Wossname – September 2020 – main issue

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

Wossname
Newsletter of the Klatchian Foreign Legion
September 2020 (Volume 23, Issue 9, 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) THE TIME TRAVELLING CAVEMAN: REVIEW
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’d say writing the books from which the characters were ‘inspired’ is 
being pretty heavily involved. This project was also started whilst Dad 
was still alive and wouldn’t exist without his work. Thanking people who 
are no longer with us is not an unusual thing to do."
– Rhianna Pratchett's response to an obvious troll

"I've had the huge privilege of dramatising, and staging, many of your 
Dad's awesome novels. He changed my life immeasurably and, without 
qualification, I'd like to say – publicly – 'Thank you, Terry; it was 
huge fun'."
– Stephen Briggs' response to Rhianna's

"Terry was alive when it started. Just as he was alive when Good Omens 
on TV started. And there was never a day that went by making Good Omens 
that I wasn't determined to respect Terry's memory and brilliance. 
Because if there was anyone everyone was grateful to, it was Terry."
– Neil Gaiman, likewise

"Yeah its like they never Mention Gene Roddenberry on any new Star Treks 
that are made that guy had NOTHING to do with all the new stuff.... oh 
no wait they do... its kinda the thing you do... also no one Claims they 
Created Star Trek on their bio on any of the new series...."
– Twitter user Intron

"Ah so despite stan lee let's say having no input in future marvel movie 
installments they should not bother with his name again. Even though he 
helped create a lot of the characters but seeing as he is unavoidably 
dead we can forget about him now."
– Twitter user Andy C

"Sir Terry Pratchett's fingerprints are all over this thing. How can the 
show runner not be grateful to the creator of the world and the 
characters even if some of them are not exactly as described by the author."
– Twitter user Carole

"Funny I'm sure I saw Sir Arthur Conan Doyle mentioned in the credits of 
every episode of 'Sherlock' on the BBC few years back, despite him being 
out of copyright since 2000."
– Twitter user Alan Bourke

Note: all the above quotes are from 
https://twitter.com/rhipratchett/status/1305626315802976256

"I was very unhappy with Dad not being thanked. I don’t know why but it 
hasn’t been edited so it seems deliberate, unfortunately."
– Rhianna Pratchett, a few days later, interviewed in The Guardian

"Ms. Pratchett may put the very best spin on it she can, but it’s not a 
matter of inspiration. It’s because they hate. They have chosen to 
destroy the Discworld’s Night Watch series because of hate. They hate 
you, and they want to destroy anything that you loved, that made you 
happy, or that was simply wholesome, beautiful, creative, and 
worthwhile. The ultimate problem is theirs, though."
– blogger Riders of Skaith, commenting on the "inspired by" weasel-words 
of the Watch showrunner

"The characters of the Disc are still alive out there somewhere in a 
reality that cannot be altered."
– blogger Cathryn of Lit Alley says it all about any attempted rendering 
of the Discworld in visual media, ever

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

02) LETTER FROM YOUR EDITOR

Ah, pandemic time. Where days become weeks and months also become weeks 
and every day is the same day as yesterday and everything melts into a 
very long afternoon... I would swear on a stack of Mrs Bradshaw's guides 
that it's only been a week since we posted out the August issue...

I had intended to say nothing further about The Watch. I really had. But 
this... unholy Cori Celesti, this is much too much. As you may have 
already gathered from the quotes of the month above, there's been a 
further... well, just go to item 4.0.

And now, on with the show...

– Annie Mac, Editor

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

03) THE TIME TRAVELLING CAVEMAN

3.1 REVIEW

By Annie Mac

The Time-travelling Caveman opens with the dedication "To Terry – aged 
seventeen". Very appropriate, as Terry Pratchett was already writing 
these by then.

It's also appropriate because there are seventeen stories. Many of these 
tales are once again set in the fictional town of Blackbury, later home 
to the Johnny Maxwell trilogy, and once again, we can see seeds of 
Pratchett's later work in them. The Tropnecian Invasion of Great Britain 
and The Wergs' Invasion of earth contain concepts he developed in The 
Carpet People and the Bromeliad trilogy. Johnno, the Talking Horse is a 
good practice run for Gaspode – and Maurice. There is a modicum of magic 
– and wizards! – noticeably in The Wizard of Blackbury United (a sweet 
moral tale of self-confidence) and The Wild Knight; also, the title 
story itself is magical, even though there's no magic mentioned in it. 
Bason and the Hugonauts is a "young person's introduction to mythology", 
with a generous helping of Fractured Fairy Tales.

Two of the stories feature backyard space programmes of a sort: 
Professor Whelk's Trip to Mars and Lemonade on the Moon. It's hard to 
say which of these is more ridiculous in the sense of scientific 
impossibility, but both are charming, and friends of mine with young'uns 
assure me that even in this era of readily available scientific 
information, very young children would happily sit through them.

Some of my favourites in this collection were, in addition to The 
Time-travelling Caveman and Johnno, the Talking Horse, are The Mark One 
Computer; Doggins Has an Awfully Big Adventure – long, wildly 
imaginative and possibly the best of them all, with a subtle nod to 
Gulliver – and despite the sound of its title, containing neither 
anthropomorphised animals nor hobbits; and A Hole in Time, another of 
the longer stories and one I feel would especially fascinate children.

Something of note that was either missing from the earlier volumes, or 
else didn't attract my notice at the time, is a generous presence of 
girls or women as protagonists (even Mark One, the peripatetic computer, 
is "she"). Good to see, and it doesn't feel forced, which is as it 
should be.

In fairness, I should list my least favourite stories, all of which I 
felt were lower in narrative interest – Ub and the Toad; The Pied Piper 
of Blackbury; Bedwyr and Arthur's Hill (although its opening sentence, 
"Half of this story you will believe is true, and half of the half you 
won't believe is unbelievable, but if you believe in it hard enough it 
will be truer", is delightfully reminiscent of part of a certain 
111-year-old's farewell speech in a certain book by a certain young 
storyteller's favourite fantasy author); Mr Trapcheese and his Ark; and 
The Great Big Weather Fight – but again, these are probably suitably for 
reading to very young children.

