Wossname -- June 2020 -- Main issue
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Newsletter of the Klatchian Foreign Legion
June 2020 (Volume 23, Issue 6, 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) ODDS AND SODS
04) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS
05) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS
06) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
07) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
08) CLOSE
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01) QUOTES OF THE MONTH
Bit of a quote-a-palooza this month, mostly because there are so many currently relevant Discworld quotes worth sharing, but also because I've been re-reading a lot of the novels – Ed.
"Rumour is information distilled so finely that it can filter through anything. It does not need doors and windows – sometimes it doesn't even need people. It can exist free and wild, running from ear to ear without ever touching lips."
– Feet of Clay (Gollancz hardcover, p.58)
"Angua hesitated, as she so often did when attempting to talk to Nobby on difficult matter, and waved her hands in front of her as if trying to shape the invisible dough of her thoughts. 'It's just that ... I mean, people might ...' she began. 'I mean ... well, you know what people call men who wear wigs and gowns, don't you?
'Yes, miss.'
'You do?'
'Yes, miss. Lawyers, miss.'
'Good. Yes. Good,' said Angua slowly. 'Now try another one...'
'Er ... actors, miss?'
Angua gave up."
– The Fifth Elephant (Transworld hardcover p.27)
"It was funny how people were people everywhere you went, even if the people concerned weren't the people the people who made up the phrase 'people are people everywhere' had traditionally thought of as people. And even if you weren't virtuous, as you had been brought up to understand the term, you did like to see virtue in other people, provided it did not cost you anything."
– Vimes, musing on Dwarfish schisms (ibid., p.44)
"'It's wonderful, sir, isn't it? In a few months they say we'll be able to send messages all the way from Ankh-Morpork to Genua in less than a day!'
'Yes indeed. I wonder if by then we'll have anything sensible to say to each other.'"
– Carrot the optimist versus Vimes the realist (ibid. p.53)
"Demons have existed on the Discworld for at least as long as the gods, who they closely resemble. The difference is basically the same as that between terrorists and freedom fighters."
– Eric (Gollancz 2014 hardcover edition, p.23)
""This is Hell, isn't it,' said Eric. 'I've seen pictures.'"
– ibid. p.103
"Tilden had grown up knowing that the people at the top were right. That was why they were at the top. He didn't have the mental vocabulary to think like a traitor, because only traitors thought like that."
– Night Watch (Doubleday 2002 hardcover edition, p.143)
"One of the hardest lessons of young Sam's life had been finding out that the people in charge weren't in charge. It had been finding out that governments were not, on the whole, staffed by people who had a grip, and that plans were what people made instead of thinking."
– ibid. p. 224
"People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness. And so the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn't that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people."
– ibid. p.225-226
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02) LETTER FROM YOUR EDITOR
This month's issue comes to you from lockdown. *Second time around* lockdown, because your editor lives in one of Australia's new coronavirus "hot spots". Frustrating, yes, when I'd just started to think of venturing out after having been indoors since mid-March, but having also spent almost nine months fully recovering from a bad round of influenza last year, inside looks less risky than outside. I hope everyone else in similar areas is staying safe!
Continuing on the theme of current events... Mark Hughes Cobb, journalist and Pratchett fan, is always a beacon of uncommon sense. Here, he uses a Colon and Nobbs conversation to illustrate the uses of protest songs... "If we songwriters can’t cook up stirring music from current conditions across this fractured and fragmented land, give it a rest. Puns always intended. By comparison, songsmiths from the ’60s and ’70s had an easier go. War. Huh. What IS it good for? To answer, Sir Terry Pratchett, from 'Thud':
'War, Nobby. Huh! What is it good for?'
'Dunno, Sarge. Freeing slaves, maybe?'
'Absol– well, okay.'
'Defending yourself against a totalitarian aggressor?'
'All right, I’ll grant you that, but – '
'Saving civilization from a horde of – '
'It doesn’t do any good in the long run is what I’m saying, Nobby, if you’d listen for five seconds together,' said Fred Colon sharply.
'Yeah, but in the long run, what does, Sarge?'
"OK, so war can serve a purpose or three, under proper circumstances – I believe we’d have to give it up for the necessity of warring against a Hitler – despite the sweaty allure of Edwin Starr’s grunt-along. But still, war’s a relatively easy target to spear. You know what’s not simple? Attitudes. Fear. Demagoguery. Can’t tear-gas those. Unless of course you’re in charge..."
To read the whole piece, go to https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/entertainment/20200604/mark-hughes-cobb-talk-to-me-so-you-can-see-
A re-reminder: although The Time-Travelling Caveman, final volume of the young Terry Pratchett's children's stories originally published long ago in the Bucks Free Press, won't be published until early September (03/09/20), you can pre-order it from any of several places:
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1119110/the-time-travelling-caveman/9780857536037.html
https://www.discworldemporium.com/childrens-books/639-the-time-travelling-caveman-hardback
https://discworld.com/?s=Time+Travelling+Caveman&post_type=product
There are more Discworld goodies in the Merch Corner section (item 3.6). And now, on with the show...
– Annie Mac, Editor
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03) ODDS AND SODS
3.0 THE MAGIC OF TERRY PRATCHETT: THE MAN BEHIND THE WORDS... AND THE HAT
A review by Annie Mac
"Terry Pratchett the author was himself a character, separate from the private man who shared his name and face."
The above quotation comes from The Magic of Terry Pratchett, freelance journalist Marc Burrows' soon to be published biography of Sir Terry. It's located on page 197, less than sixty pages before the end of the book, but in this reviewer's opinion it would have been better placed at the very outset – because those words tell the reader more about the man than about the history of his oeuvre, and when you come down to it, that's the basic purpose of a biography, right?
A quick disclosure first: I'm not the best choice of reviewer for a biography, because I have no use for them. I have always, and only, been interested in finished art – I don't look to be told what the process of making that art entailed and I certainly don't seek to the learn the details of of its maker's private life. However, I am well aware that this places me in the minority, and that millions of Pratchett fans *would* love to know those details. And if you are in the second group, I assure you that The Magic of Terry Pratchett is chocka with a fan-fest of fascinating information. For example, you'll find out about Pratchett's somewhat non-standard education; many people know he was bullied by his headmaster in his first years at school, and quite a few people know that that headmaster announced to his class, and the world, that the boy Pratchett would never amount to anything much, but did you know that despite passing his Eleven Plus he decided to enter Wycombe Technical High, a second-tier secondary school where "in addition to the standard blazer, school tie and rugby kit, boys were required to supply a boiler suit"? And you will learn...
...that he may or may not have grown up without access to a television
...that he helped test migrating swans for radioactive contamination in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster
...that he based Eskarina Smith very closely on his daughter Rhianna
...that he used sherbet lemons, cigarettes and figgins (no, not the real ones) as writing tools
...that he publicly "ate" his Carnegie Medal – and was an honorary Girl Guide
...that he was once interviewed for The Telegraph by – wait for it – Boris Johnson
...that Discworld plays have been performed on all seven continents, and his books have been translated into thirty-seven languages
...that William de Worde was referenced in the Discworld Companion six years before The Truth was published
...that Trinity College Dublin, where he was an occasional lecturer, awarded him his own chalk eraser featuring a brass plate inscribed "Blackboard Monitor"
...that Neil Gaiman effectively acted as his unpaid publicist in the early days and was directly responsible for "forcing" Pratchett to write Mort (thereby saving the world from the Long Earth series for twenty-five years)
...and plenty more, in this well-researched book.
Also of note: people who are amazed by how quickly he turned out his Discworld and Young Adult books will perhaps be even more amazed to discover that he was an exceptionally slow writer in the early days of his output, taking as long as five years between books. Oh, and it's fascinating to think that someone who started a career as a writer in an era when word processing simply meant wielding a pen to put thoughts to paper spent several months of his adolescence with both arms in plaster as a result of a sport-related accident.
The Magic of Terry Pratchett wanders down the years from Terence David John Pratchett's birth and background, though his formative years, to his first jobs and first published works, to burgeoning success and the gradual growth of Terry Pratchett The Brand, to his later years, the coming of The Embuggerance, and those famous heartbreaking tweets in small caps. Its 300 pages (all right, 261 pages of main text, plus a long bibliography and list of resources and a comprehensive index) are presented in a straightforward, non-judgemental manner. The history of each of Pratchett's novels, the stories behind the making (and in at least one case – Mort – the not-making) of various other-media versions of those that have been so far interpreted, the life and times of each "Pratchett era", even the history of his dedicated fan base. There are a few things missing in my opinion – for instance, I think an exploration of Pratchett works brought to the stage, from the worldwide am-dram presentations to the legendary National Theatre Live's Mark Ravenhill adaptation of Nation, would have added another dimension – and the epilogue seemed a bit rushed, and might have benefited from a nod to the worldwide outpouring of grief and affection from fans and major media organs alike when his death was announced – but if you want to know about the nuts and bolts of Terry Pratchett's life and works, this is the book for you.
The Magic of Terry Pratchett will be released on 30th July 2020. According to Mr Burrows' Twitter account, the book will be illustrated by the excellent digital artist Andrea C White; his pinned tweet – https://twitter.com/20thcenturymarc/status/1233378888132300805 – shows what the front and back covers of the published product will look like, and it looks good.
