Wossname – June 2021 – Main issue

[wossname]

Wossname
Newsletter of the Klatchian Foreign Legion
June 2021 (Volume 24, Issue 6, Post 1)

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

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INDEX:

01) QUOTES OF THE MONTH
02) EDITOR'S LETTER
03) ODDS AND SODS
04) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS
05) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS
06) ROUNDWORLD TALES
07) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
08) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
09) CLOSE

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01) QUOTES OF THE MONTH

"There are some books that I adore in audiobook format because of the marriage of the skill of the writer and the performance of the narrator. Two of my absolute favorite examples of this are Jim Dale reading the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling and Stephen Briggs reading anything by Terry Pratchett. Both of these amazing narrators have become synonymous with the books they have narrated for me. I can’t think of Harry Potter without hearing Jim Dale in my head voicing the characters and the Nac Mac Feegle from Wee Free Men will forever be in the voice of Stephen Briggs. In these cases, the narrator brings a new dimension to the story that can bring it to life in a whole new way."
– librarian Tracy Briseño of the Ames Public Library

"I wrote that in the days when I thought fantasy was all battles and kings. Now I’m inclined to think that the real concerns of fantasy ought to be about not having battles, and doing without kings."
– The Author, musing in 1991 on The Carpet People

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02) LETTER FROM YOUR EDITOR

I never thought that by June of 2021 I would still be publishing Wossname in the middle of a pandemic, but here we are. I do hope that all you Readers are still safe and well! Down here in the Land of Fourecks we seem to be (mostly) staying on top of things, but as Covid-19 continues to mutate and rage around Roundworld, nothing is a certainty yet.

Meanwhile, if you've been seeing the hashtag #50YearsofTerry on social media and wondering how that adds up since The Colour of Magic was published in 1983, remember that The Carpet People was first published twelve years before that!

*

Here be a couple of lovely videos from the past. If I've posted these links before, blame it on pandemic brain...

Sir Pterry, Ian Stewart, and Jack Cohen discuss the Science of Discworld series in 2012:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CMdTlbGhXQ

The Author muses, in 2008, on twenty-five years of Discworld:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDF4AHZFQdw

*

Rhianna Pratchett recently tweeted "That’s a hell of a resting place. 100% Pratchett approval. GNU Steven Thornton"
https://bit.ly/3jd3oYO

Also GNU motor neurone disease sufferer Noel Conway, who died this month after famously battling for the legalisation of assisted dying in the UK. Details for those who want to know more: https://bbc.in/3qoXwNq

And another Australian state – South Australia – has, after much debate and multiple submissions, passed a voluntary assisted dying bill. Some details:

https://ab.co/3h1NzBf

*

Your Editor has bought many marvellous things from the Discworld Emporium over the decades, and will continue to do so. Wossname wishes Bernard and Isobel and their team the happiest possible semi-retirement and a productive future full of Discly art and crafts! See item 3.0 below for the details.

And now, on with the show...

– Annie Mac, Editor

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03) ODDS AND SODS

3.0 THE DISCWORLD EMPORIUM: AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Usually on Roundworld, it takes a war to close an embassy. But sometimes what it takes is time – a lot of it – and a pandemic. Over to you, Mr and Mrs Cunning Artificer and company, for the sad news:

"After twenty years of welcoming Terry Pratchett fans through our door, we regrettably announce that our bricks and mortar shop is on a long hiatus and will remain closed to the public for the foreseeable future. Over the past few years and especially since the events of 2020, our mail-order service has expanded exponentially. The Ankh-Morpork Post Office (Wincanton branch) is busier than ever packing and shipping our online orders, and what was once our shop space has now been fully transformed into a fantastically frantic mailroom facility!

"Our founding members Bernard and Isobel have also had a taste of retirement over lockdown . . . and they really rather like it! In their thirtieth year of bringing Discworld to life and with a combined age of 155, this indomitable duo feel it an appropriate time to step away from shop duties to enjoy their twilight years in the company of fine gin, books and grandchildren. They will of course remain a huge part of the Emporium and the Discworld family at large, and while you can’t get rid of Bernard that easily we hope you’ll all understand their need for a bit more time in their lives and join us in wishing them an incredibly happy and well-deserved retirement indeed!

"Being such a tiny team with a toddler in the ranks, it is now crucial that we devote our limited resources to designing our wares, managing our website and to looking after our customers all over the world. You can be assured that it'll be the same folks at the end of a phone call or clacks should you ever wish to make contact with us, and our reknowned building will remain emminent on Wincanton High Street serving as our Headquarters, where we’ll be busy designing and shipping our Discworld merchandise behind closed doors.

"Although this news may be very sad to many who have made or dreamt about a Pratchett pilgrimage to Wincanton, after two decades of the Emporium, thirty years since our creation of the first Discworld Merchandise as Clarecraft and fifty years since the publication of Terry’s first novel, the Carpet People, there is a lot to celebrate and look forward to this year. We’re also working on a brand new Discworld Emporium website due for launch this Autumn which will make visiting us online even easier, especially for all our wonderful friends and customers in the European Union!

"We would like to thank our many visitors and supporters for making our little literary shop such a special place, and for helping us to bring the magic of Terry Pratchett’s books to life over the years. We hope you will continue to support us as the turtle moves ever onwards through the cosmos.

"All the best & a hard-boiled egg,
"Bernard, Isobel, Ian, Reb, Sarah, Eilis, Chris and Tipu the (bastard) cat!"

To view this announcement in its proper place, and to peruse the Emporium's cornucopia of magic(k)al wares, go to:

https://bit.ly/2UvTjvu

3.1 OLD, NEW, ULTIMATE: BOOK RELEASE NEWS

3.1a The Ultimate Discworld Companion!

Now that there are no new Discworld novels to come (and rightly so, for which your Editor is grateful to the Wisdom of Rhianna), the Ultimate Discworld Companion will be the last Discworld companion you'll ever need! Booktopia has this to say about it:

"The absolute, comprehensive, from Tiffany Aching to Jack Zweiblumen guide to all things Discworld, fully illustrated by Paul Kidby... There's an awful lot of Discworld to keep track of. But fear not! Help is at hand. For the very first time, everything (and we mean everything) you could possibly want to know has been crammed into one place. If you need a handy guide to locales from Ankh-Morpork to Zemphis . . . If you can't tell your Achmed the Mads from your Jack Zweiblumens . . . If your life depends on distinguishing between the Agatean Empire and the Zoons . . . Look no further. Compiled and perfected by Stephen Briggs, the man behind The Ultimate Discworld Companion's predecessor Turtle Recall, this is your ultimate guide to Sir Terry Pratchett's beloved fantasy world."

