sums things up. Because when I reached that passage I was laughing in delight..."
https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2019/jan/22/good-omens-is-so-enjoyable-it-seems-bad-form-to-spot-the-flaws
3.5 AZIRAPHALE IS A REAL-LIFE ANGEL
Michael Sheen has been quietly doing something good for the humans of a corner of this planet:
"Cameron is 18, about to move into a new flat and studying computer science at college with plans to go to university. He sounds like any other teenager but with one important difference – Cameron is rebuilding his life after becoming homeless at just 14. He is part of what one of Wales' biggest charities called a "hidden epidemic" of youth homelessness. Stories like his inspired actor Michael Sheen to help set up Wales' first national out-of-hours helpline. Cameron, not his real name, said his relationship with his family broke down so badly he had to leave... Cameron did not know where to find help or who to talk to – something other young people told Hollywood star Michael Sheen when he spoke with them about youth homelessness. That conversation led to the creation of the first national out of hours free helpline for young people at risk of homelessness..."
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-47359492
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04) ODDS AND SODS
4.1 TROLL BRIDGE DATES
The finally completed Troll Bridge film is making its way around Fourecks! The following dates are all part of the Australia-wide Flickerfest International Short Film festival:
3rd May: Hobart, TAS, Cygnet, TAS, and Darwin, NT (all listed for this date)
4th May: Hunter Valley, NSW
10th May: Birdsville, QLD
19th May: Kununurra, WA
13th June: Katherine, NT
It will also be shown at the Carmarthen Bay Film Festival in Llanelli – that's Wales, not Australia – on 27th May (European premiere, featuring a live Q&A with the cast and crew), and at NADWCON 2019 on 12th July (featuring Daniel Knight & Christian Bloch as guests).
http://www.trollbridge.film/screenings
4.2 PRAISING MORE THAN JUST DISCWORLD
From Aaqib Hasib in The Daily Star, a paean to the works of Pratchett that praises – rightly – far more than just the Discworld novels...
"The late great Sir Terry Pratchett was a force to be reckoned with in the domain of fantasy novels. While his contributions to the world of literature are innumerable, Pratchett's life encompassed a lot more than just the art of writing books. In 2007, when he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's, Pratchett took a step in a different direction by publicly announcing his diagnosis. Pratchett's casual acceptance of his illness, along with his nonchalant humour on the issue, helped bring to light a disease that wasn't as popular back then. While dwelling on the passing of Sir Pratchett is almost heartbreaking for me, there is definitely a reward in being able to introduce readers to the world of fiction which he created... Pratchett spent his life writing, almost effortlessly, books for children and adults of all ages. And if nothing else, his body of work continues to entertain and captivate audiences to this day. So whether it's to celebrate his life, or just because you need a book to read, go give Terry Pratchett's works a go..."
https://www.thedailystar.net/shout/literature-0/news/the-world-terry-pratchett-1708084
4.3 A CELEBRATION OF PRATCHETT'S STEALTH PHILOSOPHY
By Angie Barry on MyWeb Times:
"More than any other author, Pratchett shaped me as a person. Four years later, his absence remains a sharp, painful hole. I take comfort in his prodigious legacy, though, particularly in the 50-plus stories set in his Discworld universe. Discworld belongs in the same eschelon[sic] as Middle-Earth and Narnia, a place that looks like our world only slanted. Where all of the usual fantasy tropes – bearded dwarves and scatterbrained wizards and rocky trolls – live but prove to be much more complex than a first blush would suggest. Like Shakespeare, Pratchett had a gift for witty wordplay and twisting established plots into fresh, vital, new stories. He riffed on the Bard frequently, as well as fairy tales, action movies, Hammer Horror, mythology and more. His books have at least three laughs a page, with their mixture of slapstick, goofy characters and unapologetic puns. But they're also astonishingly deep. Pratchett is one of the few authors who can make you laugh, cry and seriously think all in the span of a chapter. While many are intimidated by the sheer size of the series, I'll never stop singing its praises or coaxing newcomers into this rich, wild, poignant world..."
Barry then lists and briefly analyses her six favourite Discworld "stealth philosophy" books, including Small Gods, Feet of Clay, Hogfather, Thud!, Monstrous Regiment, and Snuff.
https://www.mywebtimes.com/2019/03/13/the-b-list-the-deeper-themes-of-discworld/a3cnb2s/
4.4 THE MERCH CORNER
From Paul Kidby, "Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Destinations, Collector’s Edition 2020 Calendar"
Signed Copy. All calendars are hand signed by Paul Kidby.
"The calendar dates are extensive, and exhaustively researched, and include all major real-time calendrical data for Great Britain, Eire, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA, as well as notable Discworld dates. This year's calendar draws upon the whimsical, remarkable art of long-time Discworld collaborator, Paul Kidby – the man whose depictions Terry Pratchett himself described as being 'the closest anyone's got to how I see the characters'."
The Discworld Destinations Collector's Edition 2020 calendar is published by Victor Gollancz Ltd. Each calendar measures 300x300mm, is priced at £18.50 (price includes free shipping in the UK only) and will be available from August. For more details, and to pre-order, go to:
https://shop.paulkidby.com/terry-pratchetts-discworld-destinations-collectors-edition-2020-calendar/
...and an action replay of those wonderful new Good Omens special editions:
"The iconic fantasy novel from Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman becomes definitive! First published in 1990, translated into multiple languages and released in numerous editions across the world, Good Omens has spawned a BBC radio series and now a primetime television series from Amazon Studios and BBC Worldwide. Illustrated for the first time by artist and longterm Pratchett-collaborator Paul Kidby, using a new definitive text, agreed by Neil Gaiman and the Terry Pratchett Estate, these five editions represent the ultimate culmination of the imaginations of the UK’s two foremost fantasy authors."
You can pre-order through Discworld.com or PaulKidby.com. The standard hardcover and standard slipcase editions will be published on 4th April 2019; the Occult, Ineffable and Celestial editions will follow on 20th June 2019, although there's a disclaimer saying "Production time for the Celestial Edition will vary" -- understandable, as you'll see when you read the description below! Please note that prices listed below are "recommended" and may be higher.
In standard hardcover, 234 x 153mm: "Hardback with 12 colour illustrations and 5 pencil illustrations." Priced at £30 each.
...and standard slipcase, same size: "Slipcase hardback with 12 colour illustrations and 5 black and white illustrations. Numbered tipped-in sheet signed by Paul Kidby.' Priced at £75 each.
The Occult edition, 305 x 230mm: 'Hardback in a clamshell box, with metallic red page edges, 17 colour illustrations with additional pencil illustrations. Numbered tipped-in sheet signed by Paul Kidby." Limited to 1655 copies and priced at £95.
The Ineffable edition, same size: "Hardback in a deluxe presentation box, with gold page edges, 17 colour illustrations with additional pencil illustrations. Numbered tipped-in sheet signed by Neil Gaiman & Paul Kidby. Separate folio of Good Omens ephemera." Limited to, yes, 666 copies and priced at £295.
And last but definitely not least, the Celestial edition, also same size: "Leather-bound hardback in an artisan presentation box, with gold foil page edges, 17 colour illustrations with additional pencil illustrations. Each copy individually hand-printed and bound. Named tipped-in sheets, each corresponding to a letter of the Greek alphabet, signed by Neil Gaiman & Paul Kidby. Separate folio of Good Omens ephemera." Limited to 24 copies and priced at... well, you have to ask!
For more information, and to order, go to: http://goodomensillustrated.com/
4.5 ORANGUTAN NEWS
A newly discovered orangutan species is more endangered than before:
"The world's most endangered orangutans could be pushed towards extinction after an Indonesian court approved a controversial dam project, say campaigners... The region is home to the Tapanuli orangutans, which were only identified as a new species in 2017. Only 800 of them remain in the wild and they all live in this ecosystem. One scientist, who acted as an expert witness in the case, told the BBC the move would 'put the orangutans on a firm path to extinction'. The billion-dollar hydropower dam, scheduled for completion in 2022, will be constructed in the heart of the Batang Toru rainforest, which is also home to agile gibbons and Sumatran tigers... Environmental group the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) had earlier this year filed a lawsuit against the North Sumatra administration, challenging its decision to green-light the project. But the Medan State Administrative Court in North Sumatra has now rejected the lawsuit, clearing the way for the dam to be built..."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47451354
...and a small ray of hope:
"Scott Kennedy and Fergus Moore said they came up with a unique way to extract oil from used coffee grounds which had a wide range of uses. Palm oil is found in many household products, but environmentalists say demand for it is devastating rainforests in Asia. Manufacturers are now under pressure to find an alternative. Mr Moore told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: 'About 60% of a cafe's waste is about coffee grounds. In Scotland, that amounts to about 40,000 tonnes a year – across the UK, more than half a million tonnes. And coffee grounds are so heavy that it takes their waste bill through the roof.' Explaining the idea behind his Revive Eco company, Mr Moore said: 'There are oils in coffee with a wide range of uses in different industries – cosmetics pharmaceuticals, food and drink, household products – you name it, there's probably a use there. We're developing a process to extract and purify these oils." Mr Moore added: "The most exciting part for us is that they have all the same components as palm. Palm oil's in the news for all the wrong reasons. It's really exciting for us that we could potentially provide a local and more sustainable alternative to all the industries that are currently using palm oil.'..."
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-48023412
4.6 ALZHEIMER'S NEWS
A new avenue of possible treatment? Pallab Ghosh reports for BBC news:
"New results suggest ageing brains can potentially be rejuvenated, at least in mice, according to researchers. Very early-stage experiments indicate that drugs can be developed to stop or even reverse mental decline. The results were presented at the 2019 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The US and Canadian researchers took two new approaches to trying to prevent the loss of memory and cognitive decline that can come with old age. One team, from the University of California, Berkeley, showed MRI scans which indicated that mental decline may be caused by molecules leaking into the brain. Blood vessels in the brain are different from those in other parts of the body. They protect the organ by allowing only nutrients, oxygen and some drugs to flow through into the brain, but block larger, potentially damaging molecules. This is known as the blood-brain barrier. The scans revealed that this barrier becomes increasingly leaky as we get older. For example, 30-40% of people in their 40s have some disruption to their blood-brain barrier, compared with 60% of 60-year-olds. The scans also showed that the brain was inflamed in the leaky areas. Prof Daniela Kaufer, who leads the Berkeley group, said that young mice altered to have leaky blood-brain barriers showed many signs of aging. She discovered a chemical that stops the damage to the barrier from causing inflammation to the brain. Prof Kaufer told BBC News that not only did the chemical stop the genetically altered young mice from showing signs of aging, it reversed the signs of aging in older mice..."
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47234787
In The Guardian, another approach, reported by Philip Ball:
"Half a million people in the UK are living with Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. And while the risks generally increase with age, thousands are afflicted under the age of 65. Inheritable genetic conditions can lead to familial Alzheimer’s, which can afflict people as young as 30... Some medications can reduce memory loss and aid concentration, but these merely alleviate the symptoms or boost the performance of those neurons in the brain that remain unaffected. They do nothing to stop or slow down the killing-off of brain cells by this neurodegenerative condition. It is a bleak picture. Part of the problem with developing drugs is that the causes of Alzheimer’s are still not fully understood. Moreover, the disease is also challenging to combat because, like cancer, it is not caused by an invading pathogen. It arises from our own biology – from something that our cells are prone to doing. But, also like cancer, one of the most promising current approaches to a cure enlists our body’s own defences, using the immune system to ward off the disease by means of immunotherapy. Immunotherapy works in the same way as vaccines, by helping the immune system recognise and attack cancer cells, and many researchers and some pharmaceutical companies are now striving to make a vaccine against Alzheimer’s. Some immunotherapeutic drugs are now in clinical trials, being tested on human volunteers to see if they are safe and effective. There is good reason to hope that the vaccination strategy might ultimately be effective for treating or warding off this widespread, devastating and fatal condition..."
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/03/alzheimers-disease-immune-system-immunotherapy-vaccine
...and also in The Guardian, some news of possible interest, as reported by Hannah Devlin:
"A decline in memory as a result of ageing can be temporarily reversed using a harmless form of electrical brain stimulation, scientists have found. The findings help explain why certain cognitive skills decline significantly with age and raise the prospect of new treatments. 'Age-related changes are not unchangeable,' said Robert Reinhart, a neuroscientist at Boston University, who led the work. 'We can bring back the superior working memory function that you had when you were much younger.' The study focused on a part of cognition called working memory, the brain system that holds information for short periods while we are making decisions or performing calculations. Working memory is crucial for a wide variety of tasks, such as recognising faces, doing arithmetic and navigating a new environment. Working memory is known to steadily decline with age, even in the absence of any form of dementia. One factor in this decline is thought to be a disconnection between two brain networks, known as the prefrontal and temporal regions. In young people, the electrical brain activity in these two regions tends to be rhythmically synchronised, which scientists think allows information to be exchanged between the two brain areas. However, in older people the activity tends to be less tightly synchronised. This may be as result of deterioration of the long-range nerve connections that link up the different parts of the brain.
"In the study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, 42 people aged 20–29 and 42 people aged 60–76 were assessed in a working memory task. The older group were slower and less accurate on the tests. The scientists then subjected them all to 25 minutes of non-invasive brain stimulation. This aimed to synchronise the two target brain regions by passing gentle pulses of electricity through the scalp and into the brain. After the intervention, working memory in the older adults improved to match the younger group and the effect appeared to last for 50 minutes after the stimulation. Those who had scored worst to start with showed the largest improvements..."
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/apr/08/scientists-use-electrical-pulses-reverse-memory-decline-ageing
4.7 A WORLD OF FANTASY IN EASY REACH
The Azrian Portal is an "online fantasy fiction platform" that was first started as a resource for free-access short stories in the genre. Now the site has launched a series of guides to fantasy fiction:
"Included within the series is an insight into the new fantasy books of 2019, the best dark fantasy books available and a guide to epic fantasy. A look at the best fantasy fiction of all time is also featured, with works from authors such as Tolkien, Terry Pratchett and G.R.R Martin all making the list. 'As the genre continues to see increased interest, it felt important to help newcomers to fantasy find the books that will really resonate with them.' States James Speyer, writer for The Azrian Portal. 'There is such a wealth of content out there, and so many books to read, but we all know how limited time can be. Many fantasy books range into the hundreds of thousands of words, and a series can last a lifetime." Speyer continues. "These guides to the best new and old fantasy fiction are designed to be a jumping off point for those who want to make the most of their reading potential and find the perfect novels for them.'..."
https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/480794538/online-fiction-platform-launches-fantasy-guide-series
https://www.theazrianportal.com/
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05) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS
Editor's note: as Wossname normally only comes out once every month, do check the Wossname blog for information on plays that might fall between issue dates! Go to https://wossname.dreamwidth.org/ for interim updates.
* WYRD SISTERS IN RICKMANSWORTH (APRIL)
The Rickmansworth Players will be staging their production of Wyrd Sisters this week!
When: tonight (30th April)–4th May
Venue: Watford Pump House Theatre, Local Board Road, Watford, WD17 2JP UK
Time: 7.30pm all evening shows, matinee on the 4th at 2.30pm
Tickets: £12–£14, available online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/296620 or via the box office (phone 03336663366)
https://www.rickmansworth-players.org.uk
* LORDS AND LADIES IN BASILDON (MAY)
The Thalian Theatre Group is back with another Discworld production. This time it's Lords and Ladies!
