Wossname -- September 2018 -- main issue

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

Wossname
Newsletter of the Klatchian Foreign Legion
September 2018 (Volume 21, Issue 9, Post 1)

********************************************************************
WOSSNAME is a free publication offering news, reviews, and all the other 
stuff-that-fits pertaining to the works 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.
********************************************************************

Editor in Chief: Annie Mac
News Editor: Vera P
Newshounds: Mogg, Sir J of Croydon Below, the Shadow, Mss C, Alison not 
Aliss
Staff Writers: Asti, Pitt the Elder, Evil Steven Dread, Mrs Wynn-Jones
Staff Technomancer: Jason Parlevliet
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)

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

INDEX:

01) EDITOR'S LETTER
02) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS
03) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS
04) CLOSE

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

01) A LETTER FROM YOUR EDITOR: STRANGE DAYS

It's not often that Wossname's editorials have a title, and even less 
often that I share personal information here, but this time it's 
relevant. The reason this month's issue is coming out at the eleventh 
hour and in an extremely truncated form, is that things got a bit, er, 
medical in our household a few months ago and then got rather more 
medical several weeks ago. So while Wossname's email admin, who also 
happens to be my better half, was in hospital and my own health was 
exceptionally poor, not much got done on the newsgathering or 
article-processing fronts. He's now been discharged and we are coping 
with the aid of home nurse visits, but life is still rather at sixes and 
sevens and I decided that a short September issue would be better than 
none at all. So here it is.

Several planned articles or essays (Odds and Sods, Around the 
Blogosphere, Roundworld Tales) will come at a later date, but I'm 
including one item of note here: the excellent and wonderfully 
enthusiastic Loulou Baylis of Penguin Books wrote to Wossname with the 
following: "I’m contacting you on behalf of Penguin Random House and 
came across your fantastic publication. I noticed that you offer a 
roundup of the latest news, reviews and other Sir Terry 
Pratchett-related scribblings. We’ve just written a Terry Pratchett 
article: '6 Lessons your child will learn from Terry Pratchett books
(_https://www.penguin.co.uk/puffin/articles/2018/aug/6-lessons-from-terry-pratchett-books/_)' 
that includes the likes of the team at the Discworld Emporium and actor 
Sir David Jason explaining what reading Terry has taught them both 
professionally and personally over the years. It's been getting some 
lovely responses so far and I thought this might be something that you'd 
like to include in your next publication?"

Absolutely, Ms Baylis! And here's hoping that your enthusiasm will 
inspire more people in the publishing industry to take a personal 
interest in their authors. So do go have a shufti at the page, O Readers!

And now, on with a (very) short version of the (usual) show...

– Annie Mac, Editor

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

02) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS

Editor's note: as Wossname normally only comes out once every month, do 
check the Wossname blog for information on plays that might fall between 
issue dates! Go to https://wossname.dreamwidth.org/ for interim updates.

* ERIC IN ADELAIDE (OCTOBER)

Unseen Theatre's ever-ongoing Discworld season (now in its 19th year, 
and rightly so!) returns in October with Eric! "An hilarious romp 
through space, time, history and the torture chambers of Hell. Eric has 
been described as 'the Discworld's only demonology hacker', but all he 
really wants is three wishes. That sounds simple enough, right? No, this 
is not your favourite fairytale from your childhood. Far from it. Well, 
maybe not that far……..just as far as the Discworld where demons, 
wizards, hell-hounds, hostile travel accessories, and more demons, 
thinly disguised as public servants with a penchant for excessive 
amounts of stationery and memos, are real..."

When: 5th–6th, 10th–13th and 18th–20th October 2018. Preview night is 
5th October; opening night is 6th October.
Venue: the Bakehouse Theatre, 255 Angas Street, Adelaide, South Australia
Time: 7.30pm all shows
Tickets: $22 Adult, $18 Concession, $16 Groups of 6+ (also Previews and 
Fringe Members), available from https://www.trybooking.com/413146 
("Members of the Media – please book your tickets for Opening Night with 
the usual code")

http://unseen.com.au/

* MEN AT ARMS IN BRISBANE, FOURECKS (OCTOBER/NOVEMBER)

The Brisbane Arts Centre's next Discworld production is Men at Arms! All 
props to Fourecks for keeping the Disc alive on stage: "Men at Arms is 
the 15th novel in Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, a comic 
fantasy universe with over 80 million books sold worldwide. Aficionados 
and newcomers to the Disc will love this adaptation, brought to life by 
the expertise of our Pratchett team."

