Discworld Monthly Issue 216 June 2015
Table of Contents:
1. Editorial
2. News
3. Readers' Letters
4. DiscTrivia
5. Review: Mort - Discworld Weekend - The Story Museum, Oxford
6. Competition: Win Discworld Beer
7. Competition Result: Discworld Emporium Care Package
8. Review: Discworld Monthly - 18th Birthday Meetup in Reading
9. The End
1. Editorial
Welcome to issue 216. We've had a busy month in May here at Discworld Monthly... We started the month with a celebration of Discworld Monthly's 18th birthday in Reading. Then two weeks later we were invited to talk at the wonderful Oxford Story Museum. Finally just a couple of days ago an advance copy of The Long Utopia (book four of The Long Earth series) arrived in the post. The Long Utopia hits the streets near the end of June. We'll include a full review in next month's issue.
I've just seen the new Alzheimer's Research advert on the television. It was very strange seeing Terry on the television more than two months after his death. Not quite sure how I feel about it. Made me feel quite emotional. www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32950148
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.
Also if you have written an article that you think we might want to include in the newsletter please feel free to email me at the address below. We will of course give credit for anything we use.
--
Jason Anthony (Editor) info@discworldmonthly.co.uk
William Barnett (Deputy Editor / Proofreader)
Richard Massey (Cake Taster)
2. News
The release date for The Shepherd's Crown - the last Terry Pratchett Discworld novel - has officially been announced. The Shepherd's Crown will be published on 10th September 2015. The novel was completed in the Summer of 2014. It is now available for pre-order and a collector's edition will also become available in September.
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0857534815/87
The paperback edition of A Slip of the Keyboard has now been released in the UK. This is the first new paperback that states "Sir Terry Pratchett was the acclaimed creator of the global bestselling Discworld series, the first of which, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983."
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/055216772X/87
Christian Almgren has created a Facebook group named "Svenska Discworld-fans" to see if he can locate other Swedish fans so they can organise meetups, gaming sessions, pub visits or whatever.
For more information visit: www.facebook.com/groups/1382458998748942
i09 have created a guide to Discworld... It states: "Terry Pratchett's Discworld might look intimidating - there are 40 books, and they're humorous fantasy, which seems like it could be an acquired taste. But everybody should read at least one Discworld book, because they're wonderful, and there's something for everyone. Here's our complete guide to Pratchett's masterwork."
io9.com/the-io9-guide-to-discworld-1698768077
Dota 2, the popular multiplayer battle arena game, has just received a huge new update that includes a subtle nod to Terry.
"Formed from a Mystic Staff and Soul Booster, the Octarine Core is a powerful and expensive new item that boosts magic, intelligence and regeneration."
discworldmonthly.co.uk/url/SPY216A
Dragons at Crumbling Castle: And Other Stories will be published in paperback on Thursday 4th June in the UK. At the moment we have no information about a US paperback release.
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0552572802/87
The Terry Pratchett Facebook page has just released a new announcement simply saying:
THERE WILL BE A RECKONING ... "If you trust in yourself ... and believe in your dreams ... and follow your star ... you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy." - Wee Free Men
Thursday 4th June, 4pm GMT
www.facebook.com/pratchett?fref=ts
We can only guess that this will be the date that the cover of The Shepherd's Crown will be revealed. We'll let you know next issue.
As reported last month, Issue 261 of SFX Magazine features an article entitled Remembering Terry Pratchett. It includes quotes from Rob Wilkins (Terry's business partner and best friend), Bernard "The Cunning Artificer" Pearson, Colin Smythe (Terry's agent), Rod Brown (Director of Narrativia) and the editor of this very newsletter.
The Sword and Laser (S&L) is a science fiction and fantasy-themed book club podcast hosted by Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt. The main goal of the club is to build a strong online community of science fiction / fantasy buffs, and to discuss and enjoy books of both genres. Episode 214 talks about Wyrd Sisters and Terry in general with guest author and self-proclaimed Pratchett Enthusiast Anthony St. Clair.
boingboing.net/2015/04/30/discworlds-inner-rage.html
In the last couple of months over 51,000 GBP has been raised for RICE via the JustGiving page set up in Terry's memory. This is a huge achievement and testament to just how loved Sir Terry was by his fans.