A special thank-you is due to Colin Smythe, who collected and chose the 
stories for inclusion. And of course there is another fun cavalcade of 
illustrations by Mark Beech, once again style reminiscent of the young 
Terry Pratchett's own illustrations for The Carpet People. I enjoyed 
them all, but most of all I love the grinning ape opposite the first 
page of the introduction.

As this is quite probably the last "new" set of Pratchett stories*, it 
deserves a place in everyone's library, even if you don't have children 
to read to, Recommended!

* Several of the stories in The Time-travelling Caveman were included in 
the Collector's Edition of earlier sets, but as not many of us have 
those editions, they still count as new

3.2 REMINDER: ORDERING INFO

Penguin: https://bit.ly/3g3PhAt and Penguin Australia: 
https://bit.ly/3hXdjOj
Discworld.com: https://bit.ly/3fa7sD8
Discworld Emporium: https://bit.ly/39MT8zL
Foyles: https://www.foyles.co.uk/all?term=9780857536020
Waterstones: https://bit.ly/3gFsLxB
Blackwells: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9780857536020
Hive: https://bit.ly/2CNrtTe

...and in Fourecks...

Booktopia: https://bit.ly/2ChTemc
QBD Books: https://bit.ly/3f5IYLn
Readings: https://bit.ly/2Cn9jqs
Dymocks: https://bit.ly/3fd4AX9
Angus and Robertson: https://bit.ly/31ZRicE

...and other places, including that evil one your Editor refuses to 
promote, ever. If at all possible, please support your local independent 
bookshop!

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

04) ODDS AND SODS

4.0 "WATCH WARS: A NO HOPE"

 From Rhianna Pratchett herself: "This is the show-runner of The Watch, 
failing to thank MY FATHER. This should tell you everything you need to 
know."

https://twitter.com/rhipratchett/status/1305507935787900928 (tweet also 
gives the link to the showrunner's egregious Instagram post)

Editor's note: I refuse to give said Instagram post any space on this 
page, apart from pointing out that the showrunner had the sheer cheek to 
start it with  "Somewhere in a distant, second hand set of dimensions, 
in an alternate trouser leg of time..."

A few of the many comments to Ms Pratchett's tweet, that say it so well:

"As a long time fan of your father's books I am horrified by this. The 
watch have always been my favourite series of books. I've always been 
concerned about adaptations of the books... even those lovingly "mucked 
about" by your father as the credits said but this is different. Your 
father was a man who once sent an email to 17 year old South African 
school boy (innocently addressing me as Paul due to the fact that my 
email came from my school Paul Roos) to decline reading a short story in 
the nicest way possible. That he and his work should be treated with 
such callous disrespect is shameful. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying 
that as a fan I will not support this disgrace. Your father gave us a 
mirror to our world, that in some ways changed every single person who 
read his books. While I know that there is little I can do personally, 
and you no doubt hear this from many people, you have my full support in 
any course of action to rectify this travesty. Thank you for fighting 
for your father's work and the fans he touched with his words."
– CliffTheHatman

"Your father created a legacy that will last for as long as humans have 
a language with which to communicate with. The 'creator' of the show 
will not."
– jamil_ryu

"A bit of a gut punch. However, the program will be forgotten in a year, 
but we'll take your Dad's Discworld with us to the stars."
– mharoldpage

Here be a detailed summation, written by Rachel Anthony-Rowlands, 
superfan and co-maintainer/content-creator of Discworld Monthly (the 
original UK Discworld fanzine), of the path this -ing clusterwahoonie 
took from acquiring the rights to what it appears to have become. I 
strongly suggest you read the whole page, but as a teaser, here be a 
small extract. Link to the entire piece is below – do read!

"The original plan back in 2012 was that these would be original stories 
written with input from Rhianna and at the time Terry himself and they 
would have been canon. If someone died in the TV series, they could 
never come back in the books, and the other way around. Complications 
came in when Terry died. Clauses that would have stated Terry Pratchett 
had any form of input into the series would have no standing anymore as 
Terry Pratchett was no longer here. Terry Pratchett and Narrativia are 
two different entities on paper, so what allowed one to do things, it 
didn't allow the other to carry on once Terry had died. When Terry did 
the deal originally with the BBC, the team they had dealing with it was 
a completely different one to the team that has now made the series and 
as a result have negated any real input that Terry gave them when he was 
alive...

"Once the rights are sold, the rights are sold. Deals done mean that the 
rights to produce an adaptation sit with those who have bought it until 
the time limit runs out. Because there is always a time limit on these 
kind of deals so that the IP holders can eventually get their rights 
back. Sky did have the option to make Unseen Academicals into a TV 
production like they had done with Hogfather / GoingPostal / The Colour 
of Magic but time ran out for them to do so and the rights reverted back 
to Narrativia. It's like selling someone a mug and then after they 
bought it, demanding they can't drink coffee out of it. It's not done 
and they can't stop it unless it breaches the contract or they run out 
of time on the option to produce..."

https://discworldmonthly.co.uk/terrypratchett_thewatchseries.php

4.1 DISCWORLD AND BEYOND IN DORSET: THE TOUR CONTINUES!

Paul Kidby says: "All being well, in these uncertain and restricted 
times, the popular Discworld & Beyond exhibition is still scheduled to 
open next month at The Red House Gallery in Christchurch on October the 
24th. I am showing a few of my newer pieces including Good Omens artwork 
and the bronze sculpted bust of Sir Terry."

