Back to newsletter listDate:
Wed, October 31, 2007 09:26:04 PMFrom:
Discworld Monthly
Subject:
[dwm] Discworld Monthly - Issue 127
*** Discworld Monthly ***
*** Issue 127: November 2007 ***
Table of Contents:
1. Editorial
2. News
3. Readers' Letters
4. DiscTrivia
5. Review: An Unofficial Companion to the Novels of Terry Pratchett
6. Competitions
7. Book Signing Report - West Chester, Pennsylvania.
8. Article: Guards! Guards! Production Diary - Part 4
9. The End
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1. Editorial
Welcome to issue 127. This month I had the wonderful opportunity to
do some additional extras work on the upcoming The Colour of Magic
adaptation. Out of the 57 original fan extras two sets of extras
were chosen - the first set of eight were asked to do an additional
two days and the second set of twelve, myself included, were asked
to do five more days.
Things were a little different this time as the filming took place
on a set at Pinewood Studios rather than on location. This meant
that the crew had more control over the site and were able to
control the environment better. It was still an outside set and
obviously still subject to weather issues - the set got quite wet by
the end of the week.
I would like to thank the whole of the team at The Mob and all the
stars for looking after us and letting us be part of the magic and
to everyone involved in making it happen.
There is very little I can say about what we were doing without
giving anything away but I have to say I had a brilliant time - sure
there was plenty of waiting around but that was made better by the
friendships I developed with the other extras. So to Allan aka 002,
Alex, Becky, Elizabeth, John H, John L, Kev, Mary-Ellen, Nicola, Pat
and Sarah thanks for putting up with me, I had a blast and here's to
the TCOM-12.
Oh, and if Mr Jean is looking for extras in the future can I put my
name down again please?
----------
RHI Films have just put up a poster and brief synopsis of the The
Colour of Magic adaptation on their website:
http://www.rhifilms.com/property.php?propertyId=CofMagic
----------
It looks like The Mob and SkyOne's excellent adaptation of Hogfather
is finally coming to US television.
Hogfather will make its US premiere on ION Television at 7/6c on
Sunday November 25th.
I understand that ION might not be that well known a channel - I've
spoken to a couple of people that didn't realise they could already
receive it.
For more information about the adaptation visit
http://www.rhifilms.com/
The trailer for the US broadcast can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPfk3TPpr8Q
Borders have managed to secure an exclusive US DVD distribution of
Hogfather - you will be able to purchase Hogfather from Borders from
13th November 2007 - the DVD will later go on general US release
from March 2008.
See http://www.bordersstores.com/ for more information.
----------
In related Hogfather news I've heard a rumour that Hogfather will be
released on DVD in Australia in early December. Having checked a
couple of on-line DVD suppliers based in Australia I have found that
they are listing it as available for pre-order.
----------
Don't forget, if you visit a play or a talk and would like to let
the world know about it, please feel free to email your review to
oook@discworldmonthly.co.uk and we will consider it for publication.
--
Jason Anthony (Editor) oook@discworldmonthly.co.uk
William Barnett (Deputy Editor)
Richard Massey (Bored Games Consultant)
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2. News
A few words from Terry:
Various people have been enquiring about my health and so this,
short of jokes like "at last I can't remember the 60's, so I was
there" is how we think the story goes...
As far as we can tell, I had a minor stroke about two years ago. I
didn't know it at the time. I was working hard on Wintersmith and
then immediately on Making Money and the fact that my typing seemed
more erratic than usual I put down to hard work and, not to put too
finer point on it, old age creeping on. It was only a couple of
months ago that I was thinking about having an MRI scan, mostly
because I had just typed a sentence that I couldn't understand!
It appears to have been "one of those things". Frankly, over the
years I have suffered from "those things" so often that I might as
well check into the Royal Things hospital. The only other effect
seems to be slightly more tiredness and less mental alertness at the
end of the day.
