Wossname – September 2020 – Main issue
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wossnameWossname
Newsletter of the Klatchian Foreign Legion
September 2020 (Volume 23, Issue 9, 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) THE TIME TRAVELLING CAVEMAN: REVIEW
04) ODDS AND SODS
05) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS
06) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS
07) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
08) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
09) CLOSE
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01) QUOTES OF THE MONTH
"I’d say writing the books from which the characters were ‘inspired’ is being pretty heavily involved. This project was also started whilst Dad was still alive and wouldn’t exist without his work. Thanking people who are no longer with us is not an unusual thing to do."
– Rhianna Pratchett's response to an obvious troll
"I've had the huge privilege of dramatising, and staging, many of your Dad's awesome novels. He changed my life immeasurably and, without qualification, I'd like to say – publicly – 'Thank you, Terry; it was huge fun'."
– Stephen Briggs' response to Rhianna's
"Terry was alive when it started. Just as he was alive when Good Omens on TV started. And there was never a day that went by making Good Omens that I wasn't determined to respect Terry's memory and brilliance. Because if there was anyone everyone was grateful to, it was Terry."
– Neil Gaiman, likewise
"Yeah its like they never Mention Gene Roddenberry on any new Star Treks that are made that guy had NOTHING to do with all the new stuff.... oh no wait they do... its kinda the thing you do... also no one Claims they Created Star Trek on their bio on any of the new series...."
– Twitter user Intron
"Ah so despite stan lee let's say having no input in future marvel movie installments they should not bother with his name again. Even though he helped create a lot of the characters but seeing as he is unavoidably dead we can forget about him now."
– Twitter user Andy C
"Sir Terry Pratchett's fingerprints are all over this thing. How can the show runner not be grateful to the creator of the world and the characters even if some of them are not exactly as described by the author."
– Twitter user Carole
"Funny I'm sure I saw Sir Arthur Conan Doyle mentioned in the credits of every episode of 'Sherlock' on the BBC few years back, despite him being out of copyright since 2000."
– Twitter user Alan Bourke
Note: all the above quotes are from https://twitter.com/rhipratchett/status/1305626315802976256
"I was very unhappy with Dad not being thanked. I don’t know why but it hasn’t been edited so it seems deliberate, unfortunately."
– Rhianna Pratchett, a few days later, interviewed in The Guardian
"Ms. Pratchett may put the very best spin on it she can, but it’s not a matter of inspiration. It’s because they hate. They have chosen to destroy the Discworld’s Night Watch series because of hate. They hate you, and they want to destroy anything that you loved, that made you happy, or that was simply wholesome, beautiful, creative, and worthwhile. The ultimate problem is theirs, though."
– blogger Riders of Skaith, commenting on the "inspired by" weasel-words of the Watch showrunner
"The characters of the Disc are still alive out there somewhere in a reality that cannot be altered."
– blogger Cathryn of Lit Alley says it all about any attempted rendering of the Discworld in visual media, ever
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02) LETTER FROM YOUR EDITOR
Ah, pandemic time. Where days become weeks and months also become weeks and every day is the same day as yesterday and everything melts into a very long afternoon... I would swear on a stack of Mrs Bradshaw's guides that it's only been a week since we posted out the August issue...
I had intended to say nothing further about The Watch. I really had. But this... unholy Cori Celesti, this is much too much. As you may have already gathered from the quotes of the month above, there's been a further... well, just go to item 4.0.
And now, on with the show...
– Annie Mac, Editor
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03) THE TIME TRAVELLING CAVEMAN
3.1 REVIEW
By Annie Mac
The Time-travelling Caveman opens with the dedication "To Terry – aged seventeen". Very appropriate, as Terry Pratchett was already writing these by then.
It's also appropriate because there are seventeen stories. Many of these tales are once again set in the fictional town of Blackbury, later home to the Johnny Maxwell trilogy, and once again, we can see seeds of Pratchett's later work in them. The Tropnecian Invasion of Great Britain and The Wergs' Invasion of earth contain concepts he developed in The Carpet People and the Bromeliad trilogy. Johnno, the Talking Horse is a good practice run for Gaspode – and Maurice. There is a modicum of magic – and wizards! – noticeably in The Wizard of Blackbury United (a sweet moral tale of self-confidence) and The Wild Knight; also, the title story itself is magical, even though there's no magic mentioned in it. Bason and the Hugonauts is a "young person's introduction to mythology", with a generous helping of Fractured Fairy Tales.
Two of the stories feature backyard space programmes of a sort: Professor Whelk's Trip to Mars and Lemonade on the Moon. It's hard to say which of these is more ridiculous in the sense of scientific impossibility, but both are charming, and friends of mine with young'uns assure me that even in this era of readily available scientific information, very young children would happily sit through them.
Some of my favourites in this collection were, in addition to The Time-travelling Caveman and Johnno, the Talking Horse, are The Mark One Computer; Doggins Has an Awfully Big Adventure – long, wildly imaginative and possibly the best of them all, with a subtle nod to Gulliver – and despite the sound of its title, containing neither anthropomorphised animals nor hobbits; and A Hole in Time, another of the longer stories and one I feel would especially fascinate children.
Something of note that was either missing from the earlier volumes, or else didn't attract my notice at the time, is a generous presence of girls or women as protagonists (even Mark One, the peripatetic computer, is "she"). Good to see, and it doesn't feel forced, which is as it should be.
In fairness, I should list my least favourite stories, all of which I felt were lower in narrative interest – Ub and the Toad; The Pied Piper of Blackbury; Bedwyr and Arthur's Hill (although its opening sentence, "Half of this story you will believe is true, and half of the half you won't believe is unbelievable, but if you believe in it hard enough it will be truer", is delightfully reminiscent of part of a certain 111-year-old's farewell speech in a certain book by a certain young storyteller's favourite fantasy author); Mr Trapcheese and his Ark; and The Great Big Weather Fight – but again, these are probably suitably for reading to very young children.
A special thank-you is due to Colin Smythe, who collected and chose the stories for inclusion. And of course there is another fun cavalcade of illustrations by Mark Beech, once again style reminiscent of the young Terry Pratchett's own illustrations for The Carpet People. I enjoyed them all, but most of all I love the grinning ape opposite the first page of the introduction.
As this is quite probably the last "new" set of Pratchett stories*, it deserves a place in everyone's library, even if you don't have children to read to, Recommended!
* Several of the stories in The Time-travelling Caveman were included in the Collector's Edition of earlier sets, but as not many of us have those editions, they still count as new
3.2 REMINDER: ORDERING INFO
Penguin: https://bit.ly/3g3PhAt and Penguin Australia: https://bit.ly/3hXdjOj
Discworld.com: https://bit.ly/3fa7sD8
Discworld Emporium: https://bit.ly/39MT8zL
Foyles: https://www.foyles.co.uk/all?term=9780857536020
Waterstones: https://bit.ly/3gFsLxB
Blackwells: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9780857536020
Hive: https://bit.ly/2CNrtTe
...and in Fourecks...
Booktopia: https://bit.ly/2ChTemc
QBD Books: https://bit.ly/3f5IYLn
Readings: https://bit.ly/2Cn9jqs
Dymocks: https://bit.ly/3fd4AX9
Angus and Robertson: https://bit.ly/31ZRicE
...and other places, including that evil one your Editor refuses to promote, ever. If at all possible, please support your local independent bookshop!
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04) ODDS AND SODS
4.0 "WATCH WARS: A NO HOPE"
From Rhianna Pratchett herself: "This is the show-runner of The Watch, failing to thank MY FATHER. This should tell you everything you need to know."
https://twitter.com/rhipratchett/status/1305507935787900928 (tweet also gives the link to the showrunner's egregious Instagram post)
Editor's note: I refuse to give said Instagram post any space on this page, apart from pointing out that the showrunner had the sheer cheek to start it with "Somewhere in a distant, second hand set of dimensions, in an alternate trouser leg of time..."
A few of the many comments to Ms Pratchett's tweet, that say it so well:
"As a long time fan of your father's books I am horrified by this. The watch have always been my favourite series of books. I've always been concerned about adaptations of the books... even those lovingly "mucked about" by your father as the credits said but this is different. Your father was a man who once sent an email to 17 year old South African school boy (innocently addressing me as Paul due to the fact that my email came from my school Paul Roos) to decline reading a short story in the nicest way possible. That he and his work should be treated with such callous disrespect is shameful. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that as a fan I will not support this disgrace. Your father gave us a mirror to our world, that in some ways changed every single person who read his books. While I know that there is little I can do personally, and you no doubt hear this from many people, you have my full support in any course of action to rectify this travesty. Thank you for fighting for your father's work and the fans he touched with his words."
– CliffTheHatman
"Your father created a legacy that will last for as long as humans have a language with which to communicate with. The 'creator' of the show will not."
– jamil_ryu
"A bit of a gut punch. However, the program will be forgotten in a year, but we'll take your Dad's Discworld with us to the stars."
– mharoldpage
Here be a detailed summation, written by Rachel Anthony-Rowlands, superfan and co-maintainer/content-creator of Discworld Monthly (the original UK Discworld fanzine), of the path this -ing clusterwahoonie took from acquiring the rights to what it appears to have become. I strongly suggest you read the whole page, but as a teaser, here be a small extract. Link to the entire piece is below – do read!
"The original plan back in 2012 was that these would be original stories written with input from Rhianna and at the time Terry himself and they would have been canon. If someone died in the TV series, they could never come back in the books, and the other way around. Complications came in when Terry died. Clauses that would have stated Terry Pratchett had any form of input into the series would have no standing anymore as Terry Pratchett was no longer here. Terry Pratchett and Narrativia are two different entities on paper, so what allowed one to do things, it didn't allow the other to carry on once Terry had died. When Terry did the deal originally with the BBC, the team they had dealing with it was a completely different one to the team that has now made the series and as a result have negated any real input that Terry gave them when he was alive...
"Once the rights are sold, the rights are sold. Deals done mean that the rights to produce an adaptation sit with those who have bought it until the time limit runs out. Because there is always a time limit on these kind of deals so that the IP holders can eventually get their rights back. Sky did have the option to make Unseen Academicals into a TV production like they had done with Hogfather / GoingPostal / The Colour of Magic but time ran out for them to do so and the rights reverted back to Narrativia. It's like selling someone a mug and then after they bought it, demanding they can't drink coffee out of it. It's not done and they can't stop it unless it breaches the contract or they run out of time on the option to produce..."
https://discworldmonthly.co.uk/terrypratchett_thewatchseries.php
4.1 DISCWORLD AND BEYOND IN DORSET: THE TOUR CONTINUES!
Paul Kidby says: "All being well, in these uncertain and restricted times, the popular Discworld & Beyond exhibition is still scheduled to open next month at The Red House Gallery in Christchurch on October the 24th. I am showing a few of my newer pieces including Good Omens artwork and the bronze sculpted bust of Sir Terry."
