Discworld Monthly - Issue 118: February 2007

1. Editorial

Welcome to issue 118. This month finally sees the first ever Australian Discworld Convention take place. I hope that the wait has been worthwhile and wish the guests, visitors and organisers all the best.

If you happen to be at the Convention please jot down a review and we'll include the best next month.

This is a month for firsts: Also taking place is Scheibenwelt-Fest 2007 Germany's first Discworld Convention. Again, if you go to the event we would love to hear what you thought of it. In English for preference, please.

This month I received an email from a French fan who has offered to translate Discworld Monthly into French each month. If you feel this is something that is worthwhile then please email me at info@discworldmonthly.co.uk and let me know.

Have you ever thought about owning your own Great A'Tuin. If your origami skills are up to scratch you may be interested in the Origami Discworld that a blogger recieved as a gift from his sister. tinyurl.com/2n75ml

Finally, a bit of late news. The Rhoda McGaw Theatre in Woking will be performing Maskerade from 30th May - 2nd June and need a cast / stage crew! There is a read-through for new-comers to the play/book at 8.30 pm on Thursday 1st Feb in Knaphill, Woking, and the auditions themselves will be in Old Woking from 4.15pm on Sunday 4th Feb. This is an amateur production.

Kathie Williams, the show's director, would love to hear from anyone who is interested in taking part. Please email k.williams@talktalk.net

--
Jason Anthony (Editor) info@discworldmonthly.co.uk
William Barnett (Deputy Editor)
Richard Massey (The Amazing Mage)

2. News

Whilst Terry is in Australia he will be doing a talk organised by the Centre for Youth Literature.

Admission is by gold coin donation with all money raised going to the Orangutan Foundation.

Terry will speak at the Village Roadshow Theatrette on Monday 12 February at 7pm.

There are around 40 seats left. Bookings on youthlit@slv.vic.gov.au

~~tinyurl.com/2ygxk9~~

Hill House Publishers have just released The Light Fantastic facsimile edition - a part of their Discworld x 12 series.

Rob Wilkins kindly sent me a copy that arrived this morning (Wednesday 31st January) that I am hoping to review for next month.

In the meantime you can find more information at: ~~hillhousepublishers.com/tp-light01.htm~~

Joe Pattison - the man behind many of Clarecraft's wonderful Discworld pieces is still happy to provide a repairs service for any damaged Clarecraft models. So if you happen to knock Granny Weatherwax's head off whilst dusting, you know who to call to do a professional repair.

Joe can be contacted via the following website: www.pargeting.com

Stephen Briggs is taking part in the Essex Book festival this year. He'll be appearing at Harlow Library on March 24th at 7p.m. Tickets are priced at 6 GBP. Visit www.essexbookfestival.org.uk or telephone 01206 573948 to book tickets.

Dave Hodges has provided me with some photos of his new range of Bar-B-Ques. If you plan to come to any of the camping events this year you should consider one of Dave's Bar-B-Ques. The biggest advantage is that once you have finished cooking you can use it as a campfire. As the legs keep the body over 18 inches above ground they will meet up with the site requirements at Wadfest.

To save postage costs you can pre-order your Bar-B-Ques and then pick it up from Hodges at an event.

The Bar-b-Ques vary in size so it is best to email Dave Hodges for prices and to determine what sizes are available.

Dave has also created some excellent lamp irons that look great and are safe because the hook folds back on itself and therefore prevents you from getting caught on them.

Don't forget that Dave is still selling his excellent tent pegs. It is believed that a couple of the pegs could anchor a battleship.

For a look at a picture of one of the Bar-B-Ques see the following album.

~~s4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/dwmoook/Hodges%20Bar-B-Que/~~

News from Colin Smythe:

The Art of Josh Kirby - Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 16 June to 30 September 2007

The first retrospective exhibition of science fiction artist Josh Kirby. Born in Liverpool in 1928 and trained at Liverpool School of Art he began his career producing film posters, moving to book and cover art for magazines. Some of his more famous work includes the first cover of Ian Fleming's Moonraker and the poster for Monty Python's Life of Brian and he is best known for his cover illustrations of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.

The south west branch of the Fools Guild will be holding their April Fools Day dinner on 10th March at 7:30pm in the Bear, Wincanton.

