Discworld Monthly - Issue 123: July 2007

1. Editorial

Welcome to issue 123. Don't forget that we are moving ever closer to a couple of what promise to be excellent camping events this summer.

At the beginning of August we have the Discworld Jamboree in Wincanton (more details at ~~www.discworldjamboree.com~~) and then a month later we have Wadfest 2007 (more details at www.wadfest.co.uk).

Tickets for both events are selling fast so be sure to get your tickets sorted as soon as possible.

Next month's issue will (providing the technology works) be sent from a campsite in the middle of Devon. This will give me chance to find out if the technology I have been arranging for the Discworld Jamboree will work ... and also a have a bit of a holiday.

So if next month's issue is late it is because the technology failed and I had to wait to get home to my broadband connection!

I have recently been working on and improving the RSS feed (a way of providing updated news items) on the Discworld Monthly site. If you use Firefox you will be able to subscribe to the feed using Firefox's live bookmarks option. Internet Explorer 7 users will be able to click on the orange feed button to subscribe.

This is a low usage news feed with only a handful of new posts each month that allows me to let people know about things that cannot wait until the next issue.

I have created a Discworld Monthly blog. At the moment there is only one article and I expect it to be pretty low use (apart from over the Jamboree weekend). I will provide more details next month about how I am planning to use it to keep you informed of what is happening at the Jamboree weekend.

You can visit the blog at blog.discworldmonthly.co.uk

The blog also provides an RSS feed that you can subscribe to in your favourite RSS feed reader (both IE7 and Firefox 2 can handle RSS feeds). This means that you will be able to check on the progress of the event from home if you are not going to be able to make it.

When Carl Doran (from Ireland) decided he wanted to "pop the question" to his girlfriend Barbara he decided to do the deed in a nice safe environment.

Carl arranged a holiday to visit his brother in Fengirola on the Costa Del Sol and chose a local bookshop there as his nice safe place.

Chris called the shop in advance to warn them what was going to happen.

So, standing in front of the Discworld section, Carl got down on one knee and asked Barbara to marry him. To his relief (and everyone else in the shop) Barbara agreed and apparently staff and customers alike all burst into tears of joy.

Carl and Barbara bought some books including a couple of Discworld novels before heading off to celebrate with some champagne.

[I wonder if they got any book vouchers as an engagement present - Ed]

The shops CCTV managed to capture the moment and the picture can be found on the store's website: ~~www.bookworldespana.com~~

Don't forget, if you visit a play or a talk and would like to let the world know about it, please feel free to email your review to info@discworldmonthly.co.uk and we will consider it for publication.

--
Jason Anthony (Editor) info@discworldmonthly.co.uk
William Barnett (Deputy Editor)
Richard Massey (Happy Hatty Man)

2. News

The Cunning Artificer has had his website fully redesigned. The new site www.discworldemporium.com is a professional redesign and moves the content of the Discworld Stamps, Artificer and Octiron Forge sites into one site.

Anyone that has ever visited the shop in Wincanton will recognise the colour design of the site.

Beyond the cosmetic update the site has seen some major redevelopment of the e-commerce side. The new site will now remember your address details so that you don't have to enter them every time you place an order.

The site even includes a "Easter Egg" more commonly found on DVDs. Have a look around and see if you can find the troll cam.

Wintersmith has been announced as one of the finalists for the 2007 Mythopoeic Awards. The winners of this year's awards will be announced during Mythcon XXXVIII, to be held from August 3-6, 2007, in Berkeley, California.

~~mythsoc.org/news/mythopoeic.awards.finalists.2007/~~

News from Colin Smythe:

WINTERSMITH wins Locus Award

This year's Locus Awards winners (voted for by its readers) have just been announced (on 16 June). Wintersmith won the Best Young Adult Book category. See https://secure.locusmag.com/2007/06_LocusWinners.html for full listing of winners

OUT OF THIS WORLD: THE ART OF JOSH KIRBY

Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery has put up an excellent site about the Josh Kirby exhibition -

www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/joshkirby/

from which there are links to pages on and illustrating his early work, commercial and advertising, novels, Discworld, Voyage of the Ayeguy. Fantasy, film, Hitchcock and horror, L.Ron Hubbard, biographical details and further links. The exhibition ends on 30 September.

