Discworld Monthly - Issue 140: December 2008

1. Editorial

Welcome to issue 140. This month I was lucky enough to get a ticket for the recording of the Christmas Special Radio 4 production of 'With Great Pleasure'. This year radio 4 have chosen Terry Pratchett to be their guest in the program where the guest gets to explain some of his favourite reads. Terry's choice was varied and eclectic (I won't spoil the program by telling you his selections) you can listen for yourself on BBC Radio 4 on Christmas day at 10am.

I had a wonderful time which was topped off with a lovely curry with a dozen or so friends one of which was a certain Mr Pratchett.

As well as answering a query about 360 degree panoramas (see the letters section) Jacqueline Simpson the co-author of Folklore of Discworld sent me an email in response to my disappointment at the lack of "narrativium" in my review of the book.

"You're not alone, Jason. Several people have regretted the lack of pure narrative chapters such as were woven into the 'Science' series. Actually, I briefly toyed with the idea of reviving the 'lady folklorist from Ankh-Morpork' who is mentioned in the 'Guide to Lancre' and sending her out on collecting trips. But experiment soon showed that she was getting out of hand, and Terry decided she would need too much space in what already was growing into a substantial book -- so, rest in peace, Lady Carlotta the folklorist!" -- Jacqueline

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
Richard Massey (Temporary Deputy Editor)
William Barnett (Newly Wed)

2. News

On Wednesday 26th November Terry took a 20,000 strong petition to the British prime minister urging the UK government to spend more money on Alzheimer's research or risk a future 'tsunami' of the illness.

discworldmonthly.co.uk/?redir=MAIL2008122

News updates from Terry via Sandra Kidby's website (www.discworld.com):

October 24th:

At last some progress is being made on Unseen Academicals since we got through the making of the BBC2 documentary and all the alternative calls on my time that seemed to have filled the past year. Today, for example, I have nothing to do but write and Rob and I were just mentioning how odd it is to have a day which does not involve some kind of travel, meeting, or interview. In fact Rob is about to interview me right now:

Rob - Would you like a cup of tea, Terry?

Me - That is a very good question, but I think I would like a coffee, please, and do we have any of that nice shortbread left?

On the health side, there's very little change. Various tests over previous months appear to show me as being very stable; if you take a view that my ground state of being is stable in any case. The many experts that I have met during the making of the documentary seem rather puzzled, although there is actually no doubt that the scans show that I do have some form of dementia. However, I am still pretty much at the stage where if you didn't know, you wouldn't realise that there is anything wrong.

BBC Radio 4 has asked me to appear on "With Great Pleasure" on Christmas day and currently the floor of the office is covered in books as I try to pick my fifteen or so favourite literary pieces. The show will pre-recorded in Bath on November 14th or 15th and free tickets will be available on a first come first served basis. We will post more information right here as soon as we have it.

All the best.

Terry Pratchett

PS - We have now found space to hang the now famous Pratchgan in one place. We'll post photos shortly.

November 11th

Folks,

We have seen the first half of the BBC documentary and it looks pretty good. Importantly, it would seem at the moment that we have witnessed that rarest of things, a film crew that has been allowed into a convention and hasn't tried to stuff the fans. Some of you know you were filmed in costume, and that's it. There's footage of the reading and stuff, but the general look and tone is some distance away from the usual "Star Trek Loonies" portrayal. There's also reasonable footage of the signing at the Southbank back in June and we are assuming that the Hayling Island / Waterstones Piccadilly day will be in part two. We definitely noticed a few of the usual suspects such as Dave Boggis and Rentawitch. It's going to be good.

You might also be interested to know that Charlie Russell, our John Grierson Award nominated director, can be seen on BBC 2 at 10:50pm this Sunday, November 16th, in the documentary he made about his father. It's a very powerful piece and well worth watching.

