Wossname -- June 2020 -- main issue

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

Wossname
Newsletter of the Klatchian Foreign Legion
June 2020 (Volume 23, Issue 6, 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) ODDS AND SODS
04) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS
05) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS
06) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
07) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
08) CLOSE

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01) QUOTES OF THE MONTH

Bit of a quote-a-palooza this month, mostly because there are so many 
currently relevant Discworld quotes worth sharing, but also because I've 
been re-reading a lot of the novels – Ed.

"Rumour is information distilled so finely that it can filter through 
anything. It does not need doors and windows – sometimes it doesn't even 
need people. It can exist free and wild, running from ear to ear without 
ever touching lips."
– Feet of Clay (Gollancz hardcover, p.58)

"Angua hesitated, as she so often did when attempting to talk to Nobby 
on difficult matter, and waved her hands in front of her as if trying to 
shape the invisible dough of her thoughts. 'It's just that ... I mean, 
people might ...' she began. 'I mean ... well, you know what people call 
men who wear wigs and gowns, don't you?
'Yes, miss.'
'You do?'
'Yes, miss. Lawyers, miss.'
'Good. Yes. Good,' said Angua slowly. 'Now try another one...'
'Er ... actors, miss?'
Angua gave up."
– The Fifth Elephant (Transworld hardcover p.27)

"It was funny how people were people everywhere you went, even if the 
people concerned weren't the people the people who made up the phrase 
'people are people everywhere' had traditionally thought of as people. 
And even if you weren't virtuous, as you had been brought up to 
understand the term, you did like to see virtue in other people, 
provided it did not cost you anything."
– Vimes, musing on Dwarfish schisms (ibid., p.44)

"'It's wonderful, sir, isn't it? In a few months they say we'll be able 
to send messages all the way from Ankh-Morpork to Genua in less than a day!'
'Yes indeed. I wonder if by then we'll have anything sensible to say to 
each other.'"
– Carrot the optimist versus Vimes the realist (ibid. p.53)

"Demons have existed on the Discworld for at least as long as the gods, 
who they closely resemble. The difference is basically the same as that 
between terrorists and freedom fighters."
– Eric (Gollancz 2014 hardcover edition, p.23)

""This is Hell, isn't it,' said Eric. 'I've seen pictures.'"
– ibid. p.103

"Tilden had grown up knowing that the people at the top were right. That 
was why they were at the top. He didn't have the mental vocabulary to 
think like a traitor, because only traitors thought like that."
– Night Watch (Doubleday 2002 hardcover edition, p.143)

"One of the hardest lessons of young Sam's life had been finding out 
that the people in charge weren't in charge. It had been finding out 
that governments were not, on the whole, staffed by people who had a 
grip, and that plans were what people made instead of thinking."
– ibid. p. 224

"People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any 
case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or 
appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be 
small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even 
distrustful of cleverness. And so the children of the revolution were 
faced with the age-old problem: it wasn't that you had the wrong kind of 
government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people."
– ibid. p.225-226

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02) LETTER FROM YOUR EDITOR

This month's issue comes to you from lockdown. *Second time around* 
lockdown, because your editor lives in one of Australia's new 
coronavirus "hot spots". Frustrating, yes, when I'd just started to 
think of venturing out after having been indoors since mid-March, but 
having also spent almost nine months fully recovering from a bad round 
of influenza last year, inside looks less risky than outside. I hope 
everyone else in similar areas is staying safe!

We're also trying a new method of mailouts, in the hope that Yahoo and 
MSN addresses won't misidentify Wossname as spam. If you receive this 
issue, and feel like being kind to our poor admin, please do send an 
email to wossname-owner at pearwood.info to say you've received it. 
Feedback appreciated!

Continuing on the theme of current events... Mark Hughes Cobb, 
journalist and Pratchett fan, is always a beacon of uncommon sense. 
Here, he uses a Colon and Nobbs conversation to illustrate the uses of 
protest songs... "If we songwriters can’t cook up stirring music from 
current conditions across this fractured and fragmented land, give it a 
rest. Puns always intended. By comparison, songsmiths from the ’60s and 
’70s had an easier go. War. Huh. What IS it good for? To answer, Sir 
Terry Pratchett, from 'Thud':

'War, Nobby. Huh! What is it good for?'
'Dunno, Sarge. Freeing slaves, maybe?'
'Absol– well, okay.'
'Defending yourself against a totalitarian aggressor?'
'All right, I’ll grant you that, but – '
'Saving civilization from a horde of – '
'It doesn’t do any good in the long run is what I’m saying, Nobby, if 
you’d listen for five seconds together,' said Fred Colon sharply.
'Yeah, but in the long run, what does, Sarge?'

"OK, so war can serve a purpose or three, under proper circumstances – I 
believe we’d have to give it up for the necessity of warring against a 
Hitler – despite the sweaty allure of Edwin Starr’s grunt-along. But 
still, war’s a relatively easy target to spear. You know what’s not 
simple? Attitudes. Fear. Demagoguery. Can’t tear-gas those. Unless of 
course you’re in charge..."