The Discworld Monthly 18th birthday party held in Reading on Saturday 9th May raised an additional 400GBP for RICE... We are immensely proud to have played a small part.
If you still want to donate to RICE visit: www.justgiving.com/rice/donate
To find out more about what RICE does visit: rice.org.uk/
Colin Smythe, Terry's agent, wrote a touching tribute to Terry in the Irish Times back in March. My apologies for missing this previously.
discworldmonthly.co.uk/url/IRT216A
Backspindle Games have now made their new Clacks game available for pre-order. The game will be released at the beginning of October. The first 300 pre-orders will get a Micro Arts figurine of Moist Von Lipwig as a thank you. Just 12 hours after going on sale over 100 copies had been sold.
www.backspindlegames.com/clacks/
With the new Clacks game you can play against your friends and claim the title of Fastest Clacks Operator on the line, or play together as a team to win the race across the Discworld and prove that the Clacks is here to stay.
In the box there are rules for 'player versus player', a 'co-operative race game' against the Post Office and a 'Children's introductory game'.
Clacks artwork was created by Amber Grundy (a.k.a The Artful Nudger)
The Telegraph website recently ran an article entitled "The 10 best tributes to Terry Pratchett". It features libraries, graffiti, tattoos, underground stations, book stores and signed books...
discworldmonthly.co.uk/url/TEL216A
Den of Geek have gone back to look at the Psygnosis point and click Discworld game. You know, the annoying one with Eric Idle as Rincewind saying "That doesn't work" all the time. For a bit of retro gaming nostalgia visit: discworldmonthly.co.uk/url/DOG216A
ABC Australia features an audio tribute to Terry by physicist Len Fisher. You can listen to the audio or read the transcript at:
discworldmonthly.co.uk/url/ABC216A
The Long Utopia will be published on the 23rd June in the UK and USA.
2045-2059. Human society continues to evolve on Datum Earth, its battered and weary origin planet, as the spread of humanity progresses throughout the many Earths beyond.
Lobsang, now an elderly and complex AI, suffers a breakdown, and disguised as a human attempts to live a "normal" life on one of the millions of Long Earth worlds. His old friend, Joshua, now in his fifties, searches for his father and discovers a heretofore unknown family history. And the super-intelligent post-humans known as "the Next" continue to adapt to life among "lesser" humans.
You can pre-order your copy in the UK from: www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0857521764/87
You can pre-order your copy in the US from: discworldmonthly.co.uk/USISBN//0062297333
We'll have a review in place for next month's issue.
The Sir Terry Pratchett "OOOK" Award For The Conservation Of Orangutans And Their Habitat
Award Proposal: Founded in 1990, the Orangutan Foundation is the foremost orangutan conservation organization, actively working to save orangutans by protecting tropical forest habitat, working with local communities and promoting both research and education. The Foundation's approach goes beyond that of purely protecting orangutans. It recognizes that orangutans are essential to their habitat, which is unique in its rich biodiversity and is crucial for local communities, who are as dependent on the forest as the orangutans are.
In tribute to the long-standing commitment of Foundation trustee, the late Sir Terry Pratchett, the Orangutan Foundation aspires to launch the 'Sir Terry Pratchett "OOOK' Award for the Conservation of Orangutans and their Habitat'. Sir Terry's love for orangutans was apparent from his famous characterisation of the orangutan 'Librarian' vocalised only by 'OOOK' - which was featured throughout his Discworld book series. This award created in his name will therefore be aimed toward aspiring researchers in the field of orangutan conservation.
Through this award scheme, research students of any nationality will be able to apply for the grant through submitting a research proposal to our board of trustees. Our aim is to give an annual award of 5,000 EUR to a chosen research student. Since the Foundation is approaching its 25th year, we are hoping to pledge for 25 more years of vital conservation work.
