Wossname -- April 2019 -- main issue

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

Wossname
Newsletter of the Klatchian Foreign Legion
April 2019 (Volume 22, Issue 4, Post 1)

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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)

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INDEX:

01) QUOTES OF THE MONTH
02) EDITOR'S LETTER
03) GOOD OMENS NEWS
04) ODDS AND SODS
05) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS
06) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS
07) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
08) ROUNDWORLD TALES
09) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
10) CLOSE

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01) QUOTES OF THE MONTH

"Episode four, look out for a scene in a small movie theatre where 
Crowley is watching a cartoon about bunnies. Not only will you see me 
passed out dead drunk in the audience, but all of the voices of the 
bunnies are me."
– Neil Gaiman on Twitter, 11th March 2019

"Although a price-tag for the big-budget adaptation has yet to emerge, 
the David Tennant and Michael Sheen-fronted Good Omens – the first 
co-production between BBC Studios and Amazon Studios – is a technicolor 
feast for the eyes, elevated by state-of-the-art tech that creates an 
immersive and otherworldly experience for audiences."
– journalist Manori Ravindran, in conversation with the Good Omens 
production team

"If you look at Lord Of The Rings on the big screen now, you can see 
where certain things are stitched together. You won’t see that with Good 
Omens. We’re now at that point with CGI where it is entirely believable. 
It’s the first time in history where TV budgets are at that level."
– Rob Wilkins throws down the Gauntlet of Hyperbole

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02) A LETTER FROM YOUR EDITOR

The best way to remember Sir Terry Pratchett on the day of his birth? 
I'd say read and re-read, introduce new readers to his body of work, 
encourage young readers to investigate the Johnny Maxwell books and the 
Tiffany Aching books and Nation and Dodger, quote from the Discworld 
books whenever an opportunity arises, learn more about orangutans and 
dementia and support the relevant charities and research organisations 
whenever you can, and re-read again and again and again...

...and keep his name in the Overhead.

GNU Terence David John Pratchett, 1948-2015

*

A wee birthday remembrance from Rob Wilkins: 
https://twitter.com/terryandrob/status/1122478012044382208

...and one from the Ankh-Morpork Consulate aka the Discworld Emporium: 
https://twitter.com/Discworldshoppe/status/1122455011957645312

Department of editorial about an editorial: it's worth having a read of 
the editorial in the most recent Discworld Monthly (issue 265). It's 
about rude fan behaviour, or should I say misbehaviour. And since I 
generally agree with the "...say nothing at all" ethos (which is why I 
don't promote some new Discworld covers and Discworld artwork), I have 
to add my voice to this with an eye-roll-accompanied "oh FFS do play 
nice, people" when it comes to social media. Nuff said.

Meanwhile, here be an adorable "trailer" for NADWCON 2019. Enjoy! 
https://youtu.be/W3iuE_Zwtlg?t=51

And now, on with the show!

– Annie Mac, Editor

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03) GOOD OMENS NEWS

3.0 SNIPPETS

A behind-the-scenes trailer (halfway down the page):
https://www.chortle.co.uk/video/2019/04/18/42845/good_omens:_behind_the_scenes_trailer

According to Neil Gaiman, Sir Pterry's hat and scarf make an appearance 
in the Good Omens miniseries, hanging up in Aziraphale's bookshop.

News about about a certain omission in the series: "In the novel, War, 
Famine, Pollution and Death trick members of the Hell's Angels bikers 
into joining them, promising them a place in their group. They invite 
them to come with them to the very location where the end of the world 
will begin. The bikers then start brainstorming potential apocalyptic 
names for themselves. If the real McCoys represented the worst things 
imaginable like famine and war, the ideas they threw around were 
relatable but not as horrible sounding. They thought of stuff like 
Grievous Bodily Harm, Embarrassing Personal Problems and Things Not 
Working Properly Even After You've Thumped Them. The horsemen, even 
though they liked to roll on their motorcycles, didn't keep their 
promises with their fellow bikers. They only wanted these mortals to die 
a fiery death as part of their affinity for trivial pursuit. In the end, 
all horsemen sidekicks except one met their demise in a catastrophic 
road accident before all of them could choose their names. Death, 
naturally, reaped their souls not long after. This was a shocking moment 
in the book that further demonstrated the monstrosity that the real 
horsemen are capable of. Unfortunately, fans won't be able to see it 
happen in the small screen..."

https://www.latintimes.com/good-omens-series-had-cut-4-characters-due-budget-constraints-435892

3.1 TIE-IN BOOKS FOR GOOD OMENS!

 From The Bookseller:

"Headline has acquired two books to tie-in with a new TV series based on 
Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens. The deal between Headline 
and BBC Studios Productions was negotiated by Neil Gaiman’s agent 
Merrilee Heifetz at Writers House. Gaiman wrote the programme and is its 
showrunner. Produced by BBC Studios Productions in association with 
Narrativia and the Blank Corporation, it will air on Amazon Prime Video 
on 31st May 2019 and appear later on the BBC. Headline will publish 
Gaiman’s screenplay, The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens 
Script Book, which will feature a foreword and commentary by him, 
including deleted scenes. Headline is planning a major, multi-platform 
campaign to support its release. It will also publish the fully 
illustrated making-of book, The Nice and Accurate Good Omens TV 
Companion, which provides behind-the-scenes insight into the making of 
the show, in-depth interviews, photographs, costume boards and set 
designs. Writer Matt Whyman had extensive access to the TV set and the 
people who worked on the show. Both books will be published on 31st May. 
Mari Evans, Headline managing director, said: 'It is our absolute 
privilege to be a part of the extraordinary production that Neil and the 
Good Omens cast and crew have made a reality. Neil’s reinvention of the 
novel he wrote with Terry Pratchett is nothing short of magical and is 
sure to delight old fans and bring in hordes of new ones. Readers and 
viewers are going to be amazed by the scope of the production and by the 
insight into it these two books are going to give them.'..."

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/headline-acquires-two-tie-books-gaimans-good-omens-tv-series-959891

3.2 ...AND, OF COURSE, THE PAUL KIDBY VERSION:

 From Paul Kidby's newsletter:

"The end is nigh! With an impending deadline looming, I’m in the final 
throes of finishing the additional illustrations drawn exclusively for 
the Good Omens Dunmanifestin editions... There are three steps to every 
illustration – the pencil drawing, a tonal sketch and finally the colour 
version. Over these last few months, I have worn countless colour 
pencils into stubs… Once the artwork is finished, my sigh of relief will 
be a swift one, as there are still a few more things to do. That is, 
adding the final touches to the wonderfully varied and eclectic 
collection of ephemera, to accompany the Ineffable and Celestial 
editions. The content of this ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous 
– it’s been a lot of fun making it!

"It goes without saying that producing the artwork and overseeing the 
design of these editions has been a big responsibility. I am extremely 
grateful for my amazingly good-tempered production team – my wife 
Vanessa, Harry Hall and Alex Stott: they have all shared the load and 
brought invaluable creative input. And of course, not forgetting our 
loyal whippet studio helper…. Designing a book, from concept art to 
final publication, is a multi-faceted project. The illustrations 
themselves are only part of the journey. There are a myriad of decisions 
to make, ranging from choosing paper to selecting the fonts, colours and 
formatting styles. We have pushed the parameters of what is possible 
with our long-suffering printers; at times, I’m sure, we’ve driven them 
mad with our relentless requests for foiling, laminating and embossing. 
Every element of the production has been carefully considered and either 
created in-house or in close collaboration with skilled artisans. We 
have given each Good Omens edition its own unique design identity, from 
the colour of the ribbon markers to the engineering of the presentation 
boxes. Hopefully, you will be just as thrilled with them as we are..."

...and an update:

"I hope you all enjoyed the sunshine over the Easter weekend.  I got out 
into the great outdoors, planted up the veg patch and spent time with my 
family. I am now returned to work feeling refreshed and my signing hand 
is back in overdrive. I have to write a total of 4000 signatures 
overall, so it will be a welcome relief to get back to illustrating. The 
internal pages for Good Omens are now printed – it was an exciting 
moment to see them in their unbound form and realise the scale and heft 
of the Dunmanifestin editions. All the illustrations for the collection 
of ephemera to accompany the Ineffable and Celestial editions are 
finally finished, my last drawing was of Aziraphale by ‘Leonardo’. This 
was a fitting bookend to complete the project as my very first drawing 
was of Crowley, as drawn by Leonardo.

