Wossname -- June 2015 -- Main issue

[News and reviews about the works of Sir Terry Pratchett]

Wossname
Newsletter of the Klatchian Foreign Legion
June 2015 Main Issue (Volume 18, Issue 6, Post 2)

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WOSSNAME is a free publication offering news, reviews, and all the other 
stuff-that-fits pertaining to the works and activities of Sir Terry 
Pratchett. Originally founded by the late, great Joe Schaumburger for 
members of the worldwide Klatchian Foreign Legion and its affiliates, 
including the North American Discworld Society and other continental 
groups, Wossname is now for Discworld and Pratchett fans everywhere in 
Roundworld.

GNU Terry Pratchett: Sending Home, forever (and secreted in Wossname's 
own server)
Never forget: http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/

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Editor in Chief: Annie Mac
News Editor: Vera P
Newshounds: Mogg, Sir J of Croydon Below, the Shadow, Wolfiekins
Staff Writers: Asti, Pitt the Elder, Evil Steven Dread, Mrs Wynn-Jones
Staff Technomancers: Jason Parlevliet, Archchancellor Neil, DJ Helpful
Book Reviews: Annie Mac, Drusilla D'Afanguin, Your Name Here
Puzzle Editor: Tiff (still out there somewhere)
Bard in Residence: Weird Alice Lancrevic
Emergency Staff: Steven D'Aprano, Jason Parlevliet
World Membership Director: Steven D'Aprano (in his copious spare time)

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INDEX:

01) QUOTES OF THE MONTH
02) EDITOR'S LETTER
03) THE LONG UTOPIA NEWS
04) ODDS AND SODS
05) MORE PAEANS
06) "BE MORE TERRY": WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?
07) THE STUNNING DISCWORLD COVER ART OF MARC SIMONETTI
08) ALZHEIMER'S NEWS
09) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS AND UPDATES
10) DISCWORLD ARTS AND CRAFTS NEWS
11) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS UPDATES AND REMINDERS
12) ROUNDWORLD TALES: RAILWAY ENGINEERS
13) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
14) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
15) CLOSE

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01) QUOTES OF THE MONTH

"Things that try to look like things often do look more like things than 
things. Well-known fact."

– Granny, in Wyrd Sisters

"To reiterate – No I don't intend on writing more Discworld novels, or 
giving anyone else permission to do so. They are sacred to dad. I will 
be involved with spin-offs, adaptations and tie-ins, but that's it. 
Discworld is his legacy. I shall make my own."

– Rhianna Pratchett

"I wanted to give the cover design of 'The Shepherd's Crown' a fresh 
spin and reboot the look to build excitement for this last novel, while 
still staying true to the spirit of Pratchett's Discworld series. 
Complementing each story with a bold iconic cover felt like the best way 
to distill the lush, complex and detailed narratives."

– Jim Tierney, USA cover art designer for The Shepherd's Crown

"To keep someone alive against their wishes is the ultimate indignity."

– Professor Stephen Hawking on the right to die

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02) A LETTER FROM YOUR EDITOR

A packed issue this month! But before we begin...

Reader Rob McColley sent a query: "I see that Harper/Isis produced a 
Stephen Briggs version of 'Thief of Time.'
I assume that means the original version (Harlan Ellison, Stefan 
Rudnicki, Christopher Cerf, et al) will live on forever, but only on 
increasingly dusty cassette tapes...?" After some enquiries on Rob's 
behalf I found out some details about the older versions: Thief of Time, 
read by Christopher Cazenove and Karesa McElheny, was released by 
Fantastic Audio on 23/4/01 and consisted of 8 cassettes (1-57453-431-9). 
Night Watch, read by Stefan Rudnicki, with Gabrielle De Cuir, and Harlan 
Ellison, was released by Fantastic Audio on 1/2/03 (1-57453-534-X). 
Fantastic Audio's license expired and as they didn't renew, these 
versions won't be republished. Apparently the audiobooks weren't popular 
– not surprising since there was little to no promotion for them. If 
anyone who owns these originals, especially ToT, is willing to send Rob 
a copy, let me know!

*

Last month's main issue featured a Q & A by The Guardian's Sam Jordison 
with Science of Discworld co-author Jack Cohen. Now it's Ian Stewart's 
turn. See item 4.3.

*

Stephen Briggs will be the voice of the unabridged UK and USA versions 
of The Shepherd's Crown. For a glimpse of his studio technique, go to 
item 14.

*

Remember Steve and Vanessa, who were doing a sponsored fundraising 
bungee jump earlier this month in aid of Alzheimer's Research UK and the 
Orangutan Foundation, and also in honour of Sir Pterry? The good news is 
that 1) everything went smoothly on the day and 2) they have so far 
raised £340.00 via their JustGiving page, which is 113% of their team 
target of £300.00. Well done the pair of'em! And if you happen to find 
some spare change down the back of your settee, O Reader, and are at a 
loss about what to do with it, their page is still active: 
https://www.justgiving.com/teams/StevenVanessaBungee

*

You may have heard of a high-profile Alzheimer's awareness telly advert 
starring Sir Pterry and a number of other well-known media people who 
have lost (or are losing) dear ones to the Embuggerance. I finally 
caught up with it and I have to say that I found it less than 
impressive, not least due to its being coloured by some rather 
out-of-date stutter-edit techniques that give it – for me, at least – an 
uncomfortable "your grandparents trying to be hip" feel, and in my 
opinion Alzheimer's UK would have done better to get a film visionary of 
the quality of Danny Boyle on board to give the message maximum punch. 
But if it this advert makes any difference at all to the wider world's 
awareness of Alzheimer's and to supporting research into treatments, 
then it will have been worthwhile. See item 8.1 for the story of the advert.

And now, on with the show.

– Annie Mac, Editor

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03) THE LONG UTOPIA NEWS

The Long Utopia, fourth instalment in the Long Earth series by Terry 
Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, is now available in hardcover (Random 
House RRP is £18.99). The Guardian has reprinted the first chapter by 
permission:

"In February 2052, in the remote Long Earth: On another world, under a 
different sky – in another universe, whose distance from the Datum, the 
Earth of mankind, was nevertheless counted in the mundanity of human 
steps – Joshua Valiente lay beside his own fire. Hunting creatures 
grunted and snuffled down in the valley bottom. The night was purple 
velvet, alive with insects and spiky with invisible jiggers and 
no-see-ums that made kamikaze dives on every exposed inch of Joshua's flesh.

"Joshua had been in this place two weeks already, and he didn't 
recognize a damn one of the beasts he shared this world with. In fact he 
wasn't too sure where he was, either geographically or stepwise; he 
hadn't troubled to count the Earths he'd passed through. When you were 
on a solitary sabbatical, precise locations kind of weren't the point. 
Even after more than three decades of travelling the Long Earth he 
evidently hadn't exhausted its wonders. Which was making him think. 
Joshua was going to be fifty years old this year. Anniversaries like 
that made a man reflective. 'Why did it all have to be so strange?' He 
spoke aloud. He was alone on the planet; why the hell not speak aloud? 
'All these parallel worlds, and stuff. What's it all for? And why did it 
all have to happen to me?' And why was he getting another headache?

"As it happened, the answers to some of those questions were out there, 
both in the strange sideways geography of the Long Earth, and buried 
deep in Joshua's own past. In particular, a partial answer about the 
true nature of the Long Earth had already begun to be uncovered as far 
back as July of the year 2036, out in the High Meggers..."

To read the full chapter, go to http://bit.ly/1FNYSSo

To buy The Long Utopia directly from the publisher, go to 
http://bit.ly/1LDy91W and click on the Buy Now button.

To buy from Waterstones at a special UK price of £14.99, go to 
http://bit.ly/1Ina7pU and click on the Add to Basket button; Waterstones 
also offer a "click and collect" option on the same page.

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04) ODDS AND SODS

A rather large assortment of them this month!

4.1 THE TEACHER WHO INSPIRED TERRY PRATCHETT TO WRITE

By Patrick Sawer in The Telegraph:

"During her lifelong career as a teacher Janet Campbell-Dick would 
frequently say that if she managed to influence just one of her pupils 
for the better it would all be worth while. Well, given that one of 
those pupils went on to sell 85 million copies of his fiction worldwide, 
she can safely be said to have more than achieved that heartfelt 
ambition. That pupil was the young Terry Pratchett, who, after leaving 
her care, went on to become one of Britain's most popular writers... The 
Telegraph revealed last month that the teacher was in fact Janet 
Campbell-Dick, known to many as May. Much of the school's archives were 
lost when it changed name in 1970 and underwent extensive rebuilding. 
Although there are a few teachers at the school who remember her – and 
were able to tell this newspaper her name – all of Mrs Campbell-Dick's 
contemporaries are either dead or long retired. Now, however, we have 
managed to piece together details of her career after tracing her 
widower, Alistair. 'May was an enthusiast and she inspired the ones who 
had some spark of interest,' he said. 'It comes as no surprise that she 
commented favourably on the writing of the young Terry Pratchett and 
encouraged him to write more. She would have been so gratified to know 
that he happily remembered the inspiration she gave him.'...

"This newspaper revealed last month that Sir Terry used some of his 
teachers as inspiration for the characters in his bestselling Discworld 
fantasy series, including Mr Ward, who served as headmaster between 1958 
and 1983. He became Evil Harry Dread from the Last Hero, the 27th novel 
in the series... Mrs Campbell-Dick left Wycombe Technical high School in 
1961, going on to a number of other schools before retiring from 
teaching 1965. She died in 1985, at the age of 76, unaware of the 
profound influence she had had on Pratchett..."

http://bit.ly/1KRDuPG

4.2 ON THE OVERHEAD: UPDATES FROM LOHAN'S PRATCHETT

By Andrew Tridgell for The Register:

"The Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) mission is in good 
shape after the final test flight of our Vulture 2 spaceplane's avionics 
– dubbed PRATCHETT – soared to 31,050m (101,870ft) above Colorado on 
Saturday. Our US allies at Edge Research Laboratory piggybacked the 
PRATCHETT payload onto their own EDGE 22 flight, carrying kit for the 
ongoing 'Balloon Enabled Atmospheric Conditions Observation Network' 
(BEACON) project. On board for PRATCHETT was a Pixhawk autopilot 
avionics rig with the newly-attached 900MHz ultra-long-range radio. The 
plan was to do a second test of the former, to ensure the batteries and 
servos really were up to the job, and to connect to the avionics via the 
latter – allowing autopilot brain surgeon Andrew Tridgell to monitor the 
flight live from his sofa in Australia... The flight launched from 
Colorado Springs East Airport early on Saturday afternoon - later than 
normal to allow Andrew to tune in at a reasonably plausible hour of the 
morning Down Under... After a slight delay while Tridge and Edge's David 
Patterson fiddled with the radio rig (see details below), the flight got 
into the air without mishap, due no doubt to the team appeasing the 
stratospheric gods with the traditional "mighty orb worship" ceremony... 
Thanks to to light winds at altitude, the payloads came down just 25km 
from the launch point, having hit a heady 101,000ft (roughly, in old 
money) before balloon burst... It's worth noting that the custom 
"Pixhawk Avoidance of Nearby Tree System" (PANTS) arboreal avoidance 
algorithm worked a treat, because despite the presence of potentially 
magnetic trees in the landing area..."

The entire article is five pages and includes video, photographs and 
diagrams. Great fun!

www.theregister.co.uk/2015/06/16/pratchett_flight_results/

4.3 IAN STEWART TO CHAIR SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE (PLUS A BONUS Q&A)

An announcement from the Royal Society:

"The Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books has today announced 
the judges for this year's Prize. Award-winning author Sarah Waters will 
be one of six judges chaired by mathematician and Royal Society Fellow 
Ian Stewart, widely known for the Science of Discworld series, which he 
co-wrote with Terry Pratchett and Jack Cohen... The Prize has worked 
with many eminent judges over its illustrious 28-year history, among 
them Ian McEwan, Terry Pratchett, Brian Cox, David Attenborough, Tracy 
Chevalier and Michael Frayn. Founded in 1988, (and previously known 
under various banners including the Royal Society Prize for Science 
Books, Aventis Prize and Rhone-Poulenc Prize), the Prize celebrates 
outstanding popular science books from around the world and is open to 
authors of science books written for a non-specialist audience. Over the 
decades it has championed writers such as Stephen Hawking, Jared 
Diamond, Stephen Jay Gould and Bill Bryson..."

http://bit.ly/1FzPv8R

Sam Jordison of The Guardian chaired a recent Q&A with Professor 
Stewart. Some extracts:

Sam: What were the most interesting things you learned while writing the 
Science of The Discworld books?