The Magic of Terry Pratchett
Published by White Owl, an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd
ISBN 978 1 52676 550 5
3.1 THE TERRY PRATCHETT BOOK CLUB
On the website of publishers Tor, Emmet Asher-Perrin is starting a Discworld discussion page:
It feels like the right time to be reading (or rereading) Terry Pratchett, doesn’t it? A lot of us are exhausted, the truth often seems to pass people right by, and we could all use something comforting, I think. So here’s a little corner of the internet where we can perhaps spend some time together and enjoy some very good books... You’re probably wondering why we’re not calling this The Great Pratchett Reread, or something like that. I have read some of Pratchett’s work, but not all of it. (Because there’s, you know… a lot of it. My completist impulses utterly failed me here.) In addition, much of what I read was years and years ago – and my memory gets wobblier by the minute in this media-saturated world we live in. So this isn’t a reread! More of a guided book club. A place to come and appreciate the work of a great author who knew how to make sense of senseless things. Or at least knew how to think through what baffled and frightened us all, and pare it down to something a little easier to understand..."
https://bit.ly/2VjUXxI
...and here's Asher-Perrin's first offering:
"Are we all sitting comfortably? Preferably with a warm beverage of choice? Excellent, because it’s time to dive right in on the first Discworld novel: The Colour of Magic. We are plowing right through the opening segment, so let’s get to it!... Okay, it’s time to talk favorite prologues in fantasy literature because I’m very picky about those, and this is one of my favorites. A lot of people love them no matter what and get annoyed when you admit to not being generally “pro-prologue” (I know the one in The Wheel of Time is a big deal! I promise I know!), but I stand by my pickiness. Most prologues are pointless or oddly indulgent or cannot be appreciated until you’ve read a lot more of the story, but this one is perfect. Gorgeously written, imparts important information, introduces you to how this fictional universe works. It’s also not too long. It makes sense as a prologue because it’s not relevant to the rest of the story except as a macro setup. And the fact that these are the first words about Discworld that ever appeared in the world is fitting. The book begins with Bravd and Weasel, who are riffs on Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and Gray Mouser. If you’re not familiar with Leiber’s work or these two characters in particular, he started writing them in the late 1930s and kept on writing them for the next 50 years. Leiber’s goal was to create a set of fantasy heroes who seemed more like normal human beings, instead of the larger than life figures of Conan and Tarzan, who were popular at the time. Fafhrd and Gray Mouser were based off of himself and a friend, a giant barbarian and a diminutive thief who spent their time drinking and brawling and going on great adventures. They were, essentially, heroes for hire...
"Now, Pratchett is a smart guy with a lot of ingrained knowledge about fantasy, so it’s hardly surprising to see an homage of this nature in his work, even right from the beginning. But it’s a very particular homage as well, when you get right down to it – he’s letting us know what sort of characters he values. Normal people, working stiffs, none of that “chosen special cookie destiny” nonsense. Everything in this book reiterates those terms to us. Ankh-Morpork is a city, a city is full of average people just going about their lives. His characters are exceptional because exceptional things happen to them... When I first read this book, I was younger, too young to fully appreciate Rincewind as a protagonist. Now that I’m older, I can see the error in that – when we’re small, we’re all about heroes. We’re taught that good stories are about uber-beings doing big deeds..."
https://bit.ly/3g0jr7o
...and second...
"Then you should be all set to move on, and think a bit about 'The Sending of Eight'. The prologue of this section is concerned with the gods of Discworld, who have a more interesting lot than gods of planets made with 'less imagination but more mechanical aptitude'. At the Hub of the Disc, at the top of a high mountain, the Disc gods are currently sitting about and playing a board game that takes place on a carved map of the world... This section is obviously taking a lot of inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft and also from Dungeons and Dragons gameplay, which brings me to a question that might ruffle people a bit – do we think that Pratchett brought both of the elements to bear in his first book because he really loved them, or because he kind of wanted to get them out of the way? Or maybe some aspect of both these factors? Pratchett is an extremely knowledgeable writer who loves his homages, but there’s something particularly bemusing about taking one of fantasy’s most well-known authors and a game that was getting hugely popular by the 80s (when this was published), and just shoving them into a section of the first Discworld book. It’s hard not to imagine Pratchett thinking, oh good, I can get this out of the way now. Lovecraft isn’t really tonally matched to what Pratchett does overall, but everyone loves a great big tentacle monster and the temples built around them... there’s a major juxtaposition between old magic and current magic in this section. Rincewind had assumed that dryads died out, but they’re clearly alive and well and still hanging about. Their magic is elemental and tied to the earth, as opposed to average Disc magic, which is all tied up in learning and tedious complexities. Which is just another way of saying that people don’t get shortcuts – everything that we do still requires an output of effort relative to the task. Rowling tried to suggest this in the Potterverse and its version of magic, but never managed to explain it in a way that made much sense, but Pratchett manages to do so in a few sentences. It takes him no time at all to establish that magic isn’t a fun workaround, and when Rincewind complains that there isn’t more of an order to things, Twoflower’s response is 'That’s fantasy.' Ouch..."
https://bit.ly/3fZk6pB
[These are well worth a read, and feel free to join in the comments! – Ed.]
3.2 TERRY PRATCHETT ON... HIMSELF
An interesting interview in the New York Times, from 2014. Some extracts:
NYT: What makes for a good fantasy novel?
TP:The kind that isn’t fantastic. It’s just creating a new reality. Really, a good fantasy is just a mirror of our own world, but one whose reflection is subtly distorted...
NYT: What kind of reader were you as a child? And what were your favorite childhood books?
TP: I barely read a book for pleasure when I was at junior school and got into reading only because my mother promised me a penny for every page I read to her properly. That cost her some money in the beginning, and then I found a book called “The Wind in the Willows,” by Kenneth Grahame, and I just exploded. There were rats and moles and badgers and they were all acting like humans, and I thought to myself, This is a lie, but what a fabulous lie! After that I scoured the local library and read everything. I even got myself a part-time job there so I could legitimately have multiple library cards... I would have to say that Mark Twain is up there with the gods and probably cursing it. “Life on the Mississippi” blew my mind. And, of course, reading him meant that I got to read “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” I hope it’s still read and that people read the book he wanted people to see, because I know that some editions leave out the fact that the Yankee boy killed most of the famous Knights of the Round Table using electricity. Now that is fantasy.
NYT: And if you could bring only three books to a desert island, which would you choose?
TP: “Boatbuilding for Beginners,” “Poisonous Plants of the South Pacific” and a very good seafood cookery book....
https://nyti.ms/2Ny2t3Q
3.3 THOUGHTS ON BRINGING DISCWORLD TO THE SCREEN
Nat Wassell asks if it's even possible to render Discworld books in a way that will satisfy everyone:
"I’ve waxed on a lot over the years about the magic of Sir Terry’s writing. I don’t need to do too much of it here. His characters, many of whom we spend a lot of books with, never get boring. He writes his novels in a close third person narrative style, so we dip in and out of the heads of the characters but he is also able to pull back and observe them from a little bit of distance, and almost comments independently on the action. There are jokes of all kinds, clever wordplay and some that only work on the page in written format, because the pun is in the spelling. Some of the best humour of all is found in the footnotes. The themes are strong and stretch out across many books, joining up not only plots but also characters. The Disc by the last book, The Shepherd’s Crown, is a different place to the one at the start. It evolves and grows and much of that is shown in how characters present, how their old biases and ways of thinking change over time. In short, the utterly perfect medium for telling stories of Discworld is – and always will be – written novels. With that in mind, it is easy to see why the Sky One films didn’t really have that magic. That strong narrative voice is what makes Discworld. By taking it away, all you have is a series of quite amusing fantasy stories, with some quite amusing characters... I don’t really have an answer as to how Discworld could be successfully adapted for the screen. I’m not certain that it can really be done, not in the way that the fans would want it to be. I think that is why I’m not so mad about The Watch series, because the Sky movies have proved that a straight adaptation doesn’t really work. It could be interesting to see something go to the other extreme, just for comparison’s sake..."
https://culturedvultures.com/discworld-show-nervous/
3.4 NATION: A RECOMMENDED PANDEMIC-ERA READ
In the Homewood-Flossmoor Chronicle (Illinois), Eric Crump presents his recommended "pandemic read", Nation:
"The most heart-wrenching moments of the book come as this teen, no longer a boy but not quite a man, has to ignore his pain and exhaustion to bury in the sea the people he has known all his life... It seems to be where we are now, in a present that is a turning point, moving from the sharp shock of lockdown to the beginning of recovery while the threat remains serious... In the end there is a discovery about the Nation's past that unites Daphne's culture and Mau's, providing a new understanding of both. One hint: It involves science as a way to understand the gods and the world. That's why I like “Nation” as COVID-19 pandemic reading. The loss of our old normal is troubling and traumatic. But it is a loss that is also an opportunity."
https://bit.ly/2Z4MHTy
3.5 INEFFABLE CON 2
It's virtual convention time! Or will be, come October, with special guests Neil Gaiman, Rob Wilkins, and Douglas McKinnon:
"The Ineffable Con recently announced the second edition of his Good Omens UK convention. The first event was organized in October 2019 and raised £1,258.93 ($1,604.76 US) for Alzheimer’s Research UK in memory of Sir Terry Pratchett, who was a writer for the series. The organizers revealed that the second edition of the event would take place on October 16-18, 2020, as an online event. All benefits will be donated to charity... A lot of activities and panels are planned for the convention. There will be talks and panels about all the different aspects of Good Omens, quizzes, vid show, e-zine, live readings, cosplay contests, art show, and a dealer’s room. A chat room will also be available to enable fans to talk to each other."
When: Friday 16th - Sunday 18th October 2020
Venue: the Clacks!