The award can only be launched with the help of the general public. For this we are hoping to get the support of not only Foundation members, but also Sir Terry's fans, including the Discworld community. If our fundraising is successful, we can contribute toward important field research, and thus help to make great steps in the world of conservation, zoology and the environmental sciences.
The Foundation wishes to maintain Sir Terry's presence in the conservation community and to keep his legacy with the Foundation alive. The launch of this award has graciously been endorsed by Sir Terry's family, and we do hope that, as his most dedicated fans, the Discworld community will help to make this award a reality.
Thank you.
Any donations can be sent:
By cheque: Orangutan Foundation, 7 Kent Terrace, London NM/ 1 4RP
By phone: +44 (0)20 7724 2912
Via our JustGiving page dedicated to Terry's memory www.justgiving.com/Rowan-Sharp/
Via our website www.orangutan.org.uk/how-to-help/make-a-donation
The Guardian newspaper has recently added an article entitled Terry Pratchett and the Real Science of Discworld. The first paragraph reads: You can learn a lot about this world from the fictional universe being carried on the back of a giant turtle, as the man who became Pratchett's collaborator after telling him to shut up at an SF convention explains.
discworldmonthly.co.uk/url/GUA216B
Terry's Night Watch was discussed in the Guardian reading group on the 12 May. The opening line reads: In this book we see the author maturing along with his storytelling skills, while losing none of his wit.
discworldmonthly.co.uk/url/GUA216C
The Guardian also published an article asking whether The Colour of Magic is a good place to start reading Discworld. This mirrors my own talk on good starting points with Discworld that I gave at the Oxford Story Museum.
The article explains: the argument goes that since The Colour of Magic is not Pratchett's finest work, to focus on it is to undersell him.
While not the same conclusion as my own talk it makes an interesting read:
discworldmonthly.co.uk/url/GUA216D
Paul Kidby's tribute to Sir Terry comes in the form his painting on one of the Barons' Charter statues. Paul says the statue was a "tribute to Terry's writing". "It has a beard so I'm making mine look as much like Terry as I can," he said. It also features Great A'Tuin on the shield, the Nac Mac Feegles on the sword and a large range of Terry's characters on the cloak. [I can't wait to see it in person - I think a trip to Salisbury might be in order at some point in the future. - Ed]
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-32717745
The Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) team is gearing up for one final test flight, codenamed PRATCHETT in honour of the late and great Discworld author Sir Terry.
Alex Carlton (the actual Sane Alex from Going Postal) described himself as "chuffed to bits" with his prize, especially since he's involved in some kind of rockoon project (rocket plus balloon) which will require the services of just such a bit of kit.
www.theregister.co.uk/2015/05/25/lohan_final_test_flight/
The giant graffiti mural in Brick Lane, London is now complete. The 100+ feet of Discworld painting adorns the wall of the Pillow Theatre and celebrates many of Terry's characters. I've not been to see it in person but the pictures make it look amazing.
discworldmonthly.co.uk/url/ITN216A
One of the artists that produced the mural was recently interviewed on London Live television.
discworldmonthly.co.uk/url/LLI216A
Hannah Boron (a fellow Discworld fan) has written her first novel entitled Tamzin and the Viper. The novel was published as an e-book in July last year. Hannah has now set up a Kickstarter project to get the novel to be published into a publisher-quality print edition.
It should be noted that we've not actually read the book so have no idea of the content - sorry.
The nice thing about Kickstarter is that as a backer you will only get charged if the project gets to its required funding level. If the project fails to hit target you will not get charged. Hannah is looking for 4,000 GBP... Pledging 8GBP will get you a signed paperback copy of the book when it is published and pledging 18GBP will get you a signed hardback edition.
discworldmonthly.co.uk/url/KIC216A
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.
From issue 190 onwards recurring monthly meetings have been moved to their own area at the bottom of the dates section.
[DE] The English Drama Group will be performing Carpe Jugulum on June: 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 16th, 19th, 24th at 6:30pm in the canteen of the Potsdam University, on the first floor at the New Palais (Neues Palais) Campus of the Potsdam University. And on June 29th at 7:30pm we are playing at the Hans Otto Theatre in Potsdam.
