Wossname – February–March 2021 – main issue

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

Wossname
Newsletter of the Klatchian Foreign Legion
February-March 2021 (Volume 24, Issue 2, 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 CONVENTION NEWS
05) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS
06) DISCWORLD MEETING GROUPS NEWS
07) IMAGES OF THE MONTH
08) CLOSE

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01) QUOTES OF THE MONTH

"So I've watched the whole series, and... wow. It sure is something. 
Pondering how it's possible to incorporate this particular story into 
the Discworld canon–not to mention that Ankh Morpork and those character 
versions–I was left with the inescapable conclusion that the series is 
essentially Trousers of Time fan fiction, describing a leg of Discworld 
that has so many differences from the main trouser leg that it's almost 
completely different. And yet, there is one key difference that 
supersedes all others: In the trouser leg of BBC's The Watch, Terry 
Pratchett is not particularly funny & this is probably his first book."
– reddit user u/hanleybrand's "fan theory" re The watch

"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will 
insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.."
– Sir Pterry

"If I heeded all the advice I've had over the years, I'd have written 18 
books about Rincewind."
– millions are deeply relieved that Sir Pterry *didn't* listen to his 
fans sometimes

"I must confess the activities of the UK governments for the past couple 
of years have been watched with frank admiration and amazement by Lord 
Vetinari"
– ah, Sir Pterry, if only you'd known what was to follow since you said 
that on Usenet...

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

02) LETTER FROM YOUR EDITOR

It's been six years this week. I miss him. That's all. But then, 
somewhere out there is a small asteroid called 127005 Pratchett, named 
by NASA for the author. And once upon a time there was a sea turtle 
called Psephophorus terrypratchetti, named by palaeontologist Richard 
Kohler. "...as long as his name is still spoken...", you know? GNU Terry 
Pratchett, forever in the Overhead.

The pandemic ate my calendar and I didn't want to miss this date, so 
this is a short February *and* March issue. More next month, hopefully!

And now, on with the show...

– Annie Mac, Editor

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

03) ODDS AND SODS

3.1 THE WOSSNAME MEMORIAL POEM

Yes, I'll trot this out every year, because it illustrates the depth of 
my love for Sir Pterry's work. – Ed.

THE LOVE SONG OF TDJ PRATCHETT

By Weird Alice Lancrevic, with apologies to the shade of Thomas Stearns 
Eliot

Let us go then, you and I,
When the Rimfall is spread out against the sky
Like a victim on Quetzovercoatl's altar
Let us go, through certain dark Ankh-Morpork streets,
As Cumbling Michael bleats
Of restless nights in Elm Street's cheap bedsits
And Harga's restaurant with greasy chips
Streets that follow like a Fools' Guild argument
Of a humorous intent
To lead you to an overt wealth of... footnotes!
Oh, do not play Greek Chorus
Let us go and dance Dark Morris.

In the room the wizards come, unseen
Talking of thaumic octarine.

The Morpork smog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The river-fug that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes,
Licked its tongue into the corners of the Bucket,
Lingered upon the gargoyles guarding drains,
Let fall upon its back the black of lithe Assassins,
Slipped by the terrace, writhed round Sator Square,
And seeing that it was a soft Sektober night,
Curled once around the Tump, and fell asleep.

And indeed there will be crime
Under Ankh-born fumes that slide down Easy Street,
Rubbing grey-black upon the window-panes; Disc-ing itself
There will be crime, and barely time
To prepare a voucher for the Thieves that you may meet;
There will be time to say the number Eight,
And time for all Devices wrought by dwarfs
That lift this brawling City toward its fate;
Time for Schleppel, time for Reg,
And time yet for an Igor's deft incisions,
And for a Sweeper's history revisions,
Before the taking of meat and two veg.

In the room the wizards come, unseen
Making a joke about the Dean.

And indeed there will be time
To wonder, 'Do I dare? Will Vimes go spare?'
Time to turn back Time and deeds repair,
With P.L.T. making horrors of my hair –
[They will say: 'How she stoops, to wear the tin!']
My armoured breasts, my collar fastened firmly 'neath my chin,
My pedigree's the oddest, but blue-blooded via lupine kin –
[They will say: 'But she's a vegetarian!']
Do I dare
Disturb the multiverse?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which the Moon will soon reverse.