When: 24th October – 5th December 2020
Venue: Red House Museum and Gardens, Quay Road, Christchurch BH23 1BU 
(phone 01202 482860)
Times: Tuesday to Friday 10am – 5pm; Saturday 10am – 4pm
Tickets: free admission, "however, please pre-book your preferred 
visiting time for all members of your party, including children." 
Tickets are available online via
https://bit.ly/3gZvvGd

"If you do not have a pre-booked visiting time or arrive late, the venue 
will do their best to accommodate you, but cannot guarantee you will be 
able to visit. During your visit to Red House Museum and Gardens, please 
follow all social distancing and hygiene guidelines. Thank you for your 
understanding."

https://www.paulkidby.com/event/discworld-beyond-8/
http://www3.hants.gov.uk/redhouse

4.2 UPDATES: THE TERRY PRATCHETT BOOK CLUB

On the website of publishers Tor, Emmet Asher-Perrin continues a 
Discworld discussion page. In this month's instalment, Equal Rites 
finishes and Mort begins:

"This is mostly an action section where a lot of fun stuff happens, but 
I must give my brief thanks for Granny’s taking to city witch life and 
the splash of color she slowly adds to her wardrobe, which has Esk so 
scandalized. (Deep red wine lining a cloak, that’s top tier.) Just, 
everything about Granny’s transformation in this section is excellent, 
and I love the fact that she’s utterly suspicious of these locales at 
the start, only to find that being in a truly sizable urban area is good 
fun for someone with her skillset...

"According to Pratchett, the duel between Granny and Cutangle is a sort 
of homage to the British folk song “The Two Magicians”, which is 
fascinating for the actual content of the song: It’s about a blacksmith 
who is threatening to take a maiden’s virginity, which results in a 
transformation sequence where the maiden keeps turning into animals and 
the blacksmith catches her as different animals. The maiden doesn’t get 
away in every version of the song, and though the context was likely 
meant to be a teasing, jaunty sort of tune… it’s still ultimately a song 
about a guy who refuses to respect a woman’s consent and therefore is 
intent on raping her. Which. I mean, that’s one way to talk about sexism 
in your book about men and women’s magic. As metaphors go, it’s not what 
you’d call subtle, but it is layered as hell – after all, Granny and 
Cutangle are not engaging in anything remotely sexual during this fight, 
but there’s something to be said for couching this fight for dominance 
in a story that brings that idea to the table regardless. Essentially, 
we’re being reminded that consent is a major component to the inequality 
that women are forced to reckon with on a daily basis because this 
framing device is deliberately highlighting the fact. It makes a great 
action sequence that much more distinct, and deeply unsettling..."

https://www.tor.com/2020/09/04/terry-pratchett-book-club-equal-rites-part-iii/

...and the rest of Equal Rites:

"This book is strangely paced as all get-out, but still a lot of fun. It 
really picks up there at the end and a lot of stuff just happens, and 
some of it is great and some of it is less exciting. I do find it 
interesting that after spending so much time building up this story for 
Esk, it’s really more of a story about Granny. I can’t ever be upset 
about that because she’s amazing, and it’s so incredibly, stunningly 
rare to see a story where an elderly woman gets to have an adventure and 
be truly heroic all while getting to be so singularly herself. (Granny 
Weatherwax and Eglantine Price have a lot in common, so what can I say, 
I have a type when it comes to witches.) Also, I’m just gonna say it, I 
wish Esk had tried to Borrow the Great A’Tuin’s mind. Come on, that 
would have been amazing to read, no matter how terrible the idea was.

"It strikes me that the type of magic Simon and Esk work to create is 
essentially the magic version of philosophy maybe? The idea of something 
that no one understands but is somehow comforting sounds like philosophy 
to me. But it sort of tickles and frustrates me simultaneously that 
their trip to the Dungeon Dimensions is kinda… not very important to the 
overall story. In addition, I don’t know how I feel about Simon losing 
his stutter. My instinct is to say that I’m against it—the idea is 
awfully close to a character with a disability magically losing said 
disability, and I don’t really care that sort of narrative. It’s okay 
for Simon to stutter. It doesn’t diminish him at all..."

https://www.tor.com/2020/09/11/terry-pratchett-book-club-equal-rites-part-iv

...and the first two parts of Mort:

"There is always a question of whether we believe, from a storytelling 
perspective, that being a personification of Death would be a depressing 
job. And different stories have different opinions on the matter, 
whether they decide that Death is a function and therefore incapable of 
feeling any way about the work, or that having a job tied to literally 
the only fact of life—that everything eventually dies—is an inevitable 
hardship that takes its toll. But with Discworld’s Death it’s a bit more 
specific, namely in the fact that Death is aware that his job means that 
he’s often going to encounter the worst in people. We get that very 
explicitly with the section around the drowned kittens, and it comes 
early in the story as a way of framing the difficulty we’re going to see 
between Death and Mort. There’s a weariness to Death from the outset of 
the story, which really culminates in the moment when he asks Albert 
about what he’s feeling, Albert tells him sadness, and he replies I AM 
SADNESS. Which always struck me because if you’re the personification of 
an aspect of natural order then… well, it just makes sense that your 
emotional states are more than just your brain doing chemicals. If Death 
is sad and he is becoming sadness, conceptually, that’s a lot, even for him.