When: 24th October – 5th December 2020
Venue: Red House Museum and Gardens, Quay Road, Christchurch BH23 1BU (phone 01202 482860)
Times: Tuesday to Friday 10am – 5pm; Saturday 10am – 4pm
Tickets: free admission, "however, please pre-book your preferred visiting time for all members of your party, including children." Tickets are available online via
https://bit.ly/3gZvvGd
"If you do not have a pre-booked visiting time or arrive late, the venue will do their best to accommodate you, but cannot guarantee you will be able to visit. During your visit to Red House Museum and Gardens, please follow all social distancing and hygiene guidelines. Thank you for your understanding."
https://www.paulkidby.com/event/discworld-beyond-8/
http://www3.hants.gov.uk/redhouse
4.2 UPDATES: THE TERRY PRATCHETT BOOK CLUB
On the website of publishers Tor, Emmet Asher-Perrin continues a Discworld discussion page. In this month's instalment, Equal Rites finishes and Mort begins:
"This is mostly an action section where a lot of fun stuff happens, but I must give my brief thanks for Granny’s taking to city witch life and the splash of color she slowly adds to her wardrobe, which has Esk so scandalized. (Deep red wine lining a cloak, that’s top tier.) Just, everything about Granny’s transformation in this section is excellent, and I love the fact that she’s utterly suspicious of these locales at the start, only to find that being in a truly sizable urban area is good fun for someone with her skillset...
"According to Pratchett, the duel between Granny and Cutangle is a sort of homage to the British folk song “The Two Magicians”, which is fascinating for the actual content of the song: It’s about a blacksmith who is threatening to take a maiden’s virginity, which results in a transformation sequence where the maiden keeps turning into animals and the blacksmith catches her as different animals. The maiden doesn’t get away in every version of the song, and though the context was likely meant to be a teasing, jaunty sort of tune… it’s still ultimately a song about a guy who refuses to respect a woman’s consent and therefore is intent on raping her. Which. I mean, that’s one way to talk about sexism in your book about men and women’s magic. As metaphors go, it’s not what you’d call subtle, but it is layered as hell – after all, Granny and Cutangle are not engaging in anything remotely sexual during this fight, but there’s something to be said for couching this fight for dominance in a story that brings that idea to the table regardless. Essentially, we’re being reminded that consent is a major component to the inequality that women are forced to reckon with on a daily basis because this framing device is deliberately highlighting the fact. It makes a great action sequence that much more distinct, and deeply unsettling..."
https://www.tor.com/2020/09/04/terry-pratchett-book-club-equal-rites-part-iii/
...and the rest of Equal Rites:
"This book is strangely paced as all get-out, but still a lot of fun. It really picks up there at the end and a lot of stuff just happens, and some of it is great and some of it is less exciting. I do find it interesting that after spending so much time building up this story for Esk, it’s really more of a story about Granny. I can’t ever be upset about that because she’s amazing, and it’s so incredibly, stunningly rare to see a story where an elderly woman gets to have an adventure and be truly heroic all while getting to be so singularly herself. (Granny Weatherwax and Eglantine Price have a lot in common, so what can I say, I have a type when it comes to witches.) Also, I’m just gonna say it, I wish Esk had tried to Borrow the Great A’Tuin’s mind. Come on, that would have been amazing to read, no matter how terrible the idea was.
"It strikes me that the type of magic Simon and Esk work to create is essentially the magic version of philosophy maybe? The idea of something that no one understands but is somehow comforting sounds like philosophy to me. But it sort of tickles and frustrates me simultaneously that their trip to the Dungeon Dimensions is kinda... not very important to the overall story. In addition, I don’t know how I feel about Simon losing his stutter. My instinct is to say that I’m against it—the idea is awfully close to a character with a disability magically losing said disability, and I don’t really care that sort of narrative. It’s okay for Simon to stutter. It doesn’t diminish him at all..."
https://www.tor.com/2020/09/11/terry-pratchett-book-club-equal-rites-part-iv
...and the first two parts of Mort:
"There is always a question of whether we believe, from a storytelling perspective, that being a personification of Death would be a depressing job. And different stories have different opinions on the matter, whether they decide that Death is a function and therefore incapable of feeling any way about the work, or that having a job tied to literally the only fact of life—that everything eventually dies—is an inevitable hardship that takes its toll. But with Discworld’s Death it’s a bit more specific, namely in the fact that Death is aware that his job means that he’s often going to encounter the worst in people. We get that very explicitly with the section around the drowned kittens, and it comes early in the story as a way of framing the difficulty we’re going to see between Death and Mort. There’s a weariness to Death from the outset of the story, which really culminates in the moment when he asks Albert about what he’s feeling, Albert tells him sadness, and he replies I AM SADNESS. Which always struck me because if you’re the personification of an aspect of natural order then… well, it just makes sense that your emotional states are more than just your brain doing chemicals. If Death is sad and he is becoming sadness, conceptually, that’s a lot, even for him.
"There’s also the romantic aspect to this story between Mort and Ysabell, of course, which is made to mirror Great Expectations. (The fact that Ysabell calls Mort 'Boy' is a tell to that end, as Estelle calls Pip the same.) And I have feelings about that because honestly, it is not a Dickens I’ve ever been overly fond of, but you could argue that Pratchett is trying to do Dickens one better here. Just to start, the set up is better – rather than a horrific bitter old woman keeping a girl locked away from the world, Isabel's adopted dad isn’t trying to make her life miserable with the world he’s created around her. He knows that she’s lonely and could use some company her own age. He’s trying to help in a very messy dad sort of way. So it’ll be fun to pick over the way Pratchett uses that framework to a better end, and actually creates a proper love story around it..."
https://www.tor.com/2020/09/18/terry-pratchett-book-club-mort-part-i/
"'It occurred to him that people needed to believe things.' So this point comes up more than once in the Discworld books, particularly as it pertains to Death, and it’s central to Pratchett’s general philosophy on humans and what we do and how we work. But the thing I love most about it is the fact that he expands this thought as the books go on. So it starts in this germinating form here, and by the time we get to Hogfather, he blows it wide open. It’s wonderful seeing it begin here. There is so much about Goodie Hamstring’s death that lands beautifully, so much about her grace in accepting death, in the acknowledgement that life does genuinely get to be a chore once your body starts failing you, and it’s hard not to think of Pratchett’s own views on that front... We like to talk about wisdom and experience, but the world we occupy makes aging a deeply ignoble exercise for many, and the ability to have some control over one’s death is a completely understandable desire. But I’m also reminded of an essay I read a few years back from a woman on aging. It was, among other things, about how the process was a jarring thing because your brain doesn’t quite understand what’s happening to your body. She talked about looking in the mirror and expecting to see herself as she was decades previous, how perplexing it was to find someone different staring back at her. And that is perfectly encapsulated in the moment where Mort sees the shade of a younger Goodie, asks her if that’s who she was, and she replies, 'It’s who I’ve always been.' That reminder of how perplexing it is to have a body that will inevitably wear out and turn on itself when your mind remembers being something else entirely..."
https://www.tor.com/2020/09/25/terry-pratchett-book-club-mort-part-ii
4.3 BRING ON THE BAD GUYS
On That Hashtag Show, BK Lok ranks Discworld's five scariest villains. Your mileage may vary, but it's an interesting set of choices!
"For all that it’s humorous at heart, Discworld features some of the most terrifying villains ever to grace the literary world. I’ve prepared a short list of the 5 most terrifying ones just for you this Halloween. A quick word of warning though: below contains major spoilers for various Discworld books...."
The top five includes Mr Teatime, Spider from TAMAHER, the Summoning Dark, the Cunning Man, and the Auditors, with explanations given for every choice.
https://bit.ly/2S3s4nN
4.4 A MEMORABLE MEMORIAL LUGGAGE
Here be a feature on bespoke furniture designer Howard Butler, who made a "presentation Luggage" for the Terry Pratchett Memorial in London in 2016. By Barry Kinghorn in the Worcester News:
"[Y]ou can't get much more bespoke than being asked to design something that's pretty much out of this world. That is to say, create a piece for a memorial service for Sir Terry Pratchett, the author of the fantasy world Discworld books... Howard said: 'I love designing on the spot with clients and making their ideas become reality' and this ability to think outside the box (literally in this case) could well have been a factor in his work on the Pratchett memorial. He said: "This commission was a privilege to be involved in. The brief was to make a lifesize piece, "The Luggage", a character from Discworld author Terry Pratchett’s book, The Colour of Magic. The Luggage would then be filled with bespoke jewellery for presentation at the memorial service for Sir Terry, which was held at the Barbican Theatre, London. The jewellery was designed for the family and the new "The Venerable order of the Honey Bee". I enjoyed making this chest and believe it has a character of its own, especially when it smiles. The favourite parts to make were the mechanical moving parts, such as the independent jaw that locates in several positions in one fluid motion, and the tray, which is controlled by a specially designed rivet that when turned protrudes a locking bar. In the fantasy books, the chest is supposed to be made from sapient pear wood, so I thought it was appropriate to finish the chest in pear beeswax. My friends have beehives, and the bees feed on the pear trees across the river. Perfect, so I melted it down and made my own pear wood wax for authenticity.'..."
https://bit.ly/33ZD3Ea
...and here's Mr Butler's own Luggage page, complete with wonderful iconographs:
"The inside of the chest has a network of programmed lights, which when turned on gives the appearance of a moving waterfall and an infinity base. Integrating these special effects summon up the magic of Discworld..."
https://howardbutler.co.uk/portfolio/terry-pratchett-chest/
4.5 THE MERCH CORNER
* The Illustrated Guards! Guards!
Not the super-posh limited edition, but a more affordable hardcover, 320 pages with a generous scattering of new Kidby illustrations! To be published on 12th November:
"This is where the dragons went. They lie . . . not dead, not asleep, but . . . dormant. And although the space they occupy isn't like normal space, nevertheless they are packed in tightly. They could put you in mind of a can of sardines, if you thought sardines were huge and scaly. And presumably, somewhere, there's a key to let them out. Captain Sam Vimes of the Night Watch is going to have a doozy of a night when they are. This edition features ten glorious full-colour illustrations and further pencil drawings by Terry Pratchett's artist of choice, Paul Kidby."
Each copy of the Illustrated Guards! Guards! is hand-signed by the artist, priced at £30 and available for shipping to the UK, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. "For other destinations please email for a shipping price." For more info, and to pre-order, go to:
https://bit.ly/3mWFtfw
The Illustrated Guards! Guards! is also available to pre-order from the Discworld Emporium: https://bit.ly/30fZ7t0
...and from Discworld.com: https://bit.ly/2HwUvrX
...and in Fourecks, from Hachette; a good price (AU$65), though not available until January 2021: https://bit.ly/2S40jeF
* Reminder: The Ankh-Morpork Archives, Volume Two
"Containing material unavailable for twenty years – this is a comprehensive guide to the capital city of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, getting to the heart of Ankh-Morpork’s secrets, societies and guilds. Ankh-Morpork is a bottomless pit of secrets. It’s time to unearth a few more . . . In the second volume of this confidential guide, brave travellers are made privy to the inner workings of more illustrious Ankh-Morpork societies. Disabuse yourself of notions of professionalism under which you may hold the City Watch; discover what serious business is undertaken by the Fools’ Guild (joking is no laughing matter); and, should you be lucky, achieve true enlightenment through the teachings of Lu-Tze. One thing’s for sure: after you’ve read this book, Ankh-Morpork’s Guilds are going to need to come up with new ways of doing things. Completely revamped and redesigned, this full-colour book contains material from Discworld Diaries across the decades."