For I have known the grags already, known them all –
Have known the meetings, mineshafts, Ankhian ruins,
I have squandered all my gold in greasy spoons;
I know the old life's dying, like an axe's fall
Beneath the bustle under cellar rooms.
So should I mention Koom?

And I have known the toffs already, known them all –
The eyes that damn you with a far too inbred phrase,
And when I am relegated, tossed like Mr Pin,
When I am told 'No comment!' by Lord Rust,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all Spike's butt-ends from the Golem Trust?
And how should I presume?

And I have known the 'girls' already, known them all –
Arms of that painted Guild, pale, white and calm
(But in the lamplight, best of Mrs Palm's!)
Is it scumble from a dish
That makesh me shpeak like thish?
Arms that twine around a client, or cap a maiden's fall.
And should I rent a room?
How soon should I dig in?

.      .      .      .      .

Shall I say, I have lurked at dusk in Morpork's streets
And watched the Clacks that clatter from the roofs
Midst lonely geeks with code-books, changing shifts in towers? . . .

I should have been a cruel wild banshee's claws
Scuttling between the Trouserlegs of Time.

.      .      .      .      .

And 'til well past noon, Young Sam will sleep so peacefully!
Smooth is his breathing,
Asleep . . . tired . . . or merely teething
Safe in his bed, here beside you and me.
Should I, after teetotal libations,
Have the strength to foil yet more assassinations?
But though I have cursed and shouted, growled and coughed,
Though I have seen my head [grown slightly bald] fetch ever higher prices
I am no genius – but I'm cool in crisis;
I have seen the sternest of my Watchmen flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Death of Rats go SNH, and snicker,
And in short, I was pissed off.

And would it have been worth it all, and sweet,
After millennium hand and shrimp for tea,
Among the Faculty, among some talk of Sourcery,
Would it have been worth while
To endure Ridcully's hassling with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe's rubber sheet
To roll it toward some thaumic insurrection,
To say: 'We are wizardry's future, come have fun
'Come HEX me up a treat, H.E.M. is neat!'
If one, scoffing a sausage inna bun,
Should say: 'That is not what I meant to eat.
'That is not real named meat.'

And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the battles and the broadswords and the trampled thrones,
After the sagas, after the horse cheese, after the skirts I chased from 
Rim to Hub –
And dine-chewers for my grub? –
It is 'barbarian' to say just what I mean!
But seen by a magic lantern through a silken Agatean screen:
Would it have been worth while
If one, scuttling a Dark Lord or storming Io's gate
To turn larks into legends, should say:
'That's not a hero's fate,
'That's not a deathless hero's fate.'

No! I am not King Verence, nor was meant to be;
I'm just a tender Tomjon, one who'll do
To thrill the punters, steal a scene or two
Advise the prince; he jingles, but he's cool,
Deferential to the senior Ogg
Mildly thick, gracious, and fond of his wife;
Full of high purpose, but a bit agog;
At times, indeed, a cliche brought to life –
Almost a perfect Fool.

I grow old . . . I grow old . . .
I shall yet wear midnight when the nights are cold.

Shall I shout 'Io's not blind!'? Do I dare to speak of Klatch?
I shall wear black pointy headgear, and fly on brooms of thatch
I have heard the Beggars, canting to the Watch.

I do not think that they will beg from me.

We have seen young vampires gliding past the Moon
Combing the land for humans to attack
Venting their blood-lust stylishly in black.

We have lingered on the shambling Circumfence
By sea-trolls wreathed with foam against the sky
Till Great A'Tuin takes us, and we fly.

3.2 HOW TO EVISCERATE A CONDESCENDING INTERVIEWER...

...by one Terry Pratchett in the mid-Nineties. Here be an extract from 
an interview that was published in the hardcopy edition of The Onion in 
1995, as transcribed by high fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss:

"Onion: You’re quite a writer. You’ve a gift for language, you’re a deft 
hand at plotting, and your books seem to have an enormous amount of 
attention to detail put into them. You’re so good you could write 
anything. Why write fantasy?