Time: see website for details
Tickets: £25, available at https://theineffablecon.org.uk/reg.php
You can find more information about the event on their website.: http://theineffablecon.org.uk
3.6 THE MERCH CORNER
* This month's feature is the Discworld Emporium. Here be a special message from the Ankh-Morpork Consulate:
"We're reuniting and returning to our posts this week, and as we survey the wreckage wrought by the frenzy of orders placed by clacks over lock-down we're not only taking stock of our stock, but also how to move forward as a place of pilgrimage for Discworld devotees now that life is considerably more unreal, which for us is really saying something! As we have very limited space in which we also run our busy mail-order service, creating a safe place for visitors is sadly not a viable option for us at present, and we have therefore made the difficult decision to keep our bricks and mortar shop closed for now. This may disappoint those wishing to escape the rigours of recent times in our little shop, however let it be understood that the Emporium is not so much a 'local' shop, but a conduit between worlds that welcomes travellers from all over Roundworld and the Disc. We don't believe our little town is quite ready for us to open our portal just yet, and as our team consists of 'vulnerable' sorts, we would like to keep them protected while the dread menace persists..."
To read the full announcement, and to browse the site for goodies, go to:
https://www.discworldemporium.com/
* Reminder: Ankh-Morpork City Watch Journal
"In a city like Ankh-Morpork, where Assassins assassinate, thieves thieve and seamstresses, um . . . don’t, Law and Order can be a complicated business. Thankfully His Grace, His Excellency, The Duke of Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel Vimes (Blackboard Monitor) and the Ankh-Morpork City Watch are here to keep the peace. The finest body of men, women, dwarfs, trolls, werewolves, golems, Igors, gnomes, Feegles, vampires (and whatever Nobby Nobbs is) on the face of the Discworld! The Ankh-Morpork City Watch Journal provides jotting space for your notes, reports, observations and investigations, so kick back, relax and take down your particulars. To help you keep on the straight and narrow, you’ll be aided and abetted by some choice quotes from Terry Pratchett’s seminal City Watch novels."
Each Ankh-Morpork City Watch Journal ("Exclusively embossed with Terry's signature and sealed with his coat of arms") is priced at £17 and will be available to ship on 6th August 2020. For more info, and to pre-order, go to:
https://bit.ly/31jaHVy
* The Magic of Terry Pratchett (biography)
"Journalist, comedian and Pratchett fan Marc Burrows delves into the back story of one of UK's most enduring and beloved authors, from his childhood in the Chiltern Hills to his time as a journalist, and the journey that would take him - via more than sixty best-selling books - to an OBE, a knighthood and national treasure status. The Magic Of Terry Pratchett is the result of painstaking archival research alongside interviews with friends and contemporaries who knew the real man under the famous black hat, helping to piece together the full story of one of British literature's most remarkable and beloved figures for the very first time."
There are several versions that will be available, starting with the standard edition (currently priced at £16), the fancier Snapcase edition (£21), and the Patrician Box (£35.00\\\, featuring various extras). For more information, and to pre-order, go to:
https://www.askmeaboutterrypratchett.com/s/shop
https://twitter.com/20thcenturymarc
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04) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS
No plays are being performed in public on Roundworld at the moment, of course. But keep an eye out for possible forthcoming Discworld plays later in the year. We must keep the knowledge of Discworld circulating!
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05) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS
Remember, one day, possibly in the not too distant future, Discworld fans will be able to meet in the real Roundworld again. So keep this information handy:
The Broken Drummers, "London's Premier Unofficially Official Discworld Group"
BrokenDrummers@gmail.com or nicholls.helen@yahoo.co.uk or join their Facebook group at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/55107511411/permalink/10156634038566412/
*
Drumknott's Irregulars
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."
*
The Victorian Discworld Klatch
https://www.facebook.com/groups/VictorianDiscworldKlatch
*
"The Gathering of the Loonies (Wincanton chapter)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/373578522834654/
*
The Pratchett Partisans
https://www.facebook.com/groups/pratchettpartisans/ or contact Ula directly at uwilmott@yahoo.com.au
*
The City of Small Gods
www.cityofsmallgods.org.au
*
The Broken Vectis Drummers
broken_vectis_drummers@yahoo.co.uk
*
The Wincanton Omnian Temperance Society (WOTS) meets at Wincanton's famous Bear Inn when social gatherings are possible.
*
The Northern Institute of the Ankh-Morpork and District Society of Flatalists normally meet at The Narrowboat Pub in Victoria Street, Skipton, North Yorkshire, 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)
Contact Sue (aka Granny Weatherwax): kenworthys@yahoo.co.uk
*
The Treacle Mining Corporation, formerly known as Perth Drummers https://www.facebook.com/groups/Perth.Drummers/ – or message Alexandra Ware directly at <alexandra.ware@gmail.com>
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06) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
Blogger bthespearman reviews Witches Abroad:
"The first half of the book is by far my favourite as we enjoy the misadventures of the trio on their way to Genua. The incident with the bulls in the Discworld equivalent of Pamplona always has me in stitches and it was no different this time. There’s just something about those three on their roadtrip through the Discworld that I love, Nanny’s translations, Magrat's naivety and Granny’s inability to own up to any ignorance that works perfectly; it’s hilarious and interesting at the same time. That’s a hard trick to pull off. I do feel it drags a little in the second part once they reach the city. Not that it’s bad or anything, but some of the humour is lost.. As always with the Discworld Pratchett manages to balance the humour with some insights. In this case it’s the power of stories and what it tells us about ourselves on relation to the part we play in a narrative. There’s also some meditation on government and the balance of freedoms versus security..."
https://bit.ly/3i5aYS0
Blogger Guy Luck gives The Colour of Magic five out of five stars:
"This book is a perfect introduction to the Discworld, with all its quirks and nuances. Terry Pratchett, god rest his soul, was a master of the weird and wonderful... We travel with these unlikely companions, Twoflower who relishes the excitement and adventure of exploring the world and Rincewind who would much rather run away and hide from everything. No matter how perilous the situation seems, no matter how hopeless everything becomes, maybe just maybe there is someway out of it all. This book has no ending, it leaves a satisfactory cliff hanger, so much so that my next book, logically, must be The Light Fantastic. Purely so I can know what happens next..."
https://bit.ly/2CIFwJf
Blogger The Corner of Laura is back with a four-starred review of Men at Arms:
"Cutting satire, especially on political correctness, tokenism, class divides and gun violence. The author certainly gets to the heart of the matter every time without fear of who they might offend by telling the truth. I haven’t read a book that better nails the problems with worrying too much about political correctness without coming off as justification for being offensive. All the issues he covers are still very pertinent today, too. I love all the character development in this book, especially around Carrot, who everyone can’t help but like, and Angua, who is only a woman some of the time. I love the changing relationship of Cuddy and Detritus too. Vimes gets some great moments, of course, especially when he’s faced with the daunting prospect of being a Lord. It’s clear that he’s not very comfortable with the idea of retirement or with hobnobbing with the rich... Incredible writing as ever. Every sentence seems to include a well-written and clever snark at something..."
https://bit.ly/382RUPL
Blogger Camden Singrey, also back, looks at Wyrd Sisters:
"Practically speaking, this is Terry’s first proper book about the witches of Lancre; Equal Rites does feature Granny Weatherwax but it doesn’t feature most of the other trappings (and by the end feels like much more of a wizard story anyway). The Witches are one of the character groups that form a sort of miniseries within Discworld, along with the City Watch, Death, Rincewind, etc. Rincewind has obviously been heavily featured at this point, but Terry has confessed to not enjoying the character as much as many of his others. The Witches and the City Watch feel like the two main tentpoles of his universe, collectively featuring as the main protagonists of almost 20 books (counting Tiffany Aching) and making cameo appearances in several other stories. With the City Watch not having made an appearance yet, Wyrd Sisters comes off as the first example of the kind of story that would come to define the Discworld. It’s also the first Discworld novel to feel fully driven by a specific story, with little room for tangents or humorous digressions that upset the tone... Nanny Ogg is simply one of Terry’s funniest characters, and serves as the even-more-practical witch who doesn’t care at all about how things are “meant to be done”. She is the witch most firmly rooted in the real world, with all that entails..."
https://bit.ly/2Vm6b4X
Blogger The Honest Avocado gives a full five ripe avocados (yes, that signifies a rave review) to Going Postal:
"I think this is one of my favorite Discworld books so far! Whereas some of the other stories in the series are a little too light on character development and plot, this one feels like a full/complete story. I liked that it focused on one character and you really get to know him... Moist grows and changes significantly from the beginning of the book to the end. He starts out with a set of assumptions about himself and the world and by the end all that’s been turned on its head... The Golems are so admirable. I love the Golems both in this book and in Feet of Clay. Pratchett uses them to show what morality and duty looks like form the perspective of a robot (essentially). The Golems are dutiful and so utterly matter of fact. It’s refreshing and helped me view events in the book from a completely different angle..."
https://bit.ly/2A44Jga
Blogger The Reading Bug returns with thoughts on The Fifth Elephant:
"One aspect of Pratchett’s work which is under-appreciated in my opinion is his ability to craft detective stories. Because The Fifth Elephant is, among several other things, detective fiction. The Stone of Scone, an ancient dwarven artefact, is stolen from the Ankh-Morpork Dwarf Bread Museum. Which is suspicious, because the original Scone of Stone, under close guard far away in a mine in Uberwald, is central to the forthcoming coronation of new Low King of the Dwarves. To further complicate matters the Patrician, Lord Vetinari, has decided to send Sam Vimes as his ambassador to the coronation, suggesting that while there he may wish to negotiate with the Low King on a trade agreement with Ankh-Morpork. Uberwald is rich in underground fat deposits, as a result of the untimely arrival of the titular fifth elephant of legend... The usual things that make Pratchett’s novels a continuing joy are all to be found here. There’s the clever references that are so easy to miss... I think this is the first novel where we really get to see Vimes and Lady Sybil as a married couple. The maturity of their relationship, full of compromises and kindness, is worth reading the book for alone..."