And that's it. I was astonished to get through the six hour
twenty-five minutes signing at Forbidden P***t in London the other
week and still be in a shape to go out for a business dinner
afterwards, especially since my previous best time of five hours
fifty-eight minutes left me hallucinating. Clearly adrenalin is the
best medicine. In the longer term, though, there really is going to
have to be a reduction in touring. What I will add, though, is that
all current commitments including the Australian tour, the UK
Discworld Convention next year and the proposed US Discworld
Convention in 2009 will be honoured, provided my health is no worse
than it is now.
Terry Pratchett
DWM adds: I am sure most fans would prefer a healthy and happy
Terry who can continue to write wonderful novels rather than one
that makes himself ill just so they can get a book signed. I know I
would!
An interview Terry gave to the Daily Mail about his health can be
found at: http://tinyurl.com/2jwn7m
----------
It has been announced on the website for the Wincanton Hogswatch
Event that Terry will be attending. Previously Terry had said that
he was unlikely to be able to make the weekend.
The event takes place on the 1st and 2nd of December and more
information about what to expect can be found at
http://www.discworldjamboree.com/
----------
Making Money debuted at number 4 on the New York Times Hardcover
Fiction Bestseller List dated October 17, 2007.
In addition, the book is also on the following lists:
USA Today (9/27) - number 34 (number 3 if you break out hardcover
fiction, but USA today compiles its list from all formats, fiction
and non-fiction).
Book Sense National Hardcover Fiction - number 8.
Wall Street Journal - number 8.
In addition, Terry is on 7 of the 8 regional Book Sense
(independent) lists.
This is really good news as it shows that Terry's popularity is
increasing massively in the US.
Finally, Making Money landed at number 1 on the London Times list.
----------
Terry was recently at the 2007 National Book Festival you can hear
an interview with him at:
http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/authors/Pratchett.html
----------
News from Colin Smythe (Terry's Agent): A podcast of Terry's talk at
Barnes & Noble in New York on 1 October can be found at the
following address, right hand side, just below the top banner:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
DWM adds: I think the podcast has moved from the front page - at
least I couldn't find it at first. I found it by clicking on the B
& N Media button.
----------
Wintersmith, the third Tiffany Aching novel, is now available in
paperback format.
You can purchase the UK edition from Amazon.co.uk at:
http://www.discworldmonthly.co.uk?ISBN=0552553697
or the US edition from Amazon.com at:
http://www.discworldmonthly.co.uk?USISBN=0060890339
----------
Discworld Dates...
This section will contain events that you need to keep in your
diary. Entries will remain until they go out of date. New entries
will include the word [New] next to them. If this section gets too
large we will start pruning entries.
----------
[UK, New] Edinburgh University Theatre Company Presents Guards!
Guards! from Tuesday November 6th - Saturday November 10th at the
Bedlam Theatre, 11b Bristo Place, Edinburgh, EH1 1EZ
Tickets are 4.50 GBP (full) 4 GBP (concession) 3.50 GBP (EUTC
members).
To book tickets, call 0131 2259893 or email
guardsguardsplay@gmail.com
http://www.guardsguardsplay.co.uk
----------
[UK, Updated] The Broken Drummers is a London Discworld Group that
meets once a month on a Monday evening. Membership is free - just
come along. New members and visitors to London are both welcome and
encouraged.
November's meeting will be at the Essex Serpent, 6 King St, Covent
Garden, London, WC2E 8HN in the cellar room on Monday 12th from
7.00pm.
For more information go to http://www.brokendrummers.co.uk or e-mail
helenenicholls@yahoo.co.uk
----------
[UK] Following on from their successful production of "Mort",
Thalian Theatre Company are proud to announce their next production
of "Guards! Guards!" to be performed at the Towngate Theatre in
Basildon, Essex, from 21st to 24th November. Tickets are 7.50 GBP
(6.50 GBP for concessions), all enquiries to
betties@blueyonder.co.uk
----------
[UK, New] Core Theatre Productions are performing Wyrd Sisters at
the Mission Theatre in Bath on Wed 28 Nov, Thurs 29 Nov, Fri 30 Nov
and Sat 1 Dec 2007. Tickets are now on sale at 7 GBP (adult) & 5
GBP (concessions - OAPs and Students with a valid NUS card) and are
available via http://www.coretheatre.org or the box office 07989
908474. Doors open at 7pm and performances start 7.30pm.
----------
[UK] Maskerade will be performed at the Spa Pavilion in Felixstowe,
Suffolk from Thursday 29th November to Saturday 1st December 2007.
http://www.thespapavilion.org/
----------
[UK, New] WADS will be performing Wyrd Sisters on 6, 7 and 8
December at 7:30pm at Testbourne Theatre Hall, Micheldever Road,
Hampshire.