Pratchett: I had a decent lunch, and I’m feeling quite amiable. That’s 
why you’re still alive. I think you’d have to explain to me why you’ve 
asked that question.

O: It’s a rather ghettoized genre.

P: This is true. I cannot speak for the US, where I merely sort of sell 
okay. But in the UK I think every book – I think I’ve done twenty in the 
series – since the fourth book, every one has been one the top ten 
national bestsellers, either as hardcover or paperback, and quite often 
as both. Twelve or thirteen have been number one. I’ve done six 
juveniles, all of those have nevertheless crossed over to the adult 
bestseller list. On one occasion I had the adult best seller, the 
paperback best-seller in a different title, and a third book on the 
juvenile bestseller list. Now tell me again that this is a ghettoized genre.

O: It’s certainly regarded as less than serious fiction.

P:  (Sighs) Without a shadow of a doubt, the first fiction ever 
recounted was fantasy. Guys sitting around the campfire – Was it you who 
wrote the review? I thought I recognized it – Guys sitting around the 
campfire telling each other stories about the gods who made lightning, 
and stuff like that. They did not tell one another literary stories. 
They did not complain about difficulties of male menopause while being a 
junior lecturer on some midwestern college campus. Fantasy is without a 
shadow of a doubt the ur-literature, the spring from which all other 
literature has flown. Up to a few hundred years ago no one would have 
disagreed with this, because most stories were, in some sense, fantasy. 
Back in the middle ages, people wouldn’t have thought twice about 
bringing in Death as a character who would have a role to play in the 
story. Echoes of this can be seen in Pilgrim’s Progress, for example, 
which hark back to a much earlier type of storytelling. The epic of 
Gilgamesh is one of the earliest works of literature, and by the 
standard we would apply now – a big muscular guys with swords and 
certain godlike connections – That’s fantasy. The national literature of 
Finland, the Kalevala. Beowulf in England. I cannot pronounce 
Bahaghvad-Gita but the Indian one, you know what I mean. The national 
literature, the one that underpins everything else, is by the standards 
that we apply now, a work of fantasy.

Now I don’t know what you’d consider the national literature of America, 
but if the words Moby Dick are inching their way towards this 
conversation, whatever else it was, it was also a work of fantasy. 
Fantasy is kind of a plasma in which other things can be carried. I 
don’t think this is a ghetto. This is, fantasy is, almost a sea in which 
other genres swim. Now it may be that there has developed in the last 
couple of hundred years a subset of fantasy which merely uses a 
different icongraphy, and that is, if you like, the serious literature, 
the Booker Prize contender. Fantasy can be serious literature. Fantasy 
has often been serious literature. You have to fairly dense to think 
that Gulliver’s Travels is only a story about a guy having a real fun 
time among big people and little people and horses and stuff like that. 
What the book was about was something else. Fantasy can carry quite a 
serious burden, and so can humor. So what you’re saying is, strip away 
the trolls and the dwarves and things and put everyone into modern 
dress, get them to agonize a bit, mention Virginia Woolf a few times, 
and there! Hey! I’ve got a serious novel. But you don’t actually have to 
do that. (Pauses) That was a bloody good answer, though I say it myself..."

https://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2015/08/thoughts-on-pratchett/

3.3 VACCINATING THE LIBRARIANS!

Nine great apes at the San Diego Zoo – four orangutans and five bonobos 
– have been vaccinated against COVID-19! From the BBC:

"One of the recipients was a 28-year-old female Sumatran orangutan named 
Karen who had garnered headlines at the zoo when she became the first 
ape to undergo open-heart surgery in 1994. Each of the nine animals 
received two doses of an experimental vaccine originally designed for 
dogs and cats, and are all doing well with no adverse reactions, zoo 
spokesperson Darla Davis said. Zoo officials went ahead with the shots 
due to concerns about the animals' wellbeing after a troop of eight 
gorillas at the affiliated San Diego Zoo Safari Park fell ill with 
COVID-19 in January, marking the first known transmission of the virus 
to great apes. The eight gorillas, including a 48-year-old male 
"silverback" named Winston who suffered from pneumonia and heart 
disease, have since improved and appear to be on their way to a full 
recovery, Ms Davis said. Winston was treated with a variety of 
medications, including a coronavirus antibody therapy for non-humans... 
The orangutans and bonobos selected for immunisation were among the 
great apes at the zoo considered the most at risk of catching the virus 
and among the easiest to inoculate. Staff vaccinated the animals by 
distracting them from the needle with treats..."

