Wossname -- May 2019 -- main issue

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

Wossname
Newsletter of the Klatchian Foreign Legion
May 2019 (Volume 22, Issue 5, 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) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
09) CLOSE

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01) QUOTES OF THE MONTH

"I've found that whilst scoring #GoodOmens that there is really only one 
tempo that truly matters."
– Good Omens score composer David Arnold (see the Images section below 
for the accompanying photograph!)

"I got up very early one day, got burnt at the stake and went back to 
play Mother Courage."
– Josie "Agnes Nutter" Lawrence on fitting her Good Omens role into a 
very busy schedule

"Can confirm that David Tennant is tall and Scottish, @neilhimself is 
drily hilarious, the @chattering_nuns are my favorite, the first two 
episodes of Good Omens are brilliant... and I think it would all make 
Terry Pratchett proud."
– Wall Street Journal digital editor Allison Chopin

"Good Omens is worth watching for the dry, witty, madcap style of a 
thoughtfully put together Gaiman/Pratchett universe. It's worth 
remembering for the exultant, nuanced performance of its two main 
characters."
– web journalist Liz Baessler

"If people love this enough, and if the time and the will is there, we 
could absolutely go back and do a lot more. But we're not building it to 
do more, we are building this to be itself. At the end of six episodes, 
it's done."
– Neil Gaiman, speaking to the press on the Good Omens set

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

02) A LETTER FROM YOUR EDITOR

The End Times are upon us! Well, nearly: in a few days' time, the Good 
Omens miniseries will go out on Amazon Prime (those who have to watch it 
on the BBC will have to wait a while yet), and there are already a 
number of reviews from press and prominent pop-culture websites who were 
given a pre-release look at some or all of the six episodes.

Initial reports (see item 3.7 for a selection) give me the impression 
that 1) the adaptation has retained its essential Englishness, 2) 
co-author Gaiman's inclusion of new material – based on his and Sir 
Pterry's extant notes for a possible second book, we're told – might 
have been a bit surplus to requirements, 3) the claims from certain 
quarters of the production team that Good Omens' special effects were 
the greatest!thing!ever! may have tended to a wee bit of ~coughs~ 
overenthusiasm, and 4) Americans, for the most part, still won't "get" 
it. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to seeing Good Omens, not least 
because David Tennant was my own first choice for Crowley (and for 
Greebo in human form, should Witches Abroad or Maskerade ever be filmed).

Last week, in preparation for watching Good Omens and for the sheer 
pleasure of it, I re-read our old hardcover copy the original novel for 
the first time in many years, and must report that in my opinion it 
hasn't aged at all. It's still as much fun as it was when I first read 
it twenty-nine years ago, and still as relevant... and I still want to 
live in Lower Tadfield.

*

Department of ave atque vale: biologist and author Jack Cohen, best 
known to most of us as one-third of the marvellous Science of Discworld 
team, has died at the age of 85. His friend and co-author Ian Stewart 
tweeted, "Jack Cohen died peacefully on 6 May. He was a close friend and 
colleague for 30 years, and I will always remember him with great 
affection. So will his many friends in SF, Discworld, and biology."

Wikipedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Cohen_(scientist)

Obituary from Warwick University, where he taught in the 1990s:
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/maths/general/news/new/may_2019_we/

Brief "In Memoriam" from the Science Fiction Writers of America:
https://www.sfwa.org/2019/05/in-memoriam-jack-cohen/

Entry in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction:
http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cohen_jack

...and the last word goes to Rhianna Pratchett, who tweeted, "GNU Jack 
Cohen. Like to think that he and Dad are still swapping tortoises in the 
great beyond."

*

NADWCON 2019 has kindly posted a link to an interesting old Pterry 
interview video: https://youtu.be/j4bCh_ViAKc – do have a listen!

*

Department of Erm, I Think You Should Check Your Information... this 
quote comes from an Amazon Adviser article: "Whether you've heard of the 
original novel or not, you've most definitely heard of the Good Omens 
authors. Sir Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman have made names for 
themselves with many other novels, including A Series of Unfortunate 
Events and American Gods..." And in case you don't believe me – check 
https://amazonadviser.com/2019/05/22/watch-good-omens-immediately

And now, on with the show! Which is mostly about Good Omens this month...

– Annie Mac, Editor

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

03) GOOD OMENS NEWS

3.1 FREE SCREENING AT THE EDINBURGH FILM FESTIVAL

By Alex Johnston for The List:

"And the heavens did open, and the angels came down, and lo, they sang 
with one voice, and the words they sang were: Rejoice, for the TV 
adaptation of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens is coming 
very soon. And those fans who can restrain themselves from watching the 
entire thing in a oner are in for a treat, because the Edinburgh 
International Film Festival is giving a special free screening of the 
whole thing on Sat 29 Jun... A film of the book was in development for 
years, with Terry Gilliam attached at one point, but it fell through. 
Gaiman started work on the TV version at the request of Pratchett, who 
died in 2015. The series is directed by Scottish director Douglas 
MacKinnon (The Flying Scotsman and episodes of Outlander, Sherlock and 
Doctor Who) and features music by David Arnold..."

https://www.list.co.uk/article/108631-good-omens-to-have-special-free-screening-at-the-edinburgh-international-film-festival/?platform=hootsuite

"Film festival audiences will be able to see all six episodes on the big 
screen on Saturday June 29, with special guests expected to attend."

https://www.virginmediatelevision.ie/xpose/article/entertainment-news/289374/TV-show-Good-Omens-on-big-screen-at-Edinburgh-International-Film-Festival

3.2 NEIL HIMSELF INTERVIEWED

A new Good Omens-centric interview with Neil Gaiman, by Lidija Haas in 
The Guardian:

"Having made the pledge, Gaiman said when we met recently in New York, 
he 'knew that I couldn't just invent it, write it down and give it to 
somebody and go: 'OK, I'm done,' because at that point anything could 
happen', so he plunged in as showrunner, making all the creative calls 
himself and cast it partly from 'my address book'. The result is a 
delightful, hectic and 'ridiculously personal' confection, brimming with 
jokes and stars – Benedict Cumberbatch is Satan, Frances McDormand plays 
God – which aspires, despite its lavish Amazon budget, to 'a handmade 
feel'. Gaiman briefed the designers to bring him all the ideas they 
might assume were 'a bit too mad, but …' and gleefully embraced 'the 
little clunky bits': there are pointedly old school graphics and a 
pre-credit sequence in episode three that spans much of world history 
and goes on for nearly half an hour... Writing the show alone, Gaiman 
says, was 'really horrible', especially at those moments when he got 
stuck on something or 'whenever I did something clever' and Pratchett 
wasn't there to appreciate it...

Gaiman, craggily charismatic in black denim, thick hair artfully 
disarranged, English accent undimmed by years in the US, has a touch of 
the Crowley himself... When he and Pratchett wrote the novel in the late 
80s, he recalls, 'we had to put a line in – I don't even remember if it 
was me or Terry but I remember us talking about it – a line about how 
weird it is that Armageddon is happening when everybody is getting along 
so well, because I don't think I'd ever in my life felt less close to 
Armageddon.' He notes that 'the weirdest thing is how a novel that was 
written literally 30 years ago feels really a lot more apt now than it 
did then … I mean, if I could trade, I would have a much duller world in 
which we had to try and convince people that an apocalypse was likely, 
instead of having the world that we're in, where the nuclear clock is 
ticking closer and closer, and where I'm going: 'Actually, as far as I 
can tell everybody in charge is fucking nuts.' You know, I would like 
sensible people and an end of history, that was fun.'..."