Ian: That dinosaurs don't fly – well, not horizontally... No, actually, 
what all three of us learned was 'what science is'. When we did SoD2 we 
decided to have a pair of chapters in the middle where the wizards found 
out what science was. Believing this to be routine, we left those until 
the rest of the book had been written. Then Terry asked: "well, what is 
science then?" and we realised it wasn't going to be at all routine. 
Eventually Jack and I got round to the idea that science is about 
proving yourself wrong - or better yet, proving some other scientist 
wrong. I said I always told my PhD students that I knew they'd got their 
thesis on the right track when they discovered something I'd told them, 
or better still published, was wrong. Then I mentioned my current 
research on animal locomotion - trotting horse, off the ground 
sometimes? (Yes). And some old experiments with insects walking on a 
rotating cylinder covered in soot, to leave tracks. Well, Terry decided 
this was the way to go. So we had an Ephebian philosopher who had argued 
on 'pure thought' grounds that a trotting horse never left the ground 
entirely, and a student who desperately wanted to prove the great man 
right. So he (deep breath) DID AN EXPERIMENT which was like the insect 
one but using a horse. Running on a beach. Suspended form a frame on 
rollers. The beach rolling past underneath on a conveyor belt... And, of 
dear, it turned out the Great Man was wrong. So the student walked into 
the sea and drowned himself.  At which point we could say: THAT'S NOT 
SCIENCE!!! A true scientist would give their right arm to prove their 
PhD supervisor wrong! We also realised that if we'd thought of this 
scenario earlier, the whole book would have been different.

Underminer: Discworld was fiction: why did you decide to get involved in 
writing about its Science? As a SF/Fantasy series, it didn't really have 
to follow any scientific rules other than those of Sir Terry's and I 
wonder whether writing about its Science restricted the way Discworld 
developed thereafter.

Ian: Very good question, and it was what Terry asked! Part of it was a 
growing vogue for 'science of X' books (X = Star Trek, X-files...) and 
we felt we could do at least as well. Part was the fact that although 
there's no science IN Discworld, there's a lot BEHIND it. Ponder 
Stibbons is a science nerd in wizard's garb, for example. HEX is a 
computer – of sorts. But on DW they think differently. It was only when 
we figured out that the wizards could invent Roundworld, and the science 
could all happen inside that, that we decided the idea would work.

Jericho999: Do you think that writing the Science Of the Discworld books 
changed the way Terry Pratchett thought about the Discworld? Did you 
notice any of the ideas you talked about cropping up in any novels, for 
instance?

Ian: Sometimes! It started before we got together on the SoD books, in 
fact. When Greebo is shut in a box and everyone discovers there are 
THREE states for a cat in box: alive, dead, and absolutely bloody 
furious –- Jack and I had been talking to Terry about Schrodinger's cat 
and quantum theory. He'd clearly run with the idea and found his own 
variation. Every so often we'd see something in one of the DW books and 
think "ah! I know where that came from!" Terry has often said (and 
recently written) that writers steal (oops, sorry, pay homage) ideas 
from everyone they know. We stole some of his and he paid homage to a 
few of ours.

To read the whole session, go to http://bit.ly/1KmU3F0

4.4 THE CZECH TERRY PRATCHETT FAN CLUB'S "RAISING STEAM" EVENT

A special report for Wossname, by Dana Linhartova:

On Sunday, May 17, 2015 the newly translated Discworld novel Raising 
Steam was christened in a very stylish way. Publisher Vlastimir Talas 
(Talpress), translator Jan Kanturek, Terry Pratchett Club members and 
other friends of Terry's work went to the Railway Museum in Luzna near 
Rakovnik.

The trip to the museum was of course taken by train. Originally the 
steam train "Parrot" should have taken us, but unfortunately for all 
involved, the day before the locomotive rolled out steam from the wrong 
places, so we had to settle for a trip to with ordinary diesel locomotive.

But no-one was disappointed in the end, because we used another steam 
locomotive, "Kremak", for an hour's ride from Luzna to Sochov and back. 
Besides watching the hitching of locomotives, many of the attendees also 
enjoyed the ride by leaning from open car windows and observing how the 
train blows clouds of steam while puffing towards its destination.

Enthusiasts who were hanging out from the windows, although not covered 
in soot like those in the book, had no lack of settled coal-dust in 
their hair after the ride.

After the arrival of the steam train back to Luzna, the new Discworld 
book was christened quite unconventionally – Vlastimir Talas baptized it 
with water emitted from steam locomotive by its engineer. The Terry 
Pratchett Club then handed Jan Kanturek a belated birthday present, a 
ship-shaped bottle full of his favorite drink – rum.

The trip back to Prague was accompanied by singing, first several 
Discworld songs and then a selection of campfire songs. During one 
Discworld blues song Jan Kanturek even used his "whiskey voice" and for 
a while played guitar. Due to the fact that we sat in the car without a 
separate compartment intended only for invited fans of Terry Pratchett, 
a good vibe lasted until the end of the ride.

Despite the initial ill fortune of a faulty steam locomotive, it was an 
excellent and unique event, which was attended by around 80 fans of 
Terry Pratchett and steam trains.

[Editor's note: the next big Czech Terry Pratchett Fan Club event will 
be the "Mrakoplas kontra Alzheimer" (Rincewind versus Alzheimer's) 
fundraising concert on 7th October 2015, and after that a fundraising 
charity costume ball on 13th November 2015. All proceeds from these 
events – more than matched by Sir Pterry's Czech publishers Talpress – 
will go to the Alzheimer's Disease Centre there. Watch this space for 
details...]

4.5 THE PRATCHETT LONDON MURAL: UPDATE

In the London Evening Standard:

"Thousands of people shared pictures of Jim Vision and Dr Zadok's mural 
in Brick Lane when it was in its early stages. The artists started work 
on the mural shortly after the acclaimed fantasy novelist died from 
Alzheimer's disease in March... The artwork also serves to commemorate 
artist Josh Kirby, whose drawings adorned Pratchett's book covers before 
his death in 2001. It covers the walls of the underground Pillow Cinema 
– by the former Shoreditch Station – with characters such as inept 
wizard Rincewind and magic matriarch Granny Weatherwax. The dry-humoured 
Death, and The Luggage – a travelling case with dozens of tiny legs – 
also make an appearance. 'It was very inspirational reading 
[Pratchett's] books growing up," Vision told the Standard last month. 
"They present a pretty anarchic world. It's all pretty fantastic – it 
takes things from our world and twists it into something quite 
incredible. It's really important to commemorate people's lives, 
especially somebody who brought so much to UK literature.' The response 
to the mural – pictures of which were shared across the internet after 
the Standard featured it before Easter – was a surprise, he added. 'We 
didn't do it expecting it to be shared,' he said. 'We're doing it for 
personal reasons – but it's fantastic when people appreciate what you 
do.' Both painters work under the banner End of the Line, a street art 
collective operating out of a workshop in east London..."

http://bit.ly/1AyD5kE

In This Is London:

"The mural features a montage of characters from Pratchett's books, 
including Rincewind the wizard, the Luggage and Death, alongside a 
portrait of the man himself. After creating a buzz on social media 
during its early stages, the completed tribute has continued to receive 
'great feedback and people are still sharing images of the mural on 
Instagram and beyond', said a spokeswoman for End of the Line..."

http://bit.ly/1FEUlDX

...and here be a fine three-minute video of End of the Line founders Jim 
Vision and Matilda Tickner-Du, talking about the why and how of bringing 
the mural to the world. Includes photos of the finished mural:

http://bit.ly/1ctbd61

4.6 GENDER FORUM PRATCHETT AND PHILOSOPHY ESSAYS

If you liked Philosophy and Terry Pratchett and crave more Pratchett- 
and Discworld-centric academic philosophy essays, or if you've not 
managed to get hold of the book but are interested in the subject 
matter, here we have some pieces in gender forum [sic], an online, peer 
reviewed academic journal dedicated to the discussion of gender issues, 
which offers "a free-of-charge platform for the discussion of 
gender-related topics in the fields of literary and cultural production, 
media and the arts as well as politics, the natural sciences, medicine, 
the law, religion and philosophy." The four essays are long but well 
worth a read.

Lucas Boulding: "I can't be having with that": The Ethical Implications 
of Professional Witchcraft in Pratchett's Fiction – http://bit.ly/1FNQRvT

Audrey Taylor: Trapped: Fairytale in Pratchett and Lackey – 
http://bit.ly/1IAQls8

Katherine Lashley: Monstrous Women: Feminism in Terry Pratchett's 
Monstrous Regiment – http://bit.ly/1G9sVGL

Imola Bulgozdi: "Some Genetics Are Passed on Via the Soul:" The Curious 
Case of Susan Sto-Helit – http://bit.ly/1S0PiU5

4.7 REVIEW: A BLINK OF THE SCREEN

By Genevieve Valentine in The New York Times:

"Though Pratchett's tongue stays firmly in his cheek, that's not 
entirely self-deprecation; many of these stories are by their nature 
slight, and serve more as markers than as works in themselves. For every 
interesting foray into hard science fiction, there's a formulaic comedy 
about the author whose character comes to life, or a brief, surreal 
thought experiment about what it must be like to be trapped inside a 
Victorian Christmas card. Some are darker than one might imagine from 
the man whose Discworld seems like such fun, though readers who have 
kept up with those novels will recognize many of these early exercises 
of Pratchett's satirical eye. And if it's Discworld you've come for, 'A 
Blink of the Screen' has some charmers, gathering a brief but 
enlightening collection of short stories and ephemera from fairly far 
afield — including a 'national anthem' written for BBC Radio, a reminder 
of Pratchett's breadth of pop-culture influence. (Similarly, one of the 
non-­Discworld pieces comes from an exhibition at the National Portrait 
Gallery.) The Discworld stories, unsurprisingly, are the collection's 
gems. In particular, an outtake from 'The Sea and Little Fishes,' which 
centers on Pratchett's hall-of-fame combination of Granny Weatherwax, 
Nanny Ogg, bureaucracy and magic, feels like a familiar page in the 
album full of beloved faces..."

http://nyti.ms/1IwkcBV

4.8 REVIEW: THE LONG UTOPIA

On Flickering Myth, Villordsutch reviews The Long Utopia:

"Returning to The Long Utopia however, which is the latest in the line 
of the books written by Sir Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, and it's 
here we land at the penultimate chapter of this saga and it does 
certainly have the feeling that this universe is all slowly coming to a 
close. The main characters are all maturing and as with life everything 
is aging, people are taking their own path and separating or even more 
brutally…dying (or perhaps not).  Don't be dissuaded from The Long 
Utopia believing it's all doom and gloom – you don't need to be 
listening to Radiohead's The Bends to tap along with this book. At the 
core of this book there is still have both a rather excellent science 
fiction story and also a life story – with some very witty warm humour – 
threaded throughout this book courtesy of the amalgamation of Baxter and 
Pratchett. Now who should be buying the book?  Is this for the fans of 
Stephen Baxter or for fans of Sir Terry Pratchett?  This is clearly a 
sci-fi book and it isn't a Discworld novel, however neither was Good 
Omens, and both gentleman have worked well together here with Sir Terry 
bringing his unique observant humour –  warm/cutting/subtle – and his 
life travels to Mr. Baxter's expertly crafted fictional universe.  There 
is warmth to where there should be cold steel and there are space 
elevators to where the Wizards should have failed in an attempt to be a 
beat a Clacks Tower. It really does work surprising well..."

http://bit.ly/1JXmZmF

4.9 HOLLYWOOD HEDGEHOGS AND BOOK SCORPIONS

Remember those clever chickens who evolved in Sir Pterry's short story 
"Hollywood Chickens"? It seems that hedgehogs can evolve, too:

"The last hedgehog colony in London has been found – and is thought to 
have survived thanks to a fear of crossing roads. There are 15,000 
hedgehogs, killed on UK roads every year. Numbers have dropped from 
30million in the 1950s to about 1million. Now radio tags have shown that 
this group, in London's Regent's Park, have not ventured out of the 
park. Tagging revealed they cover up to a mile a night on the hunt for 
worms, beetles, slugs, caterpillars and other tasty titbits. Males 
travel particularly far in May, when they are courting. There is also no 
shortage of food in the park, with the typical weight well above 
average. Park staff have changed grass-cutting routines, to provide some 
wilder areas suitable for foraging and nesting. Clare Bowen, of the 
Royal Parks Foundation, said: 'All this would suggest they steer clear 
of busy roads.' The hedgehogs were counted by volunteers who went out 
with torches during the night. After the creatures froze in the bright 
light, they were examined and some were tagged. About 30 hedgehogs were 
counted but it is thought there could be up to 50 living in the park..."