https://ab.co/3cho5xC

3.4 ALL THE PRATCHETT SCREEN ADAPTATIONS, RANKED

On Screen Rant, Matt Morrison ranks and reviews them all:

"With 41 books in his Discworld series alone (including all the books 
aimed at children, middle-grade readers and young adults), it's no 
wonder that Terry Pratchett is one of the most frequently adapted 
authors of modern literature. His books have been adapted into graphic 
novels, video games, and stage musicals. The stage plays based on his 
work are particularly popular with amateur dramatics companies, due to 
Pratchett's emphasis on character and clever wordplay that lend 
themselves well to the melodrama of the theatre. Despite this 
versatility, it's the TV adaptations of Pratchett's works that have 
introduced him to the greatest number of people. These adaptations vary 
wildly, with some being close to the original work though lacking in a 
big budget and others featuring big budgets while only paying lip 
service to the books that allegedly inspired it. A rare few managed to 
build upon the original work to create something that was a fitting 
tribute to Sir Terry Pratchett's imagination and genius..."

The rankings cover Good Omens, the two Johnny Maxwell books that have so 
far been adapted, The Colour of Magic, Hogfather, Going Postal, Wyrd 
Sisters, Truckers, Soul Music, Troll Bridge, and, yes, The Watch, with 
synopses and comments for each. Well worth a read!

https://bit.ly/3rAXKRt

3.5 UPDATES: THE TERRY PRATCHETT BOOK CLUB

On the website of publishers Tor, Emmet Asher-Perrin continues a 
Discworld discussion page. This month's instalments take us from the 
last parts of Pyramids to most of Guards! Guards!:

"This section is basically a “Who’s Who” of Greek culture and 
philosophy, with all the fellows at the Symposium matching up to famous 
names in philosophy and history and the rest. The names that Pratchett 
selects for his pastiched historical figures are also references unto 
themselves half the time—copolymer is the term for a compound plastic, 
and antiphon is a call-and-response phrase you get in choirs. I do like 
his Herodotus stand-in, and how bad he is at telling stories about the 
Tsortean Wars. In this case, there’s a little more to lean on here, 
because we know a bit more about how the ancient Greeks lived, and 
Britain in particular has always been incredibly enamored of Greek 
culture and history. Herodotus did genuinely to go Symposiums like this 
and make money this way, and said Symposiums were genuinely just excuses 
to hang out and get drunk and argue philosophical points, and we’ve even 
got a listener here to play the role of the second guy in Socratic 
dialogues. The idea of Pythagoras being so wasted that he’s stuck on his 
dislike of pi is hilarious. The thought of Aesop crunching away on 
celery while you’re trying to talk is similarly excellent... "

https://bit.ly/3t8YbCR

"I think this could have worked if the historical alignment had been a 
little bit sharper in its execution, but then you would’ve had to make 
some sect of the Ephebians the rulers of Djelibeybi at this point in 
their history, or something down that road. Smashing it all together is 
weirdly sloppy for Pratchett, and it takes away from the book’s overall 
impact as a complete story. It’s distracting because he keeps using 
Greek references all over the place; Ozymandias is name-checked, which 
is the Greek name for Ramesses II; Ptraci is rolled up in a carpet when 
she presents herself to Teppic at the end, just like Cleopatra was said 
to have done when she wanted to be smuggled in to see Julius Caesar. The 
only non-Hellenized reference here that really stands out is the first 
ancestor Khuft, who I imagine is meant to be a stand-in for the pharaoh 
Khufu. Then it gets even messier with a biblical reference when Teppic 
parts the river, which sure didn’t happen on the Nile in the Bible, so 
who can say what we’re going for at that point. I know it’s not the only 
story where waters part, but you have to know that’s the first one 
that’s going to come to mind when you invoke both Egypt and god 
powers... We could all use a reminder now and then that tradition for 
tradition’s sake is not a reason to do anything, that power isn’t 
eternal, and that we cultivate resilience by refusing to fear what is 
new. There’s some scholarship via Stefan Eckman about the kingdom being 
a sort of “time polder”, described as a sort of bubble where history is 
locked into a pattern (largely due to Dios in this case), and that’s an 
interesting conceit. But the story doesn’t really land the way it could 
because its foundation is too precarious..."