You should book direct with Jo on 0196332581.

There will be activities (games) during the day.

More information can be obtained from Sarah Finnerty on 01963 32914 or Divina on 01752 342818.

There are plans to have a joke competition and enter all the jokes in to the British Heritage Joke Foundation. There will also be an auction to raise money for Comic Relief.

Revolving Doors Theatre, a small theatre company in South London runs a fundraising campaign called Mug-A-Celebrity which involves getting well-known celebrities to sign a mug which we then make permanent before auctioning it off on ebay to the celebrities loyal fan base.

The group were lucky enough to mug Terry Pratchett in October of last year and will be putting his mug on sale on the 1st February. It is a unique item and all the money raised goes towards supporting the theatre company.

The theatre company's webpage is ~~www.revolvingdoorstheatre.co.uk~~ and mug-a-celebrity can be found at ~~www.mugacelebrity.com~~

Discworld Dates...

This section will contain events that you need to keep in your diary. Entries will remain until they go out of date. New entries will include the word [New] next to them. If this section gets too large we will start pruning entries.

[AU, UPDATED] Nullus Anxietas: The Australian Discworld Convention Melbourne, February 9-11 2007

Guest of Honour: Terry Pratchett

Virtual Guests of Honour: Stephen Briggs, Bernard Pearson, Colin Smythe, Ian Stewart, Jack Cohen

www.ausdwcon.org

FINAL REMINDER: Only a handful of days left now! With the programme pretty much complete, an exciting line-up of sessions, a sold out Gala Dinner... as one fan stated, "Nullus Anxietas looks like fun with extra bits of fun stitched on to make it as fun as possible" - and who are we to disagree with that?

In case you need more convincing, though, here's just a few of the sessions that will be happening: theatre performances of Wyrd Sisters and Mort, Snowgum Films talking about the making of Troll Bridge, sword and belly-dancing demonstrations (although not at the same time), a special script-reading of Pyramids, the Great Debate, Fair Go Dibbler's Charity Auction, Blankety Blanks, and The Naked Ogg - and then there's all the sessions with our wonderful Guests. The full schedule can be found at ~~www.ausdwcon.org/detail/show/programme~~

We've also got a wonderful deal on THUD sets - which should be especially appealing to those in Australia. Stay tuned for the latest updates on our mailing list - ~~www.ausdwcon.org/mailing-list~~

DON'T FORGET: our attendance prices go up one last time on February 2nd, so if you're going to come along, now's a great time to sign up (just visit ~~www.ausdwcon.org/member/signup~~).

[UK, UPDATED] The Broken Drummers is a London Discworld Group that meets once a month on a Monday evening. Membership is free - just come along. New members and visitors to London are both welcome and encouraged. February's meeting is Monday 12th February at 7.00pm in the Shakespeare's Head, Holborn. For a map go to:

www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=530581&y=181474&z=0&ar=Y

For more information go to ~~www.brokendrummers.co.uk~~ or e-mail helenenicholls@yahoo.co.uk

[NL, UPDATED] ToKiJo1's Wyrd Sisters season is drawing to a close. Their last shows will be:

11 Feb: Het Syndicaat, Den Haag, 14:00 hours
24 Feb: Schietvereniging Walter PK, Zuidland, 19:00 hours.
25 Feb: Synagogue Delft or Flora theatre (still to be decided), 14:00 and 19:00 hours.

Reservations can be made with Sara: 06- 480 45 441. For details and actual start-times check out ~~www.toverzusters.nl~~.

[UK, NEW] Southside Players are performing Wyrd Sisters from Wednesday 21 to Saturday 24 February in Balham South London.

Performances are 7.45pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 7pm on Saturday.

Ticket prices: 8 GBP full and 5 GBP concessions on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. 9 GBP full and 5 GBP concessions on Friday.

Box office: 07914 657524

Visit www.southsideplayers.org.uk if you are interested in finding out about the production and the group.

[DE] The first German Discworld Convention "Scheibenwelt-Fest 2007" will take place at a real castle near Siegen in Germany from February the 23rd till the 25th.

The organisers will try to entertain you with a broad range of different workshops, shows, guests of honour and other events at this Uberwald-themed festival.