"There’s also the romantic aspect to this story between Mort and 
Ysabell, of course, which is made to mirror Great Expectations. (The 
fact that Ysabell calls Mort 'Boy' is a tell to that end, as Estelle 
calls Pip the same.) And I have feelings about that because honestly, it 
is not a Dickens I’ve ever been overly fond of, but you could argue that 
Pratchett is trying to do Dickens one better here. Just to start, the 
set up is better – rather than a horrific bitter old woman keeping a 
girl locked away from the world, Isabel's adopted dad isn’t trying to 
make her life miserable with the world he’s created around her. He knows 
that she’s lonely and could use some company her own age. He’s trying to 
help in a very messy dad sort of way. So it’ll be fun to pick over the 
way Pratchett uses that framework to a better end, and actually creates 
a proper love story around it..."

https://www.tor.com/2020/09/18/terry-pratchett-book-club-mort-part-i/

"'It occurred to him that people needed to believe things.' So this 
point comes up more than once in the Discworld books, particularly as it 
pertains to Death, and it’s central to Pratchett’s general philosophy on 
humans and what we do and how we work. But the thing I love most about 
it is the fact that he expands this thought as the books go on. So it 
starts in this germinating form here, and by the time we get to 
Hogfather, he blows it wide open. It’s wonderful seeing it begin here. 
There is so much about Goodie Hamstring’s death that lands beautifully, 
so much about her grace in accepting death, in the acknowledgement that 
life does genuinely get to be a chore once your body starts failing you, 
and it’s hard not to think of Pratchett’s own views on that front... We 
like to talk about wisdom and experience, but the world we occupy makes 
aging a deeply ignoble exercise for many, and the ability to have some 
control over one’s death is a completely understandable desire. But I’m 
also reminded of an essay I read a few years back from a woman on aging. 
It was, among other things, about how the process was a jarring thing 
because your brain doesn’t quite understand what’s happening to your 
body. She talked about looking in the mirror and expecting to see 
herself as she was decades previous, how perplexing it was to find 
someone different staring back at her. And that is perfectly 
encapsulated in the moment where Mort sees the shade of a younger 
Goodie, asks her if that’s who she was, and she replies, 'It’s who I’ve 
always been.' That reminder of how perplexing it is to have a body that 
will inevitably wear out and turn on itself when your mind remembers 
being something else entirely..."

https://www.tor.com/2020/09/25/terry-pratchett-book-club-mort-part-ii

4.3 BRING ON THE BAD GUYS

On That Hashtag Show, BK Lok ranks Discworld's five scariest villains. 
Your mileage may vary, but it's an interesting set of choices!

"For all that it’s humorous at heart, Discworld features some of the 
most terrifying villains ever to grace the literary world. I’ve prepared 
a short list of the 5 most terrifying ones just for you this Halloween. 
A quick word of warning though: below contains major spoilers for 
various Discworld books...."

The top five includes Mr Teatime, Spider from TAMAHER, the Summoning 
Dark, the Cunning Man, and the Auditors, with explanations given for 
every choice.

https://bit.ly/2S3s4nN

4.4 A MEMORABLE MEMORIAL LUGGAGE

Here be a feature on bespoke furniture designer Howard Butler, who made 
a "presentation Luggage" for the Terry Pratchett Memorial in London in 2016.

By Barry Kinghorn in the Worcester News:

"[Y]ou can't get much more bespoke than being asked to design something 
that's pretty much out of this world. That is to say, create a piece for 
a memorial service for Sir Terry Pratchett, the author of the fantasy 
world Discworld books... Howard said: 'I love designing on the spot with 
clients and making their ideas become reality' and this ability to think 
outside the box (literally in this case) could well have been a factor 
in his work on the Pratchett memorial. He said: "This commission was a 
privilege to be involved in. The brief was to make a lifesize piece, 
"The Luggage", a character from Discworld author Terry Pratchett’s book, 
The Colour of Magic. The Luggage would then be filled with bespoke 
jewellery for presentation at the memorial service for Sir Terry, which 
was held at the Barbican Theatre, London. The jewellery was designed for 
the family and the new "The Venerable order of the Honey Bee". I enjoyed 
making this chest and believe it has a character of its own, especially 
when it smiles. The favourite parts to make were the mechanical moving 
parts, such as the independent jaw that locates in several positions in 
one fluid motion, and the tray, which is controlled by a specially 
designed rivet that when turned protrudes a locking bar. In the fantasy 
books, the chest is supposed to be made from sapient pear wood, so I 
thought it was appropriate to finish the chest in pear beeswax. My 
friends have beehives, and the bees feed on the pear trees across the 
river. Perfect, so I melted it down and made my own pear wood wax for 
authenticity.'..."

https://bit.ly/33ZD3Ea

...and here's Mr Butler's own Luggage page, complete with wonderful 
iconographs:

"The inside of the chest has a network of programmed lights, which when 
turned on gives the appearance of a moving waterfall and an infinity 
base. Integrating these special effects summon up the magic of Discworld..."

https://howardbutler.co.uk/portfolio/terry-pratchett-chest/

4.5 THE MERCH CORNER

* The Illustrated Guards! Guards!

Not the super-posh limited edition, but a more affordable hardcover, 320 
pages with a generous scattering of new Kidby illustrations! To be 
published on 12th November:

"This is where the dragons went. They lie . . . not dead, not asleep, 
but . . . dormant. And although the space they occupy isn't like normal 
space, nevertheless they are packed in tightly. They could put you in 
mind of a can of sardines, if you thought sardines were huge and scaly. 
And presumably, somewhere, there's a key to let them out. Captain Sam 
Vimes of the Night Watch is going to have a doozy of a night when they 
are. This edition features ten glorious full-colour illustrations and 
further pencil drawings by Terry Pratchett's artist of choice, Paul Kidby."

Each copy of the Illustrated Guards! Guards! is hand-signed by the 
artist, priced at £30 and available for shipping to the UK, Europe, USA, 
Canada, Australia and New Zealand. "For other destinations please email 
for a shipping price." For more info, and to pre-order, go to:

https://bit.ly/3mWFtfw

The Illustrated Guards! Guards! is also available to pre-order from the 
Discworld Emporium: https://bit.ly/30fZ7t0

...and from Discworld.com: https://bit.ly/2HwUvrX

...and in Fourecks, from Hachette; a good price (AU$65), though not 
available until January 2021: https://bit.ly/2S40jeF

* Reminder: The Ankh-Morpork Archives, Volume Two

"Containing material unavailable for twenty years – this is a 
comprehensive guide to the capital city of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, 
getting to the heart of Ankh-Morpork’s secrets, societies and guilds. 
Ankh-Morpork is a bottomless pit of secrets. It’s time to unearth a few 
more . . . In the second volume of this confidential guide, brave 
travellers are made privy to the inner workings of more illustrious 
Ankh-Morpork societies. Disabuse yourself of notions of professionalism 
under which you may hold the City Watch; discover what serious business 
is undertaken by the Fools’ Guild (joking is no laughing matter); and, 
should you be lucky, achieve true enlightenment through the teachings of 
Lu-Tze. One thing’s for sure: after you’ve read this book, 
Ankh-Morpork’s Guilds are going to need to come up with new ways of 
doing things. Completely revamped and redesigned, this full-colour book 
contains material from Discworld Diaries across the decades."