When: 2nd–4th May
Venue: Mirren Studio, Basildon Towngate theatre, Towngate Theatre, St Martin's Square, Basildon, Essex SS14 1DL
Time: 7.45pm all shows
Tickets: £13 (concessions £11, disabled £9), available from https://towngatetheatre.co.uk/lords-and-ladies/ or via the box office (phone 01268205300)
* GOOD OMENS IN WOLLONGONG, FOURECKS (MAY)
Amazon Prime may have the big-budget version of Good Omens, but the MerrigongX theatre company has the musical!
"An apocalyptically atypical new musical based on the novel by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman. Music & Lyrics by Vicki Larnach. Book by Jim Hare, Jay James-Moody & Vicki Larnach. Based on the novel by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman. According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world’s only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner. The armies of good and evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, fish are falling, and everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. A fussy angel and a fast-living demon are not looking forward to the impending rapture. They team up to circumvent the end of days but there is one problem. Someone seems to have misplaced the Anti-Christ."
When: 3rd and 4th May 2019
Venue: Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, 32 Burelli Street, Wollongong,
Time: evening shows both days 7.30pm; matinee on the 4th at 1.30pm. Running time is approximately 2 hours 20 minutes including an interval.
Tickets: $30 (pensioners/concessions $18), available now from https://sa2.seatadvisor.com/sabo/servlets/EventSearch?presenter=AUMTCO&event=GOOD19 (note: per transaction fee of $6.95 applies for phone and online bookings)
https://merrigong.com.au/shows/good-omens-development-showing/
* WYRD SISTERS IN EAST SUSSEX (MAY)
Crowborough Community Centre will present "a hilarious stage version of Terry Pratchett’s classic novel" Wyrd Sisters in May. It's their first-ever Discworld play!
When: 10th–11th May 2019
Venue: Crowborough Community Centre, Pine Grove, Crowborough, East Sussex TN6
Time: 7.45pm all evening shows: also, 2.30pm matinee on the 11th
Tickets: £9.50 (£8 concessions), available online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/thecrowboroughplayers or by ringing 01892 300 567
"There is no age restriction, so younger children are welcome but note that, unlike our pantomimes, the production isn't aimed at a younger audience. Any questions, email crowborough.tickets@gmail.com or call 01892 300567."
https://crowborough.weebly.com/spring-play1.html
* WYRD SISTERS IN SUFFOLK (MAY)
The Deben Players, an amateur company that has been presenting plays for over 50 years, will stage Wyrd Sisters in May. It's a Discworld first for them as well!
When: 22nd–25th May 2019
Venue: Seckford Theatre, Burkitt Road, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 4JJ
Time: 7.30pm all shows
Tickets: £12 (£10 concessions), available online at http://debenplayers.net/tickets
https://debenplayers.net
* MEN AT ARMS IN CHESHAM (JUNE)
Chesham Bois Catholic Players are back with a new Discworld play, Men at Arms! "The Ankh-Morpork City Night Watch find their services are once more needed to tackle a threat to their city. A threat at least as deadly as a 60-foot dragon, but mechanical and heartless to boot. It kills without compunction. It is the first gun on the Discworld. It’s the Century of the Fruitbat and modernisation and diversity have come to the Night Watch. The original Watch – Captain Vimes, Sergeant Colon, Corporal Carrot and Corporal Nobbs – are joined by some new recruits, selected to reflect the city’s ethnic make-up – Lance Corporal Detritus a troll, Lance-constables Cuddy (little known fact both male and females have beards and the female of the species is the dominant one). Certainly, unbeknown to the recruiting office of the Watch with a diversity quota to fill. So, he was desperate for a female recruit when Angua turned up (she is a bit more diverse then most as she is werewolf). A fact the recruiter was also unaware of..."
When: 1st, 7th and 8th June 2019
Venue: Chesham Little Theatre, Church Street, Chesham, Bucks HP5 1HU
Time: TBA
Tickets: TBA
www.littletheatrechesham.co.uk
www.cbcplayers.co.uk
https://twitter.com/CBCPlayers
And later in the year...
* MEN AT ARMS IN CARDIFF (AUGUST)
Peculiar Productions continue the Cardiff tradition of fine Discworld plays with a new production of Men at Arms! "The City Watch needs men! And women, of course. Not to mention dwarfs, trolls, gargoyles, and whatever Nobby Nobbs actually is. Commander Vimes needs to make sure they can all get along, and fast – because no-one else can stop a deadly secret that stalks the streets…"
Adapted by Stephen Briggs. Directed by Matthew Hitchman.
When: 21st–24th August 2019,
Venue: The Gate Arts Centre, Cardiff
Time: TBA
Tickets: available online via https://peculiarproductions.co.uk/tickets/ More info on prices TBA
https://peculiarproductions.co.uk/
* MASKERADE IN BRISBANE (SEPTEMBER)
Brisbane Arts Theatre continue their justified love affair with Discworld plays with a new production of Maskerade!
When: 14th September–12th October 2019 (Thursdays through Sundays)
Venue: Brisbane Arts Theatre, 210 Petrie Terrace, Petrie Terrace, QLD 4000
Time: all Thursday shows 7.30pm, all Friday and Saturday shows 8pm, all Sunday shows 6.30pm
Tickets: $23–34, available online at https://bit.ly/2IOWLdw or via the box office (phone (07) 3369 2344)
https://www.artstheatre.com.au/maskerade
* MASKERADE IN ELTHAM[1] (OCTOBER)
Eldorado Musical Productions will be staging their production of Maskerade in October!
When: 9th–12th October 2019
Venue: Bob Hope Theatre, Wythfield Road, Eltham SE9 5TG (box office phone 0208 850 3702)
Time: 7.45pm all evening shows; matinee at 2.30pm on the 12th
Tickets: £15 (£13 on opening night), not yet available but will be via https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/bob-hope-theatre and from the Box Office which is open Tuesdays through Saturdays 10am–1pm.
http://www.eldoradomusicalproductions.co.uk/maskerade/4594338795
[1] Note for Fourecksians: that's Eltham in Greater London, not the one in Melbourne – Ed.
* GOING POSTAL IN EMERALD, FOURECKS (OCTOBER)
The Gemco Players will present their production of Going Postal in October! "Moist von Lipwig was a con artist, a fraud and a man faced with a life choice: be hanged, or put Ankh-Morpork's ailing postal service back on its feet. It was a tough decision. With the help of a golem who has been at the bottom of hole in the ground for over two hundred years, a pin fanatic and Junior Postman Groat, he's got to see that the mail gets through. In taking on the evil chairman of the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company, and a midnight killer, he's also got to stay alive. Getting a date with Adora Bell Dearheart would be nice, too. In the mad world of the mail, can a criminal succeed where honest men have failed and died? Perhaps there's a shot at redemption for man who's prepared to push the envelope..."
When: 11th–26th October 2019 (Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only)
Venue: Gem Community Arts Centre, 19 Kilvington Drive, Emerald, VIC 3782
Time: all Friday and Saturday shows 8pm; Sunday matinees 2pm
Tickets: prices TBA. Tickets will be available online via https://www.trybooking.com/BAGWG from 9pm on 11th August
https://gemco-players.squarespace.com/whatson/2018/12/5/going-postal
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06) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS
The Broken Drummers, "London's Premier Unofficially Official Discworld Group" (motto "Nil percussio est"), will next meet on Monday 6th May, starting at an earlier than usual 1pm due to the Bank Holiday, and will be held outdoors if weather permits.
Drummers' April meet report, by Helen: "[This month] we met a week later than usual. The reason for the change was the Irish Discworld Convention and much of the talk centred on that. I took part in the convention dramatics, as did Chico, who was also present last night. We told everyone how the election that formed the convention dramatics story was hijacked when someone added a ballot box for an anarchist dwarf character (played by Helen C) who then won the election by a landslide. This was so typically Discworld and a brilliant, if unforseen conclusion. I showed everyone pictures of myself as Frau Gateau, a rather unkind witch and Chico as Igor as well as the cast photos. These are all available on the Facebook page. I was asked if anything was recorded. The answer is yes but I'm not sure how much and I don't yet have permission to share it. Watch this space. Charles did a quiz on Making Money, which was less difficult than his last quiz but still quite difficult. I won, beating my husband by half a point. I nevertheless cursed myself for not being able to remember the name of the female golem (Gladys)... We now have a WhatsApp group, if you would like to join, please send me your number..."
https://twitter.com/BrokenDrummers/status/1117105124667793408
For more information, email BrokenDrummers@gmail.com or nicholls.helen@yahoo.co.uk or join their Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/55107511411/permalink/10156634038566412/
*
Canberra, Australia's Discworld fan group is Drumknott's Irregulars: "The group is open to all, people from interstate and overseas are welcome, and our events will not be heavily themed. Come along to dinner for a chat and good company. We welcome people from all fandoms (and none) and we would love to see you at one of our events, even if you're just passing through. Please contact us via Facebook (_https://www.facebook.com/groups/824987924250161/_) or Google Groups (_https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/drumknotts-irregulars_) or join us at our next event."
*
For Facebook users in Fourecks: The Victorian Discworld Klatch is "a social group for fans of Discworld and Terry Pratchett... run by a dedicated team who meet monthly and organise events monthly." "If you'd like to join our events please ask to join the Klatch."
https://www.facebook.com/groups/VictorianDiscworldKlatch
*
"The Gathering of the Loonies (Wincanton chapter)" is a public Facebook meeting group: "This group, by request of Jo in Bear will continue to be used for future unofficial (not run by the Emporium) fan Gatherings in Wincanton. Look here for information."
https://www.facebook.com/groups/373578522834654/
*
The Pratchett Partisans are a fan group who meet monthly at either Brisbane or Indooroopilly to "eat, drink and chat about all things Pratchett. We hold events such as Discworld dinners, games afternoons, Discworld photo scavenger hunts. We also attend opening night at Brisbane Arts Theatre's Discworld plays." The Partisans currently have about 200 members who meet at least twice a month, usually in Brisbane.
For more info about their next meetup, join up at https://www.facebook.com/groups/pratchettpartisans/ or contact Ula directly at uwilmott@yahoo.com.au
*
The City of Small Gods is a group for fans in Adelaide and South Australia: "We have an established Terry Pratchett & Discworld fan group in Adelaide called The City of Small Gods, which is open to anyone who would like to come – you don't have to live in Adelaide or even South Australia, or even be a Discworld fan, but that's mostly where our events will be held, and we do like discussing Pratchett's works. Our (semi-) regular meetings are generally held on the last Thursday of the month at a pub or restaurant in Adelaide. We have dinner at 6.30pm followed by games until 9pm. Every few months, we have a full day's worth of board games at La Scala Cafe, 169 Unley Rd, Unley in the function room starting at 10am. In addition, we will occasionally have other events to go and see plays by Unseen Theatre Company, book discussions, craft, chain maille or costuming workshops or other fun social activities."
The next CoSG events will be a Going Postal discussion on 11th May, and the monthly dinner (at the Seven Stars Hotel) on 30tyh May.
The CoSG also have another identity. Here's the skinny:
Round World Events SA Inc is a not-for-profit incorporated association whose aim is to run fun social Pratchett-themed events for people in South Australia. Our first major event was the Unseen University Convivium held in July 2012. We have also run three successful and booked out Science Fiction and Fantasy themed quiz nights named Quiz Long And Prosper, in 2013, 2014 and 2015! The association will run some events under the City of Small Gods banner, but you do not have to be a Round World Events SA member to be part of City of Small Gods. However, we are always on the look out for new members for Round World Events SA to help us organise future events! Membership is $20 a year (for Adelaide locals) or $5 a year (for those not quite so close) and has the following benefits:
A shiny membership certificate all of your very own
Discounted entry price to some of the events we run
A warm, fuzzy feeling deep down in your chest (no, not quite that deep)
For more information, or to join as a member, please email RoundWorldEventsSA@gmail.com
www.cityofsmallgods.org.au
*
The Broken Vectis Drummers meet next on Thursday 2nd May (probably) from 7.30pm at The Castle pub in Newport, Isle of Wight. For more info and any queries, contact broken_vectis_drummers@yahoo.co.uk
*
The Wincanton Omnian Temperance Society (WOTS) next meets on Friday 3rd May (possibly) at Wincanton's famous Bear Inn from 7pm onwards. "Visitors and drop-ins are always welcome!"
*
The Northern Institute of the Ankh-Morpork and District Society of Flatalists, a Pratchett fangroup, has been meeting on a regular basis since 2005. The Flatalists normally meet at The Narrowboat Pub in Victoria Street, Skipton, North Yorkshire, to discuss "all things Pratchett" as well as having quizzes and raffles. Details of future meetings are posted on the Events section of the Discworld Stamps forum:
http://www.discworldstamps.co.uk/forum/
*
Sydney Drummers (formerly Drummers Downunder) meet next on Monday 6th May (possibly) at 6.30pm in Sydney at 3 Wise Monkeys, 555 George Street, Sydney 2000. For more information, contact Sue (aka Granny Weatherwax): kenworthys@yahoo.co.uk
*
The Treacle Mining Corporation, formerly known as Perth Drummers, meet next on Monday 6th May (possibly) at Old Shanghai, 123 James Street, Northbridge, Perth, Western Australia. For details join their Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Perth.Drummers/ – or message Alexandra Ware directly at <alexandra.ware@gmail.com>
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07) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
Blogger Queer and Confused completely "gets" the Pratchett ability to write sympathetic characters:
"I’ve just finished rereading Unseen Academicals, in it there is genderqueer polyamorous couple. The characters have depth, warmth, and at no point did they feel tokenistic, they felt like real people. The book was published when Pratchett was 61, 2 years after his Alzheimer’s diagnosis. This empathy, the depth he displayed in characters so beyond his own experience, is why I love his books, why I’m glad his writing was such a strong presence during my formative years. Treating others experiences generously and understanding the variety in human experiences is such a beautiful thing..."
https://queerdoconfusion.wordpress.com/2019/02/13/pondering-pratchett/
Blogger Hedgehog O'Brien on the real-world importance of reading Discworld:
I’ve been on a Discworld re-read for about a year now, and it just struck me how Pterry gets progressively angrier and less subtle about it throughout the series. Like, we start out nice and easy with Rincewind who’s on some wacky adventures and ha ha ha oh golly that Twoflower sure is silly and the Luggage is epic, where can I get one. Meanwhile Rincewind just wants to live out his boring days as a boring Librarian but is dragged along against his will by an annoying little tourist guy... then you get to Small Gods, in which organized religion is eviscerated so thoroughly that if it was human, even the Quisition would say it’s gone a bit too far while at the same time not condemning people having faith which is kind of an important distinction. You get to Men at Arms and I encourage everybody with an opinion on the Second Amendment to read that one. You get to Jingo, Monstrous Regiment, Going Postal (featuring an evil CEO who is squeezing his own company dry to get to every last penny, not caring one lick about his product or his workers or his customers or anything else and who, coincidentally, works out of Tump Tower. I’m not making this up). And just when you think, whew, this is getting a bit much but hey, look, he wrote YA as well! And it’s about this cute little girl who wants to be a witch and has help from a lot of rowdy blue little men, this will be fun! A bit of a break from all the anger! Wrong. The Tiffany Aching books are the angriest of all. But you know what the great thing is? The great thing is that Pterry’s anger is the kind of fury that makes you want to get up and do something about it..."