Tickets cost only 47.50 GBP for both days including accommodation in the castle, breakfast and dinner.

You can find the registration and further information at: www.discworld-convention.de

[UK, NEW] The OFS Studio will be performing Going Postal from Tuesday 6th - Saturday 10th March at 7:30pm (Saturday matinee at 2:30pm). Tickets cost 8.50 GBP or 6.50 GBP concessions. Box Office 01865 297170

[US] Terry will be guest of honour at the MidSouthCon from March 23-25. The Convention takes place in Memphis, TN. www.midsouthcon.org/

[UK, NEW] To celebrate their tennth anniversary, the Purple Theatre Company will be returning to the Disc this May with Wyrd Sisters.

Playing at Ickenham's Compass Theatre from the 9th May, tickets go on sale from 19th March, and can be booked through the box office on 01895 673200.

The Purple Theatre Company need your help, if you would like to get involved as more than mere audience, auditions take place this coming Sunday, 4th February at 10:30am in the Ickenham Scout Hut, Community Close, Ickenham, Middlesex, West London. Rehearsals will take place most Sundays thereafter until show-week, plus various socials throughout that period, and beyond.

For further details, go to www.purpletheatre.org.uk

[UK, New] The Rhoda McGaw Theatre in Woking will be performing Maskerade from 30th May - 2nd June. Details will follow as soon as I get them.

Small Ads...

Please note, DWM has no way of checking the veracity or validity of any of the items in our small ads section. As always, exercise caution when giving out your details over the Internet. We *strongly* recommend parental supervision for younger readers who follow up any of these contacts.

Philip Gay mister_phil_g@yahoo.co.uk writes: I am a model maker and sculptor by trade and while at university I made a model of the Discworld as part of my course. I was in contact with Terry before making it and since finishing my course have been in contact both with Colin and Terry regarding the model as I am hoping to sell it. They are both happy for me to do this as it is a one-off piece. The model shows A'Tuin with the elephants on his back and the disc with various place names labelled. It is a large model, about one metre square, although it can look small in the photos!

If you are interested in seeing pictures there is one on my website - use the link below. If the link does not take you straight there then you can see an image by going to the portfolio section, clicking on view all and then the Discworld thumbnail.

I am looking to put it on ebay in February but if anyone has any opinions on the model or suggestions of alternative places to sell it then feel free to contact me. It was an expensive model to make so I am hoping to recoup some of that money by selling it as I have nowhere suitable to display it and at the moment it just sits hidden away in three boxes!

~~www.philgmodels.com/news_story_DISCWORLD_243_36.aspx~~

3. Readers' Letters

If you have any letters or comments, please email them to info@discworldmonthly.co.uk

We assume any correspondence is eligible for use in the newsletter unless otherwise stated, including the sender's email address. We may also edit your letters by means of a nice sharp pair of scissors.

It is vitally important that you don't pass off other people's work as your own. If you use information from other resources please let us know so we can give proper credit.

The best letter of the month will receive a Kiss the Cook print supplied by Bonsai Trading. Bonsai Trading is the Discworld store that brings you Clarecraft figurines, diaries & calendars, Thud and much more. ~~bonsai.discworldmonthly.org~~

*
* From: "Jeffrey Collyer" jwc3f@virginia.edu
*
I was wondering if anyone could shed any light on this. I usually listen to TP on my computer, and have discovered to my horror that Thief of Time on audiobook seems rather unavailable, at least digitally. The iTunes store seems to have all the rest. And Audible.com also seems to have many if not all of the books as well. But neither has Thief of Time. Consipracy? Oversight?

DWM replies: ISIS certainly produced an audio book version of Thief of Time - have you tried contacting Audible and asking them why?

*
* From: "Martin Walker" MARTIN.WALKER2@JOBCENTREPLUS.GSI.GOV.UK
*
I have discovered another one of Pterry's fantastic little historical references that we keep finding are based on Roundworld facts. Apologies if this has been commented on before.

I remember from Lords and Ladies, Nanny Ogg tells Casanunda the Dwarf that the Oggs had been around so long in Lancre that they used to have their own language, Oggham. I was amazed to see on an episode of Time Team on the Isle of Mann, that they discovered an ancient burial tablet marked with the earliest known native written language in Britain and Ireland, a language called Oggham!