To read the whole piece, go to 
https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/entertainment/20200604/mark-hughes-cobb-talk-to-me-so-you-can-see-

A re-reminder: although The Time-Travelling Caveman, final volume of the 
young Terry Pratchett's children's stories originally published long ago 
in the Bucks Free Press, won't be published until early September 
(03/09/20), you can pre-order it from any of several places:

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1119110/the-time-travelling-caveman/9780857536037.html
https://www.discworldemporium.com/childrens-books/639-the-time-travelling-caveman-hardback
https://discworld.com/?s=Time+Travelling+Caveman&post_type=product

There are more Discworld goodies in the Merch Corner section (item 3.6). 
And now, on with the show...

– Annie Mac, Editor

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03) ODDS AND SODS

3.0 THE MAGIC OF TERRY PRATCHETT: THE MAN BEHIND THE WORDS... AND THE HAT

A review by Annie Mac

"Terry Pratchett the author was himself a character, separate from the 
private man who shared his name and face."

The above quotation comes from The Magic of Terry Pratchett, freelance 
journalist Marc Burrows' soon to be published biography of Sir Terry. 
It's located on page 197, less than sixty pages before the end of the 
book, but in this reviewer's opinion it would have been better placed at 
the very outset – because those words tell the reader more about the man 
than about the history of his oeuvre, and when you come down to it, 
that's the basic purpose of a biography, right?

A quick disclosure first: I'm not the best choice of reviewer for a 
biography, because I have no use for them. I have always, and only, been 
interested in finished art – I don't look to be told what the process of 
making that art entailed and I certainly don't seek to the learn the 
details of of its maker's private life. However, I am well aware that 
this places me in the minority, and that millions of Pratchett fans 
*would* love to know those details. And if you are in the second group, 
I assure you that The Magic of Terry Pratchett is chocka with a fanfest 
of fascinating information. For example, you'll find out about 
Pratchett's somewhat non-standard education; many people know he was 
bullied by his headmaster in his first years at school, and quite a few 
people know that that headmaster announced to his class, and the world, 
that the boy Pratchett would never amount to anything much, but did you 
know that despite passing his Eleven Plus he decided to enter Wycombe 
Technical High, a second-tier secondary school where "in addition to the 
standard blazer, school tie and rugby kit, boys were required to supply 
a boiler suit"? And you will learn...

...that he may or may not have grown up without access to a television
...that he helped test migrating swans for radioactive contamination in 
the wake of the Chernobyl disaster
...that he based Eskarina Smith very closely on his daughter Rhianna
...that he used sherbet lemons, cigarettes and figgins (no, not the real 
ones) as writing tools
...that he publicly "ate" his Carnegie Medal – and was an honorary Girl 
Guide
...that he was once interviewed for The Telegraph by – wait for it – 
Boris Johnson
...that Discworld plays have been performed on all seven continents, and 
his books have been translated into thirty-seven languages
...that William de Worde was referenced in the Discworld Companion six 
years before The Truth was published
...that Trinity College Dublin, where he was an occasional lecturer, 
awarded him his own chalk eraser featuring a brass plate inscribed 
"Blackboard Monitor"
...that Neil Gaiman effectively acted as his unpaid publicist in the 
early days and was directly responsible for "forcing" Pratchett to write 
Mort (thereby saving the world from the Long Earth series for 
twenty-five years)
...and plenty more, in this well-researched book.

Also of note: people who are amazed by how quickly he turned out his 
Discworld and Young Adult books will perhaps be even more amazed to 
discover that he was an exceptionally slow writer in the early days of 
his output, taking as long as five years between books. Oh, and it's 
fascinating to think that someone who started a career as a writer in an 
era when word processing simply meant wielding a pen to put thoughts to 
paper spent several months of his adolescence with both arms in plaster 
as a result of a sport-related accident.

The Magic of Terry Pratchett wanders down the years from Terence David 
John Pratchett's birth and background, though his formative years, to 
his first jobs and first published works, to burgeoning success and the 
gradual growth of Terry Pratchett The Brand, to his later years, the 
coming of The Embuggerance, and those famous heartbreaking tweets in 
small caps. Its 300 pages (all right, 261 pages of main text, plus a 
long bibliography and list of resources and a comprehensive index) are 
presented in a straightforward, non-judgemental manner. The history of 
each of Pratchett's novels, the stories behind the making (and in at 
least one case – Mort – the not-making) of various other-media versions 
of those that have been so far interpreted, the life and times of each 
"Pratchett era", even the history of his dedicated fan base. There are a 
few things missing in my opinion – for instance, I think an exploration 
of Pratchett works brought to the stage, from the worldwide am-dram 
presentations to the legendary National Theatre Live's Mark Ravenhill 
adaptation of Nation, would have added another dimension – and the 
epilogue seemed a bit rushed, and might have benefited from a nod to the 
worldwide outpouring of grief and affection from fans and major media 
organs alike when his death was announced – but if you want to know 
about the nuts and bolts of Terry Pratchett's life and works, this is 
the book for you.

The Magic of Terry Pratchett will be released on 30th July 2020. 
According to Mr Burrows' Twitter account, the book will be illustrated 
by the excellent digital artist Andrea C White; his pinned tweet – 
https://twitter.com/20thcenturymarc/status/1233378888132300805 –  shows 
what the front and back covers of the published product will look like, 
and it looks good.