The prices at the university will be 5 euros or 3 euros on discount.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/EDGpotsdam
[NL] Cabbagecon 3 proudly presents: the Assassins' Guild orientation weekend.
Ever wanted to be a member of one of the most prestigious guilds in Ankh-Morpork? Now is your chance! The famous Assassins' Guild has announced that their orientation weekend in 2015 will be held at Cabbagecon 3, the Dutch Discworld convention. Representatives of four of the Guild Houses will be present at the convention to see if the convention members have the skills and dress sense necessary to make it as an Assassin.
Our guest of honour is translator Venugopalan Ittekot, who will give an exclusive presentation about a very special project.
Cabbagecon 3 will be held at hotel Val Monte in Berg en Dal (near Nijmegen) in the weekend of 27 and 28 June 2015. More information can be found at www.dutchdwcon.nl
Team Cabbagecon 3
[Melbourne, AU, New] Melbourne Discworld Klatch are very excited to be participating in the Glen Eira Storytelling Event at Carnegie Library. From 11am to 4pm Sunday 28th June there will be fun and games including Martin Pearson. Entry is free, more details can be found at www.facebook.com/events/1584303111811565/
[UK] Elaine Boot is arranging a Discworld meet-up in Nottingham on Saturday, July 11th from 14:00 to 23:00 at Wollaton Hall Deer Park And Gardens, Wollaton at the picnic area (please provide your own picnic).
At 17:00 I suggest we split in to smaller groups and go for a meal.
At 19:00 We all meet in the Trip To Jerusalem pub up by Brew House Yard Museum and stay to around 23:00.
Come in fancy dress if you wish. Having something or wearing something Discworld will help us identify one another and using the phrase 'The turtle moves' will help too.
People do not have to attend both park and the pub, they are welcome to attend just one.
Both of the places can be reached easily by public transport and an all day bus ticket costs 3.50GBP. If you travel in groups of 2 to 4 on Nottingham City Transport Bus (NCTX) you can get a group rider for 4.50GBP.
There are plenty of places to stay, there is even Travelodge Maid Marion Way.
Contact Elaine Boot freddyboot@yahoo.co.uk
www.facebook.com/events/438230283003902/
[US, Updated] Update on Discworld at Sasquan (Worldcon)-Spokane, WA, Aug. 19-23, 2015
Join us at Sasquan, the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon)! Sasquan will be in Spokane, Washington from August 19-23, and we are pleased to be working with them to bring you the Great Discworld Fan Gathering!
Discworld programming will be spread throughout the con, with Thursday designated as a Discworld / Steampunk day for events.
Discworld Program Panels-Details will be released when the Sasquan program is finalized, but we are happy to have some special guests on board. Sir Terry Pratchett will be honored and remembered in a session.
Nanny Ogg's Knees Up-We are looking for a volunteer to coordinate and teach the dances for this Discworld event. An experienced teacher of English country dance is preferred; please email us at discworld@sasquan.org to volunteer.
Discworld Exhibit-An introduction to the Discworld novels for the uninitiated, with extra special fun planned for the fans.
Discworld Trivia Pub Quiz-Come test your knowledge of Discworld trivia for fun and prizes!
Discworld Films-Several Discworld films will be shown at Sasquan.
Discworld Documentary-We are planning a Kickstarter campaign to fund a Discworld documentary at Sasquan, made by the fans for the fans.
Discworld Fan Volunteers Needed!-We need your help to make this the best event for Discworld fans that we can. Email us at volunteer@sasquan.org and let us know you'd like to help with Discworld at Sasquan!
Add to this all the fun of a Worldcon-meet fellow Discworld and science fiction/fantasy fans from all over the globe, attend program sessions and workshops with authors, see the Hugo Awards ceremony, participate in the Masquerade, and more, all in the setting of the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
See sasquan.org for Sasquan convention membership and registration details.
Follow our Discworld at Sasquan updates in Discworld Monthly; on the North American Discworld Connection Facebook page (www.facebook.com/NADWCon?fref=ts); and at the It Bodes blog (it-bodes.blogspot.com/).
We hope to see you there!