https://bit.ly/3esQenZ

"The cliches that Pratchett cleaves to here are a fantasy in and of 
themselves. He’s ultimately parodying something that doesn’t exist in 
the real world. I’m not saying that he’s unaware of the issues here 
entirely; the makeup of the City Watch that Carrot enters is a fairly 
good representation of the sort of people who often populate bodies of 
law enforcement... Carrot occupies a special place in my heart for being 
one of the few “Lawful Good” (as the D&D parlance goes) characters I 
genuinely like. As an alignment, I’m mostly against it, partly due to my 
own chaotic leanings, but also because it’s difficult to find examples 
of that type who don’t make the concept of lawfulness distasteful. Being 
down with authority is not an attribute I’ve ever personally prized, but 
Carrot comes by it honestly – because it’s a matter of literalness, not 
belief in the “goodness” of law..."

https://bit.ly/38u9q0H

"The description of Vimes’s alcoholism is maybe one of the most 
affecting, upsetting segments in the entire Discworld series. Getting 
back to the Watch House, pulling that bottle out of his desk without 
even noticing he’s done it, waking up drunk after hours have passed him 
by. It’s given to us with such clear narration, such simplicity, that it 
makes the moment of his waking that much more unsettling. Then on the 
flip side of that, there’s the Supreme Grand Master thinking that once 
they’ve installed the king, he can give up the magic they’re doing 'any 
time I like.' Which is addiction speak 101. So even though these two 
haven’t met, we’re being shown that this is ultimately one addiction 
unknowingly battling another... The introduction of Sybil Ramkin and her 
whole operation is a pitch-perfect sendup of the sort of people who 
breed dogs and horses, and all the minutiae that entails, and how it can 
utterly absorb someone’s life. Of course, the key difference here is 
that Sybil really adores her dragons, which certainly isn’t true of 
every dog or horse breeder. Some people really just are in it for 
getting prizes at racing and show dog competitions, a sphere dominated 
by the superrich. With Lady Ramkin, we see someone who isn’t really in 
it for glory or money or status. This is her area of focus and study in 
addition to being her passion. She just really loves dragons, okay?...

"In essence, Sibyl is the Bruce Wayne of this outfit. Which is good 
because they desperately need one. And I say this with a great deal of 
affection, because I love Sybil and I also love her relationship with 
Vimes as it grows through these stories. For all their differences, 
they’re an extremely well-matched pair, and I do think they’re better 
rendered than any of the relationships Pratchett shows us up until this 
point in the Discworld books. I think this is because their 
vulnerabilities as people are better rendered than any of his previous 
pairs. They’re both lonely, and they’re both people who might come off 
tough or prickly at first glance, when they’re genuinely anything but..."

https://bit.ly/3byE6Qo

"Pratchett’s description of the dragon here is where we get a proper bit 
of Smaug-ian narrative, if such a thing could be said to exist. The 
explanation of what it feels like to be this creature, and how they feel 
about being used, it’s all just very evocative and chilling and well 
done. So are the bits about L-space, which really gets me thinking – 
when you start out with Discworld books, Pratchett is a little less 
precise on how he talks about magic and space-time and all of that. As 
we go on, things get much clearer, even if they’re still inherently 
unknowable, which I love... There are just so many great bits in this 
section with Carrot being so preposterous, and also so very good, in 
that painfully earnest but lovely way. I’d actually forgotten the charge 
bit with the palace guards, but on rereading, my brain instantly went 
'oh no, he thinks you mean actually charge them physically' because it’s 
a goofy joke, but it’s still a darned funny one... Pratchett is very 
explicitly criticizing how there’s a part of humanity (in the genes, as 
it were) that genuinely wants to believe that certain people are grouped 
off, special and above everyone else. Ankh-Morpork is a city full of 
individuals that go about their own business – they’re a community 
because they occupy this space together, and there’s a certain code that 
comes with being crammed in like that. But the instant a 'king' shows 
up, everything becomes about catering to that idea, to that individual. 
Of course, it’s illustrated more comically when Colon goes off about 
this, only to snap at Nobby for calling him by his first name; point 
being that Colon is all for hierarchy, he just wants the one he 
recognizes..."

https://bit.ly/3cmolLK

3.6 ...AND YES, ANOTHER REVIEW OF THE WATCH...