The BBC 'With Great Pleasure' event is apparently sold out and there is nothing we can do about it. We don't have our own allocation and I don't want to offend anyone by saying that this office is in enough perpetual turmoil not to include Box Office Services as part of our workload :o)

Those of you who were kind enough to subscribe to the 'Trees for Terry' drive around my birthday this year might be interested to hear that we have acquired a derelict woodland nearby that this winter will be replanted mostly with hazel and cob. Many thanks to all. We don't expect to be able to photograph the green shoots until around the spring.

Finally, right now I feel fine. This is largely due to the fact that we are more or less out from under the massive amounts of commitments we have taken on this year, although I do have to deliver a large petition to Number 10 Downing Street on 26th November. Another reason is that I seem to be working around the problems successfully. Typing is still a bugger, but in most respects you would have to know me very well to know that anything was wrong. I also noticed recently that the Daily Mail, gods bless them, announced that I can't dress myself. This must have come as a huge surprise, not least to me, since I dressed myself this morning. It is true that if you handed me a shirt with one sleeve inside out it would take me a little while to work out the topography, but I do seem to be getting better at that.

In the past two days we have written more than 2,500 words on Unseen Academicals.

Finally, I am delighted to be receiving an honorary Doctorate of Literature (LittD) from Dublin University (Trinity College Dublin) on 12th December. I'm sure that there will be photos.

Terry Pratchett

In a recent interview with the Hollywood reporter Danny Boyle talked about his involvement in the animation of The Bromeliad Trilogy for Dreamworks.

Boyle: Animation and a musical. The problem is they're both so impractical. One I was working on (an adaptation of Terry Pratchett's fantasy tales "The Bromeliad Trilogy") is a DreamWorks project. They've got the rights, but it didn't work out because it's just too expensive. You talk about indie financing being troublesome -- animation is so expensive because you can't estimate how long its going to take. On most films, if you haven't stopped after 12 weeks, they're going to stop you anyway, whereas an animated film can go on for years and years.

So sadly it looks like the adaptation has gone to the same development hell as Good Omens.

discworldmonthly.co.uk?redir=HOLY20081201

Terry's daughter Rhianna Pratchett recently won a Writers' Guild of Great Britain award for her work on the computer game Overlord.

Rhianna was nominated twice for the award once for Overlord and once for her work on Heavenly Sword.

discworldmonthly.co.uk?redir=DEVELOP2008121

News from the North American Discworld Convention:

The Color of Magic on ION Television - Now in early 2009, with Hogfather repeated on Nov 30th.

Originally, RHI FIlms and ION Television had planned to air The Color of Magic on Nov 23rd. However, after sending out press releases they changed their plans and will now air it sometime in early 2009. We're disappointed that it won't be on sooner on this side of the pond. Once we do find out the new date, we'll make sure to let everyone know. In the meantime, they have scheduled a repeat of Hogfather for next Sunday, Nov 30th, on ION Television at 7 pm ET/PT. ION Television is available via satellite (Direct TV Channel 305 and Dish Network Channel 280, which is a recent change) as well as via cable and local station broadcasts. To find out where you can catch it in your area, go to www.iontelevision.com and enter your zip code into the "Find us by Zip Code" box in the upper right corner. Times may vary depending on your local station, so it's best to check your local listings to make sure of the exact time. So if you haven't picked it up on DVD yet, here's a chance to catch it again.

News from Terry's agent Colin Smythe:

Micro-Art Studios have been licensed to issue a series of Discworld miniatures, the first five being of Death, Granny Weatherwax, Commander Samuel Vimes, Nanny Ogg and Rincewind, and are based on Paul Kidby's images of these characters. For more details see www.shop.microartstudio.com/discworld-miniatures-c-48.html Corporal Nobbs and the Luggage will follow soon

An article in the 8 November issue of the Daily Mail may be of interest discworldmonthly.co.uk?redir=MAIL2008121 (though quite apart from the implication here, the heading is actually 'I'm not beaten yet.'

Terry is receiving an honorary Doctorate of Literature (LittD) from Dublin University (Trinity College Dublin) on 12 December.

The Empire Blog has recently included a blog entry about The Colour of Magic adaptation.