When: 6th October through 3rd November 2018
Venue: Brisbane Arts Centre, 210 Petrie Terrace, Petrie Terrace (yes, 
the suburb and the road share a name), Brisbane, Queensland 4000
Time: 7.30pm Thursdays, 8pm Fridays and Saturdays, 6.30pm Sundays. 
"Doors close 5 minutes prior to performance. Late entry is not permitted."
Tickets: AU$34 ($28 concession or groups of 10 or more), available now 
online at http://bit.ly/2zHKO5a – and there will be Student Rush tickets 
priced at $15, available from the box office 15 minutes prior to curtain 
on the dates.

https://www.artstheatre.com.au/menatarms

* HOGFATHER IN ABINGDON (NOVEMBER)

The Studio Theatre Club's next Discworld production will be Hogfather! – 
or as they say it, "another of our world Premiere Terry Pratchett shows, 
dramatised by Terry's friend, Stephen Briggs". This is a change from the 
previously announced staging of The Science of Discworld: Judgement Day.

When: 14th–17th November 2018
Venue: the Unicorn Theatre, Medieval Abbey Buildings, Checker Walk, 
Abingdon, Oxon OX14 3JB
Time: 7.30pm all evening shows; 2.30pm matinee on Saturday 17th November
Tickets: £12, available online from 1st August by post (see 
_http://www.studiotheatreclub.com/ordering-tickets_) or online via 
http://www.wegottickets.com/StudioTheatre (note that there is a 10% 
booking charge). "If you're booking for one of the weekend performances 
(Friday or Saturday evening, Saturday matinee), please give a second and 
third choice, as these performances are expected to sell out really 
quickly. Orders by mail received before the box office opens will be 
left unopened until 1 August."

http://www.studiotheatreclub.com/whats-next

* GOING POSTAL IN BRISTOL (DECEMBER)

The Kelvin Players will be staging Going Postal in December 2018. Keep 
an eye on their website: "Moist von Lipwig was a con artist, a fraud and 
a man faced with a life choice: be hanged, or put Ankh-Morpork's ailing 
postal service back on its feet. It was a tough decision. With the help 
of a golem who has been at the bottom of hole in the ground for over two 
hundred years, a pin fanatic and Junior Postman Groat, he's got to see 
that the mail gets through. In taking on the evil chairman of the Grand 
Trunk Semaphore Company, and a midnight killer, he's also got to stay 
alive. Getting a date with Adora Bell Dearheart would be nice, too. In 
the mad world of the mail, can a criminal succeed where honest men have 
failed and died? Perhaps there's a shot at redemption for man who's 
prepared to push the envelope..."

When: 5th–8th and 12th–15th December 2018
Venue: Kelvin Studio, 253B Gloucester Road, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 8NY
Time: 7.30pm all shows
Tickets: TBA

http://www.kelvinplayers.co.uk/coming-soon

* AWARDS FOR WYRD SISTERS ACTORS

By Duncan Rieder for the Rhyl Journal:

"The Rhyl Liberty Players scooped four awards at the Clwyd Full Length 
Drama Festival with their 2017 production of Terry Pratchett’s Wyrd 
Sisters and their three-night run of John Osborne’s The Entertainer, 
which was staged in June... Liberty Players’ George Kelly won the award 
for best actor and fellow member Liz Hughes the award of best actress 
for The Entertainer. There was also as a best supporting actor triumph 
for Steve Barraclough, for his performance in Wyrd Sisters, directed by 
Martin Gorst..."

http://www.rhyljournal.co.uk/news/16885526.rhyl-liberty-players-clean-up-with-best-actor-actress-and-outstanding-show-awards/

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

03) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS

The Sir Terry Pratchett Book Club at Waterstones Leeds meets on the 
first Tuesday of each month at 6pm in the Cafe W coffee shop (in 
Waterstones), to discuss a Pratchett book. "Join us for the most 
fabulous Book Club in Leeds. Each month we come together to discuss the 
splendid novels of Sir Terry Pratchett. We are a very friendly group and 
new people are always welcome!"

The next meeting of the Sir Terry Pratchett Book Club will be on Tuesday 
2nd October at 6pm at Waterstones, 93-97 Albion Street, Leeds LS1 5JS. 
(phone 0113 244 4588). The October book under discussion will be 
Truckers, "a wonderful novel, suitable for all ages, in which we meet 
the Nomes".

*

The Broken Drummers, "London's Premier Unofficially Official Discworld 
Group" (motto "Nil percussio est"), will be meeting on Monday 1st 
October from 7pm at the Monkey Puzzle, 30 Southwick Street, London, W2 
1JQ. "We welcome anyone and everyone who enjoys Sir Terry's works, or 
quite likes them or wants to find out more. We have had many visitors 
from overseas who have enjoyed themselves and made new friends. The 
discussions do not only concern the works of Sir Terry Pratchett but 
wander and meander through other genres and authors and also leaping to 
TV and Film production. We also find time for a quiz."