Tickets will cost 5 GBP or 4 GBP for concessions.
See http://www.wadsweb.org.uk/3.html for more details.
----------
[UK, New] The Invergordon Players amateur company will be performing
Wyrd Sisters as their first ever full length play. The show will be
performed on Friday 14th and Saturday 15th December 7-30pm at the
Invergordon Art Centre (40 miles north of Inverness).
Tickets cost 6 GBP and 4 GBP concessions and are available from
http://www.thebooth.co.uk and in local shops.
----------
[US, New] The First North American Discworld Convention will take
place from September 4-7, 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona.
For more information visit http://www.nadwcon.org/
----------
Small Ads...
Please note, DWM has no way of checking the veracity or validity of
any of the items in our small ads section. As always, exercise
caution when giving out your details over the Internet. We
*strongly* recommend parental supervision for younger readers who
follow up any of these contacts.
----------
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3. Readers' Letters
If you have any letters or comments, please email them to
oook@discworldmonthly.co.uk
We assume any correspondence is eligible for use in the newsletter
unless otherwise stated, including the sender's email address. We
may also edit your letters and sell the excess punctuation on eBay.
It is vitally important that you don't pass off other people's work
as your own. If you use information from other resources please let
us know so we can give proper credit.
The best letter of the month will receive a Kiss the Cook print
supplied as by Bonsai Trading. Sadly Bonsai Trading is no longer
trading but John Pagan has supplied me a parcel of prints to give
away. As soon as I source some suitable packing tubes I will resume
sending out the prints.
----------
*
* From: "John Blackburn"
*
*** SPOILER WARNING - DO NOT READ THIS LETTER IF YOU HAVEN'T ***
*** READ MAKING MONEY YET! ***
If anyone is having trouble translating the Golem language in
chapter 7, it is remarkably similar to an esoteric Roundworld
alphabet called Enochian. This was allegedly transmitted by angels
to Queen Elizabeth the First's Court Astrologer and Magician Dr John
Dee, and his associate Sir Edward Kelly, in the 16th century. Just
try Googling Enochian and you'll be able to decode it. Lord
Vetinari's high-speed numbers game "Jikan no Muda" proved a little
more difficult, but I eventually found it means "wasting your time".
How true! Is it me, or is there a little oddity on page 226? When
the plump lady gives Cribbins her name, "Berenice, er, Houser",
Cribbins thinks Ah, no longer using the bastard's name, very wise.
What's that about, then?
----------
*
* From: "Nancy O'Shea"
*
I have been amusing myself, while waiting for 'Making Money' to come
out by reading PTerry's stories from the beginning. I have them all.
I have just reached Guards, Guards, beginning with Vimes in a gutter
being in love with the city as a wossname, woman. And then he meets
Sybil. My question is, how old is Vimes - his age, as he has been
Captain of the Night Watch for some time - and how old is Sybil - at
the first sighting I saw her as someone in her mid-forties - but
much later on as we know she has Young Sam. Does all the action from
now on in Ankh-Morpok take place in the same time line as Terry's
books come out?
I hope that you are able to answer these questions.
----------
*
* From: "Kristine Johnston"
*
I was very excited to get to attend an entire book signing by Terry
in Portland, OR. (the first time I went, I had a 4-yr-old in tow
who had very little interest in that man who wouldn't stop talking.)
He is immensely funny and answered questions from the crowd of soggy
Oregonian fans with friendliness and patience.
What really blew me away was his willingness to keep signing even
though his hand was so sore that he had to ice it up midway through.
As I waited my turn to have my book signed, I kept rehearsing
various witty comments I might make to impress my favorite author.