~~www.empireonline.com/empireblog/post.asp?id=314~~

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] Wyrd Sisters will be performed in Duston, Northampton on Wed 3rd Dec to Sat 6th Dec.

At the moment they are still looking for some 'extras' as it were.

Tickets (Adults 6 GBP - Concessions 5 GBP) can be purchased from Box Office (01604 587860), from any member of Duston Players, or from Duston Community Centre.

Details from www.dustonplayers.org.uk

[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.

December's meeting will be on Monday 8th December at the Monkey Puzzle, Paddington, London, W2 1JQ.

Keep an eye on ~~www.brokendrummers.co.uk~~ or e-mail brokendrummers@yahoo.co.uk

[UK] Stephen Brigg's theatre group "Studio Theatre Club" will be performing Wyrd Sisters: The Director's Cut from 20th to 24th January 2009 at 7:30 (with a 2:30 matinee on 24/1).

This is a new dramatisation by Stephen Briggs to mark Discworld's 25th Anniversary and Terry's 60th. The STC goes back to where it started on Discworld eighteen years ago -- but with a bigger cast, new scenes and characters and better costumes & effects!!!

Tickets (8GBP) are available from Tickets@studiotheatreclub.com and full booking details are on their website - www.studiotheatreclub.com

[AU, Updated] Nullus Anxietas 2: The Second Australian Discworld Convention February 27 to March 1 2009 Storey Hall, RMIT, 342 Swanston St,

Melbourne. Programme line-up includes:

- Sceening of Snowgum's Film's 'Troll Bridge' - The musical stylings of Martin Pearson in a new Discworld performance - Terry's Shorts, a line-up of one person performances of Terry's short stories

If you want to know more or to get your ticket please head on over to: ausdwcon.org

Or if you want to stay on top of the latest news and programme line-ups, sign up on the mailing list: ~~ausdwcon.org/subscribers~~

[UK] Sefton Theatre Company are performing Wyrd Sisters next year at the Southport Art Centre Studio from Wednesday 11th to Saturday 14th of March, all evening performances start at 7:45pm.

Tickets 5.50 GBP and 7.00 GBP.

Box Office Contact number 01704 540011

[DE, New] The German Discworld Convention 2009 will take place at Castle Bilstein from August the 14th to the 16th. The festival will be Unseen University themed. Registration and more information can be found in form of a bilingual wiki at:

www.discworld-convention.de

[US] The First North American Discworld Convention will take place from September 4-7, 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona.

For more information visit ~~http://www.nadwcon.org/~~

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.

Joseph Salmon joe_salmon1@hotmail.com writes: I am trying to complete my first edition discworld collection, and was wondering whether any fellow fans could help me. I'd feel much better buying from people who actually read Pratchett, and of course you'll know the book is going to a good home! If you do have any first editions to sell, could you email me. I look forward to hearing from you!

Steve Clarke clarke0902@hotmail.com writes: Im wondering if you can help me. I have been searching the internet for information about 3 Clarecraft Flint men figures. Puge The Smasher Fl01, Igne Oos The Inscrutable Fl06 and a third one which is much smaller with no identification on. Are they rare as I just cant find any information on them. My guess is that the where made by Bernard Pearson and are quite early pieces.

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 your in a less that acceptable manner.

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 as by Bonsai Trading. Sadly Bonsai Trading is no longer trading but John Pagan has kindly supplied me with a number of prints to give away.

*
* From: "William Mefford" satorsquare_ankhmorpork@yahoo.com
*
I ran cross this page and the first thing that came to mind was VURMS ! Just thought I would share!

~~www.slightlywarped.com/crapfactory/curiosities/glowworm.htm~~

*
* From: "Colin Steele" Colin.Steele@anu.edu.au
*
My review of Terry Pratchett's latest books appeared recently in the Panorama literary section of the Canberra Times. A much longer article by me appeared in the October/November issue of the UK Rare Book Review( www.rarebookreview.com/ )on Pratchetts' work and the value of his first editions. Entitled 'Not the End of Discworld', the text is not yet available online except to subscribers but the cover and details of the journal can be found at the RBR website. I will place the article in due course in the ANU Demetrius website but in the meantime, herewith some extracts.