The Drummers' September meet report: "We met Monday night. The quiz was 
done by new member Ed. I must commend him for his dedication to the task 
of quiz master. He asked me for advice beforehand and appeared to have 
spent some time crafting it. I had said that prizes were optional so Ed 
decided to buy the winner a drink. Then he decided that we would play in 
pairs, thus doubling his costs. Alex G. and I won on a tie-break. Which 
of us does the next one has not been decided. Ed seemed keen to assess 
the geekiness of the group. He concluded that we did look quite geeky 
but had expected more beards. I gather that he was given instructions by 
my husband that he had to watch Quatermass and the Pit (the original BBC 
version although the Hammer Horror one is pretty good) and a range of 
other geek things. Mahrie was trying to remember when she last came. I 
suggested it would probably be in the meeting report, usually with 
reference to gruesome medieval events. That got us talking about my 
impending visit to Pembroke, where Henry Tudor was born. Mahrie noted 
that while we were back to the Wars of the Roses, our conversation was 
not very bloodthirsty. I told her about something I had been reading 
about the murder of King Edward II, who allegedly had a red hot poker 
shoved up his bottom. That was more like it. I spent some time 
recruiting Sarah to Wincanton events and at one point recall re-enacting 
the Pontius Pilate "Biggus Dickus" scene from Life of Brian (using Alex 
as the the Roman soldier trying not to laugh). That led to a discussion 
of crucifixion, where Ed was shocked by my depth of knowledge on the 
technical points. Next meeting is Monday 1st October. I hope to see you 
there."

To read the entire report as a Twitter thread, go to: 
https://twitter.com/BrokenDrummers/status/1037650766318788608

For more information, email BrokenDrummers at gmail.com or 
nicholls.helen at yahoo.co.uk or join their Facebook group at 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/55107511411/permalink/10156634038566412/

*

Canberra, Australia's Discworld fan group is 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 from 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."

*

For Facebook users in Fourecks: The Victorian Discworld Klatch is "a 
social group for fans of Discworld and Terry Pratchett... run by a 
dedicated team who meet monthly and organise events monthly." "If you'd 
like to join our events please ask to join the Klatch."

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

*

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

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

*

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. We also attend opening night at 
Brisbane Arts Theatre's Discworld plays." The Partisans currently have 
about 200 members who 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: "We have an established Terry Pratchett & Discworld fan group 
in Adelaide called The City of Small Gods, which is open to anyone who 
would like to come – you don't have to live in Adelaide or even South 
Australia, or even be a Discworld fan, but that's mostly where our 
events will be held, and we do like discussing Pratchett's works. Our 
(semi-) regular meetings are generally held on the last Thursday of the 
month at a pub or restaurant in Adelaide. We have dinner at 6.30pm 
followed by games until 9pm. Every few months, we have a full day's 
worth of board games at La Scala Cafe, 169 Unley Rd, Unley in the 
function room starting at 10am. In addition, we will occasionally have 
other events to go and see plays by Unseen Theatre Company, book 
discussions, craft, chain maille or costuming workshops or other fun 
social activities."

The next CoSG events will be a Board Games Day at La Scala Cafe on 
Sunday 7th October; a group outing to Unseen Theatre's new production of 
Eric on 10th October; a Book Discussion (Pyramids) on 13th October; and 
the monthly dinner on Thursday 25th October at the Seven Stars Hotel, 
187 Angas Street, Adelaide (08) 8223 6879/(08) 8224 0003. A busy month 
for Pratchett fans in Adelaide!

The CoSG also have another identity. Here's the skinny:

Round World Events SA Inc is a not-for-profit incorporated association 
whose aim is to run fun social Pratchett-themed events for people in 
South Australia. Our first major event was the Unseen University 
Convivium held in July 2012. We have also run three successful and 
booked out Science Fiction and Fantasy themed quiz nights named Quiz 
Long And Prosper, in 2013, 2014 and 2015! The association will run some 
events under the City of Small Gods banner, but you do not have to be a 
Round World Events SA member to be part of City of Small Gods. However, 
we are always on the look out for new members for Round World Events SA 
to help us organise future events! Membership is $20 a year (for 
Adelaide locals) or $5 a year (for those not quite so close) and has the 
following benefits:

A shiny membership certificate all of your very own
Discounted entry price to some of the events we run
A warm, fuzzy feeling deep down in your chest (no, not quite that deep)
For more information, or to join as a member, please email 
RoundWorldEventsSA at gmail.com

www.cityofsmallgods.org.au

*

The Broken Vectis Drummers meet next on Thursday 4th October (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 5th 
October (possibly) 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. 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 1st 
October (possibly) at 6.30pm 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, meet 
next on Monday 1st October (possibly) 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>

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

04) CLOSE

And that's it for September. Take care, and we'll see you in a few 
weeks... I hope!

– Annie Mac

This issue can be viewed on the clacks at 
https://wossname.dreamwidth.org/66482.html

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

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