However, when I got to the table and handed over my book, I was so
starstruck that I sounded very much like Nobby in the Hogfather - "
'nk you." This was probably best, as I'm never as witty out loud as
I am in my head.
It was a fun evening and I'm so glad that Terry will travel to where
his readers are.
----------
*
* From: "Deddajay"
*
Following on from your letter of the month from David Warnock (Issue
126), I thought I'd write to tell you how Terry Pratchett helped my
husband.
In 2003 he injured his knee playing cricket and 3 days later
collapsed with a cardiac arrest, followed by two more in A&E. The
cause was a Pulmonary Embolism due to the knee injury. Five and a
half weeks in a coma was followed by a stroke, which left him
disabled and blind at the age of 40 and months in hospital and
rehab.
Needless to say, this meant big lifestyle changes for both of us.
Having always been an avid reader, he couldn't accept that he would
never be able to read again, and refused to listen to audio books,
even though he was supplied with a book reader for this purpose.
Eventually, I decided that I would just put on a book for,
allegedly, my own benefit, but within his earshot. It was Men at
Arms. Initially it was ignored, but gradually the odd smirk
appeared, followed by a low chuckle and then guffaws. At the end
the request was for Guards, Guards, and we have now gone through the
whole lot several times.
We purchased a Bookcourier, a special audio book reader for the
blind, and it is permanently clamped to his ears. It has made a
real difference to him, as he is pretty much confined to home all
day. The only problem I have now is trying to keep up with the
voracious demand for new books and he is so looking forward to
hearing Making Money.
Thanks to TP's books, we have survived the last 4 years pretty well,
keeping our sense of humour intact. I would never have got him to
accept audio books without TP and I will forever be grateful for
that.
DWM replies: For their inspirational story, Deddajay gets this
month's Letter of the Month.
----------
*
* From: "Gem"
*
I have recently been reading through the Kathy Reichs books about
forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan and was surprised when
she mentioned Terry Pratchett.
"Boyd flopped onto his side in the shade of my sand chair. Ryan
went back to his Terry Pratchett. I went back to my E magazine."
Page 300, 'Monday Mourning'.
It made me smile because I'd previously thought that my love of
crime books and my love of fantasy books was a little at odds.
Apparently not!
----------
*
* From: "Maureen Taylor"
*
Just thought you might have spotted...
While watching Neighbours this week, I spotted Paul Robinson reading
Wintersmith! Monday or Tuesday, I think it was.
And if Neighbours isn't full of Discworldish plots, dunno what is!
----------
*
* From: "Paul Friend"
*
In response to David Warnock's letter DWM Sept 2007 - I have a
similar issue with my wife not being a very good reader, and have to
say the dramatization / televisation of "the Hogfather" has been a
gift from Om... opening the way for us die hard Discworldian to shoe
horn TP into our other halves lives. Reading them stories and even
maybe convincing to visit the Jamboree next year!
By the way does anyone know where to get the animated series and
which stories are available?
DWM replies: Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters were released as animations
and can be purchased in a DVD box set from supplies such as Amazon:
http;//www.discworldmonthly.co.uk?ISBN=B000E99486
----------
*
* From: "Daniel McGrath"
*
I am visually impaired, and live in the united kingdom. And I am a
big fan of Mr Pratchett's books, I have most of them, in abridged
audio book format. However, recently, I have discovered the
unabridged recordings of the books, which are, despite the fact that
the wonderful Tony Robinson does not read them, better as they
include the whole content of the book. Owing to the large amount of
space which audio books of this length take up on cassette or CD, I
have now taken to buying my audio books as digital downloads. Mainly
from the audible company. Audible is an American company, and sells
all its books online, mainly at audible.com. but they also have
websites to sell to France, Germany and the UK. Most of Terry
Pratchett's books are available in both abridged and unabridged
format from this website, and as far as I know, are available to all
branches of the site. However, on receiving news of the release of
the latest book, Making Money, I found that the unabridged version
is only available in the United States. On enquiring at audible, I
found that: "the unabridged recording of this book is not available
for sale in the United Kingdom at the request of the publisher." Not
only that, but on searching the web, I have found that it does not
seem to be available generally in the UK at all, except on cassette.