"The Carpet People, despite being the first Pratchett book, is not the Pratchett book that brings the highest prices, partly because of its larger print run, although if one were to find the several copies in which Pratchett hand-coloured the illustrations, they would certainly give the prices of his Discworld first editions a run for their money...

I bought a signed copy of the 1971 first edition of The Carpet People in 1997 from a Blue Mountains bookshop in Australia. This was advertised as a signed copy, but the signature bore no resemblance to the Pratchett signatures in my other signed books. I therefore contacted Pratchett and faxed him a copy of his signature in that book. His response of September 9 1997 is as follows: "looks pretty much the way my signature used to look...this was probably signed more than ten years ago when I had time to shape every vowel! Andromeda Books in Birmingham have a visitors book signed by me twice a year since the mid 80s and its chilling and instructive to see how my sig has simplified over the years." Pratchett then sent another e-mail saying "I've looked through some old stuff and this may be one of the ones gained back in the 70s.

In his early Discworld signings, Pratchett signed in full and often embellished his signature with a caption, a drawing, and often for younger readers, a Pratchett stamp on the title page. Pratchett had his own "library" stamp which he carried around in a pouch. These were perhaps more enjoyable signing times for him in that he had more time to chat. In more recent years it's often been head down and fast signings, although to give Pratchett his due, he often rarely baulked at the vision of unkempt youths approaching him with large collections of paperbacks.

Pratchett e-mailed me on 6 November 2007, " I think the key drawback of signing tours is that they put you, via jetlag, missed meals, suitcase living and randomised stress in a situation where you fall prey to any bug going. And then you sit in front of a line up of 300 fans, who breathe foreign germs all over you".

Pratchett's illness has prevented him coming to Australia in 2008, as part of the 25th Annual Discworld Tour. This has prevented him signing my collection of Pratchettiana which has accumulated since his last visit. He responded to my query about signing bookplates: "I appreciate your dogged determination to have every printed item of mine, but I really hate signing bookplates and bits of sticky paper. These seem to me to negate the very basis of book signing. I like to sign for people where I can see the whites of their eyes."..

We arranged a literary lunch, but the majority of the audience were somewhat bemused as his then publisher publicity was billing Pratchett as a mixture of Evelyn Waugh and P.G. Wodehouse! Pratchett is a wonderful speaker, but he was not the suave English gentlemen that the ladies who lunch quite expected! On future occasions, Pratchett and I, whenever possible, talked on stage at the Australian National University. These regularly attracted audiences of over 600 people,the capacity of the lecture theatre.

We even managed to persuade the British High Commission to hold two receptions, one under the banner of Pratchett being a major British export earner, which indeed he is. This latter reception was hosted by a rather bemused Sir Alastair Goodlad, the then British High Commissioner, who clearly had not heard of Pratchett before his briefing.

Pratchett gave a condensed version of his 2004 World Science Fiction Convention speech about a recent operation and his waking on the operating table shouting for sandwiches - what Pratchett called "a near sandwich experience". Pratchett's English humour seemed to leave a number of foreign ambassadors, especially the French Ambassador, somewhat bemused, but it did not prevent many of the guests forming an impromptu book signing queue afterwards."

*
* From: Charles Simmons chaskell222@yahoo.com
*
As a fan of the comic art of Phil and Kaja Foglio I was delighted that a few months ago they released as "fan art" a two page intro to "Good Omens" that they did some years ago. At the same time they auctioned the original drawings on Ebay, dedicating the proceeds to Alzheimer's research. These pages are available for viewing on their website at ~~girlgeniusonline.com/stories/shortstories.php~~

I encourage all of Terry's fans to avail themselves of this tribute. It is at the bottom of the page.