The Ultimate Discworld Companion will be released on 11th November and can already be pre-ordered in hardcover and ebook forms from various sources including Waterstones and Booktopia. We'll keep you posted!

3.1b Joe McLaren hardcovers!

As tweeted by terryandrob: "The Discworld Hardback Library is complete! The Tiffany Aching series and Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents join the collection in beautiful hardback. Illustrated by the brilliant Joe McLaren"

The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, and Wintersmith are now available to purchase, while I Shall Wear Midnight, The Shepherd's Crown and TAMAHER will be released on 23rd September of this year. These are lovely things (your Editor has several of the series already), perfect as gifts for a child to treasure in the way that older generations treasured The Wind in the Willows.

3.2 CLASSIC JOHNNY MAXWELL

Here be a couple of gems from some years back that you may have missed: telly versions of two of the Johnny Maxwell series. Yes, they were afternoon shows for a younger audience, and yes, neither one had much of a budget, but both are competent, charming, and lovingly crafted with respect for the source material – more than can be said for a recent bigger-budget Discworld-themed show. There are a few changes from the books in each, but it's a testament to the respect shown by the programme makers that none cause any great departure from the feel of the original stories. (Note: the video of Johnny and the Dead is of less than sterling quality but still well watchable!)

The BBC miniseries of Johnny and the Bomb, starring a very young George Mackay as Johnny and Zoe Wanamaker as a true-to-"life" Mrs Tachyon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXf4RQ19eHE

The ITV telefilm of Johnny and the Dead, starring a different actor (Andrew Falvey) as Johnny, and also starring Brian Blessed as Bill Stickers and George Baker as Alderman Bowler:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqpD0yl8f2k

3.3 DISCWORLD GAMES NEWS

The latest word from Dave and the Backspindle lads!

"The Collector’s Edition of Discworld Clacks preorder is now LIVE! Preorder the Collector’s Edition of #Discworld Clacks and receive one of five Limited Edition Discworld character bookmarks FREE with your game. These bookmarks will not be available anywhere else.

"As we value every customer, all preorders placed via our website will be posted to you before copies go on general release to retail outlets. We are aiming to do this by 1 October 2021.

"The Collector’s Edition of Clacks includes stunning miniatures of Moist von Lipwig on Boris, a Deep Dwarf, and twelve Clacks Towers. It also includes a brand new mini-game called Goblin Glory for you to test your skills as a Clacks’ operator against your friends.

"In addition to the Limited Edition Bookmark, every order via our website will be entered into a draw to win this new unopened 1st Edition copy of our Guards! Guards! boardgame.

"The draw will be done live on Facebook prior to the commencement of shipping of the Collector’s Edition of Discworld Clacks games. Until then it will be guarded by the Backspindle Dragons! Get ready to take on the Post Office, and recreate the race from the book Going Postal by Sir #TerryPratchett. The Collector's Edition of Discworld Clacks boardgame..."

Each copy of the Collector's Edition of Clacks is priced at £34.99 plus shipping (EU £10, Australia £24, rest of the world £20. For more info, and to preorder, go to:

https://bit.ly/2UsvEMq

3.4 MORE PRATCHETT PROJECT TALKS

The next Pratchett Project talk is available to watch on YouTube! ‘Leaving Early to Avoid the Rush’: Pratchett, Perry and Contemporary Pessimism, by Oliver Rendle:

https://youtu.be/tYJ90gPzVMI

And here's a round-up of all the previous ones so far...

Space in Pratchett's Narrative Networks by Matthew Roughan:
https://youtu.be/mQ7HwMyjOPM

Political Idealism in the Discworld Novels by Ruchira Mandal:
https://youtu.be/FlBjXXa3v6A

The Big Wahoonie: Ankh-Morpork as Cross-Media Urban Imaginary by Helena Esser:
https://youtu.be/RUTwLO33zKA

The Wilkins speaks! Assisting Terry Pratchett, an interview with Rob Wilkins from the Pratchett Project Conference 2020:
https://youtu.be/Izh_EZ-mb8g

Allusions and Cultural References in Terry Pratchett’s Jingo: Translation and Understanding, by Damon Tringham:

https://youtu.be/NdbKghKxmnc

Humour, parody and satire in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels by Kamil Karas:

https://youtu.be/btRiFbH48dI

3.5 ORANGUTAN NEWS

A spectacular orangutan photograph by Thomas Vijayan, "The World is Going Upside Down", won first prize in the Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2021 competition, beating 8,000 entries from around the world:

"'Thomas's image is really unique, and immediately stood out to the judging panel,' said Will Nicholls, founder of Nature TTL. 'The unique perspective and composition means you are immediately trying to figure out what exactly you are looking at.' Mr Vijayan took the photo in Borneo, where he selected a tree that was in the water so he could get a good reflection of the sky and create the upside-down effect..."

https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-57335458

3.6 THE MERCH CORNER

* The Chalk jigsaw puzzle!

"Visit the Chalk and peer into the Feegle Mound of Rob Anybody and the Chalk Hill Clan with young witch and Big Wee Hag Tiffany Aching!
Illustrated by David Wyatt, our Fiendishly Difficult Discworld Jigsaw puzzle will have you shouting CRIVENS! and WAILY WAILY! as you piece together a bucolic vision of Tiffany Aching's homeland. From the White Horse to the Trilithon, you'll spot lots of magical features from Terry Pratchett's Discworld books in this view of the beautiful green chalk downlands that roll away to the Ramtops beyond. Look out for Granny Aching's hut and shepherdess, a Shepherd's Crown, a 'ship' moving at high speed, a cheese wearing a kilt and a hat full of sky plus many more little details! You'll need the 'hiddlins of hagglin' (and possibly a thimble of scumble) to get this puzzle into one piece! Each puzzle includes a fold out poster to assist your puzzling endeavours and is presented in a splendid 'book' box inspired by Tiffany Aching's diary that will look right at home on your bookshelves!"

The Chalk jigsaw puzzle is rated "moderately fiendish". Each puzzle measures approximately 70 x 50cm (the puzzle box measures 20.5 x 25.6 x 6.3cm) and is priced at £19.50. For more info, and to order, go to:

https://bit.ly/35PdVRI

* Discworld t-shirts!