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/24/neil-gaiman-interview-good-omens

On Digital Spy, Neil Gaiman muses on Good Omens' possible "legs":

"Gaiman told Digital Spy that elements from a never-completed follow-up 
to the 1990 novel have found their way into the TV series. 'I wound up 
drawing from the planned book follow-up for this," he explained in 2018. 
"[Things like] expanding into heaven and hell – and we have Jon Hamm as 
the angel Gabriel, and Gabriel is not in the book, but he and the other 
angels, and a bunch of the other demons, come from all the conversations 
Terry Pratchett and I had about what we would do in a second book.' Does 
that mean, then, that all material has been exhausted and a second 
season is off the cards? After all, American Gods – based on one of 
Gaiman's solo novels – has expanded considerably on the source material..."

https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a27529400/good-omens-season-2/

3.3 MAKING GOOD OMENS: UNDER THE BONNET

Good Omens score composer David Arnold talks about how he created the 
music for the series:

"In composing the score for 'Good Omens,' David Arnold asked himself, 
'What would happen if Walt Disney was possessed by Satan?' That seemed 
appropriate for this long-awaited TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry 
Pratchett's fantasy novel about an angel (Michael Sheen) and a demon 
(David Tennant) teaming up to prevent Armageddon... That initial concept 
came from a scene where Tennant tries to get the young Antichrist to 
fall asleep. 'He does it by singing him very sweetly a song about [how] 
when the world is destroyed, he'll be in charge of it and humanity will 
be wrought of blood and guts,' Arnold explains. It was 'the opposite of 
what you would sing to a child in that situation,' but he wrote it as if 
it were 'the sort of thing that Mary Poppins sang to the kids.' From 
that tiny piece of music, Arnold conceived of an entire score built 
around those contradictions. 'Whenever there is anything nice and sweet 
in this score,' he says, there is 'something alongside it which is bad 
and dark, and twisted and perverse, and evil and funny and wicked, and 
vice versa.' This theme was 'born of the two characters, even though 
they don't have one theme each.' They share common music because, 'to a 
greater extent, they share similar characteristics.'..."

https://www.goldderby.com/article/2019/david-arnold-good-omens-score-composer-interview-amazon-news/

...and you can download the Good Omens theme music here:
https://www.filmmusicsite.com/en/soundtracks.cgi?id=73549

More on the music of Good Omens – an in-depth look at the processes and 
inspirations, by Adam Sherwin on iNews:

"Staff have reported seeing a ghostly female figure at an upstairs 
window and there is one corner of the studio where none of the expensive 
hardware works. It's a suitably ominous backdrop to one of the most 
hotly-anticipated series of 2019... Arnold, who has written the 
soundtracks to five James Bond films, blockbuster movies like Godzilla 
and television series like Sherlock, has the daunting task of producing 
a coherent musical theme for a TV spectacle which criss-crosses 
continents and eras. 'The story is labyrinthine and the cast is so 
massive, the trick is to find something which pulls it all together,' 
says a somewhat frazzled Arnold, who has barely seen daylight after six 
weeks in the studio. A soundtrack which careens from devilish heavy 
metal to spaghetti western and traditional English lute music in the 
space of a minute, was a challenge. 'It's almost three and a half hours 
of new music. Often composers re-use music in episodic TV to display 
something about a character but this never stops moving. We're doing 
seven-day weeks, working 15 hours a day with the musicians. At this 
point, we don't exist outside of Good Omens.'... There is one touchstone 
for the score, however: Queen's theatrical glam-rock. 'It began as a 
joke between me and Terry which was never intended for publication,' 
Gaiman said. 'Terry used to joke that you can never remember buying 
Queen's Greatest Hits. But if you leave any cassette in your car long 
enough, it turns into Queen's Greatest Hits. I put Crowley listening to 
'Bohemian Rhapsody' in his Bentley into the novel.' Mackinnon added: 
'We're all super-fans and the wonderful Queen have given us permission 
to use 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and other songs in the score, which is just a 
joy.'..."

https://inews.co.uk/news/good-omens-creating-the-soundtrack-to-heaven-and-hell-with-a-little-help-from-queen/

...and Good Omens make-up and hair designer Anne Oldham reveals her 
inspirations:

"Anne Oldham admits she wasn't 'aware' of Neil Gamon[sic] and Terry 
Pratchett's best-selling fantasy novel 'Good Omens' before signing on to 
design the makeup and hairstyles for the TV adaptation. In fact, this 
limited series about an angel (Michael Sheen) and a demon (David 
Tennant) trying to prevent Armageddon was 'very different from anything 
I'd done before, so I was really flattered that they'd offered it to me.'...

https://www.goldderby.com/article/2019/anne-oldham-good-omens-makeup-hair-amazon-prime-news/

The above page includes a short video interview with Oldham: 
https://youtu.be/YZgIWA_8qqk

3.4 A VERY OMEN-OUS BOOKSHOP

If you're fortunate enough to be in London next month, you can visit 
Aziraphale's bookshop! By Andrea Smith on Lonely Planet:

"The facade of an immersive experience and exhibition... In celebration 
of its launch on premium subscription streaming service, Amazon Prime 
Video, on 31 May, an immersive experience and exhibition will open to 
the public in London. The house will be disguised as a Soho bookshop, 
A.Z. Fell and Co., the infamous bookshop at the heart of the novel, Good 
Omens. Taking over a five-floor Victorian townhouse in the heart of 
Soho, the event will immerse fans in the weird and wonderful world of 
Good Omens. The free-to-enter experience will be set in the house on 
Greek Street, which will be disguised as a Soho bookshop, A.Z. Fell and 
Co., the infamous shop at the heart of the bestselling novel. Modelled 
on Sheen's character Aziraphale's run-down bookshop hideout, the 
unassuming facade might well be overlooked by those not in the know, 
although the show's 1934 Bentley Derby Coupe parked outside may provide 
a hint...

"A rich array of props and costumes from the show will be on display. 
The experience will be open to the public on 1 and 2 June at 19 Greek 
Street, and entry to the exhibition elements will be through walk-ins. 
The Escape Room experience, which lasts approx 30 minutes, will be 
ticketed through EventBrite, and tickets are available to book here: 
(_https://az-fell-and-co-bookshop666.eventbrite.com/_). The experience 
will include an escape room, immersive performance and interactive sets..."

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/2019/05/21/good-omens-secret-experience-london/

3.5 WHY CROWLEY IS GINGER

Here's the explanation, by Flora Carr in the Radio Times:

"In Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's original novel, the fast-living 
demon – originally the snake who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden – has 
'dark hair' (in addition to snakeskin shoes and a pristine 1926 
Bentley). However, fans were surprised when the first pictures of 
Tennant in costume were revealed, showing the former Doctor Who star 
with long ginger locks. Revealing how the make-up and costume department 
originally conceived his Good Omens look, Tennant said: 'It wasn't in 
the book, but red seemed quite appealing as he's from the flames. 
There's also a part of me as an actor who likes to transform.' In the 
present day, Crowley has a short hairstyle, but during flashbacks we see 
Crowley sport various haircuts, which Tennant admits was helpful during 
filming, both in terms of characterisation and figuring out the show's 
time-jumping plot. 'We talked about whether having it long might make 
him look like a rocker, rather than of the moment,' Tennant said in an 
interview for the show's accompanying book, The Nice and Accurate Good 
Omens TV Companion. 'Eventually we settled on a nice, short funky red 
cut. Then we see him moving through time with different lengths and 
styles. When I was reading through the script, just plotting through 
what happens when was quite tricky, and so it works as a marker. And I 
felt that Crowley would do that in a way that perhaps Aziraphale [played 
by Michael Sheen] wouldn't as he's more steady through the centuries. So 
that shows how a conversation about appearance sparks a few ideas that 
feed back into the character, and you end up dyeing your hair red for 
five months! Still, it meant I wasn't wearing a wig every day, and all 
credit to Neil [Gaiman] who has lived with this but was still able to 
say, 'Yeah, long red! That's a great idea!'..."

https://www.radiotimes.com/news/2019-05-14/david-tennant-good-omens-crowley-red-ginger-hair/

3.6 HOW GOOD OMENS TRAVELLED THE WORLD

Here be a fascinating look into the "trajectory" of Good Omens from when 
it was first published, thanks to the preserved information in the Colin 
Smythe Terry Pratchett Archive!

By Dr Karen Attar, curator of rare books and university art at Senate 
House Library:

"When Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman produced their first collaborative 
work, Good Omens, in 1990, it met with instant critical, as well as 
popular, success. Reviews, collected helpfully in the Colin Smythe Terry 
Pratchett Archive at the University of London's Senate House Library, 
consistently say how funny the book is, and frequently compare it with 
Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for 'the same touch of 
skewed British humour' (Times Record News, 21–22 October 1990). 'There 
should be a warning on this book against reading it in public, as 
serious embarrassment may be incurred from laughing too much', wrote 
Keith Bell in the Belfast Telegraph (17 November 1994). Nik [sic] Morton 
in Auguries stated more explicitly, 'Extremely funny throughout, not 
just in patches and with numerous amusing footnotes.' Praise reaches its 
pinnacle in an unattributed review in What's On. 'Almost every new novel 
from Terry Pratchett is acclaimed as the greatest yet, but in this case 
that claim is justified.' The only more analytical review present is 
John Clute's in Interzone (July 1990), which can hardly be considered 
negative: 'It is not, in other words, a comedy. But is it any good? Yes 
and no and yes. It is very funny indeed (yes), though bedevilled 
throughout by neurotic nudgings of narrative focus and galumphing tonal 
shifts (no), and in the end it shines through (yes). It is a very 
strange book indeed; perhaps all genuine collaborations are.' He 
continues by praising the collaboration: 'Who conceived or wrote what in 
this book it would be foolish to guess.'