*
* From: Rosemary Parrish butterflies_n_hurricanes@hotmail.com
*
I found this article about a spider god temple in Peru. Just don't say "eight" while you are in there..... ~~news.nationalgeographic.com/news/pf/61641026.html~~

*
* From: "Geoffey Johns" gjo75043@bigpond.net.au
*
I have been following the recent BBC / Brand / Ross affair with a fair bit of depression. I have to say. I am led to believe by the BBC that theirs is the humor that the under 35s want. It is apparently 'edgy'. And then I thought, well what do I (aged 60) think of as the leading edge comedy, right now? Well the Discworld novels have got me through divorce, retrenchment, business failure (it hasn't all been bad honestly, had my bits of luck too) with from time to time genuine laughter and delight at the sparkling juggling of ideas. Terry P must have one of the all time great comic minds.

Now I defy anyone to find a shred of cheap vulgarity in any of his humour.. Actually I could probably list the top ten sexual references in Discworld and none of them would make the Women's' Institute blink. To be fair they don't much blink these days. So here is my case. The best comic writer in the world manages to write more that 30 books without ever resorting to yuck.

Some years back, in Sydney, a group of Pratchett fans visited my flat with a view to using my kitchen to explore the Nanny Ogg cookbook. (I shall conquer Quattro Rodenti before I die, I swear even if I have to eat it myself.) They were all under, I guess, 30. As I recollect there was a goth. Now actually they were not all that good at the cooking bit. But as far as being sweet, kind, intelligent and sensible they moved off the scale into goodness. Imagine being asked at your door, 'should we take our shoes off Mr Johns?'

So, Jason, I wish to conclude. Old fashioned though I may be, laughter needn't be, shouldn't be nasty. Young people shouldn't be categorized as hooked on cheap sensation,

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

*
* From: "Jacqueline Simpson" simpsonworthing@yahoo.co.uk
*
There used to be, and probably still is, a huge 360 degree panorama of the Battle of Waterloo at, naturally, Waterloo (the battlefield in Belgium, not the railway terminus in London!). It was a source of major irritation to Brits, because it managed to give all the emphasis to the glory of Napoleon. Wellington, as far as I recall, was a small figure in the middle distance.

*
* From: "Elisabeth Meister" clever.sheep@gmail.com
*
Regarding your review of "Folklore of Discworld", I couldn't disagree more: While I thought "Nation" was a bit of a disappointment populated by mostly recycled characters from other books, I absolutely loved "Folklore of Discworld". It was a funny and very insightful book that taught me a lot about European (mostly British) folklore. Maybe that's because I'm not a native speaker of English, but I just couldn't stop reading it and would recommend it over "Nation" any time. Just my two cents.

DWM replies: I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one Elisabeth. It would be a boring (disc)world if we all thought the same.

*
* From: "Manda Kalmar" zacandmanda@bigpond.com
*
I am a music teacher in Australia and indelibly printed Terry Pratchett & Charles de Lint in both my children's brains from the time they were cognitive.

Both girls remember me reading them to sleep EVERY night of their lives, until they were 16 or so - yes!, but should they fall asleep at an imperative-to-the-narrative point - they would be woken by myself with great gusto and indignation!

We would also ride our horses to or from primary school once a week - again with myself reading Terry Pratchett to them!

I have kept the horse who accidentally gave me a massive traumatic brain injury in 2002 and now myself fall asleep listening to audio books of Terry Pratchett's - read by Tony Robinson and the last time I had said horse here as my ride-on-lawnmower - - he stood at my open back door (in my bedroom) - quite contentedly listening to Discworld! Must have acclimatised him years ago on the children's school rides!

4. DiscTrivia

This month I'm asking questions about Wintersmith.

Q1.: Who does Tiffany go to work for?
Q2.: Where does Miss Treason get all her witch equipment from?; a) Biffo; b) Boffo; c) Beano; d) Dandy
Q3.: Who took over from Miss Treason?
Q4.: Who was sent to the underworld to rescue the summer lady?
Q5.: What is wrong with Tiffany's feet?