The Magic of Terry Pratchett
Published by White Owl, an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd
ISBN 978 1 52676 550 5

3.1 THE TERRY PRATCHETT BOOK CLUB

On the website of publishers Tor, Emmet Asher-Perrin is starting a 
Discworld discussion page:

It feels like the right time to be reading (or rereading) Terry 
Pratchett, doesn’t it? A lot of us are exhausted, the truth often seems 
to pass people right by, and we could all use something comforting, I 
think. So here’s a little corner of the internet where we can perhaps 
spend some time together and enjoy some very good books... You’re 
probably wondering why we’re not calling this The Great Pratchett 
Reread, or something like that. I have read some of Pratchett’s work, 
but not all of it. (Because there’s, you know… a lot of it. My 
completist impulses utterly failed me here.) In addition, much of what I 
read was years and years ago – and my memory gets wobblier by the minute 
in this media-saturated world we live in. So this isn’t a reread! More 
of a guided book club. A place to come and appreciate the work of a 
great author who knew how to make sense of senseless things. Or at least 
knew how to think through what baffled and frightened us all, and pare 
it down to something a little easier to understand..."

https://bit.ly/2VjUXxI

...and here's Asher-Perrin's first offering:

"Are we all sitting comfortably? Preferably with a warm beverage of 
choice? Excellent, because it’s time to dive right in on the first 
Discworld novel: The Colour of Magic. We are plowing right through the 
opening segment, so let’s get to it!... Okay, it’s time to talk favorite 
prologues in fantasy literature because I’m very picky about those, and 
this is one of my favorites. A lot of people love them no matter what 
and get annoyed when you admit to not being generally “pro-prologue” (I 
know the one in The Wheel of Time is a big deal! I promise I know!), but 
I stand by my pickiness. Most prologues are pointless or oddly indulgent 
or cannot be appreciated until you’ve read a lot more of the story, but 
this one is perfect. Gorgeously written, imparts important information, 
introduces you to how this fictional universe works. It’s also not too 
long. It makes sense as a prologue because it’s not relevant to the rest 
of the story except as a macro setup. And the fact that these are the 
first words about Discworld that ever appeared in the world is fitting. 
The book begins with Bravd and Weasel, who are riffs on Fritz Leiber’s 
Fafhrd and Gray Mouser. If you’re not familiar with Leiber’s work or 
these two characters in particular, he started writing them in the late 
1930s and kept on writing them for the next 50 years. Leiber’s goal was 
to create a set of fantasy heroes who seemed more like normal human 
beings, instead of the larger than life figures of Conan and Tarzan, who 
were popular at the time. Fafhrd and Gray Mouser were based off of 
himself and a friend, a giant barbarian and a diminutive thief who spent 
their time drinking and brawling and going on great adventures. They 
were, essentially, heroes for hire...

"Now, Pratchett is a smart guy with a lot of ingrained knowledge about 
fantasy, so it’s hardly surprising to see an homage of this nature in 
his work, even right from the beginning. But it’s a very particular 
homage as well, when you get right down to it – he’s letting us know 
what sort of characters he values. Normal people, working stiffs, none 
of that “chosen special cookie destiny” nonsense. Everything in this 
book reiterates those terms to us. Ankh-Morpork is a city, a city is 
full of average people just going about their lives. His characters are 
exceptional because exceptional things happen to them... When I first 
read this book, I was younger, too young to fully appreciate Rincewind 
as a protagonist. Now that I’m older, I can see the error in that – when 
we’re small, we’re all about heroes. We’re taught that good stories are 
about uber-beings doing big deeds..."

https://bit.ly/3g0jr7o

...and second...

"Then you should be all set to move on, and think a bit about 'The 
Sending of Eight'. The prologue of this section is concerned with the 
gods of Discworld, who have a more interesting lot than gods of planets 
made with 'less imagination but more mechanical aptitude'. At the Hub of 
the Disc, at the top of a high mountain, the Disc gods are currently 
sitting about and playing a board game that takes place on a carved map 
of the world... This section is obviously taking a lot of inspiration 
from H.P. Lovecraft and also from Dungeons and Dragons gameplay, which 
brings me to a question that might ruffle people a bit – do we think 
that Pratchett brought both of the elements to bear in his first book 
because he really loved them, or because he kind of wanted to get them 
out of the way? Or maybe some aspect of both these factors? Pratchett is 
an extremely knowledgeable writer who loves his homages, but there’s 
something particularly bemusing about taking one of  fantasy’s most 
well-known authors and a game that was getting hugely popular by the 80s 
(when this was published), and just shoving them into a section of the 
first Discworld book. It’s hard not to imagine Pratchett thinking, oh 
good, I can get this out of the way now. Lovecraft isn’t really tonally 
matched to what Pratchett does overall, but everyone loves a great big 
tentacle monster and the temples built around them... there’s a major 
juxtaposition between old magic and current magic in this section. 
Rincewind had assumed that dryads died out, but they’re clearly alive 
and well and still hanging about. Their magic is elemental and tied to 
the earth, as opposed to average Disc magic, which is all tied up in 
learning and tedious complexities. Which is just another way of saying 
that people don’t get shortcuts – everything that we do still requires 
an output of effort relative to the task. Rowling tried to suggest this 
in the Potterverse and its version of magic, but never managed to 
explain it in a way that made much sense, but Pratchett manages to do so 
in a few sentences. It takes him no time at all to establish that magic 
isn’t a fun workaround, and when Rincewind complains that there isn’t 
more of an order to things, Twoflower’s response is 'That’s fantasy.' 
Ouch..."

https://bit.ly/3fZk6pB

[These are well worth a read, and feel free to join in the comments! – Ed.]