This, to me, is a most deplorable state of affairs. This is an
English book, and yet many visually impaired people in this country
are being denied the pleasure of reading it. It is not available
from the Royal National Institute for the the Blind's talking book
service as yet, and although it may be available in braille, there
are many blind people who find it very hard to manage such a big
book. Thus, the publishers of this book are committing [knowingly
or unknowingly] disability discrimination. I cannot but feel, that
it is in the interests of the publishers, and of Terry Pratchett,
that this book be available in as many formats, and therefore to as
many people as possible. I hope that you might publish this little
note, and that all who read it will contact the publishers at:
http://www.harpercollins.com and make this problem known to them.
It is doubly important that audible be allowed to release this book
in the UK, as it is the most accessible way for visually impaired
people to buy audio books as digital downloads. I myself have said,
that I shall buy my copy of this book from audible, or not at all. I
hope that any other audible users in the UK who read this, will
inform Harper Collins that they share this resolve. I am sending
this not to you, to be submitted for publication, for 3 reasons: 1,
because I can only truly enjoy this book if I can access it this
way, and I believe that this is true of many other people both
sighted and blind. 2 because of my loyalty to audible, I feel that
being able to sell this book in the UK will bring a good return for
them, and I would like to do something for them after all the
pleasure they have given to me. 3 [and this most importantly]
because I love all of Terry Pratchett's books, and I want as many
people as possible to be able to access them and enjoy their magic
too. Yours very sincerely Daniel McGrath
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4. DiscTrivia
This month I will be asking questions about The Last Continent.
Q1. Why were the UU Faculty searching for Rincewind?
Q2. Why was Rincewind hard to find?
Q3. What is the name of the Kangaroo that helps Rincewind?
a) Skippy
b) Scrappy
c) Dappy
d) Bruce
Q4. What species is the barman named Croc?
Q5. What does the XXXX Dibbler have written on his tray?
The results, as always, appear at the end of this issue.
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5. Review: An Unofficial Companion to the Novels of Terry Pratchett
Edited and Compiled by Andrew M Butler.
Review by Jason Anthony.
This book looks like it really wants to become the definitive
Discworld companion and it therefore draws direct comparison with
Stephen Briggs' official Discworld Companion. Originally the
official companion tended to stick with just the specifics of the
Discworld novels (I am unsure if this changed with later updates as
I haven't read any of them) - the Unofficial Companion tries to
cover a much broader range of topics and therefore includes not only
information about all of Terry's books and short stories but also
tries to cover a whole spectrum of external topics including:
fandom, conventions, magazines, television programs and films.
Reading though the list of entries is interesting - some topics make
sense, such as the names of the novels and major characters, but
then some unusual topics stand out such as: Carry-On Films, Arabic
Societies and Shakespeare, William (1564-1616). After a two-page
history of Carry-On Films, for example, we find out that Pratchett
re-uses characters in a similar manner. Was that really necessary
and do we also need a two-page biography of PG Wodehouse? The book
is well illustrated with Discworld pictures and photos, as well as
material fro non-Discworld sources.
I think what spoils the book for me most is the fact that there are
too many "loosely related to Discworld" topics and too much space
dedicated to them. Why have two pages dedicated to Carry-On Films
but not even a mention of the Ankh Morpork Times in the section
about Worde, William de (CJ, TT, MR, GP, T!). I would have thought
that mentioning the Ankh Morpork Times would be quite useful? In
fact you have to look up Chriek, Otto (FOC, TT, MR, GP) to find this
information out.
I really did want to enjoy this book but I feel that the editors
have tried to cram too much into a single volume and simply didn't
have the resources to research everything fully. If you consider
just how large the Discworld canon is now, you really cannot express
all the required information, especially when you are trying to
cover so many external subjects, into such limited space.