Because sometimes summer does happen... "Our Discworld T-shirt range is the most extensive selection of authorised, licensed Discworld designs you will find anywhere. We have taken the time to source only the finest quality and we have a wide variety of popular characters and designs so you can take the Discworld with you wherever you go.
Don’t forget to check what styles are available in each design as many are offered in both classic unisex fit and ladies fit."

** Death with Kitten T-shirt: https://bit.ly/3dcA4gS

** Dark Side of the Turtle T-shirt: https://bit.ly/3xVV1F5

** Feeglespotting T-shirt: https://bit.ly/2U3wK1a

** Fabricati Diem T-shirt: https://bit.ly/2SpaYnV

** City Watch T-shirt: https://bit.ly/3wX718X

https://discworld.com/products/t-shirts/

* The official Ankh-Morpork passport!

Yes, these can still be sourced from the Embassy, even if one can no longer apply in person...

"Issued exclusively by The Ankh-Morpork Consulate here at the Discworld Emporium in Wincanton, each passport is individually numbered by letterpress and pre-endorsed ready for you to fill in as imaginatively as you wish. Contains vital information on prohibited goods, currency and work permits along with immigration stamps from around the Disc along with space for stamps should you visit the Discworld Emporium in person, or any other place that is silly enough to stamp your passport."

Each Ankh-Morpork passport is priced at £10 and measures 100x140mm. For more info, and to order, go to:

https://bit.ly/2UzCnnP

3.7 ALZHEIMER'S NEWS

A BBC report on the drug Aducanumab, which might – might be of help for Alzheimer's sufferers

"Aducanumab targets the underlying cause of Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia, rather than its symptoms. Charities have welcomed the news of a new therapy for the condition. But scientists are divided over its potential impact because of uncertainty over the trial results... In March 2019, late-stage international trials of aducanumab, involving about 3,000 patients, were halted when analysis showed the drug, given as a monthly infusion, was not better at slowing the deterioration of memory and thinking problems than a dummy drug. But later that year, the US manufacturer Biogen analysed more data and concluded the drug did work, as long as it was given in higher doses. The company also said it significantly slowed cognitive decline... For around 500,000 people affected in the UK, those eligible for aducanumab will be mostly in their 60s or 70s and at an early stage of the disease... Prof Bart De Strooper, director of the UK Dementia Research Institute, said the decision to approve aducanumab marked 'a hugely significant milestone' in the search for treatments for Alzheimer's disease. In the past decade, more than 100 potential Alzheimer's treatments have flopped. But while he hoped it would prove a turning point for millions of people with the condition, he said there were 'still many barriers to overcome'..."

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-57383763

3.8 PRATCHETT BOOK CLUB UPDATES

On the website of publishers Tor, Emmet Asher-Perrin continues a Discworld discussion page. This time it's Moving Pictures, so get your banged grains ready...

Part one:

"I think one of my favorite things within this section is the Patrician’s spy telling him that the alchemists liked Dibblers food while they were watching the moving picture. The spy doesn’t know what they were actually doing because they wouldn’t let him in, but it’s obviously in reference to the sort of garbage we’re always eating at movie theaters. The idea of certain activities being tied to specific (usually bad) food is an undeniably human oddity. Why do we want hot dogs at baseball games? Why do we eat the world’s worst 'nachos' while being entertained? Why is half the point of going to the movies shoving M&Ms in your face?... I was also fascinated by the conversation among the alchemists about how films should work, whether they should be purely educational and how 'tasteful' they should be and so on. Pieces of the talk invoke the eventual censorship that ruled Hollywood for a few decades after they’d been allowed free reign at their inception. And then there’s Dibbler’s arrival, which heralds the seedier snake oil aspects of Hollywood..."

https://bit.ly/3qnFz1T

Part two:

"The contradictions of Hollywood are well laid out here; the fact that it encourages all sorts of people to work together in harmony who would normally never share space; the way everyone is concerned with only their own advancement in the system and no one else’s; the expectation to change to fit that system. Rock’s question about whether he should get his nose done, and the way everyone changes their names, and Dibbler using words like 'exotic' when he’s just being racist, they’re all examples of how the system encourages conformity while using what’s 'foreign' to make money. They need camels and elephants, Dibbler is lying about where Ginger came from, but Rock is still worried that his nose is too 'stereotypically' troll. Even Samuel Goldwyn, the man Silverfish is based on, changed his name for show business..."

https://bit.ly/3xQUzHX

Part three:

"Victor thinks to ask Ginger what she wanted to be before acting in moving pictures was a option, and her response is 'I didn’t know. I just knew I didn’t want to be a milkmaid.' Y’all. Okay, so there’s a thing that you will hear in film and theater and most performing arts professions, often from teachers and other professionals and that is: If you can picture yourself doing anything else with your life, go do that instead. The point being that it’s so hard to 'break into' these industries that you can spend the majority of your career (and life) not doing anything. So if it isn’t your One True Passion, you should probably seek out that other passion you’ve got because you’re likely to be more pleased with that outcome. It’s a pretty garbage piece of advice to my mind because it ignores why that problem exists in the first place; it’s not tough to break into the system just because it is, but because these industries are fueled by nepotism and geared toward people with massive amounts of privilege. You cannot get away from it... Ginger later points out that when the circus came through town, everyone cheered the tightrope girl, but they wouldn’t even allow her to climb a tree, which is another aspect of that escape: The appeal of acting (and writing and directing and) is creating a life outside the parameters assumed for you. This is part of the reason why it’s not considered a respectable job..."

https://bit.ly/3gSdah5

...and part four:

"There’s a theme here about the idea of fame and stardom being a far cry from the reality, and that’s what we see happening with Ginger. She has this trance-like dream of being the most famous person in the world, but on being confronted with her “adoring public,” she freezes in a panic. Actual fame is a beast of a thing to navigate, and the trick used here (telling her to essentially act her way through it) is a common trick that many performers use. In fact, it’s so ingrained that people tend to believe that they have a good read on their favorite famous people, that they know them to some extent. These are called parasocial relationships, and they’ve been getting a lot of psychological study in recent years because it is a genuinely fascinating phenomenon—the belief that you can truly know a person from what they display to the public on press tours, red carpets, even social media accounts, when so many of these personas are carefully constructed for mass consumption. We’ve gone so far down this particular rabbit hole culturally that we’ve turned it into its own form of performance art. What Ginger is doing here is the first steps of that..."