http://hedgehog-o-brien.tumblr.com/post/172200514396/ive-been-on-a-discworld-re-read-for-about-a-year
Blogger Dial H for Houston's admiring review of Men at Arms:
"Terry Pratchett books are really, really hard to review. It’s easy enough to roast some dollar-bin sci-fi schlock (which I honestly haven’t done in awhile), but if you do it too much you almost don’t know what to make of a good book. And Men At Arms is pretty dang good, guys. Men At Arms is the 15th Discworld novel, and the second in Pratchett’s ‘Watch Series,’ the collection of novels centered on Sam Vimes, captain of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch... The Watch novels are arguably the best of the Discworld books, as they’re a fun combination of crime, fantasy, and comedy. Of course, this being Pratchett, it’s not just hijinks and shameless puns. Rather, Ankh-Morpork, a sprawling, dirty complicated city, acts as something of a reflection of our own world. For example, the growing populations of dwarfs and trolls coming to the city are obvious metaphors for immigration and cultural assimilation– themes that come to the fore as we get the first appearances of key Watch members like Detritus the troll, or Angua Von Uberwald, werewolf. Honestly, Men at Arms is pretty interesting in that it’s something of a turning point, in which Pratchett starts really developing and changing the setting of Discworld into its own thing, rather than a charmingly ramshackle pastiche of other fantasy books. I haven’t read the entirety of Pratchett’s work (so at least I’ve still got something to look forward to), but I dare say Men at Arms is the first great Discworld novel..."
https://dialhforhouston.wordpress.com/2019/02/18/book-review-terry-pratchetts-men-at-arms/
Blogger The English Student is back with yet more possibly overthought thoughts on Maskerade:
"There’s something very Twelfth Night about this novel: the Opera House is a place where people experiment with their identities, slip into new roles, as it were. Agnes reinvents herself as Perdita X. Nitt (“Perditax”, as Nanny Ogg insists on calling her), a person she feels is more interesting and thinner (more on that later) than Agnes is. Nanny Ogg becomes A Lancre Witch, bestselling author of a cookbook that puts Nigella Lawson’s innuendoes to shame. A painfully shy young man finds confidence and grace when he puts on a mask. It’s good fun seeing the witches confronted with this chaotic role-play: Pratchett tends to put them in stories about stories anyway, about how stories shape our perceptions of ourselves and others, and how we perform those stories. But I think Maskerade is a weaker example of the type: I’m not convinced that its anarchic performative play has a point beyond itself. It’s just fun. The Opera House, and its particular superstitions and narratives, is important in that it allows for this kind of experimentation, but it is ultimately a closed world, beholden only to itself..."
https://englishstudens.wordpress.com/2019/02/21/review-maskerade/
...and on Feet of Clay:
"As with all of the Discworld novels, the plot is so encrusted with wordplay and humour and rich vital detail that it’s pretty much vestigial, but it is, more or less, a murder mystery... There is, in other words, a lot going on. That’s one of the great joys of the Ankh-Morpork novels, though: how full they are of life and incident, of the anarchic and wonderful energies of the archetypal city. (Ankh-Morpork is pretty obviously a mirror of London, with its great curving polluted river, its Isle of Gods, its defunct city gates.) Much of that energy is generated by the social tensions the novel lays out, conflicts between old and new: the centuries-old vampire who manipulates short-lived humans like pawns on a chessboard comes up against the newly-relevant Watch and its stubbornly working-class Commander Vimes, fast rising to prominence; the brand-new concept of dwarf femininity attracts the opprobrium of much of dwarf-kind; the idea of golems suddenly having rights and thoughts and plans of their own is abhorrent, even terrifying, to Ankh-Morpork’s citizenry. But there’s nothing schematic or straightforward about this broad pattern of tension..."
https://englishstudens.wordpress.com/2019/03/07/review-feet-of-clay/
Blogger Tyson Adams' very positive five-star review of The Light Fantastic:
"Luggage that doesn’t get lost? This must be a fantasy novel. After shooting off the edge of the Discworld in The Colour of Magic, Rincewind and Twoflower are magically returned to the Disc for reasons unknown. The world turtle, Great A’Tuin, is swimming through space, excited about the red star it is approaching. The Wizards have noticed the red star and the magical change that allowed Rincewind and Twoflower to return, allowing them to uncover an ancient prophecy. Can the prophecy be fulfilled before Great A’Tuin reaches their destination? When I finished The Colour of Magic I was a little peeved. Whilst a continuing story cliffhanger is a common fantasy trope, a book satirising fantasy tropes should surely rise above such shenanigans. That downgraded my rating to 4 stars. Happily, The Light Fantastic finished the story started in The Colour of Magic in a highly entertaining fashion..."
https://tysonadams.com/2019/02/22/book-review-the-light-fantastic-by-terry-pratchett/
Blogger 42dentarthurdent's take on promoting the Discworld series to newbies:
"With so many books in the series, it can be seen as a rather daunting endeavour to begin reading, and the subseries can tend to confuse the matter. Every Discworld fan has different opinions on where a new reader should start, although almost none will ever tell you to read them all chronologically. This is because while Colour of Magic is the first book in the series, as well as the beginning of the Rincewind subseries, it isn’t the finest example of the overall works. This was when he was just getting started and the Discworld was still a rough diamond. Personally, I enjoy reading from the very beginning to the very end because of that. You can see how both the Disc grows from being just a satirical parody of other fantasy worlds to its own distinct thing, and how PTerry grows as a writer and person... Equal Rites is the first real foray into what the Discworld will come to be known for... It’s by simple twist of fate that the eighth son’s eighth son to whom the dying wizard leaves his staff, turns out to be a girl. This is also the introduction to one of my favourite characters, Granny Weatherwax, a very senior witch. It’s from those first few books that the entire world sprung, and yet most fans of the series tend to avoid recommending them because of their unpolished nature in comparison to the rest of the series...
"The subseries of the Discworld are Rincewind, the Witches, the Watch, Death/Susan (his granddaughter), Moist von Lipwig, Tiffany Aching (his YA Disc books), Science of the Discworld (which interacts with our own), and arguably the Wizards. I say arguably because apart from Moving Pictures and Unseen Academicals, their books all fit into other subseries as well, generally Rincewind’s which is why they’re often simply lumped together... There are other books in the series as well, very good books indeed, but those don’t fit neatly into subseries the way the ones I’ve mentioned do. The beauty of the Discworld is that despite the fact that all the stories are interwoven to create the vast story of the world, it’s possible to pick up any book in the series and enjoy it by itself..."
https://loremipsum.family.blog/2019/02/25/introduction-to-the-discworld/
...and blogger Specfictlit's, on the "Death series":
"While the Discworld Death isn’t the definitive version, he does loom large. Possibly because like most classical depictions, he’s a skeleton in a big black robe toting a scythe. Like with many of his creations, Terry takes the base elements, the universally recognised characteristics and gets to work in playing around with them. In his endless inhumanity, the Discworld death possesses character. He has a fondness for cats, he tries hard to be creative and caring but makes fundamental mistakes. Death is gentle and terrible and, when the going gets tough, he’s always there. And this is the only Discworld strand so far where I haven’t had to look up the plots. Of course, there are deathly cameos in most of the books of the series but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t get his own series to make feature appearances..."
https://specfictlit.wordpress.com/2019/02/28/ranking-my-journey-through-the-discworld-so-far-death-edition/
Blogger Hobbleit returns with a review of Pyramids:
"I don’t think that Pyramids would have been a Discworld novel I ever would have read if I wasn’t trying to read more Pratchett which is a shame because I actually enjoyed reading it very much. It is typically Pratchett in style, very quirky and funny. There were several places where I was laughing out loud, especially the part where Teppic is arguing with the Sphinx over his riddle and Death’s cameo appearance was also very amusing. Then again, an appearance from Death can raise the quality of any story, in my opinion. The characters are fun to read. Teppic is an amusing protagonist, the son of the king who is sent to Ankh-Morpork to train to be an assassin and the camels were very funny to read. You Bastard has the best name ever. Also Ptraci, whose speech impediment means she says every ‘T’ word with a ‘P’ added on. Speaking of the names, only Terry Pratchett could get away with calling his Ancient Egyptian inspired region of the Discworld Djelibeybi. It’s such a daft joke but it really made me laugh. All in all I enjoyed Pyramids more than I expected. .."
https://hobbleit.wordpress.com/2019/02/25/terry-pratchett-read-a-thon-february-book-7-pyramids/
Blogger We Are Just Stories' paean to The Long Cosmos:
"I got really emotional at the end of this book, it’s the last in The Long Earth series and one of the last books Terry Pratchett wrote. Stephen Baxter wrote a lovely introduction at the beginning and said that the last time he saw Terry was when they wrote the last quarter of the book. The Long Cosmos is set nearly sixty years after Step Day when humans figured out how to step into endless parallel Earths. Over the series we’ve been far out into these worlds with Joshua, Sally, Lobsang and Maggie. In the third book, The Long Mars, Sally and her father went to explore the parallels of Mars, this was my favourite, The whole series is really clever and fascinating, but this story is another step up, the message from the stars and how we can reach them..."
https://wearejuststories.home.blog/2019/02/27/the-long-cosmos-review/
Blogger Too Many Posts' review of Monstrous Regiment:
"I bloody loved this. I was smiling and chuckling to myself throughout the book as Pratchett displays his usual flair for fast flowing, clever and incredibly funny writing. He layers in jokes throughout, with running gags, knowing asides and wry observations. Despite the fantastical setting, Pratchett is a student of the human condition, describing common failings, foibles and emotions. There’s a healthy skewering of the romantic way war is often presented, with Pratchett describing a conflict of chaos, blundering, needless death and foolhardy attempts to be a hero. Polly and her comrades have to navigate the near sighted bureaucracy of the military, deal with propaganda and shepherd a rather foolish officer through the war. Polly is the reasonably clever and level headed character in a world of fools, nutters and unlucky bastards, and her perspective allows us to see the characters up close, her own insights growing as she observes them. I really enjoyed how Pratchett slowly ramps up the ridiculousness of it all, adding in each daft development or twist in a way that never feels forced and just increases the humour of the novel..."
https://toomanyposts.wordpress.com/2019/03/04/book-review-monstrous-regiment-by-terry-pratchett/
Blogger The Idle Woman returns with her re-read review of Small Gods:
"If Pratchett’s early Discworld books are riffs on self-contained themes – whether that’s Ancient Egypt, Hollywood, Macbeth, or Faust – Small Gods broadens its scope slightly. The butts of the jokes are identifiable, with the Spanish Inquisition, Galileo and Greek philosophy coming in for a more or less equal share of satire, but there are also serious questions about the nature of faith. Pratchett’s gods are divided between the raucous, Olympian-style pantheon of big-hitters up on Cori Celesti, and the ‘small gods’ of the title: deities of spring or field or minor cities, who have come into existence through the power of their worshippers’ devotions. A god might come into being when a shepherd builds a cairn in gratitude for finding a lost lamb; that same god might rise to become the titular deity of a great civilisation; but in time, as the civilisation fails and times change, the god shrinks back into nothingness. There is only power so long as there is belief and those gods who’ve lost their believers fade into chittering voices in the wilderness... Just in case this sounds a bit serious, you can rest assured that there are plenty of fun moments..."
https://theidlewoman.net/2019/03/06/small-gods-terry-pratchett/
...and of Lords and Ladies:
"...we don’t only have witches, but wizards too! The faculty of Unseen University are shocked when Archchancellor Ridcully decides to attend the wedding of a minor Ramtop royal, heading off with a questionable escort of nervous young Ponder Stibbons, the frantic Bursar and the Librarian (who, in case you needed reminding, is an orangutan). But they might be even more shocked if they could see into Ridcully’s mind. For going back to Lancre is a way to revisit his youth, and face the results of decisions he made as a young man – decisions he’s always secretly wondered about. Obviously, just in case this is sounding a bit serious, there’s also Morris dancing, full choruses of those Discworld classics The Hedgehog Song and A Wizard’s Staff has a Knob on the End, and unmediated Nanny Ogg. So it’s all jolly good stuff. But – forgive me for being serious again for a moment – the story does have a deeper theme, not the cheerful demolition of Shakespeare’s plot, but something more thought-provoking. The book asks many of its characters to decide who they want to be, or to reflect on the decision they made many years ago. Magrat must wrestle with her conscience and decide what it means to be a queen and whether she can reconcile herself to such a change of lifestyle. Granny and Ridcully must look back on the choices they both made, to pursue their study of magic over the possibility of a more normal life. Even the silly girls with their fledgling ‘coven’ must decide whether to pursue their rebellious teenage dreams of witchcraft or fit into the conventional world around them (I raise a toast to an early cameo by Agnes Nitt). To a small degree, even Nanny Ogg’s burly son Jason the blacksmith must reflect on the consequences of the deal he accepted: in order to have the talent to shoe anything, one must shoe anything. We make these deals with the world around us, never knowing at the time what is right or not, but having to trust only that we’re making the right choice..."
https://theidlewoman.net/2019/03/07/lords-and-ladies-terry-pratchett/
...and of Soul Music:
"At the age of sixteen, both Susan and Imp/Buddy have found themselves thrown into situations beyond their control, engineered by occult forces, isolating them even further from anyone who understand. So far, so history of adolescence. And this story of self-fashioning and self-discovery blends with some classic Pratchett comedy, courtesy of the wizards of Unseen University. They are deeply affected by the compulsive new Music With Rocks In, none more so than the Dean, who begins showing a distressing tendency to grease his hair into a quiff, make strange trousers with rivets on, and rebel against the Archchancellor’s rules with all the panache of a grizzly teenager. As the music gets its claws into everyone and everything, only a few brave souls stand clear of the madness: the Archchancellor, Susan, and the Death of Rats, who must try to track down his erstwhile master Death before things get completely out of hand. Every element of the story seems to work perfectly with the others, and Pratchett has great fun with the cliches of rock music – the groupies, the tour shirts, the wannabe band which changes their name once a day for more effect, the avaricious band managers (hello Cut-My-Own-Throat Dibbler; long time no see). Occasionally you feel he’s having just a bit too much fun – I swear that an entire scene was crafted just so that Pratchett could work up to the phrase ‘the grateful Death’ – but it’s a full-hearted, infectious kind of fun..."
https://theidlewoman.net/2019/03/08/soul-music-terry-pratchett/
Blogger Who's Dreaming Who's review of Witches Abroad:
"As with the last Discworld book I read, Witches Abroad is abundant with the author’s trademark witty writing. There are laugh-out-loud scenes in here; many of them involving Nanny Ogg’s oversized cat Greebo. He gets a chance to shine in this book with a more developed role than usual. I don’t want to spoil it but Greebo’s journey through this story is unforgettable. To be praising the author’s depiction of a main character’s pet cat should give you some idea of how skillful a writer Pratchett is. All of his characters have distinct personalities and voices. He writes heroes and villains who feel like real people: flawed, foolish, funny and unforgettable. It really is a joy to read these books and it is difficult to pick a favourite character. Despite her apparent grumpiness, Granny Weatherwax is now one of my favourite Discworld characters. I have enjoyed each of the Discworld books that feature the witches and this is no exception. Witches Abroad is so much more than a satire of Cinderella. Like all of his best stories, if you look a little deeper beyond the surface of the comedy you will find rich nuggets of wisdom. Pratchett deconstructs fairy tales as a way of both exploring the power of stories and commenting on the freedom of choice we need as people. We desire a happy life but we don’t want to be made to live happily ever after. If we have no say in how the story goes, how can we truly enjoy it?"
https://biginjapangrayman.wordpress.com/2019/03/07/witches-abroad-1991-by-terry-pratchett/
Blogger Clurichaun's thoughts on Discworld, Terry Pratchett, and Alzheimer's:
"The Discworld novels are a marvel of satire and subtlety, having grown from lambasting mediocre science fiction and fantasy novels to generally focusing on a topic or concept to roast. More than any other writer, Sir Terry’s work continues to appeal to me... What is so significant to me about satire and this series, though, is where I was headed. On the surface, Sir Terry’s books can be read as the sci-fi/fantasy and comedic works that they are. Additionally, though, they are adept at teaching a reader subtle ways of examining a topic... I find the Discworld novels to be excellent resources for introspection and self-awareness, a manual for developing questions of perspective. They entertain me as well as being inspiring for both writing and expanding how I approach a topic. Racism, war, and even the banking industry made for useful fodder in his examinations of subject matter. The books have also been significant to me by assisting my recovery from intense bouts of depression. I owe a great deal of emotional development to personal connections to these books. That is why the death of an icon of the literary world did such damage to me.