https://bit.ly/2Zh5lI6
...and with thoughts on Carpe Jugulum:
"Isn’t this pretty much exactly the plot of Lords and Ladies (Discworld 14) published some six years earlier? Superficially charming but sinister and other-worldly villains are accidentally invited into Lancre, take over, and battle with the witches? Pretty much. The good news is that all this doesn’t matter in the slightest. Shakespeare recycled plots freely and unapologetically, so why couldn’t Sir Terry? Any time spent with the profound moral philosopher that is Granny Weatherwax, Pratchett’s finest creation, is time well spent, even if we have been here before. And this is a very brave book – not many fantasy writers would go to the dark places that Granny visits..."
https://bit.ly/2CAAVZo
...and doesn't sugar-coat thoughts about The Last Continent:
"This is a thin foundation for a novel. The Australian cliches pile up irritatingly, and you end up waiting for the next one to turn up (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, check, duck-billed platypus, check, the Dreaming, check). I felt Pratchett kept throwing new Xxxx items at the book to try and distract the reader from the underlying absence of anything approaching a plot. The fun with creation myths never really takes off – it’s mildly diverting, nothing more. Pratchett published two novels a year most years for almost twenty years, so a dud was always a possibility, but they are still a disappointment when they crop up, as they inevitably must. It’s not that I actively disliked The Last Continent, just that I didn’t love it..."
https://bit.ly/2Z8chqR
Blogger Zezee With Books reviews Wyrd Sisters:
"As always, the characters are entertaining and helped to make the story a fun read. I like how the witches play off each other: the undercurrent of animosity between Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg despite their respect for each other, and how the older witches respond to Magrat's eccentricities (they tolerate it while side-eyeing everything, lol). Oh, they made this a jolly, good read! I especially enjoyed whenever they show up at a play and comment loudly on the acts, making the actors nervous. That cracked me up, lol! Of them all, Nanny Ogg was my favorite. She knows how to have fun and doesn’t mind dancing on table tops, lol. I could party with her... Ah, Discworld’s worldbuilding… that’s my absolute favorite thing about the two books in the series I’ve read so far. The worldbuilding both amazes and entertains me..."
https://bit.ly/2CIAyfy
Blogger Hedwig on Moving Pictures:
"I think the main reason I enjoyed this was the weird unusual thread of the story. It follows the usual Discworld formula in places, being based in Ankh Morpork and the introduction of some new characters being pulled into some ridiculous amount of mayhem usually linked to something magical or otherworldly. This one, felt a little the story was far more solid and that the world is better established in this book. I still can’t be quite sure if that is due to the fact that I am invested in the series now but something felt unusual... I think as well this is the first book where I felt the wealth of characters was explored really well. We don’t just get to see the witches, or just get to see the wizards. Holy Wood being what it is draws Trolls, talking dogs and would be wizards like our main character Victor. There is also the eventual return of a race of characters we have seen before towards the end, and of course the always welcome return of Death, the Librarian and a hilarious plot involving the wizards at the university. I do think that Victor was a little weak, especially alongside Ginger and Throat. Seeing Throat reappear in a more vital role in the plot was brilliant and felt true to his constantly changing nature, but I still felt Victor was left a little underdeveloped compared to other main characters I’ve met so far. Gaspode the Wonder Dog is a true standout though..."
https://bit.ly/3i5rwt1
Blogger and author ES Barrison on Witches Abroad:
"My knowledge of Terry Pratchett comes initially from his collaboration with Neil Gaiman on Good Omens. A friend of mine recommended this book to me as a fun, lighthearted story to dive into Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. And what a way to enter it! A world where stories are brought to life by a rogue fairy godmother means chaos ensues: a frog prince, a sleezy cat-turned-man, and a fairy godmother with a knack for pumpkins, just to name a few. Plus with characters as endearing and witchy as Magrat, Granny Weatherwax, and Nanny Ogg, you’ll want to go on this wacky adventure with them..."
https://bit.ly/3eATWZR
Blogger Cirsicircles on The Wee Free Men:
"All the tiny atmospheric details are entertaining enough to be memorable for their own sakes, yet they often pop up later in the plot and you’re glad they were so memorable. For example, Ratbag the cat won’t give Tiffany the time of day unless he needs something, and in the dream-ambush scene, he cuddles her leg. My mind registered that she was going to be eaten by the dream-spinning creature before the narrator had to spell it out for me. Another thing I admired about the writing was the trick best done by Daphne du’Maurier in Rebecca: making a main character who never shows up in the book. The memory of Tiffany’s dead granny is not just a reoccurring theme it’s a talisman against evil and a guiding force, vibrant and earthy..."
https://bit.ly/3fY01Qh
Blogger Mr Lit's scholarly thoughts – with a wealth of footnotes – on Monstrous Regiment:
"Pratchett carried Discworld’s characteristic subversion of gender roles even further by taking on the well established literary paradigm of female to male cross-dressing during wartime... Interestingly, cross-dressing is similarly used by Tolkien, whose influence on contemporary fantasy is unparalleled, in The Return of the King, the final instalment of his epic The Lord of the Rings. Like Polly, Eowyn poses as male in order to participate in battle alongside her brother and people, rather than being left behind in a state of forced passivity alongside the other women. Eowyn herself likens this fate to being confined in a cage, ‘to stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, all chance of great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.’... The cross-dresser who can pass as a member of the target gender, gaining acceptance by the group, comes voluntarily under the control of the gender role expectations for that gender group. A woman who desires to pass as a man must not only successfully pass dressed as a man, but also act as one in the masculine roles assigned the gender.’ Polly conforms to this idea, realising early on in the novel that cutting her hair and wearing boy’s clothes simply won’t cut it; in order to pass successfully as a young recruit, she must imitate the social behaviour and mannerisms of a young male: ‘Think young male, that was the thing. Fart loudly and with self-satisfaction at a job well done, move like a puppet that’d had a couple of random strings cut, never hug anyone and, if you meet a friend, punch them.’ In this sense, Pratchett successfully demonstrates that biological gender barriers can be easily overcome by merely changing dress and adapting one’s social behaviour, indicating that gender and identity are not exclusive..."
https://bit.ly/3eAxVKB
Blogger Muse With Me returns to give four out of five stars to Soul Music:
"Despite Death and Susan playing key roles, the true heart of the story lies with Imp and his compatriots... The core plot, with a force invading the Discworld and making profound changes, is rather common in this series. Archchancellor Ridcully of the wizards, one of the perspective supporting characters, even remarks upon it in a half-knowing way that I found amusing. All the same, this was a rather good execution upon that sort of story. Though not especially deep, it made for an interesting commentary on how much of an overwhelming whirlwind fame can be, when at the outset you were set on more humble successes, whether it be just making a living or simply sharing your talent with the world. Everything comes together around this story of musical fame and rock music references in a way I hadn’t quite expected too, giving Death something he didn’t know he needed in his quest to simply forget. It made for an appreciably subtle moment..."
https://bit.ly/2Z90mJj
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07) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
The cover(s) for the Japanese paperback edition of Good Omens:
https://bit.ly/2Zbo33B and https://bit.ly/2YA9xUc
A lovely drawing of The Author by Jillian Tamaki for the New York Times in 2014:
https://bit.ly/3eD108n
Paul Kidby's wonderful drawing of young Gytha and young Leonard on a picnic, tweeted by the artist himself:
https://bit.ly/382vu0Z
Mr Pin has been found! https://bit.ly/2YTUfIE
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08) CLOSE
Junior's been busy! "Scholastic Books have announced acclaimed games writer and journalist Rhianna Pratchett as the next guest author for the bestselling Fighting Fantasy series... Set in the iconic Fighting Fantasy world of Titan, Crystal of Storms casts the hero of the story as a member of the Sky Watch, charged with keeping the airborne archipelago of Pangaria safe. When the flying island Nimbus suddenly crashes out of the sky into the Ocean of Tempests below, the hero must battle storms and sea beasts in their mission to raise it from the deep. For this landmark Fighting Fantasy adventure, Scholastic have taken a new approach with the cover art, in order to attract a new, younger audience to the classic gamebook series - one which many of their parents cite as getting them reading and introducing them to fantasy role-playing in the first place. As the world’s most high-profile woman in gaming, Rhianna Pratchett is the perfect match for the series, and becomes its first ever female guest author. 'I first came to the Fighting Fantasy books as a child; reading them surreptitiously under the covers with a torch late at night,' Rhianna explains. 'It's been such an honour to be asked by Ian Livingstone, Steve Jackson and the team at Scholastic to create a new novel for their vibrant and exciting world. My kid-self has been high-fiving my adult-self all year! I hope new and old fans will enjoy exploring the floating archipelago of Pangaria and its colourful, eccentric and dangerous inhabitants. I also hope that some of that enjoyment will occur surreptitiously under the covers late at night.'"
Crystal of Storms, illustrated by Eva Eskelinen, will be published in October 2020. Read the full press release from Scholastic here:
https://www.fightingfantasy.com/ff-press-releases
https://www.fightingfantasy.com/blog
More info about the series, for those of you who don't know what it is (I certainly didn't!):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Fantasy
Meanwhile, the Good Omens miniseries is still generating buzz around the world, with many blogs and pop-culture websites talking about an imagined second series. Let's see what Neil Gaiman has to say about that: "It's definitely not a 'never say never again' situation... Everybody would love more. And I am the problem, because there's only 24 hours in a day, and I have a 4-year-old. So there's a certain amount of juggling and figuring things out. I would love to be able to oversee more Good Omens, partly because of the sheer joy in getting to put Michael and David on screen together as those characters."
Right, that's us told. And that's it for now. Mind how you go, and we hope to 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) 2020 by Wossname for the Klatchian Foreign Legion
Newsletter of the Klatchian Foreign Legion
June 2020 (Volume 23, Issue 6, 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.