3.2 TERRY PRATCHETT ON... HIMSELF

An interesting interview in the New York Times, from 2014. Some extracts:

NYT: What makes for a good fantasy novel?
TP:The kind that isn’t fantastic. It’s just creating a new reality. 
Really, a good fantasy is just a mirror of our own world, but one whose 
reflection is subtly distorted...

NYT: What kind of reader were you as a child? And what were your 
favorite childhood books?
TP: I barely read a book for pleasure when I was at junior school and 
got into reading only because my mother promised me a penny for every 
page I read to her properly. That cost her some money in the beginning, 
and then I found a book called “The Wind in the Willows,” by Kenneth 
Grahame, and I just exploded. There were rats and moles and badgers and 
they were all acting like humans, and I thought to myself, This is a 
lie, but what a fabulous lie! After that I scoured the local library and 
read everything. I even got myself a part-time job there so I could 
legitimately have multiple library cards... I would have to say that 
Mark Twain is up there with the gods and probably cursing it. “Life on 
the Mississippi” blew my mind. And, of course, reading him meant that I 
got to read “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” I hope it’s 
still read and that people read the book he wanted people to see, 
because I know that some editions leave out the fact that the Yankee boy 
killed most of the famous Knights of the Round Table using electricity. 
Now that is fantasy.

NYT: And if you could bring only three books to a desert island, which 
would you choose?
TP: “Boatbuilding for Beginners,” “Poisonous Plants of the South 
Pacific” and a very good seafood cookery book....

https://nyti.ms/2Ny2t3Q

3.3 THOUGHTS ON BRINGING DISCWORLD TO THE SCREEN

Nat Wassell asks if it's even possible to render Discworld books in a 
way that will satisfy everyone:

"I’ve waxed on a lot over the years about the magic of Sir Terry’s 
writing. I don’t need to do too much of it here. His characters, many of 
whom we spend a lot of books with, never get boring. He writes his 
novels in a close third person narrative style, so we dip in and out of 
the heads of the characters but he is also able to pull back and observe 
them from a little bit of distance, and almost comments independently on 
the action. There are jokes of all kinds, clever wordplay and some that 
only work on the page in written format, because the pun is in the 
spelling. Some of the best humour of all is found in the footnotes. The 
themes are strong and stretch out across many books, joining up not only 
plots but also characters. The Disc by the last book, The Shepherd’s 
Crown, is a different place to the one at the start. It evolves and 
grows and much of that is shown in how characters present, how their old 
biases and ways of thinking change over time. In short, the utterly 
perfect medium for telling stories of Discworld is – and always will be 
– written novels. With that in mind, it is easy to see why the Sky One 
films didn’t really have that magic. That strong narrative voice is what 
makes Discworld. By taking it away, all you have is a series of quite 
amusing fantasy stories, with some quite amusing characters... I don’t 
really have an answer as to how Discworld could be successfully adapted 
for the screen. I’m not certain that it can really be done, not in the 
way that the fans would want it to be. I think that is why I’m not so 
mad about The Watch series, because the Sky movies have proved that a 
straight adaptation doesn’t really work. It could be interesting to see 
something go to the other extreme, just for comparison’s sake..."

https://culturedvultures.com/discworld-show-nervous/

3.4 NATION: A RECOMMENDED PANDEMIC-ERA READ

In the Homewood-Flossmoor Chronicle (Illinois), Eric Crump presents his 
recommended "pandemic read", Nation:

"The most heart-wrenching moments of the book come as this teen, no 
longer a boy but not quite a man, has to ignore his pain and exhaustion 
to bury in the sea the people he has known all his life... It seems to 
be where we are now, in a present that is a turning point, moving from 
the sharp shock of lockdown to the beginning of recovery while the 
threat remains serious... In the end there is a discovery about the 
Nation's past that unites Daphne's culture and Mau's, providing a new 
understanding of both. One hint: It involves science as a way to 
understand the gods and the world. That's why I like “Nation” as 
COVID-19 pandemic reading. The loss of our old normal is troubling and 
traumatic. But it is a loss that is also an opportunity."

https://bit.ly/2Z4MHTy

3.5 INEFFABLE CON 2

It's virtual convention time! Or will be, come October, with special 
guests Neil Gaiman, Rob Wilkins, and Douglas McKinnon:

"The Ineffable Con recently announced the second edition of his Good 
Omens UK convention. The first event was organized in October 2019 and 
raised £1,258.93 ($1,604.76 US) for Alzheimer’s Research UK in memory of 
Sir Terry Pratchett, who was a writer for the series. The organizers 
revealed that the second edition of the event would take place on 
October 16-18, 2020, as an online event. All benefits will be donated to 
charity... A lot of activities and panels are planned for the 
convention. There will be talks and panels about all the different 
aspects of Good Omens, quizzes, vid show, e-zine, live readings, cosplay 
contests, art show, and a dealer’s room. A chat room will also be 
available to enable fans to talk to each other."