"March 12, 2015 is when the world lost a great mind. Sir Terry was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease years before. He had seen the effects of someone wasting away slowly from disease. He wanted none of it. Sir Terry began to campaign for assisted death. Should a person be incurable, he felt that they, in a lucid state, should be able to determine the time and manner of their passing. I can see the logic in this, but also recoil from it as someone who has had frequent brushes with suicidal thoughts. These feelings are never far from my mind, even though I no longer feel susceptible to them. His arguments for this have long been a point of internal debate. I think the greatest point that underlies this personally is my own fear of loss. I am terrified of losing loved ones. Death in general is a cause of grief, whether I knew the person or not. This refusal to let go has long haunted me, and I was particularly loathe to let Sir Terry go. I wanted him to live forever, writing and teaching me about topics I may not have considered examining..."
https://clurichaun.blog/2019/03/08/all-the-little-angels-rise-up-rise-up/
...and finally, a Pratchett overview by blogger Trickletarts, written in what I found to be charmingly inept English. Even with the must-have-had-a-thesaurus-in-hand misapplications and amusing gaffes, the love shines through. So your Editor is sharing, rather than mocking, by including this one:
"Good Omens was my first rendezvous with Terry Pratchett, and with his powerful comedy and Gaiman’s overwhelming imagination, it is my all-time favorite. I become drowned of new genres and contemporaries but I will always reach for it. So when I found Terry Pratchett in the array of fictions in the bookstore, I touched Soul Music and eventually bought it. Though I did not regret that I pulled it first from the parade of Pratchett’s books, I found it agonizing why it has to span 10 years before realizing my goal of starting the Discworld series. I dislike scifis, i.e., galactic adventures, so Star Wars and Star Trek is a no-no to me (no offense intended). Yet I did not even wonder why Discworld, with traces of my dislike has become the top of the list.
"The Colour of Magic introduces us to a wizard drop out, Rincewind, who’s only pride is his brain of many languages. This landed him to a wage of 6 gold coins that 3 of it could buy the whole of an infamous pub the staffs included. These in exchange for a touring job offered by a strange tourist, in the name of Twoflower, who owned a humble 2000 gold coins, a strange luggage that bows only to its master and munches not just thieving hands but also the whole flesh and perhaps the soul (not to mention, it has legs), and a camera that houses an imp to paint the pictures it captured by using pink as an ink... The age of this book is older than me, yet the twist of what it’s like when your land is legendary to a foreigner is quite new—as opposed to a general plot in which the main character is tantalized to mystic lore. That when the MC is perplexed by the events contradicting his premise, Rincewind the hero is baffled of his people’s demeanor in front of the expectant traveler. But the curious Twoflower was no less astounded and his response brought Rincewind to an even more curious state; that despite the deceptive and barbaric behavior of the denizens, Twoflower reveled on them..."
https://trickletarts.wordpress.com/2019/03/19/the-colour-of-magic-a-review/
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08) ROUNDWORLD TALES: THE NIGHT WATCH
A fascinating piece by Fisun Güner on Rembrandt's iconic The Night Watch, so wonderfully parodied by Paul Kidby on his dust-cover art for the twenty-ninth Discworld novel:
"A myth has grown around Rembrandt’s apparent fall from favour that was, for many years, connected to The Night Watch. The painting has even inspired conspiracy theories courtesy of film director Peter Greenaway. His 2007 picture Night Watching, and follow-up documentary Rembrandt’s J’Accuse, argue that the painting’s complex iconography reveals a murder plot that leads to members of the civic militia, who it portrays threatening Rembrandt’s life and leading to his ruin... Perhaps we should look closely at the painting, not for any clues to a conspiracy to murder, but to see how Rembrandt deviated from the norms of a sub-genre that was very popular in the new Dutch Republic: the civic militia portrait, or The Guardroom Scene. And we can make up our minds as to whether the painting might have brought displeasure to those who’d commissioned it. It was certainly Rembrandt’s most masterly composition to date, which, post cut, still measures almost 12ft x 14ft (3.65 x 4.26m). In this richly hued, tenebrous masterpiece, where light is used to lend the scene an ethereal quality amid the commonplace bustle of movement and action, we detect a certain strangeness, a certain unreality to the scene – even though it’s a painting full of noise.
"Here a frisky dog barks; a drummer beats his big drum, readying to keep time with the marching guards; a boy is seen at the furthest edge to the left, looking back as he runs off carrying a gunpowder horn; a guard tinkers with the muzzle of his musket; behind the richly attired captain, another guard accidently fires his musket, its smoke mixing with the white plume on the lieutenant’s tall hat (a comical near miss, and an actionable offence). Further to the right, a guard examines the barrel of his musket. Meanwhile, some figures, jostling behind the more prominent characters, are barely visible beyond a limb or, if you look very carefully, an eye and a partially glimpsed face. That eye to the upper left of Banning Cocq, belongs to the artist himself. Just as the Flemish artist Van Eyck loved to do, Rembrandt painted himself hidden within the scene. And who is that brilliantly illuminated girl dressed in gold and with a dead chicken tied to her waist? She is both of the scene and not. Rather than portraying a real person, she is a symbol or mascot, and the chicken, or rather its prominent claws, is the emblem on the coat of arms of Banning Cocq’s company of Kloveniers (or Musketeers)... Though the figures of the captain and his lieutenant dazzle as the heads of their company, the guards must have seen Rembrandt’s contemporaries paint far more formal militia portraits – stiffer, for sure, but above all, far more dignified than this. By the time Rembrandt painted Banning Cocq and his men, though the company’s function had become largely ceremonial since peace had been forged with Spain decades earlier, there was clearly great pride in belonging to a civic militia. But here Rembrandt’s concerns are not confined to civic pride. Above all, he is interested in creating a drama and bringing it to life with emotional force, mixing a sense of the solemn (or at least of attempted solemnity) and the comic. So here we have a ragtaggle crowd not quite managing to fall into step behind the figure of the captain as he gestures for his men to march out. Nobody had painted a militia painting quite like this before..."
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190214-does-rembrandts-the-night-watch-reveal-a-murder-plot
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09) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
The cast of the Fellowship Players' very recent production of Mort:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3vKTe7WAAAcWvq.jpg
The cast of TADS' recent production of Wyrd Sisters: https://bit.ly/2Vwfwsi
A lovely still from the Thalian Theatre Group's 2015 production of Making Money, that raised £537.15 for Alzheimer's Research UK:
https://bit.ly/2L9fjr1
The two Good Omens lead actors, director, and showrunner/scriptwriter looking well pleased:
https://tbivision.com/files/2019/04/GoodOmens_cast.jpg
Crowley (in civilian disguise, of course) poses with the Chattering Order of St Beryl:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5B3Xe2WABALNzu.jpg
...and with a demonic umbrella:
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/04/18/05/12418690-0-image-m-126_1555562488067.jpg
...that also covers Michael "Shadwell" McKean nicely: https://dailym.ai/2ILp6l7
...and here be one of the best blue plaques in all Roundworld:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5PC4Y5XoAAGbaN.jpg
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10) CLOSE
I came across an A'Tuin of sorts...
From LiveScience, by Rafi Letzter: "The ancient cosmologers were right and Galileo was wrong: This turtle's got the whole freaking world on its back. Live Science saw the above photo circulating on Twitter early last week and reached out to its originators – the good folks at Task Force Turtle – to get the full story behind it. That full story, it turns out, involves drugs, mysteries, amazing herpetological memories, butt gas and perhaps the ability to hold one's turtley breath for months on end... In the case of the turtle with the little living world on its back, Krochmal said, it hadn't actually just woken up from hibernation. Rather, she had just emerged from more than two weeks in the muddy earth by a lake that had dried up... The turtle, Krochmal said, weighs about 13 pounds (6 kilograms), and the 10-inch-thick (25 centimeters) world on her back weighed about 18 pounds (8 kg). But she began her journey toward her winter mud hole with no obvious sign of additional effort. "She was just trucking right along," he said...
https://www.livescience.com/64215-earth-turtle-photo.html
...and a wee song from Sister Loquacious and the Chattering Order of St Beryl:
https://twitter.com/GoodOmensPrime/status/1121458855253172224
...and I note that the Wikipedia page for Raising Steam has an embedded map of the Hygienic Railway's stations! How excellent is that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_Steam
And that's it for April. Take care, and we'll see you next month!
– Annie Mac
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The End. If you have any questions or requests, write: wossname-owner (at) pearwood (dot) info
Copyright (c) 2019 by Klatchian Foreign Legion
Newsletter of the Klatchian Foreign Legion
April 2019 (Volume 22, Issue 4, Post 1)
********************************************************************
WOSSNAME is a free publication offering news, reviews, and all the other stuff-that-fits pertaining to the works 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.
********************************************************************
Editor in Chief: Annie Mac
News Editor: Vera P
Newshounds: Mogg, Sir J of Croydon Below, the Shadow, Mss C, Alison not Aliss
Staff Writers: Asti, Pitt the Elder, Evil Steven Dread, Mrs Wynn-Jones
Staff Technomancer: Jason Parlevliet
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) QUOTES OF THE MONTH
02) EDITOR'S LETTER
03) GOOD OMENS NEWS
04) ODDS AND SODS
05) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS
06) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS
07) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
08) ROUNDWORLD TALES
09) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
10) CLOSE
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01) QUOTES OF THE MONTH
"Episode four, look out for a scene in a small movie theatre where Crowley is watching a cartoon about bunnies. Not only will you see me passed out dead drunk in the audience, but all of the voices of the bunnies are me."
– Neil Gaiman on Twitter, 11th March 2019
"Although a price-tag for the big-budget adaptation has yet to emerge, the David Tennant and Michael Sheen-fronted Good Omens – the first co-production between BBC Studios and Amazon Studios – is a technicolor feast for the eyes, elevated by state-of-the-art tech that creates an immersive and otherworldly experience for audiences."
– journalist Manori Ravindran, in conversation with the Good Omens production team
"If you look at Lord Of The Rings on the big screen now, you can see where certain things are stitched together. You won’t see that with Good Omens. We’re now at that point with CGI where it is entirely believable. It’s the first time in history where TV budgets are at that level."
– Rob Wilkins throws down the Gauntlet of Hyperbole
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02) A LETTER FROM YOUR EDITOR
The best way to remember Sir Terry Pratchett on the day of his birth? I'd say read and re-read, introduce new readers to his body of work, encourage young readers to investigate the Johnny Maxwell books and the Tiffany Aching books and Nation and Dodger, quote from the Discworld books whenever an opportunity arises, learn more about orangutans and dementia and support the relevant charities and research organisations whenever you can, and re-read again and again and again...
...and keep his name in the Overhead.
GNU Terence David John Pratchett, 1948-2015
*
A wee birthday remembrance from Rob Wilkins: https://twitter.com/terryandrob/status/1122478012044382208
...and one from the Ankh-Morpork Consulate aka the Discworld Emporium: https://twitter.com/Discworldshoppe/status/1122455011957645312
Department of editorial about an editorial: it's worth having a read of the editorial in the most recent Discworld Monthly (issue 265). It's about rude fan behaviour, or should I say misbehaviour. And since I generally agree with the "...say nothing at all" ethos (which is why I don't promote some new Discworld covers and Discworld artwork), I have to add my voice to this with an eye-roll-accompanied "oh FFS do play nice, people" when it comes to social media. Nuff said.
Meanwhile, here be an adorable "trailer" for NADWCON 2019. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/W3iuE_Zwtlg?t=51
And now, on with the show!
– Annie Mac, Editor
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03) GOOD OMENS NEWS
3.0 SNIPPETS
A behind-the-scenes trailer (halfway down the page):
https://www.chortle.co.uk/video/2019/04/18/42845/good_omens:_behind_the_scenes_trailer
According to Neil Gaiman, Sir Pterry's hat and scarf make an appearance in the Good Omens miniseries, hanging up in Aziraphale's bookshop.
News about about a certain omission in the series: "In the novel, War, Famine, Pollution and Death trick members of the Hell's Angels bikers into joining them, promising them a place in their group. They invite them to come with them to the very location where the end of the world will begin. The bikers then start brainstorming potential apocalyptic names for themselves. If the real McCoys represented the worst things imaginable like famine and war, the ideas they threw around were relatable but not as horrible sounding. They thought of stuff like Grievous Bodily Harm, Embarrassing Personal Problems and Things Not Working Properly Even After You've Thumped Them. The horsemen, even though they liked to roll on their motorcycles, didn't keep their promises with their fellow bikers. They only wanted these mortals to die a fiery death as part of their affinity for trivial pursuit. In the end, all horsemen sidekicks except one met their demise in a catastrophic road accident before all of them could choose their names. Death, naturally, reaped their souls not long after. This was a shocking moment in the book that further demonstrated the monstrosity that the real horsemen are capable of. Unfortunately, fans won't be able to see it happen in the small screen..."
https://www.latintimes.com/good-omens-series-had-cut-4-characters-due-budget-constraints-435892
3.1 TIE-IN BOOKS FOR GOOD OMENS!
From The Bookseller:
"Headline has acquired two books to tie-in with a new TV series based on Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens. The deal between Headline and BBC Studios Productions was negotiated by Neil Gaiman’s agent Merrilee Heifetz at Writers House. Gaiman wrote the programme and is its showrunner. Produced by BBC Studios Productions in association with Narrativia and the Blank Corporation, it will air on Amazon Prime Video on 31st May 2019 and appear later on the BBC. Headline will publish Gaiman’s screenplay, The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book, which will feature a foreword and commentary by him, including deleted scenes. Headline is planning a major, multi-platform campaign to support its release. It will also publish the fully illustrated making-of book, The Nice and Accurate Good Omens TV Companion, which provides behind-the-scenes insight into the making of the show, in-depth interviews, photographs, costume boards and set designs. Writer Matt Whyman had extensive access to the TV set and the people who worked on the show. Both books will be published on 31st May. Mari Evans, Headline managing director, said: 'It is our absolute privilege to be a part of the extraordinary production that Neil and the Good Omens cast and crew have made a reality. Neil’s reinvention of the novel he wrote with Terry Pratchett is nothing short of magical and is sure to delight old fans and bring in hordes of new ones. Readers and viewers are going to be amazed by the scope of the production and by the insight into it these two books are going to give them.'..."
https://www.thebookseller.com/news/headline-acquires-two-tie-books-gaimans-good-omens-tv-series-959891
3.2 ...AND, OF COURSE, THE PAUL KIDBY VERSION:
From Paul Kidby's newsletter:
"The end is nigh! With an impending deadline looming, I’m in the final throes of finishing the additional illustrations drawn exclusively for the Good Omens Dunmanifestin editions... There are three steps to every illustration – the pencil drawing, a tonal sketch and finally the colour version. Over these last few months, I have worn countless colour pencils into stubs… Once the artwork is finished, my sigh of relief will be a swift one, as there are still a few more things to do. That is, adding the final touches to the wonderfully varied and eclectic collection of ephemera, to accompany the Ineffable and Celestial editions. The content of this ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous – it’s been a lot of fun making it!
