Discworld Monthly - Issue 124: August 2007

1. Editorial

Welcome to issue 124. If all has gone to plan this issue of Discworld Monthly will have been sent direct from a field in the middle of Devon. If not, it is now a late issue and has been sent from home!

By the time you read this, 50 lucky fans will know whether they have been selected to spend two days as extras on the upcoming adaptation of The Colour of Magic. I am pleased to say that I am one of the lucky 50 and look forward to telling you all about it next month (provided I am allowed to do so!).

Starting Friday (3rd August) I will be at the Discworld Jamboree in Wincanton. Again, subject to technology working as planned I will be making regular updates to my blog blog.discworldmonthly.co.uk live from the event! Remember to keep an eye on the blog to be kept up to date with events as soon as they happen.

I also plan to update some photos to my Picasa account so if you are going to be at the event and want me to publish any photos, please bring your camera's USB cable with you. ~~picasaweb.google.com/dwm.oook~~

I quite often find very useful information about Terry from the news section of Sanda Kidby's website. Rob Wilkins tends to post new information there first. So keep an eye on the excellent: www.pjsmprints.co.uk/news/

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 Hippy Man)

2. News

ImagineFX, a magazine about fantasy and sci-fi art, has a massive feature celebrating the life and work of Josh Kirby, the British artist behind the most iconic Discworld book covers. It also includes an interview with Terry Pratchett and Amy Harnell (from the Josh Kirby Estate) about the importance of Josh Kirby's work.

Terry Pratchett says of Josh's art: "Looking at a Josh Kirby picture is almost like looking at an entire movie. You get the impression that if you picked up a painting and pulled it out it would expand to reveal even more. Every picture is alive."

Here is an excerpt from the feature:

If ever there was an artist whose body of work put paid to the old adage about a jack-of-all-trades, it's surely Josh Kirby. Although primarily known as a painter of wildly imaginative, often humorous science fiction and fantasy scenes, and in later years much admired for the covers he produced for Terry Pratchett's multi-million selling Discworld series, Josh was an artist of the old school with a bewildering number of strings to his artistic bow. It just so happened that out of all the styles and subjects he could turn his hand to, the one that proved the most fulfilling was one with fantastic commercial appeal...

The Josh Kirby feature and Terry Pratchett interview will be in issue 21 of ImagineFX, on sale at WHSmith, Tesco, Borders and other newsagents from Tuesday 31 July. For more information on ImagineFX and to buy a copy online, visit: www.imaginefx.com

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.

http://discworldmonthly.co.uk?ISBN=0385611013

Urgent news from our on the spot reporter Rob Lupine:

Murder Most Odd!

A Body has been found on the river Ankh with no explanation as to how it got there. There are no signs of injury on the body but as it is that of a youngish person, the City Watch have to assume foul play is involved. The only clue they have to go on is that the person was clutching a small metal symbol in their hand...

If you want to be a suspect in this year's Wadfest murder mystery please drop me a line on rob@lupinemagic.com stating your Wadfest ticket number, your enthusiasm to be the suspect in a murder enquiry and your undying loyalty to Baphomet the underlord of the overworld.

As soon as I get enough suspects, you will be issued a general profile to give you an idea of what costume to get together. This year the Murder Mystery will only be taking place on the Saturday with the revelation in the evening so you will not have to stay in character all weekend! I look forward to hearing from you all!

News from Terry's agent Colin Smythe (CPSmythe@aol.com):

For German fans, there'll be a musical adaptation of MORT at the Markthalle (Klosterwall 11, 20095 Hamburg) with performances 15-17, and 27-29 December 2007 and 3-5 and 15-17 January 2008

Where Terry will be on 29 September.. tinyurl.com/2r385d

Goldmann/Random House (Germany) and Talpress (Czech Republic) will be publishing the HOGFATHER SCREENPLAY.

Tonleikur (Iceland) have signed up to publish THE COLOUR OF MAGIC

Ithaki (Turkey) have just signed up REAPER MAN, WITCHES ABROAD and SMALL GODS

Cherubion now owned by Delta Vision (Hungary) have published WITCHES ABROAD, and SMALL GODS and are buying LORDS & LADIES and MEN AT ARMS

Rao (Romania) will be publishing WYRD SISTERS (Autumn 2007) and GUARDS! GUARDS! (Spring 2008)

Karisto (Finland) have acquired a hardback licence for JINGO and paperback licences for MOVING PICTURES and LORDS AND LADIES (originally published in hardback in 2003 and 2004)

L'Atalante will be publishing THE ART OF DISCWORLD and have just published THE SCIENCE OF DISCWORLD

Elsmo (Russia) have published THE LAST HERO and have been reissuing the first 20 Discworld titles with new covers

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.

