Newsletter 4 - January 2025 - Better Than a Poke in the Eye
1. Editorial
Welcome to our January 2025 issue of Better Than a Poke in the Eye. In this month's newsletter we get an update about the Good Omens Graphic Novel, a review of Paul Kidby in conversation in Salisbury, quite a few updated events and I get a pleasant surprise in my day job.
This month production started on the third and final season of the Good Omens TV series. Season three will be a single 90 minute episode to wrap up the story. Season three will be the only season not to have Neil Gaiman's involvement. He is currently credited as being involved in the writing process. We suspect the rewrite of season 3 will have removed his voice from the production as much as possible.
It seems that Neil Gaiman's fall into disgrace continues with Dark Horse Comics stating that they are no longer publishing any more issues of Anansi Boys and will not publish the collected works.
The Pratchett Estate and the Kickstarter for the Good Omens Graphic novel have declared that Neil Gaiman will not receive any financial return from the Graphic Novel.
The production partners of Coraline the musical have issued the following statement: We have decided our production of Coraline – A Musical will not proceed. After careful consideration, we feel it would be impossible to continue in the context of the allegations against its original author.
David Tennant's podcast called "David Tennant does a podcast with", has removed the Neil Gaiman episode from its listings. The episode was recorded back in 2020.
Jasper Fforde has recently posted on his socials a new cover photo of the paperback of Shades of Grey. The new cover is designed to look more like Red Side Story.
It's been a hard start of the year for Discworld fans with the loss of two of our Discworld friends. Today Rachel and I went to Vic "Waddy" Wadmore's memorial and next month we will be going to the funeral of another Discworld fan Chris Gibbs. For a bit of Discworld trivia Chris was married to Dave Hayden who you may recognize as Professor Snakes Hayden from Unseen Academicals. Our thoughts go out to Dave and also to Chris' family at this difficult time.
I also just found out about another loss to the community. Sadly we recently lost Chris Yates. While he wasn't a fan, he was an actor himself he coached Discworld fan Jessica in various skits and monologues she performed at the Jamboree and the 2010 Hogswatch.
GNU Waddy, Chris Gibbs and Chris Yates.
We'll see you with more news, articles etc next month. Stay safe.
Jason
This last month has been very much in the vein of "Interesting Times" hasn't it?
First up, I am so proud that Jason's day job has rewarded all the work he does for fandom amongst other things. The last time he won an award was for Website of the Month for Issue 3 of Discworld Monthly some 27 years ago.
Secondly,
Good Omens fans have been dealing with the full extent of the Neil Gaiman allegations which various articles have detailed including an explosive one from Vulture.
If you are interested in my opinion on it, and in reading the various articles/podcasts then you can do so on my personal Substack page
I admit the amount of vitriol towards the survivors coming out from members of the fandom is upsetting for me as well as many others.
As we said on Facebook, we believe the victims. I think that sums up our stance on it all.
Lastly,
Of course Good Omens season 3 has started filming. A single 90 min episode is what the season will consist of. I know it's been very cold up in Bathgate where they have been filming. Let's hope Aziraphale and Crowley don't get Man Flu!
Much Love
R x
2. News Feed
Our news feed always has the most up to date information. Click on the titles below to read the full articles on our website.
Our editor Jason was recently recognized for his dedication to fandom
Our editor Jason was recently awarded with a personal achievement award by his day job due to his dedication to fandom and his work raising funds for the Wales Ape and Monkey Sanctuary. He was tricked in to the office by his line manager to ensure he could be suitably surprised. [Read More]
Good Omens Graphic Novel Update
It has been announced that due to the recent allegations against Neil Gaiman that he will not gain any financial benefits from the Good Omens Graphic Novel.
This will not have any affect on the continued production of the graphic novel and for a limited time fans that no longer wish to support the Graphic Novel will be able to cancel their pledges.
Good Omens Graphic Novel is now 100% controlled by the Pratchett estate.
The Portal to Discworld will be heading to Fantasy Forest this July!
The Portal to Discworld will be heading to Fantasy Forest this July!
Risk an Iconograph with The Luggage, run around with Rincewind or listen to Tales from Discworld, see it all brought to life before your very eyes.
Fantasy Forest has declared 2025, the Year of the Owl!
Tickets have sold out for this event, but there are always opportunities to buy some through their official waiting list on Tixel [Read More]
3. Articles
We have an extensive archive of articles we have written in our archive index
Paul Kidby in conversation with Duncan Walker, Salisbury Museum
Paul Kidby (Discworld Cover Artist), in conversation with Duncan Walker. Saturday 25th January at Salisbury Museum.
Duncan Walker is Lead Curator at the Russell Coates Museum in Bournemouth and seemed to be a natural at interviewing. The conversation started with slides showing Paul as a child and they began by talking about how he first got into illustration, from working in false teeth manufacturing, to painting roller blinds, and finally breaking into commercial illustration.