I really cannot see any reason to recommend this over the official
Companion compiled by Stephen Briggs. I would suggest you wait
until 8th November and see what the new official Companion release
has to offer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Competitions
This month I have a UK signed (by Terry) Wit and Wisdom of Discworld
to give away courtesy of the wonderful people at PJSMPrints.co.uk
All you need to do to win this book is answer the following simple
question:
Q1. On PJSMPrint's October's news page who can be seen posing
in front of the James Bond studio?
To enter the competition email the answer to
oook@discworldmonthly.co.uk by 20th November 2007. The randomly
selected winners will be announced next month.
----------
Last month I had US first editions of both Making Money and The Wit
and Wisdom of Discworld as supplied by HarperCollins to give away. The
Wit and Wisdom of Discworld is a book of quotes from the Discworld
series and Making Money includes a smattering of pictures that don't
appear in the proof copies.
All you had to do to be in with a chance to win one of these books
was to answer the following simple question:
Q1. What chapter does HarperCollins include as an excerpt on their
Moist Von Lipwig website? (http://moistmakesmoney.com)
The answer we were looking for was chapter 1. We received nearly
200 correct entries this month and the randomly selected winner of
Making Money is Alex Seaborne of Islington, London and the winner of
The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld is Denise Dutson of Bolton,
Lancashire.
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7. Book Signing Report - West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Report by Lori Schwabenbauer
I had the good fortune to attend the September 30 Making Money book
signing in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Fans came from as far away
as Massachusetts and Alabama, about 180 of us gathering in the
Chester County Book & Music Company's back room. Terry spoke for an
hour and 15 minutes, answering many questions, then was very
generous in signing not only his latest books but also the older
ones fans had brought along. One highlight was the
chocolate-and-banana cake one couple brought for Terry, which he
kindly shared with all of us. Another was the young man who pulled
up his shirt to reveal his entire back tattooed with Discworld
characters in vivid color.
The noisy cooling system connived with the moppets in the children's
section to make it hard to hear, but I did catch several interesting
tidbits from Terry's talk. He opened by marvelling at the complexity
of the human brain, ruing the fact that while he could still
remember a Kleenex jingle from 1962 (which he sang for us in a
lovely tenor), he often couldn't recall where he'd put the car keys.
He mentioned the possibility of doing a third and probably last
Moist von Lipwig novel, to be called Raising Taxes. He asked those
of us who had finished Making Money "whether we liked Mr. Fusspot's
toy," getting an enthusiastic response that might have scared a
lesser author.
Terry discussed his next book Nation, which he told us is not truly
a Discworld book. Nation will open with "a Krakatoa-like
catastrophe" and the story will revolve around "a young golden-brown
boy who wears no clothes whatsoever." The phenomenon of calenture,
a kind of delirium/mirage, will be central to the book.
Terry isn't sure what the next Discworld book will be about, since
he says so many of the Discworld books have been written almost on a
whim; something puts ideas in his head and he starts developing
them. He mentioned at a later point that he doesn't plan the books
out on paper; he just has a rough idea of what he wants to write
about, and it develops as he goes along. Sometimes the characters
develop themselves, he said, as in Vetinari's case.
In discussing Vetinari, someone asked if he intended Moist von
Lipwig as Vetinari's successor. Terry doesn't think Moist is
ruthless enough to do what Vetinari does. He said Ankh-Morpork only
works because Vetinari is who he is ... "and because I'm the
writer." Vetinari is vaguely based on a version of Machiavelli, but
really has become his own person through the development of his
character. He admits Vetinari fascinates him.
Terry mentioned planning a fourth Tiffany Aching novel, I Shall Wear
Midnight, which he says will probably be her last novel since by the
end she will have gotten too old to feature in juvenile books. When
asked if he might team her with Magrat and the other Lancre witches
as an adult, he said he had other ideas for Tiffany.
Terry discussed the filming of "The Colour of Magic" and said
Sourcery might be filmed next. He singled out Sean Astin as
Twoflower and the actor playing Nobby Nobbs as particularly good,
though he's very happy with the entire production.
He fielded some interesting questions. One young woman apologized
for the esoteric nature of her query, but couldn't help wondering
whether Thomas Silverfish was still president of the Alchemists'
Guild or had managed to blow himself up yet. Terry took a
thoughtful sip of water and finally said, "What would *you* like?"