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

5. Review: Mort Live in York

Reviewed by Paul Bezler

'Twas on All Hallows' Day that an intrepid group from the Northern Institute ventured out to the historical city of York to see a rare (in this part of the world) presentation of a Discworld play; in this case the York Rising Stars' production of 'MORT'.

Twenty five scenes make this a difficult production from a continuity point of view but the cast and crew managed to carry it off with few gaps in the story line, helped by the use of various narrators throughout the play, wherever off stage action needed to be conveyed to the packed audience.

The relatively young cast were kept busy throughout with costume and scene changes, but their youthful energy certainly helped carry things along; there being few, if any, really noticeable stutters in the dialogue. Tim Pollard, as a very tall and impressive DEATH, was excellent throughout and mention must go to the sound crew for giving him a most DEATH like 'voice'. His many scenes with James Wilson, who played MORT, provided the framework on which the whole production hung. Mick Prescott made a very believable ALBERT and particular mention must go to Amy Rowswell whose portrayal of PRINCESS KELI was a polished and elegant performance. Charlotte Gray, who also co-directed the play, made the part of YSABELL another of the highlights. Adam Rollinson, as CUTWELL the Wizard, was central to the success of the piece and I thought that Claire Pulpher, who played a number of small but important peripheral characters was by far the sexiest KING OLERVE that this theatre goer has seen!! However the stand out performance of the evening was by far that of ALBERT's dewdrop which gave a virtuoso performance; never missing a cue or stuttering over lines and mesmerising everyone; well those in the front rows anyway. The costumes were impressive especially those of DEATH, PRINCESS KELI and RINCEWIND so well done to the design team.

Apart from the performance itself, there was a raffle and sale of small buttons as keepsakes which helped to raise funds for, amongst others, the Alzheimer's Society, a charity dear to the heart of all Terry Pratchett fans. A nice touch was for the cast to invite all those who came in fancy dress to have their photograph taken together. The juxtaposition of Tim Pollard's DEATH with our very own PAT as DEATH the HOGFATHER, made for a unique photo.

Overall a most enjoyable performance and we will be pleased to visit this group again, especially as they are planning to perform 'MASKERADE' on the 27th - 30th MAY in 2009. Make a note in your diary folks!

6. Competitions

This month I have a beautifully first edition copy of the US edition of The Illustrated Wee Free Men to give away as supplied by Harper Collins. This 250+ page illustrated hardback features hundreds of paintings by Stephen Player the man responsible for the Discworld Map and the design work on the Hogfather adaptation.

In order to win this book all you need to do is answer the following simple question:

Q1.: The Wee Free Men is the first book in the Tiffany Aching series - which book was second in the series?

Send your answer to competitions@discworldmonthly.co.uk by 18th December.

The randomly selected winner will be announced next month.

Last month to tie in with the UK DVD and Blu-Ray release of The Colour of Magic we had a very special prize to give away - Bethan's dress from Sky One's adaptation of The Colour of Magic.

We decided to make things a little more difficult by asking you to correctly answer the following four questions:

Q1.: Who plays Bethan in The Colour of Magic?
Q2.: What novel will be the third Discworld live action adaptation?
Q3.: Who directed both Hogfather and The Colour of Magic?
Q4.: What is the recommended retail price of the Blu-ray version (in GBP)?

The answers we were looking for were: Laura Haddock, Going Postal, Vadim Jean and 24.99 GBP.

We received nearly 100 correct entries and the randomly selected winner is Tracey Tibbles of Hemel Hempstead.

For more information about the various versions of The Colour of Magic see discworldmonthly.co.uk/thecolourofmagic/

7. Review: The Illustrated Wee Free Men a story of Discworld

Reviewed by Jason Anthony.

The Illustrated Wee Free Men is a beautiful book. It is in a large format approximately 8 inches wide by 10 inches tall. Stephen Player's paintings add an extra layer to a very enjoyable novel. Stephen isn't new to Discworld - I remember meeting him at the 1998 Convention in Liverpool where he was doing master classes in illustrating. Stephen was responsible for the Discworld Mappe and also for the first non Josh Kirby paper back covers for The Colour of Magic. I understand that Stephen was also heavily involved in the look and feel of the Hogfather adaptation.