"Even in the US, there was a sense that not all the humour came across 
in translation. One needs to know Britain and to appreciate British 
self-deprecation to appreciate some topographical explanations... To 
offset the specifically British references and humour which might not be 
comprehensible elsewhere, the English version first published by 
Gollancz was revised for the edition published in New York for the 
American audience. Other twists appealed to speakers of languages other 
than English. For example, the surname of the witch, 'Agnes Nutter', 
becomes 'Agnes Spinner' in German and 'Agnès Barge' in French. With such 
alterations, the book certainly travelled. Editions in the Colin Smythe 
Terry Pratchett Archive include translations into Chinese, Japanese and 
Hebrew as well as a range of northern, western and eastern European 
languages. The collection continues to grow, with audio versions and 
with a translation into Taiwan expected to arrive. Most translations 
follow the American text; only the German follows the English. Even the 
names of the authors do not appear uniformly. By agreement, American 
editions are attributed to 'Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett', while in 
England and elsewhere Pratchett's name precedes Gaiman's..."

https://talkinghumanities.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2019/05/23/multifaceted-good-omens-exploring-the-colin-smythe-terry-pratchett-archive/

3.7 GOOD OMENS PRE-BROADCAST REVIEWS

Selected critics were shows the first episode (or more) of the 
forthcoming Good Omens miniseries. Here are some reactions...

By Jack Shepherd for The Independent:

"Gaiman holds nothing back, bringing his and Pratchett's wonderfully 
obscure imaginations to the screen. He made a promise to Pratchett, 
before the author's death in 2015, that he would make this adaptation 
happen, and he has fulfilled that promise admirably. Along with evil 
nuns, antichrists, angels and demons, the opening episode also features 
scenes in heaven, hell and St James's Park – which God informs us is a 
favourite location for British intelligence officers to meet undercover. 
Sheen and Tennant anchor the episode as the central duo, and make for 
extremely entertaining company. Tennant's portrayal of the reluctantly 
evil, sunglass-wearing demon is reminiscent of Bill Nighy in Love 
Actually: a swaggering, eccentric, borderline drunk performance that's 
carefree. Sheen counters the bravado as the awkward angel, whose face 
often folds into itself whenever the conversation turns sour. Both 
actors fully commit to their roles, gamely wearing multiple silly 
costumes. Some of the wigs and visual effects may slip into uncanny 
valley territory at times, but director Douglas Mackinnon (Doctor Who) 
presents this as a stylistic choice..."

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/good-omens-review-episode-1-terry-pratchett-neil-gaiman-david-tennant-michael-sheen-a8920571.html

A typically American culture-puzzled review by Daniel D'Addario for the 
Chicago Tribune

"Onscreen, this pairing – between a saintly being played by Michael 
Sheen and a fallen angel played by David Tennant, both seeking to save 
the world for their own reasons – is the best part of the new 'Good 
Omens' limited series. But it's not enough: This six-hour journey 
towards the end of time comes to feel grindingly slow by the end, more 
anticlimax than fight for Earth's future... The pair's banter can be 
frustratingly stale – Crowley rejects being called 'nice,' which he 
calls (wait for it) 'a four-letter word' – or have one beat too many, as 
when Aziraphale meets a fellow divine creature whom he knew centuries 
before. 'Yes! Sodom and Gomorrah. You were doing a lot of… smiting 
people. And turning them into salt.' (The point is made four words in; 
as is so often the case in this show, what follows is just showing off.) 
But their partnership, which Crowley openly acknowledges as a vexed but 
real friendship and which Aziraphale can't acknowledge as more than a 
working relationship, drives the show forward. It's not a road without 
obstacles, though: The plot, here, is a mire..."

https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/ct-ent-good-omens-review-20190520-story.html

By Josh Bell on CBR:

"It's impossible to say how the version of Good Omens that arrives May 
31 on Amazon compares to the feature Terry Gilliam planned to direct, or 
the series that Terry Jones had been co-writing. But this take on the 
material, scripted entirely by Gaiman and directed by TV veteran Douglas 
Mackinnon, lacks the anarchic spirit a visionary like Gilliam might have 
brought to the material. It's entertaining, although stretched a bit 
thin over six hour-long episodes, and it features two appealing and 
funny lead performances from Michael Sheen and David Tennant. The 
overall effect is a little underwhelming, but there are plenty of 
clever, fun moments along the way... The mix of lowbrow humor (a wacky 
misunderstanding!) and supernatural intrigue is the story's defining 
trait, but it's also a tricky balance to maintain, and the series 
sometimes lurches awkwardly from one to the other..."

https://www.cbr.com/review-good-omens-tv/

By Chris Ludovici on The Spool:

"If you're one of those people who find stories about the End Times 
stressful or upsetting, don't worry, Good Omens is neither. It's funny 
and charming and very human... The show has some pacing issues, it 
spends half of the episodes setting the table for the other half, and 
there's a lot to set up. And it's not always as funny as it wants to be, 
it sometimes confuses 'quirky' with 'interesting', and teeters on the 
brink of cleverness. While the show does find a rhythm and catch fire 
(literally at times, there's a lot of fire) in the second half, the 
first half is at times laborious as they set up more than a dozen 
characters and their various backstories and motivations... in each 
other Aziraphale and Crowley find someone as enchanted by humanity and 
its foibles as they are. Which brings us back to love. Love, in all its 
forms, is at the heart of the show, it drives the majority of characters 
and has the best chance of redeeming humanity in the face of Armageddon 
(no spoilers if it works out or not). And it's what Aziraphale and 
Crowley have for the Earth, humanity, and one another. Is that love 
romantic? Maybe. Could be. The show, adapted by Gaiman, dives more 
deeply into their relationship than the book did and in so doing gives 
it more of a solid footing..."

https://thespool.net/tv/2019/05/good-omens-review/

By Akhil Arora for Gadgets360 says "Terry Pratchett Convinced Neil 
Gaiman to Bring This to the Screen and We're All Better for It":

"With Gaiman at the helm, there's a whimsical charm to Good Omens, which 
blends eccentric humour that takes pot-shots at everything from religion 
to Hollywood, historical fantasy and sci-fi happenings that span the 
Roman Empire and nuclear power plants, and adolescent drama. Most of the 
jokes are delivered by way of Crowley and Aziraphale's conversations, 
including jabs at Jeffrey Archer's books, The Sound of Music, and the 
Reign of Terror in 18th-century France. Some are literal, with the 
book's running gag about Queen turning into Queen songs playing in the 
background here. Other jabs are much sillier, about investing in Apple 
stocks in the 1980s and not buying Betamax in the 1970s. The humour on 
Good Omens does require you to know your history and pop culture, lest 
you might miss some one-liners. Others still are delivered with the help 
of Good Omens' narrator, the voice of God: Frances McDormand, in this 
case. Many of her lines are verbatim from the book... Sure, it's fun to 
see Tennant and Sheen dress up in various period-fitting costumes and 
get in a joke or two that poke fun at religious absurdities, historical 
figures, or the Nazis. Good Omens does well to mine the 'divine plan' 
narrative, in that God's workings are 'ineffable', as it gets in several 
pointed remarks about the great flood and the reason for Christ's death. 
It also takes aim at Shakespeare's writings and the English-French 
rivalry. But these asides, worth half an episode of a six-part 
miniseries, don't much serve a bigger purpose than 'Crowley and 
Aziraphale have been around forever and share something that might be a 
little more than friendship.' The scenes would be much more meaningful 
if parallels were drawn with contemporary events of the main storyline..."

https://gadgets.ndtv.com/entertainment/reviews/good-omens-review-imdb-book-tv-series-trailer-release-date-cast-amazon-prime-video-2039864

By Samantha Nelson on The Verge:

An extended pre-credits sequence in one episode of Amazon's Good Omens 
displays the best part of the six-episode miniseries based on the book 
of the same name by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The segment traces 
the 6,000-year relationship between prissy angel Aziraphale (Michael 
Sheen of The Queen and Frost/Nixon) and swaggering demon Crowley (Doctor 
Who star David Tennant), who have known each other since the Garden of 
Eden was a going concern. That sequence also exposes Good Omens' 
greatest weakness. The scenes are joyous when Crowley and Aziraphale are 
sparring, commiserating, or teaming up to stop the apocalypse their 
bosses have been waiting for since the dawn of humanity. Scenes with 
just one of them still tend to be strong, particularly as Crowley 
gleefully outsmarts everyone around him. But when neither of them are 
on-screen, Good Omens grinds to a halt. The supporting cast members are 
necessary to move the plot forward or provide needed exposition about 
the series' complicated mythology. But no one else has enough 
development or agency to make their scenes feel worthwhile unless 
they're playing off one of the protagonists... The film's antagonists 
feel similarly flat. War (Mireille Enos of The Killing) and Famine (The 
Originals' Yusuf Gatewood) both get thrilling introductions showing how 
the Horsemen of the Apocalypse can cause misery in the modern day. 
Similar development would have been a huge boon to Pollution (Lourdes 
Faberes), who is mostly distinguished by looking a lot like the Captain 
Planet villain Dr. Blight, and Death (Brian Cox of Succession and X2) 
who seems to have just walked off a production of A Christmas Carol. But 
it doesn't really matter, because the Horsemen's entire plot ends in a 
dull climax that's meant to be a big moment for Adam's friends, but 
doesn't feel earned..."