"It goes without saying that producing the artwork and overseeing the design of these editions has been a big responsibility. I am extremely grateful for my amazingly good-tempered production team – my wife Vanessa, Harry Hall and Alex Stott: they have all shared the load and brought invaluable creative input. And of course, not forgetting our loyal whippet studio helper…. Designing a book, from concept art to final publication, is a multi-faceted project. The illustrations themselves are only part of the journey. There are a myriad of decisions to make, ranging from choosing paper to selecting the fonts, colours and formatting styles. We have pushed the parameters of what is possible with our long-suffering printers; at times, I’m sure, we’ve driven them mad with our relentless requests for foiling, laminating and embossing. Every element of the production has been carefully considered and either created in-house or in close collaboration with skilled artisans. We have given each Good Omens edition its own unique design identity, from the colour of the ribbon markers to the engineering of the presentation boxes. Hopefully, you will be just as thrilled with them as we are..."
...and an update:
"I hope you all enjoyed the sunshine over the Easter weekend. I got out into the great outdoors, planted up the veg patch and spent time with my family. I am now returned to work feeling refreshed and my signing hand is back in overdrive. I have to write a total of 4000 signatures overall, so it will be a welcome relief to get back to illustrating. The internal pages for Good Omens are now printed – it was an exciting moment to see them in their unbound form and realise the scale and heft of the Dunmanifestin editions. All the illustrations for the collection of ephemera to accompany the Ineffable and Celestial editions are finally finished, my last drawing was of Aziraphale by 'Leonardo'. This was a fitting bookend to complete the project as my very first drawing was of Crowley, as drawn by Leonardo.
"We are now just making the finishing touches to the three presentation boxes, including the beautiful wooden box for the Celestial edition which has been commissioned from a local cabinet makers. I am also focusing on the artwork and layout design for the 2020 Collectors Calendar, Discworld Destinations. I am revisiting some earlier illustrations and revising them, such as this picture of the Dunmanifestin, the home of the gods. Signed copies are now available to pre-order from my website..."
© Paul Kidby http://www.paulkidby.com
[Also see the Merch Corner segment in Odds and Sods, below – Ed.]
3.3 MAKING GOOD OMENS: BEHIND THE SCENES
An article in Television Business International that includes the backstory of the new scenes added by Neil Gaiman, discussion of the special effects, and how Amazon "taste tested" the series' essential Englishness on Americans:
"The creative team is upfront about the fact that, although the show is indisputably loyal to Gaiman and Pratchett’s source material, liberties have been taken to elevate the narrative. 'We’ve taken departures because [the TV show is] a different thing,' explains Mackinnon, highlighting Jon Hamm’s archangel Gabriel character. 'That character isn’t in the book but we needed him to be around for storytelling reasons. Very often an adaptation suffers because a book is written with the voice of the reader in mind, whereas we have to expand that onto the screen.' Elsewhere, while Shakespeare is mentioned once in the novel, the English writer gets an entire sequence shot out of London’s Globe Theatre in the show. In addition, Gaiman has written a half-hour explanation of Crowley’s backstory at the beginning of the third episode that is completely original. 'But the fans of the book will see that as a treat rather than a bad diversion,' assures Mackinnon... Lead stars Michael Sheen, who plays angel Aziraphale, and David Tennant, a demon named Crowley, tell TBI that with Neil Gaiman on board, the TV adaptation was able to be comfortably creative with scenes that enhanced the source material. 'There’s a fairly major section at the beginning of episode three, which in a series of 10 or so scenes we see the development of the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley from the Garden of Eden, all the way through the history of the world, up to the present day,' says Sheen. 'It’s a major addition from the book and it was the scene we enjoyed the most.'..."
https://tbivision.com/2019/04/09/good-omens-adapting-the-unadaptable/
3.4 CRITIQUES OF THE NOVEL
Actually a critique of a critique! By Sam Jordison in The Guardian:
"The thing they say we should remember is that 'in those days Neil Gaiman was barely Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett was only just Terry Pratchett'. That’s not quite how I remember it. When I got hold of Good Omens, aged 14, I’d read just about everything Pratchett had published up to that point. The idea that he’d teamed up with a gothy longhair to write about the end of the world seemed about as big as book news got. By the time I realised the book existed in 1991, a year after it first came out, it was definitely a 'big deal'. Unusually for a so-called fantasy book, it had received favourable reviews in the UK press (alongside the notice in the Times that generated the memorable cover quote, 'not quite as sinister as the authors’ photo') – and it was selling in huge quantities. It had also launched in the US with considerable fanfare, and even more confusion. Publishers Weekly used the damning descriptor 'zany', while Joe Queenan in the New York Times seemed furious to be dealing with such an import. He first described the book as a cure for 'the recurring disease of Anglophilia' – and then really put the boot in: 'Good Omens is a direct descendant of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a vastly overpraised book or radio programme or industry or something that became quite popular in Britain a decade ago when it became apparent that Margaret Thatcher would be in office for some time and that laughs were going to be hard to come by.' I quote at length in humble appreciation of just how wrong we critics can be. It got worse for Queenan, who complained about 'an infuriating running gag about Queen, a vaudevillian rock group whose hits are buried far in the past and should have been buried sooner'. Ah yes, Queen. Who recalls them now? But I shouldn’t mock. It’s actually quite a witty review – and time embarrasses every critic sooner or later..."
https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2019/jan/15/good-omens-not-funny-neil-gaiman-terry-pratchett
...and a more personal review, also by Sam Jordison:
"Here I am, fondly describing Good Omens as some kind of panacea, when a good part of its power comes from something far darker. There may be plenty of affection for humanity here, but there’s also burning anger. There’s real rage about big, serious issues such as environmental desecration and the absurdities of religion. And there’s just as much fury about the little things. One of my favourite jokes in the book is about four bikers who try to become a back-up for the 'Four Horsepeople of the Apocalypse': War, Death, Famine and Pollution. The bikers become the four relatively minor inconveniences of the apocalypse with names such as Ansaphones, Cruelty to Animals, Things Not Working Properly Even After You’ve Given Them a Good Thumping and No-Bloody-Alcohol Lager. Harmless enough – but the joke only works because it’s bristling with genuine irritation.
"More painful to admit is the fact that the book may well have flaws. Every time I tried to think about them while I was reading, my thoughts slid away, just like they do from anyone in the book who tries to think too hard about the true nature of 11-year-old antichrist Adam. We are told, for instance that when the witch Anathema tries to work out anything about this strange boy, her thoughts 'slipped away like a duck off water'. Which pretty much sums things up. Because when I reached that passage I was laughing in delight..."
https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2019/jan/22/good-omens-is-so-enjoyable-it-seems-bad-form-to-spot-the-flaws
3.5 AZIRAPHALE IS A REAL-LIFE ANGEL
Michael Sheen has been quietly doing something good for the humans of a corner of this planet:
"Cameron is 18, about to move into a new flat and studying computer science at college with plans to go to university. He sounds like any other teenager but with one important difference – Cameron is rebuilding his life after becoming homeless at just 14. He is part of what one of Wales' biggest charities called a "hidden epidemic" of youth homelessness. Stories like his inspired actor Michael Sheen to help set up Wales' first national out-of-hours helpline. Cameron, not his real name, said his relationship with his family broke down so badly he had to leave... Cameron did not know where to find help or who to talk to – something other young people told Hollywood star Michael Sheen when he spoke with them about youth homelessness. That conversation led to the creation of the first national out of hours free helpline for young people at risk of homelessness..."
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-47359492
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04) ODDS AND SODS
4.1 TROLL BRIDGE DATES
The finally completed Troll Bridge film is making its way around Fourecks! The following dates are all part of the Australia-wide Flickerfest International Short Film festival:
3rd May: Hobart, TAS, Cygnet, TAS, and Darwin, NT (all listed for this date)
4th May: Hunter Valley, NSW
10th May: Birdsville, QLD
19th May: Kununurra, WA
13th June: Katherine, NT
It will also be shown at the Carmarthen Bay Film Festival in Llanelli – that's Wales, not Australia – on 27th May (European premiere, featuring a live Q&A with the cast and crew), and at NADWCON 2019 on 12th July (featuring Daniel Knight & Christian Bloch as guests).
http://www.trollbridge.film/screenings
4.2 PRAISING MORE THAN JUST DISCWORLD
From Aaqib Hasib in The Daily Star, a paean to the works of Pratchett that praises – rightly – far more than just the Discworld novels...
"The late great Sir Terry Pratchett was a force to be reckoned with in the domain of fantasy novels. While his contributions to the world of literature are innumerable, Pratchett's life encompassed a lot more than just the art of writing books. In 2007, when he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's, Pratchett took a step in a different direction by publicly announcing his diagnosis. Pratchett's casual acceptance of his illness, along with his nonchalant humour on the issue, helped bring to light a disease that wasn't as popular back then. While dwelling on the passing of Sir Pratchett is almost heartbreaking for me, there is definitely a reward in being able to introduce readers to the world of fiction which he created... Pratchett spent his life writing, almost effortlessly, books for children and adults of all ages. And if nothing else, his body of work continues to entertain and captivate audiences to this day. So whether it's to celebrate his life, or just because you need a book to read, go give Terry Pratchett's works a go..."
https://www.thedailystar.net/shout/literature-0/news/the-world-terry-pratchett-1708084
4.3 A CELEBRATION OF PRATCHETT'S STEALTH PHILOSOPHY
By Angie Barry on MyWeb Times:
"More than any other author, Pratchett shaped me as a person. Four years later, his absence remains a sharp, painful hole. I take comfort in his prodigious legacy, though, particularly in the 50-plus stories set in his Discworld universe. Discworld belongs in the same eschelon[sic] as Middle-Earth and Narnia, a place that looks like our world only slanted. Where all of the usual fantasy tropes – bearded dwarves and scatterbrained wizards and rocky trolls – live but prove to be much more complex than a first blush would suggest. Like Shakespeare, Pratchett had a gift for witty wordplay and twisting established plots into fresh, vital, new stories. He riffed on the Bard frequently, as well as fairy tales, action movies, Hammer Horror, mythology and more. His books have at least three laughs a page, with their mixture of slapstick, goofy characters and unapologetic puns. But they're also astonishingly deep. Pratchett is one of the few authors who can make you laugh, cry and seriously think all in the span of a chapter. While many are intimidated by the sheer size of the series, I'll never stop singing its praises or coaxing newcomers into this rich, wild, poignant world..."
Barry then lists and briefly analyses her six favourite Discworld "stealth philosophy" books, including Small Gods, Feet of Clay, Hogfather, Thud!, Monstrous Regiment, and Snuff.
https://www.mywebtimes.com/2019/03/13/the-b-list-the-deeper-themes-of-discworld/a3cnb2s/
4.4 THE MERCH CORNER
From Paul Kidby, "Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Destinations, Collector’s Edition 2020 Calendar"
Signed Copy. All calendars are hand signed by Paul Kidby.
"The calendar dates are extensive, and exhaustively researched, and include all major real-time calendrical data for Great Britain, Eire, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA, as well as notable Discworld dates. This year's calendar draws upon the whimsical, remarkable art of long-time Discworld collaborator, Paul Kidby – the man whose depictions Terry Pratchett himself described as being 'the closest anyone's got to how I see the characters'."
The Discworld Destinations Collector's Edition 2020 calendar is published by Victor Gollancz Ltd. Each calendar measures 300x300mm, is priced at £18.50 (price includes free shipping in the UK only) and will be available from August. For more details, and to pre-order, go to:
https://shop.paulkidby.com/terry-pratchetts-discworld-destinations-collectors-edition-2020-calendar/
...and an action replay of those wonderful new Good Omens special editions:
"The iconic fantasy novel from Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman becomes definitive! First published in 1990, translated into multiple languages and released in numerous editions across the world, Good Omens has spawned a BBC radio series and now a primetime television series from Amazon Studios and BBC Worldwide. Illustrated for the first time by artist and longterm Pratchett-collaborator Paul Kidby, using a new definitive text, agreed by Neil Gaiman and the Terry Pratchett Estate, these five editions represent the ultimate culmination of the imaginations of the UK’s two foremost fantasy authors."
You can pre-order through Discworld.com or PaulKidby.com. The standard hardcover and standard slipcase editions will be published on 4th April 2019; the Occult, Ineffable and Celestial editions will follow on 20th June 2019, although there's a disclaimer saying "Production time for the Celestial Edition will vary" -- understandable, as you'll see when you read the description below! Please note that prices listed below are "recommended" and may be higher.
In standard hardcover, 234 x 153mm: "Hardback with 12 colour illustrations and 5 pencil illustrations." Priced at £30 each.
...and standard slipcase, same size: "Slipcase hardback with 12 colour illustrations and 5 black and white illustrations. Numbered tipped-in sheet signed by Paul Kidby.' Priced at £75 each.
The Occult edition, 305 x 230mm: 'Hardback in a clamshell box, with metallic red page edges, 17 colour illustrations with additional pencil illustrations. Numbered tipped-in sheet signed by Paul Kidby." Limited to 1655 copies and priced at £95.
The Ineffable edition, same size: "Hardback in a deluxe presentation box, with gold page edges, 17 colour illustrations with additional pencil illustrations. Numbered tipped-in sheet signed by Neil Gaiman & Paul Kidby. Separate folio of Good Omens ephemera." Limited to, yes, 666 copies and priced at £295.
And last but definitely not least, the Celestial edition, also same size: "Leather-bound hardback in an artisan presentation box, with gold foil page edges, 17 colour illustrations with additional pencil illustrations. Each copy individually hand-printed and bound. Named tipped-in sheets, each corresponding to a letter of the Greek alphabet, signed by Neil Gaiman & Paul Kidby. Separate folio of Good Omens ephemera." Limited to 24 copies and priced at... well, you have to ask!
For more information, and to order, go to: http://goodomensillustrated.com/
4.5 ORANGUTAN NEWS
A newly discovered orangutan species is more endangered than before:
"The world's most endangered orangutans could be pushed towards extinction after an Indonesian court approved a controversial dam project, say campaigners... The region is home to the Tapanuli orangutans, which were only identified as a new species in 2017. Only 800 of them remain in the wild and they all live in this ecosystem. One scientist, who acted as an expert witness in the case, told the BBC the move would 'put the orangutans on a firm path to extinction'. The billion-dollar hydropower dam, scheduled for completion in 2022, will be constructed in the heart of the Batang Toru rainforest, which is also home to agile gibbons and Sumatran tigers... Environmental group the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) had earlier this year filed a lawsuit against the North Sumatra administration, challenging its decision to green-light the project. But the Medan State Administrative Court in North Sumatra has now rejected the lawsuit, clearing the way for the dam to be built..."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47451354
...and a small ray of hope:
"Scott Kennedy and Fergus Moore said they came up with a unique way to extract oil from used coffee grounds which had a wide range of uses. Palm oil is found in many household products, but environmentalists say demand for it is devastating rainforests in Asia. Manufacturers are now under pressure to find an alternative. Mr Moore told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: 'About 60% of a cafe's waste is about coffee grounds. In Scotland, that amounts to about 40,000 tonnes a year – across the UK, more than half a million tonnes. And coffee grounds are so heavy that it takes their waste bill through the roof.' Explaining the idea behind his Revive Eco company, Mr Moore said: 'There are oils in coffee with a wide range of uses in different industries – cosmetics pharmaceuticals, food and drink, household products – you name it, there's probably a use there. We're developing a process to extract and purify these oils." Mr Moore added: "The most exciting part for us is that they have all the same components as palm. Palm oil's in the news for all the wrong reasons. It's really exciting for us that we could potentially provide a local and more sustainable alternative to all the industries that are currently using palm oil.'..."