Amazon.co.uk is now listing Making Money as being released on 24th September 2007. It features Moist Von Lipwig doing to the Ankh Morpork Mint what he did to the Post Office in Going Postal.

discworldmonthly.co.uk?ISBN=0385611013

Barbara No wrote in to tell us about a Teatime fan community that has been set up at Live Journal community.livejournal.com/teatime_fans/

Apparently one user there writes a really cool fan fiction based on Teatime and what he does after he dies in Hogfather.

The Wincantonbury Tales

The Wincantonbury Tales is a magazine created BY fans FOR fans; filled with articles, stories, poetry, puzzles, quizzes and competitions.

Payment can be made by either of the two following methods:

1. Paypal to steeljam@cix.co.uk Orders from overseas via paypal only

NB: because proceeds from the sales go to charity, please include 50p to cover Paypal charges

2. Cheque or crossed postal order made payable to: Steve James. c/o 50 Mayhill Road. Barnet. Herts. EN5 2NP.

Please remember to include your postal details.

We have a few back issues left and they are available on a first come/first served basis.

Issue 1 - SOLD OUT.
Issue 2 - 2.50 GBP plus 1 GBP Postage and Packaging.
Issue 3 - 3.50 GBP plus 1 GBP Postage and Packaging.

Issue 4 will be released to coincide with the Discworld Jamboree.

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.

[UK] 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.

[AU, New] Men at Arms is being performed in Sydney from 27th June to 14th July at the Seymour Centre, Sydney.

Tickets cost 20 AUD, with concessions 15 AUD, NUTS members 18 AUD, NUTS concessions 13 AUD.

For more details visit: ~~www.menatarms.net/~~

[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.

July's meeting is on Monday 2nd July from 7.00pm onwards at the Essex Serpent, 6 King St, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 8HN in the cellar room.

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

[UK] The Random Salad Company will be performing Carpe Jugulum from Tuesday 10 July to Saturday 14 July at 7.30pm.

Tickets cost 8 GBP (7 GBP concessions) for all areas.

New Theatre Royal, 20-24 Guildhall Walk, Portsmouth, PO1 2DD

Box office: 023 9264 9000

~~tinyurl.com/28bxrx~~

St Jude's Players (an amateur theatre group based in Englefield Green, near Staines, Surrey) will be performing "Wyrd Sisters".

Tickets cost 7 GBP & 5 GBP for concessions and are available from the Box Office on 01784 435213 or available on the door.

Wyrd Sisters will be performed on Thursday 12th, Friday 13th, and Saturday 14th July 2007 at 7.45pm, also a 2.30pm matinee on Saturday 14th July 2007.

Venue: St Jude's Theatre, The Social Hall, Harvest Road, Englefield Green, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0QT

~~www.stjudesplayers.org/home.htm~~

[UK, New] The Discworld Jamboree will take place in Wincanton from 3rd to 5th August 2007. The Jamboree will be packed with events including a gang show. For more information about the event visit ~~www.discworldjamboree.com~~

[UK, New] Wadfest 2007 (hosted by the Beggars Guild) will take place from 31st August to 2nd September 2007 at Trentfield Farm, Church Laneham Retford.

Wadfest is a family event and has always proved to be a lot of fun. For more information visit www.wadfest.co.uk

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.

Vicki Oultram vickioultram@hotmail.com writes: Following a grand clear out I am looking for new homes for the few Clarecraft Discworld pieces I had managed to collect. I was planning to put them on e-bay but thought I would give readers of DWM a chance to get their hands on them first. Here's what I've got...