https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/22/18635845/good-omens-review-amazon-studios-michael-sheen-david-tennant-neil-gaiman-terry-pratchett

By Jay McClenahan on So Many Shows:

"Dogma meets Monty Python? I had visions of Buddy Christ and Holy Grails 
when I started to screen this show. There's a lot of silliness and 
oddity throughout. Satanic nuns bumbling a baby's delivery? Yep, it's in 
there. How about a witch or the 'Four Horsemen'? They're in there too. 
What about a witch-finder army? Did you even know those exist? Well, 
they do! Let's not forget the voice of God (Frances McDormand) either. 
An imposing character just from helpful narration – She assists in 
bringing the story to life. Things don't always go according to plan for 
all the various characters in the series and some of their own internal 
conflicts show off the fun nature of the show. Be prepared to do quite a 
bit of laughing – and buckle your seatbelts – Crowley is a TERRIBLE 
driver... David Tennant and Michael Sheen are exceptional. Their overall 
delivery and their banter is top-notch and you can't help but be 
entertained with this unlikely duo. Potential low points: The story is a 
little slow. Supporting cast isn't nearly as exciting or involved as our 
main antagonists – and while we need them for the story, there are times 
you're just waiting for more..."

https://somanyshows.com/good-omens-review-at-least-theres-david-tennant-and-michael-sheen

By Liz Baessler on Film School Rejects:

"Good Omens feels much more like a 'true' adaptation. It's very silly, 
it's very light, and it's very… English. It also stays remarkably close 
to the book. Given that the bulk of the story takes place over a single 
week, and all of it has been carefully and accurately foretold in a book 
of prophecy, it probably makes sense not to stray too far. But that 
faithfulness sometimes works against the show, as it breezes through 
elements that are clear in the book with perhaps too light a touch, 
relying on the merits of an idea to carry a scene that could really 
benefit from a few more narrative touchstones. Having read the novel, I 
knew why Death was playing a trivia arcade game and Tibetans were 
suddenly appearing in tunnels under England, but I'd be curious to know 
how much someone unfamiliar with the story took in. The only place where 
the show deviates especially far from the book is in its treatment of 
Aziraphale and Crowley, an angel and a demon who've been living on earth 
since the beginning and have gone a little bit native… so much so as to 
actually become good friends. And in a complete upset of the usual book 
reader's lament, I can say this departure from the novel is the very 
best part of the adaptation. Crowley and Aziraphale (David Tennant and 
Michael Sheen, respectively) are critical players in the book, it's 
true, but in the miniseries, they are the stars. We see the chronicles 
of their interactions throughout millennia and focus more on their 
present relationship and general botching of Armageddon. Jon Hamm is a 
lovely addition as a disarmingly cruel Archangel Gabriel with a 
perpetual rictus and dead, purple eyes, but it's hard not to see him as 
an excuse to give Sheen's angel more opportunities for screen time. In 
fact, the whole rest of the series, while humorously, carefully, and 
faithfully done, lumbers on a bit. The who's who of comedians gets a 
little too unwieldy, and the dialogue a bit too contrived, and you find 
yourself counting down the minutes until Tennant and Sheen come back. 
And when they do, it's magic..."

https://filmschoolrejects.com/good-omens-review/

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

04) ODDS AND SODS

4.1 THE MERCH CORNER

All from the Discworld Emporium, which is not only far more moral than 
Amazon[1] but also is the Ankh-Morpork Consulate and therefore 
completely worth supporting...

* Good Omens: the Nice and Accurate TV Companion!

"The 'Nice and Accurate' guide to 2019's apocalyptic screen adaptation 
of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's literary collaboration! This lavish 
companion to Amazon Prime Video and BBC's televisual extravaganza this 
ultimate screen companion! Explore Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's 
book, Good Omens, as brought to life by a stellar cast including David 
Tennant, Michael Sheen, Miranda Richardson, Josie Lawrence, Jon Hamm and 
Jack Whitehall. Join the incredible cast and crew for a feast of 
interviews and insights into costume design,  character profiles and 
production with photographs and illustrations galore!

"The groundbreaking TV series sees Pratchett and Gaiman's angel and 
demon double-act Aziraphale and Crowley – played by Sheen and Tennant 
respectively try to end the end of the world, which is scheduled to 
happen on a Saturday, just after tea... Featuring incredible 
photographs, stunning location shots, costume boards, set designs and 
fascinating character profiles and in-depth interviews with the stars 
and crew, this behind-the-scenes look into the making of Good Omens is 
an absolute must for fans old and new - and will shatter coffee tables 
around the world."

Each Nice and Accurate TV Companion is priced at £25. For more 
information, and to order, go to:

https://www.discworldemporium.com/other-pratchett-works/540-good-omens-the-nice-and-accurate-tv-companion

* The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book!

"Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's cult collaboration, reinvented for 
screen! Gaiman's original shooting scripts for Amazon and the BBC's 
apocalyptic adaptation are presented in a handsome hardback, featuring a 
revelatory introduction from Neil himself and unseen, er, scenes! 
Written for Amazon and BBC's TV adaptation, Neil Gaiman's reinvention of 
his and Terry Pratchett's cult literary collaboration brings Good Omens 
to life on screen with help from a cast of stars including David 
Tennant, Michael Sheen, Miranda Richardson, Josie Lawrence, Jon Hamm and 
Jack Whitehall. Features an introductory essay detailing Gaiman's 
experience of reinventing his and Pratchett's literary masterpiece for 
screen."

Each Good Omens Script Book is priced at £20. For more information, and 
to order, go to:

https://www.discworldemporium.com/other-pratchett-works/539-the-quite-nice-and-fairly-accurate-good-omens-script-book

* The Illustrated Good Omens!

"This new illustrated version of Pratchett and Gaiman's cult book has 
been overhauled to eradicate typos and errors from previous editions, 
making this the truly 'Nice' and certainly 'Accurate' Prophecies of 
Agnes Nutter, as wholeheartedly approved by Neil Gaiman and Terry 
Pratchett's estate. Artist Paul Kidby provides truly divine 
illustrations including twelve full colour artworks and line drawings to 
accompany Terry and Neil's apocalyptic tale.

Each Illustrated Good Omens is priced at £30. For more information, and 
to order, go to:

https://www.discworldemporium.com/other-pratchett-works/541-the-illustrated-good-omens

* The telly tie-in paperback!

"A special paperback edition of Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman's 
apocalyptic cult novel Good Omens, created to tie in with Amazon Prime 
and BBC's major television adaptation for 2019 starring David Tennant, 
Michael Sheen, John Hamm and Frances McDormand! This special paperback 
edition of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's cult book features cover 
photography from BBC and Amazon Prime's small screen production."

Each tie-in paperback of Good Omens is price at £8.99. For more 
information, and to order, go to:

https://www.discworldemporium.com/other-pratchett-works/538-good-omens-tv-tie-in-edition

For additional Good Omens releases, go to:
https://www.discworldemporium.com/55-good-omens-at-the-discworld-emporium

[1] Not a difficult achievement; there are probably nonsentient 
3.5-thousand-million-year-old rocks deep beneath your feet with a 
greater moral sense – Ed.

Editor's note: remember, you can also source the (very!) special 
editions (Slipcase, Occult, Ineffable and Celestial) from:
http://goodomensillustrated.com/

4.2 ALZHEIMER'S NEWS

 From a BBC report:

"Millions of elderly people have a form of dementia that has been 
misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers. One 
expert called it the most important dementia finding in years. The 
condition, limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, or 
Late, shares similar symptoms to Alzheimer's, but it is a distinct 
disease, the journal Brain reports. It may partly explain why finding a 
dementia cure has failed so far. Dementia is not a single disease, but 
is the name for a group of symptoms that include problems with memory 
and thinking. There are lots of different types of dementia and 
Alzheimer's is said to be the most common and most researched. But up to 
a third of Alzheimer's in elderly people may instead be Late, says the 
international team of researchers, although both dementias can co-exist. 
Late appears to affect the "oldest old" – people over 80 – according to 
the work that looked at evidence from thousands of post-mortem results. 
One in five in this age group has it, meaning the public health impact 
of the disease will be large, say the researchers. Unlike Alzheimer's, 
it tends to cause a more gradual decline in memory, they believe. 
Currently, there is no specific single test for dementia. Signs of it 
can sometimes be seen in the brain after death. Late appears to be 
linked to the accumulation of a certain protein, TDP-43, in the brain, 
while Alzheimer's is linked to two other brain proteins – amyloid and tau.