https://bit.ly/3x1vcTK

3.9 A WONDERFUL REMINISCENCE

Here we have another gem, this time from five years ago – Colin Smythe and Irish author Lisa McInerney share some of their favourite Pratchett quotes which were then considered for inclusion in "Seriously Funny: the Endlessly Quotable Terry Pratchett". By Martin Doyle for The Irish Times:

"Lisa McInerney, winner this month of both the Baileys Prize for Women’s Fiction and the Desmond Elliott Prize for The Glorious Heresies, is a devotee of Pratchett’s work. Asked for her favourite, she responded: 'Oh God, so many. One that I almost tweeted earlier: "May you live in interesting times" which you’ll probably know is a reference to a myth about there being such a curse in China. And right now I think we’re living in interesting times. My other favourite Pratchett quote is from Soul Music, where Death is collecting money and someone gives him a penny, just for this line: THANK YOU, said the grateful Death. I honestly think that that’s a case of an author coming up with a killer pun and writing an entire book around it'...

"Colin Smythe, the Trinity College Dublin graduate who published Pratchett’s first five books and has been his agent since 1987, admitted: 'I can’t remember Terry telling me any jokes. Both poor memory and because he must have kept them to put in his books. Over the last decade, I think we talked about facts, research for the book he was working on, that sort of thing.'... So what is his favourite Terry Pratchett quotation? “Too many to choose from. But how about... "Susan... it wasn’t a good name, was it? It wasn’t a truly bad name, it wasn’t like poor Iodine in the fourth form, or Nigella, a name which means ‘oops, we wanted a boy’. But it was dull. Susan. Sue. Good old Sue. It was a name that made sandwiches, kept its head in difficult circumstances, and could reliably look after other people’s children. It was a name used by no queens or goddesses anywhere. And you couldn’t do much even with the spelling. You could turn it into Suzi, and it sounded as though you danced on tables for a living. You could put in a Z and a couple of Ns and an E, but it still looked like a name with extensions built on. It was as bad as Sara, a name that cried out for a prosthetic H." Far too long, I know. How about a talking raven on a battle-field, looking for eyeballs and other scraps, saying ‘Carrion regardless. That’s what I say.’? “Or the cleric in a band that went off with all its takings, and was arrested. ‘And what did they do with that felonious monk?’..."

https://bit.ly/2U2Uy5j

Editor's note: if you don't already have a copy of Seriously Funny, here be a link:

https://bit.ly/3qoatXT

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04) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS

4.1 AUDITIONS

Want to participate in the Brisbane Arts Theatre's upcoming production of Carpe Jugulum? Here's your chance! Auditions for Carpe Jugulum will take place on 11th July, but go to the webpage and register ASAP, as registrations are essential:

https://www.artstheatre.com.au/get-involved/auditions/

4.2 FORTHCOMING PLAYS

*MORT IN SUBURBAN MELBOURNE, FOURECKS (SEPTEMBER 2021)

"How good is it to see Fourecksian Discworld productions getting back to normal?", it said here in last month's issue. We may have spoken too soon... The eagle eyed among you will note that this production was due to be presented this month, but pandemic-related issues meant it had to be moved. Now rescheduled for later this year. Here's hoping!

The CPP Community Theatre will present Stephen Briggs' adaptation of Mort in September: "When Mort and his father attend the Sheepridge hiring fair in the hope that this year Mort will finally get an apprenticeship, they didn’t expect the day to end with death. But at least Death offered Mort a job! As Death’s apprentice, Mort gets to travel and meet interesting people… well, for a short time anyway. But once Mort is trusted to take on the Duty by himself, trouble brews, as Mort lets his heart rule his head… Adapted by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs from the fourth of Terry’s wildly successful Discworld novels, Mort brings the Discworld to the stage. Come and see how Mort gets out of the trouble he’s caused!" (NB: " Please note strobe lighting will be used during this performance.")

When: 10th–16th September 2021
Venue: The Basin Theatre, Doongalla Rd & Simpsons Rd, The Basin, Bayswater, Victoria 3154 (Melway Reference 66A6)
Time: 10th, 11th, 15th, 16th 8pm; 18th 5pm/twilight; also, matinee on the 11th at 2pm
Tickets:available shortly! Watch this space or enquire via email (tickets@cppcommunitytheatre.com.au) or phone 0450 804 856 (between 2pm and 5pm)

https://bit.ly/35O5rdK

* CARPE JUGULUM IN BRISBANE (SEPTEMBER–NOVEMBER 2021)

It's a change of Discworld for the Brisbane Arts Theatre later this year! Instead of the formerly announced Feet of Clay, this September will see the staging of Carpe Jugulum: "In this life there are givers and takers. It’s safe to say that vampires are very much in the latter camp... It’s common sense not to invite vampires into your home (unless you want a permanent house guest, that is) – however the King of Lancre has invited the city’s newest fanged residents to celebrate the birth of his daughter… and they have no intention of leaving… ever. As the residents of Lancre are about to discover – it’ll take a lot more than garlic and crucifixes to take back their home."

When: 11th September–6th November 2021
Venue: Brisbane Arts Theatre, 210 Petrie Terrace, Brisbane, Queensland 4000
Time: Fridays and Saturdays 8pm, select Thursdays 7:30pm, select Sundays 6:30pm (check calendar when booking)
Tickets: $36 (concessions/groups $29, Student Rush $16; $2 transaction fee applies), available online via https://aubat.sales.ticketsearch.com/sales/salesevent/5866

https://www.artstheatre.com.au/productions/carpe-jugulum/

4.3 REVIEWS

* REVIEW: MAKING MONEY IN BRISBANE, FOURECKS

By Oliver Gough for Theatre Haus:

"The sharp wit and offbeat fictional world of legendary British fantasy author Sir Terry Pratchett are taken on by the company in the three-act comedy, ‘Making Money’. The stage adaptation by Stephen Briggs is drawn from Pratchett’s 2007 novel of the same name... Set design in this production by Steven Beeston and Tim Pierce is impressive, with detailed Roman archways and shopfronts backed up by an intricate city skyline built into the top of the set. Complimenting this set is lighting design from David Willis, which highlights that skyline with a red glow from the back wall and dynamic use of spotlights throughout. Strong choices in lighting design, plus dynamic sound design from Zoe Power, are particularly on display in the underwater vault scenes as the stage is transformed into a blue, bubbling and echoey chamber. Costume design by Frances Foo, assisted by Kirily Jago, is also impressive...