********************************************************************
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) ODDS AND SODS
04) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS
05) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS
06) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
07) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
08) CLOSE
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01) QUOTES OF THE MONTH
Bit of a quote-a-palooza this month, mostly because there are so many currently relevant Discworld quotes worth sharing, but also because I've been re-reading a lot of the novels – Ed.
"Rumour is information distilled so finely that it can filter through anything. It does not need doors and windows – sometimes it doesn't even need people. It can exist free and wild, running from ear to ear without ever touching lips."
– Feet of Clay (Gollancz hardcover, p.58)
"Angua hesitated, as she so often did when attempting to talk to Nobby on difficult matter, and waved her hands in front of her as if trying to shape the invisible dough of her thoughts. 'It's just that ... I mean, people might ...' she began. 'I mean ... well, you know what people call men who wear wigs and gowns, don't you?
'Yes, miss.'
'You do?'
'Yes, miss. Lawyers, miss.'
'Good. Yes. Good,' said Angua slowly. 'Now try another one...'
'Er ... actors, miss?'
Angua gave up."
– The Fifth Elephant (Transworld hardcover p.27)
"It was funny how people were people everywhere you went, even if the people concerned weren't the people the people who made up the phrase 'people are people everywhere' had traditionally thought of as people. And even if you weren't virtuous, as you had been brought up to understand the term, you did like to see virtue in other people, provided it did not cost you anything."
– Vimes, musing on Dwarfish schisms (ibid., p.44)
"'It's wonderful, sir, isn't it? In a few months they say we'll be able to send messages all the way from Ankh-Morpork to Genua in less than a day!'
'Yes indeed. I wonder if by then we'll have anything sensible to say to each other.'"
– Carrot the optimist versus Vimes the realist (ibid. p.53)
"Demons have existed on the Discworld for at least as long as the gods, who they closely resemble. The difference is basically the same as that between terrorists and freedom fighters."
– Eric (Gollancz 2014 hardcover edition, p.23)
""This is Hell, isn't it,' said Eric. 'I've seen pictures.'"
– ibid. p.103
"Tilden had grown up knowing that the people at the top were right. That was why they were at the top. He didn't have the mental vocabulary to think like a traitor, because only traitors thought like that."
– Night Watch (Doubleday 2002 hardcover edition, p.143)
"One of the hardest lessons of young Sam's life had been finding out that the people in charge weren't in charge. It had been finding out that governments were not, on the whole, staffed by people who had a grip, and that plans were what people made instead of thinking."
– ibid. p. 224
"People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness. And so the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn't that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people."
– ibid. p.225-226
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02) LETTER FROM YOUR EDITOR
This month's issue comes to you from lockdown. *Second time around* lockdown, because your editor lives in one of Australia's new coronavirus "hot spots". Frustrating, yes, when I'd just started to think of venturing out after having been indoors since mid-March, but having also spent almost nine months fully recovering from a bad round of influenza last year, inside looks less risky than outside. I hope everyone else in similar areas is staying safe!
Continuing on the theme of current events... Mark Hughes Cobb, journalist and Pratchett fan, is always a beacon of uncommon sense. Here, he uses a Colon and Nobbs conversation to illustrate the uses of protest songs... "If we songwriters can’t cook up stirring music from current conditions across this fractured and fragmented land, give it a rest. Puns always intended. By comparison, songsmiths from the ’60s and ’70s had an easier go. War. Huh. What IS it good for? To answer, Sir Terry Pratchett, from 'Thud':
'War, Nobby. Huh! What is it good for?'
'Dunno, Sarge. Freeing slaves, maybe?'
'Absol– well, okay.'
'Defending yourself against a totalitarian aggressor?'
'All right, I’ll grant you that, but – '
'Saving civilization from a horde of – '
'It doesn’t do any good in the long run is what I’m saying, Nobby, if you’d listen for five seconds together,' said Fred Colon sharply.
'Yeah, but in the long run, what does, Sarge?'
"OK, so war can serve a purpose or three, under proper circumstances – I believe we’d have to give it up for the necessity of warring against a Hitler – despite the sweaty allure of Edwin Starr’s grunt-along. But still, war’s a relatively easy target to spear. You know what’s not simple? Attitudes. Fear. Demagoguery. Can’t tear-gas those. Unless of course you’re in charge..."
To read the whole piece, go to https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/entertainment/20200604/mark-hughes-cobb-talk-to-me-so-you-can-see-
A re-reminder: although The Time-Travelling Caveman, final volume of the young Terry Pratchett's children's stories originally published long ago in the Bucks Free Press, won't be published until early September (03/09/20), you can pre-order it from any of several places:
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1119110/the-time-travelling-caveman/9780857536037.html
https://www.discworldemporium.com/childrens-books/639-the-time-travelling-caveman-hardback
https://discworld.com/?s=Time+Travelling+Caveman&post_type=product
There are more Discworld goodies in the Merch Corner section (item 3.6). And now, on with the show...
– Annie Mac, Editor
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03) ODDS AND SODS
3.0 THE MAGIC OF TERRY PRATCHETT: THE MAN BEHIND THE WORDS... AND THE HAT
A review by Annie Mac
"Terry Pratchett the author was himself a character, separate from the private man who shared his name and face."
The above quotation comes from The Magic of Terry Pratchett, freelance journalist Marc Burrows' soon to be published biography of Sir Terry. It's located on page 197, less than sixty pages before the end of the book, but in this reviewer's opinion it would have been better placed at the very outset – because those words tell the reader more about the man than about the history of his oeuvre, and when you come down to it, that's the basic purpose of a biography, right?
A quick disclosure first: I'm not the best choice of reviewer for a biography, because I have no use for them. I have always, and only, been interested in finished art – I don't look to be told what the process of making that art entailed and I certainly don't seek to the learn the details of of its maker's private life. However, I am well aware that this places me in the minority, and that millions of Pratchett fans *would* love to know those details. And if you are in the second group, I assure you that The Magic of Terry Pratchett is chocka with a fan-fest of fascinating information. For example, you'll find out about Pratchett's somewhat non-standard education; many people know he was bullied by his headmaster in his first years at school, and quite a few people know that that headmaster announced to his class, and the world, that the boy Pratchett would never amount to anything much, but did you know that despite passing his Eleven Plus he decided to enter Wycombe Technical High, a second-tier secondary school where "in addition to the standard blazer, school tie and rugby kit, boys were required to supply a boiler suit"? And you will learn...
...that he may or may not have grown up without access to a television
...that he helped test migrating swans for radioactive contamination in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster
...that he based Eskarina Smith very closely on his daughter Rhianna
...that he used sherbet lemons, cigarettes and figgins (no, not the real ones) as writing tools
...that he publicly "ate" his Carnegie Medal – and was an honorary Girl Guide
...that he was once interviewed for The Telegraph by – wait for it – Boris Johnson
...that Discworld plays have been performed on all seven continents, and his books have been translated into thirty-seven languages
...that William de Worde was referenced in the Discworld Companion six years before The Truth was published
...that Trinity College Dublin, where he was an occasional lecturer, awarded him his own chalk eraser featuring a brass plate inscribed "Blackboard Monitor"
...that Neil Gaiman effectively acted as his unpaid publicist in the early days and was directly responsible for "forcing" Pratchett to write Mort (thereby saving the world from the Long Earth series for twenty-five years)
...and plenty more, in this well-researched book.
Also of note: people who are amazed by how quickly he turned out his Discworld and Young Adult books will perhaps be even more amazed to discover that he was an exceptionally slow writer in the early days of his output, taking as long as five years between books. Oh, and it's fascinating to think that someone who started a career as a writer in an era when word processing simply meant wielding a pen to put thoughts to paper spent several months of his adolescence with both arms in plaster as a result of a sport-related accident.
The Magic of Terry Pratchett wanders down the years from Terence David John Pratchett's birth and background, though his formative years, to his first jobs and first published works, to burgeoning success and the gradual growth of Terry Pratchett The Brand, to his later years, the coming of The Embuggerance, and those famous heartbreaking tweets in small caps. Its 300 pages (all right, 261 pages of main text, plus a long bibliography and list of resources and a comprehensive index) are presented in a straightforward, non-judgemental manner. The history of each of Pratchett's novels, the stories behind the making (and in at least one case – Mort – the not-making) of various other-media versions of those that have been so far interpreted, the life and times of each "Pratchett era", even the history of his dedicated fan base. There are a few things missing in my opinion – for instance, I think an exploration of Pratchett works brought to the stage, from the worldwide am-dram presentations to the legendary National Theatre Live's Mark Ravenhill adaptation of Nation, would have added another dimension – and the epilogue seemed a bit rushed, and might have benefited from a nod to the worldwide outpouring of grief and affection from fans and major media organs alike when his death was announced – but if you want to know about the nuts and bolts of Terry Pratchett's life and works, this is the book for you.
The Magic of Terry Pratchett will be released on 30th July 2020. According to Mr Burrows' Twitter account, the book will be illustrated by the excellent digital artist Andrea C White; his pinned tweet – https://twitter.com/20thcenturymarc/status/1233378888132300805 – shows what the front and back covers of the published product will look like, and it looks good.