PTerry never ceases to amaze me!

*
* From: "Stuart Glen" stueyg@hotmail.co.uk
*
My daughter and I went to the Studio Theatre Company's production [of Feet of Clay - Ed] on Tuesday 23rd January, the first night. For those who haven't been, the Unicorn Theatre is in part of a medieval abbey building and is a small intimate venue. Old buildings are notoriously difficult to heat and, as the cast sometimes enter through a curtain from the garden, this is no exception. Experienced Unicorn goers, most of the audience, are always dressed in warm fleeces etc despite the provision of electric heaters. It was a very good production: despite a few first night fluffs by the cast nothing detracted from the evening's entertainment, not even when Captain Carrot was referred to as Mark, he was played by Mark Pritchard. I have read the book twice in the past but my daughter has not. I always worry that to someone not too familiar with Terry Pratchett's works, there may be too many "in jokes" but she thoroughly enjoyed it. Stephen Briggs has made the character of Vetinari his own and Nigel Tait has done a good job of stepping into Sam Vimes' shoes. Mention must be made of Graham Cook as Nobby Nobbs, this was truly someone expelled from the human race for pushing! The golems were played by Lucy Potter and Gaurav Kumar and were spot on with their glowing red eyes. The use of incidental music to set the scenes was masterly, even to using the theme tune for Fawlty Towers during Lady Selachi's ball to set the comic undertones of the newly elevated Early of Ankh. The fact that the entire run of the show was sold out some time ago speaks volumes for its popularity.

*
* From: "Fritz Coyote" fritztcoyote@gmail.com
*
Sigh. No notification of a US broadcast [of Hogfather - Ed], and apparently no plans for a Region 1 DVD.

Didn't us Merkins already prove that we buy Discworld books? Was the final proof the number of us who were ordering UK versions instead of waiting a year or more for a US edition? Or the fact that every time Pterry visits NYC, the crowd of fans is bigger?

This is the sort of corporate stupidity that led US Anime fans to pirate copies of Japanese-Domestic-Market videos, including going so far as to produce pirated versions complete with English subtitles. Happily the Anime companies recognized the piracy as an indication that Americans were ready to spend money on Anime... and started to crank out legitimate US versions.

So when the region 1 DVD comes out I will buy it.

Meanwhile, I have been forced to use =other means= to see this show. And I thought it was pretty good, despite the low resolution and visual artefacts endemic to the (Arrgh Matey) process.

While some of the characters were not how I visualized them, I have no complaints about the actors. Except for that guy who played the toymaker. Someone should tell him not to quit his day job.

DWM replies: Although we know that pirate versions of Hogfather do exist we cannot condone "Arrgh Matey" behaviour. We know that fans outside of the UK are desperate to see the adaptation and we can assure you the guys at The Mob are doing all that they can to secure broadcasts in other countries.

*
* From: "Mo" bestwenchccc@yahoo.com
*
I coincidently discovered Discworld a few years ago while stumbling through the local library's sci-fi section for something different. Boy did I find something different! I've been laughing my way through all these books ever since!

I'm in the U.S. and Mr. Pratchett is finally getting a decent following over here, but I still feel so lonely as an American fan! I am also outnumbered on the ~~www.addictedtodiscworld.com/forums/index.php~~ site that I belong to. One interesting thing we like to toss back and forth is the similarities between Discworld and Roundworld as seen from UK versus US. I always liken Ankh Morpork to New York City while my British friends liken it to London. American fans (well, of course, fans from all over) are invited to join us and give their take on Mr. Pratchett's wonderful world.

Also, there are some interesting similarities between Fred Colon and my local Police Chief. I swear Terry Pratchett knows him!

*
* From: "Bob Groppe" rgroppe13@aol.com
*
As a joke I posted a couple of letters addressed to myself using Ankh-Morpork stamps. I mailed them from the Central Post Office in down town Manhattan on Church St. Both were delivered to my home address with no problem, though I was hoping they might be delivered by a postman with a metal leg - these were brought by the regular US Mail Carrier.

DWM replies: Bob gets this month's Letter of the Month.