Each copy of The Ankh-Morpork Archives, Volume Two is priced at £25 and will be published on 29th October 2020. For more info, and to pre-order, go to:
https://bit.ly/3lxmhUV
* Reminder: 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 order, go to:
https://www.askmeaboutterrypratchett.com/s/shop
https://twitter.com/20thcenturymarc
4.6 VERY CREATIVE WRITING: THE MANGLED "NEWS" OF A THEORETICAL GOOD OMENS SEQUEL
For your entertainment...
When the Good Omens miniseries was newly broadcast by Amazon Prime and the aether was filled with (almost universally glowing) reviews, it came to my notice that many people were already speculating on the possibility of a second series. While this was nothing more than wishful thinking (and may well still be, although Mr Gaiman has been quoted as being more open to the eventual possibility of it than he had been – though again, the current pandemic has uprooted most of the film and telly industry so who knows, eh?), I also noticed a sudden rash of pop-culture sites claiming to have all the information about a second series – and that the language in these articles was rapidly getting weirder and less coherent. So Your Editor started collecting links and preserving the text in them. And lo, when months later the BBC aired the miniseries, there was a new explosion of "second series information" and the weirdness and incoherence continued to increase. And the collection, from websites with names like Top Buzz Times, The Digital Wise, The News Trace, Nation Editions, The Inner Sane (no, really), Gizmo Blaze, Gizmo Posts 24, World Top Trend and Pop Times, continues to grow.
So what's the cause of all this? Well, now, it may look like a number of non-English-speaking people having a bad day on Google Translate, but the truth of it is that this is the way dodgy websites get around content theft – and yes, it definitely *is* theft, as the debased content is credited to a name (often also fictional) on the website's so-called team. At the start of the train is a person or machine with the original in one hand and a thesaurus in the other, altering enough words to disguise the original text but in the process losing the meaning, since synonyms usually require context. For example, "opposite number" becomes "reverse quantity", "bring page to screen" becomes "carry webpage to display", "frequently changes style" becomes "incessantly modifications fashion", "End Times" becomes "Finish Instances", and then each successive generation of changes grows ever more incoherent until you get... well, I think "Suggestions of something to guise frontward to" as a substitute for Good Omens takes first prize. But here are a few samples:
"The critical dream series Good Omens is stirred in the radical of an identical call made through Terry Pratchett. The first season of the fantasy series came remaining and seemed on some other streaming application BBC. The team adores this hallucination collection..."
"The secret dream series Good Omens is stirred from the radical of a virtually identical telephone made through Terry Pratchett... The dream thriller series is entirely basically determined by the radical of the equal call..."
"The sitcom plot turns over the malevolence and the blessed messenger Aziraphale who’re applied to regular day to day existence, in any case, who can perceive how the universe is closing on a Saturday. They, with the guide of utilizing by then, compositions on the whole to hold up fundamental magnificent methodologies from the world’s pinnacle..."
"Most of us know that the Good Omens has been observing since May, thinking about the capricious and the manual of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, and it’s among the most extreme elite signals in 2019. Whatever the case, Good Omens transformed into really each time engineered as a typical series... The first season had a splendid accomplishment, and also the base preceded to occur upon extra... The clamoring strategy for the entirety of these elite people is probably evident in the back of the up and coming season postponement; at any given expense brilliantly, the season will, in a short season, hit on the demonstrations..."
"Hints of somewhat to look onward to is a caricature dream collection that is brought by approaches for Amazon also BBC Studios. It is harmonized finished Douglas Mackinnon besides exaggerated by Terry Pratchett besides Neil Gaiman’s book ‘Suggestions of something to guise frontward to. Talented signs debuted on Amazon Prime Audiovisual.."
"Hints of something to look forward to is a parody dream assortment that is delivered by methods for Amazon and BBC Studios. It is coordinated through Douglas Mackinnon and affected by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s book ‘Hints of something to look forward to'..."
"The thriller series Good Omens is roused from the 1990 novel 'Promising signs'..."
"The collection offers with incidents going on from hallucination highlighting on the same telephone name made through Terry Pratchett. The collection has ideal combination of sarcasm and thriller taking the audience to a very different world of fantasy... The officers had been absolutely tight lipped which indicates there are no intentions for the collection to get renewed... The display revolves around the viewpoint and the stand point of Crowley and Aziraphale, who converse in their own respective planet and talk about paradise and the inferior aspect staying inside their own respective spheres. They are pursuing themselves to prevent the unfortunate that is occurring..."
"One of the abnormal offshoots of this period of fable. And technological know-how fiction going mainstream in the amusement is booked no person of their proper thoughts could ever adapt are being tailored... It Made[sic] the original now not most straightforward paintings... 'And then Terry sent me a letter pronouncing, ‘you need to [write] this due to the fact I do not have very long to stay, and I need to look it before the lights exit.’ And then he died lots, plenty faster than many folks predicted...' Good Omens has a starting, a center, and a cease…After which, a few more cease..."
[Editor's note: I'm not inclined to torment you, O Readers, with links for these, but yes, I do have them!]
4.7 A SECOND NOVELIST IN THE PRATCHETT FAMILY
By Alison Flood in the Guardian:
"If there is one, teeny tiny upside for Rhianna Pratchett in the fact that her father is no longer around, it’s that she doesn’t have to hear what he thinks about her first novel. 'Obviously, it goes without saying that I wish he was still here,' says Rhianna... 'But the tiniest silver lining is that he would have had lots of opinions about what I was doing right and wrong, and I think it would have been probably even more nerve-racking to have him read it.' Out next week, Crystal of Storms is the latest instalment in the rebooted Fighting Fantasy books, the popular 80s and 90s adventure game series in which the reader plays the hero, battles monsters armed only with a pencil and a dice, and makes choices (fight the beast or run away; take the left fork or the right) in an attempt to survive their quest unscathed. Twenty-million copies of the game books have sold around the world since the first was published in 1982. It is dedicated to Rhianna’s parents, 'who showed me magic every day'..."
https://bit.ly/2FJCsyu
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05) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS
Still no news. But keep an eye out for possible forthcoming Discworld plays later in the year. We must keep the knowledge of Discworld circulating! In the meantime, can you help a Discworld-loving theatre company? The following appeal was posted by Reddit user Nousagi:
"From the theatre that brought you Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards!...a plea from the Footnote.
"Hi, Discworld denizens! Some of you may recall February's great saga of the Majestic Theatre's production of Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards!, as documented by yours truly, the Sproingy Footnote. Pictures and videos were shared; anecdotes documented; a few of you even traveled from afar to see the production; a joyous time was had by all! (Especially in comparing our production to the BBC's...thing.) The director of this play, John Carone, does Discworld plays every couple of years. This is his third. He's also done Wyrd Sisters and Mort. It takes a certain kind of director and a pool of nerdy actors to make it work, and we have both here in Corvallis. John is already considering which of the Briggs adaptations he might do in a couple of years, and as I promised, I'll let everyone here know way in advance so that you can make travel plans if you like! Very few theatres in the United States do Discworld plays as we've discovered, and we'll definitely be doing more!
"...if the theatre survives, that is. COVID has devastated theatres, and we're no exception. We've lost so much revenue. We were fortunate in that we were able to very quickly pivot to digital, so we've continued to be very active. We're even releasing our very first fully-staged, COVID-safe, ticketed online production this weekend, and we have a few more in the works, as well as a whole bunch of free online theatre productions. No Discworld in the digital lineup, unfortunately, but I'm very hopeful that we'll be able to do more in the future.
"If you'd like to see some of our non-Discworld work, you can buy tickets to one of our upcoming online shows here:
https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?ticketing=maj
"If you could donate even a dollar or two to keep us alive long enough to do more Pratchett (because if there's anything this world needs right now, it's more beautiful, human, hopeful Pratchett), you can do so here: https://www.majestic.org/donate
"I so want to be a Footnote again. I took my hat home during the pandemic, and sometimes I work it into online productions, because why not? I still think very fondly back to the happy month of February, before this all began, when I got to log on to this subreddit and see all of the delighted reactions to our hard work. Y'all's support meant a lot then.
"If the theatre doesn't make it, I'll be proud to have been in its last full production, speaking Pratchett's words at the very end on closing night: 'There are no happy endings. There are just...endings.'"
https://bit.ly/32Q6mcU
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06) 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! Also note there are a few updates below.
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://bit.ly/3jtYLGo
NOTE: the Drummers are still meeting occasionally via Zoom. Check out the above links for updates!
*
Drumknott's Irregulars
Facebook https://bit.ly/31FlSrq 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
UPDATE: "What are we doing while we're stuck at home due to COVID-19? Given that our normal social gatherings can't happen while everyone's under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are instead trying to host regular activities and discussions online. Most of these will be done via our Discord Server – https://discord.gg/3RVzsyJ – which has several text chat channels and a few voice chat channels as well. We will still use our Facebook group – https://facebook.com/groups/cityofsmallgods – to coordinate scheduled events. When things get back to normal... (semi-) regular social meetings are generally held on the last Thursday of the month at a pub or restaurant in Adelaide. We have dinner at 6.30pm followed by games until 9pm.
"We'll try to keep this page up to date (no promises!) but always check emails on the mailing list or our Facebook Group for further details of these events."