Each copy of The Ankh-Morpork Archives, Volume Two is priced at £25 and 
will be published on 29th October 2020. For more info, and to pre-order, 
go to:

https://bit.ly/3lxmhUV

* Reminder: 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 order, go to:

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

https://twitter.com/20thcenturymarc

4.6 VERY CREATIVE WRITING: THE MANGLED "NEWS" OF A THEORETICAL GOOD 
OMENS SEQUEL

For your entertainment...

When the Good Omens miniseries was newly broadcast by Amazon Prime and 
the aether was filled with (almost universally glowing) reviews, it came 
to my notice that many people were already speculating on the 
possibility of a second series. While this was nothing more than wishful 
thinking (and may well still be, although Mr Gaiman has been quoted as 
being more open to the eventual possibility of it than he had been – 
though again, the current pandemic has uprooted most of the film and 
telly industry so who knows, eh?), I also noticed a sudden rash of 
pop-culture sites claiming to have all the information about a second 
series – and that the language in these articles was rapidly getting 
weirder and less coherent. So Your Editor started collecting links and 
preserving the text in them. And lo, when months later the BBC aired the 
miniseries, there was a new explosion of "second series information" and 
the weirdness and incoherence continued to increase. And the collection, 
from websites with names like Top Buzz Times, The Digital Wise, The News 
Trace, Nation Editions, The Inner Sane (no, really), Gizmo Blaze, Gizmo 
Posts 24, World Top Trend and Pop Times, continues to grow.

So what's the cause of all this? Well, now, it may look like a number of 
non-English-speaking people having a bad day on Google Translate, but 
the truth of it is that this is the way dodgy websites get around 
content theft – and yes, it definitely *is* theft, as the debased 
content is credited to a name (often also fictional) on the website's 
so-called team. At the start of the train is a person or machine with 
the original in one hand and a thesaurus in the other, altering enough 
words to disguise the original text but in the process losing the 
meaning, since synonyms usually require context. For example, "opposite 
number" becomes "reverse quantity", "bring page to screen" becomes 
"carry webpage to display", "frequently changes style" becomes 
"incessantly modifications fashion", "End Times" becomes "Finish 
Instances", and then each successive generation of changes grows ever 
more incoherent until you get... well, I think "Suggestions of something 
to guise frontward to" as a substitute for Good Omens takes first prize. 
But here are a few samples:

"The critical dream series Good Omens is stirred in the radical of an 
identical call made through Terry Pratchett. The first season of the 
fantasy series came remaining and seemed on some other streaming 
application BBC. The team adores this hallucination collection..."

"The secret dream series Good Omens is stirred from the radical of a 
virtually identical telephone made through Terry Pratchett... The dream 
thriller series is entirely basically determined by the radical of the 
equal call..."

"The sitcom plot turns over the malevolence and the blessed messenger 
Aziraphale who’re applied to regular day to day existence, in any case, 
who can perceive how the universe is closing on a Saturday. They, with 
the guide of utilizing by then, compositions on the whole to hold up 
fundamental magnificent methodologies from the world’s pinnacle..."

"Most of us know that the Good Omens has been observing since May, 
thinking about the capricious and the manual of Neil Gaiman and Terry 
Pratchett, and it’s among the most extreme elite signals in 2019. 
Whatever the case, Good Omens transformed into really each time 
engineered as a typical series... The first season had a splendid 
accomplishment, and also the base preceded to occur upon extra... The 
clamoring strategy for the entirety of these elite people is probably 
evident in the back of the up and coming season postponement; at any 
given expense brilliantly, the season will, in a short season, hit on 
the demonstrations..."

"Hints of somewhat to look onward to is a caricature dream collection 
that is brought by approaches for Amazon also BBC Studios. It is 
harmonized finished Douglas Mackinnon besides exaggerated by Terry 
Pratchett besides Neil Gaiman’s book ‘Suggestions of something to guise 
frontward to. Talented signs debuted on Amazon Prime Audiovisual.."

"Hints of something to look forward to is a parody dream assortment that 
is delivered by methods for Amazon and BBC Studios. It is coordinated 
through Douglas Mackinnon and affected by Terry Pratchett and Neil 
Gaiman’s book ‘Hints of something to look forward to'..."

"The thriller series Good Omens is roused from the 1990 novel 'Promising 
signs'..."

"The collection offers with incidents going on from hallucination 
highlighting on the same telephone name made through Terry Pratchett. 
The collection has ideal combination of sarcasm and thriller taking the 
audience to a very different world of fantasy... The officers had been 
absolutely tight lipped which indicates there are no intentions for the 
collection to get renewed... The display revolves around the viewpoint 
and the stand point of Crowley and Aziraphale, who converse in their own 
respective planet and talk about paradise and the inferior aspect 
staying inside their own respective spheres. They are pursuing 
themselves to prevent the unfortunate that is occurring..."

"One of the abnormal offshoots of this period of fable. And 
technological know-how fiction going mainstream in the amusement is 
booked no person of their proper thoughts could ever adapt are being 
tailored... It Made[sic] the original now not most straightforward 
paintings... 'And then Terry sent me a letter pronouncing, ‘you need to 
[write] this due to the fact I do not have very long to stay, and I need 
to look it before the lights exit.’ And then he died lots, plenty faster 
than many folks predicted...' Good Omens has a starting, a center, and a 
cease…After which, a few more cease..."