"We are now just making the finishing touches to the three presentation 
boxes, including the beautiful wooden box for the Celestial edition 
which has been commissioned from a local cabinet makers. I am also 
focusing on the artwork and layout design for the 2020 Collectors 
Calendar, Discworld Destinations.  I am revisiting some earlier 
illustrations and revising them, such as this picture of the 
Dunmanifestin, the home of the gods. Signed copies are now available to 
pre-order from my website..."

© Paul Kidby http://www.paulkidby.com

[Also see the Merch Corner segment in Odds and Sods, below – Ed.]

3.3 MAKING GOOD OMENS: BEHIND THE SCENES

An article in Television Business International that includes the 
backstory of the new scenes added by Neil Gaiman, discussion of the 
special effects, and how Amazon "taste tested" the series' essential 
Englishness on Americans:

"The creative team is upfront about the fact that, although the show is 
indisputably loyal to Gaiman and Pratchett’s source material, liberties 
have been taken to elevate the narrative. 'We’ve taken departures 
because [the TV show is] a different thing,' explains Mackinnon, 
highlighting Jon Hamm’s archangel Gabriel character. 'That character 
isn’t in the book but we needed him to be around for storytelling 
reasons. Very often an adaptation suffers because a book is written with 
the voice of the reader in mind, whereas we have to expand that onto the 
screen.' Elsewhere, while Shakespeare is mentioned once in the novel, 
the English writer gets an entire sequence shot out of London’s Globe 
Theatre in the show. In addition, Gaiman has written a half-hour 
explanation of Crowley’s backstory at the beginning of the third episode 
that is completely original. 'But the fans of the book will see that as 
a treat rather than a bad diversion,' assures Mackinnon... Lead stars 
Michael Sheen, who plays angel Aziraphale, and David Tennant, a demon 
named Crowley, tell TBI that with Neil Gaiman on board, the TV 
adaptation was able to be comfortably creative with scenes that enhanced 
the source material. 'There’s a fairly major section at the beginning of 
episode three, which in a series of 10 or so scenes we see the 
development of the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley from the 
Garden of Eden, all the way through the history of the world, up to the 
present day,' says Sheen. 'It’s a major addition from the book and it 
was the scene we enjoyed the most.'..."

https://tbivision.com/2019/04/09/good-omens-adapting-the-unadaptable/

3.4 CRITIQUES OF THE NOVEL

Actually a critique of a critique! By Sam Jordison in The Guardian:

"The thing they say we should remember is that 'in those days Neil 
Gaiman was barely Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett was only just Terry 
Pratchett'. That’s not quite how I remember it. When I got hold of Good 
Omens, aged 14, I’d read just about everything Pratchett had published 
up to that point. The idea that he’d teamed up with a gothy longhair to 
write about the end of the world seemed about as big as book news got. 
By the time I realised the book existed in 1991, a year after it first 
came out, it was definitely a 'big deal'. Unusually for a so-called 
fantasy book, it had received favourable reviews in the UK press 
(alongside the notice in the Times that generated the memorable cover 
quote, 'not quite as sinister as the authors’ photo') – and it was 
selling in huge quantities. It had also launched in the US with 
considerable fanfare, and even more confusion. Publishers Weekly used 
the damning descriptor 'zany', while Joe Queenan in the New York Times 
seemed furious to be dealing with such an import. He first described the 
book as a cure for 'the recurring disease of Anglophilia' – and then 
really put the boot in: 'Good Omens is a direct descendant of The 
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a vastly overpraised book or radio 
programme or industry or something that became quite popular in Britain 
a decade ago when it became apparent that Margaret Thatcher would be in 
office for some time and that laughs were going to be hard to come by.' 
I quote at length in humble appreciation of just how wrong we critics 
can be. It got worse for Queenan, who complained about 'an infuriating 
running gag about Queen, a vaudevillian rock group whose hits are buried 
far in the past and should have been buried sooner'. Ah yes, Queen. Who 
recalls them now? But I shouldn’t mock. It’s actually quite a witty 
review – and time embarrasses every critic sooner or later..."

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2019/jan/15/good-omens-not-funny-neil-gaiman-terry-pratchett

...and a more personal review, also by Sam Jordison:

"Here I am, fondly describing Good Omens as some kind of panacea, when a 
good part of its power comes from something far darker. There may be 
plenty of affection for humanity here, but there’s also burning anger. 
There’s real rage about big, serious issues such as environmental 
desecration and the absurdities of religion. And there’s just as much 
fury about the little things. One of my favourite jokes in the book is 
about four bikers who try to become a back-up for the 'Four Horsepeople 
of the Apocalypse': War, Death, Famine and Pollution. The bikers become 
the four relatively minor inconveniences of the apocalypse with names 
such as Ansaphones, Cruelty to Animals, Things Not Working Properly Even 
After You’ve Given Them a Good Thumping and No-Bloody-Alcohol Lager. 
Harmless enough – but the joke only works because it’s bristling with 
genuine irritation.

"More painful to admit is the fact that the book may well have flaws. 
Every time I tried to think about them while I was reading, my thoughts 
slid away, just like they do from anyone in the book who tries to think 
too hard about the true nature of 11-year-old antichrist Adam. We are 
told, for instance that when the witch Anathema tries to work out 
anything about this strange boy, her thoughts 'slipped away like a duck 
off water'. Which pretty much sums things up. Because when I reached 
that passage I was laughing in delight..."

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2019/jan/22/good-omens-is-so-enjoyable-it-seems-bad-form-to-spot-the-flaws

3.5 AZIRAPHALE IS A REAL-LIFE ANGEL

Michael Sheen has been quietly doing something good for the humans of a 
corner of this planet:

"Cameron is 18, about to move into a new flat and studying computer 
science at college with plans to go to university. He sounds like any 
other teenager but with one important difference – Cameron is rebuilding 
his life after becoming homeless at just 14. He is part of what one of 
Wales' biggest charities called a "hidden epidemic" of youth 
homelessness. Stories like his inspired actor Michael Sheen to help set 
up Wales' first national out-of-hours helpline. Cameron, not his real 
name, said his relationship with his family broke down so badly he had 
to leave... Cameron did not know where to find help or who to talk to – 
something other young people told Hollywood star Michael Sheen when he 
spoke with them about youth homelessness. That conversation led to the 
creation of the first national out of hours free helpline for young 
people at risk of homelessness..."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-47359492

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04) ODDS AND SODS

4.1 TROLL BRIDGE DATES

The finally completed Troll Bridge film is making its way around 
Fourecks! The following dates are all part of the Australia-wide 
Flickerfest International Short Film festival:

3rd May: Hobart, TAS, Cygnet, TAS, and Darwin, NT (all listed for this date)
4th May: Hunter Valley, NSW
10th May: Birdsville, QLD
19th May: Kununurra, WA
13th June: Katherine, NT

It will also be shown at the Carmarthen Bay Film Festival in Llanelli – 
that's Wales, not Australia – on 27th May (European premiere, featuring 
a live Q&A with the cast and crew), and at NADWCON 2019 on 12th July 
(featuring Daniel Knight & Christian Bloch as guests).

http://www.trollbridge.film/screenings

4.2 PRAISING MORE THAN JUST DISCWORLD

 From Aaqib Hasib in The Daily Star, a paean to the works of Pratchett 
that praises – rightly – far more than just the Discworld novels...

"The late great Sir Terry Pratchett was a force to be reckoned with in 
the domain of fantasy novels. While his contributions to the world of 
literature are innumerable, Pratchett's life encompassed a lot more than 
just the art of writing books. In 2007, when he was diagnosed with 
early-onset Alzheimer's, Pratchett took a step in a different direction 
by publicly announcing his diagnosis. Pratchett's casual acceptance of 
his illness, along with his nonchalant humour on the issue, helped bring 
to light a disease that wasn't as popular back then. While dwelling on 
the passing of Sir Pratchett is almost heartbreaking for me, there is 
definitely a reward in being able to introduce readers to the world of 
fiction which he created... Pratchett spent his life writing, almost 
effortlessly, books for children and adults of all ages. And if nothing 
else, his body of work continues to entertain and captivate audiences to 
this day. So whether it's to celebrate his life, or just because you 
need a book to read, go give Terry Pratchett's works a go..."

https://www.thedailystar.net/shout/literature-0/news/the-world-terry-pratchett-1708084

4.3 A CELEBRATION OF PRATCHETT'S STEALTH PHILOSOPHY

By Angie Barry on MyWeb Times:

"More than any other author, Pratchett shaped me as a person. Four years 
later, his absence remains a sharp, painful hole. I take comfort in his 
prodigious legacy, though, particularly in the 50-plus stories set in 
his Discworld universe. Discworld belongs in the same eschelon[sic] as 
Middle-Earth and Narnia, a place that looks like our world only slanted. 
Where all of the usual fantasy tropes – bearded dwarves and 
scatterbrained wizards and rocky trolls – live but prove to be much more 
complex than a first blush would suggest. Like Shakespeare, Pratchett 
had a gift for witty wordplay and twisting established plots into fresh, 
vital, new stories. He riffed on the Bard frequently, as well as fairy 
tales, action movies, Hammer Horror, mythology and more. His books have 
at least three laughs a page, with their mixture of slapstick, goofy 
characters and unapologetic puns. But they're also astonishingly deep. 
Pratchett is one of the few authors who can make you laugh, cry and 
seriously think all in the span of a chapter. While many are intimidated 
by the sheer size of the series, I'll never stop singing its praises or 
coaxing newcomers into this rich, wild, poignant world..."