*
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://bit.ly/2EKSCqu – or message Alexandra Ware directly at <alexandra.ware@gmail.com>
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07) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
Blogger Tiny Navajo on A Slip of the Keyboard:
"While it took me a while to actually get through reading everything just because nonfiction does that to me sometimes; it felt like a set of essays that I could read one or two and then turn back to my fiction books and I enjoyed it. I love reading essays that authors write as I get to see them in what I perceive as their 'purest' form. They’re not writing fiction, they are writing to explain something, but it is still a story, if that makes sense. I loved getting to know Sir Terry Pratchett’s voice and getting to know him writing and humour. If anything, this set of essays has pushed me ever forward to actually reading a Discworld novel because I want to see how his humour transfers to fiction. I want to read and know more about him, and reading his works of fiction would do that.... Having never met the man, nor really read anything of his, that is purely his, before now at least, I can say that I wish I had gotten into his writings before he had died if so only I could get to know him while he was alive. It doesn’t make much difference right now, as I’ll still get to know him as I start reading his novels..."
https://bit.ly/34b5BuG
Blogger Cathryn's long musings on finally reading The Shepherd's Crown:
"I’ve had the book sat on my shelf for a few years. It was a Christmas gift, given to me the year it was published, the year of Pratchett’s death. The thing about fiction is that it is eternal, the stories and characters are alive out there. Existing in their own reality and, for some reason,this notion comforts me. Perhaps it is the idea of an unchanging sphere, a haven for the mind. I don’t know. What I do know is that as soon as I saw the dedication in The Shepherd’s Crown, I knew what was coming and I couldn’t shake the feeling of finality that came with it. I was also painfully aware that Pratchett had still been in the process of editing this novel when he died and it was not considered finished. I was concerned that the reading would be a disappointment and I would be faced with a sub-par novel that would forever taint my experience of the Disc. As such, I left it untouched until a few weeks ago. What The Shepherd’s Crown is, I discovered after reading, is a bittersweet manifestation of a terrible loss to the world of literature. I truly believe that had fate allowed Terry Pratchett to finish the book as intended, it would have been a masterpiece, his magnum opus. The biggest crime against the Discworld series is it’s description as ‘comedic fantasy’. I hate that label when applied to Pratchett’s works. It is true that the humour is what first drew me in and the earlier works are very satirical of the fantasy genre in general, but there is so much more in the stories and especially in his characters and observations of human behaviour, emotion and experience. There is a deep undercurrent of understanding and Terry Pratchett brings to the surface truths that you know in your heart but have no ability to articulate..."
https://bit.ly/3icL1ie
Blogger The Library Mouse gives a full five stars to Dragons at Crumbling Castle:
"There are all kinds of characters and wonderful places. There is time travel and tortoises, weird machines, cavemen and tiny people who live in the carpet! As well as plenty of monsters and mayhem! ... I think my favourites are the stories about the carpet people. Terry Pratchett has written a whole series of novels about similar characters, so I think I would like to read some of those in the future. i enjoyed that each chapter was a new story about different things so it gave you a good variety of topics. It also makes it easy to break up your reading into bite-size pieces..."
https://bit.ly/2S6RsJk
Blogger Joe Kessler on The Fifth Elephant:
"I appreciate how [Pratchett's] City Watch subseries blends that humor with wry philosophizing and a detective story structure. The question for me as a reader is always whether the writer can stay out of his own way, keeping to a minimum the unfortunate stereotypes and convoluted plotting that sometimes dog his work. In this case he’s thankfully on top of his game, and although it’s a little strange that this is the second book in a row to send Commander Vimes far from his station in Ankh-Morpork as a cop-turned-diplomat, the foreign setting this time feels less like a lazy pastiche... overall, the satire punches up at hierarchies of power far more than it punches down at those marginalized by them..."
https://bit.ly/3kStcH1
Blogger Tegan Stevenson on Wyrd Sisters:
"First of all, I loved this book. I thought that it was awesome. It’s like Terry threw Macbeth at the Discworld just to see what would stick and the overall result was funny, cynical and wonderfully muddled... I was honestly hooked from the first paragraph and I think that the story is brilliantly witty... I loved the playwrighting/performing element brought to Wyrd Sisters by a travelling theatre group in the book. As well as sharing something new about the people who are part of the Discworld it took the story to more than one kingdom and gave plenty of opportunity for jokes about writing. There’s something about the way that Terry refers to inspiration which really makes me smile... In the end, what I really loved about this book were the characters themselves. Flawed, witty and complicated but, they all carry on as they like in the end..."
https://bit.ly/2S739iW
Blogger Hedwig is back with a five-stars review of Witches Abroad:
"The world building is honestly the best I’ve read from Pratchett so far. The whole story is one big journey as the witches travel from Lancre to Genua across the Disc to stop a happily ever after. I honestly loved everything about this. I’m usually very picky about 'journey' books in fantasy. Outside of the big ones, I tend to avoid them since they draw me straight back to studying Joseph Campbell for my thesis. So some of the best moments are narrated by Nanny Ogg as she sends postcards back to her Jason and honestly, I wish I had an entire book from her point of view. Genua does confuse me a little in what it is supposed to be, considering it has definite overtones of New Orleans meets Far, Far Away. You would think the way this book follows Magrat that this book would focus on her development since she is chosen in the first place to be a fairy godmother and even though we do see her grow a lot, this book is dedicated to the matriarch herself, Esme Weatherwax. Despite Magrat's doubts about Granny’s abilities as a witch, this boos proves if anything how powerful she truly is..."
https://bit.ly/33ZM4Nw
Blogger Ryan aka Muse with Me found Interesting Times only moderately interesting:
"This novel doubles as a Rincewind misadventure and an exploration of another unique civilization on the Discworld, this time a farcical play upon old-fashioned, Western understandings of Asia or “the Orient.” The Agatean Empire seems to most resemble Imperial China, though there are smatterings of references to Japanese ideas as well, such as samurai, sumo wrestling, and ninjas. This was some of the weakest stuff in the novel for me, as it felt more like window-dressing with the odd old stereotype thrown in, rather than something he had anything to say about. The exploration of living under oppressive, Imperial authority was considerably more interesting, fortunately, particularly the ways it emphasized how an overbearing-enough social hierarchy doesn’t need whips at the ready to keep a populace in line. It never got so grim as to undermine the comedic tone, but the ideas hit home... I really liked the characters and the way they interacted with the world, but the plotline itself left a little to be desired for me. Certain moments and developments had their strengths, but there was a lot of meandering and predictability to it too. Its strongest suit was definitely the way Rincewind is characterized, maintaining his penchant for running away and weaseling out of situations while also presenting him as someone much more worldly than he’d once been..."
https://bit.ly/2Si3oIl
Blogger Earth and Skye returns with a review of Sourcery:
"So far in the Discworld series, none of the stories have really finished on a cliff hanger. Instead, the story almost works as a standalone and lets you journey onwards to the next story in the series without any extra baggage. This novel didn’t quite work out like that. It just felt like there was so much more that was likely to happen to Rincewind – and I would love to know what the outcome of his latest misadventure will be. It was kind of fun finishing a Discworld story on a cliff hanger. Just different enough to leave me happy and content...
"One of my favourite things about Pratchett is his amazing ability to build worlds. The fact that he’s doing so consistently throughout the Discworld series always leaves me feeling happy. In this novel, his world building is building on the rules of wizardry and sourcery. I love all of the completely obscure and odd rules that come about in this and the way that the rules of magick are completely unexpected and not what I would have thought of as logical at all. It was quite brilliant..."
https://bit.ly/3cNLIOd
Blogger Camden Singrey is back too, with thoughts on Pyramids:
"I remember thinking that it was confusing and overly convoluted. Re-reading it has definitely improved my opinion and convinced me that I may not have been able to fully wrap my head around some of its more out-there ideas. Still, this is not one of the best Discworld novels, and it largely feels like a testing ground for ideas that Terry would later handle with more elegance... If it weren’t for the time spent in Ankh-Morpork at the beginning, it would be almost completely cut off from the reliable foundations that had been built up to this point. That early section of the story is delightful, and gives Terry a chance to expand on the Assassins and his general concept of a city that allows illegal activity, but only if it’s officially sanctioned. However, it doesn’t have much to do with the greater bulk of the story, and feels more like an extended prologue than anything else... Terry fares better when the focus is on religion, and a lot of ground is covered that he will expand on further in later books (particularly Small Gods). The horror of the people of Djel when they are actually confronted with their gods is very entertaining, and does a nice job of skewering the difference between belief in an idea and belief in a thing that is standing right in front of you and looking rather angry..."
https://bit.ly/3n1lrAG
...and finally, blogger Riders of Skaith doesn't hold back when it comes to The Watch:
"This one looks even worse than Artemis Fowl. In fact, it looks like it took a look at Artemis Fowl‘s utter disrespect for the source material, the fans, and continuing profitability of the franchise, said 'Hold my beer,' and then strapped on JATO wings while smiling weirdly and repeating a gibberish language in which the words 'strong' and 'non-binary' can be faintly distinguished but which lapses back into English when concerned bystanders attempt to intervene... Every time I try to write a takedown of this situation, I end up frothing at the mouth. (True fact: when the very first images from the series hit, I ended up ranting so ferociously to the other interns that they referenced it for months afterwards.) Why do they do this? Why? Ms. Pratchett may put the very best spin on it she can, but it’s not a matter of inspiration..."
https://bit.ly/30v6du7
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08) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
Super fanart of Commander Vimes as the wielder of the Summoning Dark, by the Ukrainian artist Ukrop:
https://bit.ly/33GuKgq
Death, from DragonCon, photo posted by Reddit user Fit_Budget_4288/:
https://bit.ly/3iUgK90
Rincewind, same info: https://bit.ly/3hQ5k4P
An amazing carved Eater of Socks, posted by Reddit user melfranso: https://bit.ly/32WRlq1
Professor Alice Roberts knows what makes a good library...
https://i.redd.it/urt1crozzao51.jpg
A fine rendering of Angua, based on Ingrid Bolso Berdal's version in the Going Postal click, by Kastep:
https://www.deviantart.com/kastep/art/Captain-Angua-von-Uberwald-571576403
Colin Smythe, Zooming at the Pratchett Project Conference: https://bit.ly/33TNhWu
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09) CLOSE
This seems like a good time to call your attention back to a speech Sir Pterry gave thirty-five years ago at a science fiction convention, back in the days when science fiction conventions were tiny affairs peopled by The Kevins That Never Were. It's about magic. And sex. And the trail of realisations that led directly to Eskarina Smith and Tiffany Aching
"While I was plundering the fantasy world for the next cliche to pulls a few laughs from, I found one which was so deeply ingrained that you hardly notice it is there at all. In fact it struck me so vividly that I actually began to look at it seriously. That's the generally very clear division between magic done by women and magic done by men. Let's talk about wizards and witches. There is a tendency to talk of them in one breath, as though they were simply different sexual labels for the same job. It isn't true. In the fantasy world there is no such thing as a male witch. Warlocks, I hear you cry, but it's true. Oh, I'll accept you can postulate them for a particular story, but I'm talking here about the general tendency. There certainly isn't such a thing as a female wizard. Sorceress? Just a better class of witch. Enchantress? Just a witch with good legs. The fantasy world. in fact, is overdue for a visit from the Equal Opportunities people because, in the fantasy world, magic done by women is usually of poor quality, third-rate, negative stuff, while the wizards are usually cerebral, clever, powerful, and wise... Can you imagine a girl trying to get a place at the University of Gont? Or I can put it another way – can you imagine a female Gandalf?"
...and that speech ended with: "I suspect that via the insidious medium of picture books for children the wizards will continue to practice their high magic and the witches will perform their evil, bad-tempered spells. It's going to be a long time before there's room for equal rites."
And of course, two years later...
The entire speech has been preserved, with The Author's blessing when he was still among us, at the link below. Enjoy!
https://ansible.uk/misc/tpspeech.html
Right then, that's it for now. Mind how you go, and we hope to see you next month!
– Annie Mac
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
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
September 2020 (Volume 23, Issue 9, Post 1)
********************************************************************
WOSSNAME is a free publication offering news, reviews, and all the other stuff-that-fits pertaining to the works of Sir Terry Pratchett. Originally founded by the late, great Joe Schaumburger for members of the worldwide Klatchian Foreign Legion and its affiliates, including the North American Discworld Society and other continental groups, Wossname is now for Discworld and Pratchett fans everywhere in Roundworld.