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-48023412
4.6 ALZHEIMER'S NEWS
A new avenue of possible treatment? Pallab Ghosh reports for BBC news:
"New results suggest ageing brains can potentially be rejuvenated, at least in mice, according to researchers. Very early-stage experiments indicate that drugs can be developed to stop or even reverse mental decline. The results were presented at the 2019 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The US and Canadian researchers took two new approaches to trying to prevent the loss of memory and cognitive decline that can come with old age. One team, from the University of California, Berkeley, showed MRI scans which indicated that mental decline may be caused by molecules leaking into the brain. Blood vessels in the brain are different from those in other parts of the body. They protect the organ by allowing only nutrients, oxygen and some drugs to flow through into the brain, but block larger, potentially damaging molecules. This is known as the blood-brain barrier. The scans revealed that this barrier becomes increasingly leaky as we get older. For example, 30-40% of people in their 40s have some disruption to their blood-brain barrier, compared with 60% of 60-year-olds. The scans also showed that the brain was inflamed in the leaky areas. Prof Daniela Kaufer, who leads the Berkeley group, said that young mice altered to have leaky blood-brain barriers showed many signs of aging. She discovered a chemical that stops the damage to the barrier from causing inflammation to the brain. Prof Kaufer told BBC News that not only did the chemical stop the genetically altered young mice from showing signs of aging, it reversed the signs of aging in older mice..."
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47234787
In The Guardian, another approach, reported by Philip Ball:
"Half a million people in the UK are living with Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. And while the risks generally increase with age, thousands are afflicted under the age of 65. Inheritable genetic conditions can lead to familial Alzheimer’s, which can afflict people as young as 30... Some medications can reduce memory loss and aid concentration, but these merely alleviate the symptoms or boost the performance of those neurons in the brain that remain unaffected. They do nothing to stop or slow down the killing-off of brain cells by this neurodegenerative condition. It is a bleak picture. Part of the problem with developing drugs is that the causes of Alzheimer’s are still not fully understood. Moreover, the disease is also challenging to combat because, like cancer, it is not caused by an invading pathogen. It arises from our own biology – from something that our cells are prone to doing. But, also like cancer, one of the most promising current approaches to a cure enlists our body’s own defences, using the immune system to ward off the disease by means of immunotherapy. Immunotherapy works in the same way as vaccines, by helping the immune system recognise and attack cancer cells, and many researchers and some pharmaceutical companies are now striving to make a vaccine against Alzheimer’s. Some immunotherapeutic drugs are now in clinical trials, being tested on human volunteers to see if they are safe and effective. There is good reason to hope that the vaccination strategy might ultimately be effective for treating or warding off this widespread, devastating and fatal condition..."
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/03/alzheimers-disease-immune-system-immunotherapy-vaccine
...and also in The Guardian, some news of possible interest, as reported by Hannah Devlin:
"A decline in memory as a result of ageing can be temporarily reversed using a harmless form of electrical brain stimulation, scientists have found. The findings help explain why certain cognitive skills decline significantly with age and raise the prospect of new treatments. 'Age-related changes are not unchangeable,' said Robert Reinhart, a neuroscientist at Boston University, who led the work. 'We can bring back the superior working memory function that you had when you were much younger.' The study focused on a part of cognition called working memory, the brain system that holds information for short periods while we are making decisions or performing calculations. Working memory is crucial for a wide variety of tasks, such as recognising faces, doing arithmetic and navigating a new environment. Working memory is known to steadily decline with age, even in the absence of any form of dementia. One factor in this decline is thought to be a disconnection between two brain networks, known as the prefrontal and temporal regions. In young people, the electrical brain activity in these two regions tends to be rhythmically synchronised, which scientists think allows information to be exchanged between the two brain areas. However, in older people the activity tends to be less tightly synchronised. This may be as result of deterioration of the long-range nerve connections that link up the different parts of the brain.
"In the study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, 42 people aged 20–29 and 42 people aged 60–76 were assessed in a working memory task. The older group were slower and less accurate on the tests. The scientists then subjected them all to 25 minutes of non-invasive brain stimulation. This aimed to synchronise the two target brain regions by passing gentle pulses of electricity through the scalp and into the brain. After the intervention, working memory in the older adults improved to match the younger group and the effect appeared to last for 50 minutes after the stimulation. Those who had scored worst to start with showed the largest improvements..."
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/apr/08/scientists-use-electrical-pulses-reverse-memory-decline-ageing
4.7 A WORLD OF FANTASY IN EASY REACH
The Azrian Portal is an "online fantasy fiction platform" that was first started as a resource for free-access short stories in the genre. Now the site has launched a series of guides to fantasy fiction:
"Included within the series is an insight into the new fantasy books of 2019, the best dark fantasy books available and a guide to epic fantasy. A look at the best fantasy fiction of all time is also featured, with works from authors such as Tolkien, Terry Pratchett and G.R.R Martin all making the list. 'As the genre continues to see increased interest, it felt important to help newcomers to fantasy find the books that will really resonate with them.' States James Speyer, writer for The Azrian Portal. 'There is such a wealth of content out there, and so many books to read, but we all know how limited time can be. Many fantasy books range into the hundreds of thousands of words, and a series can last a lifetime." Speyer continues. "These guides to the best new and old fantasy fiction are designed to be a jumping off point for those who want to make the most of their reading potential and find the perfect novels for them.'..."
https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/480794538/online-fiction-platform-launches-fantasy-guide-series
https://www.theazrianportal.com/
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05) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS
Editor's note: as Wossname normally only comes out once every month, do check the Wossname blog for information on plays that might fall between issue dates! Go to https://wossname.dreamwidth.org/ for interim updates.
* WYRD SISTERS IN RICKMANSWORTH (APRIL)
The Rickmansworth Players will be staging their production of Wyrd Sisters this week!
When: tonight (30th April)–4th May
Venue: Watford Pump House Theatre, Local Board Road, Watford, WD17 2JP UK
Time: 7.30pm all evening shows, matinee on the 4th at 2.30pm
Tickets: £12–£14, available online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/296620 or via the box office (phone 03336663366)
https://www.rickmansworth-players.org.uk
* LORDS AND LADIES IN BASILDON (MAY)
The Thalian Theatre Group is back with another Discworld production. This time it's Lords and Ladies!
When: 2nd–4th May
Venue: Mirren Studio, Basildon Towngate theatre, Towngate Theatre, St Martin's Square, Basildon, Essex SS14 1DL
Time: 7.45pm all shows
Tickets: £13 (concessions £11, disabled £9), available from https://towngatetheatre.co.uk/lords-and-ladies/ or via the box office (phone 01268205300)
* GOOD OMENS IN WOLLONGONG, FOURECKS (MAY)
Amazon Prime may have the big-budget version of Good Omens, but the MerrigongX theatre company has the musical!
"An apocalyptically atypical new musical based on the novel by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman. Music & Lyrics by Vicki Larnach. Book by Jim Hare, Jay James-Moody & Vicki Larnach. Based on the novel by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman. According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world’s only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner. The armies of good and evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, fish are falling, and everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. A fussy angel and a fast-living demon are not looking forward to the impending rapture. They team up to circumvent the end of days but there is one problem. Someone seems to have misplaced the Anti-Christ."
When: 3rd and 4th May 2019
Venue: Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, 32 Burelli Street, Wollongong,
Time: evening shows both days 7.30pm; matinee on the 4th at 1.30pm. Running time is approximately 2 hours 20 minutes including an interval.
Tickets: $30 (pensioners/concessions $18), available now from https://sa2.seatadvisor.com/sabo/servlets/EventSearch?presenter=AUMTCO&event=GOOD19 (note: per transaction fee of $6.95 applies for phone and online bookings)
https://merrigong.com.au/shows/good-omens-development-showing/
* WYRD SISTERS IN EAST SUSSEX (MAY)
Crowborough Community Centre will present "a hilarious stage version of Terry Pratchett’s classic novel" Wyrd Sisters in May. It's their first-ever Discworld play!
When: 10th–11th May 2019
Venue: Crowborough Community Centre, Pine Grove, Crowborough, East Sussex TN6
Time: 7.45pm all evening shows: also, 2.30pm matinee on the 11th
Tickets: £9.50 (£8 concessions), available online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/thecrowboroughplayers or by ringing 01892 300 567
"There is no age restriction, so younger children are welcome but note that, unlike our pantomimes, the production isn't aimed at a younger audience. Any questions, email crowborough.tickets@gmail.com or call 01892 300567."
https://crowborough.weebly.com/spring-play1.html
* WYRD SISTERS IN SUFFOLK (MAY)
The Deben Players, an amateur company that has been presenting plays for over 50 years, will stage Wyrd Sisters in May. It's a Discworld first for them as well!
When: 22nd–25th May 2019
Venue: Seckford Theatre, Burkitt Road, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 4JJ
Time: 7.30pm all shows
Tickets: £12 (£10 concessions), available online at http://debenplayers.net/tickets
https://debenplayers.net
* MEN AT ARMS IN CHESHAM (JUNE)
Chesham Bois Catholic Players are back with a new Discworld play, Men at Arms! "The Ankh-Morpork City Night Watch find their services are once more needed to tackle a threat to their city. A threat at least as deadly as a 60-foot dragon, but mechanical and heartless to boot. It kills without compunction. It is the first gun on the Discworld. It’s the Century of the Fruitbat and modernisation and diversity have come to the Night Watch. The original Watch – Captain Vimes, Sergeant Colon, Corporal Carrot and Corporal Nobbs – are joined by some new recruits, selected to reflect the city’s ethnic make-up – Lance Corporal Detritus a troll, Lance-constables Cuddy (little known fact both male and females have beards and the female of the species is the dominant one). Certainly, unbeknown to the recruiting office of the Watch with a diversity quota to fill. So, he was desperate for a female recruit when Angua turned up (she is a bit more diverse then most as she is werewolf). A fact the recruiter was also unaware of..."
When: 1st, 7th and 8th June 2019
Venue: Chesham Little Theatre, Church Street, Chesham, Bucks HP5 1HU
Time: TBA
Tickets: TBA
www.littletheatrechesham.co.uk
www.cbcplayers.co.uk
https://twitter.com/CBCPlayers
And later in the year...
* MEN AT ARMS IN CARDIFF (AUGUST)
Peculiar Productions continue the Cardiff tradition of fine Discworld plays with a new production of Men at Arms! "The City Watch needs men! And women, of course. Not to mention dwarfs, trolls, gargoyles, and whatever Nobby Nobbs actually is. Commander Vimes needs to make sure they can all get along, and fast – because no-one else can stop a deadly secret that stalks the streets…"
Adapted by Stephen Briggs. Directed by Matthew Hitchman.
When: 21st–24th August 2019,
Venue: The Gate Arts Centre, Cardiff
Time: TBA
Tickets: available online via https://peculiarproductions.co.uk/tickets/ More info on prices TBA
https://peculiarproductions.co.uk/
* MASKERADE IN BRISBANE (SEPTEMBER)
Brisbane Arts Theatre continue their justified love affair with Discworld plays with a new production of Maskerade!
When: 14th September–12th October 2019 (Thursdays through Sundays)
Venue: Brisbane Arts Theatre, 210 Petrie Terrace, Petrie Terrace, QLD 4000
Time: all Thursday shows 7.30pm, all Friday and Saturday shows 8pm, all Sunday shows 6.30pm
Tickets: $23–34, available online at https://bit.ly/2IOWLdw or via the box office (phone (07) 3369 2344)
https://www.artstheatre.com.au/maskerade
* MASKERADE IN ELTHAM[1] (OCTOBER)
Eldorado Musical Productions will be staging their production of Maskerade in October!
When: 9th–12th October 2019
Venue: Bob Hope Theatre, Wythfield Road, Eltham SE9 5TG (box office phone 0208 850 3702)
Time: 7.45pm all evening shows; matinee at 2.30pm on the 12th
Tickets: £15 (£13 on opening night), not yet available but will be via https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/bob-hope-theatre and from the Box Office which is open Tuesdays through Saturdays 10am–1pm.
http://www.eldoradomusicalproductions.co.uk/maskerade/4594338795
[1] Note for Fourecksians: that's Eltham in Greater London, not the one in Melbourne – Ed.
* GOING POSTAL IN EMERALD, FOURECKS (OCTOBER)
The Gemco Players will present their production of Going Postal in October! "Moist von Lipwig was a con artist, a fraud and a man faced with a life choice: be hanged, or put Ankh-Morpork's ailing postal service back on its feet. It was a tough decision. With the help of a golem who has been at the bottom of hole in the ground for over two hundred years, a pin fanatic and Junior Postman Groat, he's got to see that the mail gets through. In taking on the evil chairman of the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company, and a midnight killer, he's also got to stay alive. Getting a date with Adora Bell Dearheart would be nice, too. In the mad world of the mail, can a criminal succeed where honest men have failed and died? Perhaps there's a shot at redemption for man who's prepared to push the envelope..."
When: 11th–26th October 2019 (Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only)
Venue: Gem Community Arts Centre, 19 Kilvington Drive, Emerald, VIC 3782
Time: all Friday and Saturday shows 8pm; Sunday matinees 2pm
Tickets: prices TBA. Tickets will be available online via https://www.trybooking.com/BAGWG from 9pm on 11th August
https://gemco-players.squarespace.com/whatson/2018/12/5/going-postal
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06) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS
The Broken Drummers, "London's Premier Unofficially Official Discworld Group" (motto "Nil percussio est"), will next meet on Monday 6th May, starting at an earlier than usual 1pm due to the Bank Holiday, and will be held outdoors if weather permits.
Drummers' April meet report, by Helen: "[This month] we met a week later than usual. The reason for the change was the Irish Discworld Convention and much of the talk centred on that. I took part in the convention dramatics, as did Chico, who was also present last night. We told everyone how the election that formed the convention dramatics story was hijacked when someone added a ballot box for an anarchist dwarf character (played by Helen C) who then won the election by a landslide. This was so typically Discworld and a brilliant, if unforseen conclusion. I showed everyone pictures of myself as Frau Gateau, a rather unkind witch and Chico as Igor as well as the cast photos. These are all available on the Facebook page. I was asked if anything was recorded. The answer is yes but I'm not sure how much and I don't yet have permission to share it. Watch this space. Charles did a quiz on Making Money, which was less difficult than his last quiz but still quite difficult. I won, beating my husband by half a point. I nevertheless cursed myself for not being able to remember the name of the female golem (Gladys)... We now have a WhatsApp group, if you would like to join, please send me your number..."
https://twitter.com/BrokenDrummers/status/1117105124667793408
For more information, email BrokenDrummers@gmail.com or nicholls.helen@yahoo.co.uk or join their Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/55107511411/permalink/10156634038566412/
*
Canberra, Australia's Discworld fan group is Drumknott's Irregulars: "The group is open to all, people from interstate and overseas are welcome, and our events will not be heavily themed. Come along to dinner for a chat and good company. We welcome people from all fandoms (and none) and we would love to see you at one of our events, even if you're just passing through. Please contact us via Facebook (_https://www.facebook.com/groups/824987924250161/_) or Google Groups (_https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/drumknotts-irregulars_) or join us at our next event."