Barry then lists and briefly analyses her six favourite Discworld 
"stealth philosophy" books, including Small Gods, Feet of Clay, 
Hogfather, Thud!, Monstrous Regiment, and Snuff.

https://www.mywebtimes.com/2019/03/13/the-b-list-the-deeper-themes-of-discworld/a3cnb2s/

4.4 THE MERCH CORNER

 From Paul Kidby, "Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Destinations, Collector’s 
Edition 2020 Calendar"

Signed Copy. All calendars are hand signed by Paul Kidby.

"The calendar dates are extensive, and exhaustively researched, and 
include all major real-time calendrical data for Great Britain, Eire, 
Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA, as well as notable Discworld 
dates. This year's calendar draws upon the whimsical, remarkable art of 
long-time Discworld collaborator, Paul Kidby – the man whose depictions 
Terry Pratchett himself described as being 'the closest anyone's got to 
how I see the characters'."

The Discworld Destinations Collector's Edition 2020 calendar is 
published by Victor Gollancz Ltd. Each calendar measures 300x300mm, is 
priced at £18.50 (price includes free shipping in the UK only) and will 
be available from August. For more details, and to pre-order, go to:

https://shop.paulkidby.com/terry-pratchetts-discworld-destinations-collectors-edition-2020-calendar/

...and an action replay of those wonderful new Good Omens special editions:

"The iconic fantasy novel from Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman becomes 
definitive! First published in 1990, translated into multiple languages 
and released in numerous editions across the world, Good Omens has 
spawned a BBC radio series and now a primetime television series from 
Amazon Studios and BBC Worldwide. Illustrated for the first time by 
artist and longterm Pratchett-collaborator Paul Kidby, using a new 
definitive text, agreed by Neil Gaiman and the Terry Pratchett Estate, 
these five editions represent the ultimate culmination of the 
imaginations of the UK’s two foremost fantasy authors."

You can pre-order through Discworld.com or PaulKidby.com. The standard 
hardcover and standard slipcase editions will be published on 4th April 
2019; the Occult, Ineffable and Celestial editions will follow on 20th 
June 2019, although there's a disclaimer saying "Production time for the 
Celestial Edition will vary" -- understandable, as you'll see when you 
read the description below! Please note that prices listed below are 
"recommended" and may be higher.

In standard hardcover, 234 x 153mm: "Hardback with 12 colour 
illustrations and 5 pencil illustrations." Priced at £30 each.

...and standard slipcase, same size: "Slipcase hardback with 12 colour 
illustrations and 5 black and white illustrations. Numbered tipped-in 
sheet signed by Paul Kidby.' Priced at £75 each.

The Occult edition, 305 x 230mm: 'Hardback in a clamshell box, with 
metallic red page edges, 17 colour illustrations with additional pencil 
illustrations. Numbered tipped-in sheet signed by Paul Kidby." Limited 
to 1655 copies and priced at £95.

The Ineffable edition, same size: "Hardback in a deluxe presentation 
box, with gold page edges, 17 colour illustrations with additional 
pencil illustrations. Numbered tipped-in sheet signed by Neil Gaiman & 
Paul Kidby. Separate folio of Good Omens ephemera." Limited to, yes, 666 
copies and priced at £295.

And last but definitely not least, the Celestial edition, also same 
size: "Leather-bound hardback in an artisan presentation box, with gold 
foil page edges, 17 colour illustrations with additional pencil 
illustrations. Each copy individually hand-printed and bound. Named 
tipped-in sheets, each corresponding to a letter of the Greek alphabet, 
signed by Neil Gaiman & Paul Kidby. Separate folio of Good Omens 
ephemera." Limited to 24 copies and priced at... well, you have to ask!

For more information, and to order, go to: http://goodomensillustrated.com/

4.5 ORANGUTAN NEWS

A newly discovered orangutan species is more endangered than before:

"The world's most endangered orangutans could be pushed towards 
extinction after an Indonesian court approved a controversial dam 
project, say campaigners... The region is home to the Tapanuli 
orangutans, which were only identified as a new species in 2017. Only 
800 of them remain in the wild and they all live in this ecosystem. One 
scientist, who acted as an expert witness in the case, told the BBC the 
move would 'put the orangutans on a firm path to extinction'. The 
billion-dollar hydropower dam, scheduled for completion in 2022, will be 
constructed in the heart of the Batang Toru rainforest, which is also 
home to agile gibbons and Sumatran tigers... Environmental group the 
Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) had earlier this year filed 
a lawsuit against the North Sumatra administration, challenging its 
decision to green-light the project. But the Medan State Administrative 
Court in North Sumatra has now rejected the lawsuit, clearing the way 
for the dam to be built..."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47451354

...and a small ray of hope:

"Scott Kennedy and Fergus Moore said they came up with a unique way to 
extract oil from used coffee grounds which had a wide range of uses. 
Palm oil is found in many household products, but environmentalists say 
demand for it is devastating rainforests in Asia. Manufacturers are now 
under pressure to find an alternative. Mr Moore told BBC Radio's Good 
Morning Scotland programme: 'About 60% of a cafe's waste is about coffee 
grounds. In Scotland, that amounts to about 40,000 tonnes a year – 
across the UK, more than half a million tonnes. And coffee grounds are 
so heavy that it takes their waste bill through the roof.' Explaining 
the idea behind his Revive Eco company, Mr Moore said: 'There are oils 
in coffee with a wide range of uses in different industries – cosmetics 
pharmaceuticals, food and drink, household products – you name it, 
there's probably a use there. We're developing a process to extract and 
purify these oils." Mr Moore added: "The most exciting part for us is 
that they have all the same components as palm. Palm oil's in the news 
for all the wrong reasons. It's really exciting for us that we could 
potentially provide a local and more sustainable alternative to all the 
industries that are currently using palm oil.'..."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-48023412

4.6 ALZHEIMER'S NEWS

A new avenue of possible treatment? Pallab Ghosh reports for BBC news:

"New results suggest ageing brains can potentially be rejuvenated, at 
least in mice, according to researchers. Very early-stage experiments 
indicate that drugs can be developed to stop or even reverse mental 
decline. The results were presented at the 2019 meeting of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science. The US and Canadian 
researchers took two new approaches to trying to prevent the loss of 
memory and cognitive decline that can come with old age. One team, from 
the University of California, Berkeley, showed MRI scans which indicated 
that mental decline may be caused by molecules leaking into the brain. 
Blood vessels in the brain are different from those in other parts of 
the body. They protect the organ by allowing only nutrients, oxygen and 
some drugs to flow through into the brain, but block larger, potentially 
damaging molecules. This is known as the blood-brain barrier. The scans 
revealed that this barrier becomes increasingly leaky as we get older. 
For example, 30-40% of people in their 40s have some disruption to their 
blood-brain barrier, compared with 60% of 60-year-olds. The scans also 
showed that the brain was inflamed in the leaky areas. Prof Daniela 
Kaufer, who leads the Berkeley group, said that young mice altered to 
have leaky blood-brain barriers showed many signs of aging. She 
discovered a chemical that stops the damage to the barrier from causing 
inflammation to the brain. Prof Kaufer told BBC News that not only did 
the chemical stop the genetically altered young mice from showing signs 
of aging, it reversed the signs of aging in older mice..."