For the most part Stephen has really captured the characters - his picture of Tiffany and Granny Weatherwax for example is exquisite. I love the presentation of the book - a great deal of care over the position and size of the illustrations has obviously taken place with the text flowing effortlessly around the images. The illustrations vary in size from small approximately one inch flowers to full two page spreads such as the travelling teachers camp. There is even on page that contains a fold out illustration - the standing stone where Tiffany enters the land of the faeries showing the chalk behind it lifts to reveal the land of snow on the other side.

I love Stephen's versions of the Wee Free Men - especially the uncomfortable looking ones in suits in the dream party and also the yellow raincoat clad ones from the Jolly Sailor dream.

The only image that stood out as wrong to me was the Kelda. I had the impression that she was the same shade of blue as her sons but Stephen has her flesh coloured. It's not a major point and it about the only negative thing I can say about the book.

If you have a Discworld fan in the family and are looking for a Hogswatch present you couldn't go far wrong with this beautiful book.

This review is of the US edition published by HarperCollins - the RRP of the book is 24.99 USB but Amazon are selling it for a lot less.

You can get The Illustrated Wee Free Men from: discworldmonthly.co.uk?USISBN=0061340804

The UK edition (witch I've not yet seen features a different cover) and is available from: discworldmonthly.co.uk?ISBN=0385612540

8. North American Discworld Convention Update

More Books For Hogswatch Giving

Two new books are coming to the UK and Canada (but not the US) at the end of November: The 25th Anniversary Illustrated Edition of The Colour of Magic/The Light Fantastic (with illustrations by Stephen Player), and The Colour of Magic: The Illustrated Screenplay by Vadim Jean, mucked about with by Terry Pratchett (yes, that's really how it's credited on the cover). You can order these books and other recent releases signed by Terry at www.discworld.com . If you aren't that concerned about having them scribbled upon, you might try Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.ca. Of course, Nation and the Illustrated Wee Free Men are still available at most bookstores in the US, usually in the children's section.

Terry also has a fun introduction in the new book Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman. This is a very thorough reference guide to the works of Neil Gaiman, including an extensive interview with Neil and a lot of neat additional features. FYI, on his recent US book tour for The Graveyard Book, Neil read a chapter per night; video of which is available at www.mousecircus.com .

Rhianna Pratchett In the News

Terry's daughter, Rhianna Pratchett, is making the news with the release of the new first person computer game Mirror's Edge published by Electronic Arts. She's also scripting a comic book prequel to the game for Wildstorm Comics, the first issue of which came out earlier in the month. Comic Book Resources recently did an interview talking with her about the game and comic prequel. You can read it at http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18743

North American Discworld Convention News

We've continued to send flyers to just about every SF/F convention in North America over the last couple of months. In October, convention Vice-Chair Emily made it to Capclave, a Washington, D.C. area convention, where Lawrence Watt-Evans signed the copies of The Turtle Moves that BenBella Books had donated to us. This is good news for one of the winners in our most recent book giveaway, detailed later in this newsletter.

Earlier in the month, some of the committee were at the annual TusCon convention in Tucson, Arizona (Nov. 7-9; home.earthlink.net/~basfa ), while our volunteer coordinator, Rowan, was in charge of the Phoenix Faerie Festival held Saturday, Nov 15th in Goodyear, Arizona (~~westerngatesfaerierealms.com/PhoenixFaerieFestival.htm~~). To end the convention year on a high note, we'll be hosting a room party on Friday night, November 28th, at LosCon 35 at the LAX Marriott in Los Angeles, California (www.loscon.org/35 ). Stop by the party for a new badge ribbon, a selection of Discworld-themed foods, and a prize raffle for donations to Alzheimer's Research. Note: If anyone is in the Los Angeles area and would like to help out at the party, please let me know via email at nadwcon@gmail.com . I may be able to arrange for a guest membership.