Upon further reflection he opined that people in charge of
organizations are generally in charge because they're good at
running things, not always so good at whatever the organization
actually does - so very probably Silverfish was still intact, since
he wouldn't be doing as much dabbling with dangerous substances as
most Alchemists might. (I think this could easily go the other way,
though, if we can regard Silverfish as less skilled whenever he
*does* dabble.)
Another woman asked Terry if he was currently sharing his garden
with any real cats. He said they had six cats, all "devastatingly
real." A third woman asked why there was no mention of spinning in
the Tiffany novels, since sheep and sheep's wool were so central to
the Chalk; yet another woman chimed in with "Hear, hear!"
Apparently there's quite a cadre of feisty Spinners out there
reading Pratchett. Perhaps they have a guild, though whether in
sorority with the Seamstresses I wouldn't know. In any case, Terry
said he saw the wool more as a commodity that went on to be sold to
spinners, who spun it, but not necessarily locally - not that it
never happened, or that he had anything against spinning; he
mentioned having two spinning wheels himself, which seemed to
appease the Spinners.
One young man asked about the origin of the Luggage. Terry said
when you're asked a question enough times, you start inventing new
stories in answer. Rather than relate the
large-American-woman-with-wobbly-wheeled-suitcase tale I was
expecting, he said he used to write D&D scenarios for the kids next
door (lucky devils!) and he noticed you always needed a Luggage: a
highly adaptable storage device that conveniently disappeared if any
fighting was going on, that was easily portable, and in which things
sometimes seemed to appear or disappear.
Terry told some funny tales, including one about what it's like to
go through Australian Customs with a big bag of plastic human teeth
(the ones he brought to the Australian Discworld Convention) as well
as a large box labelled "DEATH." He also talked about what he likes
to read - very little fiction these days, but right now he's reading
the diary of Martha Ballard, a midwife from the turn of the 19th
century.
Terry also mentioned the upcoming first-ever North American
Discworld Conference, which will be held Labor Day Weekend, 2009 in
Phoenix, Arizona. Flyers at the table promised more information
soon at www.nadwcon.org (email info@nadwcon.org).
Meeting Terry was enjoyable but a bit hurried; it didn't take too
long for him to sign five books, and all too soon it was over. I
wish I'd have thought of something witty to say, but it's probably
just as well ... and I suppose I have plenty of time to practice
clever remarks before getting myself to Phoenix in September 2009.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Article: Guards! Guards! Production Diary - Part 4
By Jax (betties@blueyonder.co.uk)
Well, curtain up and opening night is less than a month away and
things are progressing well. Rehearsals are fun, as we not only
have scenes being rehearsed on one side of the room, but on the
other is the costume department! Our watchmen will be wearing real
chain mail (or is it ring mail? I had the difference explained to
me but unfortunately the understanding got shoved aside for a
thought on the acting) and there is always a group of actors who
aren't in the scene being rehearsed, sitting down and weaving metal
hoops together. It's quite surreal really.
Ask any director and I'm sure they'll tell you that they wish that
their actors would learn their lines earlier. The problem with this
wish is that there is such a thing called real life that intrudes on
the time needed to learn lines. Although, saying that, I have had
several of my cast trying out scenes without books in their hands
and doing a good job of it, so I can't really complain.
Costumes are coming together too. At the last rehearsal, we had fun
discussing the various merits of the different wizard costumes that
we have, with the actor playing the Archchancellor saying that
they're all too big, but he is a slim Jim, so we'll just give him a
pillow to put under the robe, and hey presto, fat wizard!
This is only my fourth production with this group, and I am
constantly amazed by the props that they have. Death's scythe and
skull mask? No problems. Swords? How many, and what style? A
cell window with masonry round it? Can knock that up in no time!
Everybody is very reassuring, and keep telling me that it's all
fine, but I think I'll quietly worry all the same, after all, that's
what directors are supposed to do, aren't they?
--------------------------------------------------------------------
9. The End
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