"Scientists have been striving to find a cure for dementia, but with so 
many different types and causes of the disease, the goal has proved 
difficult. Trials of drugs to reduce proteins in the brain that were 
thought to cause Alzheimer's have failed. There have been no effective 
new treatments and some pharmaceutical companies have dropped out of the 
dementia drug race. Having a better understanding of Late might lead to 
the discovery of new treatments, say the researchers. They have written 
guidelines to help increase awareness and advance research into the 
newly defined disease..."

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-48092570

4.3 OM ON ROUNDWORLD?

Did you know... that Om has been found on Roundworld? Debunking 
champions Snopes posted photographs of an interestingly patterned turtle 
(possibly a tortoise, but your Editor is no chelonianist and apparently 
in the terms are interchangeable in American English vernacular), and 
even name-checked: "It's unclear if this turtle's markings are supposed 
to indicate that the creature IS god, was created by God, or somehow 
escaped the pages of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series..."

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/god-turtle-image/

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

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.

* MEN AT ARMS IN CHESHAM (JUNE)

Chesham Bois Catholic Players are back with another Discworld play: Men 
at Arms! "There is romance, laughter, terror and a good police story all 
interwoven into one delightful tale."

When: 1st, 7th and 8th June 2019
Venue: Little Theatre by the Park, Church Street, Chesham, Bucks HP5 1HR
Time: 7.30pm on 1st and 8th June, 8pm on 7th June
Tickets: £12 (concessions £10), available from 
www.ticketsource.co.uk/cbcplayers

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

* WYRD SISTERS IN HAMPSHIRE (JULY)

Dynamo Youth Theatre will be staging their first Discworld play, 
production of Wyrd Sisters, in July!

When: Wed 10th to Sat 13th July 2019
Venue: The Pallant Centre, The Pallant, Havant, Hants PO9 1BE
Time: 7.30pm all shows
Tickets: £10 and £12, available from http://www.dynamoyouththeatre.com/

http://www.dyt.org.uk/
http://stfaith.com/the-pallant-centre/

* 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…"

When: 21st–24th August 2019,
Venue: The Gate Arts Centre, Cardiff
Time: 7pm all shows
Tickets: £9 (concessions £7), now available online via 
https://peculiarproductions.co.uk/tickets/

"Proceeds from this performance will go to Nerve Tumours UK."

https://peculiarproductions.co.uk/

And later this year...

* 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..."

Note: there will be a play reading on 25th June, and auditions on 30th 
June at 2–5pm and 2nd July at 7–10pm. Visit the webpage (below) for details.
June 25, 7-10pm

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

* JOHNNY AND THE DEAD IN LEEDS (NOVEMBER)

Leeds Children's Theatre will be presenting their production of Johnny 
and the Dead in November! "Sell the cemetery? Over their dead bodies ... 
Not many people can see the dead (not many would want to). 
Twelve-year-old Johnny Maxwell can. And he's got bad news for them: the 
council want to sell the cemetery as a building site, but they'd better 
watch out - the dead have learnt a thing or two from Johnny. They're not 
going to take it lying down ...especially since it's Halloween tomorrow. 
Besides, they're beginning to find that life is a lot more fun than it 
was when they were ... well ... alive. ​Particularly if they break a few 
rules."

When: 6th–9th November 2019
Venue: Carriageworks Theatre main auditorium, Millennium Square, Leeds 
LS2 3AD
Time: evening shows 7pm (Wednesday through Friday), Saturday matinee 1pm 
and afternoon show 5.30pm
Tickets: adults £14.50, concessions £12.50, under-16s £10.50, family 
£46, available from the Box Office (phone 0113 376 0318; address Leeds 
Town Hall, The Headroom, LS1 3AD, open 10am–6pm Monday to Saturday), or 
by by email (boxoffice at leeds.gov.uk), or online via the theatre's 
website, although their calendar doesn't yet stretch to November: 
https://www.carriageworkstheatre.co.uk/plan-your-visit/how-to-book-tickets/

"The Box Office will charge a fee for postage if you wish to have your 
tickets mailed out. Family Tickets, restricted view seats and special 
offers are rarely sold online and should be purchased over the phone or 
in person."

www.leeds-childrens-theatre.co.uk

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

06) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS

The Broken Drummers, "London's Premier Unofficially Official Discworld 
Group" (motto "Nil percussio est"), will next meet on Monday 3rd June at 
7pm at The Monkey Puzzle, 30 Southwick Street, London W2 1JQ.

The Drummers are also planning a visit to Kew Gardens on Saturday 8th 
June, all welcome, to meet at noon outside the main entrance to Kew 
Gardens Station.

The Drummers' May meet report, as posted by Grace Speaker on Facebook: 
"Although it is our wont to sit outside for our May afternoon meets, the 
weather was inconsiderately chilly, so we sat indoors at our normal 
tables and a number of Drummers were extremely pleased that The Puzzle 
had a special offer on puddings with their lunch. We caught up with 
tales from Wincanton from all those who had been down for the Spring 
Fling and listened with interest as Phil informed us that Bernard had 
had him in his shed for over 20 minutes. As this statement prompted some 
fnar fnar teasing, Phil was quick to point out that Bernard was merely 
teaching him how to rub his finger along the hole below his Alchemist's 
Balls. This explanation did not necessarily have the effect on the group 
he was hoping for. Photographic evidence of said hole and Balls was 
produced for our inspection and we all agreed that Phil did indeed have 
a magnificent pair. That set the tone for the rest of the meeting, so 
it's just as well that the Quiz was on the Seamstresses' Guild. As ever, 
the quiz was 'quite lively' and Alex G. won with an impressive 14 
points, with Helen C. coming in second with 10½ points after getting 
bonus points for suggesting that the Seamstresses' Guild really should 
have been located on Petticoat Lane rather than Sheer Street, and that 
if she was in Monstrous Regiment her character name would be General 
Smuttiness. Our chatter ranged far and wide, starting with the 
forthcoming TV series of Good Omens and the wonderful singing talents of 
the sinfully satanic sisters of The Chattering Order of St. Beryl. As 
some Drummers were unfamiliar with the satanic sisters, Alex G. showed 
them the video of "Brand New Baby Smell" and we sang along to the chorus 
of 'Cheeky, cheeky, little Antichrist ...'... As everyone seemed to like 
Cards Against Humanity, we talked about having a Drummers game – but 
maybe at a future weekend meet at Draughts (the board game café) rather 
than The Puzzle as we thought if might get a bit too rowdy and also too 
rude for The Puzzle. We also thought it would be fun if someone came up 
with a DW version, although there were no volunteers for this."

https://www.facebook.com/groups/55107511411/permalink/10157734768571412/

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 the monthly dinner (at the Seven Stars 
Hotel) on 30th 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 6th June (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 7th 
June (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 3rd 
June (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 3rd June (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

Plenty of emphasis on Good Omens this month...