*
For Facebook users in Fourecks: The Victorian Discworld Klatch is "a social group for fans of Discworld and Terry Pratchett... run by a dedicated team who meet monthly and organise events monthly." "If you'd like to join our events please ask to join the Klatch."
https://www.facebook.com/groups/VictorianDiscworldKlatch
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"The Gathering of the Loonies (Wincanton chapter)" is a public Facebook meeting group: "This group, by request of Jo in Bear will continue to be used for future unofficial (not run by the Emporium) fan Gatherings in Wincanton. Look here for information."
https://www.facebook.com/groups/373578522834654/
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The Pratchett Partisans are a fan group who meet monthly at either Brisbane or Indooroopilly to "eat, drink and chat about all things Pratchett. We hold events such as Discworld dinners, games afternoons, Discworld photo scavenger hunts. We also attend opening night at Brisbane Arts Theatre's Discworld plays." The Partisans currently have about 200 members who meet at least twice a month, usually in Brisbane.
For more info about their next meetup, join up at https://www.facebook.com/groups/pratchettpartisans/ or contact Ula directly at uwilmott@yahoo.com.au
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The City of Small Gods is a group for fans in Adelaide and South Australia: "We have an established Terry Pratchett & Discworld fan group in Adelaide called The City of Small Gods, which is open to anyone who would like to come – you don't have to live in Adelaide or even South Australia, or even be a Discworld fan, but that's mostly where our events will be held, and we do like discussing Pratchett's works. Our (semi-) regular meetings are generally held on the last Thursday of the month at a pub or restaurant in Adelaide. We have dinner at 6.30pm followed by games until 9pm. Every few months, we have a full day's worth of board games at La Scala Cafe, 169 Unley Rd, Unley in the function room starting at 10am. In addition, we will occasionally have other events to go and see plays by Unseen Theatre Company, book discussions, craft, chain maille or costuming workshops or other fun social activities."
The next CoSG events will be a Going Postal discussion on 11th May, and the monthly dinner (at the Seven Stars Hotel) on 30tyh May.
The CoSG also have another identity. Here's the skinny:
Round World Events SA Inc is a not-for-profit incorporated association whose aim is to run fun social Pratchett-themed events for people in South Australia. Our first major event was the Unseen University Convivium held in July 2012. We have also run three successful and booked out Science Fiction and Fantasy themed quiz nights named Quiz Long And Prosper, in 2013, 2014 and 2015! The association will run some events under the City of Small Gods banner, but you do not have to be a Round World Events SA member to be part of City of Small Gods. However, we are always on the look out for new members for Round World Events SA to help us organise future events! Membership is $20 a year (for Adelaide locals) or $5 a year (for those not quite so close) and has the following benefits:
A shiny membership certificate all of your very own
Discounted entry price to some of the events we run
A warm, fuzzy feeling deep down in your chest (no, not quite that deep)
For more information, or to join as a member, please email RoundWorldEventsSA@gmail.com
www.cityofsmallgods.org.au
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The Broken Vectis Drummers meet next on Thursday 2nd May (probably) from 7.30pm at The Castle pub in Newport, Isle of Wight. For more info and any queries, contact broken_vectis_drummers@yahoo.co.uk
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The Wincanton Omnian Temperance Society (WOTS) next meets on Friday 3rd May (possibly) at Wincanton's famous Bear Inn from 7pm onwards. "Visitors and drop-ins are always welcome!"
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The Northern Institute of the Ankh-Morpork and District Society of Flatalists, a Pratchett fangroup, has been meeting on a regular basis since 2005. The Flatalists normally meet at The Narrowboat Pub in Victoria Street, Skipton, North Yorkshire, to discuss "all things Pratchett" as well as having quizzes and raffles. Details of future meetings are posted on the Events section of the Discworld Stamps forum:
http://www.discworldstamps.co.uk/forum/
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Sydney Drummers (formerly Drummers Downunder) meet next on Monday 6th May (possibly) at 6.30pm in Sydney at 3 Wise Monkeys, 555 George Street, Sydney 2000. For more information, contact Sue (aka Granny Weatherwax): kenworthys@yahoo.co.uk
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The Treacle Mining Corporation, formerly known as Perth Drummers, meet next on Monday 6th May (possibly) at Old Shanghai, 123 James Street, Northbridge, Perth, Western Australia. For details join their Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Perth.Drummers/ – or message Alexandra Ware directly at <alexandra.ware@gmail.com>
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07) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
Blogger Queer and Confused completely "gets" the Pratchett ability to write sympathetic characters:
"I’ve just finished rereading Unseen Academicals, in it there is genderqueer polyamorous couple. The characters have depth, warmth, and at no point did they feel tokenistic, they felt like real people. The book was published when Pratchett was 61, 2 years after his Alzheimer’s diagnosis. This empathy, the depth he displayed in characters so beyond his own experience, is why I love his books, why I’m glad his writing was such a strong presence during my formative years. Treating others experiences generously and understanding the variety in human experiences is such a beautiful thing..."
https://queerdoconfusion.wordpress.com/2019/02/13/pondering-pratchett/
Blogger Hedgehog O'Brien on the real-world importance of reading Discworld:
I’ve been on a Discworld re-read for about a year now, and it just struck me how Pterry gets progressively angrier and less subtle about it throughout the series. Like, we start out nice and easy with Rincewind who’s on some wacky adventures and ha ha ha oh golly that Twoflower sure is silly and the Luggage is epic, where can I get one. Meanwhile Rincewind just wants to live out his boring days as a boring Librarian but is dragged along against his will by an annoying little tourist guy... then you get to Small Gods, in which organized religion is eviscerated so thoroughly that if it was human, even the Quisition would say it’s gone a bit too far while at the same time not condemning people having faith which is kind of an important distinction. You get to Men at Arms and I encourage everybody with an opinion on the Second Amendment to read that one. You get to Jingo, Monstrous Regiment, Going Postal (featuring an evil CEO who is squeezing his own company dry to get to every last penny, not caring one lick about his product or his workers or his customers or anything else and who, coincidentally, works out of Tump Tower. I’m not making this up). And just when you think, whew, this is getting a bit much but hey, look, he wrote YA as well! And it’s about this cute little girl who wants to be a witch and has help from a lot of rowdy blue little men, this will be fun! A bit of a break from all the anger! Wrong. The Tiffany Aching books are the angriest of all. But you know what the great thing is? The great thing is that Pterry’s anger is the kind of fury that makes you want to get up and do something about it..."
http://hedgehog-o-brien.tumblr.com/post/172200514396/ive-been-on-a-discworld-re-read-for-about-a-year
Blogger Dial H for Houston's admiring review of Men at Arms:
"Terry Pratchett books are really, really hard to review. It’s easy enough to roast some dollar-bin sci-fi schlock (which I honestly haven’t done in awhile), but if you do it too much you almost don’t know what to make of a good book. And Men At Arms is pretty dang good, guys. Men At Arms is the 15th Discworld novel, and the second in Pratchett’s ‘Watch Series,’ the collection of novels centered on Sam Vimes, captain of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch... The Watch novels are arguably the best of the Discworld books, as they’re a fun combination of crime, fantasy, and comedy. Of course, this being Pratchett, it’s not just hijinks and shameless puns. Rather, Ankh-Morpork, a sprawling, dirty complicated city, acts as something of a reflection of our own world. For example, the growing populations of dwarfs and trolls coming to the city are obvious metaphors for immigration and cultural assimilation– themes that come to the fore as we get the first appearances of key Watch members like Detritus the troll, or Angua Von Uberwald, werewolf. Honestly, Men at Arms is pretty interesting in that it’s something of a turning point, in which Pratchett starts really developing and changing the setting of Discworld into its own thing, rather than a charmingly ramshackle pastiche of other fantasy books. I haven’t read the entirety of Pratchett’s work (so at least I’ve still got something to look forward to), but I dare say Men at Arms is the first great Discworld novel..."
https://dialhforhouston.wordpress.com/2019/02/18/book-review-terry-pratchetts-men-at-arms/
Blogger The English Student is back with yet more possibly overthought thoughts on Maskerade:
"There’s something very Twelfth Night about this novel: the Opera House is a place where people experiment with their identities, slip into new roles, as it were. Agnes reinvents herself as Perdita X. Nitt (“Perditax”, as Nanny Ogg insists on calling her), a person she feels is more interesting and thinner (more on that later) than Agnes is. Nanny Ogg becomes A Lancre Witch, bestselling author of a cookbook that puts Nigella Lawson’s innuendoes to shame. A painfully shy young man finds confidence and grace when he puts on a mask. It’s good fun seeing the witches confronted with this chaotic role-play: Pratchett tends to put them in stories about stories anyway, about how stories shape our perceptions of ourselves and others, and how we perform those stories. But I think Maskerade is a weaker example of the type: I’m not convinced that its anarchic performative play has a point beyond itself. It’s just fun. The Opera House, and its particular superstitions and narratives, is important in that it allows for this kind of experimentation, but it is ultimately a closed world, beholden only to itself..."
https://englishstudens.wordpress.com/2019/02/21/review-maskerade/
...and on Feet of Clay:
"As with all of the Discworld novels, the plot is so encrusted with wordplay and humour and rich vital detail that it’s pretty much vestigial, but it is, more or less, a murder mystery... There is, in other words, a lot going on. That’s one of the great joys of the Ankh-Morpork novels, though: how full they are of life and incident, of the anarchic and wonderful energies of the archetypal city. (Ankh-Morpork is pretty obviously a mirror of London, with its great curving polluted river, its Isle of Gods, its defunct city gates.) Much of that energy is generated by the social tensions the novel lays out, conflicts between old and new: the centuries-old vampire who manipulates short-lived humans like pawns on a chessboard comes up against the newly-relevant Watch and its stubbornly working-class Commander Vimes, fast rising to prominence; the brand-new concept of dwarf femininity attracts the opprobrium of much of dwarf-kind; the idea of golems suddenly having rights and thoughts and plans of their own is abhorrent, even terrifying, to Ankh-Morpork’s citizenry. But there’s nothing schematic or straightforward about this broad pattern of tension..."
https://englishstudens.wordpress.com/2019/03/07/review-feet-of-clay/
Blogger Tyson Adams' very positive five-star review of The Light Fantastic:
"Luggage that doesn’t get lost? This must be a fantasy novel. After shooting off the edge of the Discworld in The Colour of Magic, Rincewind and Twoflower are magically returned to the Disc for reasons unknown. The world turtle, Great A’Tuin, is swimming through space, excited about the red star it is approaching. The Wizards have noticed the red star and the magical change that allowed Rincewind and Twoflower to return, allowing them to uncover an ancient prophecy. Can the prophecy be fulfilled before Great A’Tuin reaches their destination? When I finished The Colour of Magic I was a little peeved. Whilst a continuing story cliffhanger is a common fantasy trope, a book satirising fantasy tropes should surely rise above such shenanigans. That downgraded my rating to 4 stars. Happily, The Light Fantastic finished the story started in The Colour of Magic in a highly entertaining fashion..."
https://tysonadams.com/2019/02/22/book-review-the-light-fantastic-by-terry-pratchett/
Blogger 42dentarthurdent's take on promoting the Discworld series to newbies:
"With so many books in the series, it can be seen as a rather daunting endeavour to begin reading, and the subseries can tend to confuse the matter. Every Discworld fan has different opinions on where a new reader should start, although almost none will ever tell you to read them all chronologically. This is because while Colour of Magic is the first book in the series, as well as the beginning of the Rincewind subseries, it isn’t the finest example of the overall works. This was when he was just getting started and the Discworld was still a rough diamond. Personally, I enjoy reading from the very beginning to the very end because of that. You can see how both the Disc grows from being just a satirical parody of other fantasy worlds to its own distinct thing, and how PTerry grows as a writer and person... Equal Rites is the first real foray into what the Discworld will come to be known for... It’s by simple twist of fate that the eighth son’s eighth son to whom the dying wizard leaves his staff, turns out to be a girl. This is also the introduction to one of my favourite characters, Granny Weatherwax, a very senior witch. It’s from those first few books that the entire world sprung, and yet most fans of the series tend to avoid recommending them because of their unpolished nature in comparison to the rest of the series...
"The subseries of the Discworld are Rincewind, the Witches, the Watch, Death/Susan (his granddaughter), Moist von Lipwig, Tiffany Aching (his YA Disc books), Science of the Discworld (which interacts with our own), and arguably the Wizards. I say arguably because apart from Moving Pictures and Unseen Academicals, their books all fit into other subseries as well, generally Rincewind’s which is why they’re often simply lumped together... There are other books in the series as well, very good books indeed, but those don’t fit neatly into subseries the way the ones I’ve mentioned do. The beauty of the Discworld is that despite the fact that all the stories are interwoven to create the vast story of the world, it’s possible to pick up any book in the series and enjoy it by itself..."
https://loremipsum.family.blog/2019/02/25/introduction-to-the-discworld/
...and blogger Specfictlit's, on the "Death series":
"While the Discworld Death isn’t the definitive version, he does loom large. Possibly because like most classical depictions, he’s a skeleton in a big black robe toting a scythe. Like with many of his creations, Terry takes the base elements, the universally recognised characteristics and gets to work in playing around with them. In his endless inhumanity, the Discworld death possesses character. He has a fondness for cats, he tries hard to be creative and caring but makes fundamental mistakes. Death is gentle and terrible and, when the going gets tough, he’s always there. And this is the only Discworld strand so far where I haven’t had to look up the plots. Of course, there are deathly cameos in most of the books of the series but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t get his own series to make feature appearances..."
https://specfictlit.wordpress.com/2019/02/28/ranking-my-journey-through-the-discworld-so-far-death-edition/
Blogger Hobbleit returns with a review of Pyramids:
"I don’t think that Pyramids would have been a Discworld novel I ever would have read if I wasn’t trying to read more Pratchett which is a shame because I actually enjoyed reading it very much. It is typically Pratchett in style, very quirky and funny. There were several places where I was laughing out loud, especially the part where Teppic is arguing with the Sphinx over his riddle and Death’s cameo appearance was also very amusing. Then again, an appearance from Death can raise the quality of any story, in my opinion. The characters are fun to read. Teppic is an amusing protagonist, the son of the king who is sent to Ankh-Morpork to train to be an assassin and the camels were very funny to read. You Bastard has the best name ever. Also Ptraci, whose speech impediment means she says every ‘T’ word with a ‘P’ added on. Speaking of the names, only Terry Pratchett could get away with calling his Ancient Egyptian inspired region of the Discworld Djelibeybi. It’s such a daft joke but it really made me laugh. All in all I enjoyed Pyramids more than I expected. .."
https://hobbleit.wordpress.com/2019/02/25/terry-pratchett-read-a-thon-february-book-7-pyramids/
Blogger We Are Just Stories' paean to The Long Cosmos:
"I got really emotional at the end of this book, it’s the last in The Long Earth series and one of the last books Terry Pratchett wrote. Stephen Baxter wrote a lovely introduction at the beginning and said that the last time he saw Terry was when they wrote the last quarter of the book. The Long Cosmos is set nearly sixty years after Step Day when humans figured out how to step into endless parallel Earths. Over the series we’ve been far out into these worlds with Joshua, Sally, Lobsang and Maggie. In the third book, The Long Mars, Sally and her father went to explore the parallels of Mars, this was my favourite, The whole series is really clever and fascinating, but this story is another step up, the message from the stars and how we can reach them..."