[UK, New] The filming of a scene for The Colour of Money with around 50 Discworld Fan "extras" will take place in Guildford on 1st and 2nd August.

A website ~~www.colourofmagicthemovie.com/~~ has been set up but there is no content yet apart from a title page.

[UK] 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, 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.

August's meeting is on Monday 13th August 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] 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

[UK, New] Following on from their successful production of "Mort", Thalian Theatre Company are proud to announce their next production of "Guards! Guards!" to be performed at the Towngate Theatre in Basildon, Essex, from 21st to 24th November. Tickets are 7.50 GBP (6.50 GBP for concessions), all enquiries to jacs102@hotmail.com

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.

Stephen Dean (ex editor of The Wizard's Kob) has listed a UK first edition of The Colour of Magic on eBay. Lookup item 130135951457 but hurry the auction ends on 29th July.

Mal Whitelaw malwhitelaw@yahoo.com writes: In the Los Angeles area?

Join the Los Angeles Terry Pratchett Meetup group. We meet once a month in a cafe to discuss one of the Discworld books. Our next book is Interesting Times. We hope you will drop by and say hello.

~~tpratchett.meetup.com/121/~~

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 use them as tissues.

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. I will be collecting the remaining stock from John at Wadfest and will then back issue the prizes.

*
* From: "Elinor Alexander" elinor_alex@hotmail.com
*
G'day there,

We're on holiday in the UK from Australia and had the pleasure of attending the July meeting of the Broken Drummers at the Essex Serpent, Covent Garden. Amusingly, the internet map indicated the pub was on 'Ing Street', as opposed to King St - certainly an auspicious Discworldly start to the evening.

Discworld talk flowed, we all had a great time, some good tucker and nicely chilled ales. If you are in London when the Drummers are meeting, we'd certainly recommend dropping in and saying G'day.

Cheers, Elinor, Felicity and Meg Alexander.

DWM replies: Elinor and co get this month's Letter of the Month.

*
* From: "Christopher" Christopher_Boote@compute-ability.demon.co.uk
*
Re: Last month's who's who on Moist Von Lipwig:

HANGED HANGED HANGED HANGED!!!! Pictures are Hung People are (or are almost) Hanged Chris

DWM replies: Thanks also go to Kris Russell for pointing out Jason's inexcusable mistake.

*
* From: "Maurice G Marvin" parrskool@mauriceg.wanadoo.co.uk
*
I have 8 books in which Sam Vimes makes an appearance:

Guards Guards
Men at Arms
Feet of Clay
Jingo
Night Watch
Monstrous Regiment
Thud
5th Elephant

Question: Does Sam Vimes appear in any other books?

DWM replies: Yes, Vimes also makes appearances, but not as a major character, in Going Postal and Making Money.

*
* From: Oldhallmin@aol.com
*
I wonder if the assassin Teatime is any otherworld relation to Lucy Teatime from the Flaxborough books by Colin Watson (an enjoyable humorous crime series of the '60s). She was of a criminal bent, a master (mistress?) of the subtle scam, but nothing as nasty as murder.

*
* From: "C. Smith" cc458@cam.ac.uk
*
I recently saw an adaptation of 'Going Postal' by the Anglia Ruskin university's theatre group and felt compelled to write to DWM about how impressed I was. Moist could not have been more charismatic and likeable (although you know you shouldn't...). The Grand Trunk owners were every bit as manipulative as one would expect. In a rare twist, Vetinari becomes Lady Vetinari, with astouding consequences. For me, the highlight was Mr Pump, played by a man wearing a hard hat and body stocking. Although the play was a little on the long side, Mr Groat kept us entertained with some fantastically delivered self-deprecation. A fantastic night out was had by all.

*
* From: "Susan Sprague" sprague_susan@hotmail.com
*
I am a rabid, slavering Discworld fan and have been for years. I am also Canadian. Fortunately, these conditions seem to be perfectly compatible, so I get on just fine ... except very occasionally when I get stumped by British slang. Often, if I wait long enough I can figure it out, but I think I need help with a couple.

1) what, oh what is a "verruca"?

2) Why, pray tell does Constable Visit-The-Infidel-With-Explanatory-Pamphlets get nicknamed "Washpot"? I just don't get it and its gnawing on my confidence in my sense of humour.