The Magic of Terry Pratchett
Published by White Owl, an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd
ISBN 978 1 52676 550 5
3.1 THE TERRY PRATCHETT BOOK CLUB
On the website of publishers Tor, Emmet Asher-Perrin is starting a Discworld discussion page:
It feels like the right time to be reading (or rereading) Terry Pratchett, doesn’t it? A lot of us are exhausted, the truth often seems to pass people right by, and we could all use something comforting, I think. So here’s a little corner of the internet where we can perhaps spend some time together and enjoy some very good books... You’re probably wondering why we’re not calling this The Great Pratchett Reread, or something like that. I have read some of Pratchett’s work, but not all of it. (Because there’s, you know… a lot of it. My completist impulses utterly failed me here.) In addition, much of what I read was years and years ago – and my memory gets wobblier by the minute in this media-saturated world we live in. So this isn’t a reread! More of a guided book club. A place to come and appreciate the work of a great author who knew how to make sense of senseless things. Or at least knew how to think through what baffled and frightened us all, and pare it down to something a little easier to understand..."
https://bit.ly/2VjUXxI
...and here's Asher-Perrin's first offering:
"Are we all sitting comfortably? Preferably with a warm beverage of choice? Excellent, because it’s time to dive right in on the first Discworld novel: The Colour of Magic. We are plowing right through the opening segment, so let’s get to it!... Okay, it’s time to talk favorite prologues in fantasy literature because I’m very picky about those, and this is one of my favorites. A lot of people love them no matter what and get annoyed when you admit to not being generally “pro-prologue” (I know the one in The Wheel of Time is a big deal! I promise I know!), but I stand by my pickiness. Most prologues are pointless or oddly indulgent or cannot be appreciated until you’ve read a lot more of the story, but this one is perfect. Gorgeously written, imparts important information, introduces you to how this fictional universe works. It’s also not too long. It makes sense as a prologue because it’s not relevant to the rest of the story except as a macro setup. And the fact that these are the first words about Discworld that ever appeared in the world is fitting. The book begins with Bravd and Weasel, who are riffs on Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and Gray Mouser. If you’re not familiar with Leiber’s work or these two characters in particular, he started writing them in the late 1930s and kept on writing them for the next 50 years. Leiber’s goal was to create a set of fantasy heroes who seemed more like normal human beings, instead of the larger than life figures of Conan and Tarzan, who were popular at the time. Fafhrd and Gray Mouser were based off of himself and a friend, a giant barbarian and a diminutive thief who spent their time drinking and brawling and going on great adventures. They were, essentially, heroes for hire...
"Now, Pratchett is a smart guy with a lot of ingrained knowledge about fantasy, so it’s hardly surprising to see an homage of this nature in his work, even right from the beginning. But it’s a very particular homage as well, when you get right down to it – he’s letting us know what sort of characters he values. Normal people, working stiffs, none of that “chosen special cookie destiny” nonsense. Everything in this book reiterates those terms to us. Ankh-Morpork is a city, a city is full of average people just going about their lives. His characters are exceptional because exceptional things happen to them... When I first read this book, I was younger, too young to fully appreciate Rincewind as a protagonist. Now that I’m older, I can see the error in that – when we’re small, we’re all about heroes. We’re taught that good stories are about uber-beings doing big deeds..."
https://bit.ly/3g0jr7o
...and second...
"Then you should be all set to move on, and think a bit about 'The Sending of Eight'. The prologue of this section is concerned with the gods of Discworld, who have a more interesting lot than gods of planets made with 'less imagination but more mechanical aptitude'. At the Hub of the Disc, at the top of a high mountain, the Disc gods are currently sitting about and playing a board game that takes place on a carved map of the world... This section is obviously taking a lot of inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft and also from Dungeons and Dragons gameplay, which brings me to a question that might ruffle people a bit – do we think that Pratchett brought both of the elements to bear in his first book because he really loved them, or because he kind of wanted to get them out of the way? Or maybe some aspect of both these factors? Pratchett is an extremely knowledgeable writer who loves his homages, but there’s something particularly bemusing about taking one of fantasy’s most well-known authors and a game that was getting hugely popular by the 80s (when this was published), and just shoving them into a section of the first Discworld book. It’s hard not to imagine Pratchett thinking, oh good, I can get this out of the way now. Lovecraft isn’t really tonally matched to what Pratchett does overall, but everyone loves a great big tentacle monster and the temples built around them... there’s a major juxtaposition between old magic and current magic in this section. Rincewind had assumed that dryads died out, but they’re clearly alive and well and still hanging about. Their magic is elemental and tied to the earth, as opposed to average Disc magic, which is all tied up in learning and tedious complexities. Which is just another way of saying that people don’t get shortcuts – everything that we do still requires an output of effort relative to the task. Rowling tried to suggest this in the Potterverse and its version of magic, but never managed to explain it in a way that made much sense, but Pratchett manages to do so in a few sentences. It takes him no time at all to establish that magic isn’t a fun workaround, and when Rincewind complains that there isn’t more of an order to things, Twoflower’s response is 'That’s fantasy.' Ouch..."
https://bit.ly/3fZk6pB
[These are well worth a read, and feel free to join in the comments! – Ed.]
3.2 TERRY PRATCHETT ON... HIMSELF
An interesting interview in the New York Times, from 2014. Some extracts:
NYT: What makes for a good fantasy novel?
TP:The kind that isn’t fantastic. It’s just creating a new reality. Really, a good fantasy is just a mirror of our own world, but one whose reflection is subtly distorted...
NYT: What kind of reader were you as a child? And what were your favorite childhood books?
TP: I barely read a book for pleasure when I was at junior school and got into reading only because my mother promised me a penny for every page I read to her properly. That cost her some money in the beginning, and then I found a book called “The Wind in the Willows,” by Kenneth Grahame, and I just exploded. There were rats and moles and badgers and they were all acting like humans, and I thought to myself, This is a lie, but what a fabulous lie! After that I scoured the local library and read everything. I even got myself a part-time job there so I could legitimately have multiple library cards... I would have to say that Mark Twain is up there with the gods and probably cursing it. “Life on the Mississippi” blew my mind. And, of course, reading him meant that I got to read “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” I hope it’s still read and that people read the book he wanted people to see, because I know that some editions leave out the fact that the Yankee boy killed most of the famous Knights of the Round Table using electricity. Now that is fantasy.
NYT: And if you could bring only three books to a desert island, which would you choose?
TP: “Boatbuilding for Beginners,” “Poisonous Plants of the South Pacific” and a very good seafood cookery book....
https://nyti.ms/2Ny2t3Q
3.3 THOUGHTS ON BRINGING DISCWORLD TO THE SCREEN
Nat Wassell asks if it's even possible to render Discworld books in a way that will satisfy everyone:
"I’ve waxed on a lot over the years about the magic of Sir Terry’s writing. I don’t need to do too much of it here. His characters, many of whom we spend a lot of books with, never get boring. He writes his novels in a close third person narrative style, so we dip in and out of the heads of the characters but he is also able to pull back and observe them from a little bit of distance, and almost comments independently on the action. There are jokes of all kinds, clever wordplay and some that only work on the page in written format, because the pun is in the spelling. Some of the best humour of all is found in the footnotes. The themes are strong and stretch out across many books, joining up not only plots but also characters. The Disc by the last book, The Shepherd’s Crown, is a different place to the one at the start. It evolves and grows and much of that is shown in how characters present, how their old biases and ways of thinking change over time. In short, the utterly perfect medium for telling stories of Discworld is – and always will be – written novels. With that in mind, it is easy to see why the Sky One films didn’t really have that magic. That strong narrative voice is what makes Discworld. By taking it away, all you have is a series of quite amusing fantasy stories, with some quite amusing characters... I don’t really have an answer as to how Discworld could be successfully adapted for the screen. I’m not certain that it can really be done, not in the way that the fans would want it to be. I think that is why I’m not so mad about The Watch series, because the Sky movies have proved that a straight adaptation doesn’t really work. It could be interesting to see something go to the other extreme, just for comparison’s sake..."
https://culturedvultures.com/discworld-show-nervous/
3.4 NATION: A RECOMMENDED PANDEMIC-ERA READ
In the Homewood-Flossmoor Chronicle (Illinois), Eric Crump presents his recommended "pandemic read", Nation:
"The most heart-wrenching moments of the book come as this teen, no longer a boy but not quite a man, has to ignore his pain and exhaustion to bury in the sea the people he has known all his life... It seems to be where we are now, in a present that is a turning point, moving from the sharp shock of lockdown to the beginning of recovery while the threat remains serious... In the end there is a discovery about the Nation's past that unites Daphne's culture and Mau's, providing a new understanding of both. One hint: It involves science as a way to understand the gods and the world. That's why I like “Nation” as COVID-19 pandemic reading. The loss of our old normal is troubling and traumatic. But it is a loss that is also an opportunity."
https://bit.ly/2Z4MHTy
3.5 INEFFABLE CON 2
It's virtual convention time! Or will be, come October, with special guests Neil Gaiman, Rob Wilkins, and Douglas McKinnon:
"The Ineffable Con recently announced the second edition of his Good Omens UK convention. The first event was organized in October 2019 and raised £1,258.93 ($1,604.76 US) for Alzheimer’s Research UK in memory of Sir Terry Pratchett, who was a writer for the series. The organizers revealed that the second edition of the event would take place on October 16-18, 2020, as an online event. All benefits will be donated to charity... A lot of activities and panels are planned for the convention. There will be talks and panels about all the different aspects of Good Omens, quizzes, vid show, e-zine, live readings, cosplay contests, art show, and a dealer’s room. A chat room will also be available to enable fans to talk to each other."
When: Friday 16th - Sunday 18th October 2020
Venue: the Clacks!