********************************************************************
Editor in Chief: Annie Mac
News Editor: Vera P
Newshounds: Mogg, Sir J of Croydon Below, the Shadow, Mss C, Alison not Aliss
Staff Writers: Asti, Pitt the Elder, Evil Steven Dread, Mrs Wynn-Jones
Staff Technomancer: Jason Parlevliet
Book Reviews: Annie Mac, Drusilla D'Afanguin, Your Name Here
Puzzle Editor: Tiff (still out there somewhere)
Bard in Residence: Weird Alice Lancrevic
Emergency Staff: Steven D'Aprano, Jason Parlevliet
World Membership Director: Steven D'Aprano (in his copious spare time)
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INDEX:
01) QUOTES OF THE MONTH
02) EDITOR'S LETTER
03) THE TIME TRAVELLING CAVEMAN: REVIEW
04) ODDS AND SODS
05) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS
06) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS
07) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
08) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
09) CLOSE
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01) QUOTES OF THE MONTH
"I’d say writing the books from which the characters were ‘inspired’ is being pretty heavily involved. This project was also started whilst Dad was still alive and wouldn’t exist without his work. Thanking people who are no longer with us is not an unusual thing to do."
– Rhianna Pratchett's response to an obvious troll
"I've had the huge privilege of dramatising, and staging, many of your Dad's awesome novels. He changed my life immeasurably and, without qualification, I'd like to say – publicly – 'Thank you, Terry; it was huge fun'."
– Stephen Briggs' response to Rhianna's
"Terry was alive when it started. Just as he was alive when Good Omens on TV started. And there was never a day that went by making Good Omens that I wasn't determined to respect Terry's memory and brilliance. Because if there was anyone everyone was grateful to, it was Terry."
– Neil Gaiman, likewise
"Yeah its like they never Mention Gene Roddenberry on any new Star Treks that are made that guy had NOTHING to do with all the new stuff.... oh no wait they do... its kinda the thing you do... also no one Claims they Created Star Trek on their bio on any of the new series...."
– Twitter user Intron
"Ah so despite stan lee let's say having no input in future marvel movie installments they should not bother with his name again. Even though he helped create a lot of the characters but seeing as he is unavoidably dead we can forget about him now."
– Twitter user Andy C
"Sir Terry Pratchett's fingerprints are all over this thing. How can the show runner not be grateful to the creator of the world and the characters even if some of them are not exactly as described by the author."
– Twitter user Carole
"Funny I'm sure I saw Sir Arthur Conan Doyle mentioned in the credits of every episode of 'Sherlock' on the BBC few years back, despite him being out of copyright since 2000."
– Twitter user Alan Bourke
Note: all the above quotes are from https://twitter.com/rhipratchett/status/1305626315802976256
"I was very unhappy with Dad not being thanked. I don’t know why but it hasn’t been edited so it seems deliberate, unfortunately."
– Rhianna Pratchett, a few days later, interviewed in The Guardian
"Ms. Pratchett may put the very best spin on it she can, but it’s not a matter of inspiration. It’s because they hate. They have chosen to destroy the Discworld’s Night Watch series because of hate. They hate you, and they want to destroy anything that you loved, that made you happy, or that was simply wholesome, beautiful, creative, and worthwhile. The ultimate problem is theirs, though."
– blogger Riders of Skaith, commenting on the "inspired by" weasel-words of the Watch showrunner
"The characters of the Disc are still alive out there somewhere in a reality that cannot be altered."
– blogger Cathryn of Lit Alley says it all about any attempted rendering of the Discworld in visual media, ever
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02) LETTER FROM YOUR EDITOR
Ah, pandemic time. Where days become weeks and months also become weeks and every day is the same day as yesterday and everything melts into a very long afternoon... I would swear on a stack of Mrs Bradshaw's guides that it's only been a week since we posted out the August issue...
I had intended to say nothing further about The Watch. I really had. But this... unholy Cori Celesti, this is much too much. As you may have already gathered from the quotes of the month above, there's been a further... well, just go to item 4.0.
And now, on with the show...
– Annie Mac, Editor
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03) THE TIME TRAVELLING CAVEMAN
3.1 REVIEW
By Annie Mac
The Time-travelling Caveman opens with the dedication "To Terry – aged seventeen". Very appropriate, as Terry Pratchett was already writing these by then.
It's also appropriate because there are seventeen stories. Many of these tales are once again set in the fictional town of Blackbury, later home to the Johnny Maxwell trilogy, and once again, we can see seeds of Pratchett's later work in them. The Tropnecian Invasion of Great Britain and The Wergs' Invasion of earth contain concepts he developed in The Carpet People and the Bromeliad trilogy. Johnno, the Talking Horse is a good practice run for Gaspode – and Maurice. There is a modicum of magic – and wizards! – noticeably in The Wizard of Blackbury United (a sweet moral tale of self-confidence) and The Wild Knight; also, the title story itself is magical, even though there's no magic mentioned in it. Bason and the Hugonauts is a "young person's introduction to mythology", with a generous helping of Fractured Fairy Tales.
Two of the stories feature backyard space programmes of a sort: Professor Whelk's Trip to Mars and Lemonade on the Moon. It's hard to say which of these is more ridiculous in the sense of scientific impossibility, but both are charming, and friends of mine with young'uns assure me that even in this era of readily available scientific information, very young children would happily sit through them.
Some of my favourites in this collection were, in addition to The Time-travelling Caveman and Johnno, the Talking Horse, are The Mark One Computer; Doggins Has an Awfully Big Adventure – long, wildly imaginative and possibly the best of them all, with a subtle nod to Gulliver – and despite the sound of its title, containing neither anthropomorphised animals nor hobbits; and A Hole in Time, another of the longer stories and one I feel would especially fascinate children.
Something of note that was either missing from the earlier volumes, or else didn't attract my notice at the time, is a generous presence of girls or women as protagonists (even Mark One, the peripatetic computer, is "she"). Good to see, and it doesn't feel forced, which is as it should be.
In fairness, I should list my least favourite stories, all of which I felt were lower in narrative interest – Ub and the Toad; The Pied Piper of Blackbury; Bedwyr and Arthur's Hill (although its opening sentence, "Half of this story you will believe is true, and half of the half you won't believe is unbelievable, but if you believe in it hard enough it will be truer", is delightfully reminiscent of part of a certain 111-year-old's farewell speech in a certain book by a certain young storyteller's favourite fantasy author); Mr Trapcheese and his Ark; and The Great Big Weather Fight – but again, these are probably suitably for reading to very young children.
A special thank-you is due to Colin Smythe, who collected and chose the stories for inclusion. And of course there is another fun cavalcade of illustrations by Mark Beech, once again style reminiscent of the young Terry Pratchett's own illustrations for The Carpet People. I enjoyed them all, but most of all I love the grinning ape opposite the first page of the introduction.
As this is quite probably the last "new" set of Pratchett stories*, it deserves a place in everyone's library, even if you don't have children to read to, Recommended!
* Several of the stories in The Time-travelling Caveman were included in the Collector's Edition of earlier sets, but as not many of us have those editions, they still count as new
3.2 REMINDER: ORDERING INFO
Penguin: https://bit.ly/3g3PhAt and Penguin Australia: https://bit.ly/3hXdjOj
Discworld.com: https://bit.ly/3fa7sD8
Discworld Emporium: https://bit.ly/39MT8zL
Foyles: https://www.foyles.co.uk/all?term=9780857536020
Waterstones: https://bit.ly/3gFsLxB
Blackwells: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9780857536020
Hive: https://bit.ly/2CNrtTe
...and in Fourecks...
Booktopia: https://bit.ly/2ChTemc
QBD Books: https://bit.ly/3f5IYLn
Readings: https://bit.ly/2Cn9jqs
Dymocks: https://bit.ly/3fd4AX9
Angus and Robertson: https://bit.ly/31ZRicE
...and other places, including that evil one your Editor refuses to promote, ever. If at all possible, please support your local independent bookshop!
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04) ODDS AND SODS
4.0 "WATCH WARS: A NO HOPE"
From Rhianna Pratchett herself: "This is the show-runner of The Watch, failing to thank MY FATHER. This should tell you everything you need to know."
https://twitter.com/rhipratchett/status/1305507935787900928 (tweet also gives the link to the showrunner's egregious Instagram post)
Editor's note: I refuse to give said Instagram post any space on this page, apart from pointing out that the showrunner had the sheer cheek to start it with "Somewhere in a distant, second hand set of dimensions, in an alternate trouser leg of time..."
A few of the many comments to Ms Pratchett's tweet, that say it so well:
"As a long time fan of your father's books I am horrified by this. The watch have always been my favourite series of books. I've always been concerned about adaptations of the books... even those lovingly "mucked about" by your father as the credits said but this is different. Your father was a man who once sent an email to 17 year old South African school boy (innocently addressing me as Paul due to the fact that my email came from my school Paul Roos) to decline reading a short story in the nicest way possible. That he and his work should be treated with such callous disrespect is shameful. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that as a fan I will not support this disgrace. Your father gave us a mirror to our world, that in some ways changed every single person who read his books. While I know that there is little I can do personally, and you no doubt hear this from many people, you have my full support in any course of action to rectify this travesty. Thank you for fighting for your father's work and the fans he touched with his words."
– CliffTheHatman
"Your father created a legacy that will last for as long as humans have a language with which to communicate with. The 'creator' of the show will not."
– jamil_ryu
"A bit of a gut punch. However, the program will be forgotten in a year, but we'll take your Dad's Discworld with us to the stars."
– mharoldpage
Here be a detailed summation, written by Rachel Anthony-Rowlands, superfan and co-maintainer/content-creator of Discworld Monthly (the original UK Discworld fanzine), of the path this -ing clusterwahoonie took from acquiring the rights to what it appears to have become. I strongly suggest you read the whole page, but as a teaser, here be a small extract. Link to the entire piece is below – do read!
"The original plan back in 2012 was that these would be original stories written with input from Rhianna and at the time Terry himself and they would have been canon. If someone died in the TV series, they could never come back in the books, and the other way around. Complications came in when Terry died. Clauses that would have stated Terry Pratchett had any form of input into the series would have no standing anymore as Terry Pratchett was no longer here. Terry Pratchett and Narrativia are two different entities on paper, so what allowed one to do things, it didn't allow the other to carry on once Terry had died. When Terry did the deal originally with the BBC, the team they had dealing with it was a completely different one to the team that has now made the series and as a result have negated any real input that Terry gave them when he was alive...
"Once the rights are sold, the rights are sold. Deals done mean that the rights to produce an adaptation sit with those who have bought it until the time limit runs out. Because there is always a time limit on these kind of deals so that the IP holders can eventually get their rights back. Sky did have the option to make Unseen Academicals into a TV production like they had done with Hogfather / GoingPostal / The Colour of Magic but time ran out for them to do so and the rights reverted back to Narrativia. It's like selling someone a mug and then after they bought it, demanding they can't drink coffee out of it. It's not done and they can't stop it unless it breaches the contract or they run out of time on the option to produce..."
https://discworldmonthly.co.uk/terrypratchett_thewatchseries.php
4.1 DISCWORLD AND BEYOND IN DORSET: THE TOUR CONTINUES!
Paul Kidby says: "All being well, in these uncertain and restricted times, the popular Discworld & Beyond exhibition is still scheduled to open next month at The Red House Gallery in Christchurch on October the 24th. I am showing a few of my newer pieces including Good Omens artwork and the bronze sculpted bust of Sir Terry."