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47234787

In The Guardian, another approach, reported by Philip Ball:

"Half a million people in the UK are living with Alzheimer’s disease, 
the most common form of dementia. And while the risks generally increase 
with age, thousands are afflicted under the age of 65. Inheritable 
genetic conditions can lead to familial Alzheimer’s, which can afflict 
people as young as 30... Some medications can reduce memory loss and aid 
concentration, but these merely alleviate the symptoms or boost the 
performance of those neurons in the brain that remain unaffected. They 
do nothing to stop or slow down the killing-off of brain cells by this 
neurodegenerative condition. It is a bleak picture. Part of the problem 
with developing drugs is that the causes of Alzheimer’s are still not 
fully understood. Moreover, the disease is also challenging to combat 
because, like cancer, it is not caused by an invading pathogen. It 
arises from our own biology – from something that our cells are prone to 
doing. But, also like cancer, one of the most promising current 
approaches to a cure enlists our body’s own defences, using the immune 
system to ward off the disease by means of immunotherapy. Immunotherapy 
works in the same way as vaccines, by helping the immune system 
recognise and attack cancer cells, and many researchers and some 
pharmaceutical companies are now striving to make a vaccine against 
Alzheimer’s. Some immunotherapeutic drugs are now in clinical trials, 
being tested on human volunteers to see if they are safe and effective. 
There is good reason to hope that the vaccination strategy might 
ultimately be effective for treating or warding off this widespread, 
devastating and fatal condition..."

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/03/alzheimers-disease-immune-system-immunotherapy-vaccine

...and also in The Guardian, some news of possible interest, as reported 
by Hannah Devlin:

"A decline in memory as a result of ageing can be temporarily reversed 
using a harmless form of electrical brain stimulation, scientists have 
found. The findings help explain why certain cognitive skills decline 
significantly with age and raise the prospect of new treatments. 
'Age-related changes are not unchangeable,' said Robert Reinhart, a 
neuroscientist at Boston University, who led the work. 'We can bring 
back the superior working memory function that you had when you were 
much younger.' The study focused on a part of cognition called working 
memory, the brain system that holds information for short periods while 
we are making decisions or performing calculations. Working memory is 
crucial for a wide variety of tasks, such as recognising faces, doing 
arithmetic and navigating a new environment. Working memory is known to 
steadily decline with age, even in the absence of any form of dementia. 
One factor in this decline is thought to be a disconnection between two 
brain networks, known as the prefrontal and temporal regions. In young 
people, the electrical brain activity in these two regions tends to be 
rhythmically synchronised, which scientists think allows information to 
be exchanged between the two brain areas. However, in older people the 
activity tends to be less tightly synchronised. This may be as result of 
deterioration of the long-range nerve connections that link up the 
different parts of the brain.

"In the study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, 42 people 
aged 20–29 and 42 people aged 60–76 were assessed in a working memory 
task. The older group were slower and less accurate on the tests. The 
scientists then subjected them all to 25 minutes of non-invasive brain 
stimulation. This aimed to synchronise the two target brain regions by 
passing gentle pulses of electricity through the scalp and into the 
brain. After the intervention, working memory in the older adults 
improved to match the younger group and the effect appeared to last for 
50 minutes after the stimulation. Those who had scored worst to start 
with showed the largest improvements..."

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/apr/08/scientists-use-electrical-pulses-reverse-memory-decline-ageing

4.7 A WORLD OF FANTASY IN EASY REACH

The Azrian Portal is an "online fantasy fiction platform" that was first 
started as a resource for free-access short stories in the genre. Now 
the site has launched a series of guides to fantasy fiction:

"Included within the series is an insight into the new fantasy books of 
2019, the best dark fantasy books available and a guide to epic fantasy. 
A look at the best fantasy fiction of all time is also featured, with 
works from authors such as Tolkien, Terry Pratchett and G.R.R Martin all 
making the list. 'As the genre continues to see increased interest, it 
felt important to help newcomers to fantasy find the books that will 
really resonate with them.' States James Speyer, writer for The Azrian 
Portal. 'There is such a wealth of content out there, and so many books 
to read, but we all know how limited time can be. Many fantasy books 
range into the hundreds of thousands of words, and a series can last a 
lifetime." Speyer continues. "These guides to the best new and old 
fantasy fiction are designed to be a jumping off point for those who 
want to make the most of their reading potential and find the perfect 
novels for them.'..."

https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/480794538/online-fiction-platform-launches-fantasy-guide-series
https://www.theazrianportal.com/

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

05) 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.

* WYRD SISTERS IN RICKMANSWORTH (APRIL)

The Rickmansworth Players will be staging their production of Wyrd 
Sisters this week!

When: tonight (30th April)–4th May
Venue: Watford Pump House Theatre, Local Board Road, Watford, WD17 2JP UK
Time: 7.30pm all evening shows, matinee on the 4th at 2.30pm
Tickets: £12–£14, available online at 
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/296620 or via the box office (phone 
03336663366)

https://www.rickmansworth-players.org.uk

* LORDS AND LADIES IN BASILDON (MAY)

The Thalian Theatre Group is back with another Discworld production. 
This time it's Lords and Ladies!

When: 2nd–4th May
Venue: Mirren Studio, Basildon Towngate theatre, Towngate Theatre, St 
Martin's Square, Basildon, Essex SS14 1DL
Time: 7.45pm all shows
Tickets: £13 (concessions £11, disabled £9), available from 
https://towngatetheatre.co.uk/lords-and-ladies/ or via the box office 
(phone 01268205300)

* GOOD OMENS IN WOLLONGONG, FOURECKS (MAY)

Amazon Prime may have the big-budget version of Good Omens, but the 
MerrigongX theatre company has the musical!

"An apocalyptically atypical new musical based on the novel by Terry 
Pratchett & Neil Gaiman. Music & Lyrics by Vicki Larnach. Book by Jim 
Hare, Jay James-Moody & Vicki Larnach. Based on the novel by Terry 
Pratchett & Neil Gaiman. According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies 
of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world’s only completely accurate book of 
prophecies, written in 1655), the world will end on a Saturday. Next 
Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner. The armies of good and evil are 
amassing, Atlantis is rising, fish are falling, and everything appears 
to be going according to Divine Plan. A fussy angel and a fast-living 
demon are not looking forward to the impending rapture. They team up to 
circumvent the end of days but there is one problem. Someone seems to 
have misplaced the Anti-Christ."

When: 3rd and 4th May 2019
Venue: Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, 32 Burelli Street, Wollongong,
Time: evening shows both days 7.30pm; matinee on the 4th at 1.30pm. 
Running time is approximately 2 hours 20 minutes including an interval.
Tickets: $30 (pensioners/concessions $18), available now from 
https://sa2.seatadvisor.com/sabo/servlets/EventSearch?presenter=AUMTCO&event=GOOD19 
(note: per transaction fee of $6.95 applies for phone and online bookings)

https://merrigong.com.au/shows/good-omens-development-showing/

* WYRD SISTERS IN EAST SUSSEX (MAY)

Crowborough Community Centre will present "a hilarious stage version of 
Terry Pratchett’s classic novel" Wyrd Sisters in May. It's their 
first-ever Discworld play!

When: 10th–11th May 2019
Venue: Crowborough Community Centre, Pine Grove, Crowborough, East 
Sussex TN6
Time: 7.45pm all evening shows: also, 2.30pm matinee on the 11th
Tickets: £9.50 (£8 concessions), available online at 
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/thecrowboroughplayers or by ringing 01892 
300 567
"There is no age restriction, so younger children are welcome but note 
that, unlike our pantomimes, the production isn't aimed at a younger 
audience. Any questions, email crowborough.tickets at gmail.com or call 
01892 300567."

https://crowborough.weebly.com/spring-play1.html

* WYRD SISTERS IN SUFFOLK (MAY)

The Deben Players, an amateur company that has been presenting plays for 
over 50 years, will stage Wyrd Sisters in May. It's a Discworld first 
for them as well!

When: 22nd–25th May 2019
Venue: Seckford Theatre, Burkitt Road, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 4JJ
Time: 7.30pm all shows
Tickets: £12 (£10 concessions), available online at 
http://debenplayers.net/tickets

https://debenplayers.net

* MEN AT ARMS IN CHESHAM (JUNE)

Chesham Bois Catholic Players are back with a new Discworld play, Men at 
Arms! "The Ankh-Morpork City Night Watch find their services are once 
more needed to tackle a threat to their city. A threat at  least as 
deadly as a 60-foot dragon, but mechanical and heartless to boot. It 
kills without compunction. It is the first gun on the Discworld. It’s 
the Century of the Fruitbat and modernisation and diversity have come to 
the Night Watch. The original Watch – Captain Vimes, Sergeant Colon, 
Corporal Carrot and Corporal Nobbs – are joined by some new  recruits, 
selected to reflect the city’s ethnic make-up – Lance Corporal Detritus 
a troll, Lance-constables Cuddy (little known fact both male and females 
have beards and the female of the species is the dominant one). 
Certainly, unbeknown to the recruiting office of the Watch with a 
diversity quota to fill. So, he was desperate for a female recruit when 
Angua turned up (she is a bit more diverse then most as she is 
werewolf). A fact the recruiter was also unaware  of..."