Thanking you in advance, Susan

*
* From: "Charlene Taylor" swreader@hotmail.com
*
Not to be pedantic, but there is a problem with the #5 Quiz for this month [DiscTrivia Issue 123 - Ed] --which asks about The Opera Ghosts distinctive letters. The problem is, there are two Opera Ghosts, and each writes in a distinctive style, but only one of them writes maniacal laughter. Walter (as original Ghost) writes to comment on the production, to request that a special singer be given a particular role, and always writes a most polite letter which is also signed "The Opera Ghost".

4. DiscTrivia

This month I will be asking questions about Feet of Clay.

Q1.: What weapon was used to murder Mr Hopkinson?
Q2.: What is Cheery Littlebottom's father called?; a) Happy Littlebottom; b) Smiley Littlebottom; c) Jolly Littlebottom; d) Grumpy Littlebottom
Q3.: What goes 'Bing bong bingely beep'?
Q4.: Who was Cheery staying with?
Q5.: Who were Nobby Nobbs' parents?

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

5. Review: Making Money

Reviewed by Jason Anthony.

Making Money follows on from Moist von Lipwig's adventures in Going Postal. After making a success of the Ankh Morpork Post Office, things have slowed down in Moist's life. Adora Bella Dearheart has been away for a while working for the Golem Trust and now that he no longer has the challenge of convincing people to use his postal service, Moist has started to get restless and he therefore finds himself picking all the locks in the Post Office and scaling the walls of the building to "keep his hand in", although one expects that his heart is not really in it.

At the end of Going Postal, Vetinari was looking for somebody to take over the royal mint but the position was not filled. Vetinari offers the role to Moist but he declines on the basis that the Post Office needs him. Vetinari convinces Moist to take a visit to the bank where Moist meets the current chairman Mrs Turvey and her dog Mr Fusspot. Mrs Turvey immediately recognises Moist as a swindler and takes a shine to him. Shortly after the visit, Mrs Turvey dies and leaves control of the bank to Mr Fusspot. One of her bequests is that Mr Fusspot is looked after by Moist, thus making Moist the Master of the Chairman of the Bank.

Moist decides to try to introduce paper money into Ankh Morpork society with various degrees of success. Moist also has to deal with his past, the shareholders of the bank who are all member of the same family and spend most of their time in litigation with each other, and the consequences of Miss Dearheart's extended hiatus.

I did feel that Making Money took a little while to get going but once it did, it picked up pace and had me hooked and laughing up to the final page. It is great to see the continual development of Moist's character who I think is one of Terry's most entertaining and charismatic creations. We also get to meet a large number of new characters including Mr Bent, a clerk who has an amazing ability with numbers but never has anything to do with what he calls silliness. A new villain in the form of Cosmo Lavish (one of the banks shareholders) and Mr Fusspot, the chairman of the bank and Moist's new pug dog.

I really enjoyed Making Money and hope to be able to read it again soon. I suspect that if you liked Going Postal you will enjoy Moist's exploits in Making Money. Who knows, this might not be the last we see of Moist if Vetinari gets his way.

Making Money is scheduled to be released on 24th September in the UK (discworldmonthly.co.uk/?ISBN=0385611013) and October in the US (discworldmonthly.co.uk/?USISBN=0061161640) although Amazon.com thinks the release day will be the 1st September. Hopefully we will get confirmation nearer the time.

6. Competitions

Now you've read the review of Making Money why not try to win a copy? We have a signed US proof of Making Money to give away this month courtesy of Sandy Kidby and Rob Wilkins.

All you have to do to have a chance of winning this great prize is send the answers to the following simple questions to competitions@discworldmonthly.co.uk by 20th August 2007.

Q1.: At what famous studio is The Colour of Magic being filmed?

Q2.: In which country did Terry tour for the first time in June?

The answers can be found on the excellent www.pjsmprints.co.uk website. For a hint look in the news archives.

The randomly selected winners will be announced next issue.

Last month to celebrate the launch of The Cunning Artificer's new website we had some excellent prizes to give away: a Death's Belt Buckle and a Genua First Day Cover.

In order to win one of these great prizes you needed to send the answer to the following three questions.

Q1:: Which creature features on the Genua Post 'frank', printed on the First Day Cover?
A1.: Cockeral or Rooster (for our overseas readers)
Q2:: How often will the Consulate Library Collection special editions be published?
A2.: Bi-monthly
Q3:: What is the maximum width of belt that can be used with Death's Belt Buckle?
A3.: 35mm.