By Joseph Ellis on Sunriseread:

The references to other realities, particularly with the technology from 
“Roundworld” being brought over into Discworld by experiments at Unseen 
University, made it harder to suspend disbelief and accept the world of 
the series as independent. But, as it turns out, that’s part of the 
point. In episode 7, The Watch makes it utterly clear that the 
multiverse is full of different versions of Discworld. For readers 
familiar with multiverse fiction (or just readers familiar with the many 
iterations of the Marvel Universe, numbered for convenience), fully 
admitting this construction lightens the burden on The Watch to be a 
familiar adaptation. This Sam Vimes isn’t the same Sam Vimes we know – 
because, in episode 7, we see two different versions of the same 
character. And while as viewers we already knew that, having the story 
itself make that an important, pivotal piece of information changes the 
way the story functions.

If The Watch had somehow been able to communicate in its first two 
episodes that this was the “Discworld: The Musical” (I’m not kidding) 
version of Pratchett’s universe, then the amount of time spent with 
members of the cast behind musical instruments would have felt natural. 
Music is a core storytelling tool for the television series, and by the 
end, it comes together and works. The problem is that too many Pratchett 
fans gave up on the series long before it hit the point where everything 
clicked.

In some ways, this is a true shame, because the cast delivered stellar 
performances throughout. Richard Dormer’s physical acting in the role of 
Vimes is stellar, managing both comedic and serious scenes with equal 
aplomb. Jo Eaton-Kent’s Cheery, a non-binary (by the final episode) 
dwarf, is a delight. Marama Corlett makes viewers believe her brooding 
werewolf Angua could kick everyone’s ass despite being half their size. 
Adam Hugill as Constable Carrot embodies the earnest fantasy hero. Lara 
Rossi delivers a Sybil Ramkin that has as large a presence on screen as 
her physically-larger novel version exudes on the page. Samuel 
Adewunmi’s villainous Carcer has enough pathos that viewers might almost 
have rooted for his redemption up until his actions in the finale, and 
Bianca Simone Mannie’s Wonce is inspired; both villains are drawn from 
more minor characters in the novels and given greater depth for the 
series, a departure that results in making them some of the more 
interesting, nuanced inventions of the show.

But despite that, the reason The Watch never quite managed to bring even 
its own Discworld to life was the shorthand of silliness for satire. 
Pratchett’s novels are beloved because they’re funny, it’s true, but his 
humor isn’t just goofy or absurd (although it swings that way on 
occasion). Much of the fun is in the way the humor is used not to 
lighten the scene, but to illuminate it..."

https://bit.ly/3cjdO3P

...and a not-a-review, originally in tweet thread form, from Twitter 
user Hannah Elspeth aka @for_every_Helen:

"Okay, look, this is why I am so upset by #TheWatch adaptation. I think 
I read my first #Discworld book a couple of decades ago, as a young 
teenager. I'd never read anything like it in my life. After that I went 
to the library every week & meticulously hunted for them, over years... 
The #Discworld books gave me a grounding in empathy and the complexity 
of human nature in a way no other book has. When I call Terry Pratchett 
a philosopher, I am not joking. I am being entirely sincere, because he 
was one of the brightest minds I've ever come across.

"I remember in #SmallGods, when he described the way that gods would die 
when the structure of a religion grew around them like a tomb, and 
people worshipped the hierarchy of the church and the comfort of ritual. 
I remember when Granny Weatherwax was asked, when she needed to choose 
between a mother in labour or the baby, if she would ask the father 
which one to save, and she said that he had loved his wife for years, 
but never known the child, and why would she hurt him by asking? I 
remember when Sam Vimes explained his 'boots theory of economics', that 
the rich are rich because they can buy high quality products that last, 
and the poor stay poor because they have to buy cheap products that 
constantly must be replaced, and end up spending the most. And in Carpe 
Jugulum when a priest loses his faith in a religion that is overcome by 
ritual and evangelism, it is an atheist that helps him get it back by 
explaining that if you really believe in something, want to make a 
difference, you put your whole self into it & never stop. And, and, and..."