When: Friday 16th - Sunday 18th October 2020
Venue: the Clacks!
Time: see website for details
Tickets: £25, available at https://theineffablecon.org.uk/reg.php

You can find more information about the event on their website.: 
http://theineffablecon.org.uk

3.6 THE MERCH CORNER

* This month's feature is the Discworld Emporium. Here be a special 
message from the Ankh-Morpork Consulate:

"We're reuniting and returning to our posts this week, and as we survey 
the wreckage wrought by the frenzy of orders placed by clacks over 
lock-down we're not only taking stock of our stock, but also how to move 
forward as a place of pilgrimage for Discworld devotees now that life is 
considerably more unreal, which for us is really saying something! As we 
have very limited space in which we also run our busy mail-order 
service, creating a safe place for visitors is sadly not a viable option 
for us at present, and we have therefore made the difficult decision to 
keep our bricks and mortar shop closed for now. This may disappoint 
those wishing to escape the rigours of recent times in our little shop, 
however let it be understood that the Emporium is not so much a 'local' 
shop, but a conduit between worlds that welcomes travellers from all 
over Roundworld and the Disc. We don't believe our little town is quite 
ready for us to open our portal just yet, and as our team consists of 
'vulnerable' sorts, we would like to keep them protected while the dread 
menace persists..."

To read the full announcement, and to browse the site for goodies, go to:

https://www.discworldemporium.com/

* Reminder: Ankh-Morpork City Watch Journal

"In a city like Ankh-Morpork, where Assassins assassinate, thieves 
thieve and seamstresses, um . . . don’t, Law and Order can be a 
complicated business. Thankfully His Grace, His Excellency, The Duke of 
Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel Vimes (Blackboard Monitor) and the 
Ankh-Morpork City Watch are here to keep the peace. The finest body of 
men, women, dwarfs, trolls, werewolves, golems, Igors, gnomes, Feegles, 
vampires (and whatever Nobby Nobbs is) on the face of the Discworld! The 
Ankh-Morpork City Watch Journal provides jotting space for your notes, 
reports, observations and investigations, so kick back, relax and take 
down your particulars. To help you keep on the straight and narrow, 
you’ll be aided and abetted by some choice quotes from Terry Pratchett’s 
seminal City Watch novels."

Each Ankh-Morpork City Watch Journal ("Exclusively embossed with Terry's 
signature and sealed with his coat of arms") is priced at £17 and will 
be available to ship on 6th August 2020. For more info, and to 
pre-order, go to:

https://bit.ly/31jaHVy

* The Magic of Terry Pratchett (biography)

"Journalist, comedian and Pratchett fan Marc Burrows delves into the 
back story of one of UK's most enduring and beloved authors, from his 
childhood in the Chiltern Hills to his time as a journalist, and the 
journey that would take him - via more than sixty best-selling books - 
to an OBE, a knighthood and national treasure status. The Magic Of Terry 
Pratchett is the result of painstaking archival research alongside 
interviews with friends and contemporaries who knew the real man under 
the famous black hat, helping to piece together the full story of one of 
British literature's most remarkable and beloved figures for the very 
first time."

There are several versions that will be available, starting with the 
standard edition (currently priced at £16), the fancier Snapcase edition 
(£21), and the Patrician Box (£35.00\\\, featuring various extras). For 
more information, and to pre-order, go to:

https://www.askmeaboutterrypratchett.com/s/shop

https://twitter.com/20thcenturymarc

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

04) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS

No plays are being performed in public on Roundworld at the moment, of 
course. But keep an eye out for possible forthcoming Discworld plays 
later in the year. We must keep the knowledge of Discworld circulating!

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

05) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS

Remember, one day, possibly in the not too distant future, Discworld 
fans will be able to meet in the real Roundworld again. So keep this 
information handy:

The Broken Drummers, "London's Premier Unofficially Official Discworld 
Group"
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/

*

Drumknott's Irregulars
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."

*

The Victorian Discworld Klatch
https://www.facebook.com/groups/VictorianDiscworldKlatch

*

"The Gathering of the Loonies (Wincanton chapter)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/373578522834654/

*

The Pratchett Partisans
https://www.facebook.com/groups/pratchettpartisans/ or contact Ula 
directly at uwilmott at yahoo.com.au

*

The City of Small Gods
www.cityofsmallgods.org.au

*

The Broken Vectis Drummers
broken_vectis_drummers at yahoo.co.uk

*

The Wincanton Omnian Temperance Society (WOTS) meets at Wincanton's 
famous Bear Inn when social gatherings are possible.

*

The Northern Institute of the Ankh-Morpork and District Society of 
Flatalists normally meet at The Narrowboat Pub in Victoria Street, 
Skipton, North Yorkshire, 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)
Contact Sue (aka Granny Weatherwax): kenworthys at yahoo.co.uk

*

The Treacle Mining Corporation, formerly known as Perth Drummers 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Perth.Drummers/ – or message Alexandra 
Ware directly at <alexandra.ware at gmail.com>

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

06) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE

Blogger bthespearman reviews Witches Abroad:

"The first half of the book is by far my favourite as we enjoy the 
misadventures of the trio on their way to Genua. The incident with the 
bulls in the discworld equivalent of Pamplona always has me in stitches 
and it was no different this time. There’s just something about those 
three on their roadtrip through the discworld that I love, Nanny’s 
translations, Magrat's naivety and Granny’s inability to own up to any 
ignorance that works perfectly; it’s hilarious and interesting at the 
same time. That’s a hard trick to pull off. I do feel it drags a little 
in the second part once they reach the city. Not that it’s bad or 
anything, but some of the humour is lost.. As always with the discworld 
Pratchett manages to balance the humour with some insights. In this case 
it’s the power of stories and what it tells us about ourselves on 
relation to the part we play in a narrative. There’s also some 
meditation on government and the balance of freedoms versus security..."