http://dailym.ai/1F3mK31

Forget the Discworld's .303 bookworm – Roundworld has book scorpions! 
Read about them on the Scientific American blog:

"Properly known as pseudoscorpions, these tiny, tiny creatures have a 
fondness for old books, because old books also happen to contain 
delicious booklice and dust mites. And they're really not book 
scorpions… at all because they can't hurt us, and they've basically been 
performing a free pest control service since humans started stacking 
excessive numbers of dusty, bound-together piles of paper along our 
walls and nightstands. This arrangement works because old book-makers 
used to bind books using a starch-based glue that booklice and dust 
mites love, so without a healthy population of book scorpions patrolling 
your collection, those gross parasites are probably having a horrible, 
silent field-day chewing them all apart. Of the 3,300 or so known 
species of pseudoscorpion, the most commonly encountered is Chelifer 
cancroides. Found all over the world and growing to no more than 4 
millimetres in length, C. cancroides looks just like a scorpion, thanks 
to its enormous pair of long, pincer-like claws called pedipalps. C. 
cancroides's pedipalps are twice as long as its legs, but it still 
manages to carry them right up in front of its head or out beside it 
like a nice warm thin, spiky and uncomfortable hug. When they're not 
patrolling old books or supporting oversized appendages with their tiny 
heads, book scorpions are having weird sex..."

http://bit.ly/1JBZb7A

4.10 THE "OOOK" AWARD: CAN YOU HELP?

The Orangutan Foundation is proposing a "Sir Terry Pratchett 'OOOK' 
Award For The Conservation Of Orangutans And Their Habitat". Read it here:

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 "000k' 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 
'000k' – 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 NM1 4RP

By phone: +44 (0)20 7724 2912

Via our JustGiving page dedicated to Terry's memory:
https://www.justgiving.com/Rowan-Sharp/

Via our website
http://www.orangutan.org.uk/how-to-help/make-a-donation

4.11 REMINDER: "DISCWORLD AND BEYOND" IN LUTON

The Discworld & Beyond touring exhibition will be at Wardown Park 
Museum, Wardown Park, Old Bedford Road, Luton, LU2 7HA (Tel. 01582 
546722) from 25th July–1st November 2015. Entry is free!

"'Discworld & Beyond' features interesting and colourful artwork created 
by Paul Kidby for Sir Terry Pratchett's popular comic fantasy series as 
well as a range of work from his own projects, including the recently 
published book 'The Charmed Realm'. Drawings, oil paintings and 
watercolours will be on display."

http://bit.ly/1LnVfWN

http://bit.ly/1SfgfUV

4.12 NEIL GAIMAN ON THE IMPORTANCE OF LITERACY

Good Omens co-author Neil Gaiman recently gave the Reading Agency's 
annual lecture, talking about the future of reading and libraries with 
particular regard to on young people:

"I was once in New York, and I listened to a talk about the building of 
private prisons – a huge growth industry in America. The prison industry 
needs to plan its future growth – how many cells are they going to need? 
How many prisoners are there going to be, 15 years from now? And they 
found they could predict it very easily, using a pretty simple 
algorithm, based on asking what percentage of 10 and 11-year-olds 
couldn't read. And certainly couldn't read for pleasure. It's not one to 
one: you can't say that a literate society has no criminality. But there 
are very real correlations. And I think some of those correlations, the 
simplest, come from something very simple. Literate people read 
fiction... There were noises made briefly, a few years ago, about the 
idea that we were living in a post-literate world, in which the ability 
to make sense out of written words was somehow redundant, but those days 
are gone: words are more important than they ever were: we navigate the 
world with words, and as the world slips onto the web, we need to 
follow, to communicate and to comprehend what we are reading. People who 
cannot understand each other cannot exchange ideas, cannot communicate, 
and translation programs only go so far.

"The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to 
teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable 
activity. And that means, at its simplest, finding books that they 
enjoy, giving them access to those books, and letting them read them. I 
don't think there is such a thing as a bad book for children. Every now 
and again it becomes fashionable among some adults to point at a subset 
of children's books, a genre, perhaps, or an author, and to declare them 
bad books, books that children should be stopped from reading. I've seen 
it happen over and over; Enid Blyton was declared a bad author, so was 
RL Stine, so were dozens of others. Comics have been decried as 
fostering illiteracy. It's tosh. It's snobbery and it's foolishness. 
There are no bad authors for children, that children like and want to 
read and seek out, because every child is different. They can find the 
stories they need to, and they bring themselves to stories. A hackneyed, 
worn-out idea isn't hackneyed and worn out to them. This is the first 
time the child has encountered it. Do not discourage children from 
reading because you feel they are reading the wrong thing. Fiction you 
do not like is a route to other books you may prefer. And not everyone 
has the same taste as you...

"Fiction can show you a different world. It can take you somewhere 
you've never been. Once you've visited other worlds, like those who ate 
fairy fruit, you can never be entirely content with the world that you 
grew up in. Discontent is a good thing: discontented people can modify 
and improve their worlds, leave them better, leave them different. And 
while we're on the subject, I'd like to say a few words about escapism. 
I hear the term bandied about as if it's a bad thing. As if "escapist" 
fiction is a cheap opiate used by the muddled and the foolish and the 
deluded, and the only fiction that is worthy, for adults or for 
children, is mimetic fiction, mirroring the worst of the world the 
reader finds herself in. If you were trapped in an impossible situation, 
in an unpleasant place, with people who meant you ill, and someone 
offered you a temporary escape, why wouldn't you take it? And escapist 
fiction is just that: fiction that opens a door, shows the sunlight 
outside, gives you a place to go where you are in control, are with 
people you want to be with (and books are real places, make no mistake 
about that); and more importantly, during your escape, books can also 
give you knowledge about the world and your predicament, give you 
weapons, give you armour: real things you can take back into your 
prison. Skills and knowledge and tools you can use to escape for real..."

To read the full transcript of Gaiman's lecture, go to:

http://bit.ly/1bPaPqS

4.13 FAREWELLING THE VOICE OF DEATH: CHRISTOPHER LEE OBITUARY

In which the BBC joins us in saying hail and farewell to Sir Christopher 
Lee, who died at the great age of 93 after a long and wonderful career 
spanning a range from a Prince of Darkness (Count Dracula) to another 
Prince of Darkness (the voice of Discworld's Death, in several animated 
and live productions) by way of James Bond villainry, JRR Tolkien 
wizardry, and yes, award-winning heavy metal:

"Christopher Frank Carandini Lee was born on 27 May 1922, in the 
upmarket Belgravia area of London. Coincidentally, the year of his birth 
also saw the first screen appearance of the vampire in F W Murnau's 
silent classic, Nosferatu. Lee's father was a Colonel in the Kings Royal 
Rifle Corps while his mother, Contessa Estelle Marie Carandini di 
Sarzano, was a noted Edwardian beauty whose image had been painted and 
sculpted by a number of artists. His maternal ancestors had been given 
the right, by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, to bear the arms of the Holy 
Roman Empire. He spent part of his childhood in Switzerland, where his 
mother had taken him following the breakup of his parents' marriage, but 
later returned to England where he attended Wellington College in Berkshire.

"In 1939, he volunteered to fight for Finland against the invading 
Soviet army but he saw no action and returned home to join the Royal Air 
Force. Prevented from training as a pilot, due to poor eyesight, he 
became an intelligence officer, finishing the war as a Flight 
Lieutenant. His parents believed he was too foreign looking to succeed 
as an actor but, thanks to some help from the then Italian Ambassador, 
his mother's second cousin, he signed a seven-year contract with the 
Rank Organisation. It was to be a long road to stardom; he set out to 
learn his craft in a string of minor theatre appearances, small film 
roles and even as a singer where he was able to demonstrate his fine 
baritone. He already had 50 film appearances under his belt when, in 
1957, he was signed by Hammer Films, which was embarking upon a series 
of re-makes of classic horror yarns..."

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-12446345

[Let us also not forget Sir Christopher's amazing song-and-dance turn in 
The Return of Captain Invincible, a film very, very beloved by Sir 
Pterry. If you have never seen it, enjoy: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9MuEA2eF8c – Ed.]

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

05) MORE PAEANS TO TERRY PRATCHETT

Here be an authorised reprint of Colin Smythe's tribute in Locus 
Magazine, for those of you who may not have had access to the magazine:

"I have lost an old and long-standing friend and author, having known 
Terry since 1968, he then just under 20, me 26: we signed our contract 
for The Carpet People in January 1969, although it did not get published 
until November 1971 because I had asked him to illustrate it, and that 
took some time. Colin Smythe Ltd was hardback publisher for his first 
five books (from The Carpet People, to the first two Discworld novels, 
The Colour of Magic, and The Light Fantastic) and then from 1987 I was 
his agent, so we've worked together for nearly 50 years, most of both 
our lives. And during that time he made sure to keep me on my toes – he 
told me he wanted me to be his agent as I was the one he distrusted 
least. And at the end of the second Discworld Convention in Liverpool in 
1998, he confided to me that he could not find anything about my 
performance there – my first ever Con – to complain about. Such were his 
compliments. Later, he made me promise that I would outlive him. Sadly, 
I have kept that undertaking.

"It is hard to look at a future without Terry, his humour, wicked 
bubble-pricking comments, our discussions on every subject under the 
sun, his amazing inventiveness, and no longer to have the pleasure of 
reading every new work almost before everyone else, to be amazed by his 
style, the deftness of his puns – how can one resist a criminal cleric 
who steals the altar gold from the Temple of Offler and has it made into 
a golden trumpet to enchant the world until the god caught up with him 
and ... would that felonious monk be remembered?... not a pianist, but 
perfect. What light-bulb cross-wiring produced that link, one of only 
two occasions he used 'felonious' in his books? I asked him when I first 
read that passage in Soul Music how it came to him and he could not say 
what created it. It arrived, without pre-planning.

"Every time I finished reading a new book, I did so with a sense of 
immense satisfaction and gratefulness at having read yet another work by 
a master, the tremendous feeling of superb craftsmanship in every book, 
this amazing skill that produced a work that can be read again and again 
over the years without ever feeling a loss of admiration, and usually 
discovering some historical or literary reference or joke that had 
passed me by on earlier readings. I miss him, but my sorrow takes second 
place to the relief I feel that he has been freed from the clutches of a 
horrible disease."

[Many thanks to Tim Pratt, editor of Locus, for giving us permission to 
reprint in full – and to Colin, of course! – Ed.]

*

Neil Gaiman on Sir Pterry's anger, again, by Rebecca Hawkes in The 
Telegraph:

"Gaiman was speaking about Pratchett, who died on March 12 after a long 
  battle with Alzheimer's, during a talk at this year's Hay Festival, 
chaired by the Guardian's Claire Armitstead. 'You'd know you were 
talking to someone who had never met the real Terry Pratchett when they 
started telling you what a sweet man he was,' Gaiman  said. 'He was a 
thousand glorious things. He was so much more  interesting than "a sweet 
man".' Paying tribute to his late friend's drive and anger, Gaiman 
added: 'He once said to me that anger, for him, was an engine. It was 
something that drove him. [He had] this amazing, seething anger. You 
could see that there were people who had pissed him off when he was 11, 
that he hadn't yet forgiven. And not only had he not forgiven them – 
he'd stored it up. He knew exactly why he hated them, exactly why they 
were wrong ... and he'd put it in a Discworld book.' Speaking about the 
years Pratchett spent working for Alzheimer's charities, and raising 
awareness of the disease, Gaiman said: 'What was lovely with Terry was 
that he would take that rage and he would do something with it ... He 
thought that people were good. He thought people were worth saving, 
worth investigating, worth understanding. He  thought that people should 
not be lied to and tricked. He thought that people were worth it, and I 
think that was the driving force behind Terry's rage, and his books, and 
the work he did for Alzheimer's.'..."

http://bit.ly/1JBgwNT

*

By Graeme Neill ("Pratchett Job"), in The Guardian:

"Since October, I have been reading Pratchett almost exclusively, and I 
have found out that my younger self had decent taste in books. When I 
first picked them up in the early 90s, I was attracted by the humour, 
the inspired puns, the fantastical and apocalyptic nature of the books 
(four of Pratchett's first five Discworld novels have a world-ending 
threat), and the sense that I was reading something a bit adult. It 
turns out I missed a lot first time around: the literary allusions, the 
Macbeth homage that underpins Wyrd Sisters, or his sustained attack 
across several novels on a ridiculous figure known as Bloody Stupid 
Johnson (I still don't know what he had against the author of The 
Unfortunates). I was unaware, too, of his love of craftsmanship and his 
pride in 'a job well done' – not a surprise for a man who churned out 
two excellent Discworld books a year until only about 10 years ago.