When: 1st, 7th and 8th June 2019
Venue: Chesham Little Theatre, Church Street, Chesham, Bucks HP5 1HU
Time: TBA
Tickets: TBA

www.littletheatrechesham.co.uk
www.cbcplayers.co.uk
https://twitter.com/CBCPlayers

And later in the year...

* MEN AT ARMS IN CARDIFF (AUGUST)

Peculiar Productions continue the Cardiff tradition of fine Discworld 
plays with a new production of Men at Arms! "The City Watch needs men! 
And women, of course. Not to mention dwarfs, trolls, gargoyles, and 
whatever Nobby Nobbs actually is. Commander Vimes needs to make sure 
they can all get along, and fast – because no-one else can stop a deadly 
secret that stalks the streets…"

Adapted by Stephen Briggs. Directed by Matthew Hitchman.

When: 21st–24th August 2019,
Venue: The Gate Arts Centre, Cardiff
Time: TBA
Tickets: available online via https://peculiarproductions.co.uk/tickets/ 
More info on prices TBA

https://peculiarproductions.co.uk/

* MASKERADE IN BRISBANE (SEPTEMBER)

Brisbane Arts Theatre continue their justified love affair with 
Discworld plays with a new production of Maskerade!

When: 14th September–12th October 2019 (Thursdays through Sundays)
Venue: Brisbane Arts Theatre, 210 Petrie Terrace, Petrie Terrace, QLD 4000
Time: all Thursday shows 7.30pm, all Friday and Saturday shows 8pm, all 
Sunday shows 6.30pm
Tickets: $23–34, available online at https://bit.ly/2IOWLdw or via the 
box office (phone (07) 3369 2344)

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

* MASKERADE IN ELTHAM[1] (OCTOBER)

Eldorado Musical Productions will be staging their production of 
Maskerade in October!

When: 9th–12th October 2019
Venue: Bob Hope Theatre, Wythfield Road, Eltham SE9 5TG (box office 
phone 0208 850 3702)
Time: 7.45pm all evening shows; matinee at 2.30pm on the 12th
Tickets: £15 (£13 on opening night), not yet available but will be via 
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/bob-hope-theatre and from the Box Office 
which is open Tuesdays through Saturdays 10am–1pm.

http://www.eldoradomusicalproductions.co.uk/maskerade/4594338795

[1] Note for Fourecksians: that's Eltham in Greater London, not the one 
in Melbourne – Ed.

* GOING POSTAL IN EMERALD, FOURECKS (OCTOBER)

The Gemco Players will present their production of Going Postal in 
October! "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: 11th–26th October 2019 (Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only)
Venue: Gem Community Arts Centre, 19 Kilvington Drive, Emerald, VIC 3782
Time: all Friday and Saturday shows 8pm; Sunday matinees 2pm
Tickets: prices TBA. Tickets will be available online via 
https://www.trybooking.com/BAGWG from 9pm on 11th August

https://gemco-players.squarespace.com/whatson/2018/12/5/going-postal

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

06) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS

The Broken Drummers, "London's Premier Unofficially Official Discworld 
Group" (motto "Nil percussio est"), will next meet on Monday 6th May, 
starting at an earlier than usual 1pm due to the Bank Holiday, and will 
be held outdoors if weather permits.

Drummers' April meet report, by Helen: "[This month] we met a week later 
than usual. The reason for the change was the Irish Discworld Convention 
and much of the talk centred on that. I took part in the convention 
dramatics, as did Chico, who was also present last night. We told 
everyone how the election that formed the convention dramatics story was 
hijacked when someone added a ballot box for an anarchist dwarf 
character (played by Helen C) who then won the election by a landslide. 
This was so typically Discworld and a brilliant, if unforseen 
conclusion. I showed everyone pictures of myself as Frau Gateau, a 
rather unkind witch and Chico as Igor as well as the cast photos. These 
are all available on the Facebook page. I was asked if anything was 
recorded. The answer is yes but I'm not sure how much and I don't yet 
have permission to share it. Watch this space. Charles did a quiz on 
Making Money, which was less difficult than his last quiz but still 
quite difficult. I won, beating my husband by half a point. I 
nevertheless cursed myself for not being able to remember the name of 
the female golem (Gladys)... We now have a WhatsApp group, if you would 
like to join, please send me your number..."

https://twitter.com/BrokenDrummers/status/1117105124667793408

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 Going Postal discussion on 11th May, and 
the monthly dinner (at the Seven Stars Hotel) on 30tyh May.

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 2nd May (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 
May (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 6th 
May (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 6th May (possibly) at Old Shanghai, 123 James Street, 
Northbridge, Perth, Western Australia. For details join their Facebook 
group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Perth.Drummers/ – or message 
Alexandra Ware directly at <alexandra.ware at gmail.com>

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

07) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE

Blogger Queer and Confused completely "gets" the Pratchett ability to 
write sympathetic characters:

"I’ve just finished rereading Unseen Academicals, in it there is 
genderqueer polyamorous couple. The characters have depth, warmth, and 
at no point did they feel tokenistic, they felt like real people. The 
book was published when Pratchett was 61, 2 years after his Alzheimer’s 
diagnosis. This empathy, the depth he displayed in characters so beyond 
his own experience, is why I love his books, why I’m glad his writing 
was such a strong presence during my formative years. Treating others 
experiences generously and understanding the variety in human 
experiences is such a beautiful thing..."

https://queerdoconfusion.wordpress.com/2019/02/13/pondering-pratchett/

Blogger Hedgehog O'Brien on the real-world importance of reading Discworld:

I’ve been on a  Discworld re-read for about a year now, and it just 
struck me how Pterry gets progressively angrier and less subtle about it 
throughout the series. Like, we start out nice and easy with Rincewind 
who’s on some wacky adventures and ha ha ha oh golly that Twoflower sure 
is silly and the Luggage is epic, where can I get one. Meanwhile 
Rincewind just wants to live out his boring days as a boring Librarian 
but is dragged along against his will by an annoying little tourist 
guy... then you get to Small Gods, in which organized religion is 
eviscerated so thoroughly that if it was human, even the Quisition would 
say it’s gone a bit too far while at the same time not condemning people 
having faith which is kind of an important distinction. You get to Men 
at Arms and I encourage everybody with an opinion on the Second 
Amendment to read that one. You get to Jingo, Monstrous Regiment, Going 
Postal (featuring an evil CEO who is squeezing his own company dry to 
get to every last penny, not caring one lick about his product or his 
workers or his customers or anything else and who, coincidentally, works 
out of Tump Tower. I’m not making this up). And just when you think, 
whew, this is getting a bit much but hey, look, he wrote YA as well! And 
it’s about this cute little girl who wants to be a witch and has help 
from a lot of rowdy blue little men, this will be fun! A bit of a break 
from all the anger! Wrong. The Tiffany Aching books are the angriest of 
all. But you know what the great thing is?  The great thing is that 
Pterry’s anger is the kind of fury that makes you want to get up and do 
something about it..."

http://hedgehog-o-brien.tumblr.com/post/172200514396/ive-been-on-a-discworld-re-read-for-about-a-year

Blogger Dial H for Houston's admiring review of Men at Arms:

"Terry Pratchett books are really, really hard to review. It’s easy 
enough to roast some dollar-bin sci-fi schlock (which I honestly haven’t 
done in awhile), but if you do it too much you almost don’t know what to 
make of a good book. And Men At Arms is pretty dang good, guys. Men At 
Arms is the 15th Discworld novel, and the second in Pratchett’s ‘Watch 
Series,’ the collection of novels centered on Sam Vimes, captain of the 
Ankh-Morpork City Watch... The Watch novels are arguably the best of the 
Discworld books, as they’re a fun combination of crime, fantasy, and 
comedy. Of course, this being Pratchett, it’s not just hijinks and 
shameless puns. Rather, Ankh-Morpork, a sprawling, dirty complicated 
city, acts as something of a reflection of our own world. For example, 
the growing populations of dwarfs and trolls coming to the city are 
obvious metaphors for immigration and cultural assimilation– themes that 
come to the fore as we get the first appearances of key Watch members 
like Detritus the troll, or Angua Von Uberwald, werewolf. Honestly, Men 
at Arms is pretty interesting in that it’s something of a turning point, 
in which Pratchett starts really developing and changing the setting of 
Discworld into its own thing, rather than a charmingly ramshackle 
pastiche of other fantasy books. I haven’t read the entirety of 
Pratchett’s work (so at least I’ve still got something to look forward 
to), but I dare say Men at Arms is the first great Discworld novel..."