*
* From: "Paul Goring" PaulEGoring@aol.com
*
Have only just discovered your great newsletter, and on clicking back through the older issues, noticed a reference to The Shades pub in Skegness in your October issue.

In the 1920's & 30's my grandparents used to run a pub called The Shades in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, indeed my mother was born in The Shades! I think it must have been visited by Granny Weatherwax at some point, for on the common directly opposite was a stone simulacrum called Toad Rock. Last time I visited Tunbridge Wells (about 15 yrs ago) the pub was still there but had been renamed The Beau Nash.

*
* From: "Dennis" ddillo@verizon.net
*
I eagerly await this part of the newsletter each month [DiscTrivia - Ed], and enjoy it so much that I hate to tease you, but, really: Answering both questions 1 and 2 in question 5? Come on now. Your fans hold you to higher standards than that. <grin>

JA replies: So you think you can do better? Seriously though, sorry about that, must have been having a bad day when I wrote that question. What a bargain, two answers for the price of one. Hopefully this month's questions will be more to your liking.

*
* From: "Rosemary Parrish" butterflies_n_hurricanes@hotmail.com
*
It is a tradition in our household to have fortune cookies with our Hogswatch dinner, to see what the new year may hold and also have a laugh at the family member who inevitably gets the empty cookie...

But this year I was shocked and amazed at my fortune! From a "Silk Road" brand cookie, bought in a sealed bag of 12 from a Chinese supermarket in Birmingham I got the fortune:

"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese"

Wise words indeed!

*
* From: "Martin Barrett" number-1-suspect@lycos.co.uk
*
Ok so its easy if you have a decent online map but I wonder how many of you live near or on Streets / Roads with names of characters or places form Terry's books.

Can only start the ball rolling with Havelock Road, Gravesend

Come on people there has to be loads out there.

*
* From:"Kieran Green" moria73@gmail.com
*
A small (possibly pedantic) response to Stuart Dollin's comment on the Roundworld origins of the Clacks system. There were actually "optical telegraph" semaphore relay systems in place before the British Holyhead-Liverpool line. France established a working semaphore relay network during the Revolution, and Napoleon's coastal semaphore stations are frequently referenced in the Horatio Hornblower books and Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series (usually the references occurring when the Royal Navy is blasting the stations to pieces).

*
* From: "Abigail Nussbaum" anusbaum@netvision.net.il
*
I was very disappointed to read DWM's response to Robert Hurley's criticism of the Hogfather adaptation. Hurley made several substantial observations about ways in which the adaptation failed as a piece of television, but you chose to dismiss him as nothing but an irate fan whose distress was rooted in the gap between his personal mental images of the work in question and what showed up on screen. Well, my mental image of Hogfather was of something funny, and in that respect the Sky adaptation fell far short of the mark.

I agree with both the editor and Hurley when they say that Michelle Dockery was quite excellent as Susan and that most of the mini's casting was very good. In terms of writing, however, the adaptation chose a slavish faithfulness to the letter of the original text, not to say outright fan-service, over an intelligent attempt to replicate its tone. The fundamental problem of all book-to-screen adaptations is that the authorial voice is lost in the transition, and screenwriters have to find a way to replicate a written work's ambience without the tools used to create it - written words. This is an especially serious problem when it comes to adapting Terry Pratchett novels, in which the narrative voice is such a vital element. The people who brought Hogfather to the screen don't seem to have given the problem any thought - they replicate scenes from the book precisely and simply cut out the narration, which guts most of the book's humor as there's no setup for the jokes to reverberate against. It certainly doesn't help that few castmembers had the comedic chops to carry off Pratchett's gags, and that the direction didn't work very hard to help them sell the humor - switching away to wide shots when a close-up is necessary, frequently flubbing the punchline of a joke by drowning it in incidental music, opting for a naturalistic delivery rather than the self-aware kind.

I look forward to being dismissed as a bitter fan. There's just no pleasing some people, you know.

DWM replies: If I felt that Robert Hurley's criticism was invalid I would not have published his letter. My reply was simply trying to say that an adaptation cant be everything for everyone. We received several negative letters about Hogfather so you are definitely not alone. However, having said that, we also received many letters of praise for the adaptation. Which just goes to show that opinion was split. The following letter is one such example.