DW01 Rincewind (including original box and retail shelf card)

DW04 The Luggage (including original box and retail shelf card)

DW06 Granny Weatherwax (including original box and retail shelf card)

DW22 Detritus ('Clarecraft' labelled brown cardboard box-no shelf card)

DW32 Teppic the assassin (including original box and retail shelf card) (I also include with this the small pewter miniature of Teppic)

DW50p Death Bookstamp (including original box and retail shelf card)

DW56 Nanny Ogg's Sexual Object (with original Clarecraft label)

Deaths Head (unpainted) collectors guild special piece (given only to members at store event)

Coat of Arms of Ankh-Morpork (Ref DWSD)

Coat of Arms of the Seamstresses Guild (Ref DW98c)

Coat of Arms of the Fools Guild (Ref DW99c)

Coat of Arms of the Musicians Guild (Ref DW00c)

Coat of Arms of Unseen University (Ref DW01c)

There is an additional coat of arms which the accompanying letter claims to be... Coat Of Arms Of The Plumbers And Dunnikin Divers Guild (Ref DW02c)... but I'm not so sure! It features a 'naked' lady whose modesty is protected by what looks like a saw blade, and the motto 'nunc ille est magicus'. I suspect it is actually the... Coat Of Arms Of The Conjurors Guild (Ref DW03c)... but can't find any illustrations to confirm this, can anyone help?

All are in excellent condition, they were my prized possessions so were well looked after. Make me a sensible offer and you will save them from the fate of e-bay! ;o)

Martin Burke massimillio@gmail.com writes: I am a long term PTerry fan who is emigrating to XXXX (Perth) in June with my (almost) complete collection of books. Are there any fellow fans in the area?

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 and fold them into intricate origami patterns.

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. Sadly Bonsai Trading is no longer trading but John Pagan has kindly offered to continue supplying the monthly prize until his stock runs out.

*
* From: "Geega Harris" rdfheut@hotmail.com
*
While I would simply love to go the Discworld Jamboree, I have already committed to being under canvas elsewhere in the south of the UK! Some of you may know that this year, scouts all over the world are celebrating 100 years of Scouting. I was lucky enough to bag a place as a subcamp team member for THE camp to be at this summer - held around Sunrise Day (1st August) on Brownsea Island, Poole Harbour. The Sunrise Camp will see scouts (and media!) from all over the world squash themselves on the island. There are also spaces for 1000 day visitors to the island on the 1st August, and there are activities and a meal included in the day. I've been told there's still some spaces left, and I just thought that there might be some DWM readers who might be interested... ~~eng.brownsea2007.org/events/1August/~~

*
* From: "Zachary Agatstein" zagatstein@gmail.com
*
The unsigned letter from CHRISYARNALL@aol.com poses the question as to when Captain, later Commander, Vimes arrested the Patrician.

In the novel Jingo, after returning from his trip to Klatch and under the island of Leshp aboard the Boat with Fred Colon, Nobby Nobbs, and Leonard of Quirm, Lord Rust, interim Patrician, orders Vetinari's arrest for treason. Initially, Vimes and Carrot both refuse, however Vetinari is quite insistent on explaining himself in court. This is when Vimes finally consents to ordering Vetinari's arrest.

I hope this helps clear up my fellow reader's question. I remain your obedient servant and most Sincerely Yours. Mr Zachary Agatstein

*
* From: "Napoleon Smith" napoleon_smith@hotmail.com
*
Apologies if this question has already been asked, but is there any sign of the Science of Discworld series being brought out as audio books at some point? For the past thirty-odd years my father has been suffering from chronic head and neck pain which has now reached the stage where he finds it difficult to read a book for more than a page or so at a time. He does however have a keen interest in science, and I feel quite strongly that he would appreciate the style of writing in these 3 books (also, any sign of a 4th?), if only he could listen to them. It's also a neat way of re-introducing him to Discworld after his lacklustre response to TCOM some years ago and my failed attempts to explain that if he tried the audio version of the later books he'd find them quite different (and better, in my opinion).

Is the Science of Discworld series somehow not as deserving of a listening audience as the main DW series? Surely there's a market for them. Getting Ian Stewart or Jack Cohen to read the science sections would be a bonus, of course.

*
* From: "Mike Smith" mikesmith.1@virgin.net
*
I don't often write to blogs, forums (fora?), online magazines or indeed, pen friends, but I felt the need to challenge the assertion in the last couple of DWMs that "all programmers have beards".

My wife was a senior programmer for over a decade until she retired a couple of years ago, and has never sported a beard, moustache or sideburns.

In fact her face is so free of hair that the local witches' coven has turned down her application for membership since she can't even manage the compulsory 'one hair growing from a mole' which they use as a badge of membership!