"The development of his writing style is similarly fascinating. His 
debut, The Colour of Magic, was a collection of vaguely related comic 
set pieces rather than a novel, but he quickly dropped the farce of 
early books and discovered the delight of a good plot. This gave us 
books such as Pyramids, Small Gods, Night Watch and The Fifth Elephant, 
novels that juggle thoughtful ideas with a compelling structure. The 
novels also became creepier in the wake of his collaboration with Neil 
Gaiman on Good Omens. The threat of the evil multidimensional elves in 
Lords and Ladies, for example, is delightfully spinechilling... His 
books are fuelled by a deep-seated moral anger about the stupid things 
humans do: Pratchett was so furious because he was adamant we are all 
capable of so much more. His Watch novels deployed trolls and trans 
dwarves to rail against racism and social constraints, but did so by 
showing how we all have some degree of prejudice. By placing the 
tyrannical genius Havelock Vetinari, one part Steve Jobs to two parts 
Lex Luthor, as head of the city of Ankh-Morpork, Pratchett challenged us 
to embrace a dictator. And we do, because he makes the city work. 
Vetinari is my favourite Discworld character. I worry what this says 
about me..."

http://bit.ly/1HTPgrH

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

06) "BE MORE TERRY": WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

According to Stephen Briggs, it's about wearing a reminder badge – and, 
probably, never treating people as things. In his own words:

"How did it all start? Well, Rob and I had had two badges made, to 
remind us that, now that Terry has gone, we needed to be more like him 
in the things we do on Discworld ... to do things the way he'd approve. 
And then the Sydney Convention happened shortly after Terry's passing, 
so we took a bag of the badges for the conventioneers. Then I wore the 
badge at the Oxford Story Museum ... and a LOT of people showed an 
interest... So – now you, too, can have a badge. All you need to do is 
to send me:

A £1 coin for the badge (a £2 coin for two badges), inside a stamped, 
self-addressed envelope (sturdy enough to transport a button badge!)
And I'll mail one straight back to you.
Send your coin and envelope to me at:
Be More Terry Badges
PO Box 1486
Oxford
OX4 9DQ
Sorry – this is UK addresses only."

http://www.stephenbriggs.com/terry-pratchett

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

07) THE STUNNING DISCWORLD COVER ART OF MARC SIMONETTI

The gorgeous Discworld covers collection by French illustrator Marc 
Simonetti continues to grow, and what a fine crop they make! Simonetti's 
chosen style is somewhere in the middle ground between Josh Kirby's 
comics extravaganzas and Paul Kidby's more serious but no less loving 
treatments. I especially love Simonetti's interpretation of the Nac Mac 
Feegle – check out the A Hat Full of Sky cover, where the Feegles on 
Tiffany's shoulders look every bit as dangerous as they truly would be! 
– and of the less human-shaped characters such as The Librarian and 
Greebo. He has also cleverly inserted images of Sir Pterry himself into 
several of the covers. Feast your eyes here:

http://bit.ly/1jevoXB

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

08) ALZHEIMER'S NEWS

8.1 THE ADVERT

 From the Press Association:

"Sir Terry Pratchett is posthumously starring in a hard-hitting TV ad 
campaign waging war on Alzheimer's – the disease which he died from in 
March this year. The author and several other famous faces including 
Hollywood actor and charity ambassador Seth Rogen and James Nesbitt, 
have joined forces for Alzheimer's Research UK's Fightback campaign. 
Rogen, whose mother-in-law is living with early-onset Alzheimer's 
disease, said: 'Alzheimer's disease is a global challenge and it doesn't 
respect ethnicity or wealth, and with a rapidly ageing global 
population, it's one of our biggest threats. Alzheimer's Research UK's 
campaign is a bit of a wake-up call to the scale of the challenge, but 
also a call to arms for us to back research to beat it. We shouldn't 
think of Alzheimer's as different to other big diseases, at its root are 
brain cells dying and this is a physical process that scientists can put 
a stop to, given the resources to do the job. I hope this campaign gets 
folks talking about the disease and moves us towards a place where we 
really start to fight it, I'm proud to be part of it.'..."

http://bit.ly/1fZUnOE

 From The Guardian:

"Novelist Valerie Blumenthal, who is living with the same rare form of 
Alzheimer's that took Pratchett's life in March, said: 'I became an 
expert at bluffing to my friends and family to cover up why I no longer 
did the things I enjoyed so much, like playing the piano, reading and 
painting. 'When Sir Terry Pratchett passed away earlier this year it 
brought home the condition to me. This campaign will help people to 
accept that Alzheimer's is a disease, and a disease we can tame. We need 
to fight the perception that dementia is an inevitability, and recognise 
that research is our weapon against it.' This is the first time in 
Alzheimer Research UK's 21-year history that it has launched a national 
advertising campaign. The campaign will run on TV and in cinemas across 
the UK throughout June. The advertisement has been created using archive 
footage from news and television programming from the past 30 years..."

http://bit.ly/1AOagAY

 From the Belfast Telegraph:

"James Nesbitt is starring in a hard-hitting TV ad campaign waging war 
on Alzheimer's. The Co Antrim star of The Missing is seen with Sir Terry 
Pratchett, who died from the disease in March, and Hollywood actor and 
charity ambassador Seth Rogen. Nesbitt was filming The Hobbit in New 
Zealand in 2012 when his mother May died after a 10-year battle with 
Alzheimer's. He later revealed his heartache over how sometimes she 
didn't recognise him. Since her death, Nesbitt has campaigned for 
greater investment in research. 'We have to get behind the scientists 
and push for a dementia breakthrough,' he said..."

http://bit.ly/1Nrti1r

Editor's note: To view the video, go to https://youtu.be/f0YLcLxB77Y

8.2 A BREAKTHROUGH?

The press release:

"A new way of treating Alzheimer's disease with ultrasound has been 
demonstrated in mice, clearing the amyloid plaques in 75% of the 
animals. Researchers at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), part of 
Australia's University of Queensland, have shown that non-invasive 
ultrasound technology can be used to treat Alzheimer's disease and 
restore memory in mice. This innovative, drug-free method breaks apart 
the neurotoxic amyloid plaques that result in memory loss and cognitive 
decline. 'The Government's $9 million investment into this technology 
was to drive discoveries into clinics, and today's announcement 
indicates that together with the Queensland Brain Institute, it was a 
worthwhile investment,' said Queensland Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk. 
'I want my Government to encourage more of this type of innovative 
research. Our Advance Queensland initiative aims to increase research 
and discoveries like this and to put this state's research at the 
forefront internationally by supporting local researchers and helping to 
keep them in Queensland. These exciting findings will hopefully be of 
benefit to all Australians in the future.'

"Professor Jurgen Gotz, study co-author, believes the new method could 
revolutionise Alzheimer's treatment: 'We're extremely excited by this 
innovation of treating Alzheimer's without using drug therapeutics. The 
ultrasound waves oscillate tremendously quickly, activating microglial 
cells that digest and remove the amyloid plaques that destroy brain 
synapses. The word 'breakthrough' is often mis-used, but in this case I 
think this really does fundamentally change our understanding of how to 
treat this disease, and I foresee a great future for this approach.'... 
The next step will be to scale the treatment to higher animal models 
(sheep), followed by human clinical trials beginning in 2017..."

http://www.futuretimeline.net/blog/2015/03/14-2.htm#.VW9qEitha9X

...and as it was reported to the public:

"Australian researchers have come up with a non-invasive ultrasound 
technology that clears the brain of neurotoxic amyloid plaques – 
structures that are responsible for memory loss and a decline in 
cognitive function in Alzheimer's patients. If a person has Alzheimer's 
disease, it's usually the result of a build-up of two types of lesions - 
amyloid plaques, and neurofibrillary tangles. Amyloid plaques sit 
between the neurons and end up as dense clusters of beta-amyloid 
molecules, a sticky type of protein that clumps together and forms 
plaques. Neurofibrillary tangles are found inside the neurons of the 
brain, and they're caused by defective tau proteins that clump up into a 
thick, insoluble mass. This causes tiny filaments called microtubules to 
get all twisted, which disrupts the transportation of essential 
materials such as nutrients and organelles along them, just like when 
you twist up the vacuum cleaner tube. As we don't have any kind of 
vaccine or preventative measure for Alzheimer's – a disease that affects 
343,000 people in Australia, and 50 million worldwide – it's been a race 
to figure out how best to treat it, starting with how to clear the 
build-up of defective beta-amyloid and tau proteins from a patient's 
brain. Now a team from the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) at the 
University of Queensland have come up with a pretty promising solution 
for removing the former..."

http://www.sciencealert.com/new-alzheimer-s-treatment-fully-restores-memory-function

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

09) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS AND UPDATES

9.1 WYRD SISTERS IN THE WIRRAL (JULY)

Greasby Players will present their production of Wyrd Sisters next 
month, as a fundraiser for Glaucoma Research and for Save William (a 
local child suffering from Duchenne's disease).

When: 9th, 10th and 11th July 2015
Venue: Westbourne Hall, West Kirby, Wirral CH48 4DQ (phone 0151 625 0344)
Time: 7.30pm all performances
Tickets: £7 (£5 concessions). To book, ring 0151 677 9187

9.2 MASKERADE IN PERTH, FOURECKS (JULY)

ARENAarts' latest Discworld production is Maskerade. The company has 
previously presented Wyrd Sisters, Lords and Ladies, Carpe Jugulum, 
Monstrous Regiment and Going Postal, but this current production, which 
opens in early July, is a special tribute to the author. "I like to 
describe Terry Pratchett novels and stage adaptations as The Lord of the 
Rings meets Monty Python," said director Simon James. "There's a depth 
of sci-fi and fantasy writing infused with a really wicked sense of 
humour. With his recent untimely death this production has become very 
important and very personal for folk at ARENAarts. I contacted people 
who were involved in our past Pratchett productions from 2001 onwards 
and, even though they hadn't done anything with ARENAarts over the past 
10 years, they leapt on board to do this one."

When: 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 16th, 17th and 18th July 2015
Venue: Latvian Centre Theatre, 60 Cleaver Terrace, Belmont, Western 
Australia
Time: 8pm all evening shows; 2pm matinees on 5th and 12th July
Tickets: $20 ($16 concession) To book by phone: 9399 9947. To book by 
email: arenaarts at hotmail.com.au  To book online, go to 
www.trybooking.com/HRRP

https://www.facebook.com/arenaarts

There are a fair few cast photos in costume on this page about the 
production, including an excellent one of Christine and Agnes:
http://bit.ly/1drpHUu

9.3 ERIC AT THE EDINBURGH FRINGE (AUGUST)

The Duck in a Hat theatre company will premiere their adaptation of 
Eric, adapted by Tim Foster, at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

"All amateur demonologist Eric wants is the usual three wishes: to live 
forever, to rule the world and to have the most beautiful woman fall 
madly in love with him. Instead he gets Rincewind, Discworld's most 
incompetent wizard, and Rincewind's Luggage, Discworld's most dangerous 
travel accessory. This brand new adaptation of Terry Pratchett's 
hilarious parody of the Faust legend is an outrageous romp through time, 
space and Hell that will leave Eric wishing once more – this time, quite 
fervently – that he'd never been born."

When: 8th-22nd August (all dates excluding the 16th)
Venue: The Studio, Paradise in Augustines, 41 George IV Bridge, 
Edinburgh EH1 1EL (phone  0131 510 0022)
Time: 7:15pm all shows
Tickets: £9.00 (concession £7.00, family £28.00)

http://duckinahat.weebly.com/eric.html
https://www.facebook.com/DuckInaHat
https://www.paradise-green.co.uk/show-details/brochure/details/1323/

Duck in a Hat rely on the support of sponsors. Here be their page:
http://duckinahat.weebly.com/sponsors.html

9.4 WYRD SISTERS IN EXETER (AUGUST)

The Broadclyst Theatre Group will present their production of Wyrd 
Sisters in August. "Witches" from the cast recently took a high-profile 
part in the Broadclyst Family Fun Day, handing out race medals, taking 
part in the dog show and, well, taking one for the coven by sitting in 
the stocks whilst being pelted by wet sponges – scroll down to the 
Images section for iconographs!