https://dialhforhouston.wordpress.com/2019/02/18/book-review-terry-pratchetts-men-at-arms/

Blogger The English Student is back with yet more possibly overthought 
thoughts on Maskerade:

"There’s something very Twelfth Night about this novel: the Opera House 
is a place where people experiment with their identities, slip into new 
roles, as it were. Agnes reinvents herself as Perdita X. Nitt 
(“Perditax”, as Nanny Ogg insists on calling her), a person she feels is 
more interesting and thinner (more on that later) than Agnes is. Nanny 
Ogg becomes A Lancre Witch, bestselling author of a cookbook that puts 
Nigella Lawson’s innuendoes to shame. A painfully shy young man finds 
confidence and grace when he puts on a mask. It’s good fun seeing the 
witches confronted with this chaotic role-play: Pratchett tends to put 
them in stories about stories anyway, about how stories shape our 
perceptions of ourselves and others, and how we perform those stories. 
But I think Maskerade is a weaker example of the type: I’m not convinced 
that its anarchic performative play has a point beyond itself. It’s just 
fun. The Opera House, and its particular superstitions and narratives, 
is important in that it allows for this kind of experimentation, but it 
is ultimately a closed world, beholden only to itself..."

https://englishstudens.wordpress.com/2019/02/21/review-maskerade/

...and on Feet of Clay:

"As with all of the Discworld novels, the plot is so encrusted with 
wordplay and humour and rich vital detail that it’s pretty much 
vestigial, but it is, more or less, a murder mystery... There is, in 
other words, a lot going on. That’s one of the great joys of the 
Ankh-Morpork novels, though: how full they are of life and incident, of 
the anarchic and wonderful energies of the archetypal city. 
(Ankh-Morpork is pretty obviously a mirror of London, with its great 
curving polluted river, its Isle of Gods, its defunct city gates.) Much 
of that energy is generated by the social tensions the novel lays out, 
conflicts between old and new: the centuries-old vampire who manipulates 
short-lived humans like pawns on a chessboard comes up against the 
newly-relevant Watch and its stubbornly working-class Commander Vimes, 
fast rising to prominence; the brand-new concept of dwarf femininity 
attracts the opprobrium of much of dwarf-kind; the idea of golems 
suddenly having rights and thoughts and plans of their own is abhorrent, 
even terrifying, to Ankh-Morpork’s citizenry. But there’s nothing 
schematic or straightforward about this broad pattern of tension..."

https://englishstudens.wordpress.com/2019/03/07/review-feet-of-clay/

Blogger Tyson Adams' very positive five-star review of The Light Fantastic:

"Luggage that doesn’t get lost? This must be a fantasy novel. After 
shooting off the edge of the Discworld in The Colour of Magic, Rincewind 
and Twoflower are magically returned to the Disc for reasons unknown. 
The world turtle, Great A’Tuin, is swimming through space, excited about 
the red star it is approaching. The Wizards have noticed the red star 
and the magical change that allowed Rincewind and Twoflower to return, 
allowing them to uncover an ancient prophecy. Can the prophecy be 
fulfilled before Great A’Tuin reaches their destination? When I finished 
The Colour of Magic I was a little peeved. Whilst a continuing story 
cliffhanger is a common fantasy trope, a book satirising fantasy tropes 
should surely rise above such shenanigans. That downgraded my rating to 
4 stars. Happily, The Light Fantastic finished the story started in The 
Colour of Magic in a highly entertaining fashion..."

https://tysonadams.com/2019/02/22/book-review-the-light-fantastic-by-terry-pratchett/

Blogger 42dentarthurdent's take on promoting the Discworld series to 
newbies:

"With so many books in the series, it can be seen as a rather daunting 
endeavour to begin reading, and the subseries can tend to confuse the 
matter. Every Discworld fan has different opinions on where a new reader 
should start, although almost none will ever tell you to read them all 
chronologically. This is because while Colour of Magic is the first book 
in the series, as well as the beginning of the Rincewind subseries, it 
isn’t the finest example of the overall works. This was when he was just 
getting started and the Discworld was still a rough diamond. Personally, 
I enjoy reading from the very beginning to the very end because of that. 
You can see how both the Disc grows from being just a satirical parody 
of other fantasy worlds to its own distinct thing, and how PTerry grows 
as a writer and person... Equal Rites is the first real foray into what 
the Discworld will come to be known for...  It’s by simple twist of fate 
that the eighth son’s eighth son to whom the dying wizard leaves his 
staff, turns out to be a girl. This is also the introduction to one of 
my favourite characters, Granny Weatherwax, a very senior witch. It’s 
from those first few books that the entire world sprung, and yet most 
fans of the series tend to avoid recommending them because of their 
unpolished nature in comparison to the rest of the series...

"The subseries of the Discworld are Rincewind, the Witches, the Watch, 
Death/Susan (his granddaughter), Moist von Lipwig, Tiffany Aching (his 
YA Disc books), Science of the Discworld (which interacts with our own), 
and arguably the Wizards. I say arguably because apart from Moving 
Pictures and Unseen Academicals, their books all fit into other 
subseries as well, generally Rincewind’s which is why they’re often 
simply lumped together... There are other books in the series as well, 
very good books indeed, but those don’t fit neatly into subseries the 
way the ones I’ve mentioned do. The beauty of the Discworld is that 
despite the fact that all the stories are interwoven to create the vast 
story of the world, it’s possible to pick up any book in the series and 
enjoy it by itself..."

https://loremipsum.family.blog/2019/02/25/introduction-to-the-discworld/

...and blogger Specfictlit's, on the "Death series":

"While the Discworld Death isn’t the definitive version, he does loom 
large. Possibly because like most classical depictions, he’s a skeleton 
in a big black robe toting a scythe. Like with many of his creations, 
Terry takes the base elements, the universally recognised 
characteristics and gets to work in playing around with them. In his 
endless inhumanity, the Discworld death possesses character. He has a 
fondness for cats, he tries hard to be creative and caring but makes 
fundamental mistakes. Death is gentle and terrible and, when the going 
gets tough, he’s always there. And this is the only Discworld strand so 
far where I haven’t had to look up the plots. Of course, there are 
deathly cameos in most of the books of the series but that doesn’t mean 
he doesn’t get his own series to make feature appearances..."

https://specfictlit.wordpress.com/2019/02/28/ranking-my-journey-through-the-discworld-so-far-death-edition/

Blogger Hobbleit returns with a review of Pyramids:

"I don’t think that Pyramids would have been a Discworld novel I ever 
would have read if I wasn’t trying to read more Pratchett which is a 
shame because I actually enjoyed reading it very much. It is typically 
Pratchett in style, very quirky and funny. There were several places 
where I was laughing out loud, especially the part where Teppic is 
arguing with the Sphinx over his riddle and Death’s cameo appearance was 
also very amusing. Then again, an appearance from Death can raise the 
quality of any story, in my opinion. The characters are fun to read. 
Teppic is an amusing protagonist, the son of the king who is sent to 
Ankh-Morpork to train to be an assassin and the camels were very funny 
to read. You Bastard has the best name ever. Also Ptraci, whose speech 
impediment means she says every ‘T’ word with a ‘P’ added on. Speaking 
of the names, only Terry Pratchett could get away with calling his 
Ancient Egyptian inspired region of the Discworld Djelibeybi. It’s such 
a daft joke but it really made me laugh. All in all I enjoyed Pyramids 
more than I expected. .."

https://hobbleit.wordpress.com/2019/02/25/terry-pratchett-read-a-thon-february-book-7-pyramids/

Blogger We Are Just Stories' paean to The Long Cosmos:

"I got really emotional at the end of this book, it’s the last in The 
Long Earth series and one of the last books Terry Pratchett wrote. 
Stephen Baxter wrote a lovely introduction at the beginning and said 
that the last time he saw Terry was when they wrote the last quarter of 
the book. The Long Cosmos is set nearly sixty years after Step Day when 
humans figured out how to step into endless parallel Earths. Over the 
series we’ve been far out into these worlds with Joshua, Sally, Lobsang 
and Maggie. In the third book, The Long Mars, Sally and her father went 
to explore the parallels of Mars, this was my favourite, The whole 
series is really clever and fascinating, but this story is another step 
up, the message from the stars and how we can reach them..."

https://wearejuststories.home.blog/2019/02/27/the-long-cosmos-review/

Blogger Too Many Posts' review of Monstrous Regiment:

"I bloody loved this. I was smiling and chuckling to myself throughout 
the book as Pratchett displays his usual flair for fast flowing, clever 
and incredibly funny writing. He layers in jokes throughout, with 
running gags, knowing asides and wry observations. Despite the 
fantastical setting, Pratchett is a student of the human condition, 
describing common failings, foibles and emotions. There’s a healthy 
skewering of the romantic way war is often presented, with Pratchett 
describing a conflict of chaos, blundering, needless death and foolhardy 
attempts to be a hero. Polly and her comrades have to navigate the near 
sighted bureaucracy of the military, deal with propaganda and shepherd a 
rather foolish officer through the war. Polly is the reasonably clever 
and level headed character in a world of fools, nutters and unlucky 
bastards, and her perspective allows us to see the characters up close, 
her own insights growing as she observes them. I really enjoyed how 
Pratchett slowly ramps up the ridiculousness of it all, adding in each 
daft development or twist in a way that never feels forced and just 
increases the humour of the novel..."

https://toomanyposts.wordpress.com/2019/03/04/book-review-monstrous-regiment-by-terry-pratchett/

Blogger The Idle Woman returns with her re-read review of Small Gods:

"If Pratchett’s early Discworld books are riffs on self-contained themes 
– whether that’s Ancient Egypt, Hollywood, Macbeth, or Faust – Small 
Gods broadens its scope slightly. The butts of the jokes are 
identifiable, with the Spanish Inquisition, Galileo and Greek philosophy 
coming in for a more or less equal share of satire, but there are also 
serious questions about the nature of faith. Pratchett’s gods are 
divided between the raucous, Olympian-style pantheon of big-hitters up 
on Cori Celesti, and the ‘small gods’ of the title: deities of spring or 
field or minor cities, who have come into existence through the power of 
their worshippers’ devotions. A god might come into being when a 
shepherd builds a cairn in gratitude for finding a lost lamb; that same 
god might rise to become the titular deity of a great civilisation; but 
in time, as the civilisation fails and times change, the god shrinks 
back into nothingness. There is only power so long as there is belief 
and those gods who’ve lost their believers fade into chittering voices 
in the wilderness... Just in case this sounds a bit serious, you can 
rest assured that there are plenty of fun moments..."

https://theidlewoman.net/2019/03/06/small-gods-terry-pratchett/

...and of Lords and Ladies:

"...we don’t only have witches, but wizards too! The faculty of Unseen 
University are shocked when Archchancellor Ridcully decides to attend 
the wedding of a minor Ramtop royal, heading off with a questionable 
escort of nervous young Ponder Stibbons, the frantic Bursar and the 
Librarian (who, in case you needed reminding, is an orangutan). But they 
might be even more shocked if they could see into Ridcully’s mind. For 
going back to Lancre is a way to revisit his youth, and face the results 
of decisions he made as a young man – decisions he’s always secretly 
wondered about. Obviously, just in case this is sounding a bit serious, 
there’s also Morris dancing, full choruses of those Discworld classics 
The Hedgehog Song and A Wizard’s Staff has a Knob on the End, and 
unmediated Nanny Ogg. So it’s all jolly good stuff. But – forgive me for 
being serious again for a moment – the story does have a deeper theme, 
not the cheerful demolition of Shakespeare’s plot, but something more 
thought-provoking. The book asks many of its characters to decide who 
they want to be, or to reflect on the decision they made many years ago. 
Magrat must wrestle with her conscience and decide what it means to be a 
queen and whether she can reconcile herself to such a change of 
lifestyle. Granny and Ridcully must look back on the choices they both 
made, to pursue their study of magic over the possibility of a more 
normal life. Even the silly girls with their fledgling ‘coven’ must 
decide whether to pursue their rebellious teenage dreams of witchcraft 
or fit into the conventional world around them (I raise a toast to an 
early cameo by Agnes Nitt). To a small degree, even Nanny Ogg’s burly 
son Jason the blacksmith must reflect on the consequences of the deal he 
accepted: in order to have the talent to shoe anything, one must shoe 
anything. We make these deals with the world around us, never knowing at 
the time what is right or not, but having to trust only that we’re 
making the right choice..."

https://theidlewoman.net/2019/03/07/lords-and-ladies-terry-pratchett/

...and of Soul Music:

"At the age of sixteen, both Susan and Imp/Buddy have found themselves 
thrown into situations beyond their control, engineered by occult 
forces, isolating them even further from anyone who understand. So far, 
so history of adolescence. And this story of self-fashioning and 
self-discovery blends with some classic Pratchett comedy, courtesy of 
the wizards of Unseen University. They are deeply affected by the 
compulsive new Music With Rocks In, none more so than the Dean, who 
begins showing a distressing tendency to grease his hair into a quiff, 
make strange trousers with rivets on, and rebel against the 
Archchancellor’s rules with all the panache of a grizzly teenager. As 
the music gets its claws into everyone and everything, only a few brave 
souls stand clear of the madness: the Archchancellor, Susan, and the 
Death of Rats, who must try to track down his erstwhile master Death 
before things get completely out of hand. Every element of the story 
seems to work perfectly with the others, and Pratchett has great fun 
with the cliches of rock music – the groupies, the tour shirts, the 
wannabe band which changes their name once a day for more effect, the 
avaricious band managers (hello Cut-My-Own-Throat Dibbler; long time no 
see). Occasionally you feel he’s having just a bit too much fun – I 
swear that an entire scene was crafted just so that Pratchett could work 
up to the phrase ‘the grateful Death’ – but it’s a full-hearted, 
infectious kind of fun..."

https://theidlewoman.net/2019/03/08/soul-music-terry-pratchett/

Blogger Who's Dreaming Who's review of Witches Abroad:

"As with the last Discworld book I read, Witches Abroad is abundant with 
the author’s trademark witty writing. There are laugh-out-loud scenes in 
here; many of them involving Nanny Ogg’s oversized cat Greebo. He gets a 
chance to shine in this book with a more developed role than usual. I 
don’t want to spoil it but Greebo’s journey through this story is 
unforgettable. To be praising the author’s depiction of a main 
character’s pet cat should give you some idea of how skillful a writer 
Pratchett is. All of his characters have distinct personalities and 
voices. He writes heroes and villains who feel like real people: flawed, 
foolish, funny and unforgettable. It really is a joy to read these books 
and it is difficult to pick a favourite character. Despite her apparent 
grumpiness, Granny Weatherwax is now one of my favourite Discworld 
characters. I have enjoyed each of the Discworld books that feature the 
witches and this is no exception. Witches Abroad is so much more than a 
satire of Cinderella. Like all of his best stories, if you look a little 
deeper beyond the surface of the comedy you will find rich nuggets of 
wisdom. Pratchett deconstructs fairy tales as a way of both exploring 
the power of stories and commenting on the freedom of choice we need as 
people. We desire a happy life but we don’t want to be made to live 
happily ever after. If we have no say in how the story goes, how can we 
truly enjoy it?"

https://biginjapangrayman.wordpress.com/2019/03/07/witches-abroad-1991-by-terry-pratchett/

Blogger Clurichaun's thoughts on Discworld, Terry Pratchett, and 
Alzheimer's:

"The Discworld novels are a marvel of satire and subtlety, having grown 
from lambasting mediocre science fiction and fantasy novels to generally 
focusing on a topic or concept to roast. More than any other writer, Sir 
Terry’s work continues to appeal to me... What is so significant to me 
about satire and this series, though, is where I was headed. On the 
surface, Sir Terry’s books can be read as the sci-fi/fantasy and comedic 
works that they are. Additionally, though, they are adept at teaching a 
reader subtle ways of examining a topic... I find the Discworld novels 
to be excellent resources for introspection and self-awareness, a manual 
for developing questions of perspective. They entertain me as well as 
being inspiring for both writing and expanding how I approach a topic. 
Racism, war, and even the banking industry made for useful fodder in his 
examinations of subject matter. The books have also been significant to 
me by assisting my recovery from intense bouts of depression. I owe a 
great deal of emotional development to personal connections to these 
books. That is why the death of an icon of the literary world did such 
damage to me.