*
* From: "Steve Lynn" steve610@ntlworld.com
*
I thought the adaptation of the Hogfather was very good and the portrayal of the characters was pretty good. Yes we can all find faults but this is more down to our own personal images of how the characters would look and sound. The fact is that TP's stories involve many intricate stories involving a multitude of diverse characters with their own little quirks. I liked Death but feel he should have had less of a "face" and only the eyes should have been visible but I really liked Michelle Dockery as Susan and the interaction between them was spot on. Given that this is the first one, the experience should mean the next one will be even better if given a bigger budget.

4. DiscTrivia

This month I will be asking questions about Witches Abroad. Let's see if I can avoid giving away some of the answers in this section this time.

Q1.: Who does Desiderata talk to in her mirror?
Q2.: Why did Nanny Ogg think the privies were DESGUSTING?
Q3.: When Granny, Nanny and Magrat took on flower fairy names, what fairy did Nanny Ogg become?; i) Fairy Tulip; ii) Fairy Dasiy; iii) Fairy Daffodile; iv) Fairy Hedgehog
Q4.: What is Mrs Gogol's first name?
Q5.: When the witches make Greebo into a man, what do they forget?

The results, as always, appear at the end of this issue.

5. Review: Wintersmith - HarperCollins Audio

Reviewed by Jason Anthony

I recently received a parcel containing three copies of Wintersmith on CD audio book from HarperCollins in the US. One copy for me to review and the other two to give away - see the competition section this month for a chance to win a copy of your very own.

I really enjoyed Wintersmith when I read it for the first time - in fact I enjoyed it so much I read it twice. I haven't then looked at it again until the audio book arrived. Normally I would be reviewing the ISIS audio version but it appears that ISIS haven't released Wintersmith yet.

The HarperCollins version of Wintersmith is still read by Stephen Briggs and you can't blame them for using Stephen as for me he has become synonymous with reading the Discworld audio books.

One of the most noticeable differences between this recording and previous ISIS recordings is the music that accompanies the beginning and end of each CD. I like the idea of the music at the end of the disc as this formally lets you know that you need to change discs and gives you a minute or two to eject the disc before it starts from the beginning again.

The music at the beginning of the discs does overlap with the narration for a short period but not enough to get in the way.

The recording is excellent as always and I am happy to report that I didn't notice any repeats or obvious mistakes like I have reported about in recent ISIS recordings. As with the previous two Tiffany books, I love the voices that Stephen does for the Nac Mac Feegles. I found I was once again really pulled into the story and some of the situations and jokes made me laugh out loud while I was driving along. I found that I have now developed the habit of parking up and sitting in the car listening to just a little bit more.

The HarperCollins packaging is very different to that provided by ISIS. HarperCollins on the other hand have come up with a cardboard design (just slightly bigger than a CD in height) inside are two card wallets, the first holds the first three disks and the second holds the last four disks.

ISIS on the other hand go to town on a large custom plastic box with the discs hidden in a small wallet inside.

I'm very impressed with the first HarperCollins audio book I have listened to. I look forward to future releases.

Wintersmith is available from Amazon.com for less than 20 USD plus postage. See discworldmonthly.co.uk/?USISBN=0061233366 for details. It should also be available at other good US book stores.

6. Competitions

This month we have two copies of HarperCollins' audio book version of Wintersmith to give away on CD. I would like to thank HarperCollins for supplying the prizes.

All you have to do to enter the competition is answer the following question by 20th February 2007. Please send your answers to competitions@discworldmonthly.co.uk

Q1.: According to HarperCollins website, what three formats is the Wintersmith Audiobook available in? (see www.harpercollins.com for details)

The randomly selected winners will be announced next issue.

Last month we had a signed copy of the Illustrated Hogfather Screenplay up for grabs. The book was signed by Vadim Jean (Director), Michelle Dockery (Susan), Steven Marcus (Banjo) and Terry Pratchett (Toy Maker) - the signatures were collected personally by me at the London premiere.

Instead of a competition we held a raffle for the Cancer Research UK charity.

Each entry to the raffle cost just 2 GBP and you were allowed to enter as many times as you liked.