When: 13th, 14th and 15th August 2015
Venue: Broadclyst Victory Hall, The Green, Exeter, Devon EX5 3DX (phone 
01392 467161)
Time: 7.30pm all shows
Tickets: £9 (£6.50 for under-14s), available from Broadclyst Post Office 
or online via ticketsource.co.uk/broadclyst

https://www.facebook.com/groups/BroadclystTG/

5.4 UPPINGHAM DISCWORLD MENUS (OCTOBER)

The Uppingham Theatre Company will present their production of Wyrd 
Sisters in October, but before the play opens there will be food. Very 
special food! Starting on the 18th October through to 31st October, to 
help Uppingham Theatre Company raise money for Rutland Reminders (50p 
from the price of each plate), a special Discworld menu to accompany the 
production, devised by the Uppingham Theatre Company's Vikki Shelton and 
approved by Colin Smythe, will be served at The Vaults restaurant, The 
Market Place, Uppingham LE15 9QH.

The special menu will include Slumpie, Klatchian Curry, Knuckle 
Sandwiches, the Sir Samuel Vimes BLT, the CMOT Dibbler Sausage Inna Bun 
Student's Platter, and Archchancellor Ridcully's Burger, with desserts 
including Nanny Ogg's Strawberry Wobbler and Gooseberry Fool.

To enquire about booking a table for a pre Wyrd Sisters meal, or for 
more information, contact Tom on 01572 823259.

To view a facsimile of the menu in greater detail, go to
http://wossname.dreamwidth.org/15716.html

9.5 MORT IN BRISBANE (AUGUST-OCTOBER)

The Brisbane Arts Theatre's latest Discworld production will be Mort!

When: 22nd August-3rd October 2015
Venue: Brisbane Arts Theatre, 210 Petrie Terrace, Brisbane, QLD 4000 
(phone 07 3369 2344)
Time: 8pm Thursdays (except 27th August), Fridays and Saturdays; 6.30pm 
Sundays (6th and 20th September)
Tickets: Adults $31, Concession $25, Group 10+ $25, Group 75+ $20, Gold 
Members $15, Members $25, Student Rush $10 (10 mins before curtain). 
Members can redeem their included season tickets for this show. There 
are no refunds or exchanges once tickets have been purchased. To 
purchase tickets online, go to http://bit.ly/1Imz2tJ

http://artstheatre.com.au/show/mort

9.6 REVIEW: WYRD SISTERS IN BARCELONA

By Raulmaigi, kindly translated for Wossname by Gloria Llona, who spend 
her early childhood in Catalonia and hopes her Catalan isn't too rusty:

Last night, for the first time, I had the opportunity of hearing Terry 
Pratchett in Catalan, yes, in Catalan. The theatre group L'espiga de les 
Corts was giving the first performance of "Bruxes", a Discworld story. 
Based on the adaptation of the book "Wyrd Sisters" made by Stephen 
Briggs in 1990, it was Briggs' first theatrical version from a Pratchett 
work. Wyrd Sisters, the sixth Terry Pratchett book, was translated into 
Spanish as "Brujerias" in 1992 but had never been translated into 
Catalan until the translator Marta Armangel Royo: "For a long time I was 
thinking about the idea of setting up something by T.Pratchett, and 
there was always somebody who jumped up telling us that we have to make 
'Mort'... I decided I would try 'Wyrd Sisters', because the Discworld 
Witches' Saga is one of my favourites and because of a practical reason 
too: in our theatre group there is a majority of actresses and scripts 
with a majority of female roles are really scarce."

Last night the modest auditorium at Sociedad Coral L'espiga De Les Corts 
(with a maximum capacity of no more than a hundred people) was the scene 
of a real "fiesta" "no cabía un alfiler" (literally: there was no place 
for a pin). Ironically, Sir Terry Pratchett's death last March 
transformed this performance into an admiring posthumous homage, 
although it wasn't the idea when the theatre group began to set up it. 
"We felt an immense sadness," Armengal admitted. "It happens that during 
the negotiations it was established that the company had to reserve two 
free tickets for the author and the adapter. I had a spark of hope that 
they would come. In any case, I would like to say that this performance 
was a love letter to Pratchett and the Discworld and what it means to 
his readers," the director said. And she added: "It's a project made 
with lots of love and it has in it, we hope, all the humor and humanity 
of his novels."

The plot, as all the Pratchett fans know, began with the murder of the 
King of Lancre (Verence) by his cousin, the Duke Felmet. The crown and 
the heir, a baby, arrive into the arms of the Witches who decide give 
him in adoption to a troupe of wandering actors. The difficulties in the 
governance of the kingdom led the Duke to demand a play that praised his 
exploits. The interference of the three Witches – making time advance 15 
years – will ensure that the company, where the young heir Tomjon is, 
will play for the Duke.

"Bruxes" was brought to life thanks to the passion of its director and 
translator that combined with the enthusiasm of a troupe less familiar 
with the works of Pratchett than she was. They also had to take into 
account the state of the amateur theatre in our country, that combines 
in equal portions austerity and voluntarisim with big doses of 
enthusiasm and illusion. The audience got their money's worth; what's 
more, one of them won a prize: a lot of Terry Pratchett's books donated 
by the [Penguin Random House subsidiary] firm "Debolsillo". Despite the 
limitations of an amateur company, this initiative has to be applauded 
because it has brought to Barcelona an unabridged text in Catalan that 
deserve all our recognition. As it is known that his broad literary work 
has never been translated into our language, nevertheless Marta 
Armangel's adaptation seems to not have been the first: in 2013 the 
group La Esfera played "Mort" at El Casal des Joves de Les Corts, 
direction Miqel Vilanova Marques. About this dearth of translations, 
Armangel says she is "delighted" as "another fantastic series had lived 
perfectly together in Catalan and in Spanish. I understand that an 
editor can be respectful when thinking about the contract of a series of 
41 books, but I thinking that it's a shame, because, in my experience, 
when I was translating them,I found that the Discworld flows in Catalan 
very well. I don't lose the hope that someone dares to do more of them!"

The original review, in the Catalan tongue, can be found at:
http://lesradesgrises.com/2015/04/26/pratchett-a-escena-i-en-catala/

9.7 REVIEW: SMALL GODS IN ADELAIDE

By Matthew Jeffrey

A stimulating night at the theatre will be had for all those who are 
fortunate enough to see Terry Pratchett's thought provoking work 'Small 
Gods' performed by the 'Unseen Theatre Company' in the intimate 
surroundings of the Bakehouse Theatre. The work itself asks some tough 
questions about the nature of belief, faith and the abuses religious 
institutions can perpetuate on believers and nonbelievers alike. 
Pratchett does tend to lean towards oversimplification and reverts to 
stereotypes for effect. However, that's the idea or it wouldn't be a satire.

The performances are first class. Alicia Rabig plays the bewildered 
Great God Om( mediated through a rather innocuous turtle) with much 
poise. Adeodatus McCormick(Decon Vorbis) plays a callous calculating 
bastard the way one should play a calculating callous bastard and with 
just hint of redemption at the end. Timothy Tedmanson ( Novice Brutha) 
was a study of confusion, doubt and self discovery as well as saving the 
table rather adroitly the night I was there. I could go through them all 
but just two more mentions. A fellow by the name of Philip Linton who 
had a voice that made me just want him to get up and say 'friends Romans 
countrymen lend me your ears' it was a voice that crackled with character.

Theatre goers a bright new star is on the horizon. Aimee Ford (who has 
accompanied your correspondent on the piano) played several parts and 
propped up the show. Aimee delivered her lines with aplomb and gusto and 
her medium pitched scream when she was killed was just the right decibel 
for a theatre so small I felt close to marrying the lady in front of me. 
Even when her face was covered Aimee ford had presence. Well done to all 
concerned.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

10) DISCWORLD ARTS AND CRAFTS NEWS

10.1 UPDATES FROM THE DISCWORLD EMPORIUM

T-shirts, Micro Arts Studio miniatures, and books!

"'Through the fathomless deeps of space swims the star turtle Great 
A'Tuin...' Clothe yourself in a brand new T-shirt featuring Joe 
McLaren's magical illustration of the Discworld itself. Joe illustrated 
the covers for the sublime Discworld Collector's Library editions from 
Gollancz and we knew he'd be perfect for a new lyrical take on A'Tuin! 
Also available in a Ladies' fitted style for those who prefer a 
figure-hugging fit!"

The Great A-Tuin "classic fit" t-shirt is priced at £15.00 and is 
available in men's sizes S through XXl. For more information, and to 
order, go to http://www.discworldemporium.com/GreatATuinTee

The Turtle Moves ladies' fit t-shirt is priced at £15.00 and is 
available in sizes S through XXL. For more information, and to order, go 
to http://www.discworldemporium.com/GreatAtuinTshirtLadies

[Editor's note: Joe McLaren is also the illustrator for the forthcoming 
2016 Discworld Calendar. Watch this space...]

The Discworld Collectors' Library now includes twenty-one titles, from 
The Colour of magic through to Jingo, plus a bonus edition of Good 
Omens. Each volume is priced at £9.99 (with the exception of Good Omens, 
which is priced at £10.99). For more information about the Discworld 
Collectors' Library, and to order, go to http://bit.ly/1FsTgvx

Micro Arts Studio metallised Discworld mini-busts:

"We've finally got around to listing Micro Art Studio's metallised 
Discworld busts on our site. Based on the artwork of Paul Kidby, these 
sublime miniature figures are now available in a handsome metal effect 
with a wooden base, and are also available nude for those who like a 
challenge with a paintbrush!"

Currently available: Death as Hogfather, Rincewind, and Vimes.

The Death bust is priced at £39.00 and stands 135mm tall. For more 
information, and to order, go to
http://bit.ly/1TD0JCV

The Rincewind bust is priced at £35.00 and stands 135mm tall. For more 
information, and to order, go to
http://bit.ly/1K2uqsE

The Vimes bust is priced at £35.00 and stands 111mm tall. For more 
information, and to order, go to
http://bit.ly/1K2utow

"And lastly, there's another precious chance to get a fix of Pratchett 
wordsmithery with the publication of The Long Utopia. The fourth book in 
the Long Earth series from serial sci-fi collaborators Terry Pratchett 
and Stephen Baxter is available now in glorious hardback! '2045-2059. 
After the cataclysmic upheavals of Step Day and the Yellowstone eruption 
humanity is spreading further into the Long Earth, and society, on a 
battered Datum Earth and beyond, continues to evolve. Now an elderly and 
cantankerous AI, Lobsang lives in disguise with Agnes in an exotic, 
far-distant world. He's convinced they're leading a normal life in New 
Springfield – they even adopt a child – but it seems they have been 
guided there for a reason. As rumours of strange sightings and hauntings 
proliferate, it becomes clear that something is very awry with this 
particular world.'

The Long Utopia hardcover is priced at £18.99. For more information, and 
to order, go to
http://www.discworldemporium.com/TheLongUtopia

"All the best ye scunners!"

And there's more! To view more of the Discworld Emporium's latest 
wonderful things, go to
http://bit.ly/1FsTRNM

10.2 UPDATES FROM PJSM PRINTS

"We will soon be taking another wonderful journey into the fantasy 
universe of the Discworld to meet once more with young Tiffany Aching, 
Terry's hugely popular junior witch and star of four previous books. To 
celebrate, we're offering you the chance to win beautiful signature 
embossed copies of the first four Tiffany Aching novels."

Pre-order for your chance to win: http://pjsmprints.com/index.html

"The Shepherd's Crown will be published on 27th August and we will have 
copies exclusively embossed with Terry's signature and his own coat of 
arms on a satin gold wafer. This is the official stamp approved by Terry 
himself, you simply can't buy these anywhere else. When you  pre-order 
this stunning book from us you will be entered into a draw to win all 
four embossed paperback copies of the first Tiffany novels, a stunning 
addition to any collection."

The Shepherd's Crown is priced at £20. To pre-order, go to 
http://pjsmprints.com/index.html and press the "preorder now" button – 
it's the one with an image of The Luggage on it.

"Live the magic with Tiffany all over again! Now is the perfect time to 
catch up or refresh yourself with Tiffany's adventures before the 
release of The Shepherd's Crown this Autumn. Why not immerse yourself in 
some Tiffany magic and  start the journey all over again. You can follow 
Tiffany as she grows from a nine year girl in The Wee Free Men to a 
mature sixteen year old in I Shall Wear Midnight through all her trials 
and tribulations. It is with mixed emotions we await this final Tiffany 
novel but know it will be a fitting and lasting tribute to one of the 
world's greatest and most loved authors."

http://pjsmprints.com/books/index.html#tiffany

"And while you're waiting we're also delighted to announce the upcoming 
publication of The Long Utopia which completes Terry's collection of 
more than 70 books. Co-written with sci-fi author Stephen Baxter, the 
fourth work in The Long Earth series is set in a universe of infinite 
parallel Earths. We are thrilled to be able to supply this title with 
Terry's official signature seal. Pre-order your copy here!"