When: 24th October – 5th December 2020
Venue: Red House Museum and Gardens, Quay Road, Christchurch BH23 1BU (phone 01202 482860)
Times: Tuesday to Friday 10am – 5pm; Saturday 10am – 4pm
Tickets: free admission, "however, please pre-book your preferred visiting time for all members of your party, including children." Tickets are available online via
https://bit.ly/3gZvvGd
"If you do not have a pre-booked visiting time or arrive late, the venue will do their best to accommodate you, but cannot guarantee you will be able to visit. During your visit to Red House Museum and Gardens, please follow all social distancing and hygiene guidelines. Thank you for your understanding."
https://www.paulkidby.com/event/discworld-beyond-8/
http://www3.hants.gov.uk/redhouse
4.2 UPDATES: THE TERRY PRATCHETT BOOK CLUB
On the website of publishers Tor, Emmet Asher-Perrin continues a Discworld discussion page. In this month's instalment, Equal Rites finishes and Mort begins:
"This is mostly an action section where a lot of fun stuff happens, but I must give my brief thanks for Granny’s taking to city witch life and the splash of color she slowly adds to her wardrobe, which has Esk so scandalized. (Deep red wine lining a cloak, that’s top tier.) Just, everything about Granny’s transformation in this section is excellent, and I love the fact that she’s utterly suspicious of these locales at the start, only to find that being in a truly sizable urban area is good fun for someone with her skillset...
"According to Pratchett, the duel between Granny and Cutangle is a sort of homage to the British folk song “The Two Magicians”, which is fascinating for the actual content of the song: It’s about a blacksmith who is threatening to take a maiden’s virginity, which results in a transformation sequence where the maiden keeps turning into animals and the blacksmith catches her as different animals. The maiden doesn’t get away in every version of the song, and though the context was likely meant to be a teasing, jaunty sort of tune… it’s still ultimately a song about a guy who refuses to respect a woman’s consent and therefore is intent on raping her. Which. I mean, that’s one way to talk about sexism in your book about men and women’s magic. As metaphors go, it’s not what you’d call subtle, but it is layered as hell – after all, Granny and Cutangle are not engaging in anything remotely sexual during this fight, but there’s something to be said for couching this fight for dominance in a story that brings that idea to the table regardless. Essentially, we’re being reminded that consent is a major component to the inequality that women are forced to reckon with on a daily basis because this framing device is deliberately highlighting the fact. It makes a great action sequence that much more distinct, and deeply unsettling..."
https://www.tor.com/2020/09/04/terry-pratchett-book-club-equal-rites-part-iii/
...and the rest of Equal Rites:
"This book is strangely paced as all get-out, but still a lot of fun. It really picks up there at the end and a lot of stuff just happens, and some of it is great and some of it is less exciting. I do find it interesting that after spending so much time building up this story for Esk, it’s really more of a story about Granny. I can’t ever be upset about that because she’s amazing, and it’s so incredibly, stunningly rare to see a story where an elderly woman gets to have an adventure and be truly heroic all while getting to be so singularly herself. (Granny Weatherwax and Eglantine Price have a lot in common, so what can I say, I have a type when it comes to witches.) Also, I’m just gonna say it, I wish Esk had tried to Borrow the Great A’Tuin’s mind. Come on, that would have been amazing to read, no matter how terrible the idea was.
"It strikes me that the type of magic Simon and Esk work to create is essentially the magic version of philosophy maybe? The idea of something that no one understands but is somehow comforting sounds like philosophy to me. But it sort of tickles and frustrates me simultaneously that their trip to the Dungeon Dimensions is kinda... not very important to the overall story. In addition, I don’t know how I feel about Simon losing his stutter. My instinct is to say that I’m against it—the idea is awfully close to a character with a disability magically losing said disability, and I don’t really care that sort of narrative. It’s okay for Simon to stutter. It doesn’t diminish him at all..."
https://www.tor.com/2020/09/11/terry-pratchett-book-club-equal-rites-part-iv
...and the first two parts of Mort:
"There is always a question of whether we believe, from a storytelling perspective, that being a personification of Death would be a depressing job. And different stories have different opinions on the matter, whether they decide that Death is a function and therefore incapable of feeling any way about the work, or that having a job tied to literally the only fact of life—that everything eventually dies—is an inevitable hardship that takes its toll. But with Discworld’s Death it’s a bit more specific, namely in the fact that Death is aware that his job means that he’s often going to encounter the worst in people. We get that very explicitly with the section around the drowned kittens, and it comes early in the story as a way of framing the difficulty we’re going to see between Death and Mort. There’s a weariness to Death from the outset of the story, which really culminates in the moment when he asks Albert about what he’s feeling, Albert tells him sadness, and he replies I AM SADNESS. Which always struck me because if you’re the personification of an aspect of natural order then… well, it just makes sense that your emotional states are more than just your brain doing chemicals. If Death is sad and he is becoming sadness, conceptually, that’s a lot, even for him.
"There’s also the romantic aspect to this story between Mort and Ysabell, of course, which is made to mirror Great Expectations. (The fact that Ysabell calls Mort 'Boy' is a tell to that end, as Estelle calls Pip the same.) And I have feelings about that because honestly, it is not a Dickens I’ve ever been overly fond of, but you could argue that Pratchett is trying to do Dickens one better here. Just to start, the set up is better – rather than a horrific bitter old woman keeping a girl locked away from the world, Isabel's adopted dad isn’t trying to make her life miserable with the world he’s created around her. He knows that she’s lonely and could use some company her own age. He’s trying to help in a very messy dad sort of way. So it’ll be fun to pick over the way Pratchett uses that framework to a better end, and actually creates a proper love story around it..."
https://www.tor.com/2020/09/18/terry-pratchett-book-club-mort-part-i/
"'It occurred to him that people needed to believe things.' So this point comes up more than once in the Discworld books, particularly as it pertains to Death, and it’s central to Pratchett’s general philosophy on humans and what we do and how we work. But the thing I love most about it is the fact that he expands this thought as the books go on. So it starts in this germinating form here, and by the time we get to Hogfather, he blows it wide open. It’s wonderful seeing it begin here. There is so much about Goodie Hamstring’s death that lands beautifully, so much about her grace in accepting death, in the acknowledgement that life does genuinely get to be a chore once your body starts failing you, and it’s hard not to think of Pratchett’s own views on that front... We like to talk about wisdom and experience, but the world we occupy makes aging a deeply ignoble exercise for many, and the ability to have some control over one’s death is a completely understandable desire. But I’m also reminded of an essay I read a few years back from a woman on aging. It was, among other things, about how the process was a jarring thing because your brain doesn’t quite understand what’s happening to your body. She talked about looking in the mirror and expecting to see herself as she was decades previous, how perplexing it was to find someone different staring back at her. And that is perfectly encapsulated in the moment where Mort sees the shade of a younger Goodie, asks her if that’s who she was, and she replies, 'It’s who I’ve always been.' That reminder of how perplexing it is to have a body that will inevitably wear out and turn on itself when your mind remembers being something else entirely..."
https://www.tor.com/2020/09/25/terry-pratchett-book-club-mort-part-ii
4.3 BRING ON THE BAD GUYS
On That Hashtag Show, BK Lok ranks Discworld's five scariest villains. Your mileage may vary, but it's an interesting set of choices!
"For all that it’s humorous at heart, Discworld features some of the most terrifying villains ever to grace the literary world. I’ve prepared a short list of the 5 most terrifying ones just for you this Halloween. A quick word of warning though: below contains major spoilers for various Discworld books...."
The top five includes Mr Teatime, Spider from TAMAHER, the Summoning Dark, the Cunning Man, and the Auditors, with explanations given for every choice.
https://bit.ly/2S3s4nN
4.4 A MEMORABLE MEMORIAL LUGGAGE
Here be a feature on bespoke furniture designer Howard Butler, who made a "presentation Luggage" for the Terry Pratchett Memorial in London in 2016. By Barry Kinghorn in the Worcester News:
"[Y]ou can't get much more bespoke than being asked to design something that's pretty much out of this world. That is to say, create a piece for a memorial service for Sir Terry Pratchett, the author of the fantasy world Discworld books... Howard said: 'I love designing on the spot with clients and making their ideas become reality' and this ability to think outside the box (literally in this case) could well have been a factor in his work on the Pratchett memorial. He said: "This commission was a privilege to be involved in. The brief was to make a lifesize piece, "The Luggage", a character from Discworld author Terry Pratchett’s book, The Colour of Magic. The Luggage would then be filled with bespoke jewellery for presentation at the memorial service for Sir Terry, which was held at the Barbican Theatre, London. The jewellery was designed for the family and the new "The Venerable order of the Honey Bee". I enjoyed making this chest and believe it has a character of its own, especially when it smiles. The favourite parts to make were the mechanical moving parts, such as the independent jaw that locates in several positions in one fluid motion, and the tray, which is controlled by a specially designed rivet that when turned protrudes a locking bar. In the fantasy books, the chest is supposed to be made from sapient pear wood, so I thought it was appropriate to finish the chest in pear beeswax. My friends have beehives, and the bees feed on the pear trees across the river. Perfect, so I melted it down and made my own pear wood wax for authenticity.'..."
https://bit.ly/33ZD3Ea
...and here's Mr Butler's own Luggage page, complete with wonderful iconographs:
"The inside of the chest has a network of programmed lights, which when turned on gives the appearance of a moving waterfall and an infinity base. Integrating these special effects summon up the magic of Discworld..."
https://howardbutler.co.uk/portfolio/terry-pratchett-chest/
4.5 THE MERCH CORNER
* The Illustrated Guards! Guards!
Not the super-posh limited edition, but a more affordable hardcover, 320 pages with a generous scattering of new Kidby illustrations! To be published on 12th November:
"This is where the dragons went. They lie . . . not dead, not asleep, but . . . dormant. And although the space they occupy isn't like normal space, nevertheless they are packed in tightly. They could put you in mind of a can of sardines, if you thought sardines were huge and scaly. And presumably, somewhere, there's a key to let them out. Captain Sam Vimes of the Night Watch is going to have a doozy of a night when they are. This edition features ten glorious full-colour illustrations and further pencil drawings by Terry Pratchett's artist of choice, Paul Kidby."