Time: see website for details
Tickets: £25, available at https://theineffablecon.org.uk/reg.php
You can find more information about the event on their website.: http://theineffablecon.org.uk
3.6 THE MERCH CORNER
* This month's feature is the Discworld Emporium. Here be a special message from the Ankh-Morpork Consulate:
"We're reuniting and returning to our posts this week, and as we survey the wreckage wrought by the frenzy of orders placed by clacks over lock-down we're not only taking stock of our stock, but also how to move forward as a place of pilgrimage for Discworld devotees now that life is considerably more unreal, which for us is really saying something! As we have very limited space in which we also run our busy mail-order service, creating a safe place for visitors is sadly not a viable option for us at present, and we have therefore made the difficult decision to keep our bricks and mortar shop closed for now. This may disappoint those wishing to escape the rigours of recent times in our little shop, however let it be understood that the Emporium is not so much a 'local' shop, but a conduit between worlds that welcomes travellers from all over Roundworld and the Disc. We don't believe our little town is quite ready for us to open our portal just yet, and as our team consists of 'vulnerable' sorts, we would like to keep them protected while the dread menace persists..."
To read the full announcement, and to browse the site for goodies, go to:
https://www.discworldemporium.com/
* Reminder: Ankh-Morpork City Watch Journal
"In a city like Ankh-Morpork, where Assassins assassinate, thieves thieve and seamstresses, um . . . don’t, Law and Order can be a complicated business. Thankfully His Grace, His Excellency, The Duke of Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel Vimes (Blackboard Monitor) and the Ankh-Morpork City Watch are here to keep the peace. The finest body of men, women, dwarfs, trolls, werewolves, golems, Igors, gnomes, Feegles, vampires (and whatever Nobby Nobbs is) on the face of the Discworld! The Ankh-Morpork City Watch Journal provides jotting space for your notes, reports, observations and investigations, so kick back, relax and take down your particulars. To help you keep on the straight and narrow, you’ll be aided and abetted by some choice quotes from Terry Pratchett’s seminal City Watch novels."
Each Ankh-Morpork City Watch Journal ("Exclusively embossed with Terry's signature and sealed with his coat of arms") is priced at £17 and will be available to ship on 6th August 2020. For more info, and to pre-order, go to:
https://bit.ly/31jaHVy
* The Magic of Terry Pratchett (biography)
"Journalist, comedian and Pratchett fan Marc Burrows delves into the back story of one of UK's most enduring and beloved authors, from his childhood in the Chiltern Hills to his time as a journalist, and the journey that would take him - via more than sixty best-selling books - to an OBE, a knighthood and national treasure status. The Magic Of Terry Pratchett is the result of painstaking archival research alongside interviews with friends and contemporaries who knew the real man under the famous black hat, helping to piece together the full story of one of British literature's most remarkable and beloved figures for the very first time."
There are several versions that will be available, starting with the standard edition (currently priced at £16), the fancier Snapcase edition (£21), and the Patrician Box (£35.00\\\, featuring various extras). For more information, and to pre-order, go to:
https://www.askmeaboutterrypratchett.com/s/shop
https://twitter.com/20thcenturymarc
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04) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS
No plays are being performed in public on Roundworld at the moment, of course. But keep an eye out for possible forthcoming Discworld plays later in the year. We must keep the knowledge of Discworld circulating!
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05) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS
Remember, one day, possibly in the not too distant future, Discworld fans will be able to meet in the real Roundworld again. So keep this information handy:
The Broken Drummers, "London's Premier Unofficially Official Discworld Group"
BrokenDrummers@gmail.com or nicholls.helen@yahoo.co.uk or join their Facebook group at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/55107511411/permalink/10156634038566412/
*
Drumknott's Irregulars
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."
*
The Victorian Discworld Klatch
https://www.facebook.com/groups/VictorianDiscworldKlatch
*
"The Gathering of the Loonies (Wincanton chapter)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/373578522834654/
*
The Pratchett Partisans
https://www.facebook.com/groups/pratchettpartisans/ or contact Ula directly at uwilmott@yahoo.com.au
*
The City of Small Gods
www.cityofsmallgods.org.au
*
The Broken Vectis Drummers
broken_vectis_drummers@yahoo.co.uk
*
The Wincanton Omnian Temperance Society (WOTS) meets at Wincanton's famous Bear Inn when social gatherings are possible.
*
The Northern Institute of the Ankh-Morpork and District Society of Flatalists normally meet at The Narrowboat Pub in Victoria Street, Skipton, North Yorkshire, 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)
Contact Sue (aka Granny Weatherwax): kenworthys@yahoo.co.uk
*
The Treacle Mining Corporation, formerly known as Perth Drummers https://www.facebook.com/groups/Perth.Drummers/ – or message Alexandra Ware directly at <alexandra.ware@gmail.com>
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06) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
Blogger bthespearman reviews Witches Abroad:
"The first half of the book is by far my favourite as we enjoy the misadventures of the trio on their way to Genua. The incident with the bulls in the Discworld equivalent of Pamplona always has me in stitches and it was no different this time. There’s just something about those three on their roadtrip through the Discworld that I love, Nanny’s translations, Magrat's naivety and Granny’s inability to own up to any ignorance that works perfectly; it’s hilarious and interesting at the same time. That’s a hard trick to pull off. I do feel it drags a little in the second part once they reach the city. Not that it’s bad or anything, but some of the humour is lost.. As always with the Discworld Pratchett manages to balance the humour with some insights. In this case it’s the power of stories and what it tells us about ourselves on relation to the part we play in a narrative. There’s also some meditation on government and the balance of freedoms versus security..."
https://bit.ly/3i5aYS0
Blogger Guy Luck gives The Colour of Magic five out of five stars:
"This book is a perfect introduction to the Discworld, with all its quirks and nuances. Terry Pratchett, god rest his soul, was a master of the weird and wonderful... We travel with these unlikely companions, Twoflower who relishes the excitement and adventure of exploring the world and Rincewind who would much rather run away and hide from everything. No matter how perilous the situation seems, no matter how hopeless everything becomes, maybe just maybe there is someway out of it all. This book has no ending, it leaves a satisfactory cliff hanger, so much so that my next book, logically, must be The Light Fantastic. Purely so I can know what happens next..."
https://bit.ly/2CIFwJf
Blogger The Corner of Laura is back with a four-starred review of Men at Arms:
"Cutting satire, especially on political correctness, tokenism, class divides and gun violence. The author certainly gets to the heart of the matter every time without fear of who they might offend by telling the truth. I haven’t read a book that better nails the problems with worrying too much about political correctness without coming off as justification for being offensive. All the issues he covers are still very pertinent today, too. I love all the character development in this book, especially around Carrot, who everyone can’t help but like, and Angua, who is only a woman some of the time. I love the changing relationship of Cuddy and Detritus too. Vimes gets some great moments, of course, especially when he’s faced with the daunting prospect of being a Lord. It’s clear that he’s not very comfortable with the idea of retirement or with hobnobbing with the rich... Incredible writing as ever. Every sentence seems to include a well-written and clever snark at something..."
https://bit.ly/382RUPL
Blogger Camden Singrey, also back, looks at Wyrd Sisters:
"Practically speaking, this is Terry’s first proper book about the witches of Lancre; Equal Rites does feature Granny Weatherwax but it doesn’t feature most of the other trappings (and by the end feels like much more of a wizard story anyway). The Witches are one of the character groups that form a sort of miniseries within Discworld, along with the City Watch, Death, Rincewind, etc. Rincewind has obviously been heavily featured at this point, but Terry has confessed to not enjoying the character as much as many of his others. The Witches and the City Watch feel like the two main tentpoles of his universe, collectively featuring as the main protagonists of almost 20 books (counting Tiffany Aching) and making cameo appearances in several other stories. With the City Watch not having made an appearance yet, Wyrd Sisters comes off as the first example of the kind of story that would come to define the Discworld. It’s also the first Discworld novel to feel fully driven by a specific story, with little room for tangents or humorous digressions that upset the tone... Nanny Ogg is simply one of Terry’s funniest characters, and serves as the even-more-practical witch who doesn’t care at all about how things are “meant to be done”. She is the witch most firmly rooted in the real world, with all that entails..."
https://bit.ly/2Vm6b4X
Blogger The Honest Avocado gives a full five ripe avocados (yes, that signifies a rave review) to Going Postal:
"I think this is one of my favorite Discworld books so far! Whereas some of the other stories in the series are a little too light on character development and plot, this one feels like a full/complete story. I liked that it focused on one character and you really get to know him... Moist grows and changes significantly from the beginning of the book to the end. He starts out with a set of assumptions about himself and the world and by the end all that’s been turned on its head... The Golems are so admirable. I love the Golems both in this book and in Feet of Clay. Pratchett uses them to show what morality and duty looks like form the perspective of a robot (essentially). The Golems are dutiful and so utterly matter of fact. It’s refreshing and helped me view events in the book from a completely different angle..."
https://bit.ly/2A44Jga
Blogger The Reading Bug returns with thoughts on The Fifth Elephant:
"One aspect of Pratchett’s work which is under-appreciated in my opinion is his ability to craft detective stories. Because The Fifth Elephant is, among several other things, detective fiction. The Stone of Scone, an ancient dwarven artefact, is stolen from the Ankh-Morpork Dwarf Bread Museum. Which is suspicious, because the original Scone of Stone, under close guard far away in a mine in Uberwald, is central to the forthcoming coronation of new Low King of the Dwarves. To further complicate matters the Patrician, Lord Vetinari, has decided to send Sam Vimes as his ambassador to the coronation, suggesting that while there he may wish to negotiate with the Low King on a trade agreement with Ankh-Morpork. Uberwald is rich in underground fat deposits, as a result of the untimely arrival of the titular fifth elephant of legend... The usual things that make Pratchett’s novels a continuing joy are all to be found here. There’s the clever references that are so easy to miss... I think this is the first novel where we really get to see Vimes and Lady Sybil as a married couple. The maturity of their relationship, full of compromises and kindness, is worth reading the book for alone..."