Unfortunately not as many people as I would have liked entered the raffle but I really do appreciate the efforts of those that did.

We sold 48 tickets and managed to raise a total of 90.44 GBP (after PayPal costs). On Wednesday 31st January I rounded this amount up to 95 GBP and donated it to Cancer Research UK via their website. www.cancerresearchuk.org/

The randomly selected winner of the book is Pauline Harris of Glasgow, Scotland. The book will soon making its way to you.

7. Review: The Octiron Range of Products

Reviewed by Jason Anthony.

Bernard "The Cunning Artificer" Pearson has set up a new venture The Octiron Forge. This allows him to produce items in lead-free pewter. Pewter give the advantage of making items that are a lot thinner and stronger than were previously possible.

I was sent a complete (at the time) set of items from the range to review . Since then a rather special new product has been added to the range. The new item is a broach based on the one modelled by Death and Susan in the recent SkyOne television adaptation of Hogfather.

The first piece I received is the Anoia kitchen tidy. This wall mountable hook allows you to hang-up those items that would normally prevent you from opening your drawers!

The hook contains the phrase "Keep safe our kitchen and guard our drawers". It also features a likeness of Anoia standing on a drawer. I love the attention to detail as Anoia is featured holding kitchen utensils in one hand and a burning cigarette in the other (I am not sure whether it was mentioned before Wintersmith but Anoia was previously a volcano goddess).

The second item is the Thieves' Guild Registered Coat Hook. This item will ensure that your garment is protected by the Thieves' Guild. Any unauthorised Thief taking your coat will be dealt with seriously by the Guild. This is a solid piece that doesn't quite fit in the box properly due to the size of the solid looking hook. I have considered installing this in my office at work to hang my coat on.

The third item is the Room 3b plaque. This is not the first time that Bernard has produced a 3b plaque. I have one of the older ones fixed to the wall above the window of my computer room. The new pewter model is much smaller and a bit more discreet. I love the simplicity of this piece.

The fourth item is the A.M. Post Office Regulation Pillar Box Key and Fob. This comprises a key, an "if found please return to any postman" plaque and a "walk number" plaque. All three items are connected on a large keyring. The key design is rather special. It features a hand holding the shaft of the key to the ring. I like this item because it is much more three dimensional than the other products and that makes you want to handle it more.

The final item is the Tiffany ring. If you haven't yet read Wintersmith you may be wondering what a Tiffany ring is. In the book Tiffany has a ring made from an iron nail. You will need to read the book to find out why. There are two versions of the ring: the first is the standard pewter one that is available in four sizes (which you know already as this was the basis of a previous competition). There is also a silver version available and I understand that can be made in any size (within reason).

All five of these items are great fun to look at and some of them even have a practical side to them. Of course this does mean that you will need to purchase two of everything. One to keep safe and the other to attach to the wall. But that's a small sacrifice to make for such quality items.

More information about the Octiron forge and pictures of the items can be found at ~~www.octironforge.com/octpagegen.php?pagename=home~~

8. The End

Discworld Monthly would like to thank Sonnet UK for hosting our mailing list for us free of charge. For more information about Sonnet UK visit their website at www.sonnetuk.net

* Contact Information *

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Email: info@discworldmonthly.co.uk

Post: J Anthony-Rowlands (DWM), 20 Cambrian Place, Pontarddulais, Swansea, SA4 8RG

* Latest Book Information *

Discworld hardback: Wintersmith 0385609841/87

Discworld paperback: Thud 0552152676/87

Discworld hardback Companion: Where's My Cow? 038560937X/87

Discworld Young Adult paperback: A Hat Full of Sky 0552551449/87

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* Disc Trivia Results *

Q1.: Who does Desiderata talk to in her mirror?
A1.: Lady Lilith.
Q2.: Why did Nanny Ogg think the privies were DESGUSTING?
A2.: Because they were INDORES!
Q3.: When Granny, Nanny and Magrat took on flower fairy names, what fairy did Nanny Ogg become?
A3.: Fairy Hedgehog
Q4.: What is Mrs Gogol's first name?
A4.: Erzulie.
Q5.: When the witches make Greebo into a man, what do they forget?
A5.: To give him some clothes.

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Discworld Monthly - Issue 118: February 2007

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