[Editor's note: I'm not inclined to torment you, O Readers, with links 
for these, but yes, I do have them!]

4.7 A SECOND NOVELIST IN THE PRATCHETT FAMILY

By Alison Flood in the Guardian:

"If there is one, teeny tiny upside for Rhianna Pratchett in the fact 
that her father is no longer around, it’s that she doesn’t have to hear 
what he thinks about her first novel. 'Obviously, it goes without saying 
that I wish he was still here,' says Rhianna... 'But the tiniest silver 
lining is that he would have had lots of opinions about what I was doing 
right and wrong, and I think it would have been probably even more 
nerve-racking to have him read it.' Out next week, Crystal of Storms is 
the latest instalment in the rebooted Fighting Fantasy books, the 
popular 80s and 90s adventure game series in which the reader plays the 
hero, battles monsters armed only with a pencil and a dice, and makes 
choices (fight the beast or run away; take the left fork or the right) 
in an attempt to survive their quest unscathed. Twenty-million copies of 
the game books have sold around the world since the first was published 
in 1982. It is dedicated to Rhianna’s parents, 'who showed me magic 
every day'..."

https://bit.ly/2FJCsyu

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

05) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS

Still no news. But keep an eye out for possible forthcoming Discworld 
plays later in the year. We must keep the knowledge of Discworld 
circulating! In the meantime, can you help a Discworld-loving theatre 
company? The following appeal was posted by Reddit user Nousagi:

"From the theatre that brought you Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards!...a 
plea from the Footnote.

"Hi, Discworld denizens! Some of you may recall February's great saga of 
the Majestic Theatre's production of Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards!, 
as documented by yours truly, the Sproingy Footnote. Pictures and videos 
were shared; anecdotes documented; a few of you even traveled from afar 
to see the production; a joyous time was had by all! (Especially in 
comparing our production to the BBC's...thing.) The director of this 
play, John Carone, does Discworld plays every couple of years. This is 
his third. He's also done Wyrd Sisters and Mort. It takes a certain kind 
of director and a pool of nerdy actors to make it work, and we have both 
here in Corvallis. John is already considering which of the Briggs 
adaptations he might do in a couple of years, and as I promised, I'll 
let everyone here know way in advance so that you can make travel plans 
if you like! Very few theatres in the United States do Discworld plays 
as we've discovered, and we'll definitely be doing more!

"...if the theatre survives, that is. COVID has devastated theatres, and 
we're no exception. We've lost so much revenue. We were fortunate in 
that we were able to very quickly pivot to digital, so we've continued 
to be very active. We're even releasing our very first fully-staged, 
COVID-safe, ticketed online production this weekend, and we have a few 
more in the works, as well as a whole bunch of free online theatre 
productions. No Discworld in the digital lineup, unfortunately, but I'm 
very hopeful that we'll be able to do more in the future.

"If you'd like to see some of our non-Discworld work, you can buy 
tickets to one of our upcoming online shows here:
https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?ticketing=maj

"If you could donate even a dollar or two to keep us alive long enough 
to do more Pratchett (because if there's anything this world needs right 
now, it's more beautiful, human, hopeful Pratchett), you can do so here: 
https://www.majestic.org/donate

"I so want to be a Footnote again. I took my hat home during the 
pandemic, and sometimes I work it into online productions, because why 
not? I still think very fondly back to the happy month of February, 
before this all began, when I got to log on to this subreddit and see 
all of the delighted reactions to our hard work. Y'all's support meant a 
lot then.

"If the theatre doesn't make it, I'll be proud to have been in its last 
full production, speaking Pratchett's words at the very end on closing 
night: 'There are no happy endings. There are just...endings.'"

https://bit.ly/32Q6mcU

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

06) 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! Also note there are a few updates below.

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://bit.ly/3jtYLGo

NOTE: the Drummers are still meeting occasionally via Zoom. Check out 
the above links for updates!

*

Drumknott's Irregulars
Facebook https://bit.ly/31FlSrq 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

UPDATE: "What are we doing while we're stuck at home due to COVID-19? 
Given that our normal social gatherings can't happen while everyone's 
under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are instead trying to 
host regular activities and discussions online. Most of these will be 
done via our Discord Server – https://discord.gg/3RVzsyJ – which has 
several text chat channels and a few voice chat channels as well. We 
will still use our Facebook group – 
https://facebook.com/groups/cityofsmallgods – to coordinate scheduled 
events. When things get back to normal... (semi-) regular social 
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.

"We'll try to keep this page up to date (no promises!) but always check 
emails on the mailing list or our Facebook Group for further details of 
these events."


*

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://bit.ly/2EKSCqu – or message Alexandra Ware directly at 
<alexandra.ware at gmail.com>

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

07) AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE

Blogger Tiny Navajo on A Slip of the Keyboard:

"While it took me a while to actually get through reading everything 
just because nonfiction does that to me sometimes; it felt like a set of 
essays that I could read one or two and then turn back to my fiction 
books and I enjoyed it. I love reading essays that authors write as I 
get to see them in what I perceive as their 'purest' form. They’re not 
writing fiction, they are writing to explain something, but it is still 
a story, if that makes sense. I loved getting to know Sir Terry 
Pratchett’s voice and getting to know him writing and humour. If 
anything, this set of essays has pushed me ever forward to actually 
reading a Discworld novel because I want to see how his humour transfers 
to fiction. I want to read and know more about him, and reading his 
works of fiction would do that.... Having never met the man, nor really 
read anything of his, that is purely his, before now at least, I can say 
that I wish I had gotten into his writings before he had died if so only 
I could get to know him while he was alive. It doesn’t make much 
difference right now, as I’ll still get to know him as I start reading 
his novels..."

https://bit.ly/34b5BuG

Blogger Cathryn's long musings on finally reading The Shepherd's Crown:

"I’ve had the book sat on my shelf for a few years. It was a Christmas 
gift, given to me the year it was published, the year of Pratchett’s 
death. The thing about fiction is that it is eternal, the stories and 
characters are alive out there. Existing in their own reality and, for 
some reason,this notion comforts me. Perhaps it is the idea of an 
unchanging sphere, a haven for the mind. I don’t know. What I do know is 
that as soon as I saw the dedication in The Shepherd’s Crown, I knew 
what was coming and I couldn’t shake the feeling of finality that came 
with it. I was also painfully aware that Pratchett had still been in the 
process of editing this novel when he died and it was not considered 
finished. I was concerned that the reading would be a disappointment and 
I would be faced with a sub-par novel that would forever taint my 
experience of the Disc. As such, I left it untouched until a few weeks 
ago. What The Shepherd’s Crown is, I discovered after reading, is a 
bittersweet manifestation of a terrible loss to the world of literature. 
I truly believe that had fate allowed Terry Pratchett to finish the book 
as intended, it would have been a masterpiece, his magnum opus. The 
biggest crime against the Discworld series is it’s description as 
‘comedic fantasy’. I hate that label when applied to Pratchett’s works. 
It is true that the humour is what first drew me in and the earlier 
works are very satirical of the fantasy genre in general, but there is 
so much more in the stories and especially in his characters and 
observations of human behaviour, emotion and experience. There is a deep 
undercurrent of understanding and Terry Pratchett brings to the surface 
truths that you know in your heart but have no ability to articulate..."

https://bit.ly/3icL1ie

Blogger The Library Mouse gives a full five stars to Dragons at 
Crumbling Castle:

"There are all kinds of characters and wonderful places. There is time 
travel and tortoises, weird machines, cavemen and tiny people who live 
in the carpet! As well as plenty of monsters and mayhem! ... I think my 
favourites are the stories about the carpet people. Terry Pratchett has 
written a whole series of novels about similar characters, so I think I 
would like to read some of those in the future. i enjoyed that each 
chapter was a new story about different things so it gave you a good 
variety of topics. It also makes it easy to break up your reading into 
bite-size pieces..."

https://bit.ly/2S6RsJk

Blogger Joe Kessler on The Fifth Elephant:

"I appreciate how [Pratchett's] City Watch subseries blends that humor 
with wry philosophizing and a detective story structure. The question 
for me as a reader is always whether the writer can stay out of his own 
way, keeping to a minimum the unfortunate stereotypes and convoluted 
plotting that sometimes dog his work. In this case he’s thankfully on 
top of his game, and although it’s a little strange that this is the 
second book in a row to send Commander Vimes far from his station in 
Ankh-Morpork as a cop-turned-diplomat, the foreign setting this time 
feels less like a lazy pastiche... overall, the satire punches up at 
hierarchies of power far more than it punches down at those marginalized 
by them..."

https://bit.ly/3kStcH1

Blogger Tegan Stevenson on Wyrd Sisters:

"First of all, I loved this book. I thought that it was awesome. It’s 
like Terry threw Macbeth at the Discworld just to see what would stick 
and the overall result was funny, cynical and wonderfully muddled... I 
was honestly hooked from the first paragraph and I think that the story 
is brilliantly witty... I loved the playwrighting/performing element 
brought to Wyrd Sisters by a travelling theatre group in the book. As 
well as sharing something new about the people who are part of the 
Discworld it took the story to more than one kingdom and gave plenty of 
opportunity for jokes about writing. There’s something about the way 
that Terry refers to inspiration which really makes me smile... In the 
end, what I really loved about this book were the characters themselves. 
Flawed, witty and complicated but, they all carry on as they like in the 
end..."

https://bit.ly/2S739iW

Blogger Hedwig is back with a five-stars review of Witches Abroad:

"The world building is honestly the best I’ve read from Pratchett so 
far. The whole story is one big journey as the witches travel from 
Lancre to Genua across the Disc to stop a happily ever after. I honestly 
loved everything about this. I’m usually very picky about 'journey' 
books in fantasy. Outside of the big ones, I tend to avoid them since 
they draw me straight back to studying Joseph Campbell for my thesis. So 
some of the best moments are narrated by Nanny Ogg as she sends 
postcards back to her Jason and honestly, I wish I had an entire book 
from her point of view. Genua does confuse me a little in what it is 
supposed to be, considering it has definite overtones of New Orleans 
meets Far, Far Away. You would think the way this book follows Magrat 
that this book would focus on her development since she is chosen in the 
first place to be a fairy godmother and even though we do see her grow a 
lot, this book is dedicated to the matriarch herself, Esme Weatherwax. 
Despite Magrat's doubts about Granny’s abilities as a witch, this boos 
proves if anything how powerful she truly is..."

https://bit.ly/33ZM4Nw

Blogger Ryan aka Muse with Me found Interesting Times only moderately 
interesting:

"This novel doubles as a Rincewind misadventure and an exploration of 
another unique civilization on the Discworld, this time a farcical play 
upon old-fashioned, Western understandings of Asia or “the Orient.” The 
Agatean Empire seems to most resemble Imperial China, though there are 
smatterings of references to Japanese ideas as well, such as samurai, 
sumo wrestling, and ninjas. This was some of the weakest stuff in the 
novel for me, as it felt more like window-dressing with the odd old 
stereotype thrown in, rather than something he had anything to say 
about. The exploration of living under oppressive, Imperial authority 
was considerably more interesting, fortunately, particularly the ways it 
emphasized how an overbearing-enough social hierarchy doesn’t need whips 
at the ready to keep a populace in line. It never got so grim as to 
undermine the comedic tone, but the ideas hit home... I really liked the 
characters and the way they interacted with the world, but the plotline 
itself left a little to be desired for me. Certain moments and 
developments had their strengths, but there was a lot of meandering and 
predictability to it too. Its strongest suit was definitely the way 
Rincewind is characterized, maintaining his penchant for running away 
and weaseling out of situations while also presenting him as someone 
much more worldly than he’d once been..."

https://bit.ly/2Si3oIl

Blogger Earth and Skye returns with a review of Sourcery:

"So far in the Discworld series, none of the stories have really 
finished on a cliff hanger. Instead, the story almost works as a 
standalone and lets you journey onwards to the next story in the series 
without any extra baggage. This novel didn’t quite work out like that. 
It just felt like there was so much more that was likely to happen to 
Rincewind – and I would love to know what the outcome of his latest 
misadventure will be. It was kind of fun finishing a Discworld story on 
a cliff hanger. Just different enough to leave me happy and content...