Blogger Writing the Blues Away couldn't quite get to grips with Good Omens:

"I was intrigued by the fact that this was a collaborative effort with 
Terry Pratchett, who I'd heard lots of good things about but never got 
round to reading any of his work. The show has become eagerly awaited by 
people across the world and the book is considered a cult classic, so I 
went in with high expectations. Unfortunately, those expectations for me 
weren't quite met... The characters of Aziraphale and Crowley were my 
favourite part about this book as they are so clearly developed and have 
extreme personalities, working so well together despite their 
differences. Aziraphale is more anxious and concerned about doing the 
right thing, whereas Crowley is sarcastic with a mean streak, though 
this is threatened by his need to stop the end of the world. They are 
unlikely friends, though they would not admit this. I also liked Adam, 
the Antichrist, a young boy who quite innocently spends time with his 
group of friends unaware of who he really is. Their conversations were 
exactly what conversations between children are like, and it was nice to 
see that difference between the older characters and them... Speaking of 
the dialogue, I really liked the literary device of dialectal speech 
when certain characters would talk. It can be confusing at times trying 
to work out what they're trying to say, but often it makes it easier for 
me to imagine their accent and the way they would speak, similar to 
Hagrid in Harry Potter for example. It gave a better voice and 
personality to the characters... However, the writing structure and the 
plot was something I struggled with. Within each chapter there would be 
a lot of chapter breaks which would switch between different characters. 
Switching between characters isn't necessarily a bad thing and I was 
happy to see the various perspectives, but there were way too many and 
it happened too often. A lot of the time there would be a chapter break, 
it would have a single paragraph or even a sentence from another 
character, then it would switch back. I really didn't see much of a 
point in this... Overall, I was quite disappointed after looking forward 
to reading it and expecting big things, which is an issue I often have 
with hyped up books or films. I just think it wasn't the right writing 
style for me and it is very particular in who would enjoy it, though I 
do appreciate both authors' writing talent..."

https://writingthebluesaway.wordpress.com/2019/05/24/a-review-of-good-omens/

Blogger Arathi Unni's reactions were more positive:

"This book is a riot and one that I enjoyed. The story starts with the 
angel Azipharale and the demon Crowley prepping for the birth of the 
antichrist. Eleven years later, hell breaks loose, or rather, the earth 
breaks loose. There are multiple characters and plots that stem to grow 
in the course of the book but tied together by the same thread of 
eventuality. In spite of numerous storylines and characters, the writer 
duo have done a brilliant job of developing all these stories well and 
with equal intrigue. Whether it's the angel-demon dynamics or the very 
ET-ish plot of Adam's gang (Them) or the geeky streak of Anathema or 
even the interesting integration of urban legends and biblical theories, 
Gaiman & Pratchett have spun all sides of the book in literary and 
dramatic unison. There aren't many cliffhangers in the book, but there 
are moments of silent and effective curtain-raisers. However, what 
drives the tempo is the actual pace of the book and the way characters 
and plots seamlessly travel from one place to another. The context is 
dark, but the flow is nothing short of a Tarantino ride. The writing 
style of the two gentlemen is quick yet descriptive, sprinkled with 
generous amounts of humour. There is a nerdy boyish charm to the 
language in the book and the way the people & theories are crafted, 
which adds a certain texture to the entire experience reading this book..."

https://arathiunni.wordpress.com/2019/05/16/book-review-good-omen-by-neil-gaiman-and-terry-pratchett/

...and blogger Paul's:

I miss Terry Pratchett. I mean I didn't know him, but I miss him in that 
there will be no more Discworld books. And Neil Gaiman, he's not bad, 
it's just that, well, he's not Terry Pratchett. I've read all of the 
Discworld books, but can't quite bring myself to read the Tiffany Aching 
ones, partly because I'm not sure they are as funny, and partly because 
of what happens in the last one. But, there's a TV series coming of Good 
Omens, and Terry Pratchett and someone else is still half Terry 
Pratchett. And he was definitely in this, you could tell his hilarious 
cynicism and humour and his Death, although more of a pre-cursor than 
one of the more human Discworld characters. Pratchett and Gaiman 
definitely compliment each other. There were times when I laughed out 
loud and the story rolls along in Pratchett style, barely a breath from 
the beginning to the end. But it was strange reading a story set in the 
real world, for some reason I just couldn't quite get used to it, maybe 
that's just me being set in my ways..."

https://astrangekindofpeace.wordpress.com/2019/05/12/good-omens-terry-pratchett-neil-gaiman/

...and blogger Beas Chatteraj's:

"This book managed to elicit quite a few fits of giggles from me. Good 
Omens is a truly funny book but don't for a second think that it is 
shallow or a light read. Every page will make you think, it will make 
you stop to ponder upon the base on which humankind is built. It is a 
book about the apocalypse, the Antichrist, angels, demons, witches and 
everything supernatural- but in a fun grounded matter-of-fact way... 
Good Omens is not a slapstick comedy. It is a funny book about the 
apocalypse and the war between heaven and hell, with humanity caught in 
between. There is a message behind the story, of religion and its 
implications, of how humans have abused it for their gains and used it 
to justify their actions... Bits and parts of the book were too fast and 
confusing. Some pop cultures went over my head and I had to Google them. 
But the annotations were hilarious. You get to see two different styles, 
two very different minds working together. Neil keeps you grounded and 
Terry makes you fly..."

https://beasandbooks.wordpress.com/2019/04/30/good-omens-4-4-5/

...and blogger Penny Wright's:

"This book is hilarious. If you are a fan of funny, absurdist, 
fantastical novels such as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you 
will absolutely adore this novel... These characters are all bizarre in 
their own ways, but their stories weave together wonderfully. Despite 
the absurdity of the novel, there are bits of wisdom scattered 
throughout... The novel is a fun adventure and there were so many times 
when I caught myself laughing out loud while I was reading it at work, 
which isn't something that happens often. This is one of those books 
that I know I'll be able to read over and over again without getting 
tired of it..."

https://readyourselfhappy.net/2019/04/08/good-omens-by-neil-gaiman-and-terry-pratchett-a-review/

...and blogger Daughter of Ben's:

"It turns out that it was exactly the right time to read. It's funny, 
smart, varied. It moves apace. It has charismatic and distinctive 
characters. And it's an incredibly warm book. The end of the book, in 
this edition, features short pieces where Pratchett and Gaiman reflect 
on their co-author. Gaiman's mini-essay muses that 'Satire is a word 
that is often used to mean that there aren't any people in the fiction, 
and for that reason I'm uncomfortable calling Terry a satirist' (411). 
This line captured a feeling I had through the length of the book. Good 
Omens certainly includes commentary on the ways on which people treat 
each other,  and our environment, with much less kindness than we 
should. And the end of the novel certainly has a 'lesson' about the 
dangers and mis-use of power. The novel is also critical, at moments, 
about religion, and includes a warning about how close we are to 
destroying our planet and ourselves. But these lessons and warnings 
come, not in the form of a bleak dystopia or in a cold cynical blast, 
but with humour and warmth and hope..."

https://daughterofben.wordpress.com/2019/04/20/good-omens-terry-pratchett-and-neil-gaiman-penguin-1990/

...and blogger Book Buff's Gaiman-centric review:

"It started with a man sitting on my library counter with a coffee cup 
in his hand, his Mr. Rogers's like sweater on and just a bit of a snark 
in his tone asking me what I think he thought was a basic question 
'Crawly or Aziraphale?' I was getting ready for the day before the kids 
would scramble their way in and want to check out books.  I remember 
looking at him and saying 'Are those real words?' with equal snark back 
at him. He hopped off the counter and looked at me with disdain and 
disappointment and said what would become a common refrain from him 'And 
you call yourself a librarian…. How can you have not read Good 
Omens?'... I am a stubborn individual. I am the type of person who if 
you tell me to do something, it is my nature to do the opposite. I will 
take the harder road just to prove I can. Mr. Snark leaving me a note to 
do something just made me want to do the opposite. 'Read it my ass' I 
thought to myself, like hell I would do what he told me to do. I let it 
sit on the counter for a couple of days and then misfortune happened. I 
forgot my book at home and didn't have anything to read at lunch. In a 
moment of desperation, I picked it up and the rest is history… Good 
Omens is one of my favorite books. It hits all the things that l love; 
it's clever, the characters are fantastic, and it pokes fun at how 
ridiculous humans can be. Thus began my relationship with Neil and 
Terry, and their rich catalog of writing. It was about a week later in 
the morning as I was prepping for the kiddos, that Mr. Snark came back. 
He was leaning in the door frame of the library with his stupid gray 
cardigan and coffee cup with his eyebrow arched, and he said 'So Crawly 
or Aziraphale?'..."

 
https://queenbookbuff.wordpress.com/2019/04/25/sarcasm-disdain-and-common-ground-of-the-ridiculous-how-i-found-neil-gaiman/

...and blogger Karl N Jacobson's:

"As I am re-reading the book on a snowy Minnesota April–ANOTHER SNOWY 
MINNESOTA APRIL which feels like it may as well be a sign of the end 
times–I read a little gem about the disappointment of growing up, and 
thought that it not only caught my mood tonight, but also shows us why 
what I would call 'apocalyptic imagination' is still alive, vital, and a 
major player in popular culture. We need wonder. We need awe, terror, 
and the tumult of confusion that comes, still, no matter how much we 
learn and think we know. We need perspective. And hope. And that is what 
Good Omens, even if in many ways it probably is bad apocalyptics, is 
getting at..."

https://bibpopcult.wordpress.com/2019/04/12/good-omens-like-the-last-day-its-coming/

Blogger The Idle Woman is back with her review of Feet of Clay:

"There's lots going on in this instalment, which features Ankh-Morpork 
society in all its rich variety, with the notable exception of the 
wizards up at the University (though we do meet a relative of 
Ridcully's, who is High Priest of Blind Io). In comparison to Maskerade, 
its immediate predecessor, Feet of Clay feels much more like part of a 
series as opposed to a standalone story. As far as I remember, this is 
part of a growing trend within Discworld, which increasingly moves away 
from riffs on particular 'contexts' (like the cinema, Ancient Egypt, The 
Phantom of the Opera) and towards an examination of serious themes 
through small groups of recurring characters – the Watch and the Witches 
being foremost among them. Having said that, the next book in the series 
is a gleeful exception to that rule, with a very particular standalone 
focus and – to my delight – the triumphant return of Susan Sto Helit. 
Prepare yourself for Hogfather and the ultimate tale of things that go 
bump in the night…"

https://theidlewoman.net/2019/05/13/feet-of-clay-terry-pratchett/

...and of Maskerade...:

"I first read this when I was fourteen and obsessed with the musical 
version of Phantom, to the point of learning the entire libretto off by 
heart. I adored the fact that Pratchett makes fun of the musical while, 
at the same time, throwing in the odd Easter egg to delight fans. 
Massive spoiler ahead, so you've been warned. I can still remember the 
thrill, at fourteen, of realising who the Ghost was and also realising 
why I should have known that from the start. Because it's obvious, when 
you think about it. Who does Walter Plinge remind you of? Frank Spencer 
from Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, of course. And who played Frank Spencer? 
Michael Crawford. And who played the lead role in the very first Phantom 
of the Opera…? Yep. You've got it. Moments like that made me so happy. 
And I adored the fact that the Ghost, down in his subterranean den, 
isn't writing grand operas but strange new light entertainment of a kind 
no one has never written before. As one of the characters says in 
confusion, after being presented with these scores, who would ever want 
to watch an opera about cats? Basically, there are an awful lot of 
Andrew Lloyd Webber jokes here too, so it might be one of the best 
gateway Discworld books for people who don't really think they like 
fantasy..."

https://theidlewoman.net/2019/05/10/maskerade-terry-pratchett/

Also back, blogger Perpetually Past Due, with a rave review of Snuff:

"Being the sequel to Thud!, Snuff carries over themes and plot points 
into its narrative. The Summoning Dark is still present in Vimes's 
psyche and allows him to see in the dark as well as stay one step ahead 
of the murderer he pursues. However, Vimes questions the difference 
between himself and those criminals because he has this connection with 
them. He knows what he is capable due to a rough upbringing on the 
streets of Ankh-Morpork and struggles to keep the darkness within 
himself in check. However, Vimes is able to surpass his dark inklings in 
order to maintain law and . . . order... Snuff is a raucous ride through 
the countryside with political intrigue, conspiracies, hand to hand 
fighting, and more poo than you throw children at (you read that 
correctly). Pratchett's humor flows through the pages and the complex 
narrative and machinations of the evil aristocrats make for a compelling 
read with plenty of laughs..."

https://perpetuallypastdue.com/2016/09/07/snuff-review/

Blogger Nephriteon reviews the audiobook of Mort:

"So much of the appeal of Pratchett comes from mixing the unusual, the 
odd and the strange with the human condition. Taking things you never 
thought would be connected and interlinking them and just every so often 
letting out that pearl of wisdom. The kind of thing most people know but 
either don't realise or refuse to admit. When it comes to specifically 
the audio version however I'm unsure how to start to be completely 
honest with you as my readers. The unabridged audio version I'm used to 
is narrated by Nigel Planer. He had narration duties on most of the 
early Discworld audiobooks and to be fair to him he definitely does a 
good job with the majority of voices in most cases. For Mort 
specifically his Mort, Cutwell and Death are particularly well done. You 
can definitely believe that Mort is an overly nosy teenager who is 
curious about everything and how the world works. Especially when he 
shouldn't be. While his Death certainly seems appropriately beyond 
human. After all 'There's no justice. There's just me.' When it comes to 
female characters however like the aforementioned Princess he does seem 
to struggle in my personal opinion with maintaining the voice and 
keeping it consistent. However you can definitely tell he is giving the 
audio his best effort. Especially in terms of trying to match the tone 
of Pratchett's original novel. My main criticism however isn't the fault 
of either Pratchett or Planer but the audiobook's publisher. From the 
information I was able to find online this recording comes from 2001 
courtesy of Isis Audiobooks. I'm not sure if it is some kind of error in 
the original master recording or if they lost the original recording but 
the version commonly available sounds very muffled at points. Muffled or 
echoey. The way I described it to a friend of mine was as though they 
had taken a recording of a recording and made that available instead of 
the original master..."

https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/05/24/audiobook-review-mort-by-terry-pratchett-a-discworld-novel/

Blogger Professional Moron's review of Wings:

"This is also our favourite entry in the series. Primarily as The Thing 
returns here and completes various narrative arcs in its usual sardonic 
way. But as a story, it runs parallel to the events in Diggers and 
introduces the reader to a spectacular world of nome technology. Last 
time out, intrepid heroes Masklin, Angalo, and Gurder took The Thing to 
a local airport to investigate some of the goings on there. They 
discover that the grandson of the owner of Arnold Brothers store (where 
the Inside nomes lived for generations) is off to America to watch the 
launch of a satellite. The Thing realises that if it can get on that, 
it'll be able to contact the nome's spaceship it keeps banging on 
about... Right, so it's the most action-packed entry in the series, as 
you may be able to tell. It has a terrific verve to it, told with manic 
glee from a brilliant writer clearly revelling in the story. It's 
imaginative, funny, and once more The Thing proves to be comic gold, 
landing some brilliant lines... The trilogy is highly recommended, but 
if you're only going to read one of them then it really has to be Wings. 
It's proper belting fun for all ages."

https://professionalmoron.com/2019/05/18/wings-by-terry-pratchett/

Blogger Bambooboned's long and contemplative review of Monstrous Regiment:

"In Terry Pratchett's Discworld, a lot of things are possible. Of 
course, this is true of most fantasy; after all, isn't that the whole 
point? Fantasy novels are escapist fiction. They're like the archetype 
of escapist fiction, to the point of mockery; every lonely, scrawny nerd 
can be a heroic, folk-famous sword-wielding barbarian, if they roll the 
right stats and own a few battered Tolkien paperbacks... And therein, I 
would argue, lies the first thing which sets Pratchett's writing apart 
from archetypical fantasy fiction. In the Discworld, nobody is a hero, a 
chosen one destined for greatness. Everybody is a hero, because they all 
simply do the job that's in front of them... Dragon keeping is charity 
work, and assassins can't hide in shadows without breaking the rules, 
and witches are healers whose magic consists mostly of knowing one extra 
fact, seeing things as they are, and thinking twice again before you 
speak. Wizards cower before paper money, reliable postage, and printing 
presses, because power is in everything, in every day. Heroes are found 
in a myriad ordinary people doing their jobs, living their lives.

"That's the first thing. The second thing which sets the Discworld apart 
from many other fantasy worlds is that– well, let me ask you this. Have 
you ever noticed that some fantasy nerds are, maybe, just a little bit 
sexist? A little bit racist? Fantasy universes not exactly welcoming to 
the concept of characters being anything other than cis, straight, 
able-bodied and white, unless maybe they need a villain? Yeah, I've 
noticed that too. In this piece so far there are more paragraphs than 
there are speaking female characters in all twelve hours of The Lord of 
the Rings. And frankly I don't have the time, energy, or willpower right 
now to devote to an analysis of the unfortunate imperialist undertones 
present in a lot of fantasy. Don't get me wrong– Not All Fantasy, to 
parody a truly obnoxious phrase. But enough. Too much. Pratchett's 
Discworld, in contrast, contains women in every role and every part of 
society, playing prominent parts in every story, and each their own 
person with their own life and attitude and interests. There are queer 
characters, in the plural, and there are carefully crafted allegories 
for systematic oppression and the issues facing minority groups woven 
throughout the text...