[UK] Wadfest 2015 - The Library. Wadfest 2015 takes place over the weekend of 21st~ 24th August 2015.
Once again Wadfest will be at Wood Green, The Animal Shelter, King's Bush Farm, London Road, Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire, PE29 2NH
[DE] With a 1000 camels the German Discworld Convention moves to the mysterious continent of Klatch! Make room in your schedule from September 10th to 13th in 2015 for the fourth German Discworld Convention at Castle Ludwigstein. Be there when it's getting hot!
Registration has started on our homepage.
Join the Facebook page to receive further updates:
www.facebook.com/ScheibenweltConvention
[IRL] The Irish Discworld Convention 2015 will take place in Cork, Ireland at the Cork International Hotel from the 2nd to the 5th of October 2015. Join us as a Special Constable for the Watch Open Weekend.
Visit www.idwcon.org or see the Facebook group at: www.facebook.com/groups/idwcon/
[UK] Wyrd Sisters is being performed by Uppingham Theatre Company from Thursday 29th - Saturday 31st October 2015. Tickets cost 10 GBP including 2 GBP charity donation to Rutland Reminders. Tickets are available in person only from Uppingham Sports and Books, 9 High Street East, Uppingham and online at wegottickets.co.uk
[UK] Sadly there will be no Discworld Emporium-run Hogswatch event this year, but there will be a fan-run much more low key "Gathering of Loonies - Winter Event" on the same days, November 27th - 29th in Wincanton. More news will be provided as we are given it. The fans organising the event have set up a Facebook group at: www.facebook.com/groups/373578522834654/
Recurring monthly meetings:
[UK] The Broken Drummers meet at The Monkey Puzzle, Paddington, London, W2 1JQ, England at 7pm. For more information contact Helen Nicholls on helennicholls@yahoo.co.uk
Unless otherwise stated the Drummers meet on the first Monday of each month.
The Drummers are always happy to welcome new visitors. You can find out more about the Drummers at www.brokendrummers.org/
[Perth, AU] The Perth Drummers have changed their name. They are now known as the Treacle Mining Corporation in honour of their beloved state. They still meet up to celebrate the works of author Sir Terry Pratchett, and welcome any fans of science fiction and fantasy.
Join them for their monthly discussion of Discworld, Terry Pratchett and all things sci-fi and fantasy. They meet the first Monday of each month, subject to holidays, and all are welcome.
The group meets up at Carpe Cafe, 526 Murray Street, Perth, WA. Meeting at a cafe means they are under-18 friendly!
For details follow them on Twitter @Perth_Drummers, Instagram perth_drummers, and facebook www.facebook.com/groups/Perth.Drummers/
Otherwise message Alexandra Ware directly at alexandra.ware@gmail.com
Unless otherwise stated the group meets up on the first Monday of each month.
[AU] Sydney Drummers normally meet on the first Monday of every month.
We meet at the NEW venue, 3 Wise Monkeys, 555 George Street, Sydney, 2000 from 6:30pm
For more information contact Sue (AKA Granny Weatherwax) on kenworthys@yahoo.co.uk
[UK] On the first Friday of every month there will be a meeting of WOTS - Omnian Temperance Society - Wincanton branch - to be held at The Bear Inn from 7pm. New members or visitors from other places always welcome.
discworldmonthly.co.uk/url/WOTS182
[Adelaide, AU] The City of Small Gods is a group for fans in Adelaide and South Australia. We have regular monthly dinner and games nights, longer games days, plus play outings, craft-y workshops, and fun social activities throughout the year. For more info and to join our mailing list, visit: cityofsmallgods.org.au
[Brisbane, AU] The Pratchett Partisans meet monthly at either Brisbane
or Indooroopilly to eat, drink and chat about all things Pratchett. For
more info about their next meetup, check out: www.meetup.com/Pratchett-Partisans/
or www.facebook.com/groups/pratchettpartisans/
* Discworld 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.
Graham Smith graz.smith@yahoo.com.au writes: I have a full collection of the Unseen Library leather bound books (released as part of various UK book clubs by Gollancz).