"March 12, 2015 is when the world lost a great mind. Sir Terry was 
diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease years before. He had seen the effects 
of someone wasting away slowly from disease. He wanted none of it. Sir 
Terry began to campaign for assisted death. Should a person be 
incurable, he felt that they, in a lucid state, should be able to 
determine the time and manner of their passing. I can see the logic in 
this, but also recoil from it as someone who has had frequent brushes 
with suicidal thoughts. These feelings are never far from my mind, even 
though I no longer feel susceptible to them. His arguments for this have 
long been a point of internal debate. I think the greatest point that 
underlies this personally is my own fear of loss. I am terrified of 
losing loved ones. Death in general is a cause of grief, whether I knew 
the person or not. This refusal to let go has long haunted me, and I was 
particularly loathe to let Sir Terry go. I wanted him to live forever, 
writing and teaching me about topics I may not have considered examining..."

https://clurichaun.blog/2019/03/08/all-the-little-angels-rise-up-rise-up/

...and finally, a Pratchett overview by blogger Trickletarts, written in 
what I found to be charmingly inept English. Even with the 
must-have-had-a-thesaurus-in-hand misapplications and amusing gaffes, 
the love shines through. So your Editor is sharing, rather than mocking, 
by including this one:

"Good Omens was my first rendezvous with Terry Pratchett, and with his 
powerful comedy and Gaiman’s overwhelming imagination, it is my all-time 
favorite. I become drowned of new genres and contemporaries but I will 
always reach for it. So when I found Terry Pratchett in the array of 
fictions in the bookstore, I touched Soul Music and eventually bought 
it. Though I did not regret that I pulled it first from the parade of 
Pratchett’s books, I found it agonizing why it has to span 10 years 
before realizing my goal of starting the Discworld series. I dislike 
scifis, i.e., galactic adventures, so Star Wars and Star Trek is a no-no 
to me (no offense intended). Yet I did not even wonder why Discworld, 
with traces of my dislike has become the top of the list.

"The Colour of Magic introduces us to a wizard drop out, Rincewind, 
who’s only pride is his brain of many languages. This landed him to a 
wage of 6 gold coins that 3 of it could buy the whole of an infamous pub 
the staffs included. These in exchange for a touring job offered by a 
strange tourist, in the name of Twoflower, who owned a humble 2000 gold 
coins, a strange luggage that bows only to its master and munches not 
just thieving hands but also the whole flesh and perhaps the soul (not 
to mention, it has legs), and a camera that houses an imp to paint the 
pictures it captured by using pink as an ink... The age of this book is 
older than me, yet the twist of what it’s like when your land is 
legendary to a foreigner is quite new—as opposed to a general plot in 
which the main character is tantalized to mystic lore. That when the MC 
is perplexed by the events contradicting his premise, Rincewind the hero 
is baffled of his people’s demeanor in front of the expectant traveler. 
But the curious Twoflower was no less astounded and his response brought 
Rincewind to an even more curious state; that despite the deceptive and 
barbaric behavior of the denizens, Twoflower reveled on them..."

https://trickletarts.wordpress.com/2019/03/19/the-colour-of-magic-a-review/

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

08) ROUNDWORLD TALES: THE NIGHT WATCH

A fascinating piece by Fisun Güner on Rembrandt's iconic The Night 
Watch, so wonderfully parodied by Paul Kidby on his dust-cover art for 
the twenty-ninth Discworld novel:

"A myth has grown around Rembrandt’s apparent fall from favour that was, 
for many years, connected to The Night Watch. The painting has even 
inspired conspiracy theories courtesy of film director Peter Greenaway. 
His 2007 picture Night Watching, and follow-up documentary Rembrandt’s 
J’Accuse, argue that the painting’s complex iconography reveals a murder 
plot that leads to members of the civic militia, who it portrays 
threatening Rembrandt’s life and leading to his ruin... Perhaps we 
should look closely at the painting, not for any clues to a conspiracy 
to murder, but to see how Rembrandt deviated from the norms of a 
sub-genre that was very popular in the new Dutch Republic: the civic 
militia portrait, or The Guardroom Scene. And we can make up our minds 
as to whether the painting might have brought displeasure to those who’d 
commissioned it. It was certainly Rembrandt’s most masterly composition 
to date, which, post cut, still measures almost 12ft x 14ft (3.65 x 
4.26m). In this richly hued, tenebrous masterpiece, where light is used 
to lend the scene an ethereal quality amid the commonplace bustle of 
movement and action, we detect a certain strangeness, a certain 
unreality to the scene – even though it’s a painting full of noise.

"Here a frisky dog barks; a drummer beats his big drum, readying to keep 
time with the marching guards; a boy is seen at the furthest edge to the 
left, looking back as he runs off carrying a gunpowder horn; a guard 
tinkers with the muzzle of his musket; behind the richly attired 
captain, another guard accidently fires his musket, its smoke mixing 
with the white plume on the lieutenant’s tall hat (a comical near miss, 
and an actionable offence). Further to the right, a guard examines the 
barrel of his musket. Meanwhile, some figures, jostling behind the more 
prominent characters, are barely visible beyond a limb or, if you look 
very carefully, an eye and a partially glimpsed face. That eye to the 
upper left of Banning Cocq, belongs to the artist himself. Just as the 
Flemish artist Van Eyck loved to do, Rembrandt painted himself hidden 
within the scene. And who is that brilliantly illuminated girl dressed 
in gold and with a dead chicken tied to her waist? She is both of the 
scene and not. Rather than portraying a real person, she is a symbol or 
mascot, and the chicken, or rather its prominent claws, is the emblem on 
the coat of arms of Banning Cocq’s company of Kloveniers (or 
Musketeers)... Though the figures of the captain and his lieutenant 
dazzle as the heads of their company, the guards must have seen 
Rembrandt’s contemporaries paint far more formal militia portraits – 
stiffer, for sure, but above all, far more dignified than this. By the 
time Rembrandt painted Banning Cocq and his men, though the company’s 
function had become largely ceremonial since peace had been forged with 
Spain decades earlier, there was clearly great pride in belonging to a 
civic militia. But here Rembrandt’s concerns are not confined to civic 
pride. Above all, he is interested in creating a drama and bringing it 
to life with emotional force, mixing a sense of the solemn (or at least 
of attempted solemnity) and the comic. So here we have a ragtaggle crowd 
not quite managing to fall into step behind the figure of the captain as 
he gestures for his men to march out. Nobody had painted a militia 
painting quite like this before..."

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190214-does-rembrandts-the-night-watch-reveal-a-murder-plot

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

09) IMAGES OF THE MONTH

The cast of the Fellowship Players' very recent production of Mort:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3vKTe7WAAAcWvq.jpg

The cast of TADS' recent production of Wyrd Sisters: https://bit.ly/2Vwfwsi

A lovely still from the Thalian Theatre Group's 2015 production of 
Making Money, that raised £537.15 for Alzheimer's Research UK:
https://bit.ly/2L9fjr1

The two Good Omens lead actors, director, and showrunner/scriptwriter 
looking well pleased:
https://tbivision.com/files/2019/04/GoodOmens_cast.jpg

Crowley (in civilian disguise, of course) poses with the Chattering 
Order of St Beryl:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5B3Xe2WABALNzu.jpg

...and with a demonic umbrella:
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/04/18/05/12418690-0-image-m-126_1555562488067.jpg

...that also covers Michael "Shadwell" McKean nicely: 
https://dailym.ai/2ILp6l7

...and here be one of the best blue plaques in all Roundworld:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5PC4Y5XoAAGbaN.jpg

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

10) CLOSE

I came across an A'Tuin of sorts...

 From LiveScience, by Rafi Letzter: "The ancient cosmologers were right 
and Galileo was wrong: This turtle's got the whole freaking world on its 
back. Live Science saw the above photo circulating on Twitter early last 
week and reached out to its originators – the good folks at Task Force 
Turtle – to get the full story behind it. That full story, it turns out, 
involves drugs, mysteries, amazing herpetological memories, butt gas and 
perhaps the ability to hold one's turtley breath for months on end... In 
the case of the turtle with the little living world on its back, 
Krochmal said, it hadn't actually just woken up from hibernation. 
Rather, she had just emerged from more than two weeks in the muddy earth 
by a lake that had dried up... The turtle, Krochmal said, weighs about 
13 pounds (6 kilograms), and the 10-inch-thick (25 centimeters) world on 
her back weighed about 18 pounds (8 kg). But she began her journey 
toward her winter mud hole with no obvious sign of additional effort. 
"She was just trucking right along," he said...

https://www.livescience.com/64215-earth-turtle-photo.html

...and a wee song from Sister Loquacious and the Chattering Order of St 
Beryl:
https://twitter.com/GoodOmensPrime/status/1121458855253172224

...and I note that the Wikipedia page for Raising Steam has an embedded 
map of the Hygienic Railway's stations! How excellent is that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_Steam

And that's it for April. Take care, and we'll see you next month!

– Annie Mac

This issue can be viewed on the clacks at 
https://wossname.dreamwidth.org/69151.html

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The End. If you have any questions or requests, write: wossname-owner 
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