DWM replies: Mike, your wife must be the exception that proves the rule. We have decided to award Mike this month's Letter of the Month.

*
* From: "Bri Derbyshire" bd1944@yahoo.com
*
Ref. Chris Yarnall's memory lapse: Vimes arrested Vetinari when the latter was framed for attempted murder and the pinching of a number of tons of coinage. Fortunately the Tulip was Pinned and The Truth triumphed. (I suppose it was really more like "protective custody" - and I found it touching and significant that Sam's attitude was NOT that of "Gotcha!")

Steve Walker's comments on beards are interesting, but in our case erroneous. My own beard was started immediately after riding my first motorbike through its first hailstorm: I still have the one, but not the other. My favourite programmer has never had a beard, and if it were a professional necessity to grow one she'd be in dead trouble ......

Regards, Bri. Derbyshire.

4. DiscTrivia

This month I will be asking questions about Maskerade.

Q1.: Nanny Ogg wrote a book. What was it called?
Q2.: Even when he was in human form Nanny thought of Greebo as:; a) My Softy; b) Mr Bunsy; c) Mr Fluffy; d) Mr Cuddly
Q3.: Who owns the Opera House?
Q4.: Who or what refused to sing for Death?
Q5.: What's distinctive about the letters written by the Opera Ghost?

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

5. Review: Out of This World - The Art of Josh Kirby

Reviewed by Jason Anthony.

The Walker Gallery in Liverpool is hosting an exhibition of Josh Kirby art called Out of This World until 30th September 2007.

As I happened to be passing Liverpool on the way back from a friend's wedding in Gretna Green I decided to take a short detour into Liverpool city centre. After parking near to the Adelphi Hotel (the home of the 1998 Discworld Convention) we walked towards Liverpool's culture quarter. After a short walk we discovered the Walker Gallery (a large, impressive old building) just behind the World Museum and just over the road from Liverpool's Lime Street Station. The gallery was easy to spot as it had a huge advert including a Josh Kirby painting hanging up on its facade.

The actual exhibition was located on the first floor right in the back corner of the gallery. This means that you need to walk through several rooms of fantastic art before you get to it. The exhibition starts with a brief synopsis of Josh's life and then proceeds on to show some of Josh's early works including the covers of many pulp novels. If you were to see these illustrations without being told they were Josh's I suspect you would never guess. It wasn't until later when he started moving into fantasy that Josh developed his unique style that we know and love.

Once you move into the main gallery you get to see some amazing examples of Josh's varied career. I think I was shocked at how prolific Josh was before getting involved with Discworld. In fact Discworld only takes up a small corner of the room.

There is such huge variety of sizes of paintings on display from just over A4 to paintings that would take up a whole wall in any normal size room. Some of the paintings also come with Josh's sketches and plans which show some of the creative process.

I also found it amazing how colourful some of Josh's work was. I feel that so much of the detail was lost when the pictures were flattened down and shrunk to fit the cover of the novels. The are some of the original paintings that were used in Eric and when compared with the actual pages of the book you can see just how different in colour the original was with the print.

At one end of the hall is a large wide screen television playing a looped interview that Josh did with ITV back in 1982, just before he became involved with Discworld. The interview is quite short but very interesting. I like the fact that you can watch the video and then go and see the actual pictures Josh is talking about. Many of you will remember the picture of Terry's face that Josh made where Terry's face was filled with Discworld characters - well Josh was doing that sort of work well before he attempted Terry's portrait. There is a section of images of Alfred Hitchcock which use the same technique and even a picture or two of Edgar Allen Poe in the same style.

I spent a hugely enjoyable couple of hours in the gallery and could have equally spent a couple more but unfortunately time was, as always, an issue. I would recommend anyone that has enjoyed looking at Josh's Discworld covers to take a look at the exhibition before it closes at the end of September.

As the exhibition is on display in a national museum entrance to the gallery is totally free.

For more information visit: www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/joshkirby/

Finally, to the two gentlemen that mentioned that they liked Discworld Monthly when they saw my T-shirt. Sorry I didn't respond, I think my mind was on other matters and by the time I had interpreted what you'd said you had gone!