The Long Utopia is priced at £20. For more info and to order, go to 
http://pjsmprints.com/index.html#utopia

"And just in time for the holiday season Slip of the Keyboard has now 
been released in paperback so you can tuck it in your suitcase for that 
perfect poolside read. This work brings together the best of Terry's non 
fiction writing on his life, his work, and on the weirdness of the 
world. With his trademark humour, humanity and unforgettable way with 
words, this collection offers an insight behind the scenes of Discworld 
into a much loved and much missed figure – man and boy, bibliophile and 
computer geek, champion of hats, orang-utans and the right to a good 
death. We will miss him."

A Slip of the Keyboard is priced at £10. For more info and to order, go 
to http://pjsmprints.com/index.html#slip

*

The Tiffany Necklaces are back! Tiffany's White Horse Pendant (silver): 
"Based on Paul Kidby's original design, this is an absolutely stunning 
piece of sterling silver jewellery from Tom Lynall and is a faithful 
reproduction of the pendant worn by Tiffany Aching in A Hat Full of 
Sky." The pendant measures 55mm from tail to head and comes with an 
18-inch chain.

Tiffany's Hare Pendant (silver or gold): "Redesigned and looking 
absolutely stunning, the hare has leaped back into stock just in time 
for Hogswatch. A breath taking reproduction of Tiffany's hare pendant, 
the elegant boxed necklace is available in both silver and gold plate. 
The perfect gift for all would be witches. Designed exclusively for PJSM 
Prints by Tom Lynall." The pendant measures 50mm across and comes with 
an 18-inch chain.

The Tiffany White Horse and Silver Hare are priced at £45 each. The Gold 
Hare is priced at £55. To order, go to the "For the Tiffany in your 
life" box on http://pjsmprints.com/index.html and press the appropriate 
Luggage-decorated button.

To read these offers on the web, go to http://pjsmprints.com/index.html

10.3 DISCWORLD MASSIF PRINTS

 From the workshop of Paul Kidby, the famous Discworld Massif:

"This is a unique collectors print featuring 77 favourite characters 
from the realms of  Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Each print is hand 
signed and numbered and the edition is limited to only 2000 copies 
worldwide. Dimensions: 714mm x 475 mm. Prints will be despatched rolled 
in tissue in a postal tube."

The Discworld Massif print is priced at £50 for UK buyers, £55 for the 
rest of Europe, and £60 for the rest of the world. For more information, 
and to order, go to http://bit.ly/1xxHLmP

10.4 NEW GRANNY WEATHERWAX FOR MICRO ARTS

Marvellously talented miniatures sculptor Andreas Bergman submitted a 
fantastic Granny bust to Micro Arts Studios and:

"They approved :-) Which means that I have to say my farewells to Granny 
and ship her over to Poland for casting and distribution, which is 
just... awesome beyond words. I would like to extend my sincere 
gratitude to Jan Cieslicki and the awesome people over at Micro Art 
Studio for this opportunity and for their patience, and to Mr. Paul 
Kidby who took time to give me feedback during the whole process. My 
biggest thanks goes to Sir Terry Pratchett who's fantastic books I've 
been listening to while sculpting this lovely lady who is now, without a 
doubt my favourite fantasy character of all times. You are sorely 
missed. Waily, waily, waily, enough with the sentimental blabber, here 
she is, the Hag O' Hags, Mistress Weatherwax."

Mr Bergman consulted with (and got the approval of) Paul Kidby during 
the process. Have a look! This is Andreas' Facebook page about it, with 
multiple photos:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Andreas-Bergman/409799245848159

[You don't have to be a member of Facebook to see it – I know, because I 
can and I'm not – Ed.]

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

11) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS: UPDATES AND REMINDERS

REMINDER: DISCWORLD FANS MEETUP IN NOTTINGHAM (JULY)

When: Saturday 11th July 2015
Venue: Wollaton Hall Deer Park And Gardens, Wollaton, Nottingham NG8 2AE
Time: 2pm start for picnic meeting; 5pm meal hunt; 7pm meet up again in 
the Trip To Jerusalem pub up by Brew House Yard Museum

The organiser is Elaine Boot (freddyboot at yahoo.co.uk), who says, "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 
£3.50. If you travel in groups of 2 to 4 on Nottingham City Transport 
Bus (NCTX) you can get a group rider for £4.50. There are plenty of 
places to stay, there is even Travelodge Maid Marion Way."

https://www.facebook.com/events/438230283003902/

*

HOGSWATCH IN JULY IN BRISBANE

Hosted by organisers The Pratchett Partisans:

"Take a step sideways and enter the alternate universe of the Discworld 
where magic abides. You'll find Discworldians celebrating Hogswatch 
(like our Christmas, but not quite) at a local fete. Enjoy the cultural 
entertainments, sample the local cuisine and partake in authentic 
Discworldian activities. There will be a market, a petting zoo, free 
kids crafts, bake sale, Morris Dancers, C.M.O.T. purveyor of fine meats 
(also known as a sausage sizzle), Assassins for hire (don't worry, all 
approved by the Assassins Guild), competitions for all ages, a games 
tent, cosplay, baking and costume competitions, food and coffee vendors 
and if that wasn't enough, to top it all off there will be a visit from 
the Hog Father Himself! This year, we will get to know Discworld's most 
mysterious character, Death! So come along incognito, or pick up some 
local outfits on the day. Be sure to bring the family for this fun day out."

When: 25th July 2015
Venue: Hardgrave Park, Petrie Terrace, across from the Brisbane Arts Theatre
Time: 10am–4pm
Free entry

http://www.hogswatchinjuly.com/
http://www.hogswatchinjuly.com/#!program-and-competitions/chpu
http://www.hogswatchinjuly.com/#!frequently-asked-questions/cce9

*

Canberra, Australia has a new Discworld fan group, Drumknott's 
Irregulars! "We are a newly established Terry Pratchett & Discworld 
social group in Canberra called Drumknott's Irregulars. The group is 
open to all, people from interstate and overseas are welcome, and our 
events will not be heavily themed. Come along to dinner for a chat and 
good company. We welcome people all all fandoms (and none) and we would 
love to see you at one of our events, even if you're just passing 
through. Please contact us via Facebook 
(_https://www.facebook.com/groups/824987924250161/_) or Google Groups 
(_https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/drumknotts-irregulars_) or 
join us at our next event."

*

There is a new public Facebook meeting group, "The Gathering of the 
Loonies (Wincanton chapter)":

"This group, by request of Jo in Bear will continue to be used for 
future unofficial (not run by the Emporium) fan Gatherings in Wincanton. 
Look here for information. Next event Loonies Christmas Party. Same 
weekend as Hogswatch would have been. ie 27/28/29 November."

https://www.facebook.com/groups/373578522834654/

*

The Broken Drummers, "London's Premier Unofficially Official Discworld 
Group" (motto "Nil percussio est"), meets next on Monday 6th July 2015. 
For more information, go to http://brokendrummers.org/ or email
BrokenDrummers at gmail.com or nicholls.helen at yahoo.co.uk

The Broken Drummers' June meet report:

"Monday night was the busiest non-Christmas Drummers meeting we've ever 
had. Larry and Judy's son Marc was over from the USA with his wife Erin. 
It's the first time we've seen Marc since he moved to Texas about five 
years ago. We also had another visitor from the USA, Malinda.

"Early on I saw a gentleman in a tricorn hat approaching and just knew 
it was someone for Drummers. His name was Robin and he was a friend of 
Chris'. Later another of Chris' friends, Tracy, appeared. Sadly, I 
didn't get the chance to speak to her as it was so busy. Sim has also 
been recruiting; her friend Mike came along. He already knew Robin. It's 
a small world.

"Malinda asked about the history of Drummers. I told her about the time 
Jack turned up to a Meet-up that consisted of him and a journalist 
writing an article on Meet-ups and decided he would take control and 
start a group. Within a short time I heard a cry of, "there he is!" I 
turned to find over glorious founder standing behind me looking very 
smart in his suit.

"All evening people poured in – including Bill, who came to Drummers on 
his birthday - and we gradually commandeered more and more tables. It 
was a very lively evening, about 22 in total. I'm told that after we 
left things descended into card tricks. Sim will not confirm or deny 
starting it but says she didn't end it. Whatever happened next I suspect 
Bill was involved. Next meeting is Monday 6th July. Jessica is doing a 
quiz, which I believe is on superheroes."

*

The Pratchett Partisans are a fan group who meet monthly at either 
Brisbane or Indooroopilly to "eat, drink and chat about all things 
Pratchett. We hold events such as Discworld dinners, games afternoons, 
Discworld photo scavenger hunts. Our recent 'Murder In Morpork' mystery 
party was a great night out. With 26 people attending, we had 24 
suspects, our special guest – Vetinari, and one dead mime! It was a fun 
night of food and murder and we are planning another Murder in December 
so stay tuned. We also attend opening night at Brisbane Arts Theatre's 
Discworld plays." The Partisans currently have about 100 members who 
meet meet at least twice a month, usually in Brisbane. For more info 
about their next meetup, join up at 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/pratchettpartisans/ or contact Ula 
directly at uwilmott at yahoo.com.au

*

The City of Small Gods is a group for fans in Adelaide and South 
Australia. For more information on their upcoming activities, go to 
www.cityofsmallgods.org.au

*

The Broken Vectis Drummers meet next on Thursday 2nd July (probably) 
from 7.30pm at The Castle pub in Newport, Isle of Wight. For more info 
and any queries, contact broken_vectis_drummers at yahoo.co.uk

*

The Wincanton Omnian Temperance Society (WOTS) next meets on Friday 3rd 
July 2015 (probably) at Wincanton's famous Bear Inn from 7pm onwards. 
"Visitors and drop-ins are always welcome!"

*

The Northern Institute of the Ankh-Morpork and District Society of 
Flatalists, a Pratchett fangroup, has been meeting on a regular basis 
since 2005 but is now looking to take in some new blood (presumably not 
in the non-reformed Uberwald manner). The Flatalists normally meet at 
The Narrowboat Pub in Victoria Street, Skipton, North Yorkshire, to 
discuss "all things Pratchett" as well as having quizzes and raffles. 
Details of future meetings are posted on the Events section of the 
Discworld Stamps forum:

http://www.discworldstamps.co.uk/forum/

*

Sydney Drummers (formerly Drummers Downunder) meet next on Monday 6th 
July 2015 at 6.30pm (probably) in Sydney at 3 Wise Monkeys, 555 George 
Street, Sydney,2000. For more information, contact Sue (aka Granny 
Weatherwax): kenworthys at yahoo.co.uk

*

The Treacle Mining Corporation, formerly known as Perth Drummers, meets 
next on Monday 6th July 2015 (probably) from 5.30pm at Carpe Cafe, 526 
Murray Street, Perth, Western Australia.

For details follow Perth Drummers on Twitter @Perth_Drummers or join 
their Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Perth.Drummers/
– or message Alexandra Ware directly at <alexandra.ware at gmail.com>

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

12) ROUNDWORLD TALES: THE ETYMOLOGY OF RAILWAY "ENGINEERS"

Why are train drivers called engineers in the USA? Here's the answer. 
Ned Simnel would definitely understand:

"Although it sounds odd to British ears today, train drivers were for 
some time known as engineers in 19th Century Britain. The original 
meaning of engineer, as someone who designed or built engines or other 
machinery, goes back to the 1300s and has held to this day in both the 
UK and the US. But it can be applied to someone who operates equipment 
as well as the one responsible for its design, says British 
lexicographer Susie Dent. From the 1730s 'engineer' in North American 
English was being used as a synonym for 'engineman', she says, applied 
specifically to the driver or operator of a fire engine, then later to 
drivers of steamships and steam-powered locomotives.

"The Oxford English Dictionary cites this use in the UK in 1816 from the 
Asiatic Journal: 'A locomotive engine was exploded at Newcastle, and 
several people lost their lives, from the folly of the man (calling 
himself an engineer), locking down the safety-valve, that his machine 
might go off in style!' This use travelled across the Atlantic where, 
Dent says, the Americans are merely applying a more literal sense of 
"engineer". The suffix -eer usually indicates an 'agent noun', she says, 
describing a person who performs the action of the verb, in this case 
operating/acting on an engine. The term engineer as driver is rarely 
used in the UK today, although a trade union representing train drivers 
is called the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen 
(Aslef), founded in the late 19th Century. An Aslef spokesman said the 
name reflected the meaning of the time.