"One of my favourite things about Pratchett is his amazing ability to 
build worlds. The fact that he’s doing so consistently throughout the 
Discworld series always leaves me feeling happy. In this novel, his 
world building is building on the rules of wizardry and sourcery. I love 
all of the completely obscure and odd rules that come about in this and 
the way that the rules of magick are completely unexpected and not what 
I would have thought of as logical at all. It was quite brilliant..."

https://bit.ly/3cNLIOd

Blogger Camden Singrey is back too, with thoughts on Pyramids:

"I remember thinking that it was confusing and overly convoluted. 
Re-reading it has definitely improved my opinion and convinced me that I 
may not have been able to fully wrap my head around some of its more 
out-there ideas. Still, this is not one of the best Discworld novels, 
and it largely feels like a testing ground for ideas that Terry would 
later handle with more elegance... If it weren’t for the time spent in 
Ankh-Morpork at the beginning, it would be almost completely cut off 
from the reliable foundations that had been built up to this point. That 
early section of the story is delightful, and gives Terry a chance to 
expand on the Assassins and his general concept of a city that allows 
illegal activity, but only if it’s officially sanctioned. However, it 
doesn’t have much to do with the greater bulk of the story, and feels 
more like an extended prologue than anything else... Terry fares better 
when the focus is on religion, and a lot of ground is covered that he 
will expand on further in later books (particularly Small Gods). The 
horror of the people of Djel when they are actually confronted with 
their gods is very entertaining, and does a nice job of skewering the 
difference between belief in an idea and belief in a thing that is 
standing right in front of you and looking rather angry..."

https://bit.ly/3n1lrAG

...and finally, blogger Riders of Skaith doesn't hold back when it comes 
to The Watch:

"This one looks even worse than Artemis Fowl. In fact, it looks like it 
took a look at Artemis Fowl‘s utter disrespect for the source material, 
the fans, and continuing profitability of the franchise, said 'Hold my 
beer,' and then strapped on JATO wings while smiling weirdly and 
repeating a gibberish language in which the words 'strong' and 
'non-binary' can be faintly distinguished but which lapses back into 
English when concerned bystanders attempt to intervene... Every time I 
try to write a takedown of this situation, I end up frothing at the 
mouth. (True fact: when the very first images from the series hit, I 
ended up ranting so ferociously to the other interns that they 
referenced it for months afterwards.) Why do they do this? Why? Ms. 
Pratchett may put the very best spin on it she can, but it’s not a 
matter of inspiration..."

https://bit.ly/30v6du7

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

08) IMAGES OF THE MONTH

Super fanart of Commander Vimes as the wielder of the Summoning Dark, by 
the Ukrainian artist Ukrop:
https://bit.ly/33GuKgq

Death, from DragonCon, photo posted by Reddit user Fit_Budget_4288/:
https://bit.ly/3iUgK90

Rincewind, same info: https://bit.ly/3hQ5k4P

An amazing carved Eater of Socks, posted by Reddit user melfranso: 
https://bit.ly/32WRlq1

Professor Alice Roberts knows what makes a good library...
https://i.redd.it/urt1crozzao51.jpg

A fine rendering of Angua, based on Ingrid Bolso Berdal's version in the 
Going Postal click, by Kastep:
https://www.deviantart.com/kastep/art/Captain-Angua-von-Uberwald-571576403

Colin Smythe, Zooming blurrily at the Pratchett Project Conference: 
https://bit.ly/33TNhWu

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

09) CLOSE

This seems like a good time to call your attention back to a speech Sir 
Pterry gave thirty-five years ago at a science fiction convention, back 
in the days when science fiction conventions were tiny affairs peopled 
by The Kevins That Never Were. It's about magic. And sex. And the trail 
of realisations that led directly to Eskarina Smith and Tiffany Aching

"While I was plundering the fantasy world for the next cliche to pulls a 
few laughs from, I found one which was so deeply ingrained that you 
hardly notice it is there at all. In fact it struck me so vividly that I 
actually began to look at it seriously. That's the generally very clear 
division between magic done by women and magic done by men. Let's talk 
about wizards and witches. There is a tendency to talk of them in one 
breath, as though they were simply different sexual labels for the same 
job. It isn't true. In the fantasy world there is no such thing as a 
male witch. Warlocks, I hear you cry, but it's true. Oh, I'll accept you 
can postulate them for a particular story, but I'm talking here about 
the general tendency. There certainly isn't such a thing as a female 
wizard.Sorceress? Just a better class of witch. Enchantress? Just a 
witch with good legs. The fantasy world. in fact, is overdue for a visit 
from the Equal Opportunities people because, in the fantasy world, magic 
done by women is usually of poor quality, third-rate, negative stuff, 
while the wizards are usually cerebral, clever, powerful, and wise... 
Can you imagine a girl trying to get a place at the University of Gont? 
Or I can put it another way – can you imagine a female Gandalf?"

...and that speech ended with: "I suspect that via the insidious medium 
of picture books for children the wizards will continue to practice 
their high magic and the witches will perform their evil, bad-tempered 
spells. It's going to be a long time before there's room for equal rites."

And of course, two years later...

The entire speech has been preserved, with The Author's blessing when he 
was still among us, at the link below. Enjoy!

https://ansible.uk/misc/tpspeech.html

Right then, 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/79535.html

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

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