https://bit.ly/2Zh5lI6
...and with thoughts on Carpe Jugulum:
"Isn’t this pretty much exactly the plot of Lords and Ladies (Discworld 14) published some six years earlier? Superficially charming but sinister and other-worldly villains are accidentally invited into Lancre, take over, and battle with the witches? Pretty much. The good news is that all this doesn’t matter in the slightest. Shakespeare recycled plots freely and unapologetically, so why couldn’t Sir Terry? Any time spent with the profound moral philosopher that is Granny Weatherwax, Pratchett’s finest creation, is time well spent, even if we have been here before. And this is a very brave book – not many fantasy writers would go to the dark places that Granny visits..."
https://bit.ly/2CAAVZo
...and doesn't sugar-coat thoughts about The Last Continent:
"This is a thin foundation for a novel. The Australian cliches pile up irritatingly, and you end up waiting for the next one to turn up (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, check, duck-billed platypus, check, the Dreaming, check). I felt Pratchett kept throwing new Xxxx items at the book to try and distract the reader from the underlying absence of anything approaching a plot. The fun with creation myths never really takes off – it’s mildly diverting, nothing more. Pratchett published two novels a year most years for almost twenty years, so a dud was always a possibility, but they are still a disappointment when they crop up, as they inevitably must. It’s not that I actively disliked The Last Continent, just that I didn’t love it..."
https://bit.ly/2Z8chqR
Blogger Zezee With Books reviews Wyrd Sisters:
"As always, the characters are entertaining and helped to make the story a fun read. I like how the witches play off each other: the undercurrent of animosity between Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg despite their respect for each other, and how the older witches respond to Magrat's eccentricities (they tolerate it while side-eyeing everything, lol). Oh, they made this a jolly, good read! I especially enjoyed whenever they show up at a play and comment loudly on the acts, making the actors nervous. That cracked me up, lol! Of them all, Nanny Ogg was my favorite. She knows how to have fun and doesn’t mind dancing on table tops, lol. I could party with her... Ah, Discworld’s worldbuilding… that’s my absolute favorite thing about the two books in the series I’ve read so far. The worldbuilding both amazes and entertains me..."
https://bit.ly/2CIAyfy
Blogger Hedwig on Moving Pictures:
"I think the main reason I enjoyed this was the weird unusual thread of the story. It follows the usual Discworld formula in places, being based in Ankh Morpork and the introduction of some new characters being pulled into some ridiculous amount of mayhem usually linked to something magical or otherworldly. This one, felt a little the story was far more solid and that the world is better established in this book. I still can’t be quite sure if that is due to the fact that I am invested in the series now but something felt unusual... I think as well this is the first book where I felt the wealth of characters was explored really well. We don’t just get to see the witches, or just get to see the wizards. Holy Wood being what it is draws Trolls, talking dogs and would be wizards like our main character Victor. There is also the eventual return of a race of characters we have seen before towards the end, and of course the always welcome return of Death, the Librarian and a hilarious plot involving the wizards at the university. I do think that Victor was a little weak, especially alongside Ginger and Throat. Seeing Throat reappear in a more vital role in the plot was brilliant and felt true to his constantly changing nature, but I still felt Victor was left a little underdeveloped compared to other main characters I’ve met so far. Gaspode the Wonder Dog is a true standout though..."
https://bit.ly/3i5rwt1
Blogger and author ES Barrison on Witches Abroad:
"My knowledge of Terry Pratchett comes initially from his collaboration with Neil Gaiman on Good Omens. A friend of mine recommended this book to me as a fun, lighthearted story to dive into Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. And what a way to enter it! A world where stories are brought to life by a rogue fairy godmother means chaos ensues: a frog prince, a sleezy cat-turned-man, and a fairy godmother with a knack for pumpkins, just to name a few. Plus with characters as endearing and witchy as Magrat, Granny Weatherwax, and Nanny Ogg, you’ll want to go on this wacky adventure with them..."
https://bit.ly/3eATWZR
Blogger Cirsicircles on The Wee Free Men:
"All the tiny atmospheric details are entertaining enough to be memorable for their own sakes, yet they often pop up later in the plot and you’re glad they were so memorable. For example, Ratbag the cat won’t give Tiffany the time of day unless he needs something, and in the dream-ambush scene, he cuddles her leg. My mind registered that she was going to be eaten by the dream-spinning creature before the narrator had to spell it out for me. Another thing I admired about the writing was the trick best done by Daphne du’Maurier in Rebecca: making a main character who never shows up in the book. The memory of Tiffany’s dead granny is not just a reoccurring theme it’s a talisman against evil and a guiding force, vibrant and earthy..."
https://bit.ly/3fY01Qh
Blogger Mr Lit's scholarly thoughts – with a wealth of footnotes – on Monstrous Regiment:
"Pratchett carried Discworld’s characteristic subversion of gender roles even further by taking on the well established literary paradigm of female to male cross-dressing during wartime... Interestingly, cross-dressing is similarly used by Tolkien, whose influence on contemporary fantasy is unparalleled, in The Return of the King, the final instalment of his epic The Lord of the Rings. Like Polly, Eowyn poses as male in order to participate in battle alongside her brother and people, rather than being left behind in a state of forced passivity alongside the other women. Eowyn herself likens this fate to being confined in a cage, ‘to stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, all chance of great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.’... The cross-dresser who can pass as a member of the target gender, gaining acceptance by the group, comes voluntarily under the control of the gender role expectations for that gender group. A woman who desires to pass as a man must not only successfully pass dressed as a man, but also act as one in the masculine roles assigned the gender.’ Polly conforms to this idea, realising early on in the novel that cutting her hair and wearing boy’s clothes simply won’t cut it; in order to pass successfully as a young recruit, she must imitate the social behaviour and mannerisms of a young male: ‘Think young male, that was the thing. Fart loudly and with self-satisfaction at a job well done, move like a puppet that’d had a couple of random strings cut, never hug anyone and, if you meet a friend, punch them.’ In this sense, Pratchett successfully demonstrates that biological gender barriers can be easily overcome by merely changing dress and adapting one’s social behaviour, indicating that gender and identity are not exclusive..."
https://bit.ly/3eAxVKB
Blogger Muse With Me returns to give four out of five stars to Soul Music:
"Despite Death and Susan playing key roles, the true heart of the story lies with Imp and his compatriots... The core plot, with a force invading the Discworld and making profound changes, is rather common in this series. Archchancellor Ridcully of the wizards, one of the perspective supporting characters, even remarks upon it in a half-knowing way that I found amusing. All the same, this was a rather good execution upon that sort of story. Though not especially deep, it made for an interesting commentary on how much of an overwhelming whirlwind fame can be, when at the outset you were set on more humble successes, whether it be just making a living or simply sharing your talent with the world. Everything comes together around this story of musical fame and rock music references in a way I hadn’t quite expected too, giving Death something he didn’t know he needed in his quest to simply forget. It made for an appreciably subtle moment..."
https://bit.ly/2Z90mJj
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07) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
The cover(s) for the Japanese paperback edition of Good Omens:
https://bit.ly/2Zbo33B and https://bit.ly/2YA9xUc
A lovely drawing of The Author by Jillian Tamaki for the New York Times in 2014:
https://bit.ly/3eD108n
Paul Kidby's wonderful drawing of young Gytha and young Leonard on a picnic, tweeted by the artist himself:
https://bit.ly/382vu0Z
Mr Pin has been found! https://bit.ly/2YTUfIE
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08) CLOSE
Junior's been busy! "Scholastic Books have announced acclaimed games writer and journalist Rhianna Pratchett as the next guest author for the bestselling Fighting Fantasy series... Set in the iconic Fighting Fantasy world of Titan, Crystal of Storms casts the hero of the story as a member of the Sky Watch, charged with keeping the airborne archipelago of Pangaria safe. When the flying island Nimbus suddenly crashes out of the sky into the Ocean of Tempests below, the hero must battle storms and sea beasts in their mission to raise it from the deep. For this landmark Fighting Fantasy adventure, Scholastic have taken a new approach with the cover art, in order to attract a new, younger audience to the classic gamebook series - one which many of their parents cite as getting them reading and introducing them to fantasy role-playing in the first place. As the world’s most high-profile woman in gaming, Rhianna Pratchett is the perfect match for the series, and becomes its first ever female guest author. 'I first came to the Fighting Fantasy books as a child; reading them surreptitiously under the covers with a torch late at night,' Rhianna explains. 'It's been such an honour to be asked by Ian Livingstone, Steve Jackson and the team at Scholastic to create a new novel for their vibrant and exciting world. My kid-self has been high-fiving my adult-self all year! I hope new and old fans will enjoy exploring the floating archipelago of Pangaria and its colourful, eccentric and dangerous inhabitants. I also hope that some of that enjoyment will occur surreptitiously under the covers late at night.'"
Crystal of Storms, illustrated by Eva Eskelinen, will be published in October 2020. Read the full press release from Scholastic here:
https://www.fightingfantasy.com/ff-press-releases
https://www.fightingfantasy.com/blog
More info about the series, for those of you who don't know what it is (I certainly didn't!):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Fantasy
Meanwhile, the Good Omens miniseries is still generating buzz around the world, with many blogs and pop-culture websites talking about an imagined second series. Let's see what Neil Gaiman has to say about that: "It's definitely not a 'never say never again' situation... Everybody would love more. And I am the problem, because there's only 24 hours in a day, and I have a 4-year-old. So there's a certain amount of juggling and figuring things out. I would love to be able to oversee more Good Omens, partly because of the sheer joy in getting to put Michael and David on screen together as those characters."
Right, that's us told. And that's it for now. Mind how you go, and we hope to 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) 2020 by Wossname for the Klatchian Foreign Legion