"Americans would never call the operator of a train a driver, always 
engineer, says Jesse Sheidlower, the former US editor-at-large of the 
OED. "It's a longstanding feature of American English. It's been in 
American use since the early 1830s, and included in dictionaries of 
Americanisms since the mid-19th Century.'..."

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-32758223

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

13) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE

Another round of Graeme Neill's (aka Pratchett Job) reviews...

Eric: "I feel sorry for Rincewind, as he has been the victim of 
Pratchett's imagination. He was a fun protagonist for The Colour of 
Magic and The Light Fantastic, both of which I enjoyed. But I barely 
mentioned him in my write-up of Sourcery and when you place him 
alongside Granny Weatherwax, Death or Sam Vimes, he hardly compares. 
After appearing in almost half of Pratchett's nine novels to date, after 
Faust, Eric, we don't see Rincewind for another four years and eight 
novels. Now that he has a better playground to have fun in, it's no 
wonder Pratchett has tired of his cowardly wizard. As he told Neil 
Gaiman: “If I'd had to write 25 years of Rincewind novels I would have 
cut my throat.” Ouch. But Faust, Eric is actually pretty good. Now that 
Pratchett has embraced the wonder of a tightly plotted novel, this is 
another well written, deceptively complex story. I'm going to continue 
my occasional habit of speculating on the author's motivations and with 
Faust, Eric, you get the impression that this was a spot of fun. A nice 
idea that wasn't necessarily as ambitious as the three previous novels, 
but something that would be enjoyable to write. And while it is a good 
read it's also frustrating because we are back in Sourcery territory – 
if this had been one of the first Discworld novels, I would have been 
applauding his ambition, his tight control of story structure, the puns 
and the Zelig-esque nature of Rincewind as he experiences the Trojan 
War, the beginning of Odysseus' decade long trip home and the birth of 
the universe... This sounds like I didn't like the book. That's not 
true.It's just...slight..."

http://bit.ly/1FJWomT

Jingo: "For an author so set on exploring humanity, what makes us tick 
and why, it is somewhat curious it took Terry Pratchett more than 20 
Discworld books to tackle war. Jingo was published in 1997; four years 
shy of 9/11 and all that followed, but close enough to the British 
Army's involvement in both Northern Ireland and what was Yugoslavia that 
an experience of his nation at conflict would have been easy to 
recall... It wouldn't be like Pratchett to just take a typical ‘war is 
bad' stance and build some jokes around it. Because, as the war that 
ripped Yugoslavia apart showed, there can sometimes be strong arguments 
for countries to enter conflict... Jingo is sadly not Small Gods with 
rifles replacing religion. It's a bit of a mess but strangely one of 
Pratchett's funniest. I was laughing out loud at numerous points – 
Vetinari, Nobby and Colon's ‘secret' mission in Klatch, or Carrot 
organising a football match between the factions at the end of the 
novel, echoing the famous Christmas Day Truce of the First World War, 
are two highlights, among many..."

http://bit.ly/1SXhozP

Wintersmith: "The Tiffany Aching novels have been an unexpected delight. 
Not for any idiotic snobbery about grown-ups reading YA fiction, as one 
of the Discworld's endearing strengths is that of a deeply accessible 
series. I love how it is open and can be loved by anyone – comedy fans, 
fantasy fans, satire fans or, dare I say it, people who like those three 
genres and more. However, I felt this meant it was somewhat unnecessary 
for Pratchett to write a dedicated YA series. I'm glad my unspoken, 
irrelevant old opinion was never listened to... At the heart of Wee Free 
Men was a story about growing up and choosing to be responsible for your 
siblings, not seeing them as a threat. A Hatful of Sky was about not 
becoming self-absorbed as you grow older (remember how Tiffany defeats 
the hiver that takes her over and forces her to be selfish). Wintersmith 
builds on these by extolling the virtues of maturity and responsibility. 
And throws boys into the mix for good measure... It has been an 
impressive feat of writing to have Tiffany stand alongside the likes of 
Weatherwax or Vimes after only starring in two books but she is a 
wonderful creation. Proud, caring, loyal and a little bit too full of 
herself, Pratchett treads a thin line between mocking her and lauding 
her expertly... It is the depth to Tiffany's character that means that 
Pratchett can spin a morality tale without being too preachy. Pratchett 
is aided in this by the gleefully chaotic existence of the Nac Mac 
Feegle – Tiffany's loyal drunken protectors. Our teenage witch is 
fallible and frequently makes mistakes, like deciding to have a boogie 
with an elemental force. Like any one of us, Tiffany wants to live a 
proper life but that doesn't mean she won't mess up from time to time..."

http://bit.ly/1NsWK7c

Thud!: "One unfair criticism of Terry Pratchett is that he can lay his 
social commentary rather thickly. I found this particularly strange 
during my rereading because I had trouble finding any real evidence for 
it. The only thing that was hammered home repeatedly was the importance 
of thinking. This gave us the likes of Small Gods, where Pratchett 
angrily argued against fundamentalism while also examining the benefits 
of belief, or Men at Arms, which attacked racism but shone a light on 
all of our prejudices... At its core, Thud! is a criticism of 
fundamentalism and the danger of leaders using their own interpretation 
of history for their own ends. This is typified in the demagogue Grag 
Hamcrusher, whose murder sparks the events of the novel. He preached the 
superiority of dwarf over troll, and that the duty of every dwarf was to 
follow in the footsteps of their forefathers and remove trollkind from 
the face of the world. It was written in some holy book, apparently, so 
that made it okay, and probably compulsory... The trolls don't quite 
have the same range the dwarves have, which is probably why the novel 
feels less challenging than others. Trolls within Ankh-Morpork have 
largely slotted into society, although at the dregs. The (underused, in 
my opinion) crime boss Chrysoprase and drug addict Brick are two such 
characters. We hear of trolls who are as set on conflict as the dwarfs 
but the reader has less of a handle on them as their rivals. The reader 
is told of this, rather than shown. The politics of integration are 
handled much better, particularly the excellent scene where Vimes meets 
Mr Shine, the troll “king” made of diamonds. He runs a club where trolls 
and dwarfs play Thud!, the titular board-game where both species face 
off against one another. He forces each species to play as the other and 
is responsible for the quote that opens this post. That way each gains 
an understanding into the other and is able to progress, both in the 
game and in wider society..."

http://bit.ly/1QYMutx

Going Postal: "Havelock Vetinari is my favourite Discworld character. 
The Patrician of Ankh-Morpork has never been the main character of a 
novel. He's always at arm's length, so when he is used, you are excited 
to see what the despotic tyrant of the city is scheming. That's part of 
the character's power; he is always behind the scenes, messing around 
with something to his ends. But (probably wrong speculation about the 
intentions of an author alert!) you could imagine Pratchett getting 
frustrated. He has created a brilliant character but has to use him 
sparingly in order to make the most of him. Enter the solution. Enter 
Moist Von Lipwig, a natural born criminal, a fraudster by vocation, an 
habitual liar, a perverted genius and totally untrustworthy. Moist is 
placed in charge of the decrepit Ankh-Morpork Post Office by Vetinari 
after The Patrician saves him from the gallows... With Moist comes one 
of Pratchett's most enjoyable books. The Discworld has done screwball 
before – aside from the blatant comedy of The Colour of Magic, there has 
been Moving Pictures, elements of Hogfather and Jingo – but this is a 
step above. I couldn't help but be reminded of some of my favourite 
films, whether it was the long con of The Sting or the hoodlum gone 
straight journey of Jake in The Blues Brothers. When I flicked back 
through my hardback before turning my attentions to this post, I kept 
chuckling as I reminded myself of one of Pratchett's most fun, 
rollicking plots. Anyone who was as prolific as he clearly loved writing 
but with this book, you can tell he had a blast putting everything 
together... Moist bridges the old and new worlds, someone who uses 
modern methods to reinvigorate monolithic organisations without turning 
to (literally) murderous capitalism. He hacks the clacks to bring down 
the operation that owns them. In doing so, he joins a lawman with a 
tenuous grasp of the rules of the realm, a witch who seems to act 
largely out of a desire to prove herself right, and a dictator running 
Ankh-Morpork successfully. A conman now stands alongside Sam Vimes, 
Granny Weatherwax and Vetinari among Pratchett's strongest characters..."

http://bit.ly/1IFIVOV

Mort: "There's plenty to like in Mort and it's all centred around Death. 
After some increasingly funny and deft cameos in the first novels, he's 
thrust at the reader and is established as someone you hope you will 
encounter in many more novels to come... There are some wonderfully 
visual passages throughout the novel. While Pratchett has lent heavily 
on the apocalypse in each of the books to date, it hasn't really felt 
real or threatening. In Mort there are some incredibly evocative scenes- 
Death's room full of hourglasses, the aforementioned sun rising over the 
cesspit that is Ankh Morpork or the Grim Reaper propping up a bar are 
all wonderful. Mort's first piece of work experience – shepherding the 
witch Goodie Hamstring into the afterlife – is a brilliant scene and 
really hard to do justice here. It's very simply written and the 
everyday subtlety of it makes it surprisingly moving... Like Equal 
Rites, this *feels* like a proper Discworld novel and there is plenty to 
like. But as Pratchett's skills at writing novels get better, criticism 
requires much more thought. It's not really sufficient to say ‘well, it 
was funny but a bit of a mess. I liked the jokes but the ending was a 
bit poor..."

http://bit.ly/1TZXXYE

A Hat Full of Sky: "In his two YA books to date, Pratchett has taken 
classic folk tales, dismantled them and fitted the constituent parts 
back together with a lot of darkness and not inconsiderable 
intelligence. They have been among Pratchett's most neatly plotted and 
satisfying reads among the entire Discworld series, so I was anxious to 
see what came next. While Wee Free Men dealt with Tiffany growing up and 
realising her responsibilities as an elder sister, A Hatful of Sky 
forces her to confront the darker side of her nature. This is The Dark 
Phoenix Saga, Luke being tempted by the Dark Side, Clark Kent slugging 
it out with evil Superman in a scrapyard. These books are morality plays 
but the existence of the chaotic Nac Mac Feegle, a blue army of drunken 
riotous pixies, keep them from being too much like serious tracts... 
Tiffany mistakenly sees herself as a really nice person, even though she 
is filled with contempt for the local people she helps with Miss Tick. 
We are in deep Spider-Man territory here, with great power requiring 
great responsibility. Tiffany fails to see this and the parasitic hiver 
awakens her evil self, killing(!!!!!) one of Miss Level's bodies and 
cruelly humiliating her junior coven. The murder of one of Miss Level's 
selves is dealt with in such a matter of fact way, it feels all the more 
horrific. The reader knows at the start of the book that hivers don't 
just target anybody. We cannot guess what frightens a hiver, but they 
seem to take refuge in bodies that have power of some sort – great 
strength, great intellect, great prowess with magic. We know Tiffany has 
all three so her evil self coming to the fore is worrying... Also 
brilliant is his description of how the Nac Mac Feegles can enter 
Tiffany's mind, to free her from the influence of the hiver. They just 
can. So deal with it. Knowing when to elaborate and when to hold back is 
the sign of a great writer. Wee Free Men hearkened back to Lords and 
Ladies with an icy tinge to the narrative. A Hatful of Sky follows in 
this vein, with the hiver seeking sanctuary in someone else because they 
literally cannot cope with reality. The quote that opened this post 
underlines what Pratchett sees as one of humanity's strongest and 
weakest traits – that they can process the chaos that is everyday life 
through storytelling and boredom..."

http://bit.ly/1eUriUE

Monstrous Regiment: "Pratchett has had a firm grip on structure since he 
realised the advantages of good plotting around the time of Wyrd 
Sisters. A few exceptions aside, he never really looked back. Monstrous 
Regiment is probably the closest he comes to a plot crashing and burning 
in the third act. He genuinely snatches victory from the jaws of defeat; 
a strangely postmodern thing given how the book is about a plucky 
underdog taking on a more powerful neighbour... At face value, the novel 
is about femininity and gender roles; we learn quite quickly that all of 
the soldiers in the Monstrous Regiment Polly joins, comprising trolls, 
vampires and humans, are women. We later learn a great deal of the 
senior soldiers who led Borogravia to war are also women, as is Sergeant 
Jackrum, the slightly Kurtz-esque figure leading the regiment. There are 
some interesting nods to Thief of Time and its musings about form 
dictating content, in how the ethereal Auditors of Reality changed and 
acted like humans when they had physical bodies. This was something they 
couldn't help. Pratchett explores these issues again, by looking at the 
transgender soldiers... You are embedded with the regiment throughout 
the book, aside from occasional steps outside to visit Vimes, here on 
diplomatic business, or William de Worde, here on newsgathering duties. 
This zooming in on the conflict has a similar effect as to Night Watch, 
where you viewed a city-wide revolution through the prism of one 
neighbourhood. You feel part of the squad and are drawn towards Perks, 
her loyalty towards her fellow soldiers and her single-minded mission to 
find her brother. While Monstrous Regiment works as a character study, I 
felt the polemics grew a bit tiresome. The intentions were valid but it 
was far from subtle, and therefore not as effective. Then it goes 
absolutely haywire in the final quarter of the book when you discover 
that many of Borogravia's great military leaders are women and the 
carpet is pulled from underneath you..."