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1314655976327393280.html

The original tweet thread can be found here:

https://twitter.com/for_every_helen/status/1314655976327393280

3.7 THE MERCH CORNER

* New Discworld Collector's Library editions!

"Coming soon to the Discworld Collector's Library... It's been a long 
wait, but at long last the Tiffany Aching series and The Amazing Maurice 
and his Educated Rodents will finally be available in beautiful hardback 
editions as part of the spectacular Discworld Collector's Library later 
this year!"

The new editions will be published on 23rd September 2021 and will 
include The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, I Shall Wear 
Midnight, The Shepherd's Crown, and The Amazing Maurice and His Educated 
Rodents. Each volume is priced at £14.99 and all new volumes are now 
available for pre-order. For more info, and to pre-order, go to:

https://www.discworldemporium.com/19-new-books

"Joe McLaren's cover artwork is yet to be revealed, but after years of 
waiting for these books to come to fruition a few more months of 
wondering won't hurt! For those wanting to indulge in the entire 
collection all in one go, each new title will be added to our Complete 
Collection of Discworld Collector's Library editions as soon as they are 
published!" More info here:

https://bit.ly/30wmMFp

* The Illustrated Guards! Guards!

"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 priced at £30. For more 
info, and to order, go to:

https://bit.ly/2OiEWYE

* A new Discworld Companion!

Yes, there's a new and even more comprehensive Discworld Companion due 
out later this year! The Absolute – or possibly, Ultimate – Discworld 
Companion, by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs, will be published by 
Gollancz in both hardcover and paperback versions on on 11th November 2021!

"If you're looking for the ultimate authority on probably the most 
heavily populated – certainly the most hilarious – setting in fantasy 
literature... If you need a handy guide to Discworld locales from 
Ankh-Morpork to Zemphis... If you want help telling Achmed the Mad from 
Jack Zweiblumen... If your life depends on being able to distinguish the 
Agatean Empire from the Zoons...look no further than THE ABSOLUTE 
DISCWORLD COMPANION – fully updated by the encyclopaedic Stephen Briggs 
and fully illustrated by the kaleidoscopic Paul Kidby!"

The Absolute (or possibly Ultimate) Discworld Companion can be 
pre-ordered now, at the Fourecksian price of AU$34.89 (hardcover) or 
AU$26.15 (paperback), with delivery to Australia included. A deal not to 
be missed! For more info, and to pre-order, go to:

https://bit.ly/3byGOFy

3.8 THE OFFICIAL PLAYWRIGHT SPEAKS!

During the pandemic, Stephen Briggs has been reading short extracts from 
assorted Discworld (and other Pratchett) books to the online public. On 
his website, he says, "I'm grateful to Rob Wilkins for giving me 
permission to record some daily snippets of solid gold Pratchett for his 
fans during this difficult time. I've done two hundred but, with no end 
in sight to the current restrictions, I've had to give up the daily 
readings. I'll still be adding to them, though – just not quite so 
regularly."

Here be the link to the lot: https://bit.ly/3byDOZO

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

04) DISCWORLD CONVENTION NEWS

Nullus Anxietas 7a has been going through some changes...

"As you all know we have postponed the Australian Discworld Convention 
until 8th–10th April 2022. However, we plan to celebrate the original 
dates with a virtual event on Saturday 3rd July 2021, tentatively from 
6pm to 12am AEDT (Sydney time). This will be a chance for us all to 
catch up and have some fun. This will be open to all convention members, 
attending and supporting. We are thinking of:

A fiendish Discworld quiz
A costume event
A radio play
Maybe a couple of special guests for a virtual Klatch
And perhaps a visit to the Ankh Morpork palace dungeon? It's easy to 
enter, not so easy to escape
And a bedtime story to finish"

https://bit.ly/2Obrd69

"Nullus Anxietas 7a – The Australian Discworld Convention – will be held 
in Sydney on 8th to 10th April 2022. Due to the current situation with 
the COVID-19 pandemic, we have made the decision to postpone the 
convention from its original dates. Please note that some pages or 
images on the website may still contain references to the original dates 
in July 2021. Please bear with us as we organise these changes."

https://2022.ausdwcon.org/

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

05) DISCWORLD PLAYS NEWS

* NEW STEPHEN BRIGGS DISCWORLD SCRIPT BOOKS

Attention amateur theatre companies! Now that there may be an eventual 
end in sight to the Covid-19 pandemic and it may be time to start 
planning the return of Discworld to the stage, note that three new 
official Discworld scriptbooks have been published this month: The 
Shakespeare Codex, Lords and Ladies, and Hogfather. All three are now 
available direct from the publisher (Bloomsbury).

Each scriptbook is priced at £9.89 (paperback) or £8.79 (ebook). For 
more information, and to purchase, go to:

The Shakespeare Codex: https://bit.ly/3rD40YL
Lords and Ladies: https://bit.ly/3eoXfpT
Hogfather: https://bit.ly/3bzxPUE

* MURDER IN ANKH-MORPORK IN ABINGDON (NOVEMBER 2021)

At last! From the Studio Theatre's website:

"16 November 2021 marks 50 years of Terry as a published author. By a 
delightful coincidence, the revised dates for our delayed Discworld play 
– MURDER IN ANKH-MORPORK – are the same week as that anniversary. 'The 
Carpet People' was published on 16 November 1971. And on 17-20 November 
2021, we will be staging a celebration of Terry's work – featuring some 
of his best-loved characters – the Ankh-Morpork's City Watch. We are 
delighted that the show will be officially sponsored by Terry's Estate.

"We wanted to stage a play involving the Ankh-Morpork Night Watch. But 
we'd already staged all of Stephen Briggs' dramatizations [sic] 
featuring this noble group of guardians of justice. By coincidence, this 
year also marks the thirtieth anniversary of our first Pratchett play 
(and the first Pratchett dramatisation ever) – Wyrd Sisters. Stephen got 
special permission to put together an affectionate mash-up incorporating 
characters and bits from Guards! Guards! , Thud! and Feet of Clay, woven 
respectfully into the core plot of Men at Arms. All Terry."

When: 17th – 20th November 2021
Venue: Unicorn Theatre, Checker Walk, Abingdon OX14 3JB
Time: evening performances at 19.30, plus a 14.30 matinee on Saturday 
20th November
Tickets: £12, available for purchase from 14th September – keep an eye 
here for details!

https://www.studiotheatreclub.com/murder-in-ankh-morpork

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

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/2YrPGW7

NOTE: the Drummers are still meeting occasionally via Zoom. Check out 
the above link 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

"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) IMAGES OF THE MONTH

Full cast of the Red Cliffs Players' recent production of Guards! 
Guards!: https://bit.ly/2OAWq2t

The excellent logo for next year's Nullus Anxietas Discworld convention: 
https://bit.ly/3br37gu

Some fine Discworld art by Peter Stanimirov. I feel many of his 
character renderings are miles off the mark or overly derivative, but 
when he gets it right he *really* gets it right...

Magrat:
https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/028/232/179/large/peter-stanimirov-2019-magrat-garlick.jpg?1593860996

The unusual suspects (some definite failures here, but Granny is perfect!):
https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/028/232/503/large/peter-stanimirov-rex-a-pratchett.jpg?1593862290

...and an absolutely stunning portrait of The Author himself:
https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/028/232/512/large/peter-stanimirov-sir-terry-pratchett.jpg?1593862371

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

08) CLOSE

Gaze Cottage, Sir Pterry's longtime home that was recently put up for 
sale (see last issue), has been sold subject to contract. Let's hope the 
new owner loves it the way The Author did!

And finally, in these uncertain and often disheartening times, it's 
reassuring to know that the Encyclopaedia Britannica, repository of 
pretty much all knowledge worth preserving, has an entry for Sir Pterry. 
Read it here:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Terry-Pratchett

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/81356.html

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

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