"The three-act, two-interval structure may intimidate some audiences, but the second two acts were much shorter, possibly throwing into question the need for two ten-minute intervals... On opening night, understudy Tom Molnar stepped up and was likeable and eloquent as an upper-class English Moist Von Lipwig. John Grey somewhat stole the show as the stern but humorous Lord Vetinari, with a killer eyebrow slant. Grey lifted the energy in his scenes, bringing comedic relish and obvious experience to the show. Steve Durber played Mavolio Bent well, providing a foil for more outlandish characters like the cape-swishing Cosmo Lavish, played by an undeniably funny and committed Jon Darbro. Fran Price was an audience favourite with her colourful depiction of the eccentric Mrs Topsy Lavish, and Nick Daly stood out with his comedic instincts as a bank worker and ghoulish assistant to Peter Van Werkhoven’s wild mad scientist character. The rest of the ensemble brought gusto to their roles and worked together to bring the play’s quirky world to life..."

https://bit.ly/35TDW2m

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05) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS

Remember, one day, possibly in the not too distant future, Discworld fans will be able to meet in the real Roundworld again. So keep this information handy! Also note there are a few updates below...

A new Fourecksian meeting group joins the gang: the Purdeigh Islanders, based in Hobart, Tasmania. "Purdeigh (or Purdee) Island lies hubwards of Fourecks. Roundworld islanders are fans of the great Sir Terry Pratchett resident in Tasmania, the island state of Australia."

The Purdeigh Islanders is a private group. To join in, go to their Facebook page and see if they'll have you!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/205967619882683/

*

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/2YrPGW7

NOTE: the Drummers are still meeting occasionally via Zoom. Check out the above link for updates!

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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."

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The Victorian Discworld Klatch
https://www.facebook.com/groups/VictorianDiscworldKlatch

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"The Gathering of the Loonies (Wincanton chapter)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/373578522834654/

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The Pratchett Partisans
https://www.facebook.com/groups/pratchettpartisans/ or contact Ula directly at uwilmott@yahoo.com.au

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The City of Small Gods
www.cityofsmallgods.org.au

"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."


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The Broken Vectis Drummers
broken_vectis_drummers@yahoo.co.uk

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The Wincanton Omnian Temperance Society (WOTS) meets at Wincanton's famous Bear Inn when social gatherings are possible.

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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 now hosts two groups of fans who meet on a regular basis.

In the CBD, The Mended Drummers (Sydney) meet on the first Monday of each month at Albion Place Hotel from 6.00pm. Join the Facebook Group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/downunderdrummers/ – for more information.

And over in the western suburbs of Sydney you can find the Western Drummers who meet on the third Tuesday of each month at the Nepean Rowers Club from 6pm. Join their Facebook Group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/100376433635355/ – for more information.

All we do is chat over a few drinks, with subjects ranging far and wide, have a Discworld themed quiz and generally enjoy the company of fellow discworld fans. Sometimes we end up getting together for a Zombie Walk, table top games or Supanova - nothing formal, just a loose group of like minded people.

Editor's note: If either of these supersedes the Sydney Drummers, please let Wossname know! Still posting the original for now: Sydney Drummers (formerly Drummers Downunder)
Contact Sue (aka Granny Weatherwax): kenworthys@yahoo.co.uk

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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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06) ROUNDWORLD TALES

If you've read Dodger, you will remember the kindly figure of Henry Mayhew, who assisted in the rescue that set the tale going. Many of us knew of the real Mayhew as the author of London Labour and the London Poor, the mid-19th century work that inspired the British government to begin its journey to providing social safety nets to its most distressed citizens. But there was much more to the man and his life than that!

Henry Mayhew was born in 1812, the fourth son of a well-to-do London solicitor (and father of thirteen other little Mayhews). According to the Encyclopaedia, young Henry ran away to sea at the age of twelve; according to many sources, this was because son and father did not get along; the boy wanted to be a research chemist but the father wanted all the Mayhew sons to follow him into the profession. Henry eventually gave in, studied law and joined the family firm, but his slapdash work nearly brought Mayhew senior to ruin, and they parted on such bad terms that Henry was cut out of his inheritance. As a result, he took up writing, moving in the "bohemian" arts circles, making the acquaintance of Dickens (as shown in its fictionalised version in Dodger), Thackeray and other leading lights of the age – and then became one himself, publishing successful plays and novels alone and in occasional collaboration with his younger brother Augustus.

Mayhew was co-founder of the comedic periodical Figaro, which he edited for four years (1835-39) before then co-founding Punch magazine (so beloved more than a century later by the young Terry Pratchett) in 1841, swerving as co-editor and "chief suggestor" until 1845. He then founded a daily newspaper, the Iron Times, covering news of the new railways (another passion shared with The Author), but it bankrupted him within a year, so he returned to writing, publishing more successful novels, this time with a distinct component of social satire. He also worked as a journalist, and before long, the two interests melded, in a report he wrote for the Morning Chronicle about the notorious slum known as Jacob's Island – yes, the very place where Dickens set the climax of Oliver Twist. According to literary historian Stephen Carver:

"‘A visit to the cholera districts of Bermondsey’ was a powerful piece of journalism, in which Mayhew combined his interest in chemistry with the devices of a novelist... Notably, he also gave various inhabitants a voice, interviewing and then quoting directly... This was powerful stuff, a vivid mix of art, science and drama. After years of select committees, royal commissions, questions in the House and earnest essays by doctors, Chronicle readers reacted to Mayhew’s revelations as if they were new... It was a cultural tipping point; the middle classes finally noticed the conditions in which the majority of the urban working classes had to live. Almost immediately after it appeared, the Chronicle announced a huge investigation to be entitled Labour and the Poor, which ‘proposed to give a full and detailed description of the moral, intellectual, material and physical condition of the industrial poor throughout England’... Mayhew would be the ‘metropolitan correspondent’... Mayhew’s ‘letters’, published three times a week, were a sensation, as he set out to describe the ‘poor of London’ in terms of different classes – ‘as they will work, they can’t work, and they won’t work’ – and the different causes of their poverty... interviewed skilled and unskilled labourers and tradesmen, seamstresses, merchant seamen, the inhabitants of low lodging houses and teachers and pupils at ragged schools... His scientific side was always on display, with an urge to quantify, define, analyse and categorize, oddly in balance with his traits as a novelist and dramatist and, increasingly, an activist. Although Mayhew saw himself as a dispassionate and impartial social investigator, his decision to give the poor a voice was in itself a partisan and radical act. He ultimately broke with the Chronicle at the end of October 1850, in a dispute over the political censorship of his work and the reporting of the adverse effect of free trade on wages in the inequities of piecework and the ‘sweating’ system of labour. This came to a head when he took the side of garment workers over their employer, H.J. and D. Nicholl of Regent Street, one of the Chronicle’s prominent advertising clients... continued to publish his ‘letters’ in tuppenny pamphlets, now with a focus on the London ‘Street Folk’ – sellers, traders, street performers, artisans, labourers, and criminals, men, women and children – beginning with a vast exploration of the culture of costermongers, Cockneys hawking all manner of goods out of baskets and barrows from dawn till dusk and the main suppliers of food to the working classes..."