"I could talk all day about what Pratchett's characters mean to me, but 
instead of inflicting that upon you I'll summarise with this. Terry 
Pratchett, the Discworld, and every character who lives in it won't tell 
you that you are the chosen one. They won't tell you that you're unique, 
or special, or have some hidden power and some unknown destiny. You 
can't become a hero. But you can be yourself, and you can carry on doing 
the job that's in front of you, and you don't have to hide because 
everyone else is being themselves, too, and it's very rare that you're 
the most unusual person in a room like that..."

https://oppositeofdogs.home.blog/2019/04/14/and-the-new-day-will-be-a-great-big-fish/

...and blogger A Thoughtful Reveal's less thoughtful, but approving, review:

"I dove right into the writing and found I had to focus on it very 
closely most of the time to keep things straight since it wasn't my 
usual sort of book... The characters all had secrets piled on secrets, 
and most of them revealed their secrets by the end. Some were revealed 
by the ones with the secrets. Some were revealed by others who knew 
their secrets. Some were revealed to create bonds among a group of 
people with similar situations. Some were revealed to gain leverage. 
Many of the characters we would have said were overacted had they been 
on stage, I think. Overblown, bombastic, just too big for their parts. 
People who were covering something up by being themselves more than they 
really were. Overacting their assumed personas so no one would see their 
real personality underneath. Yet, they were amazing and funny in their 
interaction with each other. The whole book was amazing..."

https://athoughtfulreveal.com/2019/04/20/monstrous-regiment/

Blogger Mike Finn muses on the intersection between Jingo and current UK 
politics:

"I'm re-reading Terry Pratchett's 'Jingo'. I know he's dead and, even if 
he wasn't, he wrote this book in 1997, when I was twenty and if you'd 
told me about Brexit I'd have admired your creative imagination… after I 
stopped laughing, but he seems to have read my mind… in advance. You 
see, I've been telling myself that Brexit was a conspiracy by THEM, the 
people I've always hated but who have somehow managed to take something 
I value away from me. True, 17.4 million people voted for Brexit but 
that was because THEY conned them. That has to be true because otherwise 
17.4 million of my countrymen voted for Brexit with the enthusiasm of 
lemmings entering a cliff-diving contest because of xenophobia, dreams 
of empire or because they believed what was written on the side of a bus 
by an organisation with no other purpose than to say whatever it took to 
win. So how did Terry Pratchett know I'd be thinking this? Either he was 
psychic (and I'm much more important in the universe than seems 
possible) or he had an insight into how people's minds work that must 
have been so deeply depressing that he'd want to spend as much time as 
he could escaping into a fantasy world; except, when he got there, he'd 
dragged the insight along with him because wherever you go, there you 
are..."

https://mikefinnsfiction.wordpress.com/2019/04/15/terry-pratchett-on-why-we-need-conspirators-in-smoke-filled-rooms/

Blogger Camden Singrey considers The Colour of Magic:

"Freed from my past expectations, I reread The Colour of Magic with the 
understanding that it was mainly about the jokes and not so much the 
story. While later Pratchett could be described as satirical, the tone 
of his first Discworld novel would better be described as parody. It 
follows the adventures of Rincewind the incompetent wizard and naive 
tourist Twoflower as they continuously fall out of the frying pan into 
the fire and back into the frying pan again. The protagonists don't have 
any real goal besides staying alive, which becomes increasingly 
difficult as the book goes on. They are consistently entertaining and 
play off each other well, but it's easy to understand why Terry would go 
on to say he didn't much like writing Rincewind. There's only so much 
you can do with a perpetual coward without compromising what makes him 
funny... There are other discrepancies; the Discworld version of Death, 
arguably the most famous Pratchett character, is noticeably more 
vindictive here than he will be in the future. Perhaps he was just 
having a bad day. But enough of that, why is it good? I did very much 
enjoy reading it, after all. Well, it's funny. Some of the specific 
parody might go over my head, but the general mocking of fantasy 
tradition is always entertaining. And then there are the puns, the 
wordplay, the characters that seem vaguely self-aware about their place 
in the story and not entirely satisfied with it. It's all very English, 
the humor of disappointment and anxiety. That works for some more than 
others; it's always worked for me. Perhaps it's just that I haven't read 
any Pratchett in a while, but the book was solidly entertaining all the 
way through..."

https://camdensingrey.wordpress.com/2019/05/12/discworld-1-the-colour-of-magic/

...and finally, blogger rmartin49 aka SpecFictLit is back, this time 
with an overview of the Discworld's industrial revolution:

"The main star of each of these books is the new technology it 
introduces, whether or not that happens to stick around. The clacks – 
their version of the telegraph just appears but does get significant 
discussion in Going Postal. Over the course of Moving Pictures and The 
Truth, we get the respective inceptions of cinema and the newspaper. The 
industrial revolution of the Discworld will really pick up steam later 
with the aforementioned Going Postal and, erm, Raising Steam. at the 
time of writing this, I notice that Monstrous Regiment (which I've now 
read but am not ready to review), is also classed as Industrial 
Revolution but I'm not sure why. I suppose it doesn't really fit in 
anywhere else. It definitely doesn't have any of the new technology of 
modern warfare (and that's a good thing). In these books, there's always 
the difficulty of having to establish main-ish (we get cameos from more 
well-known figures of the Disc like the wizards and Commander Vimes but 
they're not the main thrust of the action) characters we haven't spent 
any time with before. In effect, each of these books is like the first 
in one of the other series, putting its new characters on the map..."

https://specfictlit.wordpress.com/2019/04/25/ranking-my-journey-through-the-discworld-so-far-industrial-revolution/

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

08) IMAGES OF THE MONTH

The "only tempo that matters" for Good Omens' music:
https://twitter.com/DavidGArnold/status/1029719384091181056/photo/1

...and the composer and recording team hard at work in legendary Air 
Studios:
https://bit.ly/2K2a36d

Some of the Chattering Nuns, hanging out with some of the Good Omens 
main cast and crew:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D7XhUJJX4AAhXrP.jpg

...and bringing sweet degeneration to Times Square:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D7XUQ9hWwAcRL6R.jpg

A drawing of Madame Tracy, Shadwell and Aziraphale, as tweeted by Paul 
Kidby:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D7P97PRX4AU-USk.jpg

...and some excellent iconographs from the re-created sets, as featured 
in item 3.4 above:
https://lonelyplanetwpnews.imgix.net/2019/05/Good-Omens-6.jpg
https://lonelyplanetwpnews.imgix.net/2019/05/Good-Omen-1.jpg
https://lonelyplanetwpnews.imgix.net/2019/05/Good-Omens-2.jpg

Crowley and Aziraphale, hanging out at the Globe Theatre (the "original" 
one, of course):
https://bit.ly/2M4hU5R

...and hanging out in the ancient desert:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D6IKcdrXkAA-x-O.jpg

...and a nice Good Omens screengrab, from co-Producers Amazon Prime:
https://bit.ly/30Lxqar
The Author and the Co-Author on the eve of original publication of Good 
Omens:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5guPuoW4AQXP6e.jpg

Unlike Mister Stuffy Pants Aziraphale, Crowley changes his look to suit 
the times:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D6OFY5VU0AE72Fe.jpg

Agnes Nutter, about to be burnt at the stake by a suspiciously 
familiar-looking witchfinder:
https://bit.ly/2HVA3h0

Feeling nunny? Here's an application to join the Chattering Order of St 
Beryl, as posted by the Order on Twitter:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D6EMPreUUAE8NJo.jpg

Some lovely Good Omens art by Jiedi Chen:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D6J5KJgUcAALTxJ.jpg

Pterry puppetry! These puppets were created in 2012, photo posted by 
NADWCON 2019 on Twitter:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D7OfkJ5XsAYKa_l.jpg

...and the Pterry puppet in current time, also posted by NADWCON:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D7NJ_suW0AAMXM6.jpg

Stephen Briggs' photo of himself and Pterry 22 years ago:
https://twitter.com/StephenPBriggs/status/1105424171721474050

...and a note re the Glorious 25th: in a comment on the Wossname blog 
post for this year's remembrance 
(_https://wossname.dreamwidth.org/69683.html_), Dreamwidth user 
Dreaminghylicat offered a link to more versions of the "poster", all by 
artist Yoodi. Well worth a look when you're thinking of posting in May 
2020: 
https://www.deviantart.com/yoodi/art/Night-Watch-Teaser-Poster-12-33484431

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

09) CLOSE

Department of What The Actual Poot: the Discworld Emporium tweeted that 
Facebook banned the sale of Ankh-Morpork passports due to the policy 
that prohibits "illegal services, prescription or recreational drugs or 
items that promote the use of drugs". Sounds like Facebook's 
administration is on some sort of er, substances themselves: 
https://twitter.com/Discworldshoppe/status/1124384689744166913

Don't forget to drop by the Chattering Order of St Beryl on Twitter. 
You'll be glad you did!
https://twitter.com/chattering_nuns

Some sixteen years ago, Good Omens came in at number 68 on a BBC list of 
Britain's 100 favourite novels. According to Neil Gaiman, it was the 
only book of the hundred titles that had never been adapted. Now that it 
has been here's hoping that we'll all love the adaptation as much as 
we've loved the original novel for all these years!

And that's it for May. Take care, and we'll see you next month with more 
Good Omens reviews and other news!

– Annie Mac

This issue can be viewed on the clacks at 
https://wossname.dreamwidth.org/70739.html

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

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