These are the leather trimmed ones with a small square picture graphic in the centre of A'tuin on the front cover and the Discworld map inside the front and rear covers.
Now they only produced 1-18 (Colour of Magic to Maskerade), then they seemed to stop making them and then Transworld took over publishing rights so I don't expect any more. They were only available at the time through a couple of book clubs.
Most of the books only had print runs of 3000 (Soul Music onwards) -7000 (Light Fantastic - Equal Rites).
So I am after sensible offers for the collection, similar copies are on Ebay for 25 GBP - 100 GBP a book and Amazon for 40 USD - 200 USD (assume that CMOT Dibbler is involved there somehow).
This collection is books 1-18, they have been read (carefully) and look as new. I have the same books in paperback and hardbacks and my dear wife is pointing out they take up a large amount of space on the bookcases :D
Books are in Adelaide Australia, you pay postage I am happy to ship them worldwide at your expense. Would prefer not to split them up if I can, and if nobody makes a sensible offer then I will keep them as they are gorgeous books and I will buy another bookcase, or maybe a wooden trunk would be more appropriate :-)
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 edit your letters while trying to help Rachel get spilt tea out of her keyboard.
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.
* From: "Dave Hough" davehough831@yahoo.co.uk
There seem to be a lot of Terry Pratchett events and plays going on in UK and around the world - brilliant, but nothing whatsoever in Bristol UK.
I read about all the Wincanton events, but as I don't drive it's a nightmare getting there. It appears impossible by bus, OK to get to Wincanton Station, from there to town is a nightmare. I've asked people in Bristol if I could share petrol with them, but got nothing back.
I managed to get there many years ago in a friend's car, and thought the town was brilliant, loved the Emporium and the pubs - well one in particular, The Nog Inn, brilliant.
So that's my moan out of the way. God Bless Sir Terry Pratchett, a great Man.
4. DiscTrivia
This month Rachel Rowlands is back with five challenging trivia questions for you...
The (hopefully correct) answers can be found at the end of this issue.
5. Review: Mort - Discworld Weekend - The Story Museum, Oxford
Reviewed by Jason Anthony.
A couple of months ago The Story Museum in Oxford asked me to come to their Discworld Weekend (23rd and 24th May) and do a 45-minute presentation on how to get into Discworld. Rachel offered to do a reading of Where's My Cow and they happily agreed.
We decided to go to the Museum in full Discworld costume. I was dressed as Rincewind in some incredible robes that Rachel had made for me and Rachel dressed as Queen Magrat. Getting on the park and ride at 9:30 in the morning barely raised more than a snigger from the bus driver and the five minute walk from the bus stop to the Museum was uneventful... Though we did stop in a small confectionery shop to pick up dried frog pills (OK, green tic tacs). When we arrived at the museum we realised it wouldn't open for another 20 minutes but we were able to get the attention of the staff and were allowed in early.
We were given a quick tour of the museum before it opened for the general public. The museum is made up of four buildings built around a courtyard. There are seemingly endless rooms all dedicated to stories and encouraging young people to read... It is a sort of spiritual home to the written word. The first room we visited was Death's garden (the theme of the weekend was Mort). The room had a black pond in it with a hole in the middle where young people could stand and have their photo taken.
Deeper into the building we came to Death's study. This is actually located in the old Post Office building and the room is the old safe. Inside Death's study was Terry's lectern which was built by Bernard Pearson about 10 years ago - I first saw it when it was given to Terry for the Discworld's 21st birthday party and it has lived for the intervening time in Terry's chapel - where Terry sat to write. A large model of Death stood over the lectern and a smoke machine and green lighting made the room very atmospheric. Strangely just behind Death's garden and study was a bicycle repair company - apparently they rent the rooms from The Story Museum - all very Going Postal I think.