And the rest is, quite literally, history.

According to the Britannica, "Short of money in his later years, he produced much hackwork and died in obscurity." A rather ignominious end on the face of it, but in truth, his most significant work lives on to this day. And in his own day, London Labour and the London Poor had an enormous influence on social reformers: "The often sympathetic investigations, with their immediacy and unswerving eye for detail, offered unprecedented insights into the condition of the Victorian poor. Alongside the earlier work of Edwin Chadwick, they are also regarded as a decisive influence on the thinking of Charles Dickens...:

...and on our favourite author!

London Labour and the London Poor is still in publication, and can be purchased in physical form from good booksellers, or downloaded for free as text or as an ebook from Project Gutenberg.

Sources: Stephen Carver, in particular https://wordsworth-editions.com/blog/henry-mayhew-1
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Wikipedia

...and a postscript: his direct descendant Patrick Mayhew was a leading Thatcherite minister, and Patrick's son Jerome Mayhew is a serving Tory politician. Somehow one imagines Henry would not have approved!

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07) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE

Blogger Wyrd Smythe was unimpressed by the Long Earth series and explains why in a long post:

"I think it’s safe to say that I am not, and probably never will be, a fan of science fiction author Stephen Baxter... Recently I finished The Long Earth, a five-book series Baxter co-authored with my all-time, no-exceptions, favorite fiction author, Terry Pratchett. The series is based on an interesting parallel worlds idea from a short story, The High Meggas, Pratchett wrote back in the mid-1980s. Much to my disappointment, I was also notably underwhelmed by this series. Which was something of a shock; I’ve liked – really liked – everything I’ve read by Pratchett. His Discworld series is my favorite series of any genre, but I’ve really enjoyed all his other work, too. Until now... In all five novels, Baxter divides our attention between several largely unrelated plot threads. The last two books seemed even more distracted. Pratchett was out of the picture by then, and Baxter’s heart doesn’t seem in the work any more... I found very little of Pratchett’s touch in any of the books, although there were definite glints and glimmers in the first two... Part of what made the books boring was not caring about the characters. They, and their efforts, just didn’t engage me. I don’t recommend this series unless one is already a Baxter fan. It’s definitely not an attraction for Pratchett fans – there’s very little of Sir Terry to be found..."

https://logosconcarne.com/2021/05/22/the-long-baxter/

Blogger Feminist Quill's odd review of Moving Pictures:

Moving Pictures is one of the rare times I’ve disliked a Pratchett book... It’s as if all the famous Pratchett Particles of inspiration hit him at the same time, and he had to try and write everything down together and make it make sense. It’s a game effort – the plot itself being rather original while expertly parodying Hollywood, celebrity culture and the movie industries in general. Humour is threaded through the book as usual, although what I found more interesting were the amusingly random characters thrown together in Moving Pictures. Victor, a student wizard from Unseen University, always scores exactly between 80 and 88 on his exams. This way, he can continue to benefit from a scholarship left to him by his uncle (possibly forever.) Ginger is a former milkmaid, and doesn’t really relish the prospect of going back to it. They find themselves answering the call of the Holy Wood, becoming the Disc’s first superstars. Victor and Ginger aren’t the most interesting characters, but they’re joined by ‘Throat’ Dibbler, Gaspode the talking dog, newly minted Archchancellor Ridcully, Ancient Runes, the Bursaaaar, the Librarian and many other familiar faces from the Discworld universe. All of them have great comic scenes that are individually enjoyable, but put together, the effect is… exhausting. There’s too much happening in Moving Pictures. Too many jokes. Too many references. Too many subplots. To be fair, there’s always too much happening in Terry Pratchett novels, and when the subject matter isn’t as confusing, the effect is pretty great. Here, it’s just hard to keep track..."

https://bit.ly/3gU7V0D

...and an equally odd one of Reaper Man:

"Insofar as it deals with Death, Reaper Man is a pleasure to read. Unfortunately, Pratchett decides to incorporate – as one of the side effects of Death skiving off – what is essentially a get-off-my-lawn rant about shopping malls. And this part of the book – even with the hilarious hijinks of the wizards of Unseen University involved – is boring at best, and incomprehensible at worst. It’s not that those scenes lack in the trademark Pratchett wit or suspense. It’s just that (a) the fact that they’re fighting a shopping mall isn’t very obvious; and (b) a shopping mall isn’t a very scary idea to your average millennial... But no amount of intervention by rogue, semi-sentient shopping malls can dilute the power of Death’s part of the story. Assuming the name Bill Door, Death makes his way to a random farm, where he is hired to work as an odd-job man. Building heartwarming connections with the other villagers, Death finally begins to see things from the perspective of the, er, harvest. So to speak. Reaper Man stays with us long after we have finished reading it because of the tender humanity evinced by the anthromorphic[sic] Death. Pratchett does a great job of getting us invested in Death as a character – so much so that my eyes light up whenever he turns up in one of the Discworld books..."

https://bit.ly/3wX7NCX

...while blogger Camren Singrey doesn't exactly disagree:

"What don’t I like about Moving Pictures? In my hazy memory of binging every Discworld book, it didn’t leave a good impression. Knowing that my opinions have changed multiple times in this rereading process, I hoped to find myself understanding the appeal of this book in a way that I hadn’t before. Sadly, this time I feel mostly the same. Moving Pictures can take the place of my least favorite Discworld book, unless something changes in the future. Realistically, one of the earliest books in the series should win this prize, but there’s a difference there that has to do with expectations. The Colour of Magic is barely a proper Discworld book at all, but it’s funny for what it is, and I enjoy seeing Terry in the process of working it out. Similarly for Equal Rites, the execution isn’t quite there but the spirit is very much intact. Moving Pictures, on the other hand, comes after books like Wyrd Sisters and Guards! Guards! that show how much higher a Discworld novel can reach, and its lack of ambition is comparatively disappointing... Moving Pictures has some more satisfying elements. Gaspode the Wonder Dog is a great character and brings life to the story whenever he’s in it, and the gaggle of assorted animals that follow him are also quite entertaining (and provide some interesting foreshadowing for the events of Reaper Man). The wizards of Unseen University really come together as a group here, and fulfill their ultimate destiny of being the funniest subplot in a story that isn’t really about them. Detritus the troll has a pretty big role here and is as entertaining as he will be in future installments. But most of these are examples of elements that would be even better later..."

https://bit.ly/3dcFuse

Blogger Jamie Hall's review of Equal Rites:

"Equal Rites is definitely where Pratchett finds his own voice, now he has a real plot and some actual storytelling behind the wonderfully crafted jokes. At its core Equal Rites is a tale about equality and the injustices of the Discworld, and it does a great job of exploring these themes while maintaining a witty tone. While I greatly enjoyed the first two books in the series it was really Equal Rites that first got me hooked onto Terry Pratchett. This is a fun, humorous, and well crafted story about a young girl names Esk and her experiences of growing up in the world of magic. As the third in the series Pratchett doesn’t bother diving too much into the Discworld mythology, this allows him to progress the story much more easily, yet sadly this will leave big points of confusion for readers who may start their journey here... The biggest strength of Equal Rites is the wonderful character development we get to experience. Unlike the first two stories the character here feel more fleshed out, more real rather than simple one dimensional parodies of other, bigger, fantasy characters. These beings are charming, witty, likeable, but also hugely flawed, and it is their moments of self actualisation that are the most interesting to me..."

https://bit.ly/3zUsS2N

Blogger Ryan aka Muse With Me is back with thoughts on Hogfather:

"If you have even a passing interest in the series or the author, you have no doubt come across quotes lifted from this book at least once or twice. No other novel in the series has been referenced nearly as often, as far as I’ve seen. It’s easy to see why, it’s a very quotable book. I even went out of my way to watch scenes from the TV movie adaptation years ago too. This put me in a weird state of mind when starting this book, though, as there was so much unknown to me that I was excited to finally dig into, yet it was also a little too familiar... I just can’t help but imagine the story rearranged in a way that we’re more in line with what Susan knows, equally bewildered by Death’s wild change in vocation. Even though it makes sense that Susan does not know what the reader does, the way it unfolded stunted the pacing of the story. While I did find this all bothersome, I can’t deny that the reading experience during these sections was still enjoyable. I love how vexed Susan is by otherworldly forces that she cannot help but notice, driven to do something even when she is not obliged to, despite her desire for separation from it all. The antics of Archchancellor Ridcully and the other head wizards was entertaining as always too, the manifestation of the 'oh god' of Hangovers being especially amusing. It played well with the world’s conception of gods, firmly established back in the novel Small Gods. These parts may not have driven the plot very much, but they did add a richness of character to the story, as well as tied in closely with the story’s motifs about belief and imagination. The parts of the book I absolutely adored were those about Death trying his best to perform the Hogfather’s duties. In his novels, Death is typically given a less plot-driven role, focusing more on his character but giving him less to actively do. This book gave us the best of both worlds, as doing this job is important for the outcome of the overall narrative, but much more emphasis is put on character..."

https://bit.ly/2UFYf1b

...and blogger Joe Kessler aka The Lesser Joke returns with his perhaps over-analytical and oh so presentist review of Monstrous Regiment:

"Terry Pratchett strikes a fine balance between showing the camaraderie and bravery of soldiers on the one hand – the reasons someone might find that life appealing – and the bleak inanity of military regulations and war itself on the other. He also shows his fantasy Discworld setting becoming a bit more open-minded towards people in Polly’s situation, many of whom have only been lacking the courage to speak out about the gender roles and restrictive religious teachings they privately disfavor. It’s pretty much a standalone volume within its series, with a few fun cameos from existing characters but little that would prevent a new reader from fully following along. And although it contains some minor fatphobia and a greater deal of sexism than I think the writer intends, plus the sort of cross-dressing plot whose essentialist view of anatomy leaves minimal room for a trans experience, the book overall presents a welcome message of questioning tradition, finding your own path, and accepting those who are different from you. If that sounds like a mixed bag, well, it is – but that’s Pratchett in a nutshell, really, as able to punch down at marginalized groups as up at systems of oppression..."

https://bit.ly/3zZ2Ag3

Self-described "social entrepreneur and bestselling author", so bestselling that he doesn't even merit a Wikipedia page, totally fails to "get" Dodger:

"I’m giving a certain amount of leeway here as I assume this is one of Pratchett’s books for younger readers (like his wonderful ‘Wee Free Men’) and therefore isn’t going to tackle themes which are too deep or dark. Nevertheless, it’s not awfully good. ‘Dodger’ is a book I could have lived my life without reading and it is certainly not a book I will feel the need to read again. There’s nothing terrible about it per se – it’s a perfectly fine story and set of characters. The book is well written, of course. It’s just not up to the standard of Pratchett’s Discworld stories. I do find it hard to explain. You can’t accuse the author of being a one-trick pony because the Discworld stuff just doesn’t work like that. The genius of Pratchett’s universe is that it can tackle and parody just about anything in history, politics, culture or society, past of present. In effect, the novels (while still all being comic fantasy) take on completely different flavours. Furthermore, when you look at books like ‘Good Omens’ (admittedly co-authored with the brilliant Neil Gaiman) you can see Pratchett can be utterly hilarious away from his magical land. So why doesn’t ‘Dodger’ work?... I have no great conclusion to the conundrum. My only guess is that this just wasn’t a good one for Pratchett. It must have seemed inspired at the time – for all the above-mentioned reasons – but it just came out a dud..."

https://bit.ly/3dvorlJ

Blogger Kizzia Mildmay explains that hard-boiled egg:

"Night Watch is, in my opinion, the best Discworld book Terry Pratchett ever wrote. I have re-read it at least once every year since it was first published, back in November 2002, always around May 25th when the book is set (and often a second time if I’m doing a full Discworld read through). Each time the rightness of the book bubbles up through the pages as fresh and clear and astonishing as if I were reading it for the first time. All of Terry’s books are, to some extent or other, about what it truly means to be a human living in a society. Night Watch takes that theme, turns it up to 11, and turns you inside out while it does so...
In order to explain exactly why it is so wonderful I’d have to spoil the plot and I don’t want to do that. I want you to read it for yourself (after reading the five books which come before it so you receive the maximum impact of every word, although I suspect it works as a stand alone too because Terry was Just That Good)."

https://bit.ly/2Spg57B

Blogger James E Hartley analyses Reaper Man:

"There is much wisdom in Windle’s post-life pre-death reflections. Life is indeed strange, but we the living have a hard time noticing it because we are too busy with the mundane details of living. Living does involve a lot of mundane things. Eating, Sleeping, Bathing, Dressing, and Tearing Unwanted Plants out of the Ground. Much like a Left Guard or a Third Basemen, when you are in the Game of Life, you have a hard the seeing the whole game. Marching along in our tiny little ruts in life, we do indeed have a hard time seeing how our little ruts fit into the larger traffic system. Thoreau screamed at you about the life of quiet desperation you are leading. He wants you to break our patterns. Go life in a cabin in the woods for a couple of years. Or whatever. Just get out of your rut. You read Thoreau and sigh, 'That seems a tad bit extreme.' Terry Pratchett has a simpler solution. Just step outside yourself and notice that life is strange and wonderful. For a moment, look past all the boring and mundane things you have to do today, and look around until you notice something really, really odd. Think about that oddity for a bit. Then, laugh..."

https://jamesehartley.com/looking-at-life-off-kilter/

Blogger Lynn found The Light Fantastic slightly lacking... or maybe not:

"I will preface this review by stating that at the moment I’m not totally blown away by the Discworld, but, at the same time, I had been warned that this could take two or three books before it really took hold so I’m still very hopeful. I will also clarify that last remark by saying I’m not disliking what I’ve read so far, so much as it hasn’t quite knocked my socks off in the way I’d hoped, or more to the point, whilst there have been quite a number of moments that have made me smile I haven’t had a proper laugh out loud moment just yet. I do have expectations though and I suspect that as I continue with Lou on this journey we will become attached to the characters and familiar with the world in a way that immerses us much more and provides a greater sense of connectivity... I really enjoyed certain aspects of this one. The forest – which has a decidedly fairytale feel and the whole visit to the home of Death. I loved both those scenes. Of course, everything Pratchett does is tongue in cheek and softly fun poking at the fantasy tropes but those two particular scenarios particularly stood out for me. To be honest, although I’ve not been totally knocked out by the two first books in this series, I can see myself already becoming attached. I like the humour, it reminds me very much of Monty Python and obviously Douglas Adams. To be honest, I know already, that I will love elements of these books because I’ve read the Tiffany Aching series which were excellent..."

https://bit.ly/3gT3Mde

...and finally, blogger Grainne, whose own wordcraft and vocabulary are fascinatingly idiosyncratic, offers a long analysis of Rincewind in general and Sourcery in particular:

"Came sooner, Coin, ravaged the Lore and ended the Archchancellor election by exhibiting a glimpse of his “virtue” and simply sat on the highest cathedra without much of a struggle. Then we become versed that the prevailing wizards are the legitimate pests as they feed on the proffered power no human can contest. Fortunately, our Rincewind perceived the signs as ominous even before the source of magic came into view. But unfortunately, this was another chance for an adventure he ardently does not want. And unfortunately, indeed, it has to be a woman who owns a fascinating voice to compel him to assist the Archchancellor’s hat on a trip to Klatch for a reason of sorts. Pratchett built a world in a disk. And he went on a full measure in the concept of domination through his book, Sourcery. The question was, “If wizards are powerful, why didn’t they rule the world?” I’ve read few books that dealt with this query and the writers replied fairly quick–they still made sense that imposed acknowledgement. What is Pratchett’s response? Or rather, how did Pratchett respond? Instead of reposting, he thought long and resolved the trope in all the pages of Sourcery. It will lose the balance. The wizards will not be contented in the division of domain. Like empires, they will conquer adjacent lands and even remote enclaves. Tectonic plates will shiver as rocks ascend into towers by magical summoning to fight their own kind they once called brothers. Shove a magically overpowered human who even traps the gods in an attempt to be the sole divine; you invite frozen titans indignant to revert the state of the world to the glacial age... Sourcery is a Discworld series still wealthy with wisecracks. But for a reader acclimated to Pratchett’s usual amount of humor, one would observe that the opulence curtailed..."

https://bit.ly/3wUk3UM

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08) IMAGES OF THE MONTH

The Ankh-Morpork coat of arms (and legs) does special service in the Discworld Emporium's semi-closing announcement:
https://bit.ly/3gWpRrc

The cast of Brisbane Arts Theatre's just-finished production of Making Money... and is that a ghost at the back?!:
https://bit.ly/3xQvQn0

A lovely way to go – the Discworld themed funeral of fan Steven Thornton: https://bit.ly/3dbwAvp

Re that funeral, Rhianna Pratchett tweeted: ""That’s a hell of a resting place. 100% Pratchett approval. GNU Steven Thornton"
https://bit.ly/3xSB5D2

A look at the cover for the Ultimate Discworld Companion: https://bit.ly/3daAnsG

That wonderful orangutan photo (as mentioned in item 3: https://bit.ly/3wYinJX

Possibly Your Editor's favourite photo ever of Sir Pterry, that accompanied the article in item 3.9 above:
https://bit.ly/3gSyB1y

...and finally, a beautiful badge created for the 2013 New York Comic Con 2013 by artist Justin Gerard, as posted by Pinback Travels (ask him about pins!):
https://bit.ly/3wVnsmv

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09) CLOSE

It's been obvious to many people for some time now that ol' Auntie Beeb has jumped a lot of sharks, but this one – on Sir Pterry's own home ground – takes an entire bakery's worth of biscuits:

"The Watch is crossing the pond. The BBC has acquired the UK rights to the BBC America original series after striking a deal with international distributor and sister company BBC Studios. The series will debut on the iPlayer on Thursday July 1st and will subsequently get a linear run on BBC Two later this year."

https://bit.ly/3gS82K4

Right then, that's it for now. More than ever, mind how you go, and we hope to see you next month!

– Annie Mac

Copyright (c) 2021 by Wossname for the Klatchian Foreign Legion

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