We've passed the 350 member mark and are getting close to 400 pre-registered members, while rooms at the Tempe Mission Palms hotel keep filling up at a steady rate. We're currently setting up a programming team to brainstorm panels and activities beyond the main events. Once we make it through the holidays, things will start moving pretty quickly. We'll be working with the hotel to finalize the banquet details and begin the ticketing process. We also plan to provide more information about other major convention events, and hope to announce some additional guests. We're working on an updated online membership list and hope to have that online soon.

Convention Surveys

Here's the first of a series of surveys designed to tell us what you would like to see, do, and buy at the convention. The SurveyMonkey service allows us 100 free responses for each survey, so we've set up three identical surveys that should be enough to handle everyone. If necessary, however, we can always make another copy and post that link on our livejournal community. Please take a moment to click on one of the links below - your feedback is very important to us!

First 100 - www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=4oKUYGHH_2fzT44FuqdQtP0w_3d_3d

Second 100 - www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=djEeqHFhxw16q1ioVv193w_3d_3d

Third 100 - www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=mTZat1JqAkNYNEsoIlArQA_3d_3d

To sweeten the pot, a special codeword will be encoded in the surveys that you can use to enter our next book giveaway. Details below...

Books Giveaway

Thanks to HarperCollins and BenBella, we were able to give away some books with the last newsletter. We've shipped out most of the books to the winners, but not all of them. Once again, HarperCollins has come through for us with some additional books to give away. So, for this contest, we will have a special codeword listed in the above mentioned survey. To enter the contest, send an email to nadwcon.contest@gmail.com with the codeword and your top three preferences of the book you would like. Available books include the US Hardback of Nation, US Hardback of The Illustrated Wee Free Men, US Hardback of The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld, US Hardback of Making Money, US Paperback of The Art of Discworld, or a signed paperback of The Turtle Moves by Lawrence Watt-Evans.

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

* Contact Information *

We prefer information to be sent via email, but can accept information via fax or post at the following addresses:

Email: info@discworldmonthly.co.uk
Post: J Anthony-Rowlands (DWM), 20 Cambrian Place, Pontarddulais, Swansea, SA4 8RG

* Latest Book Information *

Nation (non Discworld Hardback) discworldmonthly.co.uk?ISBN=0385613709

Folklore of the Discworld (add on book) discworldmonthly.co.uk?ISBN=0385611005

Making Money (Paperback) discworldmonthly.co.uk?ISBN=0552154903

* Subscription Information *

To subscribe to 'Discworld Monthly' simply enter your email address in the form on the 'Discworld Monthly' web page. Our web site contains all back issues and links to other Pratchett sites.

discworldmonthly.co.uk/

Current circulation approximately 20,000.

To un-subscribe please follow the instructions at the end of this email.

If you have any problems un-subscribing visit our removal help page.

* Disc Trivia Results *

Q1.: Who does Tiffany go to work for?
A1.: Miss Treason
Q2.: Where does Miss Treason get all her witch equipment from?
A2.: b) Boffo
Q3.: Who took over from Miss Treason?
A3.: Annagramma
Q4.: Who was sent to the underworld to rescue the summer lady?
A4.: Roland de Chumsfanleigh
Q5.: What is wrong with Tiffany's feet?
A4.: She has Ped Fecundis or Fertile Feet

* Obtaining Terry's Books *

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.

* Supporting DWM *

Discworld Monthly was created as a totally free newsletter and will continue to remain so for as long as it continues. However, the costs of maintaining the web site, postage, travel etc. adds up. If you feel you would like to make a small contribution towards these costs please consider doing so via either www.paypal.com or www.nochex.com

My account for each of these is info@discworldmonthly.co.uk

Thanks

* Small Print *

We make no effort whatsoever to ensure the information in this newsletter is accurate or even legal. Remember to always exercise caution when passing your credit card details over the Net (or over the phone for that matter). All trademarks are recognized as the property of their respective owners, whoever they may be.

* Thanks *

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

Previous Next

Discworld Monthly - Issue 140: December 2008

Table of Contents: