Newsletter 2 - November 2024 - Better Than a Poke in the Eye

1. Editorial

Welcome to issue 2 of Better Than a Poke in the Eye. In this issue we say a sad farewell to fellow Discworld fan Vic "Waddy" Wadmore. Waddy was a big personality in Discworld fandom and will be sorely missed by those whose life he touched with his generosity.

Ahead of the recently Assisted Dying bill vote in the House of Commons, Rob Wilkins (Terry's business manager and head of the Pratchett Estate) wrote an impassioned article about assisted dying in the Independent Newspaper. As we now know the private members bill passed the initial stage and will now go onto further scrutiny. It is not law yet, but it has got further than any previous attempt to adjust the law on this matter. This is an issue that Terry Pratchett was very passionate about and we are pleased that his legacy on this is progressing.

Last month we talked about the new Discworld TRPG on Kickstarter. The campaign has now finished and ended up raising just over £2.25 million. The original target was to hit £100,000. So it appears to be quite a success.

Rachel and I will be heading over to Bristol on Tuesday to see Rob Wilkins talk about the new Designing The Discworld Book and to celebrate Hogswatch.

This will be the last issue of 2024. So please enjoy whatever end of year celebration you celebrate. We wish you peace and happiness and will see you early in 2025.

Jason

Hello everyone, here is a few bits of information for you and a plea from me.

The Discworld name for the year 2025 was announced back in August. The Year 2025 will be known as the Year of the Luminous Lemur.

Don't forget you can order from our affiliate and associate links at any time. You will find them on our affiliates page.

The pennies we earn from sales goes towards paying for our website space and other associated costs. We don't take a wage from Better Than, but it is nice if it doesn't cost us anything to produce. We thank all of you who have purchased through us in the last year - it helped massively.

If you fancy writing a review of a fantasy production/book/tv show you've seen/read over the holiday period or in fact at any time, we will happily publish them if they are relevant.

We used to publish articles from readers in our past iteration and it is something we would love to do again. Anything you wish us to publish please email to us at info@betterthanapokeintheeye.co.uk

We had a ball at Empire for Sale last weekend in Leeds, helping The Cogsmouth Chronicle with their inaugural event. Snow, floods and a lack of a kettle didn't put anyone off doing it all again, so The Cogsmouth Chronicle is seriously thinking about a new location for 2025.

Talking of events, Fantasy Forest 2025 sold out in record breaking time. 18,000 tickets were snapped up in around a week. Tickets do turn up on the official reselling site Tixel, so if you wish to come and see the Portal to Discworld and all the delights of Fantasy Forest, keep your eyes peeled there. It is a huge event and we feel so honoured that we are part of it.

On a personal note.

Some of you are aware, I have been waiting for a surgery date to remove a troublesome organ. That surgery will happen just before Christmas. Hopefully I will be in and out on the same day and can recover at home. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I wish you all a wonderful December and we'll be back in January 2025.

Much Love

R x