Each copy of the Illustrated Guards! Guards! is hand-signed by the artist, priced at £30 and available for shipping to the UK, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. "For other destinations please email for a shipping price." For more info, and to pre-order, go to:
https://bit.ly/3mWFtfw
The Illustrated Guards! Guards! is also available to pre-order from the Discworld Emporium: https://bit.ly/30fZ7t0
...and from Discworld.com: https://bit.ly/2HwUvrX
...and in Fourecks, from Hachette; a good price (AU$65), though not available until January 2021: https://bit.ly/2S40jeF
* Reminder: The Ankh-Morpork Archives, Volume Two
"Containing material unavailable for twenty years – this is a comprehensive guide to the capital city of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, getting to the heart of Ankh-Morpork’s secrets, societies and guilds. Ankh-Morpork is a bottomless pit of secrets. It’s time to unearth a few more . . . In the second volume of this confidential guide, brave travellers are made privy to the inner workings of more illustrious Ankh-Morpork societies. Disabuse yourself of notions of professionalism under which you may hold the City Watch; discover what serious business is undertaken by the Fools’ Guild (joking is no laughing matter); and, should you be lucky, achieve true enlightenment through the teachings of Lu-Tze. One thing’s for sure: after you’ve read this book, Ankh-Morpork’s Guilds are going to need to come up with new ways of doing things. Completely revamped and redesigned, this full-colour book contains material from Discworld Diaries across the decades."
Each copy of The Ankh-Morpork Archives, Volume Two is priced at £25 and will be published on 29th October 2020. For more info, and to pre-order, go to:
https://bit.ly/3lxmhUV
* Reminder: 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 order, go to:
https://www.askmeaboutterrypratchett.com/s/shop
https://twitter.com/20thcenturymarc
4.6 VERY CREATIVE WRITING: THE MANGLED "NEWS" OF A THEORETICAL GOOD OMENS SEQUEL
For your entertainment...
When the Good Omens miniseries was newly broadcast by Amazon Prime and the aether was filled with (almost universally glowing) reviews, it came to my notice that many people were already speculating on the possibility of a second series. While this was nothing more than wishful thinking (and may well still be, although Mr Gaiman has been quoted as being more open to the eventual possibility of it than he had been – though again, the current pandemic has uprooted most of the film and telly industry so who knows, eh?), I also noticed a sudden rash of pop-culture sites claiming to have all the information about a second series – and that the language in these articles was rapidly getting weirder and less coherent. So Your Editor started collecting links and preserving the text in them. And lo, when months later the BBC aired the miniseries, there was a new explosion of "second series information" and the weirdness and incoherence continued to increase. And the collection, from websites with names like Top Buzz Times, The Digital Wise, The News Trace, Nation Editions, The Inner Sane (no, really), Gizmo Blaze, Gizmo Posts 24, World Top Trend and Pop Times, continues to grow.
So what's the cause of all this? Well, now, it may look like a number of non-English-speaking people having a bad day on Google Translate, but the truth of it is that this is the way dodgy websites get around content theft – and yes, it definitely *is* theft, as the debased content is credited to a name (often also fictional) on the website's so-called team. At the start of the train is a person or machine with the original in one hand and a thesaurus in the other, altering enough words to disguise the original text but in the process losing the meaning, since synonyms usually require context. For example, "opposite number" becomes "reverse quantity", "bring page to screen" becomes "carry webpage to display", "frequently changes style" becomes "incessantly modifications fashion", "End Times" becomes "Finish Instances", and then each successive generation of changes grows ever more incoherent until you get... well, I think "Suggestions of something to guise frontward to" as a substitute for Good Omens takes first prize. But here are a few samples:
"The critical dream series Good Omens is stirred in the radical of an identical call made through Terry Pratchett. The first season of the fantasy series came remaining and seemed on some other streaming application BBC. The team adores this hallucination collection..."
"The secret dream series Good Omens is stirred from the radical of a virtually identical telephone made through Terry Pratchett... The dream thriller series is entirely basically determined by the radical of the equal call..."
"The sitcom plot turns over the malevolence and the blessed messenger Aziraphale who’re applied to regular day to day existence, in any case, who can perceive how the universe is closing on a Saturday. They, with the guide of utilizing by then, compositions on the whole to hold up fundamental magnificent methodologies from the world’s pinnacle..."
"Most of us know that the Good Omens has been observing since May, thinking about the capricious and the manual of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, and it’s among the most extreme elite signals in 2019. Whatever the case, Good Omens transformed into really each time engineered as a typical series... The first season had a splendid accomplishment, and also the base preceded to occur upon extra... The clamoring strategy for the entirety of these elite people is probably evident in the back of the up and coming season postponement; at any given expense brilliantly, the season will, in a short season, hit on the demonstrations..."
"Hints of somewhat to look onward to is a caricature dream collection that is brought by approaches for Amazon also BBC Studios. It is harmonized finished Douglas Mackinnon besides exaggerated by Terry Pratchett besides Neil Gaiman’s book ‘Suggestions of something to guise frontward to. Talented signs debuted on Amazon Prime Audiovisual.."
"Hints of something to look forward to is a parody dream assortment that is delivered by methods for Amazon and BBC Studios. It is coordinated through Douglas Mackinnon and affected by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s book ‘Hints of something to look forward to'..."
"The thriller series Good Omens is roused from the 1990 novel 'Promising signs'..."
"The collection offers with incidents going on from hallucination highlighting on the same telephone name made through Terry Pratchett. The collection has ideal combination of sarcasm and thriller taking the audience to a very different world of fantasy... The officers had been absolutely tight lipped which indicates there are no intentions for the collection to get renewed... The display revolves around the viewpoint and the stand point of Crowley and Aziraphale, who converse in their own respective planet and talk about paradise and the inferior aspect staying inside their own respective spheres. They are pursuing themselves to prevent the unfortunate that is occurring..."
"One of the abnormal offshoots of this period of fable. And technological know-how fiction going mainstream in the amusement is booked no person of their proper thoughts could ever adapt are being tailored... It Made[sic] the original now not most straightforward paintings... 'And then Terry sent me a letter pronouncing, ‘you need to [write] this due to the fact I do not have very long to stay, and I need to look it before the lights exit.’ And then he died lots, plenty faster than many folks predicted...' Good Omens has a starting, a center, and a cease…After which, a few more cease..."
[Editor's note: I'm not inclined to torment you, O Readers, with links for these, but yes, I do have them!]
4.7 A SECOND NOVELIST IN THE PRATCHETT FAMILY
By Alison Flood in the Guardian:
"If there is one, teeny tiny upside for Rhianna Pratchett in the fact that her father is no longer around, it’s that she doesn’t have to hear what he thinks about her first novel. 'Obviously, it goes without saying that I wish he was still here,' says Rhianna... 'But the tiniest silver lining is that he would have had lots of opinions about what I was doing right and wrong, and I think it would have been probably even more nerve-racking to have him read it.' Out next week, Crystal of Storms is the latest instalment in the rebooted Fighting Fantasy books, the popular 80s and 90s adventure game series in which the reader plays the hero, battles monsters armed only with a pencil and a dice, and makes choices (fight the beast or run away; take the left fork or the right) in an attempt to survive their quest unscathed. Twenty-million copies of the game books have sold around the world since the first was published in 1982. It is dedicated to Rhianna’s parents, 'who showed me magic every day'..."
https://bit.ly/2FJCsyu
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05) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS
Still no news. But keep an eye out for possible forthcoming Discworld plays later in the year. We must keep the knowledge of Discworld circulating! In the meantime, can you help a Discworld-loving theatre company? The following appeal was posted by Reddit user Nousagi:
"From the theatre that brought you Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards!...a plea from the Footnote.
"Hi, Discworld denizens! Some of you may recall February's great saga of the Majestic Theatre's production of Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards!, as documented by yours truly, the Sproingy Footnote. Pictures and videos were shared; anecdotes documented; a few of you even traveled from afar to see the production; a joyous time was had by all! (Especially in comparing our production to the BBC's...thing.) The director of this play, John Carone, does Discworld plays every couple of years. This is his third. He's also done Wyrd Sisters and Mort. It takes a certain kind of director and a pool of nerdy actors to make it work, and we have both here in Corvallis. John is already considering which of the Briggs adaptations he might do in a couple of years, and as I promised, I'll let everyone here know way in advance so that you can make travel plans if you like! Very few theatres in the United States do Discworld plays as we've discovered, and we'll definitely be doing more!
"...if the theatre survives, that is. COVID has devastated theatres, and we're no exception. We've lost so much revenue. We were fortunate in that we were able to very quickly pivot to digital, so we've continued to be very active. We're even releasing our very first fully-staged, COVID-safe, ticketed online production this weekend, and we have a few more in the works, as well as a whole bunch of free online theatre productions. No Discworld in the digital lineup, unfortunately, but I'm very hopeful that we'll be able to do more in the future.
"If you'd like to see some of our non-Discworld work, you can buy tickets to one of our upcoming online shows here:
https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?ticketing=maj
"If you could donate even a dollar or two to keep us alive long enough to do more Pratchett (because if there's anything this world needs right now, it's more beautiful, human, hopeful Pratchett), you can do so here: https://www.majestic.org/donate
"I so want to be a Footnote again. I took my hat home during the pandemic, and sometimes I work it into online productions, because why not? I still think very fondly back to the happy month of February, before this all began, when I got to log on to this subreddit and see all of the delighted reactions to our hard work. Y'all's support meant a lot then.
"If the theatre doesn't make it, I'll be proud to have been in its last full production, speaking Pratchett's words at the very end on closing night: 'There are no happy endings. There are just...endings.'"
https://bit.ly/32Q6mcU
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06) 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! Also note there are a few updates below.
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://bit.ly/3jtYLGo
NOTE: the Drummers are still meeting occasionally via Zoom. Check out the above links for updates!
*
Drumknott's Irregulars
Facebook https://bit.ly/31FlSrq 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
UPDATE: "What are we doing while we're stuck at home due to COVID-19? Given that our normal social gatherings can't happen while everyone's under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are instead trying to host regular activities and discussions online. Most of these will be done via our Discord Server – https://discord.gg/3RVzsyJ – which has several text chat channels and a few voice chat channels as well. We will still use our Facebook group – https://facebook.com/groups/cityofsmallgods – to coordinate scheduled events. When things get back to normal... (semi-) regular social meetings are generally held on the last Thursday of the month at a pub or restaurant in Adelaide. We have dinner at 6.30pm followed by games until 9pm.
"We'll try to keep this page up to date (no promises!) but always check emails on the mailing list or our Facebook Group for further details of these events."