https://bit.ly/3i5aYS0

Blogger Guy Luck gives The Colour of Magic five out of five stars:

"This book is a perfect introduction to the Discworld, with all its 
quirks and nuances. Terry Pratchett, god rest his soul, was a master of 
the weird and wonderful... We travel with these unlikely companions, 
Twoflower who relishes the excitement and adventure of exploring the 
world and Rincewind who would much rather run away and hide from 
everything. No matter how perilous the situation seems, no matter how 
hopeless everything becomes, maybe just maybe there is someway out of it 
all. This book has no ending, it leaves a satisfactory cliff hanger, so 
much so that my next book, logically, must be The Light Fantastic. 
Purely so I can know what happens next..."

https://bit.ly/2CIFwJf

Blogger The Corner of Laura is back with a four-starred review of Men at 
Arms:

"Cutting satire, especially on political correctness, tokenism, class 
divides and gun violence. The author certainly gets to the heart of the 
matter every time without fear of who they might offend by telling the 
truth. I haven’t read a book that better nails the problems with 
worrying too much about political correctness without coming off as 
justification for being offensive. All the issues he covers are still 
very pertinent today, too. I love all the character development in this 
book, especially around Carrot, who everyone can’t help but like, and 
Angua, who is only a woman some of the time. I love the changing 
relationship of Cuddy and Detritus too. Vimes gets some great moments, 
of course, especially when he’s faced with the daunting prospect of 
being a Lord. It’s clear that he’s not very comfortable with the idea of 
retirement or with hobnobbing with the rich... Incredible writing as 
ever. Every sentence seems to include a well-written and clever snark at 
something..."

https://bit.ly/382RUPL

Blogger Camden Singrey, also back, looks at Wyrd Sisters:

"Practically speaking, this is Terry’s first proper book about the 
witches of Lancre; Equal Rites does feature Granny Weatherwax but it 
doesn’t feature most of the other trappings (and by the end feels like 
much more of a wizard story anyway). The Witches are one of the 
character groups that form a sort of miniseries within Discworld, along 
with the City Watch, Death, Rincewind, etc. Rincewind has obviously been 
heavily featured at this point, but Terry has confessed to not enjoying 
the character as much as many of his others. The Witches and the City 
Watch feel like the two main tentpoles of his universe, collectively 
featuring as the main protagonists of almost 20 books (counting Tiffany 
Aching) and making cameo appearances in several other stories. With the 
City Watch not having made an appearance yet, Wyrd Sisters comes off as 
the first example of the kind of story that would come to define the 
Discworld. It’s also the first Discworld novel to feel fully driven by a 
specific story, with little room for tangents or humorous digressions 
that upset the tone... Nanny Ogg is simply one of Terry’s funniest 
characters, and serves as the even-more-practical witch who doesn’t care 
at all about how things are “meant to be done”. She is the witch most 
firmly rooted in the real world, with all that entails..."

https://bit.ly/2Vm6b4X

Blogger The Honest Avocado gives a full five ripe avocados (yes, that 
signifies a rave review) to Going Postal:

"I think this is one of my favorite Discworld books so far! Whereas some 
of the other stories in the series are a little too light on character 
development and plot, this one feels like a full/complete story. I liked 
that it focused on one character and you really get to know him... Moist 
grows and changes significantly from the beginning of the book to the 
end. He starts out with a set of assumptions about himself and the world 
and by the end all that’s been turned on its head... The Golems are so 
admirable. I love the Golems both in this book and in Feet of Clay. 
Pratchett uses them to show what morality and duty looks like form the 
perspective of a robot (essentially). The Golems are dutiful and so 
utterly matter of fact. It’s refreshing and helped me view events in the 
book from a completely different angle..."

https://bit.ly/2A44Jga

Blogger The Reading Bug returns with thoughts on The Fifth Elephant:

"One aspect of Pratchett’s work which is under-appreciated in my opinion 
is his ability to craft detective stories. Because The Fifth Elephant 
is, among several other things, detective fiction. The Stone of Scone, 
an ancient dwarven artefact, is stolen from the Ankh-Morpork Dwarf Bread 
Museum. Which is suspicious, because the original Scone of Stone, under 
close guard far away in a mine in Uberwald, is central to the 
forthcoming coronation of new  Low King of the Dwarves. To further 
complicate matters the Patrician, Lord Vetinari, has decided to send Sam 
Vimes as his ambassador to the coronation, suggesting that while there 
he may wish to negotiate with the Low King on a trade agreement with 
Ankh-Morpork. Uberwald is rich in underground fat deposits, as a result 
of the untimely arrival of the titular fifth elephant of legend... The 
usual things that make Pratchett’s novels a continuing joy are all to be 
found here. There’s the clever references that are so easy to miss... I 
think this is the first novel where we really get to see Vimes and Lady 
Sybil as a married couple. The maturity of their relationship, full of 
compromises and kindness, is worth reading the book for alone..."

https://bit.ly/2Zh5lI6

...and with thoughts on Carpe Jugulum:

"Isn’t this pretty much exactly the plot of Lords and Ladies (Discworld 
14) published some six years earlier? Superficially charming but 
sinister and other-worldly villains are accidentally invited into 
Lancre, take over, and battle with the witches? Pretty much. The good 
news is that all this doesn’t matter in the slightest. Shakespeare 
recycled plots freely and unapologetically, so why couldn’t Sir Terry? 
Any time spent with the profound moral philosopher that is Granny 
Weatherwax, Pratchett’s finest creation, is time well spent, even if we 
have been here before. And this is a very brave book – not many fantasy 
writers would go to the dark places that Granny visits..."

https://bit.ly/2CAAVZo

...and doesn't sugar-coat thoughts about The Last Continent:

"This is a thin foundation for a novel. The Australian cliches pile up 
irritatingly, and you end up waiting for the next one to turn up 
(Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, check, duck-billed platypus, check, the 
Dreaming, check). I felt Pratchett kept throwing new Xxxx items at the 
book to try and distract the reader from the underlying absence of 
anything approaching a plot. The fun with creation myths never really 
takes off – it’s mildly diverting, nothing more. Pratchett published two 
novels a year most years for almost twenty years, so a dud was always a 
possibility, but they are still a disappointment when they crop up, as 
they inevitably must. It’s not that I actively disliked The Last 
Continent, just that I didn’t love it..."

https://bit.ly/2Z8chqR

Blogger Zezee With Books reviews Wyrd Sisters:

"As always, the characters are entertaining and helped to make the story 
a fun read. I like how the witches play off each other: the undercurrent 
of animosity between Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg despite their 
respect for each other, and how the older witches respond to Magrat's 
eccentricities (they tolerate it while side-eyeing everything, lol). Oh, 
they made this a jolly, good read! I especially enjoyed whenever they 
show up at a play and comment loudly on the acts, making the actors 
nervous. That cracked me up, lol! Of them all, Nanny Ogg was my 
favorite. She knows how to have fun and doesn’t mind dancing on table 
tops, lol. I could party with her... Ah, Discworld’s worldbuilding… 
that’s my absolute favorite thing about the two books in the series I’ve 
read so far. The worldbuilding both amazes and entertains me..."

https://bit.ly/2CIAyfy

Blogger Hedwig on Moving Pictures:

"I think the main reason I enjoyed this was the weird unusual thread of 
the story. It follows the usual Discworld formula in places, being based 
in Ankh Morpork and the introduction of some new characters being pulled 
into some ridiculous amount of mayhem usually linked to something 
magical or otherworldly. This one, felt a little the story was far more 
solid and that the world is better established in this book. I still 
can’t be quite sure if that is due to the fact that I am invested in the 
series now but something felt unusual... I think as well this is the 
first book where I felt the wealth of characters was explored really 
well. We don’t just get to see the witches, or just get to see the 
wizards. Holy Wood being what it is draws Trolls, talking dogs and would 
be wizards like our main character Victor. There is also the eventual 
return of a race of characters we have seen before towards the end, and 
of course the always welcome return of Death, the Librarian and a 
hilarious plot involving the wizards at the university. I do think that 
Victor was a little weak, especially alongside Ginger and Throat. Seeing 
Throat reappear in a more vital role in the plot was brilliant and felt 
true to his constantly changing nature, but I still felt Victor was left 
a little underdeveloped compared to other main characters I’ve met so 
far. Gaspode the Wonder Dog is a true standout though..."

https://bit.ly/3i5rwt1

Blogger and author ES Barrison on Witches Abroad:

"My knowledge of Terry Pratchett comes initially from his collaboration 
with Neil Gaiman on Good Omens. A friend of mine recommended this book 
to me as a fun, lighthearted story to dive into Terry Pratchett’s 
Discworld. And what a way to enter it! A world where stories are brought 
to life by a rogue fairy godmother means chaos ensues: a frog prince, a 
sleezy cat-turned-man, and a fairy godmother with a knack for pumpkins, 
just to name a few. Plus with characters as endearing and witchy as 
Magrat, Granny Weatherwax, and Nanny Ogg, you’ll want to go on this 
wacky adventure with them..."

https://bit.ly/3eATWZR

Blogger Cirsicircles on The Wee Free Men:

"All the tiny atmospheric details are entertaining enough to be 
memorable for their own sakes, yet they often pop up later in the plot 
and you’re glad they were so memorable. For example, Ratbag the cat 
won’t give Tiffany the time of day unless he needs something, and in the 
dream-ambush scene, he cuddles her leg. My mind registered that she was 
going to be eaten by the dream-spinning creature before the narrator had 
to spell it out for me. Another thing I admired about the writing was 
the trick best done by Daphne du’Maurier in Rebecca: making a main 
character who never shows up in the book. The memory of Tiffany’s dead 
granny is not just a reoccurring theme it’s a talisman against evil and 
a guiding force, vibrant and earthy..."

https://bit.ly/3fY01Qh

Blogger Mr Lit's scholarly thoughts – with a wealth of footnotes – on 
Monstrous Regiment:

"Pratchett carried Discworld’s characteristic subversion of gender roles 
even further by taking on the well established literary paradigm of 
female to male cross-dressing during wartime... Interestingly, 
cross-dressing is similarly used by Tolkien, whose influence on 
contemporary fantasy is unparalleled, in The Return of the King, the 
final instalment of his epic The Lord of the Rings. Like Polly, Eowyn 
poses as male in order to participate in battle alongside her brother 
and people, rather than being left behind in a state of forced passivity 
alongside the other women. Eowyn herself likens this fate to being 
confined in a cage, ‘to stay behind bars, until use and old age accept 
them, all chance of great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.’... The 
cross-dresser who can pass as a member of the target gender, gaining 
acceptance by the group, comes voluntarily under the control of the 
gender role expectations for that gender group. A woman who desires to 
pass as a man must not only successfully pass dressed as a man, but also 
act as one in the masculine roles assigned the gender.’ Polly conforms 
to this idea, realising early on in the novel that cutting her hair and 
wearing boy’s clothes simply won’t cut it; in order to pass successfully 
as a young recruit, she must imitate the social behaviour and mannerisms 
of a young male: ‘Think young male, that was the thing. Fart loudly and 
with self-satisfaction at a job well done, move like a puppet that’d had 
a couple of random strings cut, never hug anyone and, if you meet a 
friend, punch them.’ In this sense, Pratchett successfully demonstrates 
that biological gender barriers can be easily overcome by merely 
changing dress and adapting one’s social behaviour, indicating that 
gender and identity are not exclusive..."

https://bit.ly/3eAxVKB

Blogger Muse With Me returns to give four out of five stars to Soul Music:

"Despite Death and Susan playing key roles, the true heart of the story 
lies with Imp and his compatriots... The core plot, with a force 
invading the Discworld and making profound changes, is rather common in 
this series. Archchancellor Ridcully of the wizards, one of the 
perspective supporting characters, even remarks upon it in a 
half-knowing way that I found amusing. All the same, this was a rather 
good execution upon that sort of story. Though not especially deep, it 
made for an interesting commentary on how much of an overwhelming 
whirlwind fame can be, when at the outset you were set on more humble 
successes, whether it be just making a living or simply sharing your 
talent with the world. Everything comes together around this story of 
musical fame and rock music references in a way I hadn’t quite expected 
too, giving Death something he didn’t know he needed in his quest to 
simply forget. It made for an appreciably subtle moment..."

https://bit.ly/2Z90mJj

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

07) IMAGES OF THE MONTH

The cover(s) for the Japanese paperback edition of Good Omens:
https://bit.ly/2Zbo33B and https://bit.ly/2YA9xUc

A lovely drawing of The Author by Jillian Tamaki for the New York Times 
in 2014:
https://bit.ly/3eD108n

Paul Kidby's wonderful drawing of young Gytha and young Leonard on a 
picnic, tweeted by the artist himself:
https://bit.ly/382vu0Z

Mr Pin has been found! https://bit.ly/2YTUfIE

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

08) CLOSE

Junior's been busy! "Scholastic Books have announced acclaimed games 
writer and journalist Rhianna Pratchett as the next guest author for the 
bestselling Fighting Fantasy series... Set in the iconic Fighting 
Fantasy world of Titan, Crystal of Storms casts the hero of the story as 
a member of the Sky Watch, charged with keeping the airborne archipelago 
of Pangaria safe. When the flying island Nimbus suddenly crashes out of 
the sky into the Ocean of Tempests below, the hero must battle storms 
and sea beasts in their mission to raise it from the deep. For this 
landmark Fighting Fantasy adventure, Scholastic have taken a new 
approach with the cover art, in order to attract a new, younger audience 
to the classic gamebook series - one which many of their parents cite as 
getting them reading and introducing them to fantasy role-playing in the 
first place. As the world’s most high-profile woman in gaming, Rhianna 
Pratchett is the perfect match for the series, and becomes its first 
ever female guest author. 'I first came to the Fighting Fantasy books as 
a child; reading them surreptitiously under the covers with a torch late 
at night,' Rhianna explains. 'It's been such an honour to be asked by 
Ian Livingstone, Steve Jackson and the team at Scholastic to create a 
new novel for their vibrant and exciting world. My kid-self has been 
high-fiving my adult-self all year! I hope new and old fans will enjoy 
exploring the floating archipelago of Pangaria and its colourful, 
eccentric and dangerous inhabitants. I also hope that some of that 
enjoyment will occur surreptitiously under the covers late at night.'"

Crystal of Storms, illustrated by Eva Eskelinen, will be published in 
October 2020. Read the full press release from Scholastic here:
https://www.fightingfantasy.com/ff-press-releases

https://www.fightingfantasy.com/blog

More info about the series, for those of you who don't know what it is 
(I certainly didn't!):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Fantasy

Meanwhile, the Good Omens miniseries is still generating buzz around the 
world, with many blogs and pop-culture websites talking about an 
imagined second series. Let's see what Neil Gaiman has to say about 
that: "It's definitely not a 'never say never again' situation... 
Everybody would love more. And I am the problem, because there's only 24 
hours in a day, and I have a 4-year-old. So there's a certain amount of 
juggling and figuring things out. I would love to be able to oversee 
more Good Omens, partly because of the sheer joy in getting to put 
Michael and David on screen together as those characters."

Right, that's us told. And that's it for now. Mind how you go, and we 
hope to see you next month...

– Annie Mac

This issue can be viewed on the clacks at 
https://wossname.dreamwidth.org/78187.html

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

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