6. Competitions

To celebrate the launch of The Cunning Artificer's new website we have some excellent prizes to give away this month a Death's belt Buckle and a Genua First Day Cover.

In order to win one of these great prizes you need to send the answer to the following three questions to competitions@discworldmonthly.co.uk by 20th July 2007.

Q1:: Which creature features on the Genua Post 'frank', printed on the First Day Cover?
Q2:: How often will the Consulate Library Collection special editions be published?
Q3:: What is the maximum width of belt that can be used with Death's Belt Buckle?

The answers to the questions can all be found on the new website www.discworldemporium.com

The randomly selected winners will be announced next issue.

Last month we ran a competition to give away my spare shrink wrapped copy of Limited Edition Hogfather DVD.

We asked you to answer the question: which two actors have voiced Death (one for Hogfather and the other for the animated versions of Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters)?

The answer we were looking for was: Ian Richardson and Christopher Lee.

Please note we asked for the actors that have voiced Death, not acted as him - a number of people incorrectly answered Marnix Van Den Broeke (in the Hogfather adaptation).

The randomly selected winner is Angela Corona of Sittingbourne, Kent

7. Who's Who: Moist Von Lipwig

When we first meet Moist Von Lipwig he is trying to escape from a prison cell on the day before his execution. Moist, using the pseudonym of Albert Spangler, manages to free a rock in the side of his cell using a spoon only to find a new spoon and another wall hidden behind (demonstrating Vetinari's sense of humour). Moist is then taken to the gallows at dawn to be hung. Just before he is hung a messenger barges through the crowd with a message from Lord Vetinari. Moist hopes this will be his stay of execution but the messenger simply states 'get on with it, it's long past dawn!'. So then Albert Spangler is hung.

When Moist wakes up he is visited by an unlikely angel in the shape of Lord Vetinari who makes Moist a simple offer either run the post office or die. Considering his options Moist agrees to take the job.

Moist Von Lipwig is instantly forgettable (not that his is a badly written character, it's just that his looks are totally unremarkable). Moist uses this instant "forget-ability" to help him to con people or businesses out of large sums of money. It makes him the perfect conman.

Moist doesn't feel that he ever does anybody any harm but as his Golem Mr Pump explains "I Worked It Out. You Have Killed Two Point Three Three Eight People". Mr Pump justifies this by explaining that through his actions Moist has hastened the people he has conned towards their deaths.

This should make Moist a thoroughly dislikeable character but for some reason he is very readable. I think that through his actions (however selfish they may be) we begin to see him as a bit of a rough diamond. Almost unable to prevent himself, Moist starts to do the right thing, often though for the wrong reasons.

Moist manages to put the skills he developed as a conman to good use. For example his ability to forge documents lead him to be able to design the stamps that effectively save the post office and that are also very hard to forge.

I think for me the most interesting thing about Moist is how comparable he is to William De Worde. Both men are for various reasons striving to be better people than their situations have left them in; William through breeding and Moist through career choice. Also the comparison between Moist and William goes further because both have managed to introduce a change in both the people around them and society as a whole. Ankh Morpork was permanently changed when William invented the News Paper and Moist rebuilt the Post Office.

Originally Moist was only going to be the hero of one Discworld novel, but we now know that Moist will return this year in Making Money and may even have a third outing some time in the future in Raising Taxes.

Moist has for me become one of the most charismatic characters of recent books and one that I look forward to reading more about in the future.

8. The End

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* Disc Trivia Results *

Q1.: Nanny Ogg wrote a book. What was it called?
A1.: The Joye of Snacks.
Q2.: Even when he was in human form Nanny thought of Greebo as:
A2.: c) Mr Fluffy
Q3.: Who owns the Opera House?
A3.: Mr Seldom Bucket
Q4.: Who or what refused to sing for Death?
A4.: A swan who didn't want to perform its own swansong.
Q5.: What's distinctive about the letters written by the Opera Ghost?
A5.: The ghost writes down maniacal laughter.

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If you are looking for Terry books or videos over the net, simply visit our web page at discworldmonthly.co.uk and follow the 'Purchasing' link on the left panel of the page.

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Discworld Monthly - Issue 123: July 2007

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