*
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://bit.ly/2EKSCqu – or message Alexandra Ware directly at <alexandra.ware@gmail.com>
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07) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
Blogger Tiny Navajo on A Slip of the Keyboard:
"While it took me a while to actually get through reading everything just because nonfiction does that to me sometimes; it felt like a set of essays that I could read one or two and then turn back to my fiction books and I enjoyed it. I love reading essays that authors write as I get to see them in what I perceive as their 'purest' form. They’re not writing fiction, they are writing to explain something, but it is still a story, if that makes sense. I loved getting to know Sir Terry Pratchett’s voice and getting to know him writing and humour. If anything, this set of essays has pushed me ever forward to actually reading a Discworld novel because I want to see how his humour transfers to fiction. I want to read and know more about him, and reading his works of fiction would do that.... Having never met the man, nor really read anything of his, that is purely his, before now at least, I can say that I wish I had gotten into his writings before he had died if so only I could get to know him while he was alive. It doesn’t make much difference right now, as I’ll still get to know him as I start reading his novels..."
https://bit.ly/34b5BuG
Blogger Cathryn's long musings on finally reading The Shepherd's Crown:
"I’ve had the book sat on my shelf for a few years. It was a Christmas gift, given to me the year it was published, the year of Pratchett’s death. The thing about fiction is that it is eternal, the stories and characters are alive out there. Existing in their own reality and, for some reason,this notion comforts me. Perhaps it is the idea of an unchanging sphere, a haven for the mind. I don’t know. What I do know is that as soon as I saw the dedication in The Shepherd’s Crown, I knew what was coming and I couldn’t shake the feeling of finality that came with it. I was also painfully aware that Pratchett had still been in the process of editing this novel when he died and it was not considered finished. I was concerned that the reading would be a disappointment and I would be faced with a sub-par novel that would forever taint my experience of the Disc. As such, I left it untouched until a few weeks ago. What The Shepherd’s Crown is, I discovered after reading, is a bittersweet manifestation of a terrible loss to the world of literature. I truly believe that had fate allowed Terry Pratchett to finish the book as intended, it would have been a masterpiece, his magnum opus. The biggest crime against the Discworld series is it’s description as ‘comedic fantasy’. I hate that label when applied to Pratchett’s works. It is true that the humour is what first drew me in and the earlier works are very satirical of the fantasy genre in general, but there is so much more in the stories and especially in his characters and observations of human behaviour, emotion and experience. There is a deep undercurrent of understanding and Terry Pratchett brings to the surface truths that you know in your heart but have no ability to articulate..."
https://bit.ly/3icL1ie
Blogger The Library Mouse gives a full five stars to Dragons at Crumbling Castle:
"There are all kinds of characters and wonderful places. There is time travel and tortoises, weird machines, cavemen and tiny people who live in the carpet! As well as plenty of monsters and mayhem! ... I think my favourites are the stories about the carpet people. Terry Pratchett has written a whole series of novels about similar characters, so I think I would like to read some of those in the future. i enjoyed that each chapter was a new story about different things so it gave you a good variety of topics. It also makes it easy to break up your reading into bite-size pieces..."
https://bit.ly/2S6RsJk
Blogger Joe Kessler on The Fifth Elephant:
"I appreciate how [Pratchett's] City Watch subseries blends that humor with wry philosophizing and a detective story structure. The question for me as a reader is always whether the writer can stay out of his own way, keeping to a minimum the unfortunate stereotypes and convoluted plotting that sometimes dog his work. In this case he’s thankfully on top of his game, and although it’s a little strange that this is the second book in a row to send Commander Vimes far from his station in Ankh-Morpork as a cop-turned-diplomat, the foreign setting this time feels less like a lazy pastiche... overall, the satire punches up at hierarchies of power far more than it punches down at those marginalized by them..."
https://bit.ly/3kStcH1
Blogger Tegan Stevenson on Wyrd Sisters:
"First of all, I loved this book. I thought that it was awesome. It’s like Terry threw Macbeth at the Discworld just to see what would stick and the overall result was funny, cynical and wonderfully muddled... I was honestly hooked from the first paragraph and I think that the story is brilliantly witty... I loved the playwrighting/performing element brought to Wyrd Sisters by a travelling theatre group in the book. As well as sharing something new about the people who are part of the Discworld it took the story to more than one kingdom and gave plenty of opportunity for jokes about writing. There’s something about the way that Terry refers to inspiration which really makes me smile... In the end, what I really loved about this book were the characters themselves. Flawed, witty and complicated but, they all carry on as they like in the end..."
https://bit.ly/2S739iW
Blogger Hedwig is back with a five-stars review of Witches Abroad:
"The world building is honestly the best I’ve read from Pratchett so far. The whole story is one big journey as the witches travel from Lancre to Genua across the Disc to stop a happily ever after. I honestly loved everything about this. I’m usually very picky about 'journey' books in fantasy. Outside of the big ones, I tend to avoid them since they draw me straight back to studying Joseph Campbell for my thesis. So some of the best moments are narrated by Nanny Ogg as she sends postcards back to her Jason and honestly, I wish I had an entire book from her point of view. Genua does confuse me a little in what it is supposed to be, considering it has definite overtones of New Orleans meets Far, Far Away. You would think the way this book follows Magrat that this book would focus on her development since she is chosen in the first place to be a fairy godmother and even though we do see her grow a lot, this book is dedicated to the matriarch herself, Esme Weatherwax. Despite Magrat's doubts about Granny’s abilities as a witch, this boos proves if anything how powerful she truly is..."
https://bit.ly/33ZM4Nw
Blogger Ryan aka Muse with Me found Interesting Times only moderately interesting:
"This novel doubles as a Rincewind misadventure and an exploration of another unique civilization on the Discworld, this time a farcical play upon old-fashioned, Western understandings of Asia or “the Orient.” The Agatean Empire seems to most resemble Imperial China, though there are smatterings of references to Japanese ideas as well, such as samurai, sumo wrestling, and ninjas. This was some of the weakest stuff in the novel for me, as it felt more like window-dressing with the odd old stereotype thrown in, rather than something he had anything to say about. The exploration of living under oppressive, Imperial authority was considerably more interesting, fortunately, particularly the ways it emphasized how an overbearing-enough social hierarchy doesn’t need whips at the ready to keep a populace in line. It never got so grim as to undermine the comedic tone, but the ideas hit home... I really liked the characters and the way they interacted with the world, but the plotline itself left a little to be desired for me. Certain moments and developments had their strengths, but there was a lot of meandering and predictability to it too. Its strongest suit was definitely the way Rincewind is characterized, maintaining his penchant for running away and weaseling out of situations while also presenting him as someone much more worldly than he’d once been..."
https://bit.ly/2Si3oIl
Blogger Earth and Skye returns with a review of Sourcery:
"So far in the Discworld series, none of the stories have really finished on a cliff hanger. Instead, the story almost works as a standalone and lets you journey onwards to the next story in the series without any extra baggage. This novel didn’t quite work out like that. It just felt like there was so much more that was likely to happen to Rincewind – and I would love to know what the outcome of his latest misadventure will be. It was kind of fun finishing a Discworld story on a cliff hanger. Just different enough to leave me happy and content...
"One of my favourite things about Pratchett is his amazing ability to build worlds. The fact that he’s doing so consistently throughout the Discworld series always leaves me feeling happy. In this novel, his world building is building on the rules of wizardry and sourcery. I love all of the completely obscure and odd rules that come about in this and the way that the rules of magick are completely unexpected and not what I would have thought of as logical at all. It was quite brilliant..."
https://bit.ly/3cNLIOd
Blogger Camden Singrey is back too, with thoughts on Pyramids:
"I remember thinking that it was confusing and overly convoluted. Re-reading it has definitely improved my opinion and convinced me that I may not have been able to fully wrap my head around some of its more out-there ideas. Still, this is not one of the best Discworld novels, and it largely feels like a testing ground for ideas that Terry would later handle with more elegance... If it weren’t for the time spent in Ankh-Morpork at the beginning, it would be almost completely cut off from the reliable foundations that had been built up to this point. That early section of the story is delightful, and gives Terry a chance to expand on the Assassins and his general concept of a city that allows illegal activity, but only if it’s officially sanctioned. However, it doesn’t have much to do with the greater bulk of the story, and feels more like an extended prologue than anything else... Terry fares better when the focus is on religion, and a lot of ground is covered that he will expand on further in later books (particularly Small Gods). The horror of the people of Djel when they are actually confronted with their gods is very entertaining, and does a nice job of skewering the difference between belief in an idea and belief in a thing that is standing right in front of you and looking rather angry..."
https://bit.ly/3n1lrAG
...and finally, blogger Riders of Skaith doesn't hold back when it comes to The Watch:
"This one looks even worse than Artemis Fowl. In fact, it looks like it took a look at Artemis Fowl‘s utter disrespect for the source material, the fans, and continuing profitability of the franchise, said 'Hold my beer,' and then strapped on JATO wings while smiling weirdly and repeating a gibberish language in which the words 'strong' and 'non-binary' can be faintly distinguished but which lapses back into English when concerned bystanders attempt to intervene... Every time I try to write a takedown of this situation, I end up frothing at the mouth. (True fact: when the very first images from the series hit, I ended up ranting so ferociously to the other interns that they referenced it for months afterwards.) Why do they do this? Why? Ms. Pratchett may put the very best spin on it she can, but it’s not a matter of inspiration..."
https://bit.ly/30v6du7
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08) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
Super fanart of Commander Vimes as the wielder of the Summoning Dark, by the Ukrainian artist Ukrop:
https://bit.ly/33GuKgq
Death, from DragonCon, photo posted by Reddit user Fit_Budget_4288/:
https://bit.ly/3iUgK90
Rincewind, same info: https://bit.ly/3hQ5k4P
An amazing carved Eater of Socks, posted by Reddit user melfranso: https://bit.ly/32WRlq1
Professor Alice Roberts knows what makes a good library...
https://i.redd.it/urt1crozzao51.jpg
A fine rendering of Angua, based on Ingrid Bolso Berdal's version in the Going Postal click, by Kastep:
https://www.deviantart.com/kastep/art/Captain-Angua-von-Uberwald-571576403
Colin Smythe, Zooming at the Pratchett Project Conference: https://bit.ly/33TNhWu
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09) CLOSE
This seems like a good time to call your attention back to a speech Sir Pterry gave thirty-five years ago at a science fiction convention, back in the days when science fiction conventions were tiny affairs peopled by The Kevins That Never Were. It's about magic. And sex. And the trail of realisations that led directly to Eskarina Smith and Tiffany Aching
"While I was plundering the fantasy world for the next cliche to pulls a few laughs from, I found one which was so deeply ingrained that you hardly notice it is there at all. In fact it struck me so vividly that I actually began to look at it seriously. That's the generally very clear division between magic done by women and magic done by men. Let's talk about wizards and witches. There is a tendency to talk of them in one breath, as though they were simply different sexual labels for the same job. It isn't true. In the fantasy world there is no such thing as a male witch. Warlocks, I hear you cry, but it's true. Oh, I'll accept you can postulate them for a particular story, but I'm talking here about the general tendency. There certainly isn't such a thing as a female wizard. Sorceress? Just a better class of witch. Enchantress? Just a witch with good legs. The fantasy world. in fact, is overdue for a visit from the Equal Opportunities people because, in the fantasy world, magic done by women is usually of poor quality, third-rate, negative stuff, while the wizards are usually cerebral, clever, powerful, and wise... Can you imagine a girl trying to get a place at the University of Gont? Or I can put it another way – can you imagine a female Gandalf?"
...and that speech ended with: "I suspect that via the insidious medium of picture books for children the wizards will continue to practice their high magic and the witches will perform their evil, bad-tempered spells. It's going to be a long time before there's room for equal rites."
And of course, two years later...
The entire speech has been preserved, with The Author's blessing when he was still among us, at the link below. Enjoy!
https://ansible.uk/misc/tpspeech.html
Right then, 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