The main part of the Museum featured some really wonderful rooms including the extreme reading room, which is actually two very large rooms populated with sofas, garden sheds, a boat, dog cages and other random places that it would be fun to read in. I spent a happy five minutes reading "How to Hide a Lion" sat in a dog cage! The bedtime stories room (with various sized dressing gowns hung up outside and available for visitors to wear) featured the biggest bed I have ever seen.... It could happily allow 30+ children to sit on while they were read to... Off this big room were two smaller bedrooms again full of wonderful stories. We spent some time getting the children visitors to check under the bed for monsters. Also in the Museum was a room full of dressing-up clothes so that children could act out bits of stories. This room featured the announcing throne which read out a description of the person sitting on the throne using a selection of words inserted into a black board - you'll have to go there to appreciate it. Also in this room is the story extracting machine that is designed to suck the imagination out of the children and produce a story at the other end. We decided that with a couple of additions (a FTB - fluffy teddy bear - and a GBL - great big lever) it could be HEX.
Further around the building was a printing room. This room was filled with various printing presses. The room smelled of ink and grease and over the weekend visitors were allowed to ink up the lead and print their own cards. There is something hugely satisfying operating the hand press and leaving with something you have printed yourself. Finally there were a couple of rooms that were closed to the public. One was the Narnia room where you stepped through a wardrobe past the fur coats and ended up in the snowy landscape of Narnia. The room still had the White Queen's sleigh in it... We decided that with a little effort this room could have become the Hogfather's grotto.
In the main courtyard was the hiring fair where visitors were allowed to try their hands at various occupations and were given stickers to prove they had completed the tasks in hand. For example if you decided to become a carter you had you get a friend to be a horse and guide them around a course while they were "clippity clopping" with two halves of a coconut (very Monty Pythonesque) or if you wanted to be the shepherd you needed to locate 11 very small toy sheep that had been hidden around the courtyard - it was very amusing watching people stare intently into plants and windows looking for them. There was also a craft stand that allowed visitors to make purple and black bees for Death's garden which I mentioned before.
Stephen Briggs, man of a thousand accents, gave the first talk of the day, followed by Rachel's reading of Where's My Cow. It was well received so as an encore she also read Terry's short story Troll Bridge to an attentive audience. My presentation, the first I have ever done, was about ways to get into Discworld. Hopefully I made it interesting as well as informative and following me was Dr Pat "Uberfan" Harkin's talk on Discworld Death.
Saturday evening was topped off with a special Murder a Curry evening. The chef had gone out of her way to ensure something in every course was black... The combination of black and white rice was very impressive. Before the meal the diners were challenged to take a Discworld quiz created by myself. It was entertaining seeing Stephen Briggs and Dr Pat Harkin rack their brains trying to answer some of the questions. In the end through the superior knowledge of Chris Boote and his team won through. After the very enjoyable curry we were entertained by Stephen Briggs reading a few choice passages from Mort - this finished off a very enjoyable evening.
BTW if you want to play a multi-choice (read simplified) version of the quiz you can give it a go at: www.goodreads.com/quizzes/1113114-oxford-story-museum-quiz In the real quiz there was also a picture round but that wasn't possible to do on the Goodreads site.
Sunday started much like Saturday with Rachel and I strolling across Oxford in full costume. This time, however, we went a slightly longer route and were asked to stop for a photo - which was fun and entertaining. And just like on Saturday we arrived earlier than we should have because the Museum didn't open until 11am. There were a lot more people visiting on Sunday and I did my presentation first to a slightly larger audience, hopefully I came over a little more confident this time. Rachel once again enthralled her audience with renditions of Where's My Cow and Troll Bridge and Pat Harkin gave a hugely entertaining and informative talk on Discworld Death.
Suddenly we were out of time so we headed off home on our 170 miles trip back to Wales. The Story Museum is a really fun place to visit especially if you have young kids who enjoy reading. We really loved it and there is already talk about having another Discworld event next year. If they do, Rachel and I will be there again.
www.storymuseum.org.uk/whats-on/discworld-weekend/
I've updated a few photos from the weekend into a facebook album at:
discworldmonthly.co.uk/url/OSM216A
6. Competition: Win Discworld Beer
This month the lovely people at Ales By Mail have a full selection of Discworld Ales to give away to one of our lucky subscribers. To enter the competition you need to be over 18 years old and live in the UK.