https://wearejuststories.home.blog/2019/02/27/the-long-cosmos-review/
Blogger Too Many Posts' review of Monstrous Regiment:
"I bloody loved this. I was smiling and chuckling to myself throughout the book as Pratchett displays his usual flair for fast flowing, clever and incredibly funny writing. He layers in jokes throughout, with running gags, knowing asides and wry observations. Despite the fantastical setting, Pratchett is a student of the human condition, describing common failings, foibles and emotions. There’s a healthy skewering of the romantic way war is often presented, with Pratchett describing a conflict of chaos, blundering, needless death and foolhardy attempts to be a hero. Polly and her comrades have to navigate the near sighted bureaucracy of the military, deal with propaganda and shepherd a rather foolish officer through the war. Polly is the reasonably clever and level headed character in a world of fools, nutters and unlucky bastards, and her perspective allows us to see the characters up close, her own insights growing as she observes them. I really enjoyed how Pratchett slowly ramps up the ridiculousness of it all, adding in each daft development or twist in a way that never feels forced and just increases the humour of the novel..."
https://toomanyposts.wordpress.com/2019/03/04/book-review-monstrous-regiment-by-terry-pratchett/
Blogger The Idle Woman returns with her re-read review of Small Gods:
"If Pratchett’s early Discworld books are riffs on self-contained themes – whether that’s Ancient Egypt, Hollywood, Macbeth, or Faust – Small Gods broadens its scope slightly. The butts of the jokes are identifiable, with the Spanish Inquisition, Galileo and Greek philosophy coming in for a more or less equal share of satire, but there are also serious questions about the nature of faith. Pratchett’s gods are divided between the raucous, Olympian-style pantheon of big-hitters up on Cori Celesti, and the ‘small gods’ of the title: deities of spring or field or minor cities, who have come into existence through the power of their worshippers’ devotions. A god might come into being when a shepherd builds a cairn in gratitude for finding a lost lamb; that same god might rise to become the titular deity of a great civilisation; but in time, as the civilisation fails and times change, the god shrinks back into nothingness. There is only power so long as there is belief and those gods who’ve lost their believers fade into chittering voices in the wilderness... Just in case this sounds a bit serious, you can rest assured that there are plenty of fun moments..."
https://theidlewoman.net/2019/03/06/small-gods-terry-pratchett/
...and of Lords and Ladies:
"...we don’t only have witches, but wizards too! The faculty of Unseen University are shocked when Archchancellor Ridcully decides to attend the wedding of a minor Ramtop royal, heading off with a questionable escort of nervous young Ponder Stibbons, the frantic Bursar and the Librarian (who, in case you needed reminding, is an orangutan). But they might be even more shocked if they could see into Ridcully’s mind. For going back to Lancre is a way to revisit his youth, and face the results of decisions he made as a young man – decisions he’s always secretly wondered about. Obviously, just in case this is sounding a bit serious, there’s also Morris dancing, full choruses of those Discworld classics The Hedgehog Song and A Wizard’s Staff has a Knob on the End, and unmediated Nanny Ogg. So it’s all jolly good stuff. But – forgive me for being serious again for a moment – the story does have a deeper theme, not the cheerful demolition of Shakespeare’s plot, but something more thought-provoking. The book asks many of its characters to decide who they want to be, or to reflect on the decision they made many years ago. Magrat must wrestle with her conscience and decide what it means to be a queen and whether she can reconcile herself to such a change of lifestyle. Granny and Ridcully must look back on the choices they both made, to pursue their study of magic over the possibility of a more normal life. Even the silly girls with their fledgling ‘coven’ must decide whether to pursue their rebellious teenage dreams of witchcraft or fit into the conventional world around them (I raise a toast to an early cameo by Agnes Nitt). To a small degree, even Nanny Ogg’s burly son Jason the blacksmith must reflect on the consequences of the deal he accepted: in order to have the talent to shoe anything, one must shoe anything. We make these deals with the world around us, never knowing at the time what is right or not, but having to trust only that we’re making the right choice..."
https://theidlewoman.net/2019/03/07/lords-and-ladies-terry-pratchett/
...and of Soul Music:
"At the age of sixteen, both Susan and Imp/Buddy have found themselves thrown into situations beyond their control, engineered by occult forces, isolating them even further from anyone who understand. So far, so history of adolescence. And this story of self-fashioning and self-discovery blends with some classic Pratchett comedy, courtesy of the wizards of Unseen University. They are deeply affected by the compulsive new Music With Rocks In, none more so than the Dean, who begins showing a distressing tendency to grease his hair into a quiff, make strange trousers with rivets on, and rebel against the Archchancellor’s rules with all the panache of a grizzly teenager. As the music gets its claws into everyone and everything, only a few brave souls stand clear of the madness: the Archchancellor, Susan, and the Death of Rats, who must try to track down his erstwhile master Death before things get completely out of hand. Every element of the story seems to work perfectly with the others, and Pratchett has great fun with the cliches of rock music – the groupies, the tour shirts, the wannabe band which changes their name once a day for more effect, the avaricious band managers (hello Cut-My-Own-Throat Dibbler; long time no see). Occasionally you feel he’s having just a bit too much fun – I swear that an entire scene was crafted just so that Pratchett could work up to the phrase ‘the grateful Death’ – but it’s a full-hearted, infectious kind of fun..."
https://theidlewoman.net/2019/03/08/soul-music-terry-pratchett/
Blogger Who's Dreaming Who's review of Witches Abroad:
"As with the last Discworld book I read, Witches Abroad is abundant with the author’s trademark witty writing. There are laugh-out-loud scenes in here; many of them involving Nanny Ogg’s oversized cat Greebo. He gets a chance to shine in this book with a more developed role than usual. I don’t want to spoil it but Greebo’s journey through this story is unforgettable. To be praising the author’s depiction of a main character’s pet cat should give you some idea of how skillful a writer Pratchett is. All of his characters have distinct personalities and voices. He writes heroes and villains who feel like real people: flawed, foolish, funny and unforgettable. It really is a joy to read these books and it is difficult to pick a favourite character. Despite her apparent grumpiness, Granny Weatherwax is now one of my favourite Discworld characters. I have enjoyed each of the Discworld books that feature the witches and this is no exception. Witches Abroad is so much more than a satire of Cinderella. Like all of his best stories, if you look a little deeper beyond the surface of the comedy you will find rich nuggets of wisdom. Pratchett deconstructs fairy tales as a way of both exploring the power of stories and commenting on the freedom of choice we need as people. We desire a happy life but we don’t want to be made to live happily ever after. If we have no say in how the story goes, how can we truly enjoy it?"
https://biginjapangrayman.wordpress.com/2019/03/07/witches-abroad-1991-by-terry-pratchett/
Blogger Clurichaun's thoughts on Discworld, Terry Pratchett, and Alzheimer's:
"The Discworld novels are a marvel of satire and subtlety, having grown from lambasting mediocre science fiction and fantasy novels to generally focusing on a topic or concept to roast. More than any other writer, Sir Terry’s work continues to appeal to me... What is so significant to me about satire and this series, though, is where I was headed. On the surface, Sir Terry’s books can be read as the sci-fi/fantasy and comedic works that they are. Additionally, though, they are adept at teaching a reader subtle ways of examining a topic... I find the Discworld novels to be excellent resources for introspection and self-awareness, a manual for developing questions of perspective. They entertain me as well as being inspiring for both writing and expanding how I approach a topic. Racism, war, and even the banking industry made for useful fodder in his examinations of subject matter. The books have also been significant to me by assisting my recovery from intense bouts of depression. I owe a great deal of emotional development to personal connections to these books. That is why the death of an icon of the literary world did such damage to me.
"March 12, 2015 is when the world lost a great mind. Sir Terry was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease years before. He had seen the effects of someone wasting away slowly from disease. He wanted none of it. Sir Terry began to campaign for assisted death. Should a person be incurable, he felt that they, in a lucid state, should be able to determine the time and manner of their passing. I can see the logic in this, but also recoil from it as someone who has had frequent brushes with suicidal thoughts. These feelings are never far from my mind, even though I no longer feel susceptible to them. His arguments for this have long been a point of internal debate. I think the greatest point that underlies this personally is my own fear of loss. I am terrified of losing loved ones. Death in general is a cause of grief, whether I knew the person or not. This refusal to let go has long haunted me, and I was particularly loathe to let Sir Terry go. I wanted him to live forever, writing and teaching me about topics I may not have considered examining..."
https://clurichaun.blog/2019/03/08/all-the-little-angels-rise-up-rise-up/
...and finally, a Pratchett overview by blogger Trickletarts, written in what I found to be charmingly inept English. Even with the must-have-had-a-thesaurus-in-hand misapplications and amusing gaffes, the love shines through. So your Editor is sharing, rather than mocking, by including this one:
"Good Omens was my first rendezvous with Terry Pratchett, and with his powerful comedy and Gaiman’s overwhelming imagination, it is my all-time favorite. I become drowned of new genres and contemporaries but I will always reach for it. So when I found Terry Pratchett in the array of fictions in the bookstore, I touched Soul Music and eventually bought it. Though I did not regret that I pulled it first from the parade of Pratchett’s books, I found it agonizing why it has to span 10 years before realizing my goal of starting the Discworld series. I dislike scifis, i.e., galactic adventures, so Star Wars and Star Trek is a no-no to me (no offense intended). Yet I did not even wonder why Discworld, with traces of my dislike has become the top of the list.
"The Colour of Magic introduces us to a wizard drop out, Rincewind, who’s only pride is his brain of many languages. This landed him to a wage of 6 gold coins that 3 of it could buy the whole of an infamous pub the staffs included. These in exchange for a touring job offered by a strange tourist, in the name of Twoflower, who owned a humble 2000 gold coins, a strange luggage that bows only to its master and munches not just thieving hands but also the whole flesh and perhaps the soul (not to mention, it has legs), and a camera that houses an imp to paint the pictures it captured by using pink as an ink... The age of this book is older than me, yet the twist of what it’s like when your land is legendary to a foreigner is quite new—as opposed to a general plot in which the main character is tantalized to mystic lore. That when the MC is perplexed by the events contradicting his premise, Rincewind the hero is baffled of his people’s demeanor in front of the expectant traveler. But the curious Twoflower was no less astounded and his response brought Rincewind to an even more curious state; that despite the deceptive and barbaric behavior of the denizens, Twoflower reveled on them..."
https://trickletarts.wordpress.com/2019/03/19/the-colour-of-magic-a-review/
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08) ROUNDWORLD TALES: THE NIGHT WATCH
A fascinating piece by Fisun Güner on Rembrandt's iconic The Night Watch, so wonderfully parodied by Paul Kidby on his dust-cover art for the twenty-ninth Discworld novel:
"A myth has grown around Rembrandt’s apparent fall from favour that was, for many years, connected to The Night Watch. The painting has even inspired conspiracy theories courtesy of film director Peter Greenaway. His 2007 picture Night Watching, and follow-up documentary Rembrandt’s J’Accuse, argue that the painting’s complex iconography reveals a murder plot that leads to members of the civic militia, who it portrays threatening Rembrandt’s life and leading to his ruin... Perhaps we should look closely at the painting, not for any clues to a conspiracy to murder, but to see how Rembrandt deviated from the norms of a sub-genre that was very popular in the new Dutch Republic: the civic militia portrait, or The Guardroom Scene. And we can make up our minds as to whether the painting might have brought displeasure to those who’d commissioned it. It was certainly Rembrandt’s most masterly composition to date, which, post cut, still measures almost 12ft x 14ft (3.65 x 4.26m). In this richly hued, tenebrous masterpiece, where light is used to lend the scene an ethereal quality amid the commonplace bustle of movement and action, we detect a certain strangeness, a certain unreality to the scene – even though it’s a painting full of noise.
"Here a frisky dog barks; a drummer beats his big drum, readying to keep time with the marching guards; a boy is seen at the furthest edge to the left, looking back as he runs off carrying a gunpowder horn; a guard tinkers with the muzzle of his musket; behind the richly attired captain, another guard accidently fires his musket, its smoke mixing with the white plume on the lieutenant’s tall hat (a comical near miss, and an actionable offence). Further to the right, a guard examines the barrel of his musket. Meanwhile, some figures, jostling behind the more prominent characters, are barely visible beyond a limb or, if you look very carefully, an eye and a partially glimpsed face. That eye to the upper left of Banning Cocq, belongs to the artist himself. Just as the Flemish artist Van Eyck loved to do, Rembrandt painted himself hidden within the scene. And who is that brilliantly illuminated girl dressed in gold and with a dead chicken tied to her waist? She is both of the scene and not. Rather than portraying a real person, she is a symbol or mascot, and the chicken, or rather its prominent claws, is the emblem on the coat of arms of Banning Cocq’s company of Kloveniers (or Musketeers)... Though the figures of the captain and his lieutenant dazzle as the heads of their company, the guards must have seen Rembrandt’s contemporaries paint far more formal militia portraits – stiffer, for sure, but above all, far more dignified than this. By the time Rembrandt painted Banning Cocq and his men, though the company’s function had become largely ceremonial since peace had been forged with Spain decades earlier, there was clearly great pride in belonging to a civic militia. But here Rembrandt’s concerns are not confined to civic pride. Above all, he is interested in creating a drama and bringing it to life with emotional force, mixing a sense of the solemn (or at least of attempted solemnity) and the comic. So here we have a ragtaggle crowd not quite managing to fall into step behind the figure of the captain as he gestures for his men to march out. Nobody had painted a militia painting quite like this before..."
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190214-does-rembrandts-the-night-watch-reveal-a-murder-plot
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09) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
The cast of the Fellowship Players' very recent production of Mort:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3vKTe7WAAAcWvq.jpg
The cast of TADS' recent production of Wyrd Sisters: https://bit.ly/2Vwfwsi
A lovely still from the Thalian Theatre Group's 2015 production of Making Money, that raised £537.15 for Alzheimer's Research UK:
https://bit.ly/2L9fjr1
The two Good Omens lead actors, director, and showrunner/scriptwriter looking well pleased:
https://tbivision.com/files/2019/04/GoodOmens_cast.jpg
Crowley (in civilian disguise, of course) poses with the Chattering Order of St Beryl:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5B3Xe2WABALNzu.jpg
...and with a demonic umbrella:
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/04/18/05/12418690-0-image-m-126_1555562488067.jpg
...that also covers Michael "Shadwell" McKean nicely: https://dailym.ai/2ILp6l7
...and here be one of the best blue plaques in all Roundworld:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5PC4Y5XoAAGbaN.jpg
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10) CLOSE
I came across an A'Tuin of sorts...
From LiveScience, by Rafi Letzter: "The ancient cosmologers were right and Galileo was wrong: This turtle's got the whole freaking world on its back. Live Science saw the above photo circulating on Twitter early last week and reached out to its originators – the good folks at Task Force Turtle – to get the full story behind it. That full story, it turns out, involves drugs, mysteries, amazing herpetological memories, butt gas and perhaps the ability to hold one's turtley breath for months on end... In the case of the turtle with the little living world on its back, Krochmal said, it hadn't actually just woken up from hibernation. Rather, she had just emerged from more than two weeks in the muddy earth by a lake that had dried up... The turtle, Krochmal said, weighs about 13 pounds (6 kilograms), and the 10-inch-thick (25 centimeters) world on her back weighed about 18 pounds (8 kg). But she began her journey toward her winter mud hole with no obvious sign of additional effort. "She was just trucking right along," he said...
https://www.livescience.com/64215-earth-turtle-photo.html
...and a wee song from Sister Loquacious and the Chattering Order of St Beryl:
https://twitter.com/GoodOmensPrime/status/1121458855253172224
...and I note that the Wikipedia page for Raising Steam has an embedded map of the Hygienic Railway's stations! How excellent is that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_Steam
And that's it for April. Take care, and we'll see you next month!
– Annie Mac
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The End. If you have any questions or requests, write: wossname-owner (at) pearwood (dot) info
Copyright (c) 2019 by Klatchian Foreign Legion