The randomly selected winners are

For more information about the Cunning Artificer and their range of amazing products visit: www.discworldemporium.com

7. Review: Death's Belt Buckle

Reviewed by Jason Anthony.

I was recently sent a Death's Belt Buckle from the Discworld Emporium (the posh new name for The Cunning Artificer. The buckle's design is based on the broach that Death wore in the SkyOne adaptation of Hogfather. It is oval in design and features a stylised omega character.

First impressions are that it looks great. It has a nice shine to it and a very solid look and feel. The back of the buckle has an almost reptilian pattern on it and a copyright notice. The back includes a bar for wrapping your belt round and a post for holding the belt and buckle in place. Anyone who has worn a belt buckle before will hopefully know what that means.

For the purpose of the review my buckle was supplied with a belt but unfortunately it was only a medium and therefore far too small for my ample stomach! Luckily I had a belt that I could use and quickly attached the buckle, and threaded the belt. Upon closing the buckle I noticed that due to its design it is easy for the buckle to come undone. The other buckle that I own has a post that leans back more and has a knob on the end (no sniggering please) meaning the belt is held in place better (the problem of the buckle coming off could be down to using an old belt that has become a bit worn. Hilary has offered to swap the belt for a large sized one!). I also found that as the buckle has a fixed bar to thread the belt though means that the buckle does tend to stick out a bit (my current belt has the luxury of a flexible bar which makes the buckle fit better) again this is probably just down to taste.

Once worn and properly in place I think the buckle looks great. I wonder if I would get in trouble asking people to look at my buckle? Maybe I should try that at the Jamboree? If I get arrested it was all in the name of research and somebody please bail me out.

If you are in need of a new buckle for your belt and would like something Discworldly you could do a lot worse than Death's Belt Buckle from the Discworld Emporium.

The buckles cost 15 GBP (belt not included) and can be attached to belts up to 35mm wide. For more information see the Discworld Emporium website at: www.discworldemporium.com/catalog.php?item=120&catid=5

8. Article: Guards! Guards! Production Diary - Part 1

In the first part of a series of articles Jax tells us about the trials of directing a Discworld Production due to be performed in November.

My mum delights in telling me that when I was 2 or 3 and got taken swimming for the first time, I ran around the side of the pool and jumped in at the deep end! I've done this again by making my directorial debut with Guards! Guards!

My theatre group has previously done other Pratchett plays, including Men at Arms, so you'd think that I would have an easy time casting Guards! Guards!, but you'd be wrong. Firstly, I'm still not sure who in the group (which is not particularly big) are willing to be in the play and I need as many as possible so that I can fill every role. I've had people say that they want to be considered for it, but they haven't yet turned up for any of the readings. Secondly, those that have said they'd do it, and then have turned up for the readings are giving me headaches over whom to cast as what! The guy who played Carrot last time did a good reading for the Patrician, and the guy who played Nobby reads well for Lupine Wonse.

Thankfully the girls aren't giving me any problems, now anyway. I had one lady in mind for Sybil, but she won't be able to do the final performance, so I was panicking until another lady kindly stepped in.

This sounds like a long line of problems and whinging, doesn't it? Well at least the paperwork is sorted, and it's great to go to the group's committee and say, "Give me several hundred pounds" and get given it immediately with no questions asked. Oh the power! Shame the money was for the license and not for me.

Right, must concentrate on casting. It's the final readings before the summer break this week, and decisions must be made. Now where's the aspirin? Jax

9. 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

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* Disc Trivia Results *

Q1.: What weapon was used to murder Mr Hopkinson?
A1.: A loaf of dwarf bread.
Q2.: What is Cheery Littlebottom's father called?
A2.: c) Jolly Littlebottom.
Q3.: What goes 'Bing bong bingely beep'?
A3.: Sam Vimes' "disorganized" organiser.
Q4.: Who was Cheery staying with?
A4.: Her uncle Armstrangler.
Q5.: Who were Nobby Nobbs' parents?
A5.: Sconner Nobbs and Maisie of Elm Street.

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Thanks

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* Thanks *

Thanks for reading this issue of 'Discworld Monthly' [especially the review of the Belt Buckle - WB]. We hope you enjoyed it. If you have any comments or suggestions for the future of this newsletter please email: info@discworldmonthly.co.uk

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Discworld Monthly - Issue 124: August 2007

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