Ales By Mail have also set up a discount code for all Discworld Monthly readers simply use the code DWMCOMP for a 10% discount on your order.
In order to be in with a chance to win the Discworld Ales send your answers to the two questions below, along with your postal address, to competitions@discworldmonthly.co.uk before 20th June 2015. Your address will only be used if you are the winner and only for sending out your prize - once prizes are sent out all address details will be destroyed. Entries received after the closing date or sent to any other address will be ignored. No more than one entry per person will be accepted. Failure to answer the questions or provide your postal address, or living outside of the UK will prevent you from being entered into the competition. Multiple entries will be banned. Answers to the questions must not be posted to any websites before the competition ends. The judges' decision is final.
For more information about Ales By Mail visit www.alesbymail.co.uk
7. Competition Result: Discworld Emporium Care Package
Last month the lovely people at the Discworld Emporium offered us a "Discworld Emporium Care Package" to give away. We still don't actually know what is going to be in the care package other than it will contain one of their wonderful new "Millennium Hand and Shrimp" t-shirts (by a strange coincidence I am wearing my one as I type this!).
We asked: According to the Discworld Emporium website, what is not included with the t-shirt? The answer we were looking for was: Distinctive odour not included.
We had 231 correct entries into the competition (and a small number of incorrect entries from people that failed to read the rules!). We employed the use of a young boy (Sam) to select the winner of this competition by giving us a number between 1 and 231. The randomly selected winner is Damien Hudson of West Yorkshire - we will pass on your details to The Emporium and they will send your care pack as soon as possible.
You can find out more about The Discworld Emporium at www.discworldemporium.com
8. Review: Discworld Monthly - 18th Birthday Meetup in Reading
Review by Jason Anthony
On Saturday 9th May Discworld Monthly celebrated its 18th birthday back in Reading, the town where it was first born. What had started as a local meet-up became something much bigger when we announced the event in the newsletter.
We arranged to meet up with some friends before the event proper and around 10 of us invaded Reading's museum. It was an entertaining couple of hours looking at Reading's copy of the Bayeux Tapestry (www.bayeuxtapestry.org.uk/) amongst the other items of interest.
We headed to our venue The Wild Lime bar in Reading's Friar Street. It's hard to miss - the front of the building is a very bright lime green. We were allocated a corner of the room and very soon discovered a large hole in the ceiling with water pouring through it into a bucket - not great in a food consumption area! We decided to try not to let this spoil the fun.
Soon, though, over 30 people had turned up and were ordering food and drinks from the bar. We had printed off a limited run of 50 copies of the first ever issue of Discworld Monthly and designed some stickers which we gave to our visitors. I spent some time signing as many of the copies as I could... Don't give me a Sharpie, I'll write on anything. Rachel and I wonder how long it will be before any of them end up on eBay!
We had a cake from Asda printed with a Paul Kidby Librarian and Discworld Monthly logo on it and we adorned it with 18th birthday candles. Karen Newton had gone out of her way and purchased multiple helium balloons and a wonderful Happy Birthday banner, and Carolanne Ellis had a great birthday card produced which everyone signed while I was asked to leave the building.
Karen had also been carefully arranging a raffle and managed to get lots of wonderful prizes. Sadly I didn't win anything but over 400GBP was raised for R.I.C.E one of Terry's favourite charities.
We all enjoyed the birthday cake, the welsh cakes I made and the lovely Scottish tablet that Sara-Jane Ray had made.
We were planning on eating an evening meal at the Lime Bar but the unhelpful and frankly rude staff put pay to that when they turned on the television loud to show football and then asked us to move to half the space as they had double booked the area.
After that we left the Lime Bar and split into smaller groups to find eateries that could cope with us at short notice.
It was wonderful that so many people turned up - especially those suffering from jetlag at the time. We really appreciate meeting up with old friends but also making new ones.
We had a really fun day and possible plans for a Return to Reading visit next year (at a different venue) are already afoot.
9. The End
Discworld Monthly would like to thank the Pixel Fairy for hosting our mailing list for us free of charge. For more information about the Pixel Fairy visit her website at thepixelfairy.uk
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