http://bit.ly/1g1xAls

Guards! Guards!: "Lord Vetinari, the Patrician of the city. With his 
basic black garb and supervillain intelligence, to me he's Steve Jobs 
playing Lex Luthor. Like Pyramids, the complexity of Guards! Guards! is 
that the Patrician is the best ruler for Ankh-Morpork, regardless of his 
scruples (or lack thereof). He's ruthless, cynical, power hungry but 
fiercely intelligent, pragmatic and someone who can distill the chaos 
and lunacy of Ankh-Morpork into something that could be a workable city. 
Like Pyramids' Dios, he's another villain who doesn't think he is the 
bad guy... Pratchett's use of cliche and tropes is very clever as it 
hides another well worn story in plain sight. The reader is so busy 
giggling at Casablanca references and the like that they fail to notice 
that Carrot has been hidden as the one true heir of Ankh-Morpork 
throughout the novel, even though HE'S AN ADOPTED BLOODY SON AND PARAGON 
OF SODDING VIRTUE TRAVELLING TO A CITY TO SEEK HIS FORTUNE. At least I 
did anyway. But there are flaws. Vimes' journey from drunken wretch to 
hero is glossed over somewhat. He suddenly ditches the bottle and 
decides to serve the public trust, protect the innocent and uphold the 
law. He's a wonderful character – anyone who comes up with the line If 
there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was 
quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life and who is 
constantly disappointed with himself will strike a chord with any reader 
– but the novel is erratic in his plotting. Vimes cleaning up his act 
happens much too quickly, but the book grinds to a halt about two thirds 
of the way in and infuriatingly spins its wheels before the plot kicks 
back in for its conclusion. Ankh-Morpork breathes here, at least as much 
as a shitheap city where the river is technically full of solids, rather 
than liquids, can do. Like any great crime novel, which Guards! Guards! 
ultimately is, the city is as much a character as its dramatis personae..."

http://bit.ly/1NpvbMy

Small Gods: "The highlight, in what is an astonishingly powerful novel, 
is a four and a half page segment. A boat chock full of hired goons 
under the control of the nefarious Vorbis is destroyed according to the 
whims of the gods. The crew, now all dead and having being raised in a 
country and culture that does not allow any sort of afterlife, debates 
what heaven they should explore. And then decide to set sail for that of 
a rival God. I wish I could convey how much brilliance Pratchett 
squeezes into a few pages of...even describing them as minor characters 
would be overblowing their role in the book. But I reached the end of 
those few pages mentally screaming WHERE IS THIS BOOK? I WANT TO READ 
THEIR STORY!!!! That's how good Small Gods is – a concept some other 
authors would have hung a fantastic book on is dealt with in a couple of 
pages. Which is ok, because the rest is wonderful, challenging, thought 
provoking and Pratchett at his very best... Pratchett has been great at 
writing odd couples – Rincewind and Twoflower, the Archchancellor and 
the Bursar, Gaspode and Tugelbend (Gaspode and anyone, to be honest) – 
and Om and Brutha are no different. There's the classic dramatic arc, 
where Om's cynicism helps unlock the questioning nature of Brutha's 
brain and Brutha's innocence and religious devotion makes Om realise he 
too has a duty as a God. The word journey has been utterly sullied by 
waaaay too many weepy-eyed montages on The X Factor but Small Gods 
boasts two fascinating and hilarious protagonists with very different 
characters and motivations – their respective journeys are brilliant..."

http://bit.ly/1LxEvPs

Moving Pictures: "On the surface, the book is the usual comic take on 
the fantasy…and so on. Given its focus is on the movie industry, 
Pratchett stuffs the novel to breaking point with countless references 
to films, including The Blues Brothers, Casablanca or The Wild One. But 
when I read it, I got this wonderful sense of dread from the off. 
Pratchett makes it clear that Bad Things are going to happen and is 
happy to park the comedy to just remind you that something dreadful is 
occurring in the background. And he does this brilliantly – by 
encouraging the reader to spot the references to some of Hollywood's 
best films, you feel you should also be able to work out the crisis that 
will land in time for the third act. And you can't (at least, I 
couldn't). That makes the threat worse because you are trying to parse 
through the hints dropped into the plot and are disappointed in yourself 
that you can't. Which makes Moving Pictures one hell of a compulsive 
pageturner. Screwball Stephen King, if you will... This book took a 
while for me to sift through. While the comedy of the main plot is 
excellent, it's not actually pushing at the boundaries of the average 
reader. The satire of Holy Wood is weak and obvious and is only rescued 
by the volume of references and nods to the industry. But saying Holy 
Wood is self-absorbed is like bears wearing funny hats or the clergy 
defecating in the woods. Tugelbend and Withel are also rather 
forgettable as protagonists and seemingly exist to service the plot and 
nothing more. Gaspode, the talking dog, is better, given he is going 
through an (r)existential crisis of trying to find a place for himself 
where he is not the wild wolf he wants to be and is horrified by the 
life of domesticity of the average hound. So if the protagonists are 
weak and the satire somewhat lazy then why do I like Moving Pictures so 
much? Aside from the unsettling tone and corresponding tug on the reader 
as they try to work out what the hell is actually happening, it's the 
Wizards who make this..."

http://bit.ly/1SXe0Fl

...and The Colour of Magic: "On the surface, the novel is four, rather 
(actually, really) crudely stapled together quest narratives taking 
their lead from various iconic science-fiction and fantasy authors – 
whether it's Lovecraft or Tolkien – and taking the piss out of them. But 
underneath that is an author, so the story goes, realising that this was 
probably his last best hope of becoming a success and throwing 
everything into it. And it worked. Throughout the book, imagination is 
celebrated and cherished and a line is clearly drawn between the power 
of magic in the Discworld and the power of thought and creativity in 
this. Or as Pratchett puts it: A spell is still a spell even when 
imprisoned temporarily in parchments and ink. It has potency. To go a 
bit Chris Traeger from Parks and Rec, books are literally magic... The 
flimsiness of the book is its main flaw and the plot is basically 
‘double act goes here, then here, then here'. Only the first part of the 
book – where Rincewind and Twoflower escape the city of Ankh-Morpork, 
its thieves and assassins, and accidentally invent insurance fraud in 
the process – rattles along with a degree of urgency and momentum. 
Nevertheless, The Colour of Magic remains a tremendous amount of fun, 
with Pratchett overloading pages with jokes, comic asides and deftly 
written set-pieces – the proto-Reservoir Dogs stand-off in The Broken 
Drum pub between our heroes and some of Ankh-Morpork's most insalubrious 
is my highlight... While some have argued this isn't a *proper* 
Discworld book, there are some strong hints of what will come in the 
series. The reluctant hero Rincewind craves a bit of order and structure 
to his life and feels magic may not be all it cracked up to be. 
Rincewind often suspected that there was something, somewhere, that was 
better than magic. He was usually disappointed. When Pratchett begins 
talking about science in later books, this theme is grasped in earnest..."

http://bit.ly/1GHx8ys

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

14) IMAGES OF THE MONTH

The cover of The Shepherd's Crown, framed, and accompanied by the artist:
http://bit.ly/1dyxq3B

A scary Discworld tattoo from Rosie Parsons. Don't make her angry in the 
dark:
http://bit.ly/1M2FSmV

The Luggage in beadwork, by Donna Sanders:
http://bit.ly/1IgYTPs

Wonderful take on Rincewind and Twoflower, by "Where's My Cow?" 
illustrator Melvyn Grant:
http://bit.ly/1IGUOcY

Origami Discworld! By Annalisa. In addition to the photographs, the page 
includes how-to links for all the components (Star Turtle, Elephants, 
and Disc), should you wish to try making one:
http://bit.ly/1Fjzr9R

Nyssa Towsley's Golem tattoo:
http://bit.ly/1Krfq8n

Amy Simmonds' fantastic rendering of the Eater of Socks:
http://bit.ly/1dpvGJG

A superb imagining of the Wyrd Sisters by Sharksden at Deviantart:
http://bit.ly/1CpoBPR

Wincanton's newest street signs, iconograph by Nicole Ouwerkerk:
http://bit.ly/1R2Cr17

Some lovely iconographs of Unseen Theatre's recent much-lauded 
production of Small Gods...

The cast: http://bit.ly/1K2vNYv
"There's good eating on one o' them!": http://bit.ly/1K2vRY4
"Nobody expects the Ommish Exquisition...": http://bit.ly/1RiKcQS
...least of all our hero: http://bit.ly/1FsUHds

Speaking of Discworld plays, here be photos of the Wyrd Sisters taking a 
ducking to promote the Broadclyst Theatre Group's forthcoming production 
of the play (see item 5.3):
http://bit.ly/1LPvoYi and http://bit.ly/1Jsj0jw

Here be Paul Kidby's drawing of the Balancing Monk, originally done in 
2007 for Lu-Tse's Yearbook of Enlightenment:
http://bit.ly/1BwHLYJ

This is Santan, one of the gorgeous orangutan family at Melbourne Zoo, 
where no expense has been spared to make their environment as close as 
possible to the natural wild:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CH6BMNXUkAAcyDJ.jpg

Rhianna Pratchett posted this photo on Father's Day:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CIBImuFWIAENr4I.jpg

...and this last is a photograph of a charming "ratcatcher" by the 
Ragged Victorians, an award-winning group of historical cosplayers who 
have been featured before in Wossname. When Dodger makes it to the 
stage, these are the people theatre groups will want to contact for tips 
on period accuracy!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHfkDrWWEAAYLOt.jpg:large

[Note: for more about the Ragged Victorians, go to 
http://www.raggedvictorians.co.uk/ – Ed.]

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

15) CLOSE

I wonder what the A-M Post Office's Head of Stamps, Stanley Howler – or 
indeed, the Cunning Artificers of Wincanton's Discworld Emporium – would 
make of this: "The world's first stamp made entirely from cork was 
issued in Portugal on Wednesday, November 29, 2007, in a ceremony 
intended to show how the cork industry is finding new ways to use cork 
in the world of metal and plastic screw tops. The stamp is made of 
extremely thin 'paper cork', just 0.35mm thick. The first print run was 
of 230,000 stamps. And like snowflakes, every stamp is unique since cork 
is a natural product and has a cellular makeup. The cork stamp was 
designed by Joao Machado, a Portuguese engraver. Its face-value is one 
euro and it has a picture of a cork-tree on a hill. The debut ceremony 
took place at the Lisbon parliament."

http://winestorageguide.com/cork-stamp-debuts-in-portugal/

...and that's it for June...

...almost. Being Editor of Wossname, I have an editorial comment to make 
– or rather, I would like to call upon the late, very great 
playwright-poet Ben Jonson to make it for me. With the announcement of 
the official blurb and release dates for The Shepherd's Crown has come a 
vast chorus of "O waily waily, this is the last Discworld novel, I can't 
go on with the dreadful world-ending weight of this fact" around the 
internet. While I am no less gutted by the loss of my favourite author 
than anyone else, I do find this a bit too much of a muchness since he 
bequeathed us so many wonderful novels. So here is a quote from a poem 
written by Jonson in 1623, for the publication of the Shakespeare First 
Folio. That was nearly four centuries ago now, but if you add an "s" to 
the word "book", it makes a most appropriate reminder:

"Thou art a monument without a tomb,
And art alive still, while thy book doth live,
And we have wits to read, and praise to give."

Speak his name, over and over, that he may remain in the world.

See you next month!

– Annie Mac

The mirror version of this issue can be viewed at 
http://wossname.dreamwidth.org/17054.html

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The End. If you have any questions or requests, write: wossname-owner 
(at) pearwood (dot) info

———————————————————————————————————
Copyright (c) 2015 by Klatchian Foreign Legion