The slides then moved to showing pages from his latest book “Designing Terry Pratchett’s Discworld” and Paul talked about how he came to work with Terry. [Read More]
Night Watch to become a Penguin Classic in April.
Night Watch will become a penguin classic in April.
The Penguin Classics series includes the best of world literature, across genres, countries and centuries. Terry Pratchett joins a long and illustrious line of literature's greats – a hugely welcome acknowledgement of the brilliance of Sir Terry's literary canon.
Night Watch exemplifies Terry at his finest – with Commander Sam Vimes facing bloody revolutions and corruption, the novel satirises political power, while proving profoundly empathetic, encompassing the importance of community, connection, and the tenacity of the human spirit. [Read More]
A Blink of the Screen to be re-released with new cover.
A Blink of the Screen will be re-released on 3rd April 2025 with a new cover to match style of A Stroke of the Pen. [Read More]
Book news: A Tale of Wizards and Dragons (Coming soon)
Book news: A Tale of Wizards and Dragons (A collection of 3 Knight-Time stories taken from Dragons at Crumbling Castle and The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner) [Read More]
4. New, Updated and Upcoming Events
Remember to visit our events page to keep up to date with all the latest events / stage productions.
Designing Terry Pratchett's Discworld: In conversation with artist Paul Kidby in England
Dates: Saturday 25th January 2025
Location: Salisbury, England
Box Office: www.eventbrite.co.uk
Wyrd Sisters in Netherlands
Dates: Thursday 30th Jan - Sunday 2nd Feb 2025
Production Company: The InPlayers
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Website: polanentheater.nl
Box Office: shop.eventix.io
Night Watch in England
Dates: Thu 6th February - Sat 15th February 2025
Production Company: Progress Theatre
Location: Reading, England
Website: www.progresstheatre.co.uk
Box Office: www.ticketsource.co.uk
The Magic of Terry Pratchett (Milton Keynes) in England
Dates: Friday 14th February 2025
Location: Milton Keynes, England
Box Office: stables.org
Guards! Guards! in Netherlands
Dates: 14th - 15th February2025
Production Company: English Theatre Utrecht
Location: Utrecht, Netherlands
Website: englishtheatreutrecht.com
Box Office: englishtheatreutrecht.com
The Magic of Terry Pratchett (Southampton) in England
Dates: Saturday 15th February 2025
Location: Southampton, England
Website: www.marcburrows.co.uk
Box Office: theatticsouthampton.co.uk
Men At Arms in England
Dates: 19th - 22nd February 2025
Production Company: Midland Players
Location: Sheffield, England
Website: www.midlandplayers.co.uk
Box Office: www.ticketsource.co.uk
The Magic of Terry Pratchett in Australia in Australia
Dates: 21st February - 4th March 2025
Location: Adelaide, Australia
Website: www.marcburrows.co.uk
Box Office: adelaidefringe.com.au
Guards! Guards! in Netherlands
Dates: Saturday 1st - Sunday 2nd March 2025
Production Company: English Theatre Utrecht
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Website: englishtheatreutrecht.com
Box Office: badhuistheater.weticket.io
Wyrd Sisters in England
Dates: 28th - 31st May 2025
Production Company: (HAODS) Horsham Amateur Operatic & Dramatic Society
Location: Horsham, England
Website: haods.co.uk
Box Office: www.tickettailor.com
Feet of Clay in Scotland
Dates: 5th-8th June 2025
Production Company: Strawmoddie
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Box Office: www.cymerafestival.co.uk
Men at Arms in Wales
Dates: 12th-14th June 2025
Production Company: Vision Arts
Location: Milford Haven, Wales
Website: www.visionartswales.com
Box Office: www.ticketsource.co.uk
The Magic of Terry Pratchett at Chorley Theatre, Lancashire in England
Dates: 31st October 2025
Location: Lancashire, England
Website: www.facebook.com
Box Office: www.ticketsource.co.uk
5. Readers' Letters
If you wish to send us a reader letter send an email to info@betterthanapokeintheeye.co.uk
* From: illiad@sonic.net
* Subject: Hello from Northern California, friends,
It’s the time of year when the fog and gray rains are dreary enough that we start scouring garden catalogues and dreaming of being outside. I was doing a Google search on waterproof clay for garden art and came across a product called pal tiya – which apparently made a whole HUGE water feature of the Great A’tuin and a model/map of the Discworld. They just finished it last November. It’s huge, so it took ages, but they bundled up their videos of the project here, if you’d enjoy watching them or haven’t featured them before.
Thanks for continuing this newsletter – I’ve been lurking as a reader since I got to go to an American Discworld conference in Maryland in 2013, and it’s always fun to see what everyone is